Empire Conquest
Chapter 317 - 313: Commander Takes Position

Chapter 317: Chapter 313: Commander Takes Position

In the afternoon, in the Northwest East Ocean.

Bai Zhizhan had slept the entire way, and when He Weigu awoke him, the patrol plane was flying close to the sea surface, about to land.

The "Imperial Capital" carrier was not far ahead.

The carrier was slowing down. The port-side elevator at the rear left side had already been lowered, with about a dozen officers and men standing on top.

Leading them was Li Mingbo.

Now, he had become a Navy Brigadier General.

After the Spring Festival, that is, at the end of March, he led the Expeditionary Fleet to the Fan Flame Ocean.

By the end of April, soon after the Tiaoman Empire joined the war, the fleet rounded Far View Cape and entered the South Sunset Ocean.

They stayed there until June before meeting up with the breaking through Tiaoman Fleet, providing fuel supplies to the Tiaoman battleships.

Not long after that, due to the oil tankers running out of fuel, Li Mingbo left all the excess supplies behind and then led the Expeditionary Fleet back to the Empire.

To this day, those three armored cruisers were still in the Fan Flame Ocean, only hiding near a deserted island without attacking the Bulan Kingdom’s transport ships anymore.

However, how much longer they could remain hidden was uncertain.

It wasn’t a lack of fuel, but their food was about to run out.

Previously, the Bulan Royal Navy believed that after the three armored cruisers received fuel supplies in the South Sunset Ocean, they circled the southern tip of Gu Continent, entered the East Ocean, and then operated in the Southeast East Ocean, looking for an opportunity to head to the West East Ocean and defect to the Liangxia Empire.

For this reason, the Bulan Royal Navy focused on the Southeast East Ocean!

During the peak period, nearly a hundred battleships and armed merchant ships operated in the Southeast East Ocean, and all the rarely visited deserted islands were searched.

It wasn’t until the end of last month that the Bulan Royal Navy shifted its focus to the Fan Flame Ocean.

Otherwise, the three armored cruisers could not have hidden for several months, as there weren’t many deserted islands large enough to accommodate three large battleships.

Because of successfully meeting with the Tiaoman Fleet, Li Mingbo received a promotion upon his return.

Afterward, he became the Chief of Staff of the 41st Special Mixed Fleet.

In the new organizational system, the Fleet Chief of Staff is second in command to the Fleet Commander, possessing decision-making authority like the Fleet Commander.

Simply put, he was the Commander’s understudy.

To put it in Bai Zhizhan’s words, Li Yunxiang had finally made his breakthrough.

Although Xue Yuanzheng did not approve the second extraordinary promotion request submitted by Liu Changxun – after all, Li Mingbo had already been promoted past his rank several times before, and meeting the Tiaoman Fleet in the South Sunset Ocean was part of his duty, just like commanding a fleet in the East Ocean, not a reason for an extraordinary promotion – being able to be promoted to Brigadier General, to be precise, leaving the Special Mixed Group and returning to serve on the carrier, continuing as Bai Zhizhan’s deputy, was already very satisfying for Li Mingbo, especially now that he had become an actual Fleet Chief of Staff.

After seeing Bai Zhizhan on board the "Imperial Capital," He Weigu and the others also boarded the carrier.

Then, the patrol plane that had brought them there sank.

It wasn’t that they didn’t trust He Weigu and the crew, but out of fear they might slip up.

For the sake of secrecy, losing one patrol plane was not significant.

Zhou Yongtao was also present to welcome Bai Zhizhan.

He was now a Major and also the Combat Staff Advisor of the 41st Special Mixed Fleet.

In the past few months, to be precise, before the 41st Special Mixed Fleet conducted combat deployments, Zhou Yongtao did something according to Bai Zhizhan’s orders.

He went to the Imperial Naval Academy to pick outstanding graduates and oversaw the selection and assessment, then sent those who passed the evaluation to Nagiu Port.

These young officers, the most outstanding stayed at the Fleet Headquarter, while the others were stationed on other battleships.

