Empire Conquest-Chapter 731 - 39 Internal Troubles and External Difficulties

Tiaoman Empire, Capital Bailin City, Prime Minister’s Mansion.

It wasn’t until dawn that Reinhardt received the latest—or rather, the final—news.

After the last batch of eight MG-21s arrived, over the course of this night, a total of 188 Iraqi Air Force combat aircraft had fled to Boi Country.

In addition, approximately 60 helicopters had flown to Boi Country.

These represented the remnants of Iraq’s aerial power.

After this, there were no longer any planes in Iraq that could take to the skies for combat!

The key point was, all this had happened in a mere three days!

Although it had been anticipated that Iraq would be defeated, no one, including Reinhardt and all the military and political officials of the Tiaoman authority, had imagined that the failure would come so swiftly.

It wasn’t that Iraq’s strength had been overestimated, but rather that the power of the Liangxia Empire had been underestimated!

Just a few months earlier, Tiaoman’s General Staff Department had conducted war game simulations, and the conclusion drawn was that if it were the Tiaoman troops initiating a military operation against Iraq, it would take at least twenty days to capture air superiority and then two to three months to demolish Iraq’s air defense forces. Even with sufficient support, it would take about three months to defeat the Iraqi army that had invaded Kuwait.

In other words, it would take at least half a year to defeat Iraq.

This did not even take into account the time needed for initial deployments.

Precisely for this reason, the Tiaoman authority was convinced that even if the Liangxia Empire’s military power were stronger, it would still take four to six months after the initial deployments to achieve a decisive victory, with no less than three months for the air strike phase.

Of course, capturing air superiority would take seven to ten days, no matter what.

This assessment was also supported by the intelligence agencies, and the operating plans drafted by the Joint Forces allocated seven to ten days for seizing air superiority in the initial stage.

Who could have imagined that in reality it would only take three days.

To put it bluntly, this was the true portrayal of a complete and rapid collapse!

In the afternoon, before the Iraqi Air Force initiated withdrawal operations, the military advisors stationed in Baghdad sent a message that Hussein’s stance showed subtle changes. Even if it wasn’t a surrender, he no longer harbored hopes of victory, and thus, a sudden shift in the situation could not be ruled out.

According to the advisory group’s estimates, Hussein might compromise with the Liangxia Empire to preserve his regime.

Wasn’t Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait intended to secure his regime?

Even without taking into account the factor of the Tiaoman Empire, the unresolved tensions accumulated from the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq War that had failed to achieve victory could have compelled Hussein to take desperate actions. If there were other means to eliminate the increasingly severe domestic crisis, Hussein would not have provoked the Liangxia Empire.

As long as the Liangxia Empire agreed not to attack Baghdad, he would withdraw his troops from Kuwait, or at least give up the ground forces invading Kuwait.

If this were indeed the case, then Iraq’s tilt towards the Liangxia Empire or the collapse of the Hussein regime was just a matter of time.

Could such an event be tolerated?

Or, rather, could Iraq be lost?

The answer was clearly no!

This was not just about the political future of Reinhardt and many others; it was about the fate of the Tiaoman Empire, and even the entire West Continent group.

Was the Tiaoman Empire supporting Iraq without expecting any returns?

Clearly not!

The primary objective of supporting Hussein, who came to power through a military coup, was the oil in Boss Bay.

The problems faced by the Tiaoman Empire could all be boiled down to oil.

This was also the Tiaoman Empire’s greatest weakness.

At the end of the last great war, the oil-producing regions directly controlled by the Tiaoman Empire were limited to the fields in Romania, which were not very large.

At the time, two of the world’s three largest oil-producing regions—Boss Bay and Baku—were under the control of the Liangxia Empire; the other was Newland itself.

This was why, in the years following the war, the Tiaoman Empire was highly dependent on the Liangxia Empire.

Subsequently, with the discovery and verified reserves of the North Sea oil fields, as well as the gradual discovery of oil fields in the North Xuan region, the Tiaoman Empire progressively freed itself from dependence on the Liangxia Empire, becoming independent in politics and diplomacy, and ultimately forming the West Continent group.

From there, they embarked on the path of competition for dominance with the Liangxia Empire.

Actually, it was to control the North Sea oil fields that the Tiaoman Empire continuously exploited the Bulan Kingdom, step by step pushing it out of the West Continent group. To resist the immense pressure from the Tiaoman Empire and to protect its core interests, the Bulan Kingdom even strengthened its interactions with the Liangxia Empire, such as leasing the strategically significant Scapa Bay, and later resolutely sought refuge with the Newland Republic.

In the North Xuan region, it was even more so!

In order to keep control of the North Xuan oil fields in their own hands, the Tiaoman authority first orchestrated the Alger War—namely, through Locke Country, they encouraged local indigenous residents to launch independence movements—then, under the guise of maintaining group stability, forced the Raleigh Kingdom, which had risen to dominance in the North Xuan region post-war, to accept the reality of Algerian independence. Finally, through acquisitions, they took control of the main oil fields in the North Xuan region.

The result was that the Raleigh Kingdom harbored long-standing grievances, becoming the foremost destabilizing factor in the West Continent group.

Additionally, because they refused to return Nara Fortress, relations with Sban Kingdom appeared irreparably distant.