Empire Conquest

Chapter 625 - 621: Fallen Commander

This time, they didn’t wait until midnight; before dawn, around 12 o’clock, they received a telegram from the Navy headquarters.

All worries and uncertainties dissipated with this telegram.

Last night, or more precisely, in the early hours of the 18th, Newland President Rofuss had a sudden stroke and died despite the resuscitation efforts.

About two hours later, the Imperial Authority received the certain news, and Xue Yuanzheng immediately issued an order to cease the attack.

As the four Special Mixed Fleets retreated at full speed, Imperial envoys in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico simultaneously issued ultimatums to the Newland Federation through the host countries, demanding that the Newland Authority halt all military actions within seven days and surrender to the Consortium Group.

For this, the Empire would unilaterally cease all offensive actions for the next seven days.

Shortly thereafter, allies like the Tiaoman Empire announced sequentially that they would halt all offensives for the next seven days and demanded the surrender of the Newland Authority.

In the interest of the core benefits of the Empire, Xue Yuanzheng promptly changed his stance.

Given the current situation, even if Xue Yuanzheng had not issued an ultimatum to the Newland Authority, the news of Rofuss’s stroke would have spread, and the Tiaoman Empire would have issued an ultimatum to the Newland Federation.

At that point, the Liangxia Empire would have been merely a follower.

In the Kingdom of Bulan, the Liangxia Empire had already suffered a setback, and being one step behind in the Newland Federation would mean more than just losing face.

To avoid such an embarrassing situation and to seize more significant initiative, they issued the ultimatum ahead of others.

This also demonstrated that the Imperial High Command, including Xue Yuanzheng, believed that the Newland Federation would soon be defeated and surrender.

The key point was that the Newland Federation had no other Rofuss.

Just as Xue Yuanzheng was irreplaceable in the Liangxia Empire, Rofuss was also the irreplaceable highest commander in the Newland Federation.

As the first president of the Newland Federation to be elected three consecutive times, Rofuss’s influence and appeal were even greater than that of Xue Yuanzheng.

Moreover, the Consortium Group lost more than just Rofuss.

Just a few hours earlier, with the support and cooperation of Tiaoman and Liangxia military forces, the Bulan Military Government had gained full control of Daluntai City and had formally surrendered to the Consortium Group at Buckingham Palace, which symbolizes supreme authority, signing the surrender agreement and ceasefire treaty.

Although the chaos on Bulan’s mainland had not yet ended, the surrender of the Bulan Kingdom was already a facto.

Most crucially, Tiaoman forces had occupied Hastings, and Liangxia Empire’s ground troops had also advanced to the outskirts of Portsmouth.

Supported by the fleet, Portsmouth could be captured within a few days.

Even if the tens of thousands of Bulan soldiers defending this port, along with roughly thirty thousand Newland soldiers, refused to surrender and resorted to sabotage before being eliminated, it would not be very significant.

To quickly utilize this military port, the Imperial Navy had already dispatched dozens of engineering vessels to the front line.

Repairing a damaged port, or even constructing a temporary port nearby, would only take a few months and would not really be troublesome.

According to the report previously submitted by Liu Xiangzhen, it is expected that by the end of the month, Portsmouth could be operational, and the first Armored Forces could be transported to the mainland of Bulan for combat.

Using Portsmouth as a base to attack the port cities around Bristol Bay would be much more efficient.

In conclusion, the battle on Bulan’s mainland will continue for a while, but the final outcome is already determined, and no unexpected event could fundamentally alter it.

As for the Luosha Federation, defeat is also not far off.

No matter whether the Luosha Federation authorities are willing to admit it, the undeniable fact remains that the strategic aid from the Newland Federation was of immeasurable significance.

Without the strategic aid provided by the Newland Federation, the Luosha Federation would have been defeated long ago.

Most crucially, all aid from the Newland Federation was transported to the Luosha Federation via the North Sunset Ocean route, which had to pass near the Shetland Islands under the control of the Bulan Kingdom, and the patrolling aircraft deployed domestically in the Bulan Kingdom were the main force covering this route.

In fact, this was one of the reasons why the Newland Federation had deployed a million troops in Bulan.

In the northern region of the Bulan Kingdom alone, there were about 150,000 Newland military personnel, nearly 100,000 of whom were specifically responsible for anti-submarine patrol tasks along the North Sunset Ocean route. Just the crew of the patrol aircraft exceeded 20,000 people, and there were also about 50,000 military personnel in charge of logistical support.

The thousands of anti-submarine patrol aircraft deployed in the area all belonged mostly to the Newland Navy.

It is not that the Bulan military did not have patrol aircraft to use, but that they needed to be used elsewhere.

Before their surrender, the Bulan Royal Navy and Royal Air Force mainly covered the routes passing through the central marine area of the North Sunset Ocean and monitored and blocked the Biscay Bay.

The latter was the main focus.

After the defeat and surrender of the Locke Republic, its western region, which faced the Biscay Bay ports, fell under the control of the Tiaoman Army, becoming a stronghold for the Tiaoman submarines. In the previous years, two-thirds of Tiaoman submarines relied on these ports to disrupt the routes in the North Sunset Ocean.

To mitigate the threats to the route, it was essential to keep a close eye on the Biscay Bay.

Over the past two years, the Bulan Kingdom devoted more than half of its anti-submarine force to this direction and achieved very impressive results.

For this reason, the Bulan military’s patrol aircraft were primarily deployed in the southern part of the country and on the west side of Ireland.

But now, the Bulan Kingdom has been defeated.

Because the Newland Navy had already lost the ability to regain control of the sea, and with the advance northward of the Empire’s Special Mixed Fleet, the route to the Bulan Kingdom would be cut off. Thus, several months later, the Newland military stranded on Bulan soil would run out of ammunition and supplies and would have to surrender to the Consortium Army.

At that time, the North Sunset Ocean route would also be cut off.

In fact, the Tiaoman Navy had already taken action.

Under Dunz’s plan, nearly a hundred Tiaoman submarines gathered along the route from North Sunset Ocean to Ice Ocean. Two large cruisers included in the Public Sea Fleet and the "Navy Marshal," a fast battleship with less than a year in service, would also soon enter the North Sunset Ocean.

If submarines posed a threat to transport convoys, the fleet could completely annihilate them.

Once the Tiaoman Fleet broke out of the North Sea and entered the North Sunset Ocean, ships departing from the Newland Federation would never reach the ports of the Luosha Federation.

If all goes well, by next month, the Luosha Federation should not expect to receive any aid from the Newland Federation.

Winter has already passed, and spring has arrived, but at this time, losing aid, does the Luosha Army still have hope to withstand the upcoming strategic total offensive?

Just the impact on morale alone could cause the Luosha Army to disintegrate.

Furthermore, the Empire Navy would also attack Mo Sea simultaneously.

Before the onset of spring, the strategic bombings by the Empire’s Land Air Force had already reduced Baku oil fields production by eighty percent, and the oil produced could not be transported to the industrial cities in the north due to the railways being destroyed. Affected by the oil shortage, the Luosha Army had already started to limit the operation intensity of combat aircraft.

Even if the Consortium Group’s offensive encounters problems, the Luosha Federation would still surrender this year.

If things go smoothly, then after the arrival of summer, when the Liangxia Empire and Tiaoman Empire’s offensives reach their peak, the Luosha Federation might choose to surrender.

The problem facing the Newland authorities is actually just one:

Do they want to be the last country to surrender?