Empire Conquest-Chapter 683 - 17: Strike First to Gain the Upper Hand
The televised speech had all been arranged earlier; Zhou Yongtao simply read from the script.
Because the news had already spread and the television station had made related reports, the Grand Secretary’s televised speech did not cause much of a stir.
For the military and citizens of the Empire, going to war was hardly a matter of shock or surprise.
According to the television commentators, in the years following the Boi War, except for dispatching troops to Sri Lanka to quell a military coup, the Empire had not experienced any other significant regional wars. By contrast, the Tiaoman Empire and Newland Republic had directly or indirectly participated in several wars.
For the history of the Empire, a decade or more without war was actually quite rare!
Do not forget, the Liangxia Empire was born from the naval battle at Nanjiang Port, grew powerful during the Liang-Luo War, and became the world’s dominant power during the two Global Wars.
The last time such a prolonged peace occurred was during the "20-year truce" between the two Global Wars.
After the event, Zhou Yongtao returned to his study.
His feelings were very complex, not because of just having read the prepared speech in front of cameras, but because of the matter of the two chambers’ vote.
Although he had known three days earlier that he would definitely receive war authorization, as the majority of the members in both chambers had indicated their support for the Grand Secretary’s war proposal, Zhou Yongtao did not expect that, in the final tally, he would receive unanimous support.
Not a single legislator voted against!
This was too abnormal!
Fifty years ago, Xue Yuanzheng received unanimous support in the two chambers’ vote because the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom had launched a surprise attack on Chengjiang Military Port without a declaration of war!
Could the two situations really compare?
Iraqi forces had not only not attacked the Empire’s homeland or overseas military bases, but Kuwait was also not a treaty ally of the Empire.
Furthermore, the security guarantee of the Imperial Family to the Royal Family of Kuwait had not been broken, including Abbas III and other members of the Kuwaiti Royal Family, who had all safely arrived in Riyadh.
Why did all the thousands of legislators in the two chambers unanimously support the declaration of war on Iraq?
Clearly, this was indicative of one issue.
The internal contradictions of the Empire had reached a severity that required alleviation through war.
Most serious were actually the economic issues.
At its root, it even involved Zhou Yongtao. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞
Six years ago, after moving into the Prime Minister Mansion, the first act of Zhou Yongtao was not to authorize the Marine Corps to take action in Sri Lanka but to initiate the construction project of the strategic defense system codenamed "Sky Net," starting to create the so-called national strategic defense system.
At the time, this sparked a global media frenzy.
According to Western media comments, if the Liangxia Empire were the first to establish a national strategic defense system and achieve the strategic strike capability based on that system, it would have an absolute advantage in carrying out a comprehensive strategic strike against any opponent without the fear of reprisal.
Simply put, it broke the strategic balance formed by the tripartite stand-off.
In theory, whether it was the Tiaoman Empire or the Newland Republic, due to the lack of equivalent reprisal measures, they would be defeated by the Liangxia Empire in the next Global War.
In fact, with strategic strike means of almost overwhelming superiority obtained, the Liangxia Empire could wage war as it pleased, with no qualms.
The key here was actually extending the arms race into the space domain.
However, subsequent events, such as the military coup in Sri Lanka, successfully shifted the focus of public attention.
The problem was that, as a result, the arms race that had persisted for over 30 years had escalated.
In the same year, the Newland Federation had taken the lead in launching a strategic plan codenamed "Star Wars," which was aimed at the Empire’s "Sky Net."
The following year, the Tiaoman Empire also launched a strategic plan codenamed "Dusk of the Gods."
It was in the years following that the three superpowers successively flexed their muscles in the space domain.
Of course, the Liangxia Empire had always been the frontrunner.
In the past few years, the Empire had not only launched dozens of "Heavenly Eye" series of military reconnaissance satellites, obtaining global space reconnaissance capabilities for the first time, but had also officially commenced the construction of the "Compass," a global navigation satellite system, completing comprehensive coverage of the homeland.
As for communication satellites, the network was already established.
Naturally, what accompanied this was soaring military expenditure.
In the six years of Zhou Yongtao’s governance, the Empire’s military spending growth had consistently remained above 15%, essentially quadrupling the pace of economic growth.
Last year, the Empire’s defense budget reached a staggering 6400 billion Gold Yuan, accounting for a third of the central government’s budget!
In the New Calendar 143, the year before Zhou Yongtao came to power, the Empire’s defense budget was merely 2300 billion Gold Yuan. Even with inflation taken into account, it was only equivalent to 3000 billion Gold Yuan of the New Calendar 149. Looking further back, in the last year of the second Global War, the Empire’s war spending did not even exceed 600 billion Gold Yuan, equivalent to 8800 billion Gold Yuan of the New Calendar 149, and the proportion in the central budget was only about a third.
Such massive military expenditure inevitably led to serious social issues.
This was something Zhou Yongtao was acutely aware of.
However, this was also where the key lay.
The initiative to start "Sky Net" strategy was not genuinely aimed at obtaining space-based strategic strike capabilities, which was technically unachievable.
The plan had two purposes.
Militarily, it was actually about broadening into space to accelerate the progression of the third wave of military revolution that had already begun, enhancing the military power of the Empire.
