On the night of October 15, an air force base outside the suburbs of the imperial capital.

When he walked down from the special plane, Ding Zhennan saw Shi Suliang standing outside.

Obviously, after receiving the news, he left and returned to the imperial capital to attend a high-level military meeting hosted by Zhou Yongtao.

As for the content of the meeting, it is related to the battle that just ended in Northeast China.

"Just received the news, the main formation of the 41st Special Mixed Fleet has arrived in the north of Honu Island, and the 'Zhou Kuande' may not be able to return."

Ding Zhennan nodded only and did not answer.

After getting on the bus, Shi Suliang continued: "Bai Huawei has returned to Zhenbao Port, but the Prime Minister did not ask him to come back according to the information he had found out."

Ding Zhennan was stunned for a moment, then shook his head with a wry smile.

Although the 41st Special Mixed Fleet won the battle and sank two large aircraft carriers of the 52nd Special Mixed Fleet, the result was not planned.

According to the combat plan approved by Zhou Yongtao himself, this battle is likely to be defeated but not won!

Tactical victory does not mean strategic victory. Similarly, suffering a tactical failure does not mean that strategic failures are also strategically.

On a strategic level, the fundamental purpose of this battle is actually to leave a glimmer of hope for the Republic of Newland, so that it will focus its strategic focus on the east. For example, mobilizing heavy troops to attack the Hovay Islands, so it will not be able to use troops in other directions, especially sending troops to participate in battles on the mainland battlefield.

To do this, you have to make concessions at the tactical level.

When formulating the plan, Zhou Yongtao repeatedly emphasized that the bottom line of the Imperial Navy is to defend Honu Island and the strategic defense line west of the archipelago, namely Wei Island, Guan Island and the Northern Horse Islands. Some islands can be abandoned when necessary and can accept tactical failures.

The implication is that even if you lose the decisive battle in the fleet, it doesn't matter.

The key is that by the end of the year, the Imperial Navy will be able to send three super aircraft carriers to the East Ocean, and by the beginning of next year, 3 to 6 large aircraft carriers. In such a short time, the Newland Navy will be able to attack and occupy at most some islands in the archipelago. As long as the Imperial Navy can defend Honu Island, it will be a slight effort to wait for the Imperial Navy to launch a counterattack and regain the islands captured by the Newland Navy.

In addition, by the beginning of next year, the Newland Navy will still have only six aircraft carriers available.

It will not be until the end of next year or even the beginning of the year after that the second batch of three Niz-class super aircraft carriers will be delivered to the Newland Navy as soon as possible.

In other words, the Imperial Navy has at least half a year to turn the situation around.

From this perspective, not to mention losing only some of the islands, even if the entire Hovayi Islands are lost, the impact on the overall situation is very small.

However, for political reasons, the Hovayi Islands must be defended, even if they are just Honu Island.

The reason is also very simple: the number one strategic purpose of the Newland Republic's participation in the war was to recapture the Hovay Islands. Therefore, after achieving this goal, the Newland Republic is likely to choose to stop when it is better, at least shift its strategic focus and launch an attack in other directions, such as sending troops to the Western Continent and the Southern Subcontinent, consuming the military power of the Liangxia Empire, forcing the imperial authorities to accept the fait accompli for losing the Hovay Islands.

There is a very critical reason here.

Starting from the Hovay Islands, except for the slightly closer island of Via, the closest to the west is the Norte Horse Islands, which are more than 4,000 kilometers away.

This distance determines the direction of the Eastern Ocean War.

To put it bluntly, unless the leader of Newland's head is in the water and feels that he can defeat the Liangxia Empire with all his strength, he will give up all unrealistic fantasies after capturing the Hovay Islands and mobilize all his troops to defend the Hovay Islands.

If it develops to this point, the empire will be in a very dangerous situation.

The reason is also very simple: starting from the empire and launching an offensive operation spanning thousands of kilometers, the hope of winning is also very slim.

At least in the 151st year of the New Calendar, the second year of the war, there was no chance of winning.

