Empire Conquest

Chapter 455 - 451: An Unnecessary Move

Aboard the "Fenjin".

Like Bai Zhizhan, Spur too had been awoken by a call from the duty officer.

By the time he arrived at the Command Bridge, Tanimoto had already organized the telegrams that had been coming in successively and had marked the key information on the nautical chart.

To put it in Tanimoto’s words, he was even more desperate than Spur.

According to Tanimoto, only if the Newland Federation could ultimately triumph and defeat the Liangxia Empire and the Saiyi Imperial Country could they escape a fate of slavery.

He served the Newland Navy with all his heart and soul, which was also a service to his own homeland.

Learning the situation from Tanimoto, Spur’s expression darkened immediately.

Indeed, it was a Newland submarine that had ambushed the Liangxia Navy’s oil ship.

However, it had nothing to do with Spur.

After the Northwest East Ocean Battle, following the president’s orders, the Newland Navy had stationed submarines to monitor the straits leading from the East Ocean to the Fan Flame Ocean.

This was serving political needs, since the Bulan Royal Navy, despite its reach, couldn’t temporarily take care of the Fan Flame Ocean.

For this purpose, the Newland Navy had deployed over a dozen oceanic submarines to Aus.

In fact, this constituted nearly half of the Newland Navy’s active oceanic submarine fleet.

At the end of last year, once the docks built for the submarines and the camps provided for the submariners were completed, these submarines moved to Perth.

To facilitate the submariners, the Newland Navy also established flights from Perth to Sydney.

Using Perth as the base, the Newland submarines thrived in the Fan Flame Ocean.

Of course, the operation tasks in the direction of the Fan Flame Ocean were not heavy and felt more like a vacation.

Before the Liangxia Empire captured Lion Spring City, the powerful Liangxia Navy couldn’t access the Fan Flame Ocean, so there was no possibility of engaging the Liangxia Navy there.

Back then, serving in Perth was considered a coveted assignment for the Newland submarine forces.

But all this was in the past.

According to the information from the Southwest East Ocean Fleet Headquarters, that submarine had been operating in the Longyan Strait, and after feeling threatened, it began its return voyage to Perth. Midway, it received orders from the headquarters to proceed to the central waters of the Fan Flame Ocean to continue its surveillance mission.

Specifically, dispatching the submarines for surveillance was for the 61st Special Mixed Fleet.

When proposing to lead the "Fenjin" to the Fan Flame Ocean to assist the Bulan Royal Navy in combat, Spur also suggested that, regardless of achieving the objective, he would head to Aus after the meeting to join the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean Fleet and prepare for subsequent combat actions.

Given the situation at that time, after the Liangxia Navy had captured Sai Island and Guan Island, it was very likely to move southward to seize Tuk Fortress, using it as a base to advance into Aus.

Strategically speaking, unless the Liangxia Navy could capture and control the oil-rich Boss Bay with lightning speed and without losing any carriers after taking Sai Island and Guan Island, they would definitely attack Tuk Fortress and then consider taking over Ao Country indirectly controlled by the Newland Federation.

The reasoning was simple: advancing step by step towards the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean posed much less difficulty than crossing several thousand kilometers and directly attacking the Howay Islands.

Geographically, Transfer Island is the westernmost island of the Howay Islands.

Even from Wei Island, it’s nearly 2000 kilometers to Transfer Island, and from Sai Island, the straight-line distance to Transfer Island exceeds 4000 kilometers.

Such a distance requires a significantly large number of fleet carriers.

Without enough carriers, mainly relying on shore-based air force, this route would be impractical.

In theory, unless they could preserve all current fleet carriers and, aside from the four large carriers, acquire several small carriers by New Calendar 101, the Liangxia Navy would have the capital to directly attack the Howay Islands and would likely need to capture Wei Island first.

Is it possible to preserve all fleet carriers?

At least at that time, it seemed nearly impossible.

That is why, at the end of last year, even Spur believed that after a decisive battle in the Fan Flame Ocean, the conflict would continue in the Southwest East Ocean!

Therefore, the "Fenjin" had to move to the Southwest East Ocean.

Consequently, the Southwest East Ocean Fleet Headquarter made a kind move by dispatching submarines ahead of time to execute surveillance missions in the central waters of the Fan Flame Ocean.

"No matter what, we can at least deduce that the Bai Zhizhan is indeed in the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean and that there are at least two carrier ships present."

Tanimoto glanced and saw no change in Spur’s expression.

Tanimoto also felt awkward because he knew why Spur was so angry.

The Bulan Royal Navy would not send submarines to the central region of the Fan Flame Ocean, and even if they did, the submarines would not be able to arrive in time, making it easy to guess that it was a Newland submarine stationed in Perth that had been active around Longyan Strait before and was temporarily dispatched to the mid Fan Flame Ocean.

From this, it’s not difficult to infer that the "Fenjin" was in the Southwest of the Fan Flame Ocean.

Clearly, that submarine’s "heroic deed" equated to betraying the 61st Special Mixed Fleet.

To say, perhaps Bai Zhizhan was already thinking of retreating and had decided to return home.

The most compelling evidence was that the two fleet oilers were traveling at a speed of 24 knots.

Obviously, if there wasn’t enough fuel and they were returning home, the fleet oilers should have traveled at cruising speed to minimize fuel consumption.

Only in combat situations would high-speed travel be needed.

According to Tanimoto’s speculation, Bai Zhizhan might have already issued a command to return home, hence the initial turn home by the two fleet oilers trailing behind.

The Special Mixed Fleet under Bai Zhizhan’s command could likely be not far from the Southwest!

But the problem was, once it was confirmed that the "Fenjin" was also in the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean, even after losing one fleet oiler, Bai Zhizhan might still choose to stay and continue fighting.

Clearly, this was the last thing Spur wanted to see.

Although it was Spur who initially advocated sending troops to the Fan Flame Ocean, his stance shifted after Lion Spring City was captured within a few days.

In Spur’s view, Lion Spring City is not just the eastern gateway to the Fan Flame Ocean.

The battle around Lion Spring City vividly reflected the combat effectiveness of the Bulan military, especially the morale and fighting spirit of the grassroots officers and soldiers.

If the Bulan defenders were strong enough, would they be defeated within a few days?

When Pasival ordered the surrender, there were still more than a hundred thousand soldiers and ample food supplies, with most of the city sectors under defender control.

Nevertheless, more than a hundred thousand Bulan soldiers surrendered!

It wouldn’t have taken much longer, just another half month of resistance by Pasival, and there might have been a turnaround, possibly even a decisive victory.

But, there were no ifs or maybes.

After the fall of Lion Spring City, the operation to reinforce the Fan Flame Ocean had lost its value, so what reason was there to engage in a decisive battle with Bai Zhizhan here?

In other words, if the Bulan forces had already given up resistance, what else was there to fight for?

If they won, it would be the glory of the Bulan Fleet.

If they lost, it would be the fault of the Newland Fleet.

Spur was no fool, nor was he one to make futile sacrifices, so why should he make wedding clothes for Cunningham?

Moreover, some of Cunningham’s actions indeed deeply disappointed Spur.

If it hadn’t been for that submarine spoiling things, within these two days, Spur would have led the 61st Special Mixed Fleet to Ao Country.

But now, that seemed unlikely.

If Bai Zhizhan was determined to destroy the "Fenjin" here, then the first focus would be the shipping route from the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean to Ao Country.

Breaking through alone was almost a suicide mission!

Therefore, the only option was to join forces with Cunningham to face Bai Zhizhan.