Empire Conquest-Chapter 706 - 27 Hanging in the Balance_2

He was the Commander of the Newland Central War Zone, and the zone was primarily focused on the New Moon Zone, with its headquarter in Tehran. He had just returned to Huacheng last night on a connecting flight.

After General Norman spoke, everyone turned to look at him.

"If this were just a regional war, there wouldn’t be much to say; no matter how the fight goes, the Joint Forces led by the Liangxia Army would achieve final victory. The question is, who can guarantee that this is just a regional war, or say it won’t escalate into a Global War?"

This statement hit right at the heart of the matter.

Over the past decades, what had actually maintained global peace was the dynamic balance formed by the three superpowers, where the most powerful Liangxia Empire couldn’t guarantee victory over the other superpowers, and when allied, the other superpowers couldn’t defeat the Liangxia Empire either.

Now, it was clear that this situation could no longer be maintained.

General Norman’s point was very clear: the key reason the Liangxia Empire would not immediately wage a ground war was because it needed more time to prepare for a Global War.

And this was exactly what was happening.

The two houses of the Liangxia Empire had already passed the war authorization law, including the mobilization of reserve forces, meaning raising the combat readiness of the Reserve Forces.

If one had to say, this was where the crux lay.

Mobilize the Reserve Team if not to fight a Global War?

Or to say, to face Iraq, several orders of magnitude weaker, would they need to mobilize the Reserve Team?

It was only to prepare for a Global War that the Reserve Team would need to be mobilized!

"General Norman is right; this is indeed a matter for concern," Herbert broke the silence. "However, what we need to worry about is not the Liangxia Empire."

Now, everyone’s gaze fell on Herbert.

"Mr. President..." The anxiety on Secretary of State James’s face was evident, as if to remind Herbert that there were too many people here, and much couldn’t be said casually.

However, Herbert pretended not to notice.

After giving the Secretary of State a glance, he continued, "Early this year, the Tiaoman Authority had hinted to us that they would take actions in Boss Bay to change the global situation. Although at that time, we had similar concerns and felt that the Tiaoman Authority was playing with fire and that the Liangxia Empire would never let things slide, no one expected the situation to escalate to this extent. According to the information we’ve obtained, the Tiaoman Empire will not compromise."

"Deploy troops directly to the conflict?"

Herbert did not answer the question posed by Norman and vigorously rubbed his forehead.

"It’s not that simple," Colin intervened at this point, "Although the Tiaoman Empire has been actively improving relations with the Ter Republic and even suggested that the Ter Republic could consider joining the West Continent bloc, the Tiaoman Empire has limited influence in Boss Bay and lacks reliable channels to deploy forces there. In other words, the Tiaoman Empire is not yet qualified to challenge the Liangxia Empire in the Boss Bay region."

Norman immediately furrowed his brows; he had guessed what Colin meant.

Not being able to contend with the Liangxia Empire in Boss Bay, the Tiaoman Empire’s only option was to open up a new front, inevitably leading to the third Global War.

Seeing that Norman understood, Colin turned to continue, "At that time, we had similar concerns and conducted exercises on the matter, reaching quite a pessimistic conclusion. If the Liangxia Empire comes prepared, even if we give our all alongside the Tiaoman Empire, it is uncertain whether we’d achieve favorable results."

"With the current situation, it’s impossible that the Liangxia Empire would be unprepared!"

Colin nodded, confirming that Norman was not mistaken.

"It is evident that after the situation spirals out of control, the Tiaoman Authority will, within a few months, launch a pre-emptive strike to seize the initiative. We will be forced into a Global War that we are destined not to win, squandering the capital accumulated with difficulty over the past decades," Herbert continued the conversation, "As for supporting Iraq to do something in the Boss Bay area, that also won’t work."

"That would be like igniting the Global War prematurely," added Secretary of State James.

"Is there no other way to prevent the outbreak of Global War?"

"It’s not about preventing, but about delaying. In fact, no one can stop the eruption of the third Global War; delaying it by a few years would be quite an achievement."

