Empire Conquest -
Chapter 399 - 395: Thorough in Every Aspect
Chapter 399: Chapter 395: Thorough in Every Aspect
Bai Zhizhan proposed exploiting the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom’s surrender ceremony for a very crucial reason, the straight-line distance between East Capital Bay and Wei Island.
It exceeded 4000 kilometers!
This meant that even if Bombers were dispatched in the early hours of the 25th, with the "Fenjin" located on the great circle route between East Capital Bay and Wei Island and 1500 kilometers from East Capital Bay, it would take until dawn to launch the onboard B-25 Bombers, and then turn around, racing toward Wei Island at maximum speed. Without considering the time delay for replenishing the ship-borne aircraft, it would take a day and a half, reaching approximately 500 kilometers northwest of Wei Island in the afternoon of the 26th.
Of course, this was still an unlikely best-case scenario.
Even if delayed for a few hours, the "Fenjin" returning to the vicinity of Wei Island would find it was already the evening of the 26th, and then have to wait until the 27th to engage in combat.
That is to say, Bai Zhizhan had at least two days.
If the "Fenjin" were not between Wei Island and East Capital Bay but on the east side of the Saiyi Main Island, then Bai Zhizhan could even gain three days.
Moreover, Spur might not guess that Bai Zhizhan would go to secretly attack Wei Island.
If the Newland Fleet rushed over after Wei Island was bombed, Bai Zhizhan would even have enough time to make adjustments, ambushing the incoming Newland Fleet.
In summary, two days were enough.
In one night, the 41st Special Mixed Fleet could sprint 600 kilometers, so during the daytime of the 25th, they just needed to stay in the sea area 1000 kilometers from Wei Island.
That was the crux of the entire plan.
The 41st Special Mixed Fleet had to be on standby in the sea area 1000 kilometers from Wei Island, northwest by a bit, between it and the Volcanic Islands. Only upon receiving confirmed news, that the Newland Navy’s Bombers had appeared near the Saiyi Mainland, could they start a full-speed dash toward Wei Island.
Otherwise, by the evening of the 25th, it would be necessary to consider the activation of a backup plan.
Because there was no way to guarantee the Newland Navy would launch a surprise attack on East Capital Bay, nor could it be determined if the Newland Army would defend Wei Island at all costs, predicting the "Fenjin’s" movements was impossible. Bai Zhizhan could only prepare multiple contingencies to ensure he wouldn’t be caught off guard in the event of the unexpected.
The so-called backup plan was actually to abandon the operation of secretly attacking Wei Island.
To put it another way, it was the safest approach.
When formulating the plan, Bai Zhizhan and Zhou Yongtao conducted simulations, and the two alternated playing the hypothetical enemy. The results of the two simulations were nearly identical.
As long as the Newland Navy’s carrier mixed fleet was near Wei Island, even if the 41st Special Mixed Fleet succeeded in secretly attacking Wei Island, they would suffer a devastating counter-strike.
The critical point was that two fleet carriers were indeed too few, able to attend to one side but not the other.
While deploying ship-borne aircraft to bomb the airfields on Wei Island, they would be unable to handle potential attacks nor detect the Newland Fleet in time.
At the beginning of the war, the first naval battle, Lan Yun’s Mobile Fleet was caught off guard by Liu Xiangzhen because they couldn’t manage both fronts. If Lan Yun had decisively kept the Attack Aircraft Group and extended the search area, perhaps the subsequent overwhelming defeat wouldn’t have happened.
As previously mentioned, the secret attack on Wei Island was part of the whole strategy, not the entirety.
So, what reason was there to risk the carrier mixed fleet for this?
Of course, abandonment did not mean giving up completely.
What was related to this backup plan was making necessary adjustments to the ensuing operations, ensuring that even without the secret attack on Wei Island, or rather, without annihilating the Newland Navy’s carrier mixed fleet, an assault on Sai Island could still be launched.
That is to say, shifting the decisive battle from Wei Island to Sai Island and Guan Island.
