Empire Conquest
Chapter 271 - 267: Tripartite Strategic Plan

Chapter 271: Chapter 267: Tripartite Strategic Plan

When Bai Zhizhan entered, the room was already shrouded in smoke, as if it were on fire.

The two men were puffing away at their pipes.

Wang Kaiyuan was one thing; a forty-something lecherous uncle smoking a pipe wasn’t strange.

But Li Qing was young, and smoking a pipe really didn’t suit the Eldest Prince’s noble status.

Seeing his "clack clack" practised manner, his smoking history was not short.

The most annoying people in the Navy were the smokers.

Smoking was absolutely prohibited on carriers, and even on other warships, smoking in the cabin was forbidden, at most one could sneak a few puffs on the open deck.

In the Navy, the proportion of smokers was not high.

At least, all the high-ranking officers that Bai Zhizhan knew were non-smokers.

Interestingly, on submarines, where conditions were worst, the proportion of smokers was even higher, nearly half among the officers.

Bai Zhizhan didn’t smoke, but he also wasn’t particularly annoyed by others smoking. There was no helping it, almost all Army Officers like Lian Xusheng were addicted to smoking.

He opened the window a crack before he went over to sit down.

The cold night wind poured in, and the air in the room instantly felt much fresher.

With those ten or so minutes, he had calmed down.

Surprise was one thing, but there was no need to feel strange.

This plan that involved a three-way strategy could be said to be an inevitable outcome.

The main content was as follows.

After the formal treaty, the Tiaoman Empire must declare war on the Bulan Kingdom within two months following the strategic embargo, no later than May 1st.

If the Tiaoman Empire could not ensure that the Locke Republic remained neutral, it would have to bear the burden of the war on the West Continent’s Western Front alone. If an attack had to be launched against the Locke Republic, the Tiaoman Empire would need to begin mobilizing for war at least a month in advance, no later than April 1st.

The main reason for making dual preparations was actually because the Tiaoman Empire did not want to go to war with the Locke Republic.

Although the Tiaoman Empire’s negotiators did not stress bringing the Locke Republic into the alliance, they consistently stated that going to war with Locke was not a necessary choice.

After the Tiaoman Empire began its mobilization, for the purpose of strategic deception, the Liangxia Empire would transfer 3,000 tanks, 2,000 heavy artillery pieces, 10,000 military trucks, 1,000 combat aircraft, and 500 railroad locomotives to the Luosha Federation under the guise of joint-defense pre-war deployment. However, Liangxia would only dispatch combat personnel to the Luosha Federation in accordance with the agreement after the Tiaoman Empire formally entered the war.

By doing so, they were actually using the military equipment as collateral for security guarantees.

At its core, the Luosha Federation did not trust either the Liangxia Empire or the Tiaoman Empire, hence they demanded these collateral items to strengthen their own defensive capabilities.

Corresponding to the demands were obligations.

Within a month after the Tiaoman Empire formally declared war on the Bulan Kingdom, that is, by June 1st, the Luosha Federation had to dispatch troops to assist the Tiaoman Empire in sweeping through the eastern region of the West Continent, attacking and occupying several small countries between the two, eliminating Tiaoman’s concerns about its rear.

With this, the first phase of the strategic offensive would be completed.

In this stage, the primary goal was just one.

To clear the ground traffic line from the Liangxia Empire to the Tiaoman Empire, ensuring that at any time, a continuous supply of weapons, equipment, ammunition, and resources could be transported to the Tiaoman Empire.

The Luosha Federation would also benefit from this.

Then came the second phase of the strategic offensive.

By the first day of the latter half of the year, that is, July 1st, the Tiaoman Empire had to impose a submarine-based strategic blockade on the Bulan Kingdom.

According to the situation of the war, it was decided whether to conduct strategic bombing.

If needed, the Liangxia Empire would provide one thousand five hundred twin-engine bombers to the Tiaoman Empire before July 1, with another one thousand five hundred to follow in the second half of the year.

Similarly, depending on the actual situation, it was decided whether to send pilots to participate in the war.

