The official residence of the first auxiliary of the imperial capital.

When Lin Shiping arrived, it was already past 8 o'clock in the evening, and Zhou Yongtao saw off the defense minister and several chiefs of staff and other important military personnel.

The 51st Task Force was attacked in the East Continent Xinhai, which did not surprise Zhou Yongtao.

In fact, Zhou Yongtao did not participate in the deployment of naval combat operations.

Although he was a marshal of the navy, he had served in the navy for decades, and he was still the most outstanding commander and commander of the imperial navy after the White War, but after living in the residence of the first assistant, mainly to avoid suspicion, Zhou Yongtao rarely bothered about naval affairs, let alone directly intervened in combat operations.

When Luo Youbin sent the war report, Zhou Yongtao also sighed.

Can the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Zhang Xiaotian, be blamed?

The retention of the Luxinhai detachment and the dispatch of aircraft carriers to the eastern Luxinhai are fundamentally to cooperate with the overall strategy, and have nothing to do with the naval command, let alone the chief of staff of the navy, so even if they want to be held responsible, they should be borne by the Imperial Cabinet.

In addition, allowing the task force to leave the port is also a normal combat deployment.

Theoretically, the fleet that remains in the harbor is not only of no value, but also no safer.

The commander of the 51st task force is not powerful?

Obviously, this is a shirk of responsibility.

From a tactical point of view, Task Force 51 did not make a mistake or venture north, and has been operating in the waters of the southern part of the East Continent.

Otherwise, it would not have been possible to intercept three bomber groups in succession before being attacked.

What I really want to say is actually the lack of troops.

After intercepting three bomber groups, Task Force 51 no longer had enough anti-aircraft fighters to expand its air defense network.

Of course, this has a lot to do with the fact that there are only 2 aircraft carriers.

If Task Force 51 were a three-carrier battle group, it would be able to send at least eight fighters to intercept the fourth bomber group.

It is a pity that Task Force 51 does not have three aircraft carriers.

Who can be blamed for this?

Obviously, it certainly cannot be said that the Navy is responsible.

More than 10 years ago, that is, after the end of the Polish-Iraq War, when the two houses of parliament forcibly passed a bill to limit the number of aircraft carriers to 15, Zhou Yongtao, who was still serving in the navy at that time, and other senior admirals of the navy clearly mentioned that 15 aircraft carriers could not guarantee to cope with all emergencies.

The point is that the Imperial Navy is a global deployment.

Even if the necessary contraction is carried out after the outbreak of the war, such as taking the initiative to abandon the North Sunset Ocean, which cannot be held at all, 15 aircraft carriers are still not enough.

At that time, Zhou Yongtao proposed to keep at least 18 aircraft carriers, preferably 20.

Adding 3 aircraft carriers, at special moments, such as the peak maintenance period of aircraft carriers, is actually equivalent to only 1 more aircraft carrier available, and adding 5 aircraft carriers can ensure that there are 2 more aircraft carriers that can be deployed or are deployed at any time.

Obviously, don't underestimate these two aircraft carriers.

Because there are no aircraft carriers or two, after the outbreak of the Great War, in order to ensure that there are enough troops in more important directions, the Imperial Navy can only draw aircraft carriers from the Lu Xinhai Fleet, after all, from a strategic point of view, the status of the Lu Xinhai Squadron is the lowest.

To put it bluntly, Lu Xinhai itself does not have much strategic value.

There is a slight taste of "chicken ribs".

This is by no means nonsense.

The point is that the empire really doesn't have much personal power on Lu Xinhai's side.

Keep the route to Mohai?

Obviously, even if this route is kept, if Astrakhan is not kept, it will still not be able to hold the vital caves.

When the shackled land bridge falls, the route will be meaningless.

From a military point of view, holding Astrakhan is not much less difficult than defending Novorossiysk, relatively speaking. That is, Astrakhan is not only the necessary place to pass through the caves in the south, but also the foundation of the eastward attack on the hinterland of Dongluosha, and even the sweeping of the shackled land bridge.

Until Astrakhan is taken, the Western Continent Group will certainly not risk mobilizing heavy forces to storm Novorossiysk.

Defend the Shivan Canal?

Obviously, as long as the empire still controls Posha Bay, especially the several oil-producing countries on the south coast, and remains the hegemon of the Crescent region, it will not be a problem to hold the Xifan Canal.

Besides, deploying a fleet in the narrow sea would also be able to guard the Sunvan Canal.

Only when it has absolute strategic superiority and launches a strategic counteroffensive will the Imperial Navy need to send additional troops to Lu Xinhai.

Until then, it is certainly a priority to ensure other directions.

