Empire Conquest

Chapter 454 - 450: The First Accurate Judgment

After receiving the telegram, Li Mingbo immediately called Bai Zhizhan.

By the time Bai Zhizhan arrived at the Command Bridge, a second telegram had been received stating that the "Zehu" was also attacked. Because it was slightly farther away, and after observing the explosion caused by the torpedo hitting the "Honghu," it immediately executed an emergency turn to avoid further attacks.

Fearing another attack, the "Zehu" did not slow down or return after evading two heavy torpedoes.

According to the report sent by the captain of the "Zehu," the "Honghu" disappeared from the surface shortly after the attack, precisely after a massive explosion, and there were very few survivors. The "Zehu" would turn around after dawn to search for and rescue the overboard officers and soldiers.

It was the fierce explosion and the rapid sinking of the "Honghu" that led the captain of the "Zehu" to determine immediately that they were attacked by an enemy submarine.

As for the torpedoes mentioned in the telegram, there was no confirmation.

At that time, only the lookout on the aft bridge claimed to have seen the torpedoes, while the officers and soldiers on the forward bridge, including the captain, did not see any torpedoes.

Regardless, the "Honghu" had been sunk, and the "Zehu" had merely escaped by luck.

"The 11.3 Squad is hurrying over, and after receiving the news, it will definitely dispatch destroyers to assist," Li Mingbo added.

Bai Zhizhan nodded, not concerned whether any officers or soldiers on the "Honghu" had survived.

This is war, and casualties are inevitable.

Besides, even if the destroyers following the 11.3 Squad rush at full speed, it will still take three days to arrive, and the current could carry the survivors hundreds of kilometers away in those three days. Finding survivors in the vast ocean was like finding a needle in a haystack.

What Bai Zhizhan was actually concerned about was why the two fleet oil tankers were attacked.

That was in the middle of the Fan Flame Ocean!

Even in peacetime, let alone wartime, few ships passed through the central waters of the Fan Flame Ocean.

The reason is simple: The Xifan Canal changed everything.

Before the canal was opened, especially after the spread of steam power, ships traveling between the East and the West had to take the route from Cape Town to Lion Spring City, passing through the central waters of the Fan Flame Ocean. But once the canal was opened, that route was largely abandoned.

The canal suddenly shortened the distance between East and West by thousands of kilometers.

Crucially, there was no need to build locks to maintain navigation in the canal, as the sea level at both ends of the Xifan Canal, in the Land Heart Sea and Narrow Sea, was the same.

Thus, there were no strict restrictions for ships passing through the canal.

In short, after the opening of the Xifan Canal, the route from Cape Town to Lion Spring City quieted down, with few ships traveling this line.

This was even more the case during wartime.

The Imperial Army had just captured Lion Spring City, and there was no foothold in the surrounding areas of the Fan Flame Ocean, temporarily eliminating the need to open new routes.

Even in the future, the ships of the Empire would mostly operate in the North Fan Flame Ocean.

So, what reason would the Bulan Royal Navy and Newland Navy have to send submarines to an area in the central Fan Flame Ocean where no Imperial merchant ships operated?

To ambush the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet?

Clearly, that was highly unlikely.

Submarines are not cruisers; not only is their submerged speed as slow as a crawl, but even at full surface speed, they hardly exceed 20 knots.

Besides, who could say the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet would return the same way?

There was only one possibility.

After Cunningham made his judgment, the Bulan Royal Navy and the Newland Navy redeployed, sending submarines to the central Fan Flame Ocean to look for opportunities.

The submarines that attacked the fuel ships of the fleet were more likely on reconnaissance missions.

Implicitly, it meant keeping an eye on the route from Lion Spring City to the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean and immediately reporting upon spotting any ships from the Liangxia Navy.

Undoubtedly, that submarine must have sent a telegram!

"I think it’s possibly a Newland Navy submarine."

Bai Zhizhan remained silent.

Zhou Yongtao hesitated slightly before saying, "Before we attacked Lion Spring City, there was no reason for the Bulan Royal Navy to send submarines to the central Fan Flame Ocean. The earlier submarines were all in the Xunfeng Strait and Longyan Strait, and then they returned to the military ports in Fanluo. The key is, we didn’t encounter any Bulan submarines on our way here, so it can be certain that there were no submarines coming this way at that time."

"That means, based on timing, those submarines that we drove out from the Xunfeng Strait and Longyan Strait couldn’t have reached the area where the ’Honghu’ was attacked." Seeing Bai Zhizhan standing on the side, silent and taciturn, Li Mingbo took over the conversation.

"If they had set out from the western ports of Aus, it would be different. Don’t forget, on the Longyan Strait side, our patrol aircraft spotted a Newland submarine. If the Newland Navy were monitoring the southern straits of Flame Sea, the ideal deployment locations would be the ports on the western side of Aus. Departing from Perth, there wouldn’t be any worries about being spotted by patrol aircraft, and they could travel at high speed on the surface in the first half of their journey."

This time, Li Mingbo did not continue the dialogue, he simply nodded, agreeing with what Zhou Yongtao said.

"The key question is, was it Spur’s decision to send submarines to the central Fan Flame Ocean, or does Cunningham also have something to do with it?"

After Bai Zhizhan raised the question, Zhou Yongtao and Li Mingbo both furrowed their brows.

Zhou Yongtao had been emphasizing the Newland Navy, overlooking the most crucial issue, the reinforcement of the Fan Flame Ocean led mainly by the Bulan Royal Navy.

Additionally, the operations in the Fan Flame Ocean were definitely led by the Bulan Royal Navy.

Why would the Newland Navy act unilaterally?

"To be honest, I can’t prove it, but I have a strong intuition that the cooperation between Spur and Cunningham might not be seamless."

"You mean..."

"We had considered before that if operations in the Fan Flame Ocean lost their strategic value, Spur might likely take the Newland Fleet to Aus. However, until our position was confirmed, no one could determine if the operations in the Fan Flame Ocean had already lost their strategic value. In such a case, even if Spur was reluctant, he would have to delay for some time, during which he would have to follow the Bulan Fleet and obey Cunningham’s commands."

"In a few days, when they head towards Aus, they will pass through the central area of Fan Flame Ocean."

"Draw a route from the north of Magas Islands to Perth and see if it passes through the area where ’Honghu’ was attacked."

Li Mingbo didn’t say much, immediately picking up a ruler and water pen.

When he drew out the navigation route, not just him, even Zhou Yongtao was stunned.

The wide circle navigation route indeed passed near the area where the "Honghu" sank.

This judgment, or rather intuition, was indeed too precise!

However, the implications that arose from it were even more startling.

If Spur’s Newland Fleet was active near the shore, then where was Cunningham’s Bulan Fleet?

More importantly, why would Spur go near the coast of the Xuan Continent?

Following previous speculations, it was the Bulan Fleet that was active near the shore, while the Newland Fleet was in the south, ready to head to Aus after the operation.

If the Newland Fleet went near the shore, could it mean that the battle would be decisive?

If so, what made Cunningham and Spur believe that they could definitely defeat the Imperial Fleet in the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean?

Could there still be a contingency plan!?