According to Zhou Yongtao, his mission was to help Bai Zhizhan form a command team dominated by young officers, who dared to fight and compete.

Of course, this wasn’t to deny the value of seasoned officers like Li Mingbo.

It only meant that in the future, as the fleet expanded, especially with more carriers coming into service, what the Imperial Navy lacked most was talent, particularly in command.

Li Mingbo had always felt that Zhou Yongtao’s emphasis on "talent" was actually a way of elevating himself.

Zhou Yongtao was indeed talented.

During the last deployment cycle, that is, from June to August, because Li Mingbo had not returned, it was Zhou Yongtao who acted as the Chief of Staff.

In those two months, Zhou Yongtao acted and proved that after Bai Zhizhan, he was the most talented and ambitious young officer in the Imperial Navy.

Under his command, the 41st Special Mixed Fleet had a killing spree in the Northwest West East Ocean.

The premise was that Bai Zhizhan had given him free rein, without too much interference or restriction, and even stepped up to take the blame for him when it was crucial.

In the words of other staff advisors, Bai Zhizhan particularly favored Zhou Yongtao.

If it weren’t for the gap of about twenty years in age, one would suspect that they had a private relationship.

In fact, there had already been rumors that Zhou Yongtao was Bai Zhizhan’s illegitimate son, and that Bai Zhizhan, being in his forties and still unmarried, was related to this.

With the marriage of Bai Zhizhan to the Little Eldest Princess, this rumor had fallen apart on its own.

Zhou Yongtao was still Zhou Yongtao, with skin tanned even darker, yet still as naively confident as ever.

This time, among the Fleet Headquarter staff advisors, there was a new and conspicuous face.

Wang Jun.

Yes, the Empire’s third prince!

Only three people knew his real identity: Bai Zhizhan, Li Mingbo, and Zhou Yongtao.

Strictly speaking, only Bai Zhizhan needed to know. It just happened that Wang Jun had come to the 41st Special Mixed Fleet Headquarter through Zhou Yongtao, and Zhou Yongtao had become suspicious during the recruitment process. After returning to the fleet, he asked Bai Zhizhan about it, who did not hide the truth. As for Li Mingbo, it just happened that he stumbled upon Wang Jun privately acknowledging him as "uncle" and thus heard the truth.

However, Wang Jun’s current position was not on the "Imperial Capital" but on the "Peijing."

This was Bai Zhizhan’s arrangement, having him go to "Peijing" as a liaison officer for the Fleet Headquarter to assist the second squadron commander.

In Bai Zhizhan’s words, this was not only a test for him but also an opportunity for him to gain experience.

The truth was that Bai Zhizhan did not want to get too close to the third prince. After all, such a kinship relationship could unconsciously manifest itself in many situations.

Plus, Bai Zhizhan’s status as the Prince Consort was not yet stable enough.

During the secret talks at Baku, Bai Zhizhan had already refused the olive branch offered by the Eldest Prince, and getting too close to the third prince would inevitably lead to misunderstandings.

Although the status of the Imperial Family had been reduced after the Constitutional Amendment, and the importance of who would inherit the throne had significantly diminished, the Imperial Family’s appeal was still there, and the throne still held a great deal of temptation. Not just for a newly-minted Prince Consort, even an Imperial Relative could find themselves in a difficult situation if they got involved in the struggle for the throne.

Strictly speaking, a Prince Consort did not count as an Imperial Relative, since he did not have the bloodline of the Imperial Family.

Besides, the third prince had just graduated from the Naval Academy and indeed needed more experience.

First, he would spend a few months on "Peijing," get a clear understanding of human relationships, and then return to "Imperial Capital," where his disguise would not be so easily seen through.

As for the other officers of the Fleet Headquarter, as well as the officers and soldiers of the fleet, most of them were familiar faces.

The shipborne air force units were the same, still operated by Shen Pu and Zhu Huasheng’s two squadrons.

In a way, this was also the strongest force of the current Imperial Navy, at least in terms of personnel configuration!