If I want to say, what really surprised Zhou Yongtao was actually the determination of the Western Continent Group to attack the 51st Task Force.

If the battle report sent by Li Shenzhi had no moisture, the Western Continent Group would have dispatched at least 80 "Vulcan" bombers and more than 30 "Tornado" AVD fighters, and unilaterally undermined the neutral status of the Republic of There.

Of course, the losses are also huge.

At least 48 Vulcan were shot down before the bomb was dropped, another 5 were shot down after the bomb was dropped, and the escort fighters also lost more than 20 units.

If anything, these bombers and fighters alone are worth more than 2 supercarriers!

Crucially, the 2 aircraft carriers of the 51st Task Force were not sunk.

According to the first battle report, the damage of the "White Stop" has been controlled, there is no risk of sinking, and it is even able to operate a helicopter. The situation of the "Li Mingbo" is slightly worse, but the fire has been extinguished, and there is a great deal of certainty that the aircraft carrier will be saved.

It must be admitted that the aircraft carriers of the Imperial Navy have always been known for their strong survivability.

In the last war, the Imperial Navy took the lead in making a fuss about the survivability of aircraft carriers, adopting methods such as small compartment structures to improve the survivability of aircraft carriers after being attacked. The most representative is that the two "Imperial Capital" class ships suffered heavy damage in battles many times, but they were repaired again and again, and returned to the battlefield, and finally all of them persisted until the end of the war.

The aircraft carriers built by the Imperial Navy after the war also had a strong focus on survivability.

The "Xue Yuanzheng" class has a total of more than 4,000 watertight cabins, and except for the boiler room and the engine room, all the others are small compartments. Theoretically, even if a third of the cabin below the waterline is flooded, as long as the water inflow does not exceed 15,000 tons, it will not sink.

According to the conclusions given by the engineers, or the results of theoretical calculations, the "Xue Yuanzheng" class can carry up to 10 heavy anti-ship missiles, or 4 heavy torpedoes.

This survivability is not ordinarily tough.

In fact, the Imperial Navy has always had a tradition of using decommissioned aircraft carriers for survivability tests.

Among other things, the large aircraft carriers of the Imperial Navy, with the exception of a few converted into naval museums, were all used for internal testing after being decommissioned, with no exception. Just the large aircraft carriers built in the last war, there are more than 20 of them. It was through these tests that the Imperial Navy gained a great deal of first-hand information and experience, all of which were used on aircraft carriers designed after the war.

In addition, the "Huizhou" did not sink either, at least not for the time being.

Although in the battle report, it was mentioned that the situation of this cruiser was very dangerous and could capsize at any time, and Li Shenzhi had already given an order to the captain to make his own decision according to the actual situation and protect the officers and men first, but the captain of the "Huizhou" did not give an order to abandon the ship, and the operation to save the battleship has been going on, and it may be able to return to Alexandria in the end.

In other words, after the loss of more than 50 bombers and more than 20 fighters, the counterattack of the Western Continent Group did not sink even a single battleship.

Of course, the most important thing is the number of troops invested.

That's a full 80 Vulcan bombers!

If there is no particularly important and necessary purpose, what reason does the Empire have to use 80 Vulcan to deal with the 51st Task Force with only 2 aircraft carriers?

So, what is this important purpose?

At the beginning, Zhou Yongtao discussed this issue with military dignitaries.

Several military dignitaries, including the Minister of Defense, decided that it was related to the continental battlefield and hoped to defeat Task Force 51, prevent the Empire from sending supplies to the Shackled Land Bridge, reduce the difficulty of attacking the Shackled Land Bridge, and cover up the defeat suffered on the ground battlefield through this counterattack.

Of course, it can also be seen as forcing the empire to turn its focus to the maritime battlefield.

There is some truth to that.

It's just that these purposes are too bad.

In addition, there is a very critical question that does not make sense at all.

The last bombers to attack were attacked from the north, that is, they flew over the Republic of There, breaking the Istanbul Convention.

This convention is not only used to establish the permanent neutrality of the Republic of There, but also has great strategic significance.

To put it bluntly, when the Empire of Juman and the Empire of Liang Xia signed a treaty, they actually used their country's influence in the Republic of There as a guarantee.

If the Manman Empire broke the treaty, the Liangxia Empire no longer needed to abide by this convention.

This meant that the Empire could use the Republic of Thore to transport troops and supplies by rail to the Chains Road Bridge.

So, what's the point of blocking sea routes?

There is a very critical railway involved here.

Invested by the Empire's railway companies, the railway from Sirt to Kars, which runs from south to north through the Armenian plateau, was opened to traffic several years ago.

