Empire Conquest

Chapter 467 - 463: Joint Impact

The outcome of the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean Battle exceeded everyone’s expectations.

By February 1, the Newland Navy had dispatched 4 light cruisers and 8 destroyers to Perth, forming the Fan Flame Ocean Sub-fleet.

Subsequently, they even sent several more ocean-going submarines to Perth.

However, due to logistical limitations, the Newland Navy found it difficult to make significant moves in the Fan Flame Ocean region, at most deploying submarines to carry out trade interdiction missions.

The deployment of cruisers and destroyers to Perth was mainly to counter the threat from Imperial submarines.

What’s worth paying attention to, however, was Newland’s Air Force.

On the last day of January, the Newland Army deployed a strategic air squadron each to Hedland Port and Derby, and they executed their first mission on the same day.

They did not bomb Lion Spring City, but laid mines in the Xunfeng Strait and the Longyan Strait.

At the time, the Imperial Military was not very clear about the purpose of the Newland Army’s long-range bombers being deployed to the western regions of Ao Country, assuming that those B-17s were to search for and attack Empire ships active in the Northeast Fan Flame Ocean and Flame Sea, or serving submarines on trade interdiction missions.

It was not until February 3, when a merchant ship headed to Padang Port on Sumatra Island was sunk by a naval mine in the Xunfeng Strait, that the Imperial Navy realized the severity of the issue.

In just a few days, those B-17s had dropped hundreds of naval mines in the Xunfeng Strait.

Crucially, most of them were bottom mines.

Although these mines were not powerful enough to sink main battle ships, they posed a significant threat to passing vessels and were extremely difficult to clear.

As a result, the Imperial Navy had no choice but to prohibit ships from traveling through the Xunfeng Strait and the Lombok Strait.

Fortunately, the B-17s did not have the range to reach into the Lion Spring Strait to lay mines, so the Imperial Navy’s vessels could still enter and exit the Fan Flame Ocean through the Throat Strait.

It was for this reason that the 11th Special Mixed Fleet returned via the Throat Strait and did not use the closer Xunfeng Strait.

In response to Newland Army’s long-range air deployment in the western regions of Ao Country, the Imperial Army Air Force made a corresponding deployment.

Now, they were mainly deploying long-range fighters in Lion Spring City.

After the operations in Sri Lanka were over, the Army planned to establish a new military base on Java Island or another island in the southern Java Sea to deploy long-range air forces. They would bomb military targets such as ports and airfields in the northern and western regions of Ao Country, ensuring the shipping routes to the Fan Flame Ocean were unobstructed.

For the time being, there were no plans to strike the Ao Country mainland.

The reason was quite simple: even if an attack on the Ao Country mainland was to be launched, it would be a direct invasion of the eastern or southeastern regions, not landings in the northern or western regions.

Ao Country, also known as the continent of Aus, has its core populated areas in the southeast, while almost everywhere else is desert.

More crucially, there is not a single through-road across the entire continent of Aus, let alone the railways needed for ground offensives.

Not to mention, the Newland Army relied on sea transport to send troops and supplies to places like Perth.

It was evident that even if the Imperial Army could land on the western or northern parts of the Aus continent, it would require a tremendous amount of resources and a lot of time to advance to the eastern regions.

In terms of investment, it would be better to attack the eastern regions of the Aus continent directly by sea.

In the words of Lian Xusheng, because the hinterland of Aus was a deserted desert, even if one wanted to build roads, there would be nowhere to start.

Actually, this was also a major reason why the Newland Army was reluctant to commit significant forces to the Fan Flame Ocean.

According to the Sixth Bureau’s estimates, given the capacity of Perth Port and the sea transport power that the Newland Federation could commit, the Newland Navy could only maintain between 15 to 20 submarines in that direction, and under normal circumstances, at most 5 ocean-going submarines could be active in the Fan Flame Ocean.

Of course, whether or not to attack Ao Country was actually an unknown.

After meeting with the supporting 11.3 Sub-fleet, Bai Zhizhan obtained top-secret intelligence from the Sixth Bureau.

According to the current situation, especially after the difficulty of advancing on Boss Bay had significantly decreased, the questioning voices against Xue Yuanzheng had disappeared.

The Imperial High Command was more inclined to directly attack the Howay Islands and first achieve a decisive victory in the Middle East Ocean, rather than to wage a prolonged war with the Newland Army in the Southwest East Ocean.

To put it more bluntly, it was about taking advantage of the absolute strategic superiority to completely crush the Newland Navy.

If this could be achieved, there was an even greater assurance of a comprehensive victory.

According to the Sixth Bureau’s analysis, if the Howay Islands could be quickly taken, the Newland Federation might even erupt into a civil unrest due to the swift defeat.

After the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean Battle, internal problems had arisen within the Newland Federation.

A few days ago, the defeated Republican Party had already filed a complaint with the Federation’s Supreme Court, accusing Rofuss of violating the constitution by running for president for the third time.

Moreover, there were problems within the Alliance Group.

Due to a military coup in Sri Lanka, all 30,000 Bulan soldiers there had surrendered, and combined with a disastrous defeat in Lion Spring City, Chur’s position in the Prime Minister’s Mansion was on shaky ground. Even within the ruling party, voices were calling for Chur to resign to take responsibility.

To alleviate pressure, Chur even publicly declared that the Newland Navy should be held responsible for the Southwest Fan Flame Ocean Battle.

Implicitly, he was also a victim.

Although Chur was making excuses to consolidate his position in the Prime Minister’s Mansion, he did not consider Rofuss’s feelings before issuing his statement.

Shifting the conflict to the Newland Federation was clearly not a wise move.

As a result, on February 4th, Rofuss had already called Isenway back, and the Newland Federation had suspended aid to the Bulan Kingdom without any formal announcement.

Just yesterday, on February 8th, three transport fleets originally destined for the Bulan Kingdom changed course to the Luosha Federation upon leaving the port.

As expected, in the following months, the Newland Federation would manipulate aid to put some pressure on Chur.

According to the Sixth Bureau’s predictions, Chur was bound to step down; otherwise, the situation could not be concluded.

Mainly, once Rofuss was securely in his third term, his first consideration would be to quickly consolidate the power of the Alliance Group.

Since the Alliance Group was inherently at a disadvantage compared to the Consortium Group, particularly the Liangxia Empire, and given that the Newland Federation was the last to join the war, further delays, without immediate, sweeping integration of the Group’s strategic forces, would still result in defeat.

However, these were all side issues.

As Bai Zhizhan returned victorious once again, and after the Emperor expressed concern, Xue Yuanzheng personally made arrangements for Liu Changxun to assemble dozens of transport planes to send the families of key officers and meritorious soldiers, below the Little Eldest Princess, to Lion Spring City to welcome the returning warriors.

For this reason, the Navy also arranged the celebration ceremony in Lion Spring City.

Since the damage to the "Longjiang" was not severe and could be repaired in Lion Spring City, the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet stayed there for the time being.

When the high-command made a decision about the strategic offensive, it would then decide where to deploy the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet.

During the stay in Lion Spring City, what was said to be joint training with the newly established Tiaoman Far East Fleet was actually a way to allow the fleet personnel to relax and recuperate.

Everyone knew that whether returning to the East Ocean or continuing to fight in the Fan Flame Ocean, the battles ahead would be even harder.

Of course, the key event was the celebration ceremony.

This was the first celebration since the war began that included military family members and was held outside of the homeland.