Empire Conquest
Chapter 329 - 325: Pressing Step by Step

Chapter 329: Chapter 325: Pressing Step by Step

Liu Xiangzhen, aboard the "Longjiang," was also stunned by the massive explosion.

Although he had harbored similar concerns before, Liu Xiangzhen had always felt that the Newland Navy would not resort to such despicable tactics.

Besides, framing others would be too difficult.

The crux of the matter was the inability to prove that Liangxia’s submarines sank the merchant ships with torpedoes—at least not obtaining sufficient, concrete evidence.

Without evidence, on what grounds could one accuse the Liangxia Empire?

After all, it was the Tiaoman Empire that implemented unrestricted submarine warfare, not the Liangxia Empire, which possessed sea control and had no reason to let its submarines act recklessly.

In fact, the Liangxia Empire was one of the few nations in the world that openly opposed the development of submarines.

After the last war ended, representatives from the Liangxia Empire had expressed, in Seba, Huacheng, and Luntai, to journalists from around the world, their unconditional support for an international treaty prohibiting the development, design, and construction of submarines, and their willingness to destroy all their own submarines once the treaty was in effect.

The lack of high-performance submarines was always the greatest weakness of the Imperial Navy.

Go without evidence?

If there was no evidence and just baseless talk, and if that could still unite the people of Newland against a common enemy, then Rofuss would have already led the Newland Federation into battle months ago.

When it comes to joining a battle, evidence is indeed needed!

To play such a scheme, or rather to make this kind of ploy effective, one also needs evidence.

How could one prove that those merchant ships, which had sunk after being attacked, were indeed sunk by the Liangxia Navy’s submarines?

Suspicion was one thing, but Liu Xiangzhen didn’t dare waste time; he immediately issued a combat readiness order, directing the shipborne air force fighters from the two wings to be ready for takeoff.

As he feared.

Shortly after dawn, Zhang Guozhu sent a telegraph, detecting an approaching enemy aircraft on radar, requesting the 21st Special Mixed Fleet to immediately provide anti-aircraft cover.

According to the operational plan, protecting the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet was one of the main tasks of the 21st Special Mixed Fleet.

Although Liu Xiangzhen was reluctant to give way and had no intention of letting the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet get all the credit, he was extra cautious in his arrangements.

Both wings of the 21st Special Mixed Fleet were only equipped with the standard number of bombers and torpedo bombers, three squadrons of each, and the standard number of reconnaissance aircraft, one squadron of each. As a result, all extra aircraft slots were filled with fighters.

The 1st Wing had 37 "Xiaotian" fighters, and the 2nd Wing had 36.

The extra aircraft was a reserve.

Moreover, these two wings only started using "Xiaotian" in July, equipping these fighters a few months later than those in the 41st Special Mixed Fleet. Although the pilots were all very diligent, the experience needed to master the new type of fighter wasn’t something that could be earned merely through hard work.

Don’t forget, the forerunners of the two wings of the 41st Special Mixed Fleet were the 1st Shipborne Air Force Wing.

This wing was the first to equip "Xiaotian" fighters. Not only did they participate in the battle to encircle the Saiyi Permanent Fleet with the "Heng River," but they also carried out deployment missions after reorganization.

Moreover, the "Xiaotian’s" striking capability was not bad.

This fighter could carry a 500-kilogram bomb up to 500 kilometers away, or a 250-kilogram bomb to carry out bombing missions as far as 650 kilometers away.

Due to their excellent dive performance, the "Xiaotian’s" bombing accuracy was not low.

During the attack on Liuhuang Island, "Xiaotian" often replaced "Wasp" bombers for bombing missions.

It might be a bit difficult to deal with battleships, but certainly more than enough for merchant vessels.

In short, these extra "Xiaotian" fighters made the 21st Special Mixed Fleet’s missions all the more effortless.

At 6:50 A.M., about ten minutes after daybreak, the first batch of "Xiaotian" took to the sky.

