Empire Conquest
Chapter 379 - 375: Stand Out on Your Own

Chapter 379: Chapter 375: Stand Out on Your Own

Xue Yuanzheng sought out Bai Zhizhan and Liu Xiangzhen, not to ask them for strategy.

The strategic situation was laid out before them, and both Bai Zhizhan and Liu Xiangzhen understood it clearly. Was it really beyond Xue Yuanzheng?

He intended for them to propose countermeasures.

To many, the declaration of war by Bulan Kingdom on Liangxia Empire, followed by declarations of war between Tiaoman Empire and Newland Federation, signaled the full outbreak of the Second Global War just a few days before. But in Xue Yuanzheng’s words, it wasn’t fully underway until the Luosha Federation officially entered the war.

Prior to this, the Luosha Federation’s military actions had been mostly directed against the countries that had splintered off from the Luosha Empire.

While Luosha Army forces on the south side of the Chains Land Bridge had already crossed the border and invaded Boi Country, the Luosha Federation had not yet declared war on Boi Country, and its suzerain, Bulan Kingdom, hadn’t declared war on the Luosha Federation either, so it didn’t count as official participation in the war.

Of course, whether it was counted or not was actually inconsequential.

Liu Xiangzhen was the first to respond after Xue Yuanzheng posed the question regarding the strategy that would ensure the Empire’s momentum of victory.

Bai Zhizhan simply kept quiet the whole time, resulting in Liu Xiangzhen losing his patience first.

It wasn’t that Liu Xiangzhen was less patient than Bai Zhizhan, but he had rushed back overnight and attended meetings all day. He was thoroughly exhausted.

Bai Zhizhan had returned to the Imperial Capital a day earlier to recuperate and was in good spirits.

Addressing the issue raised by Xue Yuanzheng, Liu Xiangzhen only emphasized one point: to maintain the momentum of victory by securing an even more significant win in the near future.

Implicitly, this meant stabilizing the Luosha Federation through victory.

As long as the Consortium Group could secure the final victory, then no matter how great the inducements offered by Newland Federation, the leaders of the Luosha Federation would not be swayed.

Even the most foolish would not join a side that was certain to be defeated.

Liu Xiangzhen overlooked a key issue.

The victories he mentioned were all predicated on the Luosha Federation remaining within the Consortium Group and did not take into account the effects of a defection by the Luosha Federation.

That is to say, there was no proof that the Consortium Group could still secure the final victory after the Luosha Federation defected.

Of course, no one could prove this point.

The impact of the Luosha Federation’s defection had long been considered by the Army.

After such a defection, the most likely scenario would be to use space in exchange for time on the eastern front, employing scorched earth tactics to slow down the advance of Liangxia forces while preparing to staunchly defend Leaf Castle, ensuring that in the worst-case scenario, Liangxia forces could still be held at bay outside of the West Continent.

At the same time, the Luosha Army would concentrate heavy forces on the Western Front to strike quickly against the Tiaoman Empire.

As long as they could achieve the element of surprise and maintain control during the first few months of the war, the Luosha Army might hope to defeat the Tiaoman Empire before Leaf Castle fell.

The key point was that the Tiaoman Empire lacked strategic depth in the east.

As a result, the chances of the Tiaoman Empire’s defeat were very high.

In the Army’s war games simulations, the probability of Tiaoman Empire’s defeat within six months exceeded 50 percent, with less than a 20 percent chance of holding out for a year. Conversely, the Liangxia Army had less than a 50 percent chance of capturing Leaf Castle and crossing the Ula Mountain within a year.

At least in probabilistic terms, the Tiaoman Empire’s defeat was unavoidable.

At that point, all that would remain of the Consortium Group would be the Liangxia Empire and vassal states like the Gaoju Kingdom.

Liu Xiangzhen wasn’t unaware of this; he was deliberately avoiding the issue.

Unlike Liu Xiangzhen, Bai Zhizhan emphasized this problem.

