Empire Conquest

Chapter 643 - 639: A New Threat

After understanding these principles, Bai Zhizhan also felt quite emotional.

At a deeper level, one of the main reasons that prompted the Imperial Authority to deploy post-war efforts in advance was the fact that they had not achieved a comprehensive victory.

With the current situation, it was no longer possible to launch a strong attack on Newland’s homeland.

According to the news brought by Li Yunxiang, at most it would be achieved by blockade and bombing to make the Huacheng Authority surrender, or to cause a full-scale civil war within the Newland Federation.

For this purpose, the Empire had already increased the production of the "Divine Eagle" super bomber.

If everything went smoothly, by the end of the year, the number of deployed "Divine Eagle" super bombers would exceed 3,000, and in the following year, it would double, reaching 10,000.

However, this was more a wishful thinking of Li Yunxiang.

The "Divine Eagle" was the most expensive combat aircraft to date, with a factory price of 2.4 million Gold Yuan, equivalent to three times that of other heavy bombers.

This directly affected the production of the "Divine Eagle," as it could not be produced in large quantities.

The Army had always been reluctant to allocate funds for the purchase of the "Divine Eagle" because this bomber took up too many resources, which would affect the production of other combat aircraft.

If the production reached the volume mentioned by Li Yunxiang, just a shortage in aluminum electrolysis supply could reduce the production of other combat aircraft, including fighters, by half!

Still, no one could deny the importance of the "Divine Eagle."

After gaining several forward bases, the "Divine Eagle" could almost cover the entire territory of Newland.

On the Sunset Ocean side, this included the Bermuda Islands, Cuba, and Newfoundland Island, and on the East Ocean side, the California Peninsula and the Alexander Islands.

For this reason, Li Yunxiang disclosed another piece of news.

A new type of fighter developed by the Land Air Force was about to enter service.

This was the Empire’s first fighter designed specifically for escort combat operations.

The key point was that while maintaining the maneuverability of a tactical fighter, it achieved an operational radius of over 2,000 kilometers, and there was hope that it could reach 2,500 kilometers.

But that wasn’t all.

Li Yunxiang was also thinking about bombers.

To be precise, he considered turning the "Divine Eagle" into a platform to develop a type of combat aircraft capable of carrying tens of tons of fuel and refueling escort fighters in flight.

As long as the last few technical challenges were resolved, this combat aircraft, dubbed a "flying refueling station," would be in service, which could completely solve the escort problem.

At that time, strategic bombing efficiency would increase manifold.

According to Li Yunxiang, because of the lack of escort fighters, the loss rate for combat missions with an operational radius exceeding 2,000 kilometers had always been high. If escort fighters could accompany the entire journey and in sufficient numbers, combat losses could be significantly reduced.

To put it another way, a high loss rate had always been the number one factor limiting strategic bombing.

With a loss rate as high as 5%, a bomber worth 800,000 Gold Yuan could only carry out about 20 combat missions. Even if it took off fully laden each time, the value of the bombs dropped was not 100,000 Gold Yuan. Due to the low hit rate of the bombs, even if one were to calculate based on a more ideal situation, the targets destroyed after 20 sorties by a bomber were not worth as much as the bomber itself.

What was the point of such bombing?

But with escort fighters, it would be different.

Based on previous combat operations, escort fighters could reduce the combat losses of bombers by an order of magnitude!

Moreover, if the escort operations could be effectively commanded, losses could be further reduced.

There was no need to maintain a rate as low as 0.5%; according to Li Yunxiang’s estimates, as long as combat losses were kept below 1%, strategic bombing could play a much larger role.

Executing escort operations not only required escort fighters but also involved solving command issues.

For this reason, the Land Air Force was also looking for solutions.

They decided to repurpose the "Divine Eagle" by converting its bomb bay into an airtight cabin, equipping it with shortwave radio equipment, and then loading it with a dozen or so personnel specialized in commanding aerial combat operations.

If feasible, the efficiency of escort combat missions could increase manifold.

In any case, according to the current arrangements, the focus is primarily on bombing.

This fundamentally determines that the Newland Federation will not simply cease to exist; even if defeated, it could re-emerge as a threat someday in the future.

Regrettably, this is an issue that simply cannot be resolved.

If anything, this isn’t even the number one problem.

With the war declared over, the greatest threat to the Empire, in fact, came from within the Consortium Group, namely the already burgeoning Tiaoman Empire.

In fact, this is the most critical issue.

According to intelligence disclosed by Li Yunxiang, the Tiaoman Air Force had already heightened its emphasis on bombers and formally declared that it no longer required strategic assistance from the Imperial Land Air Force.

As a result, Li Yunxiang was considering whether to pull the expeditionary forces back.

What isn’t yet certain is the withdrawal plan.

If the campaign in the Bermuda Islands progresses smoothly, the expeditionary forces would need to be deployed there to undertake bombing missions along the Newland East Coast.

However, no matter what, it’s impossible to change the established facts.

The Tiaoman Empire had grown strong, becoming the hegemon of the West Continent, and before long, or perhaps it already has, the assets to counterbalance the Liangxia Empire.

If there is anything lacking, it is that it has not yet achieved unification with Western civilization, or, to be precise, the West Continent.

This has always been what the Tiaoman Empire has been working towards, or one might say, its pursued goal.

At the beginning of the year, the Tiaoman Empire had passed a bill aiming to unite with the Locke Kingdom, and now, all they needed to do was to wait for the end of the great war and for the Locke Kingdom to restore order, and then have the legislation approved by their legislative bodies, which consisted of just one main provision.

To establish the "Western Continent Community" alongside the Locke Kingdom and use this as a foundation to complete the great task of unifying the West Continent.

Critically, the Raleigh Kingdom and Sban Kingdom had already expressed keen interest, and even the defeated Bulan Kingdom was willing to join the Community.

Provided there were no unforeseen events, perhaps in 10, at most 20 years, the entire West Continent would come under the rule of the Tiaoman Empire, the absolute core of power.

If the Tiaoman Empire could effectively resolve the conflicts among its members and convince them, including adversaries, particularly the Locke and Bulan Kingdoms, along with all nations of the West Continent, that only unity and solidarity could maintain their interests, achieve a place in the international community of the future, and no longer be threatened or manipulated by foreign powers, then the future "West Continent nation" would be the number one formidable rival of the Liangxia Empire.

Including half of the Luosha Federation, the West Continent’s area exceeded 10 million square kilometers, with a population totaling over 400 million.

Importantly, several major nations of the West Continent had already realized industrialization.

Moreover, the West Continent’s industrial population neared 200 million, while that of the Liangxia Empire was just over 200 million as well.

In fact, when combined, the industrial capacities of the Tiaoman, Locke, Raleigh, and Bulan Kingdoms weren’t far behind that of the Liangxia Empire.

As Li Yunxiang put it, the Tiaoman Empire was no longer the unsophisticated underdog it once was.

Unfortunately, this was also unavoidable.

From another perspective, this was also the key reason behind Xue Yuanzheng’s change of stance in the eleventh hour, his abandonment of the idea of a comprehensive victory, and his acceptance of Wallace’s surrender.

In response, Bai Zhizhan could only sigh deeply.

After the hard struggle of several years, to discover in the end that the Empire’s situation hadn’t fundamentally improved.

But what else could be done, aside from lamenting?