Chapter 51: Philip's Bathtub

  Yes, the decisive battle with the British army will determine who owns the right to rule Australia, which has always been a consensus within the Red Alert troops. With the Australian army's equipment and combat effectiveness, it has never put any pressure on the Red Alert army, which is also the reason why they dared to occupy Perth when there was only one armored regiment at that time.

  But the British military was different, as an island nation, it achieved the great feat of the empire on which the sun never sets. For over a century, Britain was recognized as the world's hegemon, although after World War I, whether in terms of military or economy, the British Empire was not as powerful as before, and the glory of the empire had a somewhat sunset flavor. However, the Royal Navy was still the world's first, whether in terms of tonnage or naval combat experience, it was deservedly the world's first. The British Army also pioneered the use of tanks in World War I, opening up humanity's use of armor. However, in the previous war, the British Army's series of poor performances were quite astonishing. In Burma, the British military's fighting power was even inferior to that of the Kuomintang army.

  However, that was all in the past. Another reason why Zhong Yi had been deep in thought was that he knew history had already changed because of him, just like this British army that came to Australia, they were supposed to be defeated and surrender by Yamashita Tomoyuki six years later in the Malayan Campaign, but now, they arrived in Australia and would fight against their own Red Alert forces.

  "Cloud Nine, telegram nationwide Lin, armored regiment immediately boarded the train, came to Wudi and merged with the command, Pei's defense was in charge of the second brigade of the Guard Corps. Second!" He raised two fingers, Zhong Yi swept away his previous depression, as if he had made some kind of determination, suddenly becoming firm, Cloud Nine, the commander of the flying regiment, temporarily took on the role of confidential secretary.

  "Order to Jiang Yunzhi, destroy all mining equipment in Broken Hill, blast all mine tunnels, and then return immediately to join forces with the First Brigade to capture Adelaide and seize Parafield Airport. Thirdly, have all aircraft of your air force ready for takeoff, once the deadline for the surrender of the Australian 18th Brigade is reached, immediately bomb the barracks of the 18th Brigade. At the same time, the airport ground crew should also be prepared, as soon as Adelaide is captured, immediately move to Parafield Airport, repair the runway, and meet the requirements for air force takeoff."

  Yun Jiu repeated all the orders, Zhong Yi nodded, "Guo Xing, we will go to fight against the Japanese in the future. This British army is still a defeated general under the little devil's command, and it's not even qualified to be our enemy. In this battle, we must win!"

  Xiao Guoxing was infected by the commander's confidence, and he was also somewhat emotional, but he was a little confused. "Commander, when did the British army lose to Japan?"

  "Uh... a drill, during the Anglo-Japanese Alliance period, we lost in the drill."

  ……

  Three days later, the National Revolutionary Army's 1st Armored Regiment arrived at Urdi Forward Base. Chiang Yun-chih and Hans easily defeated the 18th Division and successfully occupied Adelaide. Hans also captured his old comrade, Major General Cook, commander of the 18th Division. The air force moved to Parafield Airport in Adelaide, which was originally a civilian airport. After emergency repairs by the ground crew and armored division's engineering battalion, it barely met the requirements of the bomber units.

  The news brought back by Hebal was that the British 11th and 9th Divisions had landed, and arrived at Canberra by train to join the Australian 1st Division, all under the command of British Major General Conan.

  Upon hearing the news, Zhong Yi burst out laughing, "Guo Lin, Ke Nan's intention is to give up their advantage in the navy and have a one-on-one showdown with us on land."

  "Haha!" Lin also burst out laughing, "Those British guys have nothing to show off except for their navy, what about the army? Commander, let Yunzhi and the others return, I can handle it with just one regiment!"

  "Haha, pride goes before a fall! Guo Lin, don't underestimate the enemy! The British army is after all a force that has experienced World War I, and the troops they sent to the Far East are also elite. Although there are a considerable number of Indian subordinate soldiers in these two divisions, they still can't be underestimated!"

  The whole nation is in an uproar, can Ah San also fight?

  Headquarters moved forward, Zhong Yi led the armored brigade's first and third regiments to bypass Adelaide and directly enter Ballarat, an important railway transfer station in Victoria, seventy kilometers from Melbourne, the capital of Victoria and Australia's second-largest city. Ten years ago, Melbourne was still the capital of Australia, but after the capital was moved to Canberra in 1927, Melbourne remained the cultural and industrial center of Australia. Although Sydney surpassed Melbourne in population and commercial development in the 20th century, Sydney lacked the cultural and historical heritage that Melbourne had. The main reason was that the population of Greater Melbourne had reached over 2.8 million, which made Zhong Yi determined that Melbourne, the holy city in the hearts of Australians, would be the place where they would engage in a decisive battle with the British army. Another factor to consider was that although Melbourne was also a port city with the largest cargo throughput in Australia, it was located at the mouth of the Yarra River, within Port Phillip Bay. The bay's entrance was only 2.8 kilometers wide, and Port Phillip Bay was only fifty kilometers long from north to south and forty kilometers wide from east to west.

  As long as the entrance to the sea, which is less than three kilometers away, is blocked, Philip Bay will be like a small inland lake. In such a narrow bay, if that huge Mediterranean fleet dares to enter, Zhong Yi doesn't mind catching fish in a bathtub. The Urdi base's artillery factory has been intensifying production of 1000kg large-caliber cruise missiles, and the laboratory has also developed an electric torpedo called Tuna, which can be carried by two JH-5s for anti-ship attacks. Large-caliber cruise missiles and Tuna are the gifts Zhong Yi has prepared for the Mediterranean fleet.

  Balranald has no airport, the nearest airport controlled by the Red Alert forces is Adelaide, but the J-5 taking off from there cannot guarantee sufficient loitering time in Phillip Bay, so before the British army arrives, a temporary airfield must be rushed to repair, and it doesn't need to be too big, as long as the J-5 can take off.

  Jiang Yunzhi's 2nd Armored Regiment and the 2nd Guards Brigade were assisting the Engineer Corps and Ground Crews in a frantic effort to repair the airfield at Horsheim, two hundred kilometers northwest of Baral.

  These days, Commander Jiang has been in a bad mood. He's been traveling by train for a while now, and even when he arrived at Silverbrook Hill, he only fired a few random shots before being transferred to Adelaide. Before he could take a good stroll around the beautiful city, he was dispatched here to repair the airport. The most frustrating thing is that this place is still 200 kilometers away from Melbourne, the front line. It's impossible to move the airport any further forward because... it's too far from Adelaide, and fighter jets can't fly that far.