Empire Conquest

Chapter 606 - 602: The Emergence of Contradictions

On his return to the Empire’s homeland, specifically three days after leaving Lion Spring City, the fleet had already reached the western side of the Two-car Strait and was about to leave the Flame Sea when Bai Zhizhan finally received the latest news from the Navy headquarters: the battle at Nara Fortress had ended.

As he had predicted, the Special Mixed Fleet commanded by Liu Xiangzhen had launched a surprise attack on Nara Fortress and Tangier first, seizing control of the sea and air.

However, what differed from Bai Zhizhan’s expectations was that the first to emerge from the Land Heart Sea was not the Special Mixed Fleet nor an assault squadron composed of escort battleships—it was the Raleigh Fleet.

On the night of the attack, the Raleigh Fleet had passed through Nara Fortress under the cover of the Special Mixed Fleet.

Strictly speaking, it was actually the mine-sweeping ships dispatched by the Imperial Navy that had cleared a navigational path forcefully.

The Raleigh Fleet was quite fortunate as they passed through the Strait of Nara without incident; however, three of the mine-sweeping ships that were carrying out the task hit mines on their return, with two of them being directly sunk, and one more went down to the seabed after the arriving destroyer came to its aid.

With the threat of the Raleigh Fleet, the Bulan Fleet couldn’t directly head to Nara Fortress.

As long as the Raleigh Fleet was active on the west side of the Strait of Nara, the Bulan Transport Fleet could not reach Nara Fortress by any means.

The idea of sending a fleet to regain sea control was, of course, wishful thinking.

Before the 31st Special Mixed Fleet could arrive, the Tiaoman Air Force had already dispatched an air squadron to the Barry Ari Islands and had begun operations.

In other words, it was the proactive actions of the Tiaoman Air Force that allowed the Imperial Fleet to successfully launch the attack.

Without control of the sea or the air, what could the Bulan forces do to confront the Raleigh Fleet?

The key point was that the Imperial Navy’s Special Mixed Fleet was on the eastern side of the strait, and with the shipborne aircraft’s operational radius of up to 800 kilometers, they could provide cover for the Raleigh Fleet, attack any vessels attempting to approach or getting close to the strait, and obliterate ships that tried to attack the Raleigh Fleet.

To put it another way, the Raleigh Fleet’s entry into the Sunset Ocean was actually a forward reconnaissance mission.

According to Zhou Yongtao, even if the commander of the Raleigh Fleet had the guts of the heavens, he wouldn’t dare to lead the fleet out of the protective waters of the Imperial Special Mixed Fleet.

This was reflected in the battle plans.

If they encountered the Bulan Fleet, the Raleigh Fleet would retreat directly into the Strait of Nara and wait to join the Special Mixed Fleet.

For this reason, Liu Xiangzhen had made specific arrangements, sending two "Nanzhu Sea" class vessels to form an assault squadron and proceed to the east side of the strait by evening, ensuring that in the event of an encounter battle, especially at night, they could swiftly move out to fight alongside the Raleigh Fleet.

Strictly speaking, this was actually to avoid the collapse of the Raleigh Fleet.

Perhaps fearing that the Bulan Royal Navy would send a fleet for a decisive battle, or send reinforcements to the North Xuan region, especially outside the range of the shipborne air force’s strikes in Casablanca, the Raleigh Fleet did not immediately launch an operation to attack Nara Fortress and Tangier after entering the Sunset Ocean.

However, it was more than just that.

According to the message from the Navy headquarters, there was a severe divergence in the direction of the assault between the two sides.

The Tiaoman forces believed that Nara Fortress should be attacked first, not only to consider the Kingdom of Sban but also because of the difficulty of the operation.

Put simply, with the support of the fleet, attacking Nara Fortress could be done with half the effort.

Moreover, it was related to the next phase of military operations.

After taking down Nara Fortress, they could control the Strait of Nara and then launch an assault on Tangier, significantly reducing dependency on the fleet.

