Empire Conquest-Chapter 740 - 43 The Great Battle Situation_2
The reason is that only by doing so can the focus be shifted to the Northwest, where the Lusha Federation Republic withstands the massive armies of the West Continent Group.
Concerning the issue of the Boss Bay oil fields, Army Generals also clearly mentioned that the oil fields in Baku of the Lusha Federation Republic possess significant strategic value as well.
Strictly speaking, the value of the Baku oil fields actually exceeds that of Boss Bay.
The reason is that if Baku oil fields were to be taken, the Tiaoman Empire would be able to obtain the oil extracted there through railways and pipelines.
On the Boss Bay side, without sea control, the Tiaoman Empire could only look on enviously.
That oil pipeline that runs from Iraq to Syria, leading to the port of East Continent Heart Sea, isn’t even built yet!
Clearly, the Navy and the Marine Corps don’t think so.
Although they did not deny the importance of the Northwest Battlefield, the Generals of the Navy and Marine Corps mentioned that there is no reason to waste more resources on small countries like Iraq, let alone waste time, so under the current situation, proceeding with the previous plan to liberate Kuwait would suffice.
It may sound like there’s no need to increase troops, but in essence, what’s being emphasized is not to underestimate Boss Bay and certainly not to abandon Kuwait for the sake of dealing with the West Continent Group.
Speaking of which, it was actually an initiative of the Marine Corps.
If the Army emphasizes the importance of the Northwest, then the Northwest it shall be. Without the Army, the Marine Corps can still carry out the operation to liberate Kuwait as planned.
Essentially, the Marine Corps made it clear that they wanted to take this opportunity to become independent of the Army and establish themselves as a legitimate fourth branch of the military.
As for why the Navy supports the Marine Corps, the main reason is that there is simply no place for the Navy in the Northwest Battlefield, and they can only exert force in the Boss Bay.
Of course, this also involves a moral issue, since the Imperial Authority had already made a promise.
When emphasizing this point, the Navy Generals brought up a seemingly unrelated but very important issue.
Will the Newland Republic sit back and watch?
If not, then the most likely scenario is that after the outbreak of the Global War, Newland would stir up trouble in the direction of the southern flank, that is, in the Southern Subcontinent and Aus.
By then, if the conflict in Boss Bay has not ended, the Empire will be fighting on three, or even four fronts!
What’s more important, after the Army shifts its focus to the Northwest, the Southern War Zone and the East Ocean War Zone, which are primarily Navy-operated areas, will depend on the Marine Corps for ground combat.
Because the Marine Corps has always been short on personnel, a situation where they are stretched thin is inevitable when three, or even four-front operations are required.
Naturally, the same goes for the Navy.
Not to mention anything else, Navy battleships have a long construction cycle.
Even for those mothballed battleships, it takes months to train reserve officers and soldiers after decommissioning.
It is for this reason that both the Navy and the Marine Corps advocate for quickly concluding combat operations in Boss Bay and reallocating the precious military forces to face threats from other directions.
Additionally, the Air Force is also more inclined to support the Navy and Marine Corps’ proposition.
The reason is that the Air Force does not want to fight on two fronts, let alone risk fighting on three, or even four fronts.
In fact, this is precisely the issue that started the argument.
As for another key issue, the scale of this war, there is no controversy; all the Generals agree that it will escalate into a Global War.
To this, even Qin Fenglie had no objections.
The reason is very simple, once the flames of war are ignited, they cannot be controlled.
For decades, the leaders of the three superpower groups have been preparing for a Global War, and they have been on edge.
After a stalemate spanning several decades and constant escalation by the three sides, the international situation has become extremely precarious.
Once the current balance is disrupted, a Global War is inevitable.
In the words of Qin Fenglie, even if the Imperial Authority does not wish to fight a Global War, they must still prepare as if they are going into one.
Otherwise, they are bound to be defeated!
If even the most powerful Liangxia Empire is like this, then could the weaker Tiaoman Empire and Newland Republic harbor any illusions?
The answer is obviously negative.
All three superpower leaders are well aware that any unrealistic fantasies in the aftermath of war will lead to defeat!
To put it simply, if you are convinced that there won’t be a Global War, you might as well surrender directly.