At this time, the Newland Navy’s ship-borne aircraft had already flown over the airspace of the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet.

However, they were all fighters!

All were nicknamed "Wildcats," the F4F model fighters, and all were flying at altitudes above 6,000 meters, with none diving to strafe the battleships on the sea surface.

It seemed that the pilots on those fighters hadn’t seen the battleships on the sea.

They had come to seize air superiority, or rather to target the Imperial Navy’s fighters, so naturally, there was no reason to bother with those battleships that couldn’t be sunk with machine guns.

After receiving the message from Zhang Guozhu, Liu Xiangzhen was also greatly surprised.

If the Newland Fleet had been prepared in advance, launching a counterattack immediately after the cargo ship was attacked, then the first wave of the attack was critical.

If they acted quickly, they could launch their shipborne aircraft to take out the four battleships in the Special Mixed Fleet No. 42 before the Imperial Navy could react.

The window for launching an attack was just over an hour.

Meaning, within one hour after dawn, Special Mixed Fleet No. 42 would be without the protection of Special Mixed Fleet No. 21.

Liu Xiangzhen had always believed that this was likely why the Newland Navy scheduled the operation for the early hours of the morning.

Judging by the time the F4Fs had arrived, they had definitely taken off before dawn, specifically, before the cargo ship was attacked.

Clearly, this was a well-planned move.

So, was there any reason not to send bombers and torpedo bombers to take out Special Mixed Fleet No. 42?

In a way, Special Mixed Fleet No. 42 was actually the weight that could tip the balance.

After taking out Special Mixed Fleet No. 42, Newland’s First Fleet would be able to push forward unabated. The Special Mixed Fleet No. 43, with only four fast battleships, wouldn’t stand a chance in a gun battle as fierce as hand-to-hand combat against Newland’s First Fleet with ten battleships.

If Special Mixed Fleet No. 43 couldn’t prevail, the position of the Imperial Navy would become very delicate.

The key point was that neither Special Mixed Fleet No. 21 nor Special Mixed Fleet No. 41 was able to cover that gap!

So, was it a fight or a withdrawal?

If they chose to fight, Special Mixed Fleet No. 21 would certainly have to deal with the already exposed Newland Fleet, targeting the four battleships that were confronting Special Mixed Fleet No. 42 before dawn.

In doing so, Special Mixed Fleet No. 21 might reveal itself and subsequently come under attack.

Of course, they could also choose to first search for the Newland carrier mixed fleet.

But the problem was that Special Mixed Fleet No. 21 only had two carriers. If they deployed fighters to cover Special Mixed Fleet No. 42, they wouldn’t be able to send out many reconnaissance aircraft.

In fact, Special Mixed Fleet No. 21 didn’t carry many reconnaissance aircraft in the first place.

The operational capacity of the two carriers was very limited; it was impossible to attack two Newland fleets at the same time.

Clearly, Liu Xiangzhen would be caught in a dilemma at this point.

If Special Mixed Fleet No. 21 didn’t win the battle, Bai Zhizhan’s commanded Special Mixed Fleet No. 41 would definitely not fare any better.

Retreat?

Perhaps, that was precisely the outcome Rofuss had arranged all this to achieve, which was to break the blockade and allow over a hundred ocean-going cargo ships to head for the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom.

Over a million tons of strategic materials was no joke.

And furthermore, with the backing of the Newland Federation, the East Saiyi Regime would certainly grow more tenacious and might even create some trouble for the Empire on the western front of the Main Island.

Even a dying viper was still a viper!

Of course, the Imperial Navy would never retreat.

Fortunately, Zhang Guozhu reported the situation in time, and the fighters dispatched by Special Mixed Fleet No. 21 hadn’t flown far, allowing for adjustments to be made to the deployment.

Liu Xiangzhen immediately issued an order to contact the fighters that had already taken off using the short-range radiotelephone, telling the squadron leader’s pilot that unless Special Mixed Fleet No. 42 was already under attack, or came under attack by Newland fighters, they were absolutely not to fire the first shot.