Because there were too many uncertainties, there were no rigid regulations regarding strategic bombing.

On the side of the Luosha Federation, a "Southern Advancement" operation would be launched simultaneously. Through the Chains Land Bridge between the Mo Sea and the Broad Sea, troops would be dispatched to attack Boi Country, which was controlled by the Bulan Kingdom.

If the Luosha Army achieved a significant breakthrough before October 1, the Liangxia Empire would dispatch the Army and Air Force to launch a coordinated attack in the direction of Fanluo.

If no breakthroughs were achieved, the Liangxia Empire guaranteed to dispatch a fleet to the Fan Flame Ocean by the end of the year or at the latest by the beginning of the following year.

At this stage, the Luosha Federation was quite proactive, primarily driven by the goal of securing an "Ice-free Port."

Since Emperor Peter, for the subsequent hundreds of years, the Luosha Empire had been striving to push southward with the aim of acquiring a port that would not freeze over in winter.

Even now, the Luosha Federation had not abandoned this goal.

Because they were blocked to the east by the Liangxia Empire, and the Tiaoman Empire lay to the west, the only way out for the Luosha Federation was to head south from the Chains Land Bridge into the Fan Flame Ocean.

On the side of the East Ocean, the Liangxia Empire also planned to launch an offensive of equal magnitude.

However, there were two sets of plans depending on the actual situation of the war.

If the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom was defeated, or completely lost its threat, the Liangxia Empire would have to launch an offensive against Lion Spring City within the year, to seize and control the Throat Strait leading into the Fan Flame Ocean and ensure that a fleet could be immediately dispatched into the Fan Flame Ocean when needed.

If the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom was not defeated, or the Newland Federation had already entered the war, the Liangxia Navy would have to focus its main force on confronting a formidable enemy in the East Ocean, subsequently deploying troops to the Toe Peninsula within the year, and advancing southward along the Toe Peninsula both southward and eastward, marching overland to Lion Spring City and Fanluo.

There was only one key point.

Once entering the second phase, the Liangxia Empire could no longer stay detached and had to take action to align with the two allies.

Of course, this amounted to acknowledging the significant threat posed by the Newland Federation.

Although both the Tiaoman Empire and Luosha Federation emphasized the threat from the Bulan Kingdom, suggesting the focus should be to the west, neither denied that in the long term, the true enemy was the Newland Federation. It was for this reason that the Liangxia Empire needed to focus its main force on the East Ocean.

With the foundation set by the second phase, what followed would be more straightforward.

In the subsequent offensive, forces would still be divided into three paths, but with greater emphasis on coordinated operations.

On the western front, the Tiaoman Empire would advance southward, aiming to sweep the northern shores of the Land Heart Sea and, when appropriate, advance southeastward to meet up with the Luosha Army.

In the center, after reaching the northern shore of Boss Bay, the Luosha Army would split into two groups.

One would head west, first trying to persuade the Ter Republic to join the alliance or otherwise join forces with the Tiaoman Army to capture the region as quickly as possible.

The other would push eastward toward Fanluo, coordinating with the Liangxia Army to encircle and strike the Bulan forces in the region.

On the eastern front, the Liangxia Empire would focus on the areas surrounding the Flame Sea. After assuring strategic dominance in the East Ocean, the priority would be to march toward the Southwest of the East Ocean.

The primary strategic objective was not to attack Ao Country, but to prevent the Newland Federation from deploying troops to the Fan Flame Ocean.

On this basis, consideration would be given to offensives targeting the Toe Peninsula and the Gangaro Plain, with the main effort being a ground push.

Since the sea routes connecting the three parties could not bypass the Fan Flame Ocean, it was essential to ensure control of the Fan Flame Ocean.

Relatively speaking, the strategic offensive planned for the third phase was subject to much broader limitations.

This was unavoidable, as there were too many uncertainties on the battlefield, which could not be fully predicted, and detailed planning was, therefore, impossible.

However, the strategic offensive plans for the first two phases were frightening enough.