Empire Conquest

Chapter 619 - 615: The Collapsed Kingdom

The message was just one piece of paper, and it contained only one line.

After a quick read, Bai Zhizhan handed the message to Li Mingbo and then called the Communication Advisor to return to the bridge.

Li Mingbo was scared out of his wits when he saw the message.

It was just one sentence.

"The Bulan coup, Chur and other political leaders fled overnight, and the Military Government has ordered the cessation of all military activities and the detention of all Newland servicemen who are stranded."

Clearly, that wasn’t everything.

Bai Zhizhan didn’t stay at the command center; he went to the communications room.

The Communication Advisor had already ordered the activation of 2 backup long-wave radio sets, to receive telegrams sent by the Navy headquarter through three frequencies.

In addition, officers from 3 signal decoding teams were already in place.

This was also a major advantage of having a flagship.

The communications room was large enough to accommodate dozens of officers and soldiers.

More than ten minutes later, they received the second telegram.

The military coup that had broken out in the Bulan Kingdom was confirmed, and it was related to the Tiaoman Empire, with the Tiaoman Army taking synchronized action.

In fact, the Tiaoman Empire’s secret operations in the Bulan Kingdom could hardly be called a secret.

Earlier in the year, right after Liu Xiangzhen led the fleet to seize control of the Strait of Nara and their subsequent cover for the Raleigh Fleet’s incursion into the Sunset Ocean, the internal conflicts within the Bulan Kingdom surfaced, and a part of the Peace Faction proposed negotiating with the Tiaoman Empire, hoping for a conditional surrender.

But at that time, no one took it seriously.

Strategically, for the Consortium Group, the focus wasn’t on the Bulan Kingdom but on the land battlefront, aiming to defeat the Luosha Federation within the year.

The reasoning behind this wasn’t difficult to understand.

After losing control of the Land Heart Sea and the Royal Navy almost completely losing its fighting capacity, what else did the Bulan Kingdom have left?

Without the strength to forcefully attack the West Continent, and since the strategic bombing of the Tiaoman Empire had not produced any tangible effects, whether the half-dead Bulan Kingdom surrendered or not didn’t matter, nor would it affect the Consortium Group’s overall strategic plans—it could be entirely disregarded.

Additionally, even if the Bulan Kingdom wanted to surrender, it wouldn’t be easy.

The Newland Federation had sent over 1.5 million soldiers to the Bulan Kingdom!

Of these, the Army combat troops alone exceeded 700,000.

According to intelligence provided by the Sixth Bureau, last year the Alliance Group began planning a counteroffensive on the West Continent, with the Newland Army as the main force. However, due to subsequent defeats in naval battles and the loss of numerous warships, the counteroffensive operation on the West Continent was postponed repeatedly.

Dragging on until now, it was doubtful when the counteroffensive on the West Continent could take place.

However, the problem was that the Newland Federation hadn’t withdrawn the troops it had deployed in the Bulan Kingdom.

This 1.5 million-strong army wasn’t just for show.

After the Locke Republic’s defeat, the total strength of the Bulan Royal Army was less than 500,000, and even with mobilization, the domestic defense forces would be only about 1 million.

If the Bulan Authority wanted to surrender, they first had to get the consent of the Newland Authority.

In a sense, the 1.5 million Newland troops deployed in the Bulan Kingdom were the bedrock ensuring that the Bulan Kingdom would continue to fight.

Actually, it could also be seen as the basic security guarantee Rofuss provided for Chur.

Let’s not forget that after the surrender of the Locke Republic, everyone thought that the Tiaoman forces would take the opportunity to cross the Dover Strait and launch an invasion and attack on the Bulan Kingdom.

At that time, if it weren’t for the volunteers from the Newland Federation, especially the thousands of volunteer pilots, even if the staunch Chur moved into the Prime Minister’s Mansion, he might not have been able to command the Bulan military forces and win the battle to defend their airspace, let alone become the bridgehead for the Alliance Group on the western coast of the Sunset Ocean.

Chur had long since sided with the Newland Federation and naturally relied heavily on the Newland Garrison.