Norman frowned deeply, pondering the issue seriously.

Herbert nodded to Colin, signaling him to continue.

"Fundamentally speaking, the one we should be most concerned about is the Tiaoman Empire. If there’s no way to stabilize the Tiaoman Empire, the third Global War will definitely break out within a few months. On the contrary, given the current situation, the Liangxia Country actually doesn’t have the intention or motivation to launch a Global War."

"So, we need to find a way to make the Tiaoman Authority discard the idea of initiating a Global War."

"I have already sent a special envoy to Bailin to discuss the relevant issues with the Tiaoman Prime Minister," Herbert took over the conversation at this point. "What we can confirm now is that the Tiaoman Authority has long realized that if they continue to drag their feet, they will become the first superpower to fall. Therefore, to stabilize the Tiaoman Empire, we need to make necessary commitments, and when the Global War breaks out, we will actively participate."

"This is tantamount to encouraging the Tiaoman Authority to wage war!" General Norman immediately followed up.

"In fact, this is also a concern of ours, or rather, a problem that the general needs to solve."

Norman was slightly taken aback, clearly not understanding the President’s meaning.

"We need to stabilize the Tiaoman Empire, but we also need to let the Tiaoman Authority know that if they start a war now, we are likely to be defeated more than victorious. So to put it another way, when would be a better time to start a war? Or rather, how long should we delay to have a better chance of winning? Similarly, what do we need to do before then to ensure that we have a better chance of defeating the Liangxia Empire in the next war?"

This series of questions stumped Norman.

He was just the Commander of the Central War Zone, a bona fide soldier.

But it was clear that Herbert had no intention of letting Norman off the hook.

"To put it another way, if we start now, how much time do we need, or how many years, to prepare for the war?"

Colin’s words were to relieve Norman from the predicament.

In fact, it wasn’t that Herbert and others wanted to make things difficult for Norman.

In the Newland Army, Norman was one of the most outstanding generals, otherwise he would not have become an Army Admiral before the age of 50, nor would he have assumed the seat of the Central War Zone Commander.

Despite being far from the homeland, the Central War Zone held a pivotal position in the strategic layout of the Newland Republic.

The key was actually Boi Country.

To put it bluntly, Boi Country is the foothold of the Newland Republic on World Island, determining the Newland Republic’s voice in international affairs.

Otherwise, the Newland Republic would not have expended such a great cost to support the independence of Boi Country and then engaged in eight years of fierce battle with Iraq, which was supported by the Tiaoman Empire.

From this, it is not difficult to see that Norman’s abilities were by no means lacking.

In fact, this was also why Herbert had Colin call him back.

If war was unavoidable, then one must first consult the General who commands the troops and campaigns.

After pondering for a while, Norman finally said, "First of all, we cannot mobilize for war without cause, not to mention expand beyond the military. Besides, a large-scale military mobilization cannot possibly be kept secret and will definitely not go unnoticed. Therefore, the so-called war preparations can only be about accelerating military reform and increasing the implementation of the fruits of reform. From this perspective, we need at least five more years."

"Five years will be enough?"

Norman glanced at Secretary of State James who had asked the question and nodded.

Obviously, like Colin, he was not too fond of the Secretary of State who meddled in everything.

Colin’s lips moved slightly, but in the end, he restrained himself.

The atmosphere became clearly a bit awkward, as five years was indeed a long time.

Despite the fact that the post-war peace had been largely maintained for 45 years, everyone knew that the probability of a major war breaking out soon was very high.

The contradictions were there, and there was no need to guess.

After thinking for a while, Herbert finally said, "If the Global War breaks out suddenly in the near future, how great are our chances of winning, or rather, what can we do to increase our chances of victory?"

"That’s hard to say."

Norman answered so directly that Herbert was clearly not quite prepared.

"General, you don’t need to respond immediately. Regardless, we still have time," Colin stepped in at this point.

Norman was also smart, knowing that all that needed to be discussed had been covered, he stood up and followed Colin out of the office.

However, the meeting was not declared over just yet.