Empire Conquest
Chapter 321 - 317: Decisive Battle Stance

Chapter 321: Chapter 317: Decisive Battle Stance

"The coffee is not bad."

"Xiao Wang brought it, said it was this year’s new stock."

Bai Zhizhan paused for a moment before nodding in agreement. The ’Xiao Wang’ that Li Mingbo spoke of was Wang Jun; coming from the Third Prince, the coffee must be good.

At that moment, Zhou Yongtao hurried back.

While Bai Zhizhan was looking at the nautical chart, he had gone to the telecommunication center.

"Just received it." Coming over, Zhou Yongtao handed Bai Zhizhan the telegram and said, "The message has been confirmed; Major General Nizi is in command at Treasure Harbor, and after this battle is over, Rofuss will bestow upon him the rank of Admiral. The commanders of the two carrier mixed fleets are also appointed by Nizi, Major General Hal and Major General Fley. It is deduced that three ’York’ class special mixed fleets are under Hal’s command."

As Zhou Yongtao relayed this, Bai Zhizhan quickly read through the telegram.

This intelligence had been received before; now it was confirmed.

The key was the whereabouts of the two carrier mixed fleets.

After passing the telegram to Li Mingbo, Bai Zhizhan walked over to the nautical chart table.

If Xu Sea was to be described as a bathtub, then West East Ocean could only count as a pond, but Northwest East Ocean was like a large lake, twice the area of West East Ocean.

Moreover, there are hardly any islands in Northwest East Ocean!

To the west lay the Saiyi Islands, to the northwest the Necklace Islands, to the north the Aleu Islands, and to the east North East Ocean, all the way down to Gu Continent without a single island; to the southeast were the Howay Islands, and to the south were Wei Island and the Mashao Islands, while to the southwest lay the North Ma Islands and the Volcanic Islands.

These archipelagos and islands span thousands of kilometers!

Within this domain of thousands of kilometers of sea, there was enough room to accommodate several special mixed fleets.

Such a vast battlefield presented a serious problem.

Patrol aircraft stationed on the surrounding islands were nearly all useless.

Even long-range patrol aircraft like the ’White Swan’ weren’t very valuable. The distances were too vast, and even if an enemy fleet were spotted, it would be of little significance.

In formulating the operational plans, Bai Zhizhan and Liu Xiangzhen had a significant disagreement because of this.

Bai Zhizhan advocated to pull back and intercept Newland’s transport fleets in the waters close to the Saiyi homeland.

It wasn’t out of fear, nor to rely on the long-range patrol aircraft of the Volcanic Islands, but to narrow the search area and improve the efficiency of reconnaissance.

According to Bai Zhizhan’s judgment, because of the concern for the long-range patrol aircraft deployed in the Volcanic Islands, the more westward the Newland Navy’s carrier mixed fleets went, the more they would stay to the north.

In theory, this could reduce the search area by two-thirds!

In doing so, scouting missions could be accomplished without relying on long-range patrol planes, merely by deploying shipborne reconnaissance aircraft and seaplanes from cruisers.

At the tactical level, this would ensure the maximum concealment of the 41st special mixed fleet.

However, Liu Xiangzhen was concerned about strikes from the Saiyi shore-based air force.

While this concern was somewhat valid, fundamentally, Liu Xiangzhen was reluctant to give up the opportunity for distinction.

If following Bai Zhizhan’s tactics, the 21st special mixed fleet would have to reduce torpedo bombers and bombers to carry more fighters for enhanced anti-air combat capability.

To put it plainly, they’d need to be both a magnet and an anvil.

As a result, the 21st special mixed fleet’s offensive power would be significantly weakened, and at best, they could organize a maximum of two waves of attack.

Although Liu Xiangzhen’s concerns could not be denied.

There was enough intelligence to indicate that, in the past few months, the Newland Federation had provided the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom with a batch of key equipment for manufacturing Zero Fighters by various means, including dozens of parts necessary for producing engines that the factories of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom were incapable of making.

In addition, the Saiyi Navy had preserved hundreds of Type 96 land attack planes.

