"Do you think it has anything to do with the Army's defeat in Atyrau?"

When Bai Zhizhan said this, Zheng Jiangming was obviously startled, and the hand holding the steering wheel trembled involuntarily a few times.

Fortunately, he immediately controlled his emotions and did not let the vehicle lose control.

Obviously, this sentence of Bai Zhizhan is too scary.

Although it was just a guess of Bai Zhizhan, but when it came out, the first unlucky person was Lian Xusheng, and it was a trivial matter to lose the black yarn hat.

To put it seriously, it's enough to be treasonous!

After a while, Zheng Jiangming let out a long breath. "Do you think it's really possible?"

Bai Zhizhan didn't say anything, only nodded slightly.

In fact, when Zheng Jiangming mentioned Xue Yuanzheng's attitude towards the mainland war, Bai Zhizhan had already thought that Lian Xusheng was actually working for Xue Yuanzheng.

It was for this reason that the White Stop War suspected that the defeat of the army at Atyrau might have something to do with it.

The biggest suspicion is that in this huge battle, the Imperial Army suffered less than 50,000 casualties in total.

Compared with the loss of main battle equipment, the casualties were significantly low.

"After I go back, I will find a way to find out the details of the Army's losses in the Battle of Atyrau, and contact you when I find out."

"Don't be too ostentatious."

Zheng Jiangming nodded and agreed.

A short time later, the two came to the airport.

The transport plane was still doing pre-takeoff inspection, and after sending Bai Zhizhan to the waiting hall, Zheng Jiangming was not in a hurry to return to the naval headquarters.

If anything, he hadn't recovered from the shock he had felt at the beginning.

Fortunately, Liu Xiangzhen had to stay to deal with the handover with the guards, so he would go to Shiquan City tomorrow and wait for the 22nd Task Force there.

The only one who wants to leave the imperial capital today is Bai Zhizhan.

In addition to Bai Zhizhan and Zheng Jiangming, there are only a few service personnel in the waiting hall.

Bai Zhizhan didn't explain much, after all, Zheng Jiangming's intelligence work, many things don't need to be explained too thoroughly.

In Wang Kaiyuan's words, the meaning needs to be expressed in place.

It's just that the two of them waited for a few minutes.

The first message from the airport's telegraph operator was good news.

The call from the Navy Command informed that the White Stop, which was about to leave for the fleet, had just completed the combat operation to capture the transit island.

To be precise, the last of the defenders surrendered about three hours earlier.

At this point, on September 15, local time, September 16, imperial local time, after nearly two months of fierce fighting, the imperial navy captured the transit island at the cost of more than 12,000 casualties.

In this battle, the Nuland army suffered more than 30,000 casualties.

The Imperial Navy was able to reduce casualties in large part because it had learned the lessons of the Battle of Sai Island and strengthened its direct fire support to the landing force.

Of course, it also has a lot to do with the improvement of the quality of officers and men.

In fact, the defenders of the transit island disarmed and surrendered, mainly because they lost confidence in victory, not because they ran out of ammunition and food, let alone suffered heavy casualties.

Of the approximately 2,500 Nuland officers and soldiers who finally surrendered, only 500 were seriously wounded.

The other 2,000 officers and men were not only not injured, but their physical condition was relatively ideal, but their mental state was very bad, and they had nothing to do with the "bloody battle" at all.

Don't forget, not so long ago, the Nuland soldiers on Transit Island had enough of the officers and men of the Imperial Marines.

In the early days of the campaign, the Nuland army also made it difficult for the landed Imperial troops to move an inch.

The difference between before and after is too great.

At the beginning, the officers and men of the Imperial Marine Corps thought that the Nuland soldiers had been infected by the madmen of the Narrow Imperial State, and they would all die on this island.

The point is that the Nuland army still has enough war materials, but in the last deep bunker, there are hundreds of tons of ammunition.

If you have enough fighting spirit and rely on these ammunition, you can hold out for at least half a month.

In any case, after a hard-fought battle, the Imperial Navy and Marines finally took the strategically important Transit Island.

However, it is impossible to say exactly when the islands to the east of the Khowaii archipelago will be attacked.

According to the previous plan, the Imperial Navy would not return to the Guia until after the capture of Posha Bay and the invasion of Luxinhai, and before that, it was mainly through the aviation deployed on the transit islands to bomb the islands to the east of the archipelago, such as Honou Island, where Treasure Harbour is located.

However, judging from the current situation, if conditions permit, it may be considered to take another city, that is, to capture a small island to the east of the transit island.

How to fight, that is a matter between Zhu Huasheng and the guards.

According to the latest arrangement, after leaving the 22nd Task Force, Wei Jun will go to the support fleet to serve as commander, while Zhu Huasheng will be transferred to the post of commander-in-chief of the landing operation.

One way or another, the large-scale combat operation in the direction of the transit island came to an end.

That's not the only news, though.

Just over ten minutes later, when the transport plane was ready, the Navy Command called again and asked Bai Zhizhan not to set off for the time being.

Subsequently, Liu Changxun's confidential secretary came to the airport.

The confidential secretary didn't say much, and Bai Zhizhan didn't ask much, and got into the secretary's car directly.

On the way back to the naval headquarters after leaving the airport, the confidential secretary mentioned that a transport ship loaded with munitions exploded and sank in the Shiquan Strait last night. Because it happened very suddenly, the command of the Navy decided that the explosion of the ship's munitions had occurred. More than 10 hours later, a cargo ship carrying several thousand tons of grain returning from the direction of Fanyan Ocean also exploded and sank in the Shiquan Strait.

This time, it was determined that it was caused by a mine.

It was only at this time that the garrison of Shiquan City reported the matter to the naval command, and there were mines laid by the enemy in the Shiquan Strait.

The point is, these mines must have appeared recently.

After the capture of Lionsprings, the Imperial Navy's intelligence agencies interrogated the surrendered Bran officers and learned that Bran's army had not mined the Strait on their way to surrender.

After that, in order to be on the safe side, the Imperial Navy dispatched minesweepers to carry out three comprehensive sweeps in the Shiquan Strait, but no mines were found.

In the months that followed, thousands of ships passed through the Shiquan Strait, and none of them struck a mine in the strait.

If anything, reefs in shallow waters close to islands and land are even more dangerous.

Prior to this, 7 cargo ships had strayed on the reef in the diving area, 3 sank directly, and 2 were scrapped due to serious damage.

All of this proves that the mines that blew up the sunken freighter were recent.

The point is, how did those mines end up in the strait?

Submarine?

Apparently not!

The Shiquan Strait is very narrow, and there are anti-submarine nets on both the east and west sides of the strait, and minefields are set up, and anti-submarine ships patrol at any time.

Not to mention entering, even if it is close to the Shiquan Strait, you can't do it.

In fact, reefs are also a great threat to submarines.

If nothing else, the submarines of the Imperial Navy had to sail on the surface of the sea when passing through the Shiquan Strait, and they chose to choose daytime as much as possible.

If conditions permit, the Lion Springs garrison must send ships to lead the way.

If you don't do it well, you may even be hit and sunk by passing ships!

However, the confidential secretary also clearly mentioned that the relevant investigation is still ongoing, and there is no way to make a definite speculation for the time being, and there is no need for this.

The reason is also very simple, the Lion Springs garrison has already mastered some reliable clues.