Don't forget that the Imperial Navy could send up to 9 aircraft carriers to the East Ocean in 151 of the New Calendar, while the Newland Navy could mobilize 6 aircraft carriers. Even if the 41st and 61st and 61st and 61st and 61st and 1st and 1st and 1st and 1st, the number of aircraft carriers on both sides was only 14 to 6, barely more than the advantage of the force required to launch an attack. As long as the two special fleets suffered losses in the early battles, the Imperial Navy would not be able to gain twice the advantage of the force. If the time for the counterattack was delayed, the comparison of the force between the two sides would be reduced.

The result is obvious that as long as the 151st year of the New Calendar is missing, the hope of recapturing the Hovay Islands will continue to decline.

In fact, losing the Hovay Islands is part of the plan, but it is not captured by the Newland Navy, but it is handed over to the Newland Republic as a bargaining chip during the armistice negotiations, thus allowing the Newland Republic to withdraw from the global war at a time that is relatively beneficial to the Liangxia Empire.

Obviously, this is also the key to the need to defend Honu Island.

If you lose this bargaining chip, even if you have the opportunity to hold a ceasefire negotiation with the Republic of Newland, you may not be able to obtain a negotiation result that is beneficial to the empire.

The problem now is that the Newland Navy's combat operation to attack the Howai Islands ended in failure. Even if the 51st TCM fleet is intact, the three "Nitz"-class super aircraft carriers can still fight. The Imperial Navy's 61st TCM fleet has lost its aviation combat capability, and the 41st TCM fleet has also suffered heavy damage. It is difficult to launch a counterattack in a short period of time. The Newland Navy will also be unable to launch an attack on the Howai Islands for a long time due to the lack of necessary means of sending troops, that is, landing fleets.

On a strategic level, the Republic of Newland has suffered a crushing defeat.

To put it bluntly, the only option of the Newland authorities is to give up the fantasy of capturing the Howai Islands when there is no chance of winning. Because there are no negotiation conditions, and after being defeated, the Newland authorities will not negotiate with the Empire in extreme unfavorable circumstances, so after giving up the idea of ​​attacking the Howai Islands, they will definitely use troops in other directions to change the unfavorable situation.

Obviously, this is actually a situation that the imperial authorities have tried to avoid.

The Republic of Newland continued to exert its efforts on the East Ocean. The Imperial Navy was under pressure, and it was able to use the vast East Ocean to exchange for time. To put it bluntly, it was to rely on relatively limited investment to restrain the enemy's main force, so as to invest more troops in other directions.

If Dongwangyang becomes cold, the army will bear most of the pressure, which will inevitably have a negative impact on combat operations in "other directions".

This "other direction" is the Northwest battlefield and the Southern Subcontinent.

Obviously, this is also the reason why Zhou Yongtao asked Ding Zhennan and Shi Suliang to return to the imperial capital quickly.

"What do you think about this?" Ding Zhennan didn't say anything. He was about to arrive at the official residence of the chief minister, and Shi Suliang finally asked.

“It’s hard to say.”

Hearing this, Shi Suliang frowned.

"Until now, there is no secret to the battle situation. The strategic purpose of both sides has actually been revealed to the world. For us, after stabilizing the situation in the East Ocean, we will definitely make efforts on the land battlefield. After all, the navy has not had the strength to enter the Lone Continent in the short term." Ding Zhennan paused for a moment before saying: "The key is, in which direction will we make efforts next."

"You mean..."

Ding Zhennan smiled but did not answer.

In fact, this is related to the strategic plan after the "Hovay Islands Offensive and Defensive War".

Although according to Zhou Yongtao's intention, after the "offensive and defensive war" is over, we will determine the next phase of combat plan. After all, how to fight next depends on the result of the "offensive and defensive war", in general, there are only two choices.

Northwest battlefield and southern subcontinent.

Ding Zhennan has always been inclined to the latter.

It is not that he serves as the commander of the coalition forces on the Southern Subcontinent, and tends to focus on the Southern Subcontinent, but is determined by strategic purposes.

