Li Yunxiang followed him and had little to do with the combat operations attacking Lion Spring City. He visited the Kingdom of Daiman as a representative of the Imperial Military.

The first task is to borrow the military bases in the southern part of the Kingdom of Deman.

If long-range aviation troops can be deployed in advance, even if they are only used to monitor and block the Throat Channel, it will be of great benefit to attacking the Lion Spring City.

Letting Li Yunxiang come over is related to his other identity.

Although he is not a son-in-law, Li Yunxiang is also a quasi-state relative after all. He can be related to the imperial royal family and can give him enough face when he travels to the Kingdom of Daiman on behalf of the Empire. As for whether the goal can be achieved, Li Yunxiang is not very worried. After all, the Kingdom of Daiman does not have much bargaining capital.

Considering the above arrangement, Bai Zhizhan did not join in the fun.

The next day, Li Yunxiang went to the capital of the Daiman Kingdom.

It was a little late that day, Bai Zhizhan received a telegram from Li Mingbo from the "Aijing". The 41st Special Mixed Fleet had set off from Xuhai and was expected to arrive in the southern waters of the Yanhai on January 7. According to the new organizational system, it will be renamed the 11th Special Mixed Fleet after arriving at Yanhai.

The use of text numbers is mainly to distinguish them from the enemy's special mixed fleet.

Because the "Imperial Capital" has not been restored, the 11th Special Mixed Fleet still has only two aircraft carriers.

However, considering that the combat aircraft deployed by the Royal Bran Air Force in Lion City are relatively backward and there are no advanced fighter jets like "Spray Fire", the two air wings carried by the 11th Special Mixed Fleet each have three fighter squadrons, increasing the number of dive bombers.

In addition, the Special Mixed Fleet will take this opportunity to transport several batches of combat aircraft to the front line.

That's why the 11th Special Mixed Fleet will not participate in the combat operation to attack Shiquan City as early as January 10.

To this end, the Army tentatively set the attack time on January 11, and the first five days are the firepower preparation stage, with the Land Aviation and Navy shore-based aviation as the main force.

If everything goes well, a login operation will be launched on January 16.

On January 3, Bai Zhizhan left the front line headquarters and accompanied several staff officers arranged by Du Kang to Saigon Port in Nanzhi.

It is the best port in the entire Toe Peninsula, the surrounding area of ​​the southern Yanhai.

Because it was once the military port of the Locke Navy and later one of the main military ports of the Imperial Navy, many infrastructures with military value were built.

I went to Saigon Port to inspect the situation, not for the 11th Special Fleet, but for landing combat operations.

Simply put, it is to set this as the home port of the landing fleet, act as a forward base for landing operations, and improve the efficiency of logistics support.

As for the situation at Saigon Port, it did not surprise Bai Zhizhan.

To be honest, it's similar to that basketball port.

Although the South Zhi area became a colony of the Rock Republic after the end of the last war, the focus of the Rock Republic's expansion strategy in the next twenty years was not here, and there was no investment in the South Zhi area as in the past.

To be said, Saigon Port is more like Cape Town after the opening of the Xifan Canal.

In addition, there are too many indigenous residents in the area, and most of them are engaged in business activities related to the colonies, and they are highly dependent on the sovereign state in all aspects. More than 10,000 Rocket soldiers stationed in the Nanzhi area and about 50,000 colonists, frequently travel to and from the Nanzhi area and the local import and export merchants of the Locke Republic, became the main source of economic resources in the entire Saigon and even the Nanzhi area.

To be honest, more than 30 million people in Nanzhi are serving these 100,000 colonists.

Bai Zhizhan also came to a very realistic conclusion.

Instead of investing in infrastructure construction in Saigon, it is better to burn more oil.

Besides, it is only more than 2,000 kilometers from Shiquan City to the empire, and there are dozens of military bases along the way, so there is no need to open another military port.

This conclusion is equivalent to driving Saigon Port into the cold palace.

Because there was really nothing to investigate, Bai Zhizhan only stayed there for two days and took a plane back to the front line headquarters on January 5.

Without a forward base, adjustments are required to be made to landing operations, more transport ships are used, and escort warships are added in the same proportion.

Before leaving Saigon Port, Bai Zhizhan wrote these into the inspection report and sent them back to the Navy Command.

In the past two days, the situation in Lu Xinhai has undergone drastic changes.

After the Baizhi Zhan left Saigon Port, the Imperial Naval Command received the exact news and sent it to the Front Command as soon as possible.

On the night of January 4, about 6 hours before Bai Zhizhan left Saigon Port, the Eastern Luxinhai Squadron of the Royal Bran Navy attacked the Raleigh fleet. To be precise, it dispatched carrier-based aircraft and bombed the Raleigh battleships anchored in the Taranto military port, sinking two battleships and severely hurting two battleships.

Just one attack paralyzed the powerful Raleigh fleet!

The key is an attack launched at night.

Although the Navy Command did not provide more accurate information, it is reasonable to believe that the Royal Bran Navy used a "Saidfish" biplane torpedo attack aircraft with slow speed but better low-altitude performance, and had the exact information and conducted drills in advance.

If you want to say it, only this torpedo machine is suitable for bombing missions at night.

If it is replaced with a faster monoplane, it would be great to be able to successfully drop a torpedo over the narrow harbor.

The entire attack can be said to be straightforward.

After the warship was bombed, the air defense forces deployed near the port reacted.

After all the Bran fighters dropped torpedoes and flew away, the Raleigh Air Force's fighter jets arrived, and two of them were shot down by their anti-aircraft guns.

From beginning to end, neither the Raleigh Navy nor the Raleigh Air Force could touch the North.

If it weren't for the aviation torpedoes dropped by two Bran aircraft that had not detonated and rushed to the beach, the Raleigh Navy wouldn't have even thought it would be bombed.

When the warship was torpedoed, the commander of the Raleigh fleet also determined that an ammunition depot exploded.

At that time, the first order issued by the commander of the Loli Fleet was to keep the captains in order and not to panic the officers and soldiers.

In addition, there is another thing that can be confirmed.

The commander of this raid must have been Cunningham.

By the night of January 5, the Navy Command sent a second telegram.

Bai Zhizhan's speculation was confirmed that it was indeed an attack by the Eastern Lu Xinhai Squadron, directly commanded by Cunningham, and Cunningham was inside the fleet.

In addition, the squadron has a total of 2 aircraft carriers, one of which is an old-fashioned aircraft carrier modified with large cruisers.

In other words, it is very likely that the attack mission is only one aircraft carrier, and less than 30 carrier-based aircraft are deployed, and perhaps only 20 may be around.

However, only one battleship was sunk, one was severely damaged, and the other four did not lose their combat effectiveness.

Although the loss was not as great as expected, after this battle, the Raleigh Navy was already a frightened bird.

Not to mention going out to sea to fight, even in the port, he was worried. Even the fleet commander left the official residence that night. He said he was going to the port to inspect the situation, but in fact he was worried that he would be bombed again. He went to a private manor in the inland and returned to Taranto three days later.

After this battle, I am afraid that in the next few months, the Raleigh Navy will be hiding in the port and will not pose a threat to the Royal Navy of Bran.
Chapter completed!