Munitions Empire-Chapter 1134 - 1054 sails have passed

Risking a bit more, send a few people under the cover of night to the coastal airports to sneak a peek, to see if the Great Tang Empire has really gathered all its long-range strategic bombers near Mirage Country, and to also find out whether the Great Tang Empire is indeed preparing to launch a war against Mirage Country.

You see, sometimes intelligence is that simple: Most of the information about rabbits that Lighthouse Country wants can be found in the public domain on the internet, and those so-called spy intelligence officers who steal information are mostly balding middle-aged men sitting in a large office building in Langley, Virginia, guzzling coffee.

Real intelligence work actually has nothing to do with suits, ties, and silenced pistols; most of the time, it involves sending red envelopes in a group chat while at work, inciting a bunch of unemployed vagrants to spout nonsense...

There are indeed actions that involve full combat readiness, but regretfully, they are generally not in capitals with very good order, and the majority of those responsible for carrying them out are mercenaries, extramural personnel, temps... On this point, the whole world is the same: if there is a success, it’s the result of the entire department’s coordinated assistance; if there’s trouble, it’s all done by temps and has nothing to do with us.

While Dorne, Laines, and even the Ice Cold Empire are guessing against whom the Great Tang Empire is preparing to wage war, the Great Tang Empire’s landing forces have already set out.

Starting from the southernmost Dragon Island, the Aircraft Carrier Fleet and oil replenishment ships began to head north, followed by the faster Destroyer Fleet divisions that started to leave port successively.

Capitalizing on their faster speed, the Great Tang Empire Destroyer Fleets headed north in batches, some even already reaching Dongwan Port for resupply.

The Cruisers and Battleships with higher self-sustainability will resupply materials in Linshui, then continue northward to cover the 1st Landing Fleet that departed from Linshui and Dongwan Port.

The 1st Landing Fleet is mainly loaded with fully equipped Navy Marine Corps, which are more professional and can drift at sea for a long time, hence departing earlier.

Next, the entire fleet will convene at Beiyuan City with the 2nd Landing Fleet, which will depart last. This fleet has the largest scale and carries the 9th Group Army’s Main Force Division.

This fleet departs the latest, so it has the shortest time at sea, and this approach is to accommodate the land forces who lack experience in overseas landings.

The previously departed submarine units will arrive in the waters near Mirage Country at this time, beginning their planned operation to clear out Mirage Country’s scout ships and fishing boats, eliminating Mirage Country’s eyes and ears. They will clear the waters near the landing zones as much as possible to welcome the arrival of the main fleet.

When the Great Tang Empire fleet approaches the landing zones, the Imperial Paratroopers will take off to begin their descent. They will enter the war zone on the first night, facing Mirage Country’s military alone, and coordinate with the landing at dawn the next day.

At the break of dawn on the second day, the Great Tang Empire’s landing will officially begin. Two Main Force Divisions from the Navy Marine Corps will land first to tear through Mirage Country’s coastal defenses, creating favorable conditions for the subsequent troops to land.

The whole plan is immense and complex, with Navy Marshal Bernard personally in command. The Navy’s Lu Qianshan and General Feng Kezhi of the Army will both participate in this campaign.

Additionally, although he won’t be present at the front line, Air Force General Xiao Yun will also personally direct the bomber units to join the battle, with the Air Force primarily responsible for carpet bombing missions.

Despite the distance preventing the Air Force’s fighter jet units from joining the battle, the Navy still has over 400 Pirate Fighters vying for air superiority, plus over 400 Stuka Naval Bombers executing tactical support missions.

Orc General Shan Lu once expressed hope for the Orcs to participate in the battle, believing that for a piece of rich land, it would be worthwhile for the Orcs to sacrifice tens or even hundreds of thousands.

However, considering the precious window of opportunity for the landing, the Great Tang Empire’s Staff Department rejected the Orcs’ request to join the battle.

Because Luff and almost all of the Great Tang Empire’s generals believe that what must be assured with this landing is the advancement of the elite attacking troops, and the most important thing is the victory of the campaign.

So, given the same deployment capacity, it’s obviously more appropriate to send up the elite Tiger Guards of the Great Tang Empire than to send up Orc cannon fodder.

As for the Orc cannon fodder… don’t worry, during the subsequent siege phase, the Orcs will have plenty of opportunities to prove themselves.

On January 29th, in the bitter cold when everyone thought it was inappropriate to wage war, the fleet of the Great Tang Empire moved north as a whole, marking the beginning of the Great Tang Empire’s campaign against Mirage Country.

At the same time, Qin Country began a fierce attack on the Shu Mountain defense line in Shu Country, with a million Qin Army soldiers charging the mountainous defenses as if their lives didn’t matter, drawing the attention of many nations.

Two days later, the Poplar Empire formally declared war on the Ice Cold Empire, with Elf main forces invading the southern region of the Ice Cold Empire, engaging in fierce skirmishes, and initially ending in a stalemate.

