Empire Conquest-Chapter 732 - 39 Internal Troubles and External Difficulties_2
Even in Romania, the Tiaoman enterprises’ pursuit of excessive profits led to severe local resentment towards the Tiaoman Empire.
Many of the problems in the Luosha Democratic Republic also related to oil, or rather, energy.
In order to purchase oil and natural gas from the Luosha Democratic Republic at lower prices, the Tiaoman Empire, leveraging its status as a victorious or occupying nation, controlled and manipulated the economy of the Luosha Democratic Republic, dictating its industrial types, leading to its distorted industrial structure.
The Luosha Democratic Republic, with a population of 80 million, possessed the largest heavy industry among the West Continent Group but lacked light industries that directly determine the standard of living, as well as severely lacking in high-tech industries such as electronics, resulting in heavy dependency on the West Continent Group in many aspects.
The Luosha Democratic Republic accounted for about 70% of the Tiaoman Empire in terms of size, and its industrialization level was also very high, yet its GDP was only 30% of the Tiaoman Empire’s, and its per capita was only equivalent to 40% of the Tiaoman Empire’s, a key reason being that its economic lifeline was controlled by the Tiaoman Empire.
It was evident that the series of foreign policies adopted by the Tiaoman Empire after the war were largely related to energy, primarily oil.
However, the problem was that the production from the North Sea and North Xuan oil fields was not yet substantial enough to satisfy the Tiaoman Empire and the entire West Continent Group!
With economic development, especially as the standard of living improves, the demand for energy increases daily, while the production of energy has not significantly increased.
To date, the dependency on imported energy by the West Continent Group led by the Tiaoman Empire had reached 40%.
Of that, the Tiaoman Empire alone accounted for 60%.
Every year, the Tiaoman Empire needed to import approximately 120 million tons of crude oil, with about 80 million tons imported from countries outside the West Continent Group.
Of these 80 million tons, about 40 million tons came from Iraq!
This scale was quite astonishing.
It was not hard to see from this the critical status of Iraq in the strategic system of the Tiaoman Empire.
But now, was there really a need to confront the Liangxia Empire in battle for this country?
When Reinhardt returned to the conference room, other ministers gradually took their seats.
This full Cabinet meeting had started in the evening and had already lasted about 8 hours; it began with a recess to allow the Cabinet Ministers to eat something.
According to Reinhardt’s instructions, no matter how long it took, they had to reach a decision.
The key was that he had to give Hussein a clear reply within 24 hours.
The intelligence agency had already delivered confirmed news that the Joint Forces would adjust their deployment, such as ensuring logistics support troops could keep up, and that aerial strikes would be suspended for 24 hours, expected to resume at the early hours of the 11th, which is when Hussein would also make his decision.
Additionally, Liangxia’s 7th Armored Division would be deployed by the night of the 10th, and the 17th Armored Division would also begin to be deployed in stages from the 11th.
If the scale of the war expanded, the Liangxia Empire could launch a ground offensive as early as the 11th.
Once ground warfare began, there would be no room for mediation.
Politically and militarily, the Tiaoman Authority had to give a reply regarding whether to participate in the war by the early hours of the 11th.
If no reply was given, it meant not participating in the war.
So, to avoid direct conflict with the Liangxia Empire, should they abandon Iraq?
Clearly, that was meaningless.
For the current Tiaoman Empire, it was not just a matter of dragging it out for a few more years; even a few more months might be unbearable.
Just this month, the negotiations for the annual purchase of natural gas with the Luosha Democratic Republic, represented by the Tiaoman Empire on behalf of the West Continent Group, broke down. To be precise, the authorities of the Luosha Democratic Republic rejected the Tiaoman Empire’s proposal. If the Tiaoman Empire did not offer a new price, starting from November 1st of this year, the National Energy Corporation of the Luosha Democratic Republic would sell natural gas at market prices to all member states of the West Continent Group, including the Tiaoman Empire, no longer supplying gas at contractual prices, at least until October 31st of next year.
This meant that the natural gas used for heating in winter would see a price increase of 250%!
Previously, negotiations with the Bulan Kingdom had also failed, meaning that the Bulan Kingdom would levy a 15% resource tax on oil exported to the West Continent Group starting from January 1st of next year. If the Tiaoman Empire was unwilling to compromise, the Bulan Kingdom would hold a referendum to decide whether to withdraw from the West Continent Group next year.
