Empire Conquest
Chapter 434 - 430: Return to the Fleet

Chapter 434: Chapter 430: Return to the Fleet

"I’d say it’s more comfortable back on the carrier."

"Where did all that nonsense come from?"

Zhou Yongtao shut his mouth after Bai Zhizhan glared at him.

"It’s almost time for lunch, let’s head to the dining room first," Li Mingbo quickly intervened, feeling that Zhou Yongtao was a bit too talkative.

Bai Zhizhan didn’t say much and was indeed hungry.

Moreover, having just returned to the fleet, they needed some time to understand the situation. According to unspoken rules, this is generally done during meals.

One could say that this is part of naval dining culture.

In the era when battleships were still powered by sails, captains liked to invite their subordinates to dine together to consolidate and enhance their authority on the battleship.

Up to now, in many battleships, the officer’s dining room also serves as a meeting room.

In fact, changes in the fleet weren’t substantial, the main ships were still the "Peijing" and the "Longjiang," merely replacing the "Yuejiang" with two "Xu Sea" class ships.

Additionally, two cruiser sub-fleets and two destroyer sub-fleets were added.

However, these additional warships didn’t significantly affect the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet.

According to Navy headquarter’s arrangements, the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet was temporarily under the First Fleet, primarily for reasons of secrecy.

Once the attack on Lion Spring City began, two cruiser sub-fleets and one destroyer sub-fleet would be dispatched to provide support for the landing forces. Based on the experience of attacking Sai Island, at least two fire-support fleets needed to be organized, and direct cover for the landing fleet provided.

That is, apart from gaining two "Xu Sea" class ships, to be precise, one more fast battleship, there were no significant changes to the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet.

It was more about an adjustment in the organizational system.

The current 11.1 sub-fleet referred to the "Peijing" battle group, including the "Peijing," the "Flame Sea," and three large destroyers. The 11.2 sub-fleet referred to the "Longxing" battle group, which consisted of the "Longxing," the "Xu Sea," and three large destroyers. The 11.3 sub-fleet comprised four heavy cruisers; the 11.4 sub-fleet, four light cruisers; the 11.5 sub-fleet, six destroyers, and two fleet oilers.

Besides, there were three temporary sub-fleets from 11.6 to 11.9.

This organization could be considered normal.

The only disappointment for Bai Zhizhan was not acquiring any long-range cruisers, namely the second batch of eight from the "Guangcheng" class training in the Xu Sea.

According to the Navy headquarter, these eight warships were delivered in late December last year and had not completed their training yet.

However, the key was related to the four large carriers soon to be commissioned.

The Empire’s Navy’s post-treaty type heavy cruisers were still not delivered in bulk, so suitable candidates for personal escorts to carriers, apart from fast battleships, were only the long-range cruisers. Real combat had already proved that a single fast battleship couldn’t provide comprehensive aerial protection for a carrier.

It was said that at least one more long-range cruiser was needed.

Adding two would be perfect.

Because all available heavy cruisers had been assigned to the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet or sent to support landing operations, the long-range cruisers had to be kept back.

This arrangement might not necessarily have been Liu Changxun’s idea.

According to the earlier agreement, after the commissioning of the four "province" class carriers, priority would be given to the needs towards the Fan Flame Ocean, which meant letting Bai Zhizhan choose first.

Thus, how the eight long-range cruisers were allocated didn’t really matter.

The manipulation behind the scenes was orchestrated by someone else.

Li Mingbo didn’t say who, but was not overly explicit.

Regardless, he also came from the Twenty-first Sub-fleet.

Of course, it wasn’t all bad news.

"The Commander-in-chief made a guarantee to send over the ’North River’ and the ’Nanjiang’ soon, temporarily assigned within the landing fleet’s fire-support formation. Whenever needed, we can directly deploy these two warships without needing prior approval from the Navy headquarter."

Bai Zhizhan just nodded, not saying much.

Liu Changxun had already appointed him as the Fleet Commander for the "Fan Flame Ocean Operation Raid," nominally including the command of the Landing Fleet. Crucially, Liu Changxun also sent Li Jie to the Landing Fleet where he served both as the Landing Fleet Commander and the overall Commander for the landing operations at Lion Spring City.

Furthermore, the commanders in charge of commanding the landing operations were Major General Yang Weiguo from the 4th and 6th Marine Divisions, sent by Liu Xiangdong.

As far as the Army was concerned, there was not much more to say.

Although the beach landings were the responsibility of the Marine Corps, the later phases relied on the Army, with Lian Xusheng taking overall command.

It was apparent that in the entire command system, those in charge were either subordinates of Bai Zhizhan or shared his ideals.

"When will those two Battleships arrive?"

"In a few days."

"Have you all finished eating? If there’s nothing else, that’ll be all. I’ll go up for a walk, find me on the flight deck if there’s anything."

He had finished eating?

He had only eaten a small portion of that simple meal.

Although Bai Zhizhan wasn’t a big eater, having been tossed around in a plane all morning, he couldn’t possibly eat so little at noon.

Moreover, he didn’t seem ill.

He definitely had something on his mind!

As Li Mingbo thought about this, Bai Zhizhan had already left the officers’ mess.

Although they hadn’t discussed the situation of the shipborne air force, there was no rush, as it would be at least three days before the 11th Special Mixed Fleet could show its capabilities.

"Do you guys need anything?" Li Mingbo called out to Zhou Yongtao, who was about to leave.

"Bai’s not in a good mood, it’s related to the current battle situation."

"Our side?"

Zhou Yongtao sighed deeply and said, "So far, the Bulan Royal Navy’s three carrier fleets and two Fast Battleships, and even the two Battlecruisers, are still out of contact. By now, the three carrier fleets are probably already in action."

"Isn’t the Tiaoman Navy headquarter..."

"If guesses were reliable, would we even need to fight this war?"

Li Mingbo was stunned for a moment but then he sighed.

Although Li Mingbo was in command of the Fleet when Bai Zhizhan was away, he was never the Fleet Commander and had never commanded the Special Mixed Fleet.

The only thing Li Mingbo could boast about was his mission to meet three Armored Cruisers in the Fan Flame Ocean before the war with the Bulan Kingdom.

That operation was just that—a mission—and there was no combat involved.

Furthermore, after meeting up with the three Tiaoman Armored Cruisers, Li Mingbo led the fleet back home without lingering in the Fan Flame Ocean.

It was because of this relatively unchallenging mission that Li Mingbo was promoted to Navy Brigadier General.

Looking back, Li Mingbo felt somewhat embarrassed.

To put it plainly, Liu Changxun had given him the opportunity because of his relationship with Bai Zhizhan, as a favor to Bai.

Not having commanded Fleet combat operations, Li Mingbo was rarely as anxious as Bai Zhizhan.

Zhou Yongtao didn’t say much more, knowing that Li Mingbo was the subordinate Bai Zhizhan trusted the most and that Li Mingbo knew Bai better than anyone.

Jokingly speaking, when Zhou Yongtao was playing in the mud wearing split pants, Bai Zhizhan and Li Mingbo were already dining at the same table.

Thinking it over, Li Mingbo was still not reassured.

Not only had he not been called back to the fleet, but now that he was back, Bai Zhizhan had to shed his burdens and enter a state of undistracted combat readiness.

Helping the Commander solve problems was inherently the duty of the Chief of Staff.

If the staff officer wasn’t doing this, what use were they keeping him for?

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