Empire Conquest

Chapter 574 - 570: Bad News

As the "Thunderbolt" torpedo attack aircraft approached, Bai Zhizhan was boasting to Li Mingbo, worried about a possible night ambush by the enemy.

When the torpedo bomber landed, and Bai Zhizhan saw the person coming up from below, he immediately furrowed his brows.

It was actually Zheng Jiangming!

What was he doing with the Fleet?

Moreover, it was almost dawn, and unless it was something of great urgency, they definitely wouldn’t have dispatched a ship-borne aircraft, risking a nighttime landing.

Even the most skilled pilots couldn’t guarantee a hundred percent success rate in landing on a carrier on a pitch-black night.

According to the Empire’s Navy’s statistics, the success rate for nighttime landings had never exceeded fifty percent, and the likelihood of serious accidents was extremely high.

Just a few days earlier, a "Vermilion Bird" had crashed onto the deck of a carrier during a night patrol mission, fortunately, the two crew members only suffered minor injuries.

Li Mingbo also immediately thought of this and went to summon the staff.

A phone call from the Command Bridge or an order to other staff would have sufficed, but Li Mingbo’s actions were to avoid knowing things he shouldn’t.

Although he was the Fleet Chief of Staff, Li Mingbo had very low security clearance, not entitled to be informed of all matters.

Zheng Jiangming rushing over in the middle of the night certainly meant that there was a matter of great importance, so significant that it couldn’t be conveyed via telegraph and required sending someone Bai Zhizhan absolutely trusted.

For this reason, Li Mingbo even purposefully delayed for a while.

About fifteen minutes later, once Zhou Yongtao and the other off-duty staff had returned, Li Mingbo briefly explained the situation, then headed for the officers’ mess hall below.

Zheng Jiangming was eating, while Bai Zhizhan looked extremely upset.

Upon seeing Li Mingbo, Zheng Jiangming simply nodded.

"I have nothing else, I’ll go rest first. I’m exhausted from the journey."

"I’ll take you there."

Zheng Jiangming didn’t stand on ceremony with Li Mingbo, following him out of the officers’ mess hall.

Li Mingbo, without any objection, gave up his single cabin to Zheng Jiangming.

It was only after arriving on the large carrier that Li Mingbo had his own cabin, whereas previously on the fleet carrier, he shared a double cabin with Zhou Yongtao.

However, the single cabin was rarely used and was vacant most of the time.

By the time he returned to the mess hall, Bai Zhizhan was still seated there, his expression had not improved in the slightest.

"Old Zheng should have at least..."

"Our previous worries were not without reason."

Bai Zhizhan suddenly blurted out something that completely confused Li Mingbo.

After Li Mingbo sat down, Bai Zhizhan revealed the news brought by Zheng Jiangming.

This month, to be precise, a few days ago, the Grand Secretary Xue Yuanzheng had taken a thunderous approach to eradicate the largest traitorous conspiracy group within the Empire, arresting hundreds of spies working for the enemy nation. The key was that the leader of the Conciliation Faction, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Song Jiaowen, had resigned over this, and the industrial and commercial group led by the Song Family had also been severely damaged. Just in the span of a month, the power structure within the Empire had been reshuffled.

All of this was related to the previous action, the bombing operation on the Northwest Aus region.

In fact, that operation was a trap set for the traitorous defectors.

Before that, Xue Yuanzheng had instructed Liu Changxun to reveal the plan to bomb Northwest Aus to several confidants of Song Jiaowen under the guise of collaboration.

What followed proved that it was these individuals who had leaked the relevant intelligence to the enemy.

The most critical point was that the Newland Fleet, which had been active over the Southwest East Ocean, had appeared in the North Fan Flame Ocean.

As far as the specifics, it was to make the Newland Federation believe that the Empire Navy was using the shore-based air force stationed on Socotra Island to support the offensive operation against the Jibu Fortress, with both Special Mixed Fleets having already set off for the Northeast Fan Flame Ocean, in search of an opportunity for a decisive battle.