However, the Imperial Navy did not share this view.

Although Nara Fortress was much smaller in area, and the Bulan forces defending the fortress might not have enough morale, the fortress’s sturdiness was definitely extraordinary, not to mention that the Bulan Kingdom had painstakingly managed it for hundreds of years. In contrast, Tangier was a relatively small port city and in every aspect could not compare to the fortress.

Clearly, after taking down Tangier, attacking Nara Fortress would be somewhat easier.

Moreover, capturing Tangier would block the retreat of the Alliance Army in the North Xuan region, thereby avoiding the problem of having to assault the North Xuan region after attacking Nara Fortress.

The biggest issue was actually the delay in the recapture of the Nara Fortress.

At the time, Liu Xiangzhen felt this was not a major problem.

The reason was that, according to the previous agreement, Tangier and the Nara Fortress both belonged to the Sban Kingdom, and attacking either location first was essentially the same.

Clearly, Liu Xiangzhen thought things were too simple.

According to the previous agreement, after the war, the Sban Kingdom would lease Tangier to the Liangxia Navy unconditionally, and the Nara Fortress to the Tiaoman Navy, both for a period of 49 years, to ensure that the two great empires of the Consortium Group would have free access to the Land Heart Sea.

Therefore, attacking Tangier first would certainly cause suspicion within the Tiaoman Authority.

To put it bluntly, once the Imperial Army had secured a foothold in Tangier, would it still aggressively attack the Nara Fortress?

Even if the attack proceeded according to plan, it would be more than just an aggressive siege.

With the capability of the Liangxia Navy, it could completely render the Nara Fortress worthless for decades to come through sheer destruction.

Indeed, when the war ended, the Liangxia Navy would control the Strait of Nara.

The key point is that the Liangxia Navy had already taken control of the Xifan Canal.

That is to say, relying on Alexandria and Tangier, the Liangxia Navy could not only freely enter and exit the Sunset Ocean but also prevent other powers from entering the Land Heart Sea.

The Liangxia Navy could completely control the entire Land Heart Sea with this advantage.

By then, not only would the Raleigh Kingdom and Ter Republic on the Land Heart Sea’s shore lean towards the Liangxia Empire, but even the Sban Kingdom and Locke would be influenced.

More importantly, without the region around the Land Heart Sea, what could the Tiaoman Empire rely on to dominate the West Continent?

Regardless of how much the Tiaoman Authority might look down on the Raleigh and Sban Kingdoms and how arrogant Tiaoman soldiers might be, the northern shore of the Land Heart Sea was equivalent to half of the West Continent.

For any nation attempting to dominate the West Continent, it was imperative to control the area surrounding the Land Heart Sea.

For thousands of years, there had been no exception!

Not to mention the Roman Empire, even the Bulan Kingdom achieved control of the Land Heart Sea through the Nara Fortress and the Xifan Canal.

Could the Tiaoman Empire be an exception?

After enduring the flames of war for years and losing millions of soldiers, to end up serving the Liangxia Empire with not the slightest benefit for themselves!

Clearly, no matter who led the Tiaoman Empire, this outcome could not be accepted.

It was only after seizing sea dominance and air superiority that the immediate launching of landing operations did not occur.

However, it was not all disadvantageous.

The reason is straightforward; both the Imperial Navy and Tiaoman Military were not yet ready to aggressively assault the Nara Fortress.

Without going into detail, the state of the two Special Mixed Fleets of the Imperial Navy was not great, especially the Thirty-first Special Mixed Fleet, where many battleship’s maintenance work was incomplete.

If the Bulan military guarding the Nara Fortress refused to surrender, a forced assault would be necessary, requiring some time to prepare.

Of course, it was necessary for the Imperial Navy to mobilize the Landing Fleet and to stockpile combat materials in the Ari Islands near Barry.

As for operational actions, they would be entirely undertaken by the Tiaoman Military.

A few extra days would also facilitate communication between the commanders of both sides to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings due to lack of communication.