End of October.
The Federation's Second Fleet, which had been at sea for nearly a month, was sailing along its established route. This was almost the best season of the year; there were no storms at sea and it wasn't too cold. The winds were cool and pleasant, and the unique maritime climate meant that the cold came later, with winter not arriving until December.
That was the time when they were about to land on the land of Yan Kingdom. For this purpose, the more than 700 warships that set sail had been prepared with warm winter clothing, enough to cope with the cold and carry out winter combat.
At this moment, on its flagship, the Steelbone, the Second Fleet Commander, Xia Liyan, was gazing out at the sea. The days of sea voyage had filled him with anticipation for the day of landing. As a former army soldier, this was his first time undertaking a long-range expedition. Compared to fighting at sea, he was much more confident about fighting on land. The Second Fleet was equipped with a large number of guns and cannons, and its ammunition reserves were countless.
However, compared to these weapons, the privates aboard the ships were Xia Liyan's greatest source of confidence. This was the Federation's first deployment of an overseas colony, and its importance surpassed all domestic matters. Therefore, everyone on this expedition was an elite force. The musketeers were the nation's top marksmen, and the gunners were all veterans.
Everyone possessed excellent combat skills. No matter what kind of geographical environment or how many troops Yan Kingdom faced after landing, Xia Liyang had reason to believe that his troops could swiftly defeat them and conquer all the coastal areas of Yan Kingdom's southern border within a few months.
Of course, all of this is contingent on the First Fleet being able to clear out Yan Kingdom's waters and provide them with the conditions for landing.
Four months have passed since the First Fleet departed, so barring any unforeseen circumstances, they should have already arrived in Yan Kingdom and completed the campaign against the Yan Kingdom's navy.
This should be correct, there is absolutely no possibility of failure, Xia Liyang was thinking this, but when his gaze casually swept across the sea, he saw a blurry black dot.
At that moment, Chief of Staff Humphrey jogged down from the upper deck:
"Sir, a fleet is returning along this route."
Xia Liyang nodded slightly, his expression calm: "It's been more than four months, so it's not surprising that a fleet is returning."
"Let's get closer and see which country's fleet it is and what kind of formation it is."
"Yes, sir," Humphrey replied.
After some time, as the distance shortened and the view became clearer, Humphrey put down the binoculars and said:
"Sir, that's the flag of the Kingdom of Shenglu, and that's their fleet."
Xia Liyang, still looking through his binoculars, said, "Hmm, there are quite a few warships, and so far there seems to be nothing unusual. It should be a normal return voyage."
Humphrey continued, "If the return voyage is normal, then the naval battle with Yan Kingdom is over. Why didn't the Shenglu people stay in Yan Kingdom's waters?"
Xia Liyang remained calm and said, "Who knows what Fei Gusi has planned? Maybe he'll go back and switch to another fleet to carry out the subsequent operations on Yan Kingdom's homeland. This fleet is probably mainly naval and may not be suitable for land warfare."
At this point, he raised the corners of his mouth slightly and continued, "This is the brilliance of the Great Emperor."
"While other countries need to switch military branches to carry out follow-up operations, our Federation can perfectly connect with the Navy. When we arrive at Yan Kingdom's mainland, we can take over the war."
"War should be fought swiftly, so that the enemy has no time to react before their corpses are crushed."
Humphrey nodded and said, "Sir, however, I think we need to make contact with this fleet to find out the situation at the front."
Xia Liyang agreed: "Yes, so far we have only seen the fleet of Shenglu Kingdom return. If the fleets of Sa Ri Kingdom and Hunli Kingdom do not appear later, then the people of those two countries should have already landed with our First Fleet."
He chuckled softly as he said this.
"The Emperor said that the country of Saar is the most powerful on the continent of Leon, and its national strength is so great that even the neighboring countries of Shenglu and Hunli combined cannot compare to it. Among these two countries, Shenglu is inferior to Hunli. Their emperor, Figus, is a weak and incompetent person with no opinion of his own. Isabella can order him around at will. Now, these people of Shenglu, as the first to return, just prove that their abilities are limited to this."
“Once the Yan Kingdom’s colony plan is successfully completed, I think the territory of the Feni Continent will need to be redivided, and the Shenglu people should give us the territories they occupy.”
Hearing this, Humphrey chuckled and said, "That will be a few years from now."
"The Yan Kingdom has a vast territory and a large population, so it will take a lot of effort to completely conquer it."
Xia Liyang's eyes were cold and stern as he said in a low voice, "With our lightning offensive, I believe we can take over the whole area in less than a year and a half."
"They will eventually become slaves to us, just like the weak resistance fighters on our continent."
"Yes, sir!"
The Second Fleet maintained a steady speed and continued sailing forward. More than half an hour later, the Rose Fleet, which was sailing in the opposite direction, took the initiative to give way and slowly approached in a staggered manner. Under Xia Liyan's orders, the Second Fleet also slowed down.
Seeing that the Rose Fleet was behaving normally, Xia Liyan didn't think much of it and raised the signal to make contact. The Rose Fleet soon agreed, and then, after the distance had closed to a certain extent, the escorting warships took the initiative to approach the Rose Fleet and began to make contact with it.
In less than half an hour, the warships that had been in contact with them returned to the Second Fleet's formation, while the Rose Fleet continued sailing forward, avoiding the Second Fleet as it continued its return voyage.
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