Empire Conquest

Chapter 548 - 544 Repeated Deliberations

The discussion shifted to the operation of attacking Jibu Fortress.

Essentially, there was only one issue that needed to be discussed.

Whether to directly attack Jibu Fortress, or to strike at Socotra Island first and then use it as a base to assault or bombard Jibu Fortress.

However, in Bai Zhizhan’s view, there was no need to discuss this matter at all.

If it were the beginning of the year, then they definitely should have occupied Socotra Island first.

Given enough time, after capturing Socotra Island, they wouldn’t even need to launch an assault; just continuous, high-intensity bombing would force the Bulan Army to abandon Jibu Fortress.

In the battle for Lion Spring City, high-intensity bombing played a crucial role.

But by this point, there was no time left to attack and occupy Socotra Island.

Moreover, for bombing to be effective, sufficient time is needed.

That was precisely why not just Bai Zhizhan, but Liu Xiangzhen too believed there was no point in wasting time on Socotra Island, though they considered deploying some forces to capture the island during the assault on Jibu Fortress, with the main objectives being seizing the port and establishing an airfield for the proximity deployment of the Air Force.

The main force was still the Fleet.

Indeed, the key lay with the Fleet.

By the time the 11th Special Mixed Fleet had returned to East Ocean, there would be 2 Special Mixed Fleets available, with a total of only 4 large new carriers.

This military strength was adequate at best and certainly not plentiful.

Of course, there were also several escort aircraft carriers in the support fleet, capable of sharing a part of the combat tasks and reducing the burden on the Special Mixed Fleet.

But the problem was that skipping over Socotra Island and attacking Jibu Fortress directly would require a sufficient number of Fighters to seize air superiority in the initial stage.

The 4 large carriers were clearly not enough to ensure the completion of the mission.

For this reason, Liu Xiangzhen proposed in the meeting that he hoped the Army’s Air Force could provide support, taking on some of the task of bombing Jibu Fortress, with the Navy’s shipborne Air Force focusing on air superiority and escort, that is, carrying more ship-borne Fighters to ensure air superiority could be seized.

The problem lay here.

The closest base to Jibu Fortress was Gwadar, and even if the airport there had been repaired to deploy heavy Bombers and there were no concerns about logistical support,

Gwadar was 2,000 kilometers away from Jibu Fortress!

This distance was almost the operational range limit for the Imperial Army’s active heavy Bombers.

Even if the Special Mixed Fleet advanced and arranged for ship-borne Fighters to perform escort missions, due to the limited bomb load of less than 2 tons, the operational efficiency of the Bombers would be significantly reduced.

Theoretically, at least 500 heavy bombers needed to be deployed in Gwadar to have considerable practical value in combat.

To meet the Navy’s requirements, the number would need to increase to 1,000.

Clearly, that was an impossible task.

Regardless of whether the logistics could keep up, Gwadar’s military airport could not deploy so many Bombers, and the maintenance capabilities were insufficient to support so many Bombers performing combat missions simultaneously. It was simply unrealistic to deploy tens of thousands of ground personnel to Gwadar.

It was for this reason that the Army suggested the urgent need to establish a forward airfield.

To this end, the Army generals proposed considering an initial landing near Jibu Fortress to strengthen the deployment of ground forces.

Unfortunately, this proposal was of no value.

The infrastructure in the eastern regions of the Xuan Continent could not even be described as "poor," because it simply did not exist.

In Liu Changxun’s words, the mission of the Imperial Army was to conquer Jibu Fortress and clear the route to the Land Heart Sea, not to engage in infrastructure construction.

If every step forward required building infrastructure, I’m afraid this war wouldn’t end even after 50 years.

Now, the problem had circled back.

Before assaulting Jibu Fortress, it was necessary to land on Socotra Island and at the very least control a port, establishing a military airfield in the coastal region.

Of course, if they could successfully land on Socotra Island, there would no longer be a need to call upon the Army Air Force for assistance.

In the end, it was the Navy that made the concession.

By the end of September, land on Socotra Island, and during the October advance into Boss Bay, complete the assault operation to ensure that in November, as the Army attacked Boi Country, we could use Socotra Island as a base to attack Jibu Fortress, reducing the Army’s operational burden.

Strictly speaking, it was to allow the Army Air Force to concentrate its forces in support of the offensive in the direction of Boss Bay.

The key point was, no longer to seek to conquer the entire Socotra Island.

Due to insufficient troops and not enough time, it was impossible to capture the whole of Socotra Island with limited forces within the set timeframe.

This was an island with an area of over 3600 square kilometers.

Although there were only a few hundred troops stationed on the island, without heavy weapons, this was a desolate island cut off from the world, completely lacking any modern infrastructure. Once leaving the coastal area, there were no roads to extend into the interior of the island.

Precisely for this reason, there was no need to occupy the whole of Socotra Island.

To put it another way, the most troublesome part of attacking Socotra Island was actually the construction of ports and airports locally – that is, building infrastructure.

Fortunately, if we were just messing around in the coastal area, this problem wasn’t as serious.

At present, what the Empire lacked the least was foreign labor willing to work in dangerous areas at the front lines.

At the meeting, Xue Yuanzheng had already explicitly mentioned and guaranteed that during the advance into Boss Bay and the assault on Jibu Fortress, we could mobilize one million Saiyi laborers.

According to Xue Yuanzheng, the problem was not the lack of labor, but rather an abundance!

In the Northwest, nearly two million Saiyi laborers were serving the Imperial Army, laying railways westward at a rate of about 10 kilometers per day. In the Southeast region, close to one million Saiyi laborers were building roads and ports, and managing special plantations like those for rubber.

The key point was that thousands of Saiyi laborers who passed the examination arrived in the Empire every day.

Even if no wages were paid, it was necessary to provide essential living support.

As finance officials would say, if Saiyi laborers stayed one day in the Empire, just for basic living allowances, the Imperial Authority would lose millions of Gold Yuan.

The Empire’s ability to launch continuous strategic offensives owed a great deal to the numerous Saiyi laborers.

Obviously, in the direction of Socotra Island, as long as there was enough equipment, and construction materials kept up, at most a few thousand laborers were needed.

The focus, in fact, was on Boss Bay.

At the meeting, Yang Zhiyuan had already mentioned that the Bulan Kingdom was prepared to give up Boss Bay and would definitely try their best to destroy the local oil fields as they withdrew.

The Imperial Authority was already prepared for this, mainly by reserving equipment in advance for oil extraction.

Of course, there was also a sufficient number of labor forces.

Furthermore, after the operation to attack Boi Country began, it was certain that we would need to occupy and control ports and repair damaged infrastructure.

In summary, by relying on a vast workforce of laborers, the Imperial Army no longer needed to be burdened by logistics and infrastructure as before.

To put it another way, this could also be considered the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom’s effort to atone for past actions.

The meeting continued until deep into the night before ending.

Before leaving the Prime Minister Mansion, Liu Changxun made a phone call, instructing the Combat Staff Advisor at the Navy headquarters to draft an order for the 21st and 22nd Special Mixed Fleets to set sail immediately.

As for the troops attacking Socotra Island, they had been on standby in Sri Lanka.