Empire Conquest
Chapter 407 - 403: Return to Toe Peninsula

Chapter 407: Chapter 403: Return to Toe Peninsula

In contrast, the offensive directed towards the Toe Peninsula presented an entirely opposite situation.

Likewise, at the end of November, the Army set out from the homeland and invaded the Toe Peninsula, initiating a military operation marching towards Lion Spring City at the far southern end.

Unlike Nanzhu Country, on the Toe Peninsula, it was the Army taking on the main role with the Navy providing only naval transport support.

This meant that the Army had to advance southward as much as possible along the coastline in order to facilitate resupply.

Of course, this was also central to the entire offensive plan.

Before the last major war ended, the Toe Peninsula had still been an overseas territory of the Empire. At that time, the Toe Country was itself a nation and, just like the Gaoju Kingdom, a vassal state of the Empire. Its main towns were distributed along the coastline and expanded inland through branch railways and roads.

It was for this reason that the Toe Country became so "slender."

However, after the last great war, the Toe Country split in two. Northern Toe attained an independent status, though nominally it remained an Empire vassal. The Southern Toe region became a colony of the Locke Republic, or rather, fell back into the hands of the Locke Republic, losing its independence.

Because its integrity had not been preserved, in the aftermath of the war, resentment towards the Empire brewed in the hearts of the Northern Toe Kingdom.

To say, the vast majority of Northern Toans still regarded the Empire as the enemy, believing that it was the Empire’s defeat that led to their country being split in two.

In the first few years after the war, the Northern Toe Kingdom experienced civil unrest, and hundreds of thousands of Imperial expatriates were forced to leave their homes.

To this day, there are still over a hundred thousand expatriates living in "Guest Village" north of the border.

Clearly, the Northern Toans never considered that it was with the support of the Empire that they were able to break free from Locke Empire’s control and establish their own kingdom!

Regardless, relations between the Northern Toe Kingdom and the Empire had always been strained.

Before the breakout of the great war, the Northern Toe had even taken the initiative to curry favor with the Newland Federation and the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, attempting to count on the support of the Western Powers to counterbalance the Empire.

Thus, once the offensive commenced, it did not go smoothly.

By December 9, the day before the 41st Special Mixed Fleet reached Daban, the Army had only just completely occupied the capital of the Northern Toe Kingdom.

The advance was so slow partly due to the harsh natural environment and the poor transportation conditions.

Most of the time, the Imperial Army’s officers and soldiers were fighting against the tropical rainforest.

According to soldiers on the front line, they spent ten times more time cutting through the jungle with machetes than firing rifles at the enemy.

In addition, there were tropical diseases.

Malaria alone caused the Imperial Army considerable distress.

It is worth mentioning that before the outbreak of the great war, the Empire hoarded quinine imports from the Mala region precisely because of tropical infectious diseases.

Fortunately, after occupying the capital of the Northern Toe Kingdom, the bitter fighting came to an end.

On December 10, the Empire sent back the Toe Country King, who had been in exile for over twenty years, and established a provisional government in their capital.

More than twenty years was not a particularly long time; most of the people of the Toe Country still remembered this king who had resisted Locke with the support of Liangxia.

As the saying goes, the legitimate name lends weight to the words.

With the Toe Country King present, it wasn’t too difficult to get the Northern Toe Kingdom’s army to lay down their arms and surrender, or more accurately, switch allegiance and follow the commands of the Imperial Army. If they encountered anyone too stubborn, they brought up the heavy artillery or called in the Air Force.

Usually, after a few shells were fired or a round of bombings, the situation would be handled.

On that day, December 10, the Imperial Army cleared the towns near the capital of the Northern Toe Kingdom using this method.

According to the plan conceived by the Army, the next step was to skip over half of the Toe Peninsula and take the Navy’s transport ships to the south side of the peninsula, more precisely, to the northern side of Damman Bay, to seize control of the East Toe Railway and prepare for the subsequent crossing of Damman Bay and landing on the southernmost tip of the Mala Peninsula.

In the end, the goal was to avoid ground advancement as much as possible.

This was an inevitable predicament, after all, there was only one East Toe Railway, and this railway came to an abrupt halt upon entering the Damman Kingdom.

Moreover, the Mala Peninsula is very long and narrow, and the north does not even have proper roads!

It was virtually impossible to push forward on the ground to reach the northern outskirts of Lion Spring City at the southern end of the Mala Peninsula.

Not to mention now, even in the past, no military force had accomplished this.

The two-step approach mainly took into account the operational radius of the Tactical Air Force, ensuring that air support was available throughout the entire journey.

As the Navy could not dispatch large battleships for support, and with few landing crafts available, the Army had to rely heavily on the Air Force.

This was heavily emphasized when the plan was devised.

Before capturing Lion Spring City, the Imperial Navy would not deploy much force on the Western Front, leaving the Army to fend for itself, which meant committing a sufficient number of Air Forces.

All the Navy could ensure was maritime transportation.

Fortunately, the Imperial Authority had done their homework and neutralized the prime source of trouble.

In the latter part of last month, accurately speaking, the day before the Imperial Army launched its assault on the north of the Toe Peninsula, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs settled matters with the Damman Kingdom.

According to the secret agreement reached between the two parties, the Damman Kingdom would maintain neutrality during the war, provided the Empire guaranteed its independence.

It was bound to be biased neutrality.

To show their stance, the Damman prince who came to the Empire for negotiations stayed in the Imperial Capital and even resided in the Imperial Palace.

The neutrality of the Damman Kingdom meant one less enemy, and after the Imperial Army had swept through and established a foothold in the Southern Flame Region, they could move directly south to attack the Mala Peninsula without wasting more troops and more precious time on the Toe Peninsula.

Even a weakened Damman Kingdom still had 300,000 standing troops, and they were fighting on their home soil.

As the saying goes, even a mighty dragon cannot suppress a local tyrant.

More importantly, having one more friend is certainly better than having one more enemy.

Speaking of which, the combat effectiveness of the Damman military was not weak; they were considered the strongest force on the Toe Peninsula.

Over a hundred years ago, it was through arduous struggle and defeating mighty invaders that the Damman Kingdom maintained its sovereignty intact amidst the colonization of the entire Toe Peninsula by Western Powers and became the only independent kingdom in the Southern Flame Region.

The Damman Kingdom was also one of the first to recognize the Liangxia Empire and establish diplomatic relations with the Empire.

Before the last great war, the Damman Kingdom had always been a quasi-ally of the Empire, and the relationship between them could be said to be quite special.

Even after the Empire’s defeat, the Damman Kingdom still maintained close relations with the Empire, providing assistance in many areas as much as they could.

The most representative of this was the unconditional support for the construction of the East Toe Railway.

Without this railway, the Empire’s return to the Toe Peninsula could only depend on the Navy; the formidable Imperial Army would have nowhere to exert its military prowess.

Of course, with the support of the Damman Kingdom, the East Toe Railway was fully connected, ensuring ample logistical support.

It was for this reason that Peng Huaisong could reassure Xue Yuanzheng that they would definitely capture the Mala Peninsula before the Spring Festival and launch the operation to attack Lion Spring City after the festival.

If all went well, there was hope that Lion Spring City would be taken before the Qingming Festival.

Peng Huaisong also mentioned that he hoped the Navy would be ready to advance into the Fan Flame Ocean in time.

It implies that he was still worried about the Navy.

Spurred by the Army, the Navy provisionally set the time for advancing into the Fan Flame Ocean around next year’s Qingming Festival, after the Army captured Lion Spring City.

By then, the Imperial Navy would have 3 Fleet Carriers and 4 large Carriers at their disposal!