Empire Conquest
Chapter 302 - 298: Three Opportunities

Chapter 302: Chapter 298: Three Opportunities

Arriving at the Imperial Guard Headquarter, Bai Zhizhan finally met Wang Kaiyuan and received intelligence from him, confirming that Zheng Jiangming had not been talking nonsense.

The Newland Federation had set the timing of their engagement to be around October 10th, which was before the Liangxia Empire’s Double Ninth Festival.

According to the schedule, Bai Zhizhan’s grand wedding with Zhang Xiaoqing was also before the Double Ninth Festival.

Since it was the wedding of the Imperial Family’s Eldest Princess, extensive promotions had been underway for several months, calling for universal celebration. Therefore, the date of the wedding had long been announced to the world, leaving no secrets.

Even if they departed immediately after the wedding, considering the delays on the road, it would take at least three days to return to the fleet.

During these three days, Bai Zhizhan would definitely not be in the fleet.

"I heard that Nizi praised you a lot."

"Is that so?" Bai Zhizhan felt that Wang Kaiyuan was either mocking him or deliberately belittling him.

Wang Kaiyuan smiled and said, "There are a few documents here that will be useful later. Take a look at them first. I’ll go out and see if the others have arrived yet."

"You go ahead."

After Wang Kaiyuan left, Bai Zhizhan picked up the documents.

After flipping through, he set them aside.

They were all old news, nothing innovative, and it didn’t matter whether he read them or not.

The fact that Rofuss had only now decided to enter the war had actually exceeded Bai Zhizhan’s expectations.

At the beginning of the year, specifically in late March, Bai Zhizhan boldly predicted that the Newland Federation would likely join the war in the first half of the year, at the latest by the third quarter, and that the most probable months for their engagement would be in June or July. He had suggested strategizing around these months.

Subsequently, several excellent opportunities had indeed arisen.

The first was in early April when the Marine Corps, supported by the Navy, landed on the Long Sorrow Peninsula.

At that time, the main forces of the Imperial Navy were all here, divided into two Special Mixed Fleets, and the four carriers were in the West East Ocean.

To prevent a surprise attack, the Imperial Navy had previously deployed more long-range patrol planes to Liuhuang Island and intensified the patrols.

Additionally, several submarines were sent to Treasure Harbor.

Despite the big movements, the Newland Navy received the news only at the end of March, with just ten days to prepare, insufficient time to complete deployment.

Thus, RoFuss’ decision to pass up this opportunity was somewhat understandable.

The second opportunity came at the end of April, when the Tiaoman Empire officially declared war on the Locke Republic and the Bulan Kingdom, immediately launching a blitzkrieg on the West Continent.

Although the Locke Republic and Bulan Kingdom subsequently declared war on the Tiaoman Empire and announced a state of war, the Newland Federation did not declare war on Tiaoman. Rofuss merely issued a statement condemning the war, thus making the Bulan Kingdom and Locke Republic subjects of the "Aid Act."

By the time the Locke Republic was defeated, the aid from the Newland Federation had not yet arrived.

Following that, the Tiaoman Empire launched a blitzkrieg on the Kingdom of Viking on the Svia Peninsula.

In the South Sunset Ocean, the Tiaoman Empire’s commerce raiding fleet greatly ravaged their foes.

Even in the North Sunset Ocean, the Tiaoman Submarines showed their fangs.

All that the Newland Federation did was to exchange 50 old destroyers, built during the last great war, for jurisdiction over the Hundred Islands controlled by the Bulan Kingdom.

Not to mention declaring war on the Liangxia Empire, the Newland Federation did not even declare war on the Tiaoman Empire.

Indeed, the Bulan Kingdom too had not declared war on the Liangxia Empire.

The key point was that, at the onset of the war on the West Continent, the Liangxia Empire not only did not support the Tiaoman Empire but its actions rather threatened the Tiaoman Empire.

It seemed to be threatening the Tiaoman Empire.

According to the secret treaty, the Liangxia Empire provided the Luosha Federation with equipment capable of arming five armored divisions, five artillery divisions, and five tactical air force divisions.

