Empire Conquest-Chapter 860 - 100: New Military Science

Sending Bai Huawei to the East Ocean Fleet is not surprising.

In the past few years, there have been three relatively well-known figures among the Young Turks military officers, namely Ding Zhennan of the Army, Bai Huawei of the Navy, and Li Tianling of the Air Force.

Since Li Tianling has always served on the front line and is a typical action-oriented person, at the headquarters level, it mainly remains with Ding Zhennan and Bai Huawei.

Now that Ding Zhennan is stationed in Boss Bay, it becomes certain that Bai Huawei will go to East Ocean.

Ding Zhennan did not go far and took Bai Huawei to the pilot’s cafeteria.

The transport plane taking Bai Huawei back to the country was already prepared for takeoff, the pilot was on standby in the cabin, ready to take off upon receiving the order.

"What would you like to drink?"

"Don’t trouble yourself, I’ll be leaving shortly."

Although Bai Huawei said this, Ding Zhennan still poured him a glass of water.

"Here, congratulating General Bai on his promotion in advance."

Bai Huawei rolled his eyes but didn’t bother with Ding Zhennan.

According to the unwritten rules, after Bai Huawei arrives at the 41st Special Mixed Fleet, he will be promoted to Chief of Staff and elevated to Navy Brigadier General.

"Speaking of which, you don’t have to worry too much." Ding Zhennan said nonchalantly, without intending to make fun of Bai Huawei. "From the current situation, the Newland Military has complete faith in the theories we proposed because, for now, there aren’t any other theories that can replace them."

"Do you think we still have a chance?"

Hearing Bai Huawei say this, Ding Zhennan’s expression changed instantly.

Even though Bai Huawei participated in the formulation of the plan and was an advocate of strategic deception, he never abandoned the idea of a "decisive victory."

In simpler terms, it is about achieving final victory through a decisive battle.

You can’t blame Bai Huawei for this.

After all, he is a typical Navy officer.

Historically, the Navy faced battles of "decisive victory," meaning wars at sea were decided by major naval battles. For example, the Battle of Trafalgar that solidified Bulan Kingdom’s hegemonic position, the Throat Strait sea battle that propelled the Liangxia Empire to global dominance, the Watcher Strait sea battle that determined the outcome of the First Global War, the Northwest East Ocean Battle which became the watershed of the East Ocean War in the Second Global War, alongside the equally significant Southwest Fan Flame Ocean Battle, all without exception are decisive naval engagements.

Crucially, this is an inherent characteristic of the Navy.

As long as the Navy still relies on fleet battles, and fleets remain the rulers of the seas, this combat method of determining victory through decisive fleet battles will not change.

In orthodox naval theory, the aim is always to defeat the opponent in decisive naval battles.

However, this theory of decisive battles is primarily reflected at the tactical level.

To put it simply, what Bai Huawei couldn’t understand is actually the difference between tactics and strategy.

It’s not that he doesn’t understand, but that as a Navy officer, he sometimes prefers to believe in the military theories he is most familiar with.

Does the Navy differ at the strategic level?

The answer is obviously negative.

As a typical technical military branch, the Navy is more reliant on military construction and places greater emphasis on the level of combat readiness during peacetime.

Otherwise, when the Senate and House passed a bill limiting the number of carriers the Navy could possess, the entire Navy would not have collectively resisted.

It was this bill that led Zhou Yongtao to take off his uniform and, several years later, return to the Imperial Capital as the Imperial Chief Minister.

From another perspective, this was actually a key reason why Bai Huawei supported Ding Zhennan.

However, this fundamentally determined that on a battlefield where the Navy is the main force, one could not expect the military doctrines proposed by Ding Zhennan to take effect quickly.

Simply put, no country can maintain a sufficiently powerful Navy during peacetime.

If you maintained a large fleet in peacetime, you would be crushed by the heavy military expenditure well before any major war erupted.

Moreover, an arms race is inevitably a trigger for major wars.

The First Global War was triggered by a naval arms race, which led to the post-war international treaties that restricted naval arms races.

The consequence of this is that Naval forces maintaining global hegemony or global interests during peacetime are insufficient to defeat all opponents during wartime.

This feature became most apparent after the Second Global War.

Even after the Boi War, when the Imperial Navy reduced its carriers to 15, it could still maintain a global presence and global supremacy.

Yet, comparatively, such forces could not ensure that the Imperial Navy could defeat all enemies once a major war breaks out.

In fact, it couldn’t even manage to defeat the Newland Navy.

Don’t be fooled by the number of carriers the Imperial Navy possesses, which exceeds the total of other countries combined; the combat power of the Imperial Navy far surpasses all adversaries. But such a force advantage simply cannot support large-scale offensive operations, let alone maintain a global presence even during peacetime.

Because of this, when ascending to become part of the Empire’s overall military strategy, Ding Zhennan suggested adopting different strategic approaches for different hypothetical enemies.

Against the West Continent group led by Tiaoman Empire, it would naturally be swift and decisive.

The reasoning is simple: confronting the West Continent group relies mainly on ground warfare, with the Army and Air Force playing the main roles. The level of preparedness of the Army and Air Force during peacetime, as well as their mobilization speed after the outbreak of war, far surpass that of the Navy, and therefore they have the capability to quickly defeat the main enemies.