Empire Conquest

Chapter 473 - 469: Feeling the Pressure

This farewell banquet mainly showcased the performances of Lian Xusheng and Li Yunxiang.

Bai Zhizhan was also very clear about his feelings for them.

According to the news revealed by Liu Changxun, Li Yunxiang would soon be dispatched to the Fan Flame Ocean, responsible for advancing into Boss Bay and for the combat operations against Jibu Fortress.

Although Xue Yuanzheng had not issued an order of death, merely aiming to restrain the Bulan Fleet and break through to Boss Bay within the year, the current situation presented Li Yunxiang with a primary challenge not of advancing into Boss Bay, but in how to coordinate the various armies within his jurisdiction.

Speaking of which, the situation in the Fan Flame Ocean was the most complex.

Just on the naval side, there were the Imperial Fleet, Tiaoman Fleet, and Joint Fleet, as well as shore-based air forces deployed in Lion Spring City and Sri Lanka.

If an assault were needed, such as the occupation of Socotra Island, the Marine Corps would also have to be involved.

Furthermore, the Damman Kingdom also dispatched fleets and logistical support troops to participate in the battle, and the Sri Lanka Kingdom was even more active, expressing willingness to serve as the vanguard in the attack on the Fanluo Region.

On the Army’s side, not to mention the ground troops, there were both strategic and tactical air forces.

Interestingly, the Army also had a logistics support force comprised of more than 100 requisitioned cargo ships forming a transport fleet.

Detaching from the Navy to form an independent transport fleet, the rationale was that the Navy did not understand ground combat and thus might not be able to provide timely critical supplies for the frontline troops.

During the battle to take Lion Spring City, a similar issue had occurred. The logistical staff of the Navy had mixed up the calibers of the ammunition, sending 150mm shells meant for naval guns to the Army’s heavy artillery units. Although the Army had 150mm heavy artillery, they were not compatible with the Navy’s.

Organizing so many unrelated units and conducting effective operations was an extremely difficult task in itself.

If anyone was suitable, it was probably Li Yunxiang.

The reason was that, at the end of last year, he had been promoted to Army Admiral and officially appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Air Force, and he was a widely recognized war hero.

Whether it was within the Empire or among allies, Li Yunxiang was certainly a very important figure.

In Liu Changxun’s words, in the Fan Flame Ocean, the main task was coordination, especially maintaining a good relationship with the Tiaoman Army.

As for advancing into Boss Bay and attacking Jibu Fortress, that was not so important, or rather, it was not something that required Li Yunxiang’s immediate attention.

Clearly, when making this arrangement, Xue Yuanzheng and Peng Huaisong definitely did not ask for Li Yunxiang’s opinion.

After getting a bit drunk, Li Yunxiang also spoke bluntly.

In his words, this tough assignment ought to have been Bai Zhizhan’s.

As for the reasons, Bai Zhizhan was very clear about them.

Strictly speaking, the battle in the Fan Flame Ocean had not yet ended.

The "Royal Ark" had been active in the Mua Sea, and according to the latest intelligence, the Bulan Royal Navy would soon strengthen its presence in the Land Heart Sea.

As long as it does not return to its home country, this carrier remains a significant threat.

In fact, this was also the main reason the Tiaoman Empire had requested the formation of the Joint Fleet.

As expected, once the "Royal Ark" left the Mua Sea and returned to the Land Heart Sea, the Tiaoman Navy would propose attacking Jibu Fortress.

The Imperial Authority could not object to this, as attacking Jibu Fortress and advancing through the Xifan Canal had to be conducted simultaneously.

It was clear that if Bai Zhizhan advocated for another battle in the Fan Flame Ocean, these problems would not exist.

Relatively speaking, Li Yunxiang was still fortunate, or rather, he was facing lesser issues.

The real trouble was with Lian Xusheng.

It was only at this time that Bai Zhizhan learned that Lian Xusheng, in order to command the operation to attack Lion Spring City, had made a military pledge to Peng Huaisong and Situ Jingde, guaranteeing that he would complete the task of capturing Leaf Castle within the year. Although Peng Huaisong and Situ Jingde had not made their demands absolute, they did require him to advance to Leaf Castle before the onset of winter, completing the combat operations deep in the hinterlands of the Giant Continent.

"If we’re to speak of it, the military order established by Lian Xusheng wasn’t anything trivial, even though he hadn’t gone to the Southwest. He still had to complete these tasks within the year, and the military action against Lion Spring City went much smoother than anticipated.

The real problem was actually the ripple effects.

As previously mentioned, because the Imperial Army quickly captured Lion Spring City and seized Sri Lanka, securing a victory in the Fan Flame Ocean, the Alliance Group had to give their all on the land battlefield to achieve victory, or even just to hold on.

From the moment the Bulan Royal Navy’s Expeditionary Fleet was defeated, the Luosha Federation became the second leader of the Alliance Group.

Obviously, the offensive operations in the Northwest would definitely encounter major troubles.

According to what Lian Xusheng said, the Sixth Bureau had already issued a warning.

Starting from December last year, the Newland Federation increased its support for the Luosha Federation, and after the "Prime Minister" left the North Sunset Ocean, the support intensified even more.

In January alone, two fleets arrived at the ports of the Luosha Federation in the Ice Ocean.

Crucially, the fleet that arrived later was originally planned to head to the Bulan Kingdom.

This showed that the Newland Federation had reduced its level of priority towards the Bulan Kingdom.

These two fleets brought over a hundred cargo ships, delivering a massive amount of crucial strategic materials to the Luosha Federation, including at least 50,000 tons of aluminum ingots!

Moreover, there were lots of finished products, such as high-performance aviation engines, crucial ammunition, and so on.

With these materials, the Luosha Federation could produce thousands of advanced aircraft within a year.

Naturally, the military and civilians in Luosha were greatly encouraged.

Furthermore, the Luosha Federation had already completed a full mobilization for war during the past winter, creating more than 300 new combat units.

There is ample reason to believe that, in the Leaf Castle area alone, there were at least 200 divisions.

Although the Luosha Army was small in scale, and most of the newly formed units were infantry divisions, nearly 3 million troops were not to be taken lightly.

Moreover, in the Northwest, the logistical support of the Imperial Army was also extremely fragile.

Not to mention holding the front line, just organizing and launching a large-scale strategic offensive required a lot of time to complete the preliminary preparations.

This meant that, until the transportation capacity was fully enhanced, the Imperial Army’s intensity and frequency of offensives in the Northwest Battlefield were limited.

In fact, this was an objective reality, and it was a problem that no one could solve.

Using Lian Xusheng’s words, even if the combat effectiveness of the Luosha Army was reduced to zero, just continually sending troops to the front lines would exhaust the logistics of the Imperial Army.

To date, the Imperial Army had captured about 1.5 million prisoners of war in the Northwest.

Just settling these prisoners of war posed a huge headache for the military.

What to do with even more prisoners of war in the upcoming offenses, and how to push forward?

Due to the inconvenient transportation, only less than one-third of the resources transported from the Central Region of the Empire could reach the front lines, with the rest being consumed during transportation.

According to Lian Xusheng, even if everything went smoothly, it would be impossible to reach Leaf Castle within the year.

Strictly speaking, that meant before the end of October, just before winter set in.

Clearly, Lian Xusheng was under a lot of pressure.

To say, this also affected Li Yunxiang.

Bai Zhizhan also felt deeply about it, given that the current predicament of both men was related to him.

Apart from punishing himself with three cups of drink, the only thing Bai Zhizhan could do was to fight a good battle in East Ocean!"