The issue was not just a simple 15% price increase.
This was an overt challenge to the Tiaoman Empire!
The Bulan Kingdom was a defeated nation, and if even a defeated nation dared to do this, what about other countries, such as the Raleigh Kingdom and the Sban Kingdom, which as victors had always been dissatisfied with the Tiaoman Empire, would they make similar demands, and would they withdraw from the West Continent Group if their demands were not met?
Clearly, as soon as the Bulan Kingdom took this step, the West Continent Group would inevitably disintegrate.
Inside the Tiaoman Empire, contradictions abound.
Dissatisfaction with the current government’s weak policies, fundamentally caused by severe inflation and a decline in living standards, has led to numerous large-scale demonstrations in the Tiaoman Empire over the past few months, with the public’s support for the Reinhardt Cabinet having fallen below 30%.
According to external speculation, the Reinhardt Cabinet’s deadline is November 1, by which they must reach an annual procurement agreement with the Luosha Democratic Republic.
If not, the winter blizzards will bury the Reinhardt Cabinet.
Indeed, this situation could also lead to a complete loss of control.
The issue is that not only the Tiaoman Empire imports natural gas from the Luosha Democratic Republic, but also Locke Kingdom, Raleigh Kingdom, and Sban Kingdom.
To put it bluntly, almost all the countries on the western side of the West Continent rely on natural gas piped in from the Luosha Democratic Republic to survive the harsh winter.
Don’t forget, the Luosha Democratic Republic is also a defeated nation.
More so, the Luosha Democratic Republic relies on the Tiaoman Empire to counter the strong enemies to the east, unlike the Bulan Kingdom which has other supports to rely on.
If the Tiaoman Empire can’t even control a defeated nation, why should it command other countries?
Here lies the problem.
How can the Luosha Democratic Republic be made to comply willingly?
Clearly, conventional methods will definitely not work.
According to the agreement signed 25 years ago, the Luosha Democratic Republic provides natural gas at an annual agreed price to the West Continent Group, including the Tiaoman Empire, up until this year, namely AD 1990. Afterwards, they must negotiate a new price for supply.
This means, the Luosha Democratic Republic’s proposal for a price increase is not wrong!
Over the past few decades, the Luosha Democratic Republic has been supplying natural gas to the member countries of the West Continent Group at prices far below the market price.
It’s estimated that the losses amount to tens of billions of Gold Marks each year.
Even as a defeated nation, it has already repaid all its debts!
Enforce compliance through an occupying army?
If it came to that, the Eastern Group led by the Liangxia Empire would certainly be most pleased.
Earlier in the year, the Lusha Federation Republic issued a statement unconditionally supporting whatever actions the Luosha Democratic Republic takes to protect its own interests.
Following this, the Liangxia Authorities also stated they opposed any party resolving economic disputes by methods other than negotiation.
It’s evident then, that if the Tiaoman Empire attempts to oppress the Luosha Democratic Republic using their status as victors, they would only push the Luosha Democratic Republic into the arms of the Liangxia Empire.
However, there is a solution.
The method is to place the West Continent Group into a state of emergency, ensuring energy supply from the Luosha Democratic Republic and Bulan Kingdom through military control.
Without a doubt, there needs to be a reason to declare a state of emergency!
Yes, what’s needed is a war!
This is also why the Tiaoman Authorities encouraged Hussein to invade Kuwait—to ignite war so that including petroleum, international energy prices would surge significantly, giving the Tiaoman Empire even more reason to persuade the two allied energy-exporting countries to take a firm stance in this war.
Even if it’s just for show, it provides a reason for the West Continent Group to heighten their state of readiness.
As long as the Liangxia Empire steps up their efforts, even advancing the West Continent Group to a state of war or beginning military mobilization, it wouldn’t be difficult.
Moreover, as long as the Liangxia Empire is bogged down in Boss Bay, they won’t be able to handle challenges from Luosha.
That is, the Tiaoman Empire could use this opportunity to deal with the now uncooperative Luosha Democratic Republic.
Furthermore, they could leverage the victory to bargain with Bulan Kingdom and Newland Republic.
In the end, the Tiaoman Empire is likely to emerge as the top winner.
Sadly, it now looks more like wishful thinking.
