Empire Conquest

Chapter 570 - 566: Letting Go

The breakfast wasn’t lavish, but the chef had done his utmost.

When the Communication Advisor rushed over, Bai Zhizhan was earnestly devouring the oil tea prepared specially for him by the chef—a dish with distinctive Yuzhou characteristics.

Li Mingbo called out to the Communication Advisor.

He was stunned after a mere glance, frozen until Bai Zhizhan took the telegram from his hand.

"Could there be a mistake?"

"We’ve already received a verification telegram from the Navy headquarters; there is no mistake in the report," the Communication Advisor crisply replied.

Although the taste of being proven wrong was unpleasant, Li Mingbo didn’t take issue with the Communication Advisor.

Stick to the facts; there was no need to bring up anything else.

The Communication Advisor was also tactful and slipped away before Bai Zhizhan could speak.

By this time, Bai Zhizhan had finished reading the telegram.

In fact, it contained just one sentence.

The Alliance Army forces of the Alliance Group had landed near Casablanca in the North Xuan region, overpowered the local garrison, and seized and controlled the crucial port.

Truth be told, the Locke Colony forces defending Casablanca offered virtually no resistance.

A few minutes later, Bai Zhizhan and Li Mingbo returned to the Command Bridge.

Zhou Yongtao had returned to the Command Bridge ahead of time and pulled out a map.

Shortly afterward, the Navy headquarters sent new information.

The Tiaoman troops nearest to Casablanca were about 300 kilometers away, and it was only an infantry brigade totaling less than 2000 men.

All infantry, with but a few dozen trucks and without tanks or other armored weapons.

The implication was that Tiaoman forces were unable to immediately launch a reprisal.

Fortunately, the Alliance Army’s Landing Forces could not immediately advance eastward; at most, they could reach Tangier to the south of the Strait of Nara, which wouldn’t greatly affect the fierce battles occurring near the Xifan Canal. Moreover, Tiaoman forces did not need to send troops westward, at least not for the time being.

Militarily speaking, the Alliance Army’s landing in the North Xuan region, and their choice of Casablanca, was actually to avoid the Tiaoman main forces.

The goal was merely to secure a bridgehead south of the Strait of Nara.

Essentially, it was to strengthen control over the strait that connected the Land Heart Sea with the Sunset Ocean, a strait of immense military and political significance.

Besides, the political implications of this battle were even more evident.

Although Bai Zhizhan and his colleagues were all military men, they all immediately thought that after a successful landing, the Locke Colony Government in the North Xuan region might waver. They could possibly join the embrace of the Alliance Group, or at least remain neutral, making a choice once the situation became clear.

The key was that the Locke officers who had fled to the Bulan Kingdom had already formed a temporary government named "Free Locke."

As expected, once the Alliance Army secured its footing, representatives from Free Locke would arrive at the frontlines and reach out to the local colonial government.

This, in turn, would inevitably intensify the Tiaoman Empire’s defensive efforts in the region.

If not for anything else, they would need to exert pressure on the Locke Colony Government by increasing military commitments, preventing a colonial garrison of as many as 500,000 from becoming an enemy.

If it came down to a fight, the threat posed by these 500,000 Locke troops would be far from insignificant.

Even if it were 500,000 infantry, suppressing them would require mobilizing at least 100,000, or even 200,000 troops, and it would consume a massive amount of ammunition and supplies.

It’s clear that in the North Xuan region, the Tiaoman troops did not total 200,000, and what they lacked most was ammunition and supplies.

Furthermore, they had to strengthen control over the Locke territory.

Prior to this, the Tiaoman troops stationed in Locke were fewer than 500,000, and almost all were infantry units, many of which were reserve teams. In the main occupied areas, it was the local police responsible for maintaining social order, while Tiaoman occupation forces were tasked with dealing with underground resistance organizations.

Now, the local police certainly couldn’t be relied upon, so the number of stationed troops had to be increased.

