Munitions Empire

When his fleet began turning northward, he received the news that a Qin Country detachment had been attacked. Except for one lucky Courage Destroyer, nearly the entire Qin patrol fleet to the northwest had been annihilated.

Of course, the Battleship Valiant was still floating on the water, but it had been hit by missiles and was ablaze, with the Courage Destroyer engaged in rescue, making for a truly grim scene.

In fact, at this very moment, thousands of Qin sailors, or rather, former Shu Country sailors, were still floating on the sea. They cried out for help, but no one paid any attention to them.

The main fleet passing by had no intention of slowing down to save them; they were busy gathering the various types of aircraft circling in the sky.

The battleships flanking the aircraft carrier were busy as well; these warships had been modernized to launch seaplanes.

These seaplanes had just gone to the anchorage of the joint fleet from yesterday and rescued several valuable pilots from the water there.

As for the sailors currently drifting at sea, they were considered worthless and would subsequently be handed over to the patrol fleet rushing in from the southwest.

John Cleves dared not slow down his main fleet to rescue anyone, as this was an unnecessary risk for him.

Allowing those soldiers to soak in the seawater for a few hours was no big deal, but he couldn't bear to lose another warship.

In reality, John Cleves felt a bit more comfortable now because he didn't want to face the fact that only the Dorne Empire suffered heavy losses.

Now, it's fine; he personally witnessed that the Qin's detachment also suffered heavy losses, at least proving that Qin did not betray the joint fleet and Dorne's losses were not one-sided.

This psychology is quite subtle; someone is already miserable, but when they see someone else worse off, they feel much better.

"General..." Seeing the capsized Qin Cruiser in the distance, the chief of staff stopped talking nonsense. The current situation was that the Great Tang Empire's navy fleet was indeed something they could not handle.

Accepting this reality is easy; just calculate your remaining combat power: Two aircraft carriers were sunk, one carrier heavily damaged. Several battleships lost the ability to continue fighting, and destroyers and cruisers already lost a third.

In such circumstances, the naval battle could already be considered a disastrous defeat. The question now was how much of their remaining assets they could preserve and bring back!

As naval leaders, they commanded fleets that were their country's years, or even decades, worth of accumulated assets, and one morning, these assets could all sink to the ocean floor, which was much faster than what the army or air force would endure.

"I know... Heading towards the land now is actually a counterattack!" John Cleves explained, "I am not running away; I am searching for the opponent's fleet!"

"If we approach land, at least it can be confirmed that the enemy fleet is not to the northeast or northwest. Because any enemy aircraft flying over from land would surely be detected by the army!" His intention was clear—aircraft carriers could not sail onto land.

So, after eliminating the southwest as a less suspicious area, the Tang army's aircraft carriers would only be left in the southeast direction.

As long as planes are sent to counterattack in this direction, it should be possible to locate the enemy fleet! This was John Cleves' counterattack! This was the resilience of an old naval general!

Upon hearing that their commander was still thinking of turning defeat into victory, the surrounding officers all showed an expression of admiration. Indeed, the older ginger is spicier, and indeed the joint fleet hadn't yet lost this crucial naval battle!

"Report! The Qin Feng Battleship has sent a signal; they are preparing to slow down to salvage the soldiers who fell into the water and then catch up with the fleet..." A communication officer came to report to John Cleves with the news from the Qin Country fleet.

The Dorne commanders didn't have much emotional fluctuation seeing the Qin sailors falling into the water, but it was evidently different for the Qin Country Navy's commanders to see their own men soaking in the water.

This was an emotional choice, and in the end, the Qin Country commander making this decision wasn't wrong. At least, they exuded the brilliance of humanity at this moment.

"The Tang army's attack could come at any time... If they decelerate to rescue, who takes the blame if something goes wrong?" The chief of staff frowned, obviously unwilling to let the Qin warships slow down.

However, John Cleves was thinking about another issue: If the Qin Navy stayed at the rear of the fleet... would there be more buffers to absorb the attacks when they got hit?

Since the Qin Navy wanted to take the rear position, it was even better. So John Cleves immediately ordered, "Reply to the Qin Commander... Permit them to slow down for rescue and ask that they catch up as soon as possible after the rescue... Wishing them all the best."

You see, this is the art of command. It not only granted the Qin Navy freedom but also found a scapegoat for his fleet... Either way, it seemed like a profitable deal.

And just as John Cleves permitted the Qin warships to take the rear, aircraft from the Great Tang Empire coming from the southeast crossed the sea area where the joint fleet had originally operated.

Beneath them lay wrecked or severely damaged, tilting, or broken warship remains, and countless sailors floating on the sea.

These Dorne sailors finally saw their enemy; overhead were screaming jets, and the Intruder Attack Aircraft descended somewhat in altitude, under the cloudless sun, swarming toward the northward joint fleet.

Above the Dorne overboard officers and men, the Great Tang Empire's Intruders began launching anti-ship missiles, one after another breaking away from the wings, flying at high speed towards the horizon.

"Oh my God..." On a lifeboat, the executive officer from a Dorne destroyer looked up at the Tang army's carrier aircraft units and now realized what kind of opponent they were dealing with.

It turns out that the Great Tang Empire navy had long switched to jets... It turns out that the Great Tang Empire's naval planes could fire missiles... It turns out that from the beginning, the Great Tang Empire's fleet had never been near the joint fleet!

"It's over! It's all over!" A rescued officer, covered in grease and squinting, muttered absentmindedly as he looked up at the enemy jets launching missiles overhead.

"Now we can only try our best to save people... We can't do anything else." The executive officer awkwardly glanced at the destroyer rescuing them from afar, expressing his embarrassment.

Yes, that Dorne destroyer didn't even dare to open fire... It seemed to be pretending to be invisible or was praying, hoping the Tang Empire's planes mistook them for a rescue vessel...

They finally saw what their adversary looked like, but unfortunately, they now hoped their adversary would not see them. The captains of the two Dorne destroyers that stayed behind to rescue actually did not know that the target of the Tang Empire's carrier aircraft was not them.

The target of those aircraft continued to chase the main fleet, trying to sink as many warships of the joint fleet as possible. As for the remaining defeated soldiers beneath them, Tang Empire's destroyers and cruisers would soon come to deal with them.