Empire Conquest
Chapter 422 - 418: The Cunning Chur

Chapter 422: Chapter 418: The Cunning Chur

As dawn approached, Isenway finally left the Prime Minister’s Mansion.

However, no sooner had he left than another military officer entered the Prime Minister’s study—an officer who also held the rank of General but was dressed in the Bulan Royal Navy uniform.

He was Cunningham, the Vice Admiral of the Land Heart Sea Fleet.

After returning to Luntai City, he went straight to the Prime Minister’s Mansion.

Because Isenway was there, Cunningham waited in the adjacent tea room. After seeing Isenway leave, he did not wait for the secretary to greet him and went straight to the study.

In fact, it was Cunningham’s suggestion that before reinforcing the Fan Flame Ocean, two "thorns in the flesh" should be removed.

Only by eliminating these hidden dangers in the rear could they deploy troops to the Fan Flame Ocean with peace of mind.

Should any issues arise in the rear while they were fiercely engaged with the Liangxia Navy in the Fan Flame Ocean, even a temporary threat could have unimaginable consequences.

Because time was of the essence, Cunningham proposed they strike quickly and decisively.

It was more accurate to describe it as "cutting the Gordian knot."

After obtaining authorization from Chur, Cunningham organized several trusted staff officers to secretly draft two operational plans.

One was targeted at the Locke Navy, and the other at the Raleigh Navy.

Several days earlier, Cunningham had arranged for a trusted staff officer to bring these two plans back to Luntai City and present them in detail to Chur in person.

Actually, this was completely unnecessary.

During the last major war, Chur had been the Minister of the Navy for Bulan Kingdom, promoting and leading the naval operations towards the Land Heart Sea.

The Gallipoli amphibious operation that led to the defeat and disintegration of the Ter Empire was Chur’s masterpiece.

However, to many, it was a disaster that sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers to their deaths without achieving any tangible results, and it was seen as a disgrace to the Bulan Royal Navy.

Moreover, it directly led to Chur’s resignation.

It was during this period that he met Cunningham, who was also serving in the Land Heart Sea Fleet at the time.

Although not a professional military man, Chur was well-versed in naval affairs.

Upon receiving the two operational plans, Chur immediately understood Cunningham’s intentions.

This assertive and decisive General was fighting for more than just the elimination of concerns or ensuring unobstructed sea routes.

He wanted to establish the dominance of the Royal Navy in both the North Sunset Ocean and the Land Heart Sea.

He also aimed to make Bulan Kingdom one of the most influential members within the Alliance Group.

Fundamentally, the Locke Navy and Raleigh Kingdom had always been playing hard to get, using their limited resources to haggle with the Alliance Group.

Among them, Raleigh Kingdom was the most significant.

Indeed, Raleigh Kingdom had the resources to do so.

The Raleigh Navy had six battleships, with an additional two under construction. Even relying on their own territorial waters, they could block the maritime routes from Nara Fortress to the Xifan Canal.

As for the Locke Fleet, they were now desperate.

The Tiaoman Empire had been actively trying to recruit the Locke Navy, and the Vichy Regime was also working on it, with many naval officers and soldiers already wavering.

It was uncertain when these Locke battleships would start flying the Iron Cross flag.

Eliminating these two formidable adversaries would not only eliminate concerns but also allow Bulan Kingdom to become the second strongest nation in the Alliance Group, following the Newland Federation.

At least in the Sunset Ocean and the Land Heart Sea, no other country could replace Bulan Kingdom.

Although it was impossible to surpass and replace the Newland Federation, as long as they tightly held the trident, Bulan Kingdom’s position in the Alliance Group would be unshakeable.

The Luosha Federation was a typical land-power country, with no direct conflict with Bulan Kingdom.

Besides, the Luosha Navy was essentially negligible.

Strategically, Cunningham’s plan was highly appealing.

What made Chur hesitate was actually the difficulty of implementing both actions simultaneously.