In short, for the Tiaoman Empire, the Alliance Army’s landing in the North Xuan region was a threat that couldn’t be ignored and had to be taken seriously.

Then, it would inevitably have an impact on the battles around the Xifan Canal.

If one were to say, accepting money would affect the Raleigh Kingdom.

The key lay in Malta.

If the Alliance Army’s operations in the North Xuan region went smoothly and they swiftly advanced into the Tunisia region, they could provide powerful support to the Bulan troops currently attacking Malta. Relying on the frontline airports in Tunisia, the Bulan Royal Navy could withdraw the Special Mixed Fleet.

One might say that the Tiaoman military was still holding Malta, relying on the air force from Tunisia.

Because of the threat from the shore-based air force, the Bulan Royal Navy’s Special Mixed Fleet hadn’t dared to approach Malta and the support provided to the Landing Forces was quite limited.

After losing Malta, the Tiaoman military definitely wouldn’t be able to hold the North Xuan region.

However, Bai Zhizhan was concerned about how the Alliance Army managed to land in the North Xuan region?

And after the successful landing, how could they rapidly advance towards the Land Heart Sea?

Just relying on ground troops?

That was clearly impossible.

Even if the landing were successful, the ground troops would advance along the coastline, make as much use of maritime transport for resupply as possible, but also had to build enough airports along the way.

As such, the speed of their advance couldn’t possibly be very fast.

Only with direct support from the Fleet, especially air cover, could the ground troops rapidly advance and hope to quickly make it to Tunisia.

So, where was the Alliance Group’s Fleet?

Moreover, Casablanca was hundreds of kilometers away from the Nara Fortress, and since Nara Fortress was too narrow to deploy many combat aircraft, the shipborne air force would undoubtedly provide air cover during the landing phase, which meant the involvement of the Special Mixed Fleet in the landing operations.

The Bulan Royal Navy’s Special Mixed Fleet was still in the Land Heart Sea, not having gone to the Sunset Ocean.

It wasn’t until noon that the latest news came from the Navy headquarter.

Indeed, there was a Fleet supporting the landing operations, and it was the Newland Navy’s Special Mixed Fleet.

According to intelligence provided by the Tiaoman Empire, at least three small carriers and more than ten escort aircraft carriers were located in the northwest sea outside Casablanca.

There might also be several small carriers from the Bulan Royal Navy.

Because the landing operations hadn’t ended, this Fleet was active in the Sunset Ocean and hadn’t entered the Land Heart Sea, thus not within the strike range of the Tiaoman Air Force.

Although they hadn’t confirmed the specific situation of the Enemy Fleet, mainly because it was a Tiaoman submarine that spotted the Fleet and the Tiaoman Air Force’s Reconnaissance Aircraft hadn’t arrived yet, there was already reason to believe that the Special Mixed Fleet commanded by Spur had gone there, still being the absolute main force supporting the landing action.

In the words of Zhou Yongtao, if the Newland Federation hadn’t sent troops, the Bulan Kingdom wouldn’t have had the courage to land in the North Xuan region at all.

Clearly, this was also why the Newland Fleet hadn’t appeared in the Northeast Fan Flame Ocean.

However, the information provided by the Navy headquarter was not very reliable, or rather, it hadn’t been confirmed.

It wasn’t until evening that definite news was received.

After losing a dozen long-range patrol aircraft and Reconnaissance Aircraft, the Tiaoman Air Force finally confirmed that there were indeed three small carriers from the Newland Navy within the Enemy Fleet.

Additionally, there were two Newland Navy Fast Battleships, the "Beika" and the "Huazhou."

Only at this time did Bai Zhizhan’s mood somewhat improve.

Although he had been up all day, what Bai Zhizhan needed now was not dinner but sleep, as he hadn’t closed his eyes for two straight days.

Regardless, at least there was no possibility of a surprise attack by the Newland Fleet.