Empire Conquest
Chapter 71 - 67: Follow Step by Step

Chapter 71: Chapter 67: Follow Step by Step

By the end of November, after it had been confirmed that the Liangxia Navy would hold naval exercises, Takano led the Permanent Fleet out of East Capital Bay.

It was the usual procedure from previous years, announcing a joint exercise in the West East Ocean with the Newland Navy.

The deployment of the fleet was primarily to enhance defenses or, to put it another way, to guard against surprise attacks.

The Newland Navy cooperated as well, and soon announced that the regional fleet stationed in Nanzhu Country would set out to participate in the Saiyi Navy-initiated exercises.

Speaking of the regional fleet, its main components were two heavy cruisers, and indeed, only those two heavy cruisers were capable of venturing deep into the ocean for the exercises.

What was different this year, however, was that the exercise was not aimed at strengthening defenses.

On the first of December, the Permanent Fleet arrived in the northern waters of the Nanzhu Sea. After more than ten days of drills, on December 14, the day after the Luosha Federation issued its final ultimatum to the Bay Sea Three Countries, the Permanent Fleet split into three combat fleets. Aside from the Third Air Corps, which comprised the carriers "Ruihe" and "Xianghe" as the core, the other two fleets moved through the Two-car Strait into the Flame Sea.

To this day, the Saiyi Navy has not disclosed the real whereabouts of the Permanent Fleet, still claiming they were conducting exercises with the Newland Navy in the Nanzhu Sea.

By the twentieth, after receiving intelligence that the Liangxia Empire was preparing for combat, Takano finally issued the order to advance, directing the two combat fleets to strike westward.

That same day, Takano made one final adjustment to the battle plan, precisely setting the trigger conditions.

From then on, as long as the situation developed according to the envisioned battle plan, each fleet was to remain concealed until the onset of combat.

In reality, there were only two forces engaged in combat. Takano himself commanded the Main Battle Fleet, while Vice Admiral Lan Yun commanded the Mobile Fleet.

Strictly speaking, both were Special Mixed Fleets.

Currently, Takano’s Main Battle Fleet comprised only two main battle ships, "Damen" and "Luo," while the Saiyi Navy had a total of ten. The slower four, "Fushang," "Shancheng," "Yishi," and "Rixiang," remained in the East Ocean to carry out a deception mission. The faster four, the newly upgraded "Jingang" class, were all temporarily assigned to the Mobile Fleet.

If Takano had his way, he would have liked to delay for another two years.

Why?

Two super battleships were still under construction!

If he could delay for another two years, these battleships, each with the largest tonnage and main gun caliber in the world and capable of reaching speeds of twenty-seven knots, would likely be officially commissioned.

With these two super battleships, the odds of victory would significantly increase.

The key issue remains that the Main Battle Fleet was somewhat meager.

It consisted merely of two battleships; even if the four vessels known as the "strongest under the treaty" of the "High Bear" class heavy cruisers were included, there were only six in total.

In real combat, that counted for very little.

Fortunately, the decisive factor was not the Main Battle Fleet but the Mobile Fleet charging ahead.

According to Takano’s plan, the Main Battle Fleet was there to bolster the morale of the Mobile Fleet’s officers and soldiers. If it came to the Main Battle Fleet entering the fray, the situation would certainly be extremely perilous.

The core of the Mobile Fleet comprised four carriers.

Indeed, these were the "Chicheng" and "Jiahe" from the First Air Corps, and the "Canglong" and "Feilong" from the Second Air Corps.

Additionally, there were four "Jingang" class fast battleships.

Four Fast Battleships were tasked solely with providing air defense for aircraft carriers and countering approaching enemy ships.

Incorporating the Fast Battleships into the Mobile Fleet to cover the carriers was not Takano’s idea, but rather the consensus of Vice Admiral Lan Yun and Major General Yamaguchi, Commander of the 2nd Air Corps. Strictly speaking, they were actually emulating the Liangxia Navy. Over the past years, the Liangxia Navy had consistently used similarly upgraded Fast Battleships in exercises to protect carriers, thereby enhancing the carrier’s resistance to strikes.

The key was that only the Fast Battleships could keep pace with the carriers.

For this reason, Lan Yun even threatened resignation to pressure the bigwigs at the Military Command Department.

Regarding the issue of utilizing the valuable Fast Battleships for carrier escorts, Takano also saw it as necessary, though he did not intervene directly.

Disregarding any tactical value, if it was modeled after the Liangxia Navy, it surely couldn’t be wrong!

Over the past decades, the Liangxia Navy had not taken any detours in terms of military armament development; they had basically stepped right every time.

Take the carriers for example, among today’s four major naval powers, the Liangxia Empire was the last to join the carrier club, yet they took a shortcut.

Firstly, by utilizing a special clause of the "Huacheng Treaty," they forwent four Super Dreadnoughts and kept the displacement of the transformed carriers under 25,000 tons, gaining an extra quota for two conversions. At the time, naval generals from other countries ridiculed the Liangxia Navy, believing it to be impossible. When the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom and the Newland Federation were converting battlecruisers into carriers, even 33,000 tons was insufficient, and only after numerous negotiations did they secure an additional 3,000 tons to ensure the carriers met performance standards.

Reducing by 11,000 tons, what kind of carrier could be achieved with about 70% of the displacement of the "Chicheng"?

But what about the results?

The Liangxia Navy not only managed to transform within the 25,000-ton limit but also produced fleet carriers whose combat capabilities were in no way inferior!

Secondly, the Liangxia Navy was the first to clearly define the use of carriers. While the Saiyi Navy was still considering using double-layer plating or even triple decks to enhance aerial combat capabilities, the Liangxia Navy had already started focusing on hydraulic catapults, emphasizing the efficiency of using the flight deck.

Moreover, the Liangxia Navy’s four "Longjiang" class carriers were designed from the very beginning with aerial warfare at the core.

What does that mean?

These four carriers weren’t even equipped with main guns, not particularly concerned with armor protection, focusing instead on features related to aerial combat.

As a result, they achieved over 36,000 tons of aerial combat capability with a standard displacement of 25,000 tons.

Just to mention the number of aircraft, "Longjiang" class carries about twenty more aircraft than the "Chicheng," despite the generally larger size and takeoff weight of various types of ship-borne aircraft. If the number of aircraft carried was the same, the efficiency of "Longjiang" class in air operations would be 20% higher than that of "Chicheng."

Additionally, there were combat tactics centered around carriers.

Without going into others, the Liangxia Navy first made their Main Battle Ships work for carriers, and moreover, they gutted four battlecruisers that survived the last great war and upgraded them almost completely to Fast Battleships, repeatedly enhancing their anti-aircraft firepower during multiple modifications.

In hindsight, no one could deny the foresight of the Liangxia Navy.

Letting Lan Yun and Yamaguchi stir things up was also to suppress the arrogance of those stubborn old men at the Military Command Department, preventing them from interfering with fleet operations.

This operation would depend on the Mobile Fleet, or more precisely, the over 300 ship-borne aircraft on the four carriers.

To say something, it’s actually quite regrettable.

To deceive the enemy, it was necessary to keep the two most potent "Ruihe" class carriers of the 3rd Air Corps idling in the East Ocean.

In fact, those two carriers were only built at the beginning of the year and have not yet completed their sea trials, so their combat effectiveness was quite unstable.

Having them loiter in the East Ocean was also a way to make the most of them.

Regardless, victory or defeat hinged on this single effort!

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