If they were dealt with separately, the difficulty would be much less.

Unfortunately, such a possibility did not exist, or rather, the window of opportunity had already passed.

Chur had always opposed courting the famously indecisive Raleigh Kingdom, fundamentally disregarding it.

To dominate the Land Heart Sea completely, Chur even frequently pushed the Raleigh Kingdom toward the Consortium Group.

Most notably, after becoming Prime Minister, he immediately used age-old grievances, specifically the Raleigh Kingdom’s terror rule in the eastern part of the Xuan Continent, as a pretext to impose a comprehensive strategic embargo on the Raleigh Kingdom, which included the crucially important, almost entirely imported oil.

It was precisely Chur’s aggressive strategy that forced the Raleigh Kingdom to move closer to the Tiaoman Empire.

If not for the fundamental interests of the state being threatened, the Raleigh Kingdom, even if it remained neutral, would have benefited more than by joining the Consortium Group.

In the last great war, the Raleigh Kingdom delayed until the last moment, joining the Alliance Group when the overall situation was already decided and transformed into one of the victors overnight.

By taking advantage of the situation, the Raleigh Kingdom tasted the fruits of victory without suffering any losses.

What Chur did not expect was that those guys in the Raleigh Kingdom were incredibly dragging their feet.

After negotiating with the Tiaoman Empire for over half a year, they failed to reach a conclusion even just before the Luosha Federation defected.

As the Tiaoman army faced a complete defeat on the eastern front, the Raleigh Kingdom immediately pulled back, ending the negotiations just as they were about to sign the treaty to join.

Upon hearing the news, Chur was so furious that he slammed his desk.

Still, the Raleigh Kingdom was nothing special.

Because the Raleigh Kingdom itself was very weak and notoriously fickle, with little combat capability, even an undeclared assault by the fleet, under the guise of protecting the maritime routes through the Land Heart Sea, would definitely be understood by the Newland Federation and the Luosha Federation.

The key was still the Locke Navy.

Regardless, the Locke Republic was an ally in the last great war.

Moreover, the Locke Exile Regime had already joined the Alliance Group, and Dale received high praise from Rofuss, who called him a guardian of the free and democratic world.

Furthermore, strictly speaking, the Locke Navy was an ally.

The Locke Republic had already declared war on the Tiaoman Empire, and those who later surrendered and currently controlled the southern part of the Locke Republic were puppet regimes.

If the Locke Navy declared allegiance to the Exile Regime, their ally status would be beyond doubt.

Open fire on an ally without any reason?

That was no small matter.

Chur hesitated precisely because he was concerned about this issue.

Any action taken by the Bulan Royal Navy against the Locke Navy before receiving recognition, or even tacit approval from Rofuss, could potentially cause the Alliance Group to crumble.

Chur was well aware of his limits.

Although over two hundred years ago, the Newland Federation was a colony of the Bulan Kingdom, today, the one qualified to command Western civilization was the Newland Federation.

Despite nominally controlling over twenty million square kilometers of overseas territories and having about four hundred million overseas residents, Bulan had only forty million people on its mainland, and its economic scale and industrial capacity had been surpassed by the Newland Federation, even falling behind the Luosha Federation.

Moreover, Australia and Maple Country, both crucial, were essentially independent and more inclined to align with the Newland Federation.

This was also why Chur was unwilling to meet Isenway.

After several rounds of maneuvering, even the clever and witty Isenway fell into the full trap carefully prepared by Chur.

Actually, this might be an exaggeration.

Both men simply stood from different perspectives and saw things differently.

In Isenway’s view, the major threat was that the top admiral of the Liangxia Navy had gone to the Flame Sea, therefore the Bulan Royal Navy should increase its forces in the Fan Flame Ocean promptly.

Clearly, in Chur’s view, it was precisely the opposite.

Bai Zhizhan was the only Navy General who had never tasted defeat, and dealing with him meant that eliminating distractions was even more necessary.