Zhou Yongtao offered no rebuttal to this.
In the discussion, he only raised one question, or more accurately, two interrelated questions.
Does the West Continent Group, led by the Tiaoman Empire, possess the strength needed to defeat the Liangxia Empire and the Eastern Group?
Knowing they could not secure a final victory, why would the Tiaoman Authority still brazenly initiate war?
It was after posing these two questions that Zhou Yongtao had Luo Youbin bring in a late-night snack, giving the generals present some time to ponder.
Clearly, the first question was actually rhetorical.
Even if no general underestimated the enemy, they did not think the Tiaoman Empire truly possessed the strength to defeat the Liangxia Empire.
If the Tiaoman Empire was truly that powerful, they probably would not have found themselves in their current predicament.
Among the three superpowers, the Tiaoman Empire was the weakest, and thus its internal contradictions were the first to develop to an irreconcilable level.
More than 40 years ago, when this long-distance race began, it was already destined that the weakest would be the first to break the rules of the game.
Therefore, the second question can’t be explained, or rather, the answer to the second question is completely the opposite of what had been previously speculated.
What the Tiaoman Authority was seeking might not actually be total war.
Precisely because of this, once the meeting resumed, Zhou Yongtao presented the conclusion drawn from the two meetings that day.
The Tiaoman Authority’s current provocation, even if it was a declaration of war, was fundamentally not to achieve military victory, but rather to use an external war to divert internal conflicts.
Politically, there was no doubt about this deduction.
However, in military terms, this raised a significant issue.
First of all, this hypothesis also indirectly proved that the war was inevitable and was not something that the Liangxia Empire could avoid by backing down!
Obviously, this effectively blocked any channel for compromise.
This also proved another point of view held by the military.
Once the war broke out, no one could control its scale, meaning no one could ensure that the conflict would not escalate into a Global War.
The key point was, no one knew how long the fighting would need to last and how much it would need to escalate before the internal contradictions within the Tiaoman Empire and within the Western Group could be resolved!
Not to mention the leaders and generals of the Liangxia Empire guessing, even the Tiaoman Prime Minister probably had no clue.
Really, what good would guessing do? 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
Make a phone call to Zhou Yongtao, telling the Imperial Chief Minister when to ceasefire?
Should Reinhardt actually do so, he would surely meet with a grim fate.
Of course, even if the Tiaoman Prime Minister told Zhou Yongtao when the time came, he would never believe it.
Furthermore, another point could be proven.
In a month, after completing preparations for a strategic offensive, the West Continent Alliance Army, with Tiaoman troops as the main force, would surely go all out.
To put it simply, they would commit all their forces in a decisive offensive.
The reason was straightforward.
Only by seizing a decisive victory before the Eastern Group completed its strategic mobilization, such as conquering East Luosha, and having West Luosha declare national unification, could there be a possibility of reaching a compromise with the Eastern Group before the war escalated into a Global War.
To put it bluntly, by that time, unless the Liangxia Authorities really planned on sacrificing tens or even hundreds of millions of people to fight a Global War they might not completely win, they would have to accept the accomplished fact and recognize a Luosha, split into two states, had unified.
Could this outcome be accepted?
In the words of Qin Fenglie, even if Zhou Yongtao disregarded personal honor or disgrace and was willing to bear the stigma for the sake of peace, the millions of imperial soldiers would never agree.
Nor would the 800 million Imperial Subjects!
Even if by that time it had become an established fact, they would still have to fight to take back East Luosha, advancing to the eastern bank of the Volga River before a ceasefire was possible.
To put it gravely, there would even be preparations to take over West Luosha.
After all, Luosha had achieved unification and had no reason to split again.
At this stage, a Global War would be unavoidable as well.
If push came to shove, by that time there would inevitably be consideration for engaging in combat with the Newland Republic.
In fact, the Newland Republic might have already entered the war by then!
Considering these viewpoints, could anyone really expect to maintain control of the current situation?
This was why, when the discussions came to an end, even Zhou Yongtao had to admit, unless the Tiaoman Authority pulled back from the brink, the Third Global War would erupt in a month.
So, would the Tiaoman Authority pull back from the brink!?
