Empire Conquest
Chapter 339 - 335: The Final Conjecture

Chapter 339: Chapter 335: The Final Conjecture

After Bai Zhizhan adjusted the markings on the sea chart, not only did Li Mingbo furrow his brows, but so did Zhou Yongtao, who had just returned to the Command Bridge.

This was Bai Zhizhan’s war simulation, showing the battle situation around tomorrow morning.

The marker representing Newland’s 16th Special Mixed Fleet was in the yellow area to the south of the transport fleet, at a distance exceeding three hundred kilometers.

The marker for Newland’s 17th Special Mixed Fleet hadn’t moved northwest but had retreated to the southeast of the yellow area, over five hundred kilometers away, maintaining about a three-hundred-kilometer distance from Newland’s 16th Special Mixed Fleet in an ideal position to provide air defense cover.

A part of Newland’s First Fleet, the main battle mixed fleet with six battleships, had sailed over two hundred kilometers south.

The whole situation was that Newland’s First Fleet had increased its front width, not intercepting the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet head-on, but instead moving south to guard against the 43rd Special Mixed Fleet.

Crucially, they also blocked the 21st Special Mixed Fleet’s route for an eastward breakthrough.

"How is this possible?"

"Don’t rush, listen to me," Bai Zhizhan said after taking a couple sips of coffee, "Let’s make an assumption that Spur is indeed in command of the battle, and that Tanimoto is cooperating with him, or rather, acting as his assistant. They would first assume that Liu Xiangzhen wouldn’t recklessly follow Zhang Guozhu, and the likelihood of him taking a risk to move forward is not very high. Don’t forget, Liu Xiangzhen’s performance in the Flame Sea was not very proactive, and later on, quite conservative."

Zhou Yongtao’s eyebrows were tightly knitted, but he did not object.

According to Liu Xiangzhen’s character, if he was not competing with Bai Zhizhan for military merits but only aimed to stabilize the situation, he would definitely stay obediently behind the 42nd Special Mixed Fleet.

"If that’s the case, attacking the 21st Special Mixed Fleet becomes the biggest problem."

"Are you saying that Hal will detour south?" Li Mingbo directly asked.

Bai Zhizhan nodded, "Only by detouring to the south can they achieve the surprise element of the attack and get Spur’s cover while attacking the 21st Special Mixed Fleet. Similarly, to provide cover for Hal and to catch us, Spur would stay behind Hal."

"How would they deal with us then?" Without waiting for Bai Zhizhan to speak, Zhou Yongtao added, "If they concentrate their forces on attacking the 21st Special Mixed Fleet first, then by tomorrow morning, let alone attacking us, Hal might not even be able to send reconnaissance aircraft to search for us. As for the special mixed fleet commanded by Spur, its position is too far behind; unless we charge at them, they pose no threat."

"That’s right, if they can’t take us down, it would mean using Hal in exchange for Liu Xiangzhen," Li Mingbo said, shrugging his shoulders.

His expression suggested that if they were really exchanging fleet commanders, not battleships, then nothing could be better.

"Why wouldn’t we charge at them?"

Hearing Bai Zhizhan say this, both Li Mingbo and Zhou Yongtao were stunned.

"Or put it this way, what reason does Spur have to think we won’t charge? Don’t forget, his strategist is the Saiyi Navy’s Tanimoto." Bai Zhizhan smiled and continued, "In that battle with the Permanent Fleet in the West East Ocean, we were deep into enemy territory alone. The risk we took at that time was certainly much higher than the risk of taking the initiative now. As long as Tanimoto is there, he will convince Spur that we will surely take the initiative."

"Would Spur believe that?" Li Mingbo still found it unlikely.

Tanimoto, a general defeated in battle.

No matter how poor Spur might be, he wouldn’t be completely guided by a foreign general who had suffered such defeats. After all, if Tanimoto was truly competent, he wouldn’t have been defeated so miserably.

"Why wouldn’t he believe?"

