Empire Conquest

Chapter 527 - 523: Bluffing Through

August 14th, in the evening, at the northern entrance of Wangxi Canal.

After putting down the binoculars, Hal looked at the sunset in the west again.

The canal was right ahead, and their timing was very precise.

Only after the staff reminded him did Hal order a slowdown to allow the "Fenjin" to catch up.

Choosing the "Lek" as the flagship was actually a nod to Spur’s prestige.

The "Fenjin" had always been Spur’s flagship and had followed him through two fleet decisive battles, serving as Spur’s personal vessel.

In naval terms, the "Fenjin" was more like Spur’s woman.

Of course, for the ordinary officers and men, the battleship was home and the place they could least afford to leave.

According to unwritten rules, as long as Spur remained in position as the fleet commander and there was no new flagship, the "Fenjin" would always be his flagship. Other fleet commanders, unless they had a deep hatred with Spur, would avoid choosing the "Fenjin" when selecting their flagships.

Additionally, the "Lek" had originally been commanded by Hal.

In the Northwest East Ocean Battle, this carrier was part of Hal’s 16th Special Mixed Fleet and ultimately, it was this ship that carried Hal away from the battlefield.

Soon after, the "Fenjin" caught up.

As per the plan, several cruisers had headed to Frey that afternoon, and the "Independent" under Frey’s command would pass through Wangxi Canal.

As a result, only four destroyers accompanied the two fleet carriers through the canal’s third lock.

This was also for anti-submarine purposes; otherwise, these four destroyers could have been spared.

Of course, it wasn’t the submarines on the Sunset Ocean side but those on the East Ocean side.

In the Sunset Ocean, thanks to the joint suppression by the Bulan Royal Navy and the Newland Navy, the Tiaoman Navy’s submarines had become much more subdued than before. They reduced their operating areas, focusing from the North Sunset Ocean to the Ice Ocean routes, mainly targeting ships heading to the Luosha Federation.

Certainly, this was related to the current state of the war.

If anything, the submarines from the Liangxia Navy posed a greater threat.

Despite the Liangxia Navy’s submarine force being limited in scale before the outbreak of the war, particularly lacking in large submarines capable of long-duration operations in open waters, and the Liangxia Navy not paying much attention to submarine-related technologies, these were no longer issues after the Tiaoman Empire entered the war.

There was already intelligence that the Tiaoman Empire not only provided Liangxia Empire with the designs and manufacturing techniques for ocean-going submarines but also aided them with more than a dozen large ocean-going submarines and sent experienced submarine officers and men to the Liangxia Empire to help their navy quickly master the tactics of ocean-going offensive warfare.

Crucially, the Liangxia Empire’s shipbuilding industry was extremely powerful.

With the designs in hand, not only official naval shipyards, but even civilian shipyards primarily constructing cargo ships could build submarines.

According to the latest intelligence, the Liangxia Navy’s fleet of ocean-going submarines had surpassed 150 vessels, with a growth rate of 10 to 15 submarines per month.

Although this scale and growth rate were not comparable to the Newland Navy, the threat posed by these submarines was enormous.

According to incomplete statistics, every month, the Newland Federation lost no less than 200,000 tons of shipping in the East Ocean, with the highest in a single month exceeding 500,000 tons.

Most of these were the achievements of Liangxia submarines.

Indeed, while Newland submarines desperately disrupted the sea lanes of the Liangxia Empire, Liangxia submarines were also wildly attacking the Newland Federation’s fleet in the Southwest East Ocean.

Of course, strictly speaking, the majority of the Liangxia Navy’s submarines were foreign-made.

Regardless, the Liangxia submarines were a significant threat.

The key was, after the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom’s defeat and surrender, the Liangxia Navy could use the ports of North Island of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom as bases, significantly shortening their travel distance to the Northeast East Ocean. Those submarines with a range exceeding 15,000 nautical miles often patrolled the Northeast East Ocean and would then head south to linger around the southern side of Wangxi Canal to see if they could encounter any fleets. On their return journey, they first visited the Southwest East Ocean to attack any ships they encountered along the way. Unless they had exhausted their torpedoes and couldn’t contact the attack cruisers responsible for resupplying, these submarines would try to return to the Flame Sea or head to the Nanzhu Sea to rendezvous with the supporting submarines.

Clearly, there were always a few Liangxia submarines lying in wait on the southern side of the canal.

Anti-submarine wasn’t the big issue.

As expected, there were already a dozen patrol aircraft active across from the Saiyi side of Panama, and by tomorrow morning, the number of anti-submarine patrol aircraft would have doubled.

The key was, this intense anti-submarine patrol had been ongoing for five days.

The reason was to provide cover as Frey led the "Independent" carrier battle group through the canal, and a convoy was also set to enter the East Ocean.

Unless there had been preparation early on, no submarine could stay submerged under the sea surface for so long.

Soon, the fleet reached the entrance of the canal.

Relatively speaking, the Wangxi Canal was more spacious than the Xifan Canal, with the main channel being able to accommodate two carriers side by side, but no captain would risk rushing for the sake of time.

Moreover, after the outbreak of the war, the Newland Army took over the canal, declaring a 1000-meter region along its banks as a military exclusion zone forbidden to civilians.

To defend the canal, the military constructed a watchtower every 250 meters along both banks.

For enhanced security, the dense forests on either bank were also set aflame.

Not even a sparrow could fly past, let alone a person.

The real danger was near the locks.

Even though the major parts of Lock No. 3 had been completed, tuning and testing were not yet finished, and many workers resided at the construction site near the locks.

Even with arrangements made in advance, stopping work for two days under the pretext of testing didn’t guarantee that there were no spies among the workers.

It has to be said, there surely were spies from the Liangxia Empire among the workers.

That was unavoidable.

Most of the workers were recruited locals, many of them Indians, and on a racial level, Indians and the Easterners from the Liangxia Empire were not significantly different.

Furthermore, the Nangu Continent housed about 5 million emigrants from the Liangxia Empire.

That was precisely why the military police had to impose martial law near the locks and try to minimize the passage time.

Of course, it all depended on Frey.

As expected, the "Independent" passing through Lock No. 2 alongside a few newly-built Baltimore-class heavy cruisers, set to be tested and transferred to the Navy on the West Coast, were sure to distract the Liangxia spies lurking in the Canal Zone.

With everything going smoothly, it could take only four hours, with two operations, for two carrier battle groups and four destroyers to pass through Lock No. 3 in two shifts.

After that, they could leave the main channel of the canal by dawn tomorrow.

Perhaps, it would be smooth sailing.

With such thorough preparations, it would be stranger if things did not go well.

Approximately two hours later, the "Lek" arrived outside Lock No. 3 and then entered the lock under the shove of four barges.

Hal stayed outside on the command bridge’s gallery.

When the lock began to fill with water, he couldn’t help feeling a bit nervous.

Despite his typically fiery temper and generous demeanor, Hal had undergone significant changes after the Northwest East Ocean Battle.

He hadn’t become timid, but much more cautious.

At 11 p.m., the "Lek" and two destroyers successfully passed through Lock No. 3.

Geographically, they had entered the East Ocean.