Empire Conquest

Chapter 635 - 631: Liberation

Spur was indeed very serious, wanting to remember every detail of the battleship.

However, thinking about the current situation, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

Even if such a flagship was constructed, what good would it do?

The Newland Navy had already been defeated!

Long before the outbreak of the war, Spur, then a Navy Major, had written a paper discussing the importance and necessity of building a dedicated flagship.

The central idea of the paper was that in an era dominated by the Air Force, naval combat placed higher demands on communication and command.

Because of the flattening of the command structure, traditional command architectures could no longer meet the needs of the new era. To reform the command structures, corresponding basic conditions were required, such as more advanced communication equipment and the construction of specialized flagships for executing command tasks.

Unfortunately, at that time, Spur’s influence was minimal.

Furthermore, shipborne air forces had not yet replaced heavy artillery and heavy bullets.

After the war broke out, the Newland Navy did indeed have plans to build a dedicated flagship, but due to practical issues, it was merely a plan.

First and foremost, there was no urgent need, lacking necessity and importance.

Compared to battle ships of the same tonnage, especially carriers, specialized flagships were clearly not considered crucial, so the Newland Navy never initiated the construction project.

Next was the technical aspect.

From what Spur knew, during the design phase, they encountered many technical problems that could not be immediately resolved; the most serious being that various electronic devices would interfere with each other, not functioning simultaneously properly, making it difficult for these devices to provide real value within a limited space.

Clearly, increasing the tonnage could solve some of the issues, but it could not solve all the problems and would lead to escalating costs.

In fact, Spur was also very curious.

How had the Liangxia Navy solved the electromagnetic compatibility issue?

From a distance, it was difficult to tell.

The "Qinling" gave Spur the most direct impression with just one word: "large".

The ship was definitely over 200 meters in length and more than 25 meters in width, sporting a deeper V design for better stability, and its standard displacement was surely around 20,000 tons.

This size surpassed the Fleet carriers built before the war!

Undoubtedly, only the Liangxia Navy could afford to build Fleet carriers; creating flagships primarily to provide Fleet Commanders a comfortable and leisurely working environment, which held far less value in actual combat compared to carriers, possessing a clear nature of luxury like a mobile sea palace.

Actually, Spur had overestimated the Liangxia Navy.

The "Qinling" had addressed the electromagnetic compatibility issue by simply increasing tonnage.

With a larger space, interference naturally reduced.

This was also the primary reason the standard displacement of the "Qinling" class flagship reached 20,000 tons.

After boarding the "Qinling," Spur truly had his eyes opened.

This battleship, with a full-load displacement exceeding 20,000 tons, only had some anti-air High-altitude Guns and predominantly machine guns, lacking any 5-inch caliber dual-purpose guns.

To say, this level of armament was inferior to many armed merchant ships.

However, from an aerial view, it was easy to be misled.

The dense array of antennas on the hull could easily be mistaken for gun barrels of High-altitude Guns.

Spur carefully counted and found dozens of whip-like short-wave antennas alone, requiring supports like yagi for the longer-wave antennas, which totaled over ten.

The key was that the layout of these antennas was very clever.

Of course, Spur wasn’t an expert in electronics, so he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was clever about the antenna arrangement.

Besides, he didn’t have much time to observe carefully.

Upon meeting that Navy Admiral, Spur was initially startled, but then he quickly realized that the man was his nemesis, the legendary Bai Zhizhan of the Liangxia Navy.

The last time the two met was about 10 years ago.

Time, like a sculptor’s chisel, was relentless even against the invincible Navy War God.

Yet, Bai Zhizhan was not the only one who had aged.

Compared to Bai Zhizhan, who was just over 40 years old, Spur, approaching 57, appeared much older. Age had left its marks on him, and not just from the "butcher’s knife" of time.

When Spur walked over, he felt quite awkward.

Bai Zhizhan was dressed in a full suit of formal attire while he wore his regular uniform, not having changed into a clean dress uniform for his surrender.

Then, an even more awkward moment occurred.

As Spur approached, Bai Zhizhan extended his hand.

It wasn’t until that moment that Spur snapped back to reality and then saluted Bai Zhizhan.

There was nothing strange about it—Bai Zhizhan was an Admiral of the Liangxia Navy while Spur was still a Vice Admiral. Thus, by protocol, he had to salute Bai Zhizhan.

This gesture caught Bai Zhizhan a bit off guard.

But the awkwardness lasted only half a second before Bai Zhizhan raised his hand to return the salute.

Then, the two shook hands.

It was the first time they had formally shaken hands.

Though they had known each other for over a decade, back then, both were still relatively unknown and didn’t share a close acquaintance.

Even when involved in disarmament negotiations, both primarily engaged in auxiliary tasks.

Both felt a sense of reflection.

But that was all it was—a reflection.

After the handshake, Spur followed the protocol and handed over his ceremonial dagger, which symbolized the command of the 5th Fleet, though it was merely a military dagger with some simple decorations.

This was unusual for him since he wasn’t accustomed to carrying a dagger or sidearm.

Afterward, Bai Zhizhan took Spur to the officers’ mess.

The previous day, Nizi had sent several officers to negotiate the surrender of the 5th Fleet with Bai Zhizhan, and these officers were on the "Qinling."

According to the plan, they were waiting for Spur in the officers’ mess.

The banquet could not be called luxurious, as no preparations had been made before the Fleet had set sail.

Moreover, it had been over a month since the "Qinling" had left the harbor, and it hadn’t received supplies from any supply ship during that period.

The fresh provisions carried at the time of departure were long gone.

The atmosphere at the banquet was noticeably awkward, actually quite awkward, but including Spur, the Newland soldiers maintained a relatively relaxed demeanor.

Purely from a military perspective, they were slightly more at ease.

No matter how the negotiations went, their war had ended.

According to unwritten rules, including the 5th Fleet, the ships of Newland’s East Ocean Fleet were to be disarmed locally, and all military bases including Treasure Harbor, along with other military equipment, were to be transferred to the Liangxia Navy. As for the soldiers, most were to be temporarily accommodated on an island camp until their final deployment was decided after the war.

More importantly, they were not held responsible for the defeat or, more accurately, the surrender.

Nizi issued the surrender order, and it was Nizi and Wallace who signed the surrender document, which had no bearing on the other soldiers.

To put it bluntly, they were merely following orders from the President and the Fleet Commander.

Even if they felt a bit guilty, there was no question of being put on trial after the war.

Spur was well aware that Nizi had agreed to surrender to the Liangxia Navy under several conditions: that the Liangxia Empire would not encroach on lands originally belonging to the Newland Federation, would ensure the independence of the Newland Federation, and would release all Newland soldiers captured during the war.

However, the actual situation was obviously not as simple as Spur knew.

At least for the current Nizi, the reality he faced was a hundred times more complex than at the time of deciding to surrender, and he no longer had any bargaining chips.