Unable to control the movements of the Great Tang Empire Navy’s fleet, Mirage Country’s Navy main force shrank northward, preparing to coordinate with the Army for a defensive counterattack.

Their thought process was simple: since they couldn’t detect the positions of the Great Tang Empire’s landing fleet anyway, it was better to wait until the Great Tang Empire’s fleet revealed itself!

After all, they were very confident in their coastal defenses, believing that it would be impossible for the Great Tang Empire to break through in two or three days, and even if they did, the Great Tang Empire Navy wouldn’t be able to get far quickly!

Thus, a landing fleet of unprecedented scale converged at sea, stretching hundreds of nautical miles front to back. Countless command ships and destroyers shuttled through this gigantic fleet, and occasionally pirate fighters patrolled the sky, roaring past from time to time.

These fighter jets, with their seagull-like wings, appeared very distinctive. They were extremely fast and were equipped with ferocious firepower.

The foldable wing design allowed aircraft carriers to carry more pirate fighters, and these aircraft could also be equipped with rockets to undertake ground attack missions, making them very comprehensive navy fighter jets.

The pilots flying these fighter jets were all elites, having spent most of the past year training at sea. Each pilot had hundreds of takeoff and landing experiences on the water, and had achieved at least ten victories in simulated air combat exercises.

On the outermost perimeter of the entire fleet, more than a dozen destroyer squadrons roamed, relying on radar for search and early warning, providing early alerts for the fleet.

The Great Tang Empire Navy, equipped with radar, had an obvious advantage in situational awareness on the battlefield compared to all opponents, and with advanced carrier-based planes could achieve full coverage without any leaks.

Given that Mirage Country didn’t have a submarine force, it was impossible for any target drifting on the surface of the water to escape the "eyes" of the radar on these destroyers.

Heaven knows how much effort the technical department of the Great Tang Empire put into this landing operation. If it was a few years earlier, they would have been utterly incapable of supporting such a large-scale transoceanic landing campaign.

After precise calculations, they checked all the meteorological records from the last thirty years in the sea area near Mirage Country in January and finally confirmed that there were no big waves in the sea area near Mirage Country in January due to the influence of the monsoons.

Subsequently, the submarine forces of the Great Tang Empire, which were on missions, also frequently sent back various meteorological detection intelligence, confirming there were no cloudy weathers near Mirage Country and that sea conditions were surprisingly good.

Additionally, to ensure that soldiers of the Great Tang Empire could change out of their wet clothes quickly after landing, the Great Tang Empire even transported an extra 200,000 sets of dry military uniforms, packed in plastic bags, following the second batch of soldiers ashore.

If the sea conditions permitted, the floating docks could be built as soon as the same day, and massive amounts of materials would be transported ashore, including tents better suited for the cold, fuel, and warming items.

Even to ensure a bit more comfort for the soldiers, the landing site of the Great Tang Empire was chosen to be on the southernmost beach of South Island.

The destroyers responsible for covering the landing troops would approach to about 500 meters from the beach, and the four large-caliber guns on the destroyers would cover the enemy positions.

Due to satellite photos providing precise coordinates, the fire support is expected to be very accurate: the entire landing area was divided into 50 squares, and each square would be targeted by artillery strikes from two destroyers.

The attack would continue until the first wave of landing troops ashore reported back on the effectiveness of the fire suppression, and then adjustments would be made based on the actual situation.

This was just the naval warship’s fire suppression plan. The navy’s aircraft carrier strike force’s Stuka dive bombers would carry large bombs to accurately target stubborn resistance on the ground.

Everyone was still confident in the striking ability of the Stukas. As long as the landing zone was not heavily disturbed by anti-aircraft artillery, this slightly outdated but still effective dive bomber could easily level solid ground fortifications.

If the enemy fleet did not make an appearance, then the two Dongwan-class battleships would also provide fire support with their 380mm caliber artillery. These were truly heavy guns, able to easily blow up a large bunker. Even after traveling 30 kilometers, they could still maintain a high level of accuracy.

However, relying on these large warships to participate in the battle was not practical because, according to the plan, the entire fleet would be discovered by Mirage Country’s air force as soon as they entered Mirage Country’s waters.

The range of the Zero Fighters was exceptionally long; they could advance for reconnaissance and assist Mirage Country in confirming the positions of the Great Tang Empire’s fleet.

Mirage Country had an opportunity to fortify their coastal defenses overnight, and their fleet had a whole night to move ahead of time: and this was the greatest variable in the entire operation!

The good news was, Mirage Country couldn’t use the night to deploy planes to attack the Great Tang Empire’s fleet; the bad news was that by early morning the next day, the Great Tang Empire’s fleet might face a pincer attack from Mirage Country’s navy and air force.

On the ground, the only force that could prevent Mirage Country’s armored corps and infantry from reinforcing the beach was the 6,000 Imperial Paratroopers of the Great Tang Empire who would be parachuted behind enemy lines that night.

They... were the first key to whether this battle could be won.

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Two updates today, continuing with make-up updates tomorrow.