Empire Conquest

Chapter 595 - 591: Royal Family Etiquette

Bai Zhizhan had stayed in the Raleigh Kingdom for only three days, but during these three days, his eyes were truly opened.

After meeting with Prince Galilee in Taranto, Bai Zhizhan took a plane to the capital of Raleigh Kingdom.

Due to last-minute arrangements, Li Mingbo, who was left in charge of the fleet, had to make emergency arrangements, deploying two squadrons of fighters to escort the plane carrying Bai Zhizhan.

Upon arriving in the capital of Raleigh Kingdom that evening, Bai Zhizhan attended a welcome banquet hosted personally by the king.

There, he also met the main diplomatic personnel stationed in Raleigh Kingdom, including the Imperial Ambassador, as well as several dozen diplomats from allies and neutral countries.

The banquet was quite grand, and the Raleigh Kingdom treated Bai Zhizhan with even greater courtesy.

As for honors like medals, honorary military ranks, and noble titles, everything that could be given was given, all that was missing was an invitation for Bai Zhizhan to take the throne.

Later, Bai Zhizhan heard from others.

While arranging this banquet, some from Raleigh who had connections with the king suggested a marital alliance with the Liangxia Royal Family, proposing to marry off the youngest princess—more accurately, Prince Galilee’s youngest daughter—to Bai Zhizhan’s son to strengthen ties with the Liangxia Royal Family through marriage.

According to these advisors, a country like the Liangxia Empire placed great importance on establishing marriage alliances.

Fortunately, upon learning that Bai Zhizhan’s son was not yet a year old while the daughter of Crown Prince Galilee was almost ten, the Raleigh King did not pursue such a foolish act.

Had he proposed it, Bai Zhizhan might have outright opposed it.

Even with Bai Zhizhan’s generosity, the Imperial Family would definitely not have agreed.

We must not forget the ordeal of the Little Eldest Princess.

Of course, all these arrangements sufficiently demonstrated that the Raleigh Royal Family viewed Bai Zhizhan as a savior, or rather, a protective deity that they must secure.

The next day, Bai Zhizhan visited the historical sites in Rome, including the city-within-a-city.

Had time not been particularly tight, Bai Zhizhan might have stayed a few more days.

That evening, a telegram from Li Mingbo rescued Bai Zhizhan.

The Sixth Bureau had received intelligence that the Newland Fleet, which had previously supported landing operations near Casablanca, had entered the Land Heart Sea through the Strait of Nara, taking over from the Bulan Land Heart Sea Fleet.

Moreover, to strengthen their presence in the Land Heart Sea, the Alliance Army was already advancing towards Tunisia.

This indicated that the Newland Fleet might soon head towards Malta.

The next morning, Bai Zhizhan returned to Taranto and then rejoined the fleet aboard the "Qinling."

Once back on the "Pu," Bai Zhizhan found out that there was no such thing, or rather, what Li Mingbo had mentioned in the telegram was not entirely true.

The Alliance Army had indeed advanced toward Tunisia, but the progress was extremely slow.

Since the Liangxia Empire had intervened and Raleigh Kingdom had reconsidered, at least they would not foolishly join the Alliance Group at this time. Hence, the Tiaoman Empire had already adjusted its strategy, sending Rommel to Benghazi and organizing ships to transport combat materials to the North Xuan region.

The Imperial Navy’s transport fleet had already arrived at Alexandria, and they would be able to set sail for Benghazi in a few days.

Clearly, even if the two Special Mixed Fleets hadn’t made it, the Tiaoman troops could still hold Tunisia.

Since they had already lost the chance to regain sea control, losing air control was also inevitable, so Bulan Kingdom was already evacuating from Malta.

In just these two days, Bulan Kingdom had withdrawn at least two divisions of troops from Malta.

Crucially, they were two main divisions.

Additionally, the Newland Federation also withdrew the advisory group sent to Malta, allowing the Tactical Air Force that was originally stationed there to transfer to Tangier.