It was for this reason that the Imperial High Command had never taken the possibility of Bulan Kingdom’s surrender seriously, at least not in the short term.

Clearly, the Tiaoman Authority did not think so.

This was one of the most serious divergences between the Liangxia Empire and the Tiaoman Empire.

According to the situation of the Empire itself, it definitely hoped to first defeat the Luosha Federation and then gather enough troops to cross the East Ocean and mount an expedition against the Newland mainland.

However, the Tiaoman Empire was more eager to defeat Bulan Kingdom first.

Only then could it concentrate its forces to attack the Luosha Federation and, after defeating the Luosha Federation, immediately bring an end to the state of war that had lasted for nearly three years.

Of course, this was also related to the interests and losses of both sides.

If they dealt with the Luosha Federation first, the Tiaoman Empire would have to continue fighting on two fronts, and the pressure of war it bore would not be significantly reduced. Since there was no immediate concern about expeditions across the Sunset Ocean, the Liangxia Empire’s war burden would not increase much before defeating the Luosha Federation.

If Bulan Kingdom were eliminated first, the pressure on the Tiaoman Empire would be reduced a lot, while the Liangxia Empire would have to take on the heavy responsibility of marching into the Sunset Ocean.

Of course, this was even more the case when looking at the post-war landscape.

To put it bluntly, only by eliminating concerns on the home front could the Tiaoman Empire commit enough troops to the eastern battlefields of the West Continent and make the utmost effort to expand its occupied territories, such as seizing and controlling the western regions of the Luosha Federation, thereby maximizing the eastern extension of its strategic depth.

If it got bogged down, this would inevitably allow the Liangxia Empire to gain an advantage in that direction.

It is clear that as long as Bulan Kingdom could be persuaded to surrender, the Tiaoman Empire would stop at nothing to achieve it.

After receiving the third telegram, Bai Zhizhan finally returned to the command center.

The Tiaoman Army had indeed been prepared; following the coup in Bulan Kingdom, it had deployed over 2,000 transport planes to airdrop three Airborne Divisions into the southern region of Bulan Kingdom, seizing control of several small towns across from the Dover Strait as well as the critically important Hastings.

In addition, the Domestic Fleet of the Tiaoman Navy had already left port and was en route to Hastings.

Because it had obtained the Dover Strait shipping information, including minesweeping details, provided by the Bulan Military Government, there was no need to go around the Bulan mainland. The Tiaoman Fleet could soon appear off Hastings to support the landing Airborne Force and deliver critically important heavy equipment.

To the south, the Raleigh Fleet had also moved north.

Although the final victory had not yet been secured, with the current situation, even if a miracle occurred, there was no way to annihilate the Tiaoman forces that had already invaded Bulan’s mainland.

For this reason, the Navy headquarter had already issued an order directing Liu Xiangzhen to lead his Fleet to Biscay Bay.

In other words, to launch a preemptive operation to attack Bulan’s mainland.

Of course, to say "attack" is not quite accurate.

Around 10 o’clock at night, or three hours later, Navy headquarter sent definitive news that the Bulan Military Government had announced it had formally reached a surrender agreement with the Tiaoman Empire and, in accordance with the terms of the agreement, had surrendered to the Tiaoman Empire’s representative, the Consortium Group.

The key was that the Military Government’s order of surrender was supported by both the Royal Army and the Royal Air Force.

As for the Royal Navy, since it had long since been in disarray, whether it supported the Military Government or not had little impact on the current situation.

Still, this news shocked Bai Zhizhan.

The Bulan Military Government had not mentioned the Liangxia Empire in its declaration of surrender.

From beginning to end, the Liangxia Empire had not participated in the secret negotiations with Bulan Kingdom, and was completely unaware of the surrender conditions offered to Bulan Kingdom.

Furthermore, the Tiaoman Empire had not communicated this matter!

In other words, this was a surrender agreement reached unilaterally between the Tiaoman Empire and Bulan Kingdom.

This violated the principle of collective decision-making that had sustained the Consortium Group until now!