Chapter 9: Divergence between Sea and Land

During the Bai Zhizhan incident, He Yongxing waved at him and then walked toward the forward porthole.

"Still the same question, have you thought of an answer?"

Bai Zhizhan truly had a headache and wished he could dive into a crack. Unfortunately, the floor of the command bridge was a solidly welded armored steel plate.

Fortunately, He Yongxing did not make things difficult for him.

"Many people believe this mission to cut off the Saiyi Imperial Country's lifeline, assisting the Army on the Northeast Front to launch a reprisal, would thereby revitalize the situation and turn the tide."

"Is that not the case?"

He Yongxing glanced back at Bai Zhizhan and continued, "If it were that simple, this war would have ended over two years ago."

Bai Zhizhan honestly shut his mouth, having merely spoken offhand earlier.

"From the perspective of the overall strategy, this is indeed the ideal outcome we hope to achieve. But we all know that the difference between the ideal and reality is too great, and ideals often cannot be realized. Take this operation, for example. Even if the Navy successfully completes its mission and even manages to regain control of the Watcher Strait, thereby reclaiming strategic initiative in the East Ocean, can the Army definitely achieve victory?"

"Does the Navy have another plan?"

He Yongxing paused and then laughed.

"Commander He, I was just speaking offhandedly, I…" Bai Zhizhan wished he could slap himself; if possible, he wanted to take back his initial words.

"You spoke offhandedly, but you were quite accurate," He Yongxing exhaled deeply and said, "You're not wrong; the Navy indeed has a different set of plans. Essentially, it is a full outbreak of the four-year-long divergence between the Navy and Army, or one could say it's the ultimate showdown of naval and land strategies."

Hearing this, Bai Zhizhan involuntarily shuddered.

The disparity between the Imperial Navy and the Imperial Army was no secret; even the common people were aware, albeit it was not something that could be casually discussed.

In the military, it was a well-known taboo.

The key issue was that the Empire's decline to its current state was closely linked to the naval-army divergence.

"Do you think we still have a chance of winning?"

"Commander He…"

What Bai Zhizhan did not expect was that He Yongxing circled back to the initial topic.

"After the Ter Empire announced its surrender last year, we already lost hope of victory. Even before that, when the Saiyi Imperial Country unexpectedly turned on us more than two years ago by sneakily seizing the North and South Sado Islands and controlling the Watcher Strait, and following that the Newland Federation formally committed troops to battle, we lost hope of achieving a comprehensive victory. If we had made active and decisive adjustments at that time, it wouldn't have turned out this way."

"How should we have adjusted?"

"What do you think led to our disastrous defeat in the Sado Sea Battle?"

"Commander He, are you saying…" Bai Zhizhan froze because it was precisely during the Sado Sea Battle that the Imperial Navy lost its strategic initiative.

From the perspective of the entire war, the Sado Sea Battle was the strategic turning point where the Liangxia Empire transitioned from prosperity to decline.

He Yongxing sighed deeply before saying, "All that, those are events of the past. The key is that after losing the strategic initiative, we realized that we had to adjust our strategic goals, more precisely, lower our targets; striving for a comprehensive victory was no longer realistic."

"So what should we strive for?"

"The best outcome would be reconciliation, or at least a ceasefire."

"But…"

He Yongxing smiled and said, "Any kind of victory requires a significant cost, yet it may not return an equivalent reward. When the cost of victory exceeds the rewards obtained, we need to reassess and adjust our goals for war."

Having heard this, Bai Zhizhan understood it all.

"So, are we going to fight a war of attrition with the Joint Fleet?" he asked.

"I told you, you didn't just suddenly decide that we would encounter the First Battle Patrol Squad," He Yongxing smiled again, and without waiting for Bai Zhizhan to reply, he continued, "Often, the losses we suffer actually lighten our burdens, allowing us to move forward more swiftly. From this perspective, the Newland Federation and the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom becoming our enemies, and even the defeat of the Ter Empire are not necessarily bad things."

"We've dropped a burden, while our enemies have gained two unpredictable variables," Bai Zhizhan mentioned.

"You're right; the only issue is that there are very few people, especially among the higher echelons of the Army, who understand this," He Yongxing sighed. "To those fixated on simply winning or losing a battlefield, it is also unrecognizable that neither defeat nor victory signifies an end."

Bai Zhizhan frowned, as he had not yet considered that layer.

"Take the Alliance Group for example; even if they win, would they just settle down? I dare say that after we fall, the Power Guns of the Alliance Group would reveal their hyena nature, drawing their swords against each other to divide the spoils of victory. And it wouldn't be surprising if they split up due to uneven shares of loot. Such a simple truth, yet few generals in the Army seem to see it, which sometimes makes me wonder if they are all fools!"

"Perhaps it's not that they haven't realized it, rather they do not wish to accept it," Bai Zhizhan countered patiently.

He Yongxing gave a bitter smile.

Recognizing the cue, Bai Zhizhan spoke no further.

Honestly, by now, Bai Zhizhan had already figured it out.

The Army's intentions couldn't be clearer; through this strategic reprisal, they still aimed for a sweeping victory. Meanwhile, the Navy believed that under the current circumstances, achieving total victory was no longer possible, and securing a relatively ideal ceasefire condition would already be significant.

Due to differing goals, there was bound to be great disagreement between the Army and Navy on specific approaches, such as the scale of strategic reprisals and tactical focuses.

According to what He Yongxing had revealed, the Navy intended to engage the enemy in a war of attrition, aiming at least to heavily damage the Joint Fleet.

If the post-war world remained fragmented, then the victorious Great Powers would definitely exhaust every effort to retain the capital for snatching the fruits of victory. Given the prolonged construction period of navies, their high technological demands, and their role as the forefront guard in protecting and plundering overseas interests during expansions, especially in the deployment of military forces, they hold irreplaceable value, hence Great Powers would surely prioritize protecting maritime forces.

In other words, the Great Powers might not willingly let their fleets suffer substantial losses just to utterly defeat the Liangxia Empire!

When signs of potential severe losses emerged, especially as those signs started turning into reality, it's very likely that the Great Powers might choose to compromise.

For that reason, one must be prepared to take risks and go all out against the Joint Fleet!

Unfortunately, those aware of this were few, not only in the Army but perhaps even within the Navy, there might be hardly a few individuals willing to risk everything.

In fact, this might also be why He Yongxing chose to discuss this with Bai Zhizhan but didn't tell Gui Boyong and other senior staff.

While they were both sighing, a Telecommunication Soldier hurriedly ran over, holding a folder specifically for telegrams.

"Report to the Commander, a telegram from Navy Headquarters!"

The Telecommunication Soldier was a bit panicked, probably because he had never faced a Sub-fleet Commander before.

Bai Zhizhan gave a wry smile and sighed, walking up to the soldier.

"It's a doubly encrypted message that must be decoded by the Commander himself."

This also stunned Bai Zhizhan.

He Yongxing was equally surprised but without asking further, he took the folder from the Telecommunication Soldier, glanced at it briefly, and then walked over to the Nautical Chart Table.

Bai Zhizhan did not follow; if He Yongxing intended to show him, he naturally would.