Empire Conquest
Chapter 346 - 342: Contradictions

Chapter 346: Chapter 342: Contradictions

At 7:15, 7:25, and 7:30, the "Imperial Capital" also received three telegrams sent from the "Zizhou."

At the time, Li Mingbo had joked, saying Liu Xiangzhen had incredible luck to have first discovered the Newland carrier mixed fleet.

However, Bai Zhizhan and Zhou Yongtao were not in the mood for jokes.

According to their previous predictions, the Newland carrier mixed fleet should not have been north of the Main Battle Mixed Fleet; it should have already moved to the south.

The transport convoys lagged behind, needing no aerial cover.

Then, what was the use of keeping the carrier mixed fleet on the north side of the Main Battle Mixed Fleet?

By losing the main battle ships, could it ensure the smooth arrival of the transport convoys to the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom?

The Newland Navy had only five fleet carriers, which were organized into two mixed fleets. If one was located in the north, then the one operating in the south was inevitably isolated and thus potentially liable to mishaps. Losing one carrier mixed fleet would bring the Newland Navy one step closer to defeat.

Crucially, a seaplane had identified the "Sara."

Which means it was the 16th Newland mixed fleet.

The 17th mixed fleet, possessing three "York" class ships, had to be in the south!

So, where in the south?

This question demanded a change in perspective.

Since the 43rd mixed fleet had already moved south and encountered the 12th Newland mixed fleet, Spur, now in command of the 17th Newland mixed fleet, could only be sure that Liu Xiangzhen, because of his responsibility for providing air cover, could only lead the 21st mixed fleet following behind the 43rd mixed fleet.

That is to say, the 21st mixed fleet had also moved south.

Therefore, Spur, commanding the 17th mixed fleet, had to navigate northwest to shorten the distance to the 21st mixed fleet.

So, when did Spur change course?

The 21st mixed fleet hadn’t broken radio silence, so Bai Zhizhan was unclear about Liu Xiangzhen’s arrangements and didn’t know if reconnaissance aircraft were dispatched east or southeast.

Of course, not knowing was also inconsequential.

According to Bai Zhizhan’s request, Zhou Yongtao made a similar arrangement, dispatching reconnaissance aircraft eastward, focusing on searching the south of the 43rd mixed fleet.

According to Bai Zhizhan’s estimation, the 17th Newland mixed fleet was highly likely to be in that area.

Worried about being too close and thus missing the 17th Newland mixed fleet before dawn, the reconnaissance aircraft from the 41st mixed fleet only took off in succession after 6:30.

By 7:30, upon receiving the third telegram from "Zizhou," the first batch of reconnaissance aircraft had only been out for an hour.

This time was only enough to fly north for more than 200 kilometers. For a reconnaissance mission with a radius of 600 kilometers, they hadn’t even covered half the distance.

Although the 41st mixed fleet’s two carriers carried additional reconnaissance aircraft, it was still far from enough for the vast sea area.

Thus, Bai Zhizhan made arrangements, instructing He Weigu to set up reconnaissance missions for the seaplanes aboard the escort battleships.

As seaplanes were slower and needed to achieve a flight radius of 600 kilometers, they could only fly to the four leading heavy cruisers for refueling. Hence, the twelve seaplanes sent from the four long-range cruisers all took off before dawn, about an hour ahead of the reconnaissance aircraft.

In a nutshell, Bai Zhizhan had deployed all available reconnaissance forces.

Furthermore, the 41.2 Subsquad had advanced 100 kilometers overnight.

By the break of day, four ’Wuzhou’ class ships had already moved about 300 kilometers ahead of the "Imperial Capital."

Although the Newland carrier mixed fleet had not been spotted, its threat should not be underestimated. If encountered, the Wei Jun would certainly give Spur a tough time.

Also, two long-range cruisers had advanced 150 kilometers through the night.

They were now situated ahead of the "Imperial Capital," navigating in standard combat formation.