At the current situation, the Alliance Army was still marching towards Tunisia, merely to stabilize the front line, that is, to expand the defense depth, ensuring the crucial defences of Algiers and Tangier were held, and to keep Nara Fortress secure by blocking the Strait of Nara, preventing the Imperial Fleet from entering the Sunset Ocean.

This was precisely why the Newland Navy dispatched a fleet to Nara Fortress.

Of course, it wasn’t to guard Nara Fortress, but to transport troops and supplies there, specifically to cover the convoy coming from the Bulan Kingdom.

According to intelligence provided by the Sixth Bureau, the Newland Navy was likely to recall its fleet to East Ocean soon.

The reason was simple; even if the Consortium Group was at a stage where they were turning defeat into advantage and seizing command of the battlefield, their advantage wasn’t large enough to attack the Bulan Kingdom’s homeland, at least not for a very long time in the future. The Consortium Group’s advantage was merely reflected in the areas around the Land Heart Sea and the West Continent.

Therefore, there was no necessity to keep the fleet to guard the Bulan Kingdom.

On the side of East Ocean, on the contrary, an increase in commitment was needed.

To put it plainly, after taking Boss Bay and securing an ample oil supply, the Imperial Navy acquired all necessary conditions to launch an attack on the Howay Islands.

From that moment on, no force could prevent the Imperial Navy from deploying troops to the Howay Islands.

As for the later aggressive attack on Jibu Fortress, the deployment of troops to attack Xifan Canal and march into Land Heart Sea, it was actually considered with the Consortium Group’s allies in mind.

Simply speaking, these military actions were primarily politically motivated.

Up until now, at least the situation around Land Heart Sea had settled down.

At least Rofuss, the leader of the Newland Federation could see this point and make accurate judgements on the overall strategic situation.

If Rofuss couldn’t even see this glimpse of hope, he wouldn’t qualify to Commander the Newland Federation.

Since there is no prerequisite condition for attacking the Bulan Kingdom’s homelands in the short term, it’s very likely that development will move towards the Mo Sea direction.

Simply put, that means aiming to defeat the Luosha Federation in the shortest time possible.

In fact, under the circumstances where it’s temporarily impossible to land across the sea on Bulan Kingdom and Bulan hasn’t surrendered yet, turning strategic advantage into victory and consolidating previous victories would be the best approach, and also a critical step for the Consortium Group towards the ultimate victory.

To put it more directly, seizing Xifan Canal equates to locking down the victory, and defeating Luosha Federation means bringing the victory several years earlier.

For operations in the Mo Sea direction, there’s no need for a Special Mixed Fleet, deploying enough combat fighters in the Ter Republic is sufficient.

Even if maintaining deterrence is necessary, the Imperial Navy only needs to retain a Special Mixed Fleet in the Land Heart Sea.

From there, a few months later, the Liangxia Navy will be able to assemble enough forces for a strategic offensive in East Ocean, especially aircraft carriers.

Theoretically, by next year, the Liangxia Navy could have up to 12 large carriers!

Additionally, at least 3 fleet carriers and 8 smaller carriers could be deployed in the East Ocean, and 20 fast escort carriers could be mobilized.

Obviously, by then, even if the Newland Navy acquired the "Ethe" carrier and about a dozen smaller ones, they might not withstand the advances of the Liangxia Navy.

Even in the most optimistic scenario, the Newland Navy would only have 1 large carrier by then, and the number of smaller carriers would certainly not exceed 10.

Then, what reason is there to waste precious military strength in the Sunset Ocean?

Of course, when Li Mingbo dispatched this "false" telegram, he was also helping Bai Zhizhan out of a tight spot because he knew Bai Zhizhan dislikes insincere and trifling interactions.

Furthermore, the Navy headquarter dispatched new orders.

After assisting the Tiaoman troops in annihilating the Bulan forces in Malta, immediately lead the Eleventh Special Mixed Fleet back to the Empire to prepare for the next phase of strategic offense.