Empire Conquest

Chapter 451 - 447 Start

Around 3 a.m. the officers and soldiers aboard "Peijing" and "Longjiang" started their busy morning.

However, it was not until 5 a.m., two hours later, that "Vermilion Bird" carrying out the first reconnaissance mission gradually took off from the carrier.

By then, it was less than an hour until dawn.

Despite months of night flight training, most pilots had mastered take-offs and landings from a carrier, but even experienced pilots like Shen Pu had to admit that spotting the enemy fleet at night was extremely difficult.

Moreover, it was easy for the naval officers and soldiers on the battleships to spot incoming reconnaissance aircraft.

The reason was simple: the roaring noise of the planes was very loud, and at night, even at altitudes over 5000 meters, it could be heard by the naval officers and soldiers on the battleships.

For this reason, Zhou Yongtao had scheduled the reconnaissance operations for after sunrise.

In Shen Pu’s words, fighting at night was beyond human capability and could not be resolved through training or other means.

Therefore, they could only rely on technological means.

Enterprises and research institutions were conducting studies, and there were several potential solutions, but progress was slow and practical application was still far off.

After the last reconnaissance aircraft had taken off, Zhou Yongtao returned to the command bridge.

As usual, the duty staff had prepared his breakfast.

"Everything is arranged, if Cunningham is nearby, we should receive a message within two hours."

Bai Zhizhan nodded, glanced at the lunchbox in Zhou Yongtao’s hand, and signaled him to eat quickly and cut the chatter.

Zhou Yongtao took the hint since he needed to brief the pilots on the attack mission shortly.

He was a bit too excited.

Last night, after repeatedly simulating the scenario and discussing until midnight, Bai Zhizhan and Zhou Yongtao concurred that it was much more likely for Cunningham with the Bulan fleet to head north to Mua Sea than to Sri Lanka because the Bulan authorities would not likely waste precious troops in Sri Lanka.

Moreover, Cunningham might not directly head to Mua Sea but could possibly wait for an opportunity north of Magas Island.

The crucial point was that heading to Mua Sea and meeting up with "Royal Ark" would definitely expose their movements, making a surprise attack on the 11th Special Mixed Fleet impossible.

It would also put them in a strategic disadvantage.

The reasoning was simple: if the Bulan military retreated directly to Jibu Fortress, it would mean giving up the Fanluo region or even the entire Fan Flame Ocean.

With the Bulan Kingdom beating a retreat, would the Newland Navy take a risk?

Even if "Fenjin" had entered the Fan Flame Ocean, it would move to Aus, joining the Southwest East Ocean Fleet to prepare for upcoming operations in that area.

Afterwards, the Bulan military could at most hold out in Jibu Fortress.

Without support from the Newland Fleet, even if the Imperial Navy sent all its carriers back to East Ocean, the Bulan Royal Navy was unlikely to control the Mua Sea.

Moreover, it was doubtful whether the Bulan military could even hold Jibu Fortress.

As seen from the battle at Lion Spring City, in the face of a powerful air force, there were no impregnable fortresses left.

The advent of shipborne air force had declared that the era when building a fortress could control a sea area was gone forever.

In front of an air force, solid fortresses were nothing more than tombs for their defenders!

Moreover, the Empire possessed the most powerful strategic air force in the world, with thousands of long-range bombers and more ammunition than they could ever use.

"Not to be too rude," the Imperial Army could use the bombers stationed on the north coast of Mua Sea to launch non-stop, high-intensity bombing raids, turning Jibu Fortress into the next Lion Spring City and using the Air Force to destroy the enemy fleet on the Mua Sea, thus securing the shipping routes heading to Boss Bay.

Certainly, Cunningham would aim to annihilate the Special Mixed Fleet Number Eleven.

Only by wiping out the Special Mixed Fleet Number Eleven and seizing control of the sea and the strategic initiative could reinforcements be sent to Sri Lanka or, rather, guard Sri Lanka, which would buy more time to reinforce Jibu Fortress and strengthen the military presence along the coast of Mua Sea and Boss Bay.

So, how could the Special Mixed Fleet Number Eleven be annihilated in one fell swoop?

This was also the key reason why Bai Zhizhan and Zhou Yongtao concluded that Cunningham would lead the fleet north after entering Fan Flame Ocean.

Fundamentally, the Special Mixed Fleet Number Eleven had only two carrier aircraft and could launch at most two consecutive attacks with their ship-borne aircraft.

Considering the harsh climate over the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean, the lack of aircraft would become even more pronounced.

For example, after arranging two waves of attacks, there might not be enough air fighters left for defense.

In short, if the battles were close to the shores of the Xuan Continent, the shore-based air force could compensate for the weaker air combat capabilities.

However, another possibility could not be ruled out.

After entering the Fan Flame Ocean, the Bulan Fleet and Newland Fleet might go their separate ways, with Cunningham heading north while Spur led the Newland Fleet east to Aus.

The reason being, no matter the battle outcome, after losing Lion Spring City, the Bulan Kingdom would lose control of the Fan Flame Ocean within a few months.

In a sense, the Bulan Kingdom had already been defeated in the Fan Flame Ocean.

From the standpoint of the Newland Federation, since they couldn’t defend the Fan Flame Ocean anyway, it wouldn’t be worth the effort to continue wasting troops, let alone risk their only carrier.

Moreover, once the Imperial Army captured Lion Spring City and opened the gate to the Fan Flame Ocean, they would turn their forces to East Ocean.

The reason was simple: the invasion of the Fan Flame Ocean was just to seize Boss Bay.

Because of the swift capture of Lion Spring City and the imminent acquisition of four large aircraft carriers, combined with the exhibited strength of the Land Air Strategic Air Force, the Newland Authority believed that the Imperial High Command was confident in capturing Boss Bay, which would trigger an earlier commencement of the operation against the Howay Islands.

Even with the challenges of attacking Howay Islands, they would opt to advance to the Southwest East Ocean.

Never forget, the Newland Federation was the prime adversary of the Liangxia Empire, and only by defeating the Newland Federation could a comprehensive victory be achieved.

The longer they were delayed in the Fan Flame Ocean, the more difficult it would be to achieve victory in East Ocean.

Thus, it became even more necessary to call back the "Fenjin."

To put it bluntly, Lian Xusheng was truly effective, and Li Yunxiang’s command of the Strategic Air Force was not for show.

The current favorable situation was primarily attributed to Lian Xusheng and Li Yunxiang, including Du Kang who had been on the front lines, rather than having much to do with Bai Zhizhan.

However, whether the victory could be expanded further depended on Bai Zhizhan.

Based on the above analysis, Zhou Yongtao meticulously arranged the first round of reconnaissance operations in the early morning.

Two aircraft carriers deployed a total of thirty-two "Vermilion Bird" for the reconnaissance mission. Twenty-four of them flew westward, focusing on searching the nearby seas close to the Xuan Continent, especially the routes leading to the Magas Strait. The remaining eight flew southward, focusing on scanning the northern regions of the West Wind Belt.

As for which fleet to attack first, that would be decided based on the reconnaissance results.

The principle was simple: attack whoever was discovered first.

One thing was certain, though this battle would primarily involve counter-aircraft carrier tactics, the Bulan carriers were exceptionally well-defended, with nearly all the fleet carriers equipped with armored decks, their horizontal protection capabilities were no less than those of battleships, necessitating the use of 500-kilogram class air bombs.

Of course, all these tasks were arranged by Zhou Yongtao, sparing Bai Zhizhan from the worries.