The Luosha Federation also strengthened its defensive deployment in the western region and declared readiness to prevent possible blitz attacks.

Evidently, the Liangxia Empire was to assist the Luosha Federation against the Tiaoman Empire.

Why would the Bulan Kingdom declare war on the Liangxia Empire?

Is having another opponent a good thing?

Even though the Liangxia Empire was on the other side of the World Island and temporarily unable to threaten the mainland of the Bulan Kingdom, the kingdom became more reliant on its overseas colonies after the war with the Tiaoman Empire began. These colonies, particularly the crucial Fanluo, were near the Liangxia Empire.

Indeed, this was where Xue Yuanzheng’s brilliance lay.

He saw the critical relations here and made great efforts to woo the Tiaoman Empire, sign secret treaties with the Luosha Federation, and form the Three Giants Consortium Group.

As long as the Luosha Federation was stable, the Bulan Kingdom had to focus intently on the Tiaoman Empire and would not provoke the Liangxia Empire.

Without the aid of the Bulan Kingdom, the Newland Federation, after joining the war, could directly face the Liangxia Empire and might not have the time needed for mobilization.

It was also understandable why Rofuss remained inactive at this time.

The third time was at the end of May.

In those few days, three major events occurred.

First, the West Saiyi regime, led by Niu Man and Sawa, commonly known as the Long Sorrow regime, officially declared its establishment and then organized troops to land on the Saiyi Main Island.

Afterward, the military of the Long Sorrow regime engaged in fierce battles with the military of the East Saiyi, also known as the East Imperial City regime, near Gang Mountain.

The Liangxia Empire was the first to recognize the Long Sorrow regime and, under the guise of aiding an ally, announced a comprehensive embargo against the West Saiyi regime, which had lost its legitimacy.

At that time, four carriers of the Imperial Navy were active in the waters east of the Volcanic Islands!

Days after the establishment of the West Saiyi regime, the Tiaoman Empire declared unrestricted submarine warfare against the Bulan Kingdom.

That very evening, hundreds of bombers from the Tiaoman Air Force formed several groups and simultaneously bombed several industrial cities in the southern part of the Bulan Kingdom.

Although it would be two months before the first batch of bombers provided by the Liangxia Empire would reach the Tiaoman Empire and participate in the bombing operations against the Bulan Kingdom, a group of officers from the Liangxia Army Air Force had already arrived in the Tiaoman Empire to impart combat experience to the Tiaoman Air Force.

On the other end of World Island, the strategic bombing by the Liangxia Army Air Force against the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom had been ongoing for several months and had achieved very good results.

Shortly after the Tiaoman Empire declared the launch of unrestricted submarine warfare, the Luosha Federation’s military crossed the Chains Land Bridge, invaded several countries in the Outer Shackles Region, and directly targeted Boi Country, which had split from the Ter Empire and was still a semi-colony under the protection of the Bulan Kingdom.

Although the Luosha military’s advance was very slow and the attack went poorly, the invasion initially affected only a few small nations that had become independent from the Luosha Empire after its downfall. The Luosha military had not yet invaded Boi Country, but the alliance of the three giants was already crystal clear, or perhaps just one last veil away. All that was lacking was a public declaration acknowledging the alliance.

Interestingly, the Bulan Kingdom did not declare war on the Liangxia Empire, or even the Luosha Federation following these events.

As mentioned earlier, the Bulan Kingdom had no reason to court more enemies.

Moreover, the Newland Federation still refused to declare war on the Tiaoman Empire according to the alliance treaty, because the Tiaoman military had not invaded the Bulan mainland.

If one could still justify Rofuss’s stability during the first two instances,

his continued indifference this time was quite puzzling.

Besides these three obvious opportunities to join the war, since the beginning of June, when a comprehensive strategic blockade was imposed on the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, the Newland Federation still had plenty of chances to declare war on the Liangxia Empire but remained completely inactive for months.

Bai Zhizhan sometimes doubted his own judgment.

Could it be that Rofuss believed that by not joining the war, the Newland Federation could remain safely uninvolved?

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