Had they not received the message ahead of time and instead set off for the North Fan Flame Ocean just before the Empire Navy launched its attack, the Alliance Group would have been absolutely unable to initiate an offensive operation against the North Xuan region in November, meaning the Newland Fleet could not have arrived in the North Sunset Ocean by then in any case.

Following this clue, the Sixth Bureau had also obtained a lot of related intelligence, or rather evidence.

From this, it was clear that the bombing of the western regions of Aus was meant to unearth the internal traitors.

From another perspective, it also aimed to eliminate potential threats.

Since there was no direct evidence pointing to Song Jiaowen, Xue Yuanzheng did not make things difficult for him after he resigned to take responsibility.

The current Minister of Foreign Affairs was also from the Song Family, and although he was not as arrogant and domineering as Song Jiaowen, being more low-key, he was also more difficult to deal with.

As long as the Conciliation Faction was not completely eradicated, the internal threat would always be there.

Zheng Jiangming’s arrival was related to this.

Xue Yuanzheng had made arrangements, having already leaked the news that both Special Mixed Fleets had advanced into the Narrow Sea ahead of schedule, and launched the attack on the Xifan Canal ahead of schedule. Only Song Jiaowen knew the details, therefore if both fleets were attacked in the Narrow Sea, or more precisely if the Bulan military had been well-prepared in advance, it would prove that Song Jiaowen leaked the information to the enemy through secret channels, which would fundamentally eliminate the hidden danger.

Perhaps, it could even eradicate the Song Family in one fell swoop.

Zheng Jiangming coming to the Fleet was to personally inform Bai Zhizhan of these matters.

Of course, it wasn’t all bad news.

The previous actions in the Northeast Fan Flame Ocean had already proven that Liu Xiangzhen had not been assimilated by the Conciliation Faction, at least he could distinguish priorities in major matters, so in this operation, Liu Xiangzhen could be fully trusted, that is, to cooperate with the Twelfth Special Mixed Fleet as much as possible.

Moreover, the Sixth Bureau had sent a Senior Intelligence Officer to the Twelfth Special Mixed Fleet, with orders from Xue Yuanzheng.

When necessary, this Intelligence Officer would issue commands directly to Liu Xiangzhen.

Although the term "Military Governor" was no longer used, the orders of the Grand Secretary carried enough weight, and Liu Xiangzhen would not dare ignore them.

No matter what, it would take at most two days to travel from the Mand Strait to the Xifan Canal.

"So we’re taking such a big risk, advancing into the Xifan Canal ahead of time, just to serve those politicians vying for power?"

Bai Zhizhan did not respond, as he always had little interest in domestic strife, or rather, he greatly disliked it, since it was a costly internal consumption.

Li Mingbo did not continue, knowing Bai Zhizhan’s distaste for these cunning and deceitful schemes.

"We can’t decide on these matters," Bai Zhizhan finally sighed deeply, then added, "Let Zhou Yongtao adjust tomorrow’s deployment later, ensuring that the air defense fighters take off before dawn, and make contact with the advanced strike team to prepare for air defense combat in advance."

"Not calling back the strike team?"

"There’s no need for that at the moment."

Since Bai Zhizhan said so, Li Mingbo did not ask further.

After Bai Zhizhan left, he made a call to gather Zhou Yongtao and others.

Although Bai Zhizhan hadn’t specifically instructed him, Li Mingbo understood the importance and did not share the news brought by Zheng Jiangming with Zhou Yongtao, simply instructing Zhou Yongtao to make adjustments.

Zhou Yongtao was a smart man and did not seek out Li Mingbo for an explanation.

Subsequently, Li Mingbo personally issued orders to the Captain of the "Nanzhu Sea" and the Commander of the assault team.

With that said, there were still several hours until dawn, and starting to strengthen defenses now would be enough to withstand an attack launched by the enemy.

Moreover, the Twelfth Special Mixed Fleet was right behind.

If Zheng Jiangming wasn’t talking nonsense, then after dawn, Liu Xiangzhen would send fighters to provide cover for the advanced Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet.