"Just received it."

When Zhou Yongtao walked over to this side with the telegram, Bai Zhizhan turned his gaze.

"It has been confirmed that the commander of the garrison of Shiquan City has ordered the troops to stop resisting, and they will officially surrender by tomorrow morning at the latest."

Bai Zhizhan was stunned for a moment, and then took the telegram and read it carefully.

The message sent by the Navy Command began with the following message: Lion Springs City Victory.

Subsequently, the telecommunications officers successively sent detailed war reports.

The communication efficiency of long-wave radio stations is not high, and the reception and reception of messages themselves are more cumbersome, and a detailed battle report is often sent in several parts.

If you want to say it, this Lian Xusheng is really ruthless.

Yesterday evening, the entire army air force was dispatched, and nearly 2,000 bombers and long-range fighters, divided into about 20 groups, large and small, carried out indiscriminate carpet and full-coverage bombing of the enemy-controlled area of Shiquan City at half-hour intervals.

The bombers dropped all 1,000-kilogram special incendiary bombs.

This kind of incendiary bomb uses a reinforced steel container, that is, a shell, which can effectively slow down the release rate of the incendiary agent and prolong the burning time.

According to the test done by Lu Airlines, it can continue to burn for 4 hours in an ideal environment, and the fire area is up to 10,000 square meters.

In addition, Lian Xusheng also arranged for the Marine Corps and the fleet to control and block the beach to prevent the soldiers and civilians of Shiquan City from taking water to extinguish the fire!

To accomplish the task, the support fleet also had several destroyers venture into the Shiquan Strait to block the beaches controlled by Bran's forces with artillery fire at close range.

All in all, the fire burned all night!

feelings, Lion Springs City turned into a crater.

After dawn, two artillery support fleets took on the show.

In order to improve the effectiveness of the artillery bombardment, Lian Xusheng also sent a large number of patrol planes to the fleet and army aviation, and adjusted the artillery bombardment tactics.

To put it simply, it is the patrol aircraft that guides the targets of the warship.

As for the standard of shelling, it is to destroy all objects that are still active in the enemy-controlled area!

In one day, almost all of the 20 cruisers and destroyers of the 2 fire support fleets ran out of shells!

In addition, the "Beihe" and "Nanjiang", which arrived on the 23rd, entered the battle in the evening and dropped hundreds of 400-mm bombs on the urban area controlled by the Bran army.

If anything, it was this final bombardment that completely broke the morale of Bran's army.

Lion Springs is a superfortress that Bran's army has painstakingly operated for decades, with a large number of underground fortifications built to a very high standard.

Underground fortifications such as ammunition depots and fuel depots can even resist shells fired by the battleship's main guns.

That was the standard 20 years ago, though.

It will certainly not be possible to deal with 400-mm shells, especially heavy armor-piercing shells capable of penetrating hundreds of mm of armor.

To put it mildly, with enough shells, the 16 cannons of the "Beihe" and "Nanjiang" would be able to destroy all the fortifications of Shiquan City.

At most, that is, a few days.

So, does it make sense to stay trapped?

Crucially, during the evening shelling, the defenders' central ammunition depot was destroyed by a 400-mm shell.

At that time, the huge fireball generated by the explosion could be seen from dozens of kilometers away.

Officers and soldiers fighting on the front line even suspected that there had been an earthquake.

It was this cannon that caused the defenders to lose 80% of their ammunition!

Although it has not yet reached the point of running out of food, it is almost exhausted.

It was that, shortly after nightfall, the commander-in-chief of the defending forces, Lieutenant General Percival, ordered the troops to temporarily cease resistance, and then contacted the front commander of the Imperial Army through the public channel, offering that after several conditions were met, the order would be given for the defending officers and men to surrender.

The main requirement is to ensure that humanitarian treatment is ensured.

In addition, it is to help treat the wounded.

The personal safety of prisoners of war was protected by international conventions and the laws of war, and even if Percival did not bring it up, the Imperial Army would follow the rules.

The Liangxia Empire was both the initiator of the Convention on the Code of Conduct of War and the initial signatory to the International Law of War.

For decades, the Liangxia Empire could be said to be a global model in terms of preferential treatment of prisoners of war, and the example of all the great powers has never been criticized or criticized.

Before surrendering, Percival must have made a report to the Bran authorities.

This means that Cunningham will definitely not go to the Northeast Fanyanyang.

Until this time, the "Ark Royal" did not appear, nor did it participate in the battle on the side of Shiquan City, so the aircraft carrier must still be on the side of Muahai.

Will Cunningham go north?

When Bai Zhizhan was thinking about this problem, Zhou Yongtao turned out Fan Yanyang's map and spread it on the chart table.

"I dare say Cunningham certainly didn't expect that we would be able to conquer Lion Springs in just a few days."

"What if you didn't expect that?" While asking, Bai Zhizhan also looked at Zhou Yongtao.

"Because I didn't expect it in advance, it would definitely be a mess."

This time, Bai Zhizhan did not ask questions, and let Zhou Yongtao continue.

"Although the Bran Kingdom controls the Van Luo region and almost the entire Northern Van Yan Ocean, there are not many places west of Lion Spring City, before reaching the Kibu Fortress, that can really be regarded as a military stronghold." Zhou Yongtao said as he circled a few locations on the map. "Our goal is clear, which is to march into Posha Bay, so we don't need to waste time and troops on the fortress on the north shore of the Fanyan Ocean."

Bai Zhizhan only nodded, what Zhou Yongtao said was not a secret.

As for the locations circled by Zhou Yongtao, such as the ports in the north of the Bay of Bengal and the ports and cities in the west of Van Luo, they all have great strategic value, but they are not strategic points that must be won for the operation of Posha Bay.

"Of these, only Sri Lanka has sufficient strategic value. If the defenders of Lion Springs hold out for a few more months, Bran's army will devote more troops to Sri Lanka, or enough time to send more troops to Sri Lanka to continue to hold us back here. ”

"You mean, Cunningham will go to Sri Lanka?"

"It's a huge possibility. The point is, if he doesn't go to Sri Lanka, where can he go? ”

Bai Zhizhan did not answer, obviously disagreeing with Zhou Yongtao's analysis.

"Having abandoned Sri Lanka, Bran's army had no choice but to retreat to the Kibu Fortress. With such a short time, it was simply too late to strengthen the defensive deployment of the Kibu fortress. Hold out in Sri Lanka for a few months to strengthen the defenses of the Kib fortress and then fight us to the death. ”

Zhou Yongtao was obviously trying to convince Bai to stop fighting, or he was trying to prove his guess.

This is also the essential work of the operational staff officer.

After pondering for a while, Bai Zhizhan said: "Your analysis does have some truth, but there is a problem that cannot be explained. ”

"What's the problem?"

After glancing at Zhou Yongtao, who was a little puzzled, Bai Zhizhan said: "Do you think that the capital in the hands of the Bran Royal Navy can be tossed a few times?" ”

"This ......"

"If you can only toss once, is it better to have a chance of winning with your back to the Kib fortress, or is it better to fight alone in Sri Lanka? If the defenses at Kib Fortress are not in place, the Bran fleet will not be able to get support on the Sri Lankan side. ”

At this moment, Zhou Yongtao immediately tightened his brows.