Empire Conquest

Chapter 580 - 576: Strategic Deception

The most dramatic change occurred on December 3, which was the second day the Imperial Fleet began bombing the Xifan Canal.

It was not until then that Zheng Jiangming disclosed to Bai Zhizhan the most critical matter of this mission.

He really could keep his composure.

This is what was mentioned before, the Tiaoman Empire’s strategic deception of deploying the North Xuan’s Commander-in-chief, Army General Rommel and his Armored Forces to the west to intercept the Alliance Army. In truth, the Tiaoman Army did send an armored force there, but it was a Reserve Team, and the commander was another general. Rommel remained in the west of the Xifan Canal, with his command of 2 Armored Divisions still near Alaman.

In order to achieve the deception, both of these Armored Divisions carried out necessary disguises and concealments.

For instance, covering tanks and armored vehicles with yellow sand, soldiers wielding infantry weapons, refraining from assaulting the Bulan Army’s defenses west of Alaman.

In short, the main force of the Tiaoman Army was still stationed on the western side of the Xifan Canal!

Thus, on the night of December 3, after four hours of preparation, the Tiaoman Army’s 2 Armored Divisions launched a surprise attack on the Xifan Canal.

The Bulan Royal Army was caught completely off guard.

At the time, the strike group led by 4 Fast Battleships had already headed north, bombarding Bulan military defenses near Suez City after nightfall, posing a landing posture near Suez City to lure the Bulan Royal Army into adjusting their defensive deployment.

The key point was, reinforcing Suez City.

Because they had lost naval and air superiority, and were unclear about the size of the Imperial Fleet or whether the Imperial Navy’s Landing Fleet had entered the Narrow Sea, the Bulan forces guarding the Xifan Canal could only believe that the Imperial Navy came prepared to launch a landing operation within a few days.

Clearly, this was a serious misjudgment.

At that time, the Landing Fleet was still resting at the temporary port on Socotra Island!

Due to sustaining significant losses in three consecutive landing operations, especially the fierce assault on Jibu Fortress, even under the best conditions, it wouldn’t be until the end of December that they could gather enough Landing Ships to launch a landing operation in the southern region of the Xifan Canal.

As a result, the Bulan forces failed to anticipate the threat from the west.

Before the Tiaoman forces launched their assault, the Bulan forces guarding the Alaman Defense Line were excessively lax, with more than half of the soldiers indulging in pleasures behind the lines.

At the time, the order Montgomery gave his troops was to prepare to head to Suez City.

After a whole night of fierce battle, by the dawn of the 4th, the Tiaoman Armored Forces commanded by Rommel himself had broken through the Bulan defense lines.

Prior to this, the Tiaoman forces had been stuck in front of this defense line for months.

Despite numerous assaults, they had suffered devastating losses without making any substantial progress.

Upon receiving the news, Bai Zhizhan was also extremely surprised.

But at the same time, he felt somewhat slow to realize.

Or perhaps it was something he should have guessed earlier.

Sending 2 Special Mixed Fleets into the Narrow Sea in advance without the Landing Fleet following up meant there would inevitably be other ground forces involved in combat.

As for the Army Armored Forces in Boss Bay, clearly, they could not be counted on.

Even if they weren’t attacked along the way, crossing 1,000 kilometers of desert would take a lot of time and was virtually impossible to achieve in just a few days.

The only viable option was the Tiaoman forces from the North Xuan region.

To speak of it, this tactic was played out very effectively, even fooling their own people.

The Tiaoman Army was willing to make an effort at this time, the key still being the Imperial Navy, that is, the ability of the Imperial Navy to forcefully clear the route to Suez City.

Without a doubt, this was the most critical point.

As Zheng Jiangming stated, because the enemy counterattacked Malta, the Raleigh Navy hunkered down in the port unwilling to come out, leaving the Tiaoman forces operating in the North Xuan area completely out of ammunition and provisions. The only hope they had lay in the Imperial Navy quickly attacking the Xifan Canal.

In order to carry out this final assault operation, the Tiaoman military gathered all the supplies they could find.

Even so, they had enough fuel for only one week.

If they could not meet up with the Imperial Navy within a week, that is, reach Suez City, tens of thousands of Tiaoman officers and soldiers would become lost souls of the North Xuan desert.

Because there was no room for error, great emphasis was placed on this point when the plan was drawn up.

They decided to launch the attack only when the Imperial Fleet advanced into the Narrow Sea and began bombing Suez City, to minimize operational losses as much as possible.

Of course, they also required air support from the Imperial Navy.

This would be the main mission of the 2 Special Mixed Fleets over the following few days.

According to the arrangements of the Bai Zhizhan, all 4 large carriers were operating in the open sea, dispatching ship-borne aircraft to provide air support to the Tiaoman forces advancing toward Suez City, bombing the Bulan forces along the way to decrease the difficulty of the Tiaoman assault and to accelerate their progress.

Furthermore, Bai Zhizhan ordered the assault groups to close in on Suez City and use their artillery to suppress the Bulan forces.

The key point was that the assault groups also had to cover the minesweepers, clearing the naval mines laid by the Bulan forces outside Suez Port, in preparation for the upcoming operations.

The objective was to capture Suez Port and allow the transport fleet to dock and unload cargo.

Per the plan, a convoy composed of 20 large freighters was scheduled to arrive at Suez Port on December 10th, to deliver combat supplies to the Tiaoman military.

The most critical was approximately 100,000 tons of fuel.

At this point in the battle, fuel was what the Tiaoman military lacked the most.

In Zheng Jiangming’s words, if there had been enough fuel, the Tiaoman military would have taken Alaman months earlier and even already captured the Xifan Canal.

Of course, the reverse could also be claimed.

As long as there was a sufficient fuel supply, the Tiaoman military could have captured the canal without the Empire sending troops to the battle.

In fact, this clearly demonstrated that the Imperial Army’s action in advancing on the Xifan Canal was also a feint, merely to draw the Bulan forces’ attention.

In any case, all this strategic deception was in service of the ultimate goal: to capture the Xifan Canal.

By December 7th, the vanguard of the Tiaoman Armored Forces had reached the north of Suez City, where they met up with the reconnaissance units sent by the Special Mixed Fleet.

In fact, these were the Marine Corps accompanying the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet.

Because time was of the essence, no marine units were called up from the rear.

This reconnaissance unit brought communication radios to the Tiaoman forces, and the participating Marine Corps soldiers could speak the Tiaoman language.

Naturally, the Tiaoman military had also arranged for liaison officers proficient in the Empire’s language.

With the liaison officers and the communication radios, the Tiaoman forces could directly call in combat aircraft and battleships for support during the attack.

After gaining direct support, the Tiaoman Armored Forces’ assault became even more fierce.

One might say it was unstoppable.

In reality, the main strength of the Bulan Royal Army was all over by Alaman, and the garrison at Suez City was composed entirely of extremely weak second-line troops.

As for storming Suez City, that was out of the question.

Completely unprepared and never having considered the prospect of facing an enemy from the landward direction, the Bulan forces defending Suez City rather neatly gave up resistance, and after securing a guarantee of their basic rights, they surrendered their arms to the Tiaoman military.

This outcome was also unexpected.