If organized properly, these combat aircraft could pose a lethal threat to the Special Mixed Fleet.

Furthermore, the Saiyi Navy, blinded by wrath, had established the "Heavenly Wind" unit.

This was a suicide squad!

Last month, the 21st Special Mixed Fleet had been attacked, and a light cruiser performing air defense alert duties was nearly sunk by a dive-bombing Zero Fighter.

According to the battle report, the Zero Fighters that launched the attack did not even engage in combat with the air defense fighters; they attacked in a diving approach directly.

Moreover, the sea area where the 21st Special Mixed Fleet was attacked was about 1,000 kilometers away from the Saiyi mainland, which had far exceeded the operational radius of the Zero Fighters.

Since it was the first encounter, and the aircraft were indeed Zero Fighters, the air defense pilots did not become alert before the enemy planes dived. In fact, the gunners on the cruiser were watching idly and had not considered using high-altitude guns to intercept the aircraft before the collision with the Zero Fighter.

At that time, there were friendly fighters nearby, so high-altitude guns could not be used.

This incident indicated that the Saiyi Navy would certainly attack Imperial warships in a similar manner.

It was for this reason that Bai Zhizhan personally asked Li Yunxiang whether the Army Air Force could deploy combat aircraft on Cu Island to bomb the northern areas of North Island and the Saiyi mainland, or at the very least, suppress them, even if it was just to paralyze the airports in those places for a short time.

Unfortunately, it was not feasible.

According to the treaty signed reluctantly with the Western Powers after the Liang-Luo War, the Liangxia Empire was prohibited from developing the annexed Outer Ridge Region for the next ninety-nine years.

Although Cu Island was not part of the Outer Ridge Region, it was among the areas specified by the treaty.

Up to now, it was still a deserted island, or more accurately, an undeveloped one, with only hundreds of thousands of indigenous inhabitants. There was not even a military airport, but just one dirt road and a fishing harbor with no supporting infrastructure, making it impossible to deploy warships.

Of course, maritime transportation itself was not very reliable.

Although it was possible to dispatch the Strategic Air Force stationed on the Ice Storm Peninsula to bomb the northern regions of the Saiyi mainland, the flight distance exceeded the operational radius of the fighters, making it difficult to provide the necessary escort coverage. The key was that the Army Strategic Air Force was relocating southwest and northwest.

To put it in Li Yunxiang’s words, he could send reconnaissance aircraft to monitor the airports in the northern regions of the Saiyi mainland, but he could not ensure sustained suppression.

To be blunt, bombing military facilities such as airports was much more difficult and risky than bombing cities, and the effects were not as good.

In ground warfare, such tasks were generally carried out by the Tactical Air Force, not the Strategic Air Force.

Therefore, Bai Zhizhan made a compromise, and the Navy headquarters adopted Liu Xiangzhen’s suggestion accordingly.

However, some adjustments were made.

The main one was to position the 21st Special Mixed Fleet further forward, or more accurately, further north, thereby leaving a larger expanse of sea to the south.

After the 21st Special Mixed Fleet moved north, the Newland Navy’s carrier mixed fleet would be more likely to operate in the southern waters.

With the 21st Special Mixed Fleet holding the front to the north, there was no need to worry about attacks from the north, so forces could be concentrated on searching the southern sea area.

This was also why the 41st Special Mixed Fleet maintained a distance of over 300 kilometers to the southwest of the 21st Special Mixed Fleet and traveled in the same direction.

If the Newland Navy’s Special Mixed Fleet targeted the 21st Special Mixed Fleet and was not in the east, i.e., the area where the 21st Special Mixed Fleet was focusing its search, then the only possibility was that they were in the southeast of the 21st Special Mixed Fleet, i.e., to the east of the 41st Special Mixed Fleet, and they would not be more than 500 kilometers away from the 41st Special Mixed Fleet at the time of attack. To swallow up the 21st Special Mixed Fleet in one gulp would require at least three carriers.

If that were the case, it would indeed be a posture of decisive battle!