Empire Conquest
Chapter 427 - 423 Nighttime Raid

Chapter 427: Chapter 423 Nighttime Raid

Li Yunxiang followed along, and his presence had little to do with the operation against Lion Spring City, as he visited the Damman Kingdom as a representative of the Imperial Military.

The primary mission was to make use of the military bases in the southern region of the Damman Kingdom.

If long-range air force units could be deployed in advance, even if just for surveillance and blockade of Throat Strait, it would be hugely beneficial to the attack on Lion Spring City.

Li Yunxiang’s presence was linked to another aspect of his identity.

Though not a Prince Consort, he was nonetheless a Quasi Royal Family member, able to claim ties with the Imperial Family, thus lending considerable prestige to the Empire’s mission to the Damman Kingdom. As for achieving his objectives, Li Yunxiang wasn’t too worried—after all, the Damman Kingdom didn’t have much bargaining power.

Bearing these plans in mind, Bai Zhizhan didn’t follow along just for the excitement.

On the following day, Li Yunxiang went to the Capital of the Damman Kingdom.

Later that same day, Bai Zhizhan received a telegram from Li Mingbo on board the "Peijing," informing him that the 41st Special Mixed Fleet had departed from Xu Sea, expected to arrive in the southern waters of Flame Sea on January 7th. According to the new organizational system, it would be renamed the 11th Special Mixed Fleet upon reaching the Flame Sea.

The numeric designation was mainly to distinguish it from the enemy’s Special Mixed Fleets.

Because the "Imperial Capital" carrier had not yet been repaired, the 11th Special Mixed Fleet still had only 2 carriers.

However, given that the Bulan Royal Air Force stationed in Lion Spring City had rather outdated combat aircraft, lacking Advanced Fighters like the "Spitfires," the two air Wings on board the 11th Special Mixed Fleet each had three fighter squadrons, with an increase in the number of Dive Bombers.

Moreover, the Special Mixed Fleet would also take this opportunity to transport several batches of combat aircraft to the front line.

For this reason, it wouldn’t be until January 10th at the earliest that the 11th Special Mixed Fleet could participate in the operation against Lion Spring City.

That being the case, the Army temporarily set the attack date for January 11th, with the preceding five days designated as a preparation phase for artillery, primarily handled by the Land Air Force and the shore-based air force of the Navy.

If everything went smoothly, a landing operation would be launched on January 16th.

On January 3rd, Bai Zhizhan left the front line headquarters and, accompanied by several staff officers arranged by Du Kang, visited Saigon Port in South Toe.

It was the best port in the entire Toe Peninsula and the surrounding area of the southern Flame Sea.

Because it had been a Navy Military Port of the Locke Republic and later became one of the Imperial Navy’s main Military Ports, it was equipped with many militarily valuable infrastructures.

Inspecting the Saigon Port wasn’t for the 11th Special Mixed Fleet, but in preparation for the landing operation.

Simply put, the plan was to set it as the mother port for the Landing Fleet, serving as an advance base for the landing operation to improve logistical support efficiency.

The situation in Saigon Port did not surprise Bai Zhizhan.

It was comparable to Nagiu Port.

Although the South Toe region fell back under the Locke Republic’s colonial rule after the last great war, over the subsequent twenty years, the Locke Republic’s expansionist strategy did not focus on this area, and they did not invest resources in South Toe as they had in the past.

Saigon Port was more akin to Cape Town after the opening of the Xifan Canal.

Additionally, there were simply too many native inhabitants, most of whom were engaged in colonial-related business activities, highly dependent on the Suzerain for all aspects. The more than ten thousand Locke troops stationed in South Toe, along with around fifty thousand colonists and the import-export merchants—frequent travelers between the South Toe area and the Locke Republic mainland—became the main economic source for all of Saigon, and even the South Toe area.

To put it bluntly: the 30+ million people of South Toe were serving these 100,000 colonists.

Bai Zhizhan’s conclusion was also very pragmatic.

Rather than invest in infrastructure in Saigon, it was better to burn more fuel.

Besides, the distance from Lion Spring City to the Empire’s mainland was just over 2000 kilometers, with dozens of military bases along the way, making it unnecessary to open another Military Port.

This conclusion effectively relegated Saigon Port to the cold palace.

Since there really wasn’t much to inspect, Bai Zhizhan only stayed there for two days, and on January 5 he flew back to the front-line headquarters.

Without establishing an advanced base, adjustments had to be made to the landing operations, requiring the use of more transport ships and proportionately increasing escort battleships.

Before leaving Saigon Port, Bai Zhizhan had written these observations into his inspection report and sent it back to the Navy Headquarters.

It was during these two days that the situation in the Land Heart Sea dramatically changed.

After Bai Zhizhan left Saigon Port, the Imperial Navy Headquarters received the confirmed news and immediately forwarded it to the front-line headquarters.

On the night of January 4, approximately six hours before Bai Zhizhan left Saigon Port, the Raleigh Fleet of the Bulan Royal Navy was attacked by the East Land Heart Sea Sub-fleet. To be precise, ship-borne aircraft were launched to bomb the Raleigh battleships moored in Taranto Military Port, sinking two battleships and heavily damaging another two in one fell swoop.

Just one attack had crippled the powerful Raleigh Fleet!

The key was that the attack was launched at night.

Although the Navy Headquarters did not provide more accurate information, there was reason to believe that the Bulan Royal Navy used the slow but lower altitude-performing "Flagfish" biplane torpedo attack aircraft and had precise intelligence, having rehearsed in advance.

Only such a torpedo bomber would be suitable for a bombing mission at night.

If switched to a faster single-wing aircraft, let alone hitting the target accurately, it would be quite an achievement to successfully drop torpedoes over the narrow harbor airspace.

The entire attack operation could be described as crisp and concise.

After the battleships were bombed, the anti-aircraft troops stationed near the port began to react.

After all the Bulan fighters had dropped their torpedoes and flown away, the Raleigh Air Force fighters arrived, and two were even shot down by their own high-altitude guns.

From start to finish, both the Raleigh Navy and Air Force were completely caught off guard.

Had it not been for the two air torpedoes from Bulan aircraft that failed to explode and ended up on the beach, the Raleigh Navy wouldn’t have even thought they had been bombed.

At the time of the torpedo hit, the Raleigh Fleet’s commander even thought it was an ammunition depot explosion.

The first command issued by the fleet commander was to maintain order and prevent the officers and men from panicking.

Furthermore, one thing was certain.

The commander of this surprise attack must have been Cunningham.

By the night of January 5, the Navy Headquarters sent a second telegram.

Bai Zhizhan’s speculation was confirmed; it was indeed the East Land Heart Sea Sub-fleet, directly commanded by Cunningham himself, that launched the attack, and Cunningham was within the fleet.

Moreover, the sub-fleet had a total of two carriers, one of which was an old-fashioned carrier converted from a large cruiser.

That is to say, it was very likely that only one carrier carried out the attack mission, launching less than 30 ship-borne aircraft, perhaps only about twenty.

However, only one battleship was sunk, and another was heavily damaged; the other four did not lose their fighting capability.

Although the losses were not as great as imagined, after this battle, the Raleigh Navy had become a frightened bird.

Let alone setting sail for combat, even within the port, they were extremely nervous, and the fleet commander even left his official residence that same night. He said he was going to inspect the port, but in fact, it was out of fear of another bombing, and he went to his private estate inland and didn’t return to Taranto until three days later.

After this battle, it is likely that for the next few months, the Raleigh Navy would shrink back into the port, unable to pose a threat to the Bulan Royal Navy.

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