Dejo, Prime Minister's Office.

Before dawn, Tigara summoned all the members of the wartime cabinet and senior military generals to discuss countermeasures for the situation in the southern and western theaters.

Despite that, none of the officials or generals present at the meeting expressed their opinions, except for a briefing by a senior staff officer arranged by the military. In view of the current war situation, there is actually nothing to say. As everyone knows, the main purpose of the emergency meeting was to strengthen the prestige of the leadership, to counteract the impact of the defeat, and to ensure that the entire Van Luo kingdom, especially the army, remained under his command.

As for the war, it still has to be carried out as usual. The so-called countermeasures do not need to be discussed at such high-level meetings.

In the Southern Theater, the Van Rowe Army will gradually transfer the command of air operations to the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force as planned, and the generals sent by the Nuland Air Force will serve as the commander-in-chief, so as to reduce the operational burden of the Van Rowe Air Force.

It's just that the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force is by no means a panacea.

Unless sea routes can be opened, the Nuland expeditionary air force will only hold out for a few months at most, and then it will be incapacitated because there are no aircraft available. As for the combat planes that were sent before the war, even if they could be used normally after being put together, it would be a drop in the bucket. The only thing that can be counted on before the sea route is opened is to use submarines to transport some key consumables, such as very fragile electronic equipment, parts with a short service life, and special fluids that Van Luo Guo cannot produce.

All in all, no matter how powerful the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force is, it is also a rootless duckweed.

What can really be counted on is the Deccan Plateau, which covers most of the Van Luo Peninsula in the south of the Gangara Plain.

In other words, even if the Eastern Coalition landed in the south, it would need to cross the Deccan Plateau in order to advance the front to the Gangaro Plain.

With the terrible roads and railways of the country of Van Luo, marching on the Deccan plateau was an absolute disaster.

As for advancing along the coastline, it will be not much more difficult to fight because it is necessary to seize the port as a base for logistical support.

Crucially, the southern region is not an uninhabited desert.

In addition to the coastal cities, there are many towns and cities in the Deccan Plateau, as well as a number of large cities, and the southern region has a total population of 300 million.

Theoretically, the occupation of the southern region would require the mobilization of at least 1 million ground troops.

At the beginning of the war, where did the Liangxia Empire go to find 1 million ground troops?

Moreover, it is necessary to provide logistical support for the occupying forces.

Not to mention the armed resistance that will definitely be encountered, even if there is no resistance, it will not be worth the loss to send a million troops to occupy the southern part of the Van Luo Kingdom.

It is precisely because of this that even Tigara believes that the Eastern coalition army will not invest heavy troops in the southern battlefield, at most it will seize a few coastal port cities, gain a few footholds, and then use aviation and long-range artillery to strike at the inland areas, and let the retreating Vatican army retreat inland without a fight through long-range blockade and strikes. As long as the blockade lasts for a few months, the 200 million civilians living inland will be the Vatican army's number one nuisance.

There is nothing wrong with this judgment.

As mentioned earlier, no matter what the battle plan is, it does not contemplate the capture of the southern part of the kingdom, especially the hinterland.

With the current strategic situation, the focus is on the western theater.

The western battlefield divided by the Van Luo Kingdom is the southwest battlefield of the Eastern Coalition Army.

According to the population distribution, the kingdom can be roughly divided into three parts, namely the northwest region, the northern region and the southern region. According to unofficial statistics, the population size of all three regions is around 300 million, and there is no significant difference.

When you change it to population density, the disparity is obvious.

The Northwest Territories is less than 300,000 square kilometers, accounting for 8% of the country's total land area, but it supports more than 300 million people. The northern region is close to 500,000 square kilometers, accounting for 15%, and has a population of more than 300 million. The southern region is more than 1.4 million square kilometers, accounting for more than 40%, with a population of less than 300 million.

It can be seen that the population density is highest in the northwest region, while the lowest in the southern region.

If you calculate the value of agricultural output, the northern region is the absolute first.

The total area of the country is between 2.4 billion mu and 2.7 billion mu, which is the second in the world, less than 10% less than the Nuland Republic, and at least 200 million mu more than the Liangxia Empire. In terms of grain production capacity, Van Luo ranks third in the world, second only to the Liangxia Empire and the Nuland Republic.

Of the more than 2 billion acres of cultivated land, the Gangaro Plain accounts for 4 percent.

Thanks to the good light and heat conditions, abundant rainfall, and fertile soil, the Ganghalo Plain has always been the granary of the kingdom of Van Luo. Relying on 40% of the arable land, it produces almost three-quarters of the food, feeds more than 700 million Brahmans, and can even be used to export to earn foreign exchange.