If the Newland Plane Group flew over from the east, the first they would encounter would be these two long-range cruisers.

Although skeptical about the scouting report from "Zizhou," with three seaplanes having made discoveries, and one explicitly identifying a Newland Navy fleet carrier and recognizing it as a "Lek" class, Bai Zhizhan had to admit that a mistake might have been made on his part.

"Of course, that must be Newland’s 16th Special Mixed Fleet."

"Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with Bai Zhizhan."

"At a distance exceeding 700 kilometers, never mind ’Wasp’ and ’Flying Fish’; even ’Xiaotian’ wouldn’t have such a range even with an auxiliary fuel tank."

"This situation persisted for about half an hour."

"Around 8 o’clock, a seaplane flying toward the northeast sent out a telegram, which was intercepted by the long-wave radio station aboard the ’Imperial Capital.’"

"It was a seaplane carried by a heavy cruiser from the 41.2 Subsquad."

"Because the 41.2 Subsquad had moved forward 300 kilometers, this seaplane, which took off at 6:30, had already flown roughly 300 kilometers to the north."

"This means, at the time of sending the telegram, it was less than 500 kilometers away from the 41.1 Subsquad."

"Moreover, since the 41.2 Subsquad continued to sail eastward at full speed, the position from which the seaplane sent the telegram was actually to its northwest."

"In the maritime area from which it sent the telegram, there was a Newland carrier, visually identified by the pilot as the ’Lek.’"

"How is that possible!"

"Not just Zhou Yongtao and Li Mingbo, even Bai Zhizhan was startled."

"Previously, the Zizhou from 42.2 Subsquad reported that the seaplane had spotted Newland’s 16th Special Mixed Fleet and visually confirmed the presence of a ’Lek’ class carrier, although it didn’t specify which one. According to pre-war intelligence, both ’Lek’ class carriers were supposed to be in the 16th Special Mixed Fleet."

"Now, the seaplane from the 41.2 Subsquad had spotted another ’Lek’ class."

"The direct distance between these two locations was over 500 kilometers!"

"And this was merely half an hour apart."

"How could Newland’s 16th Special Mixed Fleet’s two carriers appear in two maritime areas so far apart!"

"There must be a mistake with one of the seaplanes."

"Furthermore, Bai Zhizhan leaned toward the issue originating from the 42.2 Subsquad side."

"It was just intuition, not prejudice."

"If he had to choose, between Wei Jun and Li Jiaheng, Bai Zhizhan would prefer to trust Wei Jun."

"If possible, Bai Zhizhan would have liked to send a telegram to inquire."

"Unfortunately, now was not the time to break radio silence."

"Crucially, that Newland carrier mixed fleet to the northeast was too close!"

"It was just over 400 kilometers away, already within the operational radius of the ship-borne aircraft."

"Fortunately, Wei Jun’s extensive combat experience meant he didn’t wait for Bai Zhizhan’s orders and sent a telegram from ’Wuzhou.’"

"As per his instructions, several nearby seaplanes turned to fly toward the area where the ’Enemy Fleet’ was located."

"Furthermore, Wei Jun also sent a telegram to Li Jiaheng on the ’Zizhou,’ inquiring about the situation there, especially about any verifications from before."

"Meanwhile, Bai Zhizhan issued a combat order, instructing Zhou Yongtao to arrange attack tactics."

"He had the first wave of Attack Aircraft Group prepare to strike the carriers, immediately moving to the flight deck for arming and refueling."

"Normally, arming and refueling would take twenty minutes to half an hour."

"As for attack tactics, that was a minor issue."

"Now that they had voice radios, commands could even be issued after the groups had taken off."

"It was not yet 8:25 when the second seaplane sent a telegram."

"It did not confirm the previous seaplane’s report, but had a new discovery—about 50 kilometres from the area reported by the first seaplane, another Newland Sea Fleet carrier was sighted, identified by the structural design and size of its island as a ’York’ class.

"Only then did Bai Zhizhan suddenly understand."