Empire Conquest-Chapter 743 - 45: Active Evacuation
September 9th, Orkney Islands, Scapa Naval Base.
Watching the Imperial Navy flag slowly descending from the flagpole, Li Shenzhi felt a surreal sensation, like dreaming with open eyes.
From the day that the first Imperial Navy warship steamed into this bay and hoisted the Imperial Navy flag at the dock, it had been 47 years.
Despite the post-war agreement reached with the Bulan Kingdom stipulating that the entire military port, including the nearby military base, would be returned after seven years, Li Shenzhi, as the eighth Sunset Ocean Sub-fleet Commander of the Imperial Navy after the war and the nephew of Li Mingbo, the last Grand Marshal and Commander-in-chief of the Imperial Navy, could not believe that he would be the last Commander to lower the Imperial Navy flag at Scapa Naval Base.
At the beginning of the year, Li Shenzhi thought that this kind of misfortune would never fall on him.
In fact, Scapa Bay was still the Empire’s last naval base in the North Sunset Ocean.
At its zenith, when the last war ended, the Imperial Navy alone had more than a dozen large and small military bases on the shores of the North Sunset Ocean.
Because it was too far from Gu Continent, Scapa Bay at the time was not given much importance.
Before restoring diplomatic relations with the Newland Republic, the Imperial Navy’s top base on the North Sunset Ocean was the Bermuda Islands, followed by Guantanamo in Cuba. At the height of power, during the early phase of the Boi War, there were more than 1,000 shore-based aircraft deployed in these two locations.
It was after establishing diplomatic relations with the Newland Republic that, in accordance with the agreement, the military bases on the west coast of the North Sunset Ocean were gradually abandoned.
Of course, the main reason was still the strategic contraction after the Boi War.
It was from this time that Scapa Bay’s status consolidated, eventually becoming the Empire’s only naval base in the North Sunset Ocean.
However, "only" did not mean "important."
To a large extent, Scapa Bay was more of a symbol, marking where the Imperial Navy once commanded as the master of the entire Sunset Ocean and the whole Western Hemisphere.
Even if they didn’t retreat now, they would have to in a few years.
Initially, a precondition for restoring diplomatic relations with the Newland Republic was giving up the military bases, captured and controlled on the North Sunset Ocean during the Second Global War. In response, the Newland Republic promised to put aside the dispute over the Howay Islands and to not disrupt the status quo by force.
To bypass this issue, the Imperial Authority signed an agreement with the Bulan Kingdom to lease Scapa Bay for 20 years.
Through this agreement, the Imperial Navy retained Scapa Bay.
Although the agreement stipulated that one year before the expiration date, as long as neither party objected, the lease would automatically extend for five years and so on, given the current circumstances, especially with the Bulan Kingdom already leaning towards the Newland Republic, there was no reason to continue extending the lease.
Thus, after seven years, Scapa Bay would have to be returned to the Bulan Kingdom.
However, returning and withdrawing were clearly different matters.
Beside the dock, the last departing "Wuzhou" cruiser sounded its anchor-raising steam whistle. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
That was also the flagship of the Imperial Navy’s North Sunset Ocean Sub-fleet, a cruiser that had served for more than 20 years and had a displacement of less than 10,000 tons.
Quite shabby!
At its zenith, the North Sunset Ocean Sub-fleet had 14 carriers of various sizes, along with over a hundred vessels, and nearly a thousand combat aircraft.
Nowadays, there were fewer than 10 ships and only a handful of helicopters.
But who could be blamed for this?
Nearly everyone thought that the primary person responsible for the Empire’s transition from prosperity to decline was Lian Xusheng.
First of all, after the war ended, Lian Xusheng proposed to help all countries, including the defeated ones, in their reconstruction, committing several hundred billion Gold Yuan. It was with the aid provided by the Empire that the western continental countries, led by the Tiaoman Empire, were able to recover quickly after the war.
Although the Empire’s assistance did not include the then unaffiliated Newland Republic at that time, the Newland Republic also benefited greatly. Most of the funds for their reconstruction came from export trades, and it was the West Continent’s countries that were placing orders with Newland businesses.
Secondly, Lian Xusheng advocated deploying troops to Boi, and it was during this war that the Empire fell from grace.
Obviously, such a view was quite one-sided.
After the war, the Empire’s assistance to other countries was more like capital export, and the Empire itself attained financial hegemony from it.
From another perspective, without the post-war capital output, it would not have been possible to establish an international financial system dominated by the Empire’s Gold Yuan.
Even in the situation of decline, the Gold Yuan, tied to oil, remained the primary global settlement currency. The Empire retained a firm grip on oil pricing power and dominated international finance and trade through control over the minting rights, reaping immeasurable benefits.
Could this be said to be Lian Xusheng’s fault?
Clearly, if Lian Xusheng had not played this game, the Empire would have never been able to achieve financial hegemony!
As for the Boi War, any other Grand Secretary would have done the same.
Moreover, before replacing the Ter Republic as the main belligerent, even the most talented military strategists could not have anticipated such a devastating defeat.
The Liangxia Empire, victorious in the Second Global War, possessing the largest population and strongest army, also supported by dozens of Allies, turned out to not only have 50 million people but also had not completed industrialization, and had already suffered through years of war—the Boi Country.