Crucially, about 300 kilometres south of Siirt is Mosul in Iraq, of which only about 100 kilometres are unrailed.

As long as the Republic of Daoter can be used, the problem of sending supplies to the shackled land bridge can be solved.

In addition, it is even possible to open up new battlefields here.

The top brass would certainly not have thought that Iraq would be able to withstand the imperial army.

In this case, what reason does the top brass have to take the initiative to undermine the neutrality of the Republic of There?

According to the additional provisions of the Istanbul Convention, if any of the contracting parties breaks the treaty, the Republic of There will form an alliance with the other contracting parties. Because the Nuland Republic has not yet entered the war, at the de jure level, the Republic of Thell can only ally with the Liangxia Empire now.

If you really want to stop the Imperial Navy from advancing into the Ink Sea, you should completely let go and wait until the 51st Task Force enters the Ink Sea before launching a strike.

At that time, it is even expected that the 51st Task Force and the accompanying transport fleet will be completely annihilated.

Crucially, it is also possible to arrange tactical aviation to carry out strike missions, or to arrange more fighters to provide cover for bombers.

It can be seen that it is not the most ideal choice for the Manman Empire to make a move at this time.

In front of Qin Fenglie and other important military officials, Zhou Yongtao did not emphasize this issue.

The main thing is that it is not necessary.

Zhou Yongtao only emphasized one point, after the Manman Empire took the lead in breaking the treaty, to be precise, after obtaining the acceptance of the authorities of the Republic of There, it was necessary to be ready to use the Republic of There, so the number one task before that was actually to defeat Iraq.

From Posha Bay to the north, through the Republic of Tel to the shackled land bridge, either through Iraq or through the country of Boi.

Obviously, the former can only be chosen now.

As for the matter of Task Force 51, it can be postponed for the time being.

During the discussion, Zhang Xiaotian proposed to retaliate against the military base on the north shore of Lu Xinhai, but Zhou Yongtao vetoed it.

Retaliation bombing, mainly for show.

If this is a local war, it is really necessary. But this is a global war, and such actions have no real value.

In fact, Air Force Chief of Staff Zhen Bisheng also expressed opposition.

The reason is simpler, the navy has decided to withdraw the fleet deployed in Lu Xinhai, so the only person who can undertake the counterattack combat mission is the air force.

Even if the Navy sends shore-based aviation to assist, the Air Force's bombers will have to carry out strike missions.

Obviously, the Air Force simply does not have the spare strength to support combat operations on Lu Xinhai's side now.

It is precisely for this reason that Zhou Yongtao repeatedly stressed the need to win the Boshawan War as soon as possible, to end the combat operations in that direction, and to concentrate forces on dealing with the Western Continent Group.

In fact, this is also telling Zhang Xiaotian that it is not yet time to launch a counterattack.

Zhou Yongtao did not forget to tell Zhang Xiaotian that improving the combat readiness of the navy, especially on the Guia side, must not be taken lightly.

Task Force 51 was badly damaged, and that was no joke.

Even if the two supercarriers were not sunk, they would have been incapacitated, which means that the Imperial Navy has only 13 aircraft carriers at its disposal in the short term. Excluding the 5 ships that are still undergoing major repairs in the shipyard, and the 3 ships that must remain in the direction of the Fanyan Ocean, and the 2 ships that are deployed in the southwestern and eastward oceans, the Imperial Navy has only 3 aircraft carriers in the most critical strategic direction, that is, on the side of the Howai Islands.

The key is still 3 large aircraft carriers.

Of course, in the past ten years, the Imperial Navy has only three aircraft carriers deployed on the side of the Howai Islands.

This amount is enough in normal times.

At least one of the three aircraft carriers, at all times, is operating in the open sea, which can create sufficient deterrence against potential enemies.

In wartime, 3 aircraft carriers are definitely not enough!

If it is necessary to increase troops to Lu Xinhai, or if it needs to face the southern subcontinent, then it is definitely necessary to draw troops from the southwest and the east.

In this way, on the side of the Howaii Islands, there is not even a reserve!

Theoretically, the Nuland Navy could increase the number of aircraft carriers deployed in the Guia to five in about 15 days, leaving one in reserve.

If the Nuland Air Force had been prepared and mobilized enough bombers, it would have the ability to attack.

Moreover, if the Nuland authorities had already persuaded Van Roe, it would be more likely that they would be in the Guia at the same time.

It can be seen that the empire is now facing the most dangerous situation.

In addition to already fighting in 3 directions, it is quite possible that battles will break out in 2 more directions in the near future.

If that's the case, you're in big trouble!

In fact, this is also the reason why Zhou Yongtao called Lin Shiping.