Empire Conquest

Chapter 553 - 549: Asking for Help by Visiting

Sri Lanka, Colombo, Army Air Force frontline command center.

Because Bai Zhizhan did not give prior notice and just flew over, Li Yunxiang was startled when he suddenly appeared in front of him.

However, Bai Zhizhan had arrived in the evening.

Li Yunxiang did not ask much and took Bai Zhizhan to the officers’ mess.

After the long journey, he was definitely both hungry and tired.

Not to mention anything else, just flying from Lion Spring City took 8 hours, and on the Navy’s long-range transport aircraft, they might not prepare extra food.

In fact, Bai Zhizhan merely switched to another transport plane in Lion Spring City, staying less than half an hour.

On the way to Colombo, Bai Zhizhan learned from the accompanying officers that Li Yunxiang had already been at the Land Air Force base in Colombo for about three months.

According to the arrangements made by the Army Headquarters, after conquering Jibu Fortress, they would launch psychological warfare against the Fanluo region.

Simply put, they planned to deploy bombers to drop leaflets over cities controlled by the Bulan troops, enticing the local armed forces to rise up and rebel.

If effective, they would be able to liberate the Fanluo region from the hands of the Bulan Kingdom without spending a single soldier or warrior.

As for deploying troops to occupy and control the Fanluo region, that was not currently part of the Imperial Authority’s plans.

The reason was simple; the Fanluo region was too vast and its population was frighteningly large!

On this land area exceeding 3 million square kilometers, there lived approximately 300 million people.

What does this represent?

If the Fanluo region were considered a country, then its population would be second only to the Liangxia Empire, making it the second largest globally!

What was even more daunting was that the Fanluo region had not yet achieved industrialization, not even crossing the threshold of industrialization.

Indeed, on this vast land, nearly everyone lived a self-sufficient agricultural life.

Of course, the ability to support so many people was thanks to the world’s most fertile floodplains, as well as abundant sunlight and heat resources from the subtropical and tropical climates.

In truth, it was precisely because of the fertile soil and unique natural environment that the still agriculturally-based Fanluo region was able to sustain such a vast population!

Besides the large population, there was another reason that made the Imperial Authority hesitate.

Before falling into colonization by the Bulan Kingdom, the Fanluo region had been mostly fragmented throughout its thousands of years of history.

Ironically, the colonial rule of the Bulan Kingdom ended nearly a thousand years of fragmentation, unifying the Fanluo region under one government. Only the Bulan colonizers’ firearms could make those proud local rulers bow their noble heads.

In reality, the Fanluo region was still divided into hundreds of small and large local regions, each like an independent kingdom.

Interestingly, since almost all sizable local regions had their own languages or dialects, after centuries of colonization by the Bulan Kingdom, the Bulan language became the official language of the Fanluo region and was adopted by the rulers of these local regions, the nobles.

Up to this day, speaking the Bulan language had become a status symbol of the local nobility.

Clearly, after driving out the colonizers from the Bulan Kingdom, the Empire would need decades, or even centuries, to establish a new order of governance.

Undoubtedly, this was an extremely daunting task.

Given the current international environment, it was simply impossible to accomplish.

In fact, it had always been the same in the past.

During the era of Chen Bingxun, the Imperial Navy dominated the Fan Flame Ocean, simply forcing the Bulan Kingdom to open the Fanluo region and provide equal treatment to Empire businesses and merchants, without seeking to replace the Bulan Kingdom in Fanluo, let alone implementing the Empire’s systems there.

The most crucial reason was actually a lack of capability.

What could not be achieved during Chen Bingxun’s era was even more impossible now.

Not to mention anything else, the vast cultural differences alone determined that the Empire could not become the ruler of the Fanluo region—it could, at most, take control of the region’s resources.

Moreover, the more than 300 million uneducated poor were of no benefit to the Empire.

Exactly for this reason, the Imperial Authority had devised a basic strategy to entice the local nobles to rise up and revolt, thereby disintegrating the Bulan Kingdom’s ruling status in the Fanluo region.

Of course, this was primarily to prevent the Bulan Kingdom from accessing the resources of the Fanluo region.

For this matter, Li Yunxiang had arrived in Colombo three months earlier, and his only job was to ensure the smooth completion of the airport and other infrastructure being constructed around the Fanluo region.

Of course, this also included deploying bombers to the Fanluo region to carry out reconnaissance missions.

However, that was not all.

At dinner, Li Yunxiang mentioned,

"The higher-ups sent me to Colombo, hoping that after capturing Boss Bay, we could use the Two Rivers Region and the subsequently occupied Boi Country for factual strategic bombing of the Luosha Federation. After clearing the shipping routes into the Land Heart Sea, we must also consider deploying long-range air forces to the Ter Republic."

As soon as the maritime shipping routes were connected, we had to equally strengthen our military deployment on the West Continent, enhancing our bombing intensity against the Bulan Kingdom.

The first to be deployed would actually be the air forces stationed in the North Fan Flame Ocean, engaged in combat in the Fanluo region.

The logic was quite simple, the Fanluo region was exceedingly vast, and the bombers were restricted by the Wuji Mountain Range to the north. Hence, the bombers taking off from Sri Lanka needed to have an operational radius exceeding 2000 kilometers, thus better suited for bombing missions targeting the Luosha Federation and the Bulan Kingdom.

Additionally, Sri Lanka was closer to the West Continent.

As for the strategic air forces on the Giant Continent’s battlefield, because of logistical supply limitations, the deployment number was never very high.

Because the center of the Luosha Federation lay to the west, in the regions east of the Ula Mountain Range, aside from a few cities like Leaf Castle, there were not many targets worth bombing. Thus, on the Giant Continent’s battlefield, the main force consisted of tactical air forces, whose primary mission was to provide close support for the armored forces.

At the tactical level, the tactical air forces were the core of rapid-strike warfare, and their status and value were not inferior to the armored forces.

Precisely for this reason, the Tiaoman Air Force had always focused on tactical air forces, and the Luosha Federation also placed significant emphasis on tactical air forces, without heavily developing strategic air forces.

However, this was related to the industrial strength of both nations.

The development of strategic air forces relied on electric power generation capabilities, specifically the production of aluminum needed for advanced bombers, which could only be obtained through electrolysis.

Globally, only the Liangxia Empire and the Newland Federation could develop strategic air forces.

Now, the elites of the Empire’s strategic air forces were all here.

Clearly, this was also the reason Liu Changxun reminded Bai Zhizhan to come to Colombo to find Li Yunxiang.

If there were to be bombing operations in the northwest region of Aus, suppressing Newland bombers, then the only reliance would be the bomber forces here with Li Yunxiang.

Undoubtedly, Liu Changxun must have already known about the situation here.

In front of Li Yunxiang, Bai Zhizhan did not hide anything. So, after understanding the military forces at Li Yunxiang’s disposal, he spoke his purpose.

In Bai Zhizhan’s words, we must first understand if we can deploy some bombers to handle the Newland Land Air Forces in the northwest of the Aus continent without affecting the overall situation, reducing the threat to the Lion Spring Strait, and ensuring the strait remains navigable.

If possible, it is naturally the best scenario.

If not, if there is a problem, how should it be resolved?