In fact, Van Luo has always been one of the world's largest rice exporters.

Looking at the natural factors alone, the Gangaro Plain, which was formed by the Gangaro River alluvial for tens of millions of years, is definitely the most suitable place for agriculture on this planet. In the case of rice, only the Gangaro Plain can be harvested three times a year at the same latitude, and it does not require the use of large amounts of chemical fertilizers.

The silt washed down from the Infinite Plateau is thousands of meters thick, making it suitable for cultivation even after a few thousand years.

Crucially, Van Luo is still a typical agricultural country, with more than 80% of the country's population living in rural areas and mainly engaged in agricultural production. Even in urban areas, many are in the primary sector or related to agriculture, such as food processing and the sale of farm tools.

From this point of view, the importance of the northern region is not lower than that of the northwest region.

Although geographically, the northwest region is closely connected with the northern region, and together constitute the "Van Luo River-Ganga River Corridor" that runs through the Van Luo country from west to east, and this is also the basic plate of the Van Luo country, but in the southwest direction of this corridor, there is a relatively obvious gap, that is, the Malwa Plateau located in the northwest of the Deccan Plateau, the west of the Ganghala Plain, and hundreds of kilometers south of the Decheng Plateau.

It is said to be a plateau, but in fact it is more like a hilly area.

If the Gangaro Plain is the first step, then the Malwa Plateau is the second step.

That is, if the enemy enters from the west and then advances east along the Malwa plateau, it will be able to cut off the north-western region from the northern regions.

More importantly, the Northwest Plateau, where Decheng is located, also belongs to the second stage at the geographical level.

To put it bluntly, after taking control of the Malwa Plateau, the Eastern Coalition could either attack Decheng in the north, or go south to conquer the Deccan Plateau, and sweep the Gangaro Plain to the west. Conversely, as long as the Van army loses the Malwa Plateau, it will inevitably be in a situation of losing ground.

As early as 6 years ago, the Van Rowe authorities recognized the value of the Malwa Plateau.

As mentioned earlier, before Zhou Yongtao became the first assistant of the empire, the Nuland Republic relied on the SR-71A "Blackbird" 3 times sonic reconnaissance aircraft to take the lead in service, and used the military base rented in the country of Van Luo to conduct strategic reconnaissance on the empire's mainland, which eventually led to a serious military confrontation.

At that time, the empire sent three additional main divisions to the southern part of the Pakistan Railway, and put on a posture of preparing to fight on the ground.

Of these three divisions, only one was deployed in the port of Kara, and the other two divisions were in Helpur to the north, directly facing the Malwa Plateau.

The strategic intent of the Imperial Army was very obvious, and after the start of the battle, it attacked eastward at full speed.

As long as the armored forces of the Imperial Army stood on the Malwa Plateau, the Van Luo Kingdom would surely be defeated.

Subsequently, it was the turn of the ground forces deployed in the southwestern region of the country to attack from the east, sweeping the northeast and northern regions of the kingdom.

According to the relevant information released later, the Van Luo Kingdom and the Nuland Republic conducted several war games, and the conclusion was that the Van Luo Kingdom would be defeated within a month, and the Nuland Republic was beyond the whip, and there was no way to complete the mobilization before the defeat of the Van Luo State. In the end, there is a high possibility that the Kingdom of Van Luo will be forcibly dismembered by the Liang Xia Empire, or that the Liang Xia Empire will take this opportunity to solve the big trouble.

Not to mention 3 divisions, only 1 armored division is needed to break through the border defense line of the Vatican army.

Because there is indeed no danger to defend in this direction, and no preliminary deployment has been made, even if the Van army has sufficient troops, it will not be able to stop the sharp edge of the imperial army.

Theoretically, as long as there were no logistical problems, the Imperial Army would be able to reach Kota within a week.

It was precisely for this reason that when the confrontation was about to turn into war, the Van Rowe authorities issued an eviction order, and the Nuland Air Force subsequently withdrew the "Blackbird" reconnaissance aircraft deployed in the territory of Van Roe. In order to reassure the Liang Xia Empire, Fan Luo Guo also invited the diplomatic military attachés of the Liang Xia Empire to visit the air base where the "Blackbird" was deployed, and dismantled the hangar and other infrastructure used to provide support for the "Blackbird" in front of the military attaché.

After that, the Van Luo Kingdom began to strengthen the western defense line.

Because it needed to face the Imperial Army, the Van Luo Army did not spend much energy on building a border defense line, nor did it pin its hopes on defensive positions.

In this direction, the only one that can be relied on is the Van Luo Desert.

