Empire Conquest-Chapter 742 - 44 Dilemma on Advance and Retreat_2
Instruct Nong Chengpei to depart as soon as possible with the special diplomatic mission to Switzerland on the West Continent.
As for what to do in Switzerland, Zhou Yongtao had not yet made arrangements.
Switzerland is the permanently neutral country recognized by nearly all nations, and it is also the only one on the West Continent that had not joined the West Continent Group.
Clearly, if there ever came a day when disputes had to be resolved through diplomatic means, Switzerland’s assistance would be necessary.
Thus, it can be seen that Zhou Yongtao likewise believed there was still a sliver of opportunity.
Unfortunately, as Lin Shiping had assessed, when the Empire was seething with anger over the Tiaoman Empire’s declaration, even Zhou Yongtao, the Grand Secretary with the greatest prestige and authority following Lian Xusheng, could not go against the will of the 800 million military and civilians, let alone slacken military preparations for unrealistic fantasies!
At the beginning of the meeting, Qin Fenglie had already mentioned that compromising with the Tiaoman Empire now would be a regressive action.
No one could allow the glorious victory achieved over 40 years ago, at the cost of more than three million casualties and the expenditure and loss of several hundred billion Gold Yuan, to be senselessly squandered. To commit such a foolish act would ensure infamy in the annals of history.
Moreover, the Tiaoman Empire of today is far inferior to the Empire of the past.
Indeed, Qin Fenglie’s words served not only as a reminder to Zhou Yongtao but also as a warning—not to gamble his prestige within the Empire.
If anything, the "Strongman Era" of the Empire had long since passed.
Lian Xusheng was the last "strongman prime minister" of the Empire.
The disastrous defeat in the Boi War and several subsequent civilian Grand Secretaries completely buried the era of strongman politics.
It’s not that there could never again be a strongman prime minister like Lian Xusheng, but rather that certain conditions are necessary.
And that condition is, in fact, a resounding victory in war!
To put it more bluntly, if Zhou Yongtao could lead the Empire to win this war or even achieve several victories in the initial stages, he could become a strongman prime minister like Lian Xusheng and freely implement his policies. Until then, public opinion had to be the priority.
This might not be pleasant to hear, but it’s the truth.
After six years as Grand Secretary, Zhou Yongtao could not possibly be unaware of the severe implications.
Indeed, Zhou Yongtao had always been known for his unique political vision, or else Bai Zhizhan would not have staunchly supported him to take the position of Grand Secretary.
The most representative of this was actually his personal lifelong matter.
More than 40 years ago, just as the war was drawing to a close, Zhou Yongtao married the eldest daughter of the Zhang family, becoming Bai Zhizhan’s nominal nephew by marriage.
It was from this time that he formally entered the political arena of the Empire.
Interestingly, at that time, many people believed he would follow in Bai Zhizhan’s footsteps to become the Empire’s fortunate son-in-law, marrying the then-little princess, who is the Holy Emperor’s younger sister.
If he had become the Imperial Prince Consort, wealth and honor would have been inevitable.
However, the highest achievement Zhou Yongtao could aspire to as Prince Consort was to replace Li Mingbo and become the next Imperial Navy Commander after Bai Zhizhan.
It was virtually impossible to assume the Grand Secretary’s position with the status of Imperial Prince Consort.
The key issue was that everyone would regard the "Prince Consort" as a spokesman for the Imperial Family, which would undermine the political foundations of the Empire, or at least affect the basic political structure.
Additionally, there was the suspicion of "unconstitutionality," that is, defying the original intents of the Constitutional Amendment initiated by Emperor Shiwu.
Essentially, it was a threat to various major interest groups.
To a large extent, Bai Zhizhan not taking the role of Imperial Chief Minister after Lian Xusheng’s first resignation, thereby causing a drastic reversal of the Empire’s basic strategies at the time, was significantly related to his status as Prince Consort. At the time, including Xue Yuanzheng, there was considerable opposition to him becoming the Imperial Chief Minister.
In hindsight, this was the first major strategic error committed by the Empire after the war.
At that time, between the years 110 and 115 of the New Calendar, following the resignation of Lian Xusheng, if Bai Zhizhan had become the Imperial Chief Minister, the Empire might very well have avoided the quagmire of the wars that followed and would not have become embroiled in the Boi War for independence when the Ter Republic was on the brink of collapse.