Don't forget that the ultimate goal of the empire is not to defeat all opponents through this battle.

Fundamentally, just to obtain a more favorable post-war environment.

To this end, we need to use this war to resolve some hostile factors that pose a direct threat to the empire or have a huge impact on the empire's interests.

Obviously, the Western Land Group, led by the Tauman Empire, is not within this range.

Relatively speaking, the threat posed by the Vanluo Kingdom located in the southern subcontinent to the empire is still far above the Western Continental Group.

Not to mention anything else, 60% of the empire's exports, 80% of the energy imported, 40% of the minerals imported, and more than half of the strategic routes pass through Fanyan Ocean, and have to pass by the doorstep of Fanluo Kingdom, and almost all routes are within the range of the attack of the Fanluo Kingdom's shore-based aviation force.

In addition, air transport routes to Boshawan and Xuandao Continent also need to pass through the southern subcontinent or pass by nearby areas.

In other words, even if the Vanluo Kingdom does not have a large-scale navy, it can rely on the air force to block the route.

From the standpoint of the empire, if we want to ensure that the strategic route through Fanyan Ocean is unimpeded in wartime, the only way is to implement a comprehensive strategic bombing on Fan Luo Kingdom, especially to destroy the air force of Fan Luo Kingdom, so that Fan Luo Kingdom cannot use the shore-based air force to deal with the transport fleet.

In fact, after Ding Zhennan went to the southern subcontinent, the first thing he deployed and implemented was strategic bombing.

So far, the combat operations against the Vanluo Kingdom are still mainly strategic bombing, and the ground operations are currently in the passive defense stage.

But the problem is that the temptation to defeat Western Land Group is too great.

Not to mention the commander below, even Zhou Yongtao had such an impulse.

As for the reason, Ding Zhennan is also very clear about it.

After Emperor Shiwu founded the empire, for more than a hundred years, the number one goal of the empire was to eliminate security risks from outside the border. After fighting two global wars and countless local wars, the empire's top leaders clearly realized that the only way to achieve "border security" was to dominate the world island and defeat all enemies that could encounter on the ground, including their former allies.

In fact, this is a relatively obscure statement.

To be more straightforward, it is the only one.

Except for the Liangxia Empire, there is no more super hegemony on the world island!

To this end, we must defeat the Western Land Group headed by the Tyman Empire, or the Western Land Group controlled by the Tyman Empire.

The combat plans formulated before the war were all aimed at defeating the Tiaoman Empire and smashing the Xilu Group as their main purpose, and emphasized the inclusion of heavy troops in the northwest direction.

To put it bluntly, heroes like Zhou Yongtao have been working hard to defeat the Tiaoman Empire all their lives.

The result was that after the war broke out, the empire threw heavy troops into the northwest battlefield, and all preparations were aimed at defeating the Western Land Group.

It can be seen that it is definitely not easy to change the upper echelons of the empire.

That's why when Shi Suliang mentioned this issue, Ding Zhennan wanted to speak but stopped.

Don’t forget that Shi Suliang is the commander-in-chief of the Northwest War Zone.

In addition, his relationship with Zhou Yongtao is quite extraordinary. Complaints to Shi Suliang are equivalent to complaining to Zhou Yongtao, and there may not be a good result.

The importance of this strategic choice does not require Ding Zhennan to give a message to remind him.

Whether to use troops in the northwest or turn the focus to the southwest depends on the overall strategy of the empire, but also consider the strategic adjustment of the enemy.

Fundamentally, this is the key.

After the Republic of Newland suffered a crushing defeat in the East Ocean, its only choice was to send troops to the Western Continent to assist the Western Continent Group in fighting the Empire.

Go to the Southern Subcontinent?

First of all, you have to have that ability!

No matter which direction you participate in, you have to use the transport fleet to send troops and supplies, so the smooth flow of sea routes is of decisive significance.

Obviously, the route to the Western Continent is completely incomparable to the route to the Southern Subcontinent.

The former is basically unobstructed, at least there is no risk of being cut off in the short term.
To be continued...