Counter-questioned by Bai Zhizhan, Li Mingbo pursed his lips.

"It’s indeed possible, if Tanimoto is really by Spur’s side, then given his previous experience, he would definitely conclude that we will take the initiative," Zhou Yongtao exhaled and added, "The key point is, we are indeed sailing southeast right now, which is taking the initiative."

"Now, to turn or to slow down..."

Li Mingbo had just started to speak when he noticed the expressions on Bai Zhizhan and Zhou Yongtao’s faces, and he immediately shut his mouth.

If this meant giving up an opportunity, Bai Zhizhan wouldn’t have spent so much effort talking.

Bai Zhizhan had spoken so much, actually to resolve a dilemma of choice.

Should he deal with Hal first, or take out Spur?

The former was much less risky, but the gains would also be much smaller. Conversely, the latter was riskier, but the potential gains were far more significant.

To put it bluntly, if they could take out Spur in the east first, there was a great chance of annihilating Newland’s carrier mixed fleet altogether.

On the other hand, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t miss the opportunity to eliminate Spur.

The crux of the matter was that the 41st Special Mixed Fleet had only two carriers.

Since night had fallen, and all the mixed fleets had gone into combat mode, with only approximate routes known, there was no way to contact other fleets unless they broke radio silence. Sending an aircraft to Liuhuang Island would need four hours one way, which was pointless.

With the hundred or so ship-borne aircraft on those two carriers, even if they could guarantee a successful attack, it was impossible to engage two comparable carrier mixed fleets at the same time.

In fact, there weren’t even enough escort fighters to go around.

Therefore, they had to choose one!

Bai Zhizhan’s indecision was related to a geographical factor, namely that Wei Island was to the southeast.

The 41st Special Mixed Fleet was sailing at high speed in the southeast direction, which was towards Wei Island, with a very high probability of being spotted by patrol aircraft in the early morning.

If Spur was convinced that Bai Zhizhan would take the initiative to move forward, he would definitely arrange for patrol aircraft to intensively search this sea area.

"If it doesn’t work out, we could consider strengthening our defense first," seeing Bai Zhizhan and Zhou Yongtao not speaking, Li Mingbo tentatively put forth another suggestion.

Zhou Yongtao was just about to speak when Bai Zhizhan gestured for him to hold on.

"Don’t take it seriously, I was just speaking off the cuff..."

"Defense is not wrong, but it’s not about being passive; it’s about being proactive," Bai Zhizhan said with a smile. "Spur is behind, not only to provide cover for Hal but also for a very key reason: to make full use of the long-range patrol aircraft stationed at Wei Island, or even Transfer Island, without needing to carry many reconnaissance aircraft or arrange for ship-borne aircraft to carry out reconnaissance missions, thereby always maintaining secrecy."

"You mean..."

"What we have to do is actually keep an eye on the patrol aircraft in the direction of Wei Island. If we can convince Spur that we are indeed over there..."

"Would he believe it?"

Bai Zhizhan looked at Zhou Yongtao and said, "What if it were two long-range cruisers?"

"What?"

"We previously sent out heavy cruisers and were detected by the patrol aircraft but not attacked. Spur may think that we’re using heavy cruisers for air defense patrol, leaving the long-range cruisers behind. So as soon as he discovers the long-range cruisers, he will believe that he’s found us. Moreover, these are long-range cruisers that haven’t been seen before, and they have a huge appeal by themselves."

"This..."

"Anyway, this is an opportunity to completely wipe out Newland’s carrier mixed fleet."

Bai Zhizhan had spoken, and Zhou Yongtao didn’t argue further, after all, Bai Zhizhan was the Commander, and he was just a bit apprehensive, or rather not entirely reassured.

Spur might fall for the trick due to his lack of experience.

But would Tanimoto fall for it too?

In the past, on the eastern side of the Two-car Strait, Bai Zhizhan had outmaneuvered Takano with just four heavy cruisers, and Tanimoto was right by Takano’s side then!