To this end, the Van Rowe Army constructed two strategic lines of defense based on roads and railways. The point is that these two lines of defense are generally V-shaped, which not only serves to shield the capital city of Decheng, but also can force the enemy from the west to move south, that is, deep into the Van Luo Desert.

The western defensive line runs from Bikaner to Jaipur, while the eastern defensive line runs from Decheng to Jaipur.

It's just that these two V-shaped lines of defense have a very obvious shortcoming, there is not enough room to expand to the south, and there are high requirements for the defense forces.

To put it bluntly, if the Van Roh Army wishes to rely on these two lines of defense, to be more precise, the ground forces deployed at the central point, that is, Jaipur, to block the enemy advancing on the Malwa Plateau, it must have extremely high tactical mobility and be able to maneuver on a wide range of battlefields.

If nothing else, the Van army, from its forward positions near Jaipur, needed to strike at least 100 kilometers south to pose a threat to the enemy.

Obviously, this request is indeed difficult for the Vatican army.

Not to mention in wartime, even in peacetime, allowing the armored troops of the Van army to travel 100 kilometers quickly will encounter all kinds of difficulties.

In wartime, without air supremacy, why should armored forces carry out large-scale battlefield maneuvers?

What's more, the actual required assault distance is definitely more than 100 kilometers.

In addition, the Van army took the initiative to attack and fight in the field, and the Liangxia army must have been unable to ask for it.

It was in this way that the Vatican army added several defensive support points to the outside of this line, Amejel and Jotril to the west of Jaipur, and Kota and Udaipur to the south of Jaipur, and expanded the defensive line, or established two new defensive lines, based on these support points.

In this way, the defense zone was expanded to the western part of the Malwa Plateau, as well as the eastern part of the Van Luo Desert.

According to the deployment of the Van army, or the tactical scenario, if the eastern coalition forces attack from the west and aim to capture the Marwa Plateau, then no matter which direction they advance, they will need to break through at least two lines of defense, and the Vatican army can make full use of the time gained to adjust the defensive deployment.

The point is that the main forces can be deployed near Jaipur instead of being scattered along the entire defensive line.

That is, according to this set of tactics, the main forces of the Vatican army on the western battlefield were near Jaipur, and almost all of the troops guarding the forward defense line were second-line troops.

Another advantage of this deployment is that it is more convenient for management and training.

Of course, it can also significantly reduce military spending, that is, daily expenses.

There is nothing wrong with this defensive deployment itself, but the question is whether the Vatican Army can translate operational ideas into actual operations.

The key, in fact, is the aforementioned battlefield mobility of the Vatican army.

If it is impossible to quickly maneuver on the battlefield, no matter how solid the defensive line is, it is a decoration, and even a traditional positional defensive battle must rely on reserves to launch a counterattack.

In response to this problem, the Vatican army has also made adjustments, to be precise, pinning its hopes on its allies.

That's right, it's the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force.

According to the requirements of the Vatican army, dozens of A-10As of the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force were deployed in Agra, east of Jaipur, with the main mission of supporting the troops in the western theater of operations, destroying the enemy's armored forces and weakening the enemy's assault force after the enemy launched a surprise attack.

The point is, the A-10A is one of the most powerful purpose-built attack aircraft available today, and is known as the nemesis of tanks.

As long as it can thwart the enemy's spirit and slow down the enemy's advance, the Vatican army can calmly complete the mobilization of troops, and there is no need to even carry out a large-scale battlefield maneuver.

It can be seen that the wishful thinking of the Van army is very loud.

It's just that whether it can be achieved or not has to be said.

Actually, this is also the reason why Tigara is angry.

The ground battle has begun, and none of the generals in high positions have given a clear statement, and they are all dumb when it comes to the direction of the battle.

Usually, those guys are full of confidence, as if they have a chance to win.

However, Tigara is also very clear that the responsibility is not entirely on the generals, because the current situation is far from what was predicted in the past.

In previous repertures, the enemy attacked from the side of Khairpur and Sukkur.

This time, however, the Eastern Coalition forces marched from Hydebara along the roads and railways in the southern part of the Van Lo Desert, with the line of attack south of the defensive line. If the Eastern Coalition had taken Balmel and then turned south and marched into Gujarat, the Vaticans' carefully placed defensive line would have been worthless. When the time comes, not only will Gujarat be lost, but the flanks will be exposed, and it will lead to a fiasco at the strategic level.

As long as the Eastern Coalition forces invest enough troops, they can even divide the Van Luo Kingdom into three, that is, complete the strategic cutting of the Deccan Plateau in the south at the same time.

If that happens, the consequences will be unimaginable.

So, what to do!?

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