Since the defection by the Luosha Empire was inevitable, it was pointless to harbor too much hope, and one should prepare for hard times.

To be precise, it meant preparing for a long-term war.

Bai Zhizhan particularly underscored this point about a protracted war.

The fear of a protracted war was not unique to the Liangxia Empire but shared by all belligerent nations.

The last major conflict had devolved into a war of attrition, resulting in both sides suffering heavy losses. Even so-called victorious nations gained little in terms of war dividends.

Looking more long-term, however, it actually could play to the Empire’s advantage.

As Bai Zhizhan put it, the Empire had been "sleeping on sticks and tasting gall" for twenty years. The preparedness efforts had mainly manifested on the spiritual and ideological levels, meaning that the tolerance of the Empire’s military and civilians for war exceeded that of the other Great Powers; plus, the Empire possessed the world’s most comprehensive and, equally, the most reasonable mobilization mechanism.

In terms of traditional culture, the Empire also held a tremendous advantage.

Clearly, this was a very unique viewpoint.

Prompted by Xue Yuanzheng’s questions, Bai Zhizhan elaborated further.

The Luosha Federation was not the Empire’s primary adversary—even if the Tiaoman Empire were to fall and be besieged on all sides, as long as they fully utilized the geographic environment surrounding their homeland, they could certainly repel invaders at the nation’s gates. At the very least, it would be nearly impossible for enemies to invade the core regions of the Empire from land.

Given this, there was no need to worry about battles on land.

The Empire’s number one adversary had always been the Newland Federation.

Of course, this was somewhat of an overstatement.

The reality was that, for over twenty years since the last great war, the Newland Federation, located across the East Ocean, posed the most significant threat to the Empire.

As a typical modern industrialized power, the Newland Federation shared many similarities with the Liangxia Empire.

For instance, neither could withstand the tumult of a war of attrition.

Lacking a dominant ethnic group, let alone a culture formed by thousands of years of history and the accretion of time, the Newland Federation’s endurance in the face of prolonged high-intensity warfare fell short compared to the Liangxia Empire, and the Newland public would grow weary of the war’s impact sooner.

Thus, the key to defeating the Newland Federation was to wage a protracted war.

In practical terms, this meant creating a sustained, unhealable wound for the Newland Federation.

Guan Island was the ideal choice!

Because Guan Island faced the West East Ocean directly toward the Empire’s homeland, the Newland Federation would never willingly give up Guan Island, regardless of whether Nanzhu Country fell or not.

If the importance of Guan Island to the Empire could be reinforced, then even if it became a hell ravaged by blood and fire, the Newland Army would never retreat from Guan Island. Instead, they would see it as an ideal place to sap the Empire’s military strength, committing more troops to a war of attrition against the Empire.

Of course, the Newland Federation would also be drained in the process.

In fact, this was the strategy Bai Zhizhan had proposed.

To wage a bloody battle for Guan Island, and through propaganda and various means, amplify the importance of Guan Island to lure and force the Newland Federation to deploy heavy forces there.

As long as the Newland Army faced battle, all would be well.

As for fighting in other directions, those were secondary concerns.

According to Bai Zhizhan’s judgment, the struggle over Guan Island was to be the first decisive turning point of the East Ocean War.

Whoever wins will seize strategic initiative.

The losing side, for a considerable period to come before the next decisive naval battle arrives, can only passively defend.

The crux of the matter was that there might not be another decisive naval battle.

This battle was one that neither the Liangxia Empire nor the Newland Federation could afford to lose.

With both sides unable to afford a loss, they had no choice but to engage in a decisive battle to the death!

If possible, support should indeed be provided to the Tiaoman Empire, but as Xue Yuanzheng worried, there was still no room to provoke the Luosha Federation for the time being.

In fact, Bai Zhizhan did not discuss ground combat much; he merely emphasized the necessity of attacking Guan Island.

Additionally, there was absolutely no direct attack on Guan Island.