111: The Anti-Japanese Army successfully returned to the main base

When Fang Le led his team onto the ground at Darwin Port, he blurted out, "I'm back."

Originally, the Dragon Country was his homeland, but at this moment, Darwin felt like a second home.

This place, where he had started his rebellion, held countless memories from his past.

Soon, Fang Le and his entourage arrived at the temporary resting place provided by City Hall, where they met several military liaison officers from the Anti-War Army.

"Reporting to Commander-in-Chief, at the airport, all of our warplanes are ready for return and escort, and can depart at any time!"

"Our People's Army's main ground forces are currently assembling south of Darwin City, with the vanguard 50-60 kilometers from the urban area, awaiting your new instructions."

Fang Le nodded.

"You haven't had much rest during my visit, have you? Please convey my words that everyone has worked hard."

The military liaison officers were extremely excited.

"Serving the Commander-in-Chief is not hard work!"

After the liaison officers left, Zhuang Zimo asked, puzzled, "Commander Fang, what do you plan to do next?"

"Return to the MacDonnell Ranges, or re-garrison Darwin?"

When he mentioned the latter possibility, Zhuang Zimo, as the new Mayor, couldn't help but feel nervous.

Fang Le knew what Zhuang Zimo was thinking and chuckled.

"Don't worry, Mayor Zhuang, withdrawing from Darwin City was part of the agreement between our People's Army and the U.S. Military. The Anti-War Army will not suddenly reoccupy Darwin."

Zhuang Zimo finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Regarding the return method—whether to take the original plane, escorted by the fleet, or to follow the Anti-War Army's main ground forces back—Fang Le thought for a moment before making up his mind.

He would take the old route: return by air.

Given the slower efficiency of ground troops, Fang Le first ordered the main ground forces outside Darwin City to turn around and retreat south in an orderly fashion until they reached the new base.

Thus, an entire day passed, and the Anti-War Army's main ground forces, over ten thousand strong, traveled more than 300 kilometers.

The next day, they traveled another 300-plus kilometers.

On the third day, the Anti-War Army's main forces had traveled a total of 900 kilometers, not far from Alice Springs, the largest town in central Australia.

During this time, Fang Le and the visiting delegation remained in Darwin City.

At the Pentagon, the Department of Defense in the United States.

Secretary Sevitz's brows were tightly furrowed.

"What is this person named Fang doing? Why is he still holed up in the city?"

Claire replied, "He's probably waiting."

"The Anti-War Army's main forces went too far north to meet the return of the bandit leader Fang. They are now over a thousand kilometers from their starting point, and the road conditions are poor. A forced march back would take more than three days, but according to intelligence, the bandit leader Fang will return by plane, which only takes a few hours for over a thousand kilometers. He probably wants to wait for the main forces to return to the main base first."

Savitz nodded.

He knew all of this; he just wanted to hear a different analysis.

"Secretary, you're not thinking about bombing them, are you?"

Savitz did have such an intention.

Previously, a large number of civilian ships in Darwin City had sailed out to welcome Fang Le's return, making it difficult for him to act. Now, Fang Le and his group were within the city, while his main forces were moving south day by day. Savitz felt derelict in his duty just watching and doing nothing.

Claire pondered, "Currently, our side and the Anti-War Army have, after all, signed a three-month peace agreement, and not even a month has passed yet. Breaking the agreement actively would have a negative public opinion impact, but that's secondary... The main thing is that the Dragon Country's fleet is still guarding the northern waters of Australia."

"The warplanes occupied by the Anti-War Army in Darwin City are also on standby at all times. Once we make a move, not to mention the Dragon Country, if those B Series Bombers at the airport take off... our Darwin Military Base is practically within reach."

Savitz recalled the previous incident where they sent over a thousand people to raid the Anti-War Army's rear while it was vulnerable, only to be completely annihilated.

Sigh, let's just let it go this time. No need to take unnecessary risks.

Then, when it was daytime in the Western Hemisphere and night in Australia in the Eastern Hemisphere, according to intelligence, the formations of warplanes at the Darwin City airport finally took off en masse.

They formed an escort formation in the air and flew south.

The U.S. Military quickly arranged for military satellites to follow closely.

Due to cloud cover and other factors, the signals from these warplane formations flickered in and out, but they never completely escaped the control of the U.S. Military satellites.

A few hours later, when it was late at night in Australia, the warplane formations generally reached the MacDonnell Ranges area and began to descend.

Savitz quickly ordered, "Quick, analyze the landing positions of these warplanes... I want to find the entrance and exit of their valley airport!"

But unfortunately, due to the complex mountain terrain, coupled with the apparent use of electronic jamming by the enemy, there were a large number of false signals, making it impossible to effectively pinpoint the warplanes' landing positions.

And by the time all those signals disappeared, the aircraft formations were long gone, hidden deep within the mountains.

Savitz was helpless; the enemy had deliberately chosen to take off at night and return to base under the cover of darkness, certainly to maximize the probability of their hidden airport remaining undiscovered.

Not only did the aircraft formations successfully return to base.

The Anti-War Army's main forces, over ten thousand strong, who had departed days earlier, also successfully entered the mountains at night.

Upon returning to base, Fang Le ordered the entire army to rest and relax their previously tense nerves.

Fang Le also took the opportunity to tally the battle losses and found that apart from some land soldiers and equipment lost when the ground forces moved north earlier, the air force also suffered minor losses. The losses from this visit were quite limited, which put his mind at ease.

And the next morning, Fang Le immediately took action to proceed with the next phase of the plan.