Empire Conquest

Chapter 533 - 529: New Ideas

When Li Mingbo brought dinner, Bai Zhizhan had just left his command post.

Although he did not directly participate in the command, Bai Zhizhan had to stay at his post during combat to set an example for other officers and soldiers.

It wasn’t just dinner, breakfast and lunch had also been eaten on the bridge.

"I have already arranged everything. The seaplanes responsible for searching for the downed pilots will depart in a while."

Bai Zhizhan nodded first, then said, "We also need to pay attention to anti-submarine warfare. After dinner, ask the chief of staff to the meeting room for a meeting."

"Alright, I’ll go inform them now."

Li Mingbo had left before Bai Zhizhan put down his lunch box.

Frankly, he didn’t have much of an appetite.

It wasn’t due to nervousness but because he was contemplating.

When it was decided to launch the attack in the afternoon, Bai Zhizhan had already rejected another suggestion by Zhou Yongtao: to approach Wangxi Canal at night and launch an attack the next morning.

At that time, Bai Zhizhan had issued the order.

Regardless of whether the attack succeeded, they were to turn back and return home after dark.

Now, Bai Zhizhan was considering another issue.

Should they return directly to Transfer Island, or turn north?

Since they had successfully annihilated two fleet carriers of the Newland Navy, the Wei Jun would return to Transfer Island with the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet, as planned.

In this case, even if Spur headed there with two small carriers, it would be too late to change anything.

Hence, occupying Transfer Island was merely a matter of time.

Given the current situation, the Newland Navy might even proactively give up Transfer Island to avoid wasting valuable troops after a ferocious fight.

The logic was very simple. What could actually defend Transfer Island was the Navy, not the officers and soldiers on the island.

The fast boats and patrol aircraft heading to Transfer Island every night provided great encouragement to the defenders, becoming the spiritual pillar for the brave troops fighting to the death.

However, the problem is that the nightly relief effort provided only comfort, built upon immense sacrifices and losses.

After more than a month of fierce battle on Transfer Island, the Newland Navy had lost dozens of torpedo fast boats and destroyers, along with over a hundred large patrol planes.

Just the officers and soldiers who died while transporting materials numbered more than 3,000.

Such severe and enormous costs meant it was not sustainable!

The Newland Navy had been reinforcing Transfer Island only to drag things out, not because they thought this defensive reinforcement tactic made sense.

After losing hope of regaining control over the sea, the Newland Navy could only abandon Transfer Island.

Of course, they wouldn’t ask the defenders on the island to surrender immediately but rather stop providing nighttime support to Transfer Island, preserving valuable ships.

Before long, the morale of the defenders on Transfer Island would collapse under despair, and they would surrender.

After the defender’s morale had crumbled, the difficulty of attacking Transfer Island would significantly decrease, making it possible to occupy the island ahead of schedule.

But what then?

Obviously, this was the issue Bai Zhizhan was pondering.

The Newland Navy would give up Transfer Island, but they would certainly not give up the Howay Islands, especially the several large islands on the eastern part of the archipelago.

Even if it meant using up all their ships and fighters, the Newland Navy would defend the Howay Islands to the death.

On a strategic level, the Howay Islands are the watershed of the East Ocean War.

Once the Howay Islands were lost, the Newland Navy was doomed to lose the East Ocean War, and the Newland Federation would thus lose the entire war.

In fact, just losing the East Ocean War would spell doom for the Newland Federation.

To hold the Howay Islands, it actually depended on the Air Force, not the Fleet.

In fact, the Newland Navy had no fleet available anymore.

That’s where the problem lay!

The shortest distance from Treasure Harbor to the west coast of Newland’s mainland was 3,000 kilometers, which exceeded the maximum flying range of all tactical aircraft.

To put it another way, it was beyond the normal flying distance of all transport planes.

The only ones capable of flying directly from Newland’s mainland to Treasure Harbor were long-range bombers, and they had to fly light.

Thus, to reinforce Treasure Harbor, including the transport of ammunition and other combat materials, one had to rely on sea transport.

Even if transferring the Air Force, it was necessary to deploy a few escort aircraft carriers in the eastern part of Howay Islands for the Navy’s ship-borne aircraft to land and refuel.

If it were Land Air Force tactical planes, then they could only be transported by ships.

In summary, the shipping route from Treasure Harbor to Newland’s mainland was the lifeline for the Newland Army defending the Howay Islands.

What Bai Zhizhan was targeting was exactly this shipping route!

To put it bluntly, if one could cut off the shipping route from Newland’s mainland to Treasure Harbor, then one could capture these islands with minimal cost.

In theory, one wouldn’t even need to send troops to attack; continuous intense bombing would be enough.

Based on combat experience against Saiyi’s mainland, with a sufficient investment, it would take, at most, only half a year to completely destroy the military bases on the islands in the eastern part of the archipelago.

Later, when discussing with his staff, Bai Zhizhan raised several questions:

What were the risks if one moved northward, and was there any way to overcome or reduce them, as well as their potential impact on subsequent operations?

Discussion was one thing, but was it necessary to move northward?

For this, Li Mingbo brought up a new question:

If the 21st Special Mixed Fleet did not return to Transfer Island, and only the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet rushed over, could it capture Transfer Island within the planned timeline?

If not, would that lead to a domino effect?

The key was that, as planned by the Navy headquarter, after the battle at Transfer Island concluded, at least one Special Mixed Fleet would have to be redirected to the Fan Flame Ocean to assist and coordinate with the 11th Special Mixed Fleet in advancing to Boss Bay or attacking Jibu Fortress, in order to relieve the pressure on the Tiaoman forces in the Land Heart Sea.

Now, two fleet carriers of the Newland Navy had already been destroyed, so the battle for capturing Transfer Island definitely needed to be accelerated.

Don’t forget, the reason Bai Zhizhan decided to take the risk of rushing the attack on Wangxi Canal was to strive to complete the combat operation of capturing Transfer Island by August.

Now it was already mid-August!

Even if one were to sail directly back, by the time one reached the waters around Transfer Island, it would already be late August.

In other words, even if the battle on Transfer Island went smoothly, Bai Zhizhan didn’t have much time left to dawdle—next, he would have to switch battles to the Fan Flame Ocean.

Even by the most conservative estimates, the Imperial Navy would need to send a Special Mixed Fleet to the Fan Flame Ocean by mid-September.

This conflicted with what Bai Zhizhan mentioned about going to the east side of the Howay Islands to block the sea shipping routes.

Calculating from the timeline, by the end of August, no matter what the situation, they would have to let a Special Mixed Fleet return from Transfer Island to the Imperial mainland.

If the 21st Special Mixed Fleet did not go back, then only the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet could be sent back.

In the situation where only the support Fleet remained, that is, with only four small carriers providing air support, could one still capture Transfer Island according to plan?

If this led to an impact on the operation to capture Transfer Island, what then?

Moreover, if the 22nd Special Mixed Fleet were sent to the Fan Flame Ocean, the Wei Jun would definitely be a secondary role—could this Special Mixed Fleet be requisitioned back later?

What was even more important was that with the 21st Special Mixed Fleet continuously operating behind enemy lines, even if it subsequently moved to Transfer Island, it might not be able to hold the line.

Not to mention the battleships; there was a limit for Navy officers and soldiers.

In the 21st Special Mixed Fleet, many officers had already been deployed continuously for over a year, and some key technical sergeants on critical positions hadn’t had rest since the outbreak of the war.

Clearly, Bai Zhizhan had to think through these issues carefully.