Empire Conquest-Chapter 709 - 29: The Overall Situation is Settled

August 5th night, at the Prime Minister Mansion in the Imperial Capital.

The evening thunderstorm had diluted the heat, bringing a rare breeze of coolness.

After dinner, Zhou Yongtao went to the backyard.

Tired of the air-conditioned room scent after enduring the severe heat for nearly half a month, how could he miss the precious opportunity to enjoy the cool breeze?

It was also a rare moment of leisure, even if just for a few hours.

Three days ago, led by Saudi Arabia, the oil-producing coalition of the southern coast of Boss Bay intervened, hoping to resolve the crisis peacefully, urging Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait and recognize it as an independent country, hence delaying the second strike by two days.

Strictly speaking, the oil-producing coalition was buying time for the Liangxia Empire and the Joint Forces.

The reason was that by the early morning of August 4th, it would be impossible to complete military deployment, precluding the launch of a second strike without ensuring that major military bases like King Khalid’s Military City were safe, thus significantly reducing the efficiency of the operation.

At that time, even the Imperial Navy’s carrier battle groups could not be timely deployed.

In the Land Heart Sea, "Lian Xusheng" carrier battle group would not reach off the coast of Lebanon until the night of August 5th. In the Fan Flame Ocean, the "Bai Zhizhan" carrier battle group and the "Liu Changxun" carrier battle group would be positioned by the afternoon of August 5th, reaching the northern waters of the Mua Sea. If the second action plan had launched at dawn on the 4th, the Navy could only commit three carrier battle groups.

Actually, the crux was on the Air Force side.

By the night of the 3rd, only six Tactical Air Force Wings had been deployed, and although they had over 300 aircraft in total, fewer than 200 were combat-ready, most of which were air superiority fighters; multi-purpose fighters totaled fewer than 100.

If given two more days, the Air Force could deploy four additional Tactical Air Force Wings to Saudi Arabia, with over 600 aircraft ready for combat.

This would include at least 40 "War-16A" aircraft.

Moreover, in these two days, the Air Force could also deploy one "Divine Archer" long-range air-defense system to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

This was key to ensuring Saudi Arabia continued to support the Joint Forces.

According to the Saudi Royal Family, if the Joint Forces could not ensure the basic security of its homeland, Saudi Arabia might need to reconsider its stance in this war.

However, the most crucial aspect was actually the Joint Forces itself.

Being named "Joint Forces" meant that not only did the Liangxia Empire deploy troops, but other countries were also required to participate in the war.

So far, the countries that agreed to participate included: Gaoju Kingdom, Damman Kingdom, South Toe Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Nanzhu Country, Mala Country, Lion Spring City, Bakistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Lusha Federation Republic, Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, and Ao Country, where the latter two provided logistical support only.

On this basis, the Joint Force Headquarters was officially established on August 3rd.

Deploying troops to participate in the war was not as simple as a slogan; action needed to be taken.

The most active was Gaoju Kingdom, agreeing to send an Air Force Wing with 160 fighters to participate in the combat, and to be directly commanded by the Joint Force Headquarters. Damman Kingdom also agreed to deploy 100 fighters, and several staunch allies such as Sri Lanka and Mala Country would also send Air Forces to war.

This meant that communication and command issues required time to resolve.

Of course, there wasn’t much of a problem at the command level.

The tripartite power balance had lasted for decades, preparing for a global war over several decades; the Empire had already established military control over the Allies.

To put it accurately, a military command system with the Empire at its absolute core was established.

All Allies integrated into this system had to unconditionally obey the command of the Empire during wartime, as is commonly said under the collective defense mechanism, to surrender military command.

This deployment to Boss Bay was more like a test of this command system.

Besides completing forward deployments, sending troops to the Boss Bay area to garrison military bases provided by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Oman, the most crucial preparatory work before the combat involved negotiating and distributing combat tasks to utilize the value of the Allies.

This was actually the most troublesome part.

Combat tasks differed in difficulty, and inevitably contradictions arose during task assignments, even affecting the unity of the Joint Forces.

Of course, more time was needed.

Fortunately, the division of labor was actually established during peacetime and had determined the basic composition of the armed forces of the Allies; therefore, among the main Allies deploying troops, the biggest issue was clarifying the order of tactical tasks and integrating the Allies’ combat troops into the Joint Forces.

Accordingly, the timing for initiating the second stage of the strike was delayed from the early morning of the 4th to the early morning of the 6th.

To gain two days, or rather, to stabilize the authorities in Baghdad and prevent Hussein from taking desperate measures within these two days, the oil-producing coalition led by Saudi Arabia on the south coast of Boss Bay intervened diplomatically, seeking a peaceful resolution nominally.

Indeed, Iraq was also a member of the oil-producing coalition.

Further, after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, most countries had severed diplomatic relations with it.