Empire Conquest
Chapter 203 - 199: Strategic Plan

Chapter 203: Chapter 199: Strategic Plan

After a brief chat, Liu Xiangdong excused himself, saying he had matters to attend to, and left the Navy headquarters first.

In truth, it wasn’t that late.

Bai Zhizhan also didn’t know where to go; the guest house was just across the street, only a few minutes’ walk away, but going back so early seemed meaningless.

"What are you hiding here for?"

Luckily, Li Yunxiang came looking for him.

"I don’t know where to go," Bai Zhizhan sighed. He had never felt lonely when he was busy before. Now that he suddenly had some downtime, he felt an indescribable sensation in his heart, as if he had lost his direction and had no idea where to go next.

Yes, like a kite with its string cut.

"Alright, I’ll take you for a couple of drinks."

"Brother Li, it’s so late at night..."

"I just got a call, Lian Xusheng is back too."

When Li Yunxiang put it like that, Bai Zhizhan didn’t object any further.

What he most wanted to know was the battle situation on the frontlines of the Ice Storm Peninsula, especially whether the Imperial Guard Armored Forces could take Buju in one fell swoop.

If they could, that would be great.

If not, there would be significant trouble.

Before Li Yunxiang found him, Bai Zhizhan had been contemplating this issue. He had made up his mind; if it was the latter scenario, even if it meant offending two major families, he would have to challenge Liu Xiangzhen. Not for personal gain or loss but for the Navy, for the Empire. At least according to Bai Zhizhan’s understanding, if the Army could not rapidly conquer Buju and got bogged down in a tough battle on the Ice Storm Peninsula, continuing to implement the eastward strategy would be suicidal.

Of course, this might sound too severe.

But, nobody could deny it.

As long as the battle situation entered a stalemate, that is, once the situation stabilized, then the Bulan Kingdom and the Newland Federation might soon join the war.

At that time, the Empire would again face the dangerous predicament of a two-front, or even three-front war!

Conversely, if the Imperial Army could achieve a swift victory and at least open up a victorious situation, then the other Western Powers might very likely continue to watch and wait.

The logic is simple.

The Saiyi Imperial Kingdom is among the Great Powers, yet it couldn’t hold on for long. So, how long could the other Great Powers last against the might of the Imperial Navy and Army?

In this world dominated by Great Powers, what matters is who has the stronger fist, who has greater strength.

When the other Great Powers decide whether to join the war, they first have to weigh their own strength and compare it with the potential adversary they plan to challenge.

If the gap is too wide, why challenge at all?

In fact, after the war began, the Imperial Navy and Army had already given the other Great Powers a good lesson with their two spectacular performances.

With twenty years of rapid development, the nature of warfare has wholly transformed!

On the maritime battlefield, it is no longer the battleships clad in iron and armed with large-caliber guns that rule the waves, but carriers without even large-caliber naval guns. The third Aviation Mixed Fleet demonstrated in just four days and three nights with an indisputable outcome that only two carriers could rout the world’s fourth-ranking Fleet. In the end, it was just one bombless Reconnaissance Aircraft that made the enemy give up on four battleships.

When had such a scenario ever occurred before?

The same goes for the land battlefield.

Although Bai Zhizhan was not too familiar with the Army’s situation, he had long known that the military reform initiated by the Imperial Guard had been underway in the Army for over a decade and had achieved remarkable results. The significance of the Army’s mechanization revolution was in no way inferior to the Navy’s construction of carriers and shipborne air force.

The results of the reforms were equally evident on the battlefield.

Otherwise, could the Army have breached the 38th Degree Defense Line within two days? A line that, in the last great war, had taken over a year and the lives of millions of soldiers without breaking through?

It is evident that the impact of the battles on land and at sea was enough to send shivers down the spine of all the Great Powers watching from the sidelines.

If the deterrent effect was clear enough, perhaps they could achieve the first and most crucial victory before the other Great Powers took action.

That is, the complete and comprehensive defeat of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom.

Bai Zhizhan had a sufficiently clear and profound understanding of this.

The reason was simple: when the strategic plan was originally drafted, Bai Zhizhan was one of the key participants. It was Zhu Shijian who had personally arranged for him and Liu Xiangzhen to be responsible for the Navy’s part.

To put it bluntly: before defeating the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, they must avoid going to war with the other Great Powers as much as possible.

Additionally, they had at most one year, preferably within half a year, and if they could accomplish it within nine months, it would be considered a great victory.

As for how to achieve this goal, opinions varied.

There were two factions: the landing faction, led by the Army, and the blockade faction, dominated by the Navy.

However, both strategies had severe flaws.

The problem with landing was the huge investment; casualties and losses would definitely be uncontrollable. A more comprehensive mobilization would be required, inevitably leading to a protracted battle.

To speak bluntly, today’s Saiyi Imperial Kingdom is not the backward country that Marshal Chen Bingxun could open with a few ironclad ships back in the day. Whether it’s national power or the people’s ideological understanding, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom is now a formidable opponent.

But the problem is that beyond its large population, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom lacks resources worth occupying.

Does the Empire lack people?

With a population of 500 million, the Liangxia Empire hardly needs the tens of millions of laborers from the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom.

Furthermore, the impact of full mobilization is hard to estimate, and it could easily be misunderstood by other countries, potentially leading to a rapid escalation of the war.

Before the last great war, to judge whether a potential enemy country had hostile intentions or was preparing for war, one would look to see if that country was mobilizing. No matter the political situation, as soon as a potential enemy began wartime mobilization, preparations had to be made.

The problem with the blockade faction was that it took too long and might not yield the desired result; in the end, all the effort could be for nothing.

The Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, shoddy as it is, could persist for a year under blockade.

Moreover, a tight blockade could potentially backfire and even lead to premature war with other Great Powers due to unintended attacks.

The crux is that the Newland Federation and the Bulan Kingdom are just looking for a reason to join the war.

A mail ship carrying Newland citizens or a cargo ship flying the Bulan flag could both become a pretext for these two Great Powers to send troops into battle.

It is for this reason that up to now, the Imperial High Command has not finalized a strategy against the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, still allowing the Army and Navy to seek countermeasures.

Before the Fleet maneuvers, in early October, Xue Yuanzheng mentioned in a confidential internal meeting that if the Army and Navy still could not present a viable plan to defeat the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom within a year, he would have to consider postponing the entire strategic plan.

Fortunately, the Army may have found a way to defeat the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom.

Otherwise, it would not have come this far.

But as for what that method is, Bai Zhizhan has never been quite sure.

After meeting Lian Xusheng later, he needs to ask him for clarity.

That guy is as straightforward as Li Yunxiang; as long as he’s in the right mood, he’ll say anything, and Bai Zhizhan is one of the few Naval officers he feels are up to his standards. According to Lian Xusheng, Bai Zhizhan is the only Naval officer he doesn’t find repulsive.

For a straightforward man of steel to give such an assessment is already quite impressive.

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