In fact, Boi Country might not even have gone to war over independence!
According to documents declassified later on, the national independence movement organization in Boi took a risky step precisely because they felt the civilian Chief Ministers succeeding Lian Xusheng lacked the decisive decision-making capacity and might not dare or be willing to send troops into battle immediately, thereby hoping to seize the opportunity to achieve independence early. Because they were deceived by outside influences, the leaders of the Boi national independence movement always felt that political figures who played with power would not fulfill their promises.
Let’s not forget that, according to the agreement signed during the war, in just a few more years, there would have been a referendum on whether Boi should become an independent nation.
If it were Bai Zhizhan, the leaders of the Boi national independence movement would never dare make such a judgment.
Moreover, the credibility of military leaders is definitely above that of politicians.
During Lian Xusheng’s tenure, the situation in Boi was always very stable, and the national independence movement organization had high hopes for the Empire.
From this perspective, the Empire’s hegemonic status could have continued, and by strengthening its control over Boss Bay, the Empire could have weakened the other two superpowers.
There might not even have been a tripartite situation.
Regrettably, Bai Zhizhan did not move into the Prime Minister Mansion.
Of course, fundamentally speaking, this was also Lian Xusheng’s responsibility. The reconstruction plans he promoted after the war, also commonly known as the "Strategic Rebuilding Assistance Plan," were too radical.
Although everyone knew that Lian Xusheng’s proposal to help all countries ravaged by the war, including the defeated nations, rebuild after the war, to restore normal world order was not only for the sake of long-lasting peace but also to secure benefits for the Empire — and peace itself being the greatest benefit — no one could deny that in the post-war environment, in just a few short years, it would be difficult to accept the expenditure of funds equivalent to the total war effort, all to be shouldered by the Imperial Authority, on top of assisting the defeated nations to rebuild.
Otherwise, Lian Xusheng wouldn’t have been forced to resign from the position of Chief Minister after facing opposition from the entire Cabinet and the two assemblies preparing to initiate impeachment. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
It was because of this that Zhou Yongtao realized that unless he wanted to stay in the Navy until old age, he had to get smarter.
The current situation was just like this.
Although not extremely dangerous yet, Zhou Yongtao had to prioritize the overall situation before achieving significant victories, that is, before gaining enough prestige.
In Bai Zhizhan’s words, he had to keep a low profile until he obtained prestige surpassing that of Xue Yuanzheng.
This meant that he first needed to fight and win several battles, more precisely, to be eligible to stand out and call for leadership of the Empire.
It was for this reason that Zhou Yongtao did not let Lin Shiping break the news.
Of course, Zhou Yongtao had already emphasized at the previous military meeting that even if it was necessary to fight a decisive battle on the Giant Continent with the Tiaoman Empire, it was important to secure a victory in Boss Bay as quickly as possible and, furthermore, to topple Iraq, not just liberate Kuwait as before.
Before, it was possible to stop after liberating Kuwait, but after the outbreak of full-scale war, it was necessary to eliminate Hussein.
For this reason, Zhou Yongtao did not stress the need to secure victory within a month.
According to Zhou Yongtao’s intention, in the next month, it was feasible to ignore ground warfare and continue to focus on aerial strikes, transport combat materials to the front lines, and ensure the regime of Hussein could be overthrown. Once the Global War erupted and the Empire began mobilizing for the war with legitimate reasons, summoning reservist officers and even quasi-military personnel into service, it would be possible to deploy enough troops to conduct ground warfare.
As for aerial strikes, they would proceed according to the original plan, with no need for significant adjustments.
Naturally, with the need to reinforce the Northwest and West Battle Zones, it was certain that extra aerial forces could not continue to be dispatched to the Boss Bay area.
When the time was appropriate, it might even be necessary to reduce the commitment there, especially withdrawing the Navy’s carrier battle group.
In the end, and most crucially, was the necessary strategic contraction in preparation for the Global War.
It was not a strategic retreat but rather, before the outburst of the Global War, a shortening of the Empire’s strategic defense lines to avoid wasting precious troops in less significant directions.
As for whether it was possible to prevent the outbreak of the Global War at the last moment before a complete loss of control,
Zhou Yongtao was unsure. All he could do was to send Nong Chengpei to Switzerland as a special envoy to maintain contact with the Tiaoman Empire’s high-level officials through the Tiaoman Ambassador.
No matter how faint the hope was, he could not give up!