Whether successfully attacking Wei Island or not was a major turning point in this strategic offensive, which would have a decisive impact on the subsequent operations.
Success.
The Imperial Navy had a great chance of smoothly taking Sai Island, and then by the end of the year, or at the latest, the first quarter of the next year, launching an operation to attack Guan Island. They would fight a defensive and offensive struggle around Guan Island with the Newland Navy and engage in a decisive battle under relatively favorable circumstances.
Conversely, the decisive battle might come sooner, centered around Sai Island.
Because neither side had many carriers to deploy, and both could rely on their rear’s shore-based air force, coupled with a few islands between Guan Island and Sai Island, the decisive battle around Sai Island could likely have little to do with carriers and shipborne air force.
Then, the Newland Navy might not necessarily send a carrier to participate in the war!
The key is that it will inevitably turn into a war of attrition!
Although these are all guesses, at best considered speculation, when making plans, one must definitely take into account all possible scenarios.
If you were to ask, Bai Zhizhan actually felt a bit of regret.
If he had known it would lead to a large-scale strategic offensive, even if a strategic offensive were certain, he wouldn’t have hurried back to the Imperial Capital at that time.
After all the hustle, it turned out that there was a very good chance he would become a mere supporting role!
Perhaps he could only watch the excitement from the sidelines.
If the backup plan were really to be implemented, and it evolved in the direction of a war of attrition around Sai Island, both Bai Zhizhan and the 41st Special Mixed Fleet would be supporting roles.
In hindsight, Bai Zhizhan always felt that Liu Changxun and Xue Yuanzheng had used him in partnership.
The reason is quite simple: Such a strategic-level offensive operation would require several months just for preliminary planning, so Xue Yuanzheng and Liu Changxun must have been prepared in advance.
Bai Zhizhan, well, he was just the initiator.
The two of them took up the plan that Bai Zhizhan had proposed and entered the implementation phase without telling Bai Zhizhan that he might just be reduced to a minor role.
Of course, this was also speculation.
When Bai Zhizhan arrived on the Command Bridge, Zhou Yongtao was boasting with a few officers from the "Peijing," and they were quite engaged in the conversation.
Upon seeing Bai Zhizhan, the officers quickly took their leave.
"I started to hear them mention that Long Sorrow even actively proposed sending the National Self-Defense Force to participate in combat operations, without needing extra support from the Empire."
"You’re taking such rumors seriously?"
Zhou Yongtao smiled and said, "They’re all just blowing smoke, but it’s just for fun. Really though, using the Saiyi National Self-Defense Team as cannon fodder is also a method."
Bai Zhizhan was speechless, but did not refute.
In fact, what the Empire needed now was not cannon fodder but cheap labor.
In both the Northwest and the Southwest, roads needed to be built. Since they were too far from the core areas of the Main Island and the conditions were particularly harsh, not many engineer teams were willing to go there.
As for the Army’s Engineer Soldiers, the newly recruited soldiers were still in training.
For this matter, Lian Xusheng had once complained to Bai Zhizhan, saying that the Army’s high command had always undervalued the Engineer Soldiers and now they were paying the price.
Recently, the Imperial High Command had specifically discussed this issue, whether to attract labor from the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom by offering material aid or decision-making power.
Although there was no conclusion for the time being, from what Bai Zhizhan knew, perhaps by the end of the year, or at the latest by the beginning of next year, the War Cabinet would issue relevant notices.
Overall, war-time engineering construction was, frankly, an unenviable tough job.
The key was that it was not an issue that could be solved with money.
Also, the Empire’s wartime mobilization had not yet reached the point of forced conscription, so it could not use wartime laws to commandeer domestic engineering teams.
Therefore, they could only make use of personnel from outside the country.
In any case, mobilizing tens of millions of Saiyi people could accomplish a lot of things.
If you were to say, the Saiyi people have always been known for their hard work and endurance.
Of course, these are all digressions.
Like Zhou Yongtao said, it’s just bragging, just for a bit of fun.
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