On the night of August 5, the official residence of the first assistant of the imperial capital.

The rainstorm in the evening diluted the heat and brought a rare cool breath.

After dinner, Zhou Yongtao went to the back garden.

After lasting more than half a month of scorching heat, Zhou Yongtao was fed up with the smell in the air-conditioned room, and finally cooled down, how could he miss the precious opportunity to come out and enjoy the coolness.

It's also a rare free time, even if it's just for a few hours.

Three days ago, the second round of strikes was postponed by two days after the Saudi-led group of oil-producing countries on the southern shore of Posha Bay came forward to mediate a peaceful solution to the crisis, persuade Hussein to withdraw his troops from Kuwait, and recognize Kuwait as an independent state.

Strictly speaking, the group of oil-producing countries is buying time for the Liangxia Empire, but also for the joint forces.

The reason for this is that in the early hours of 4 August, it was impossible to complete the operational deployment in any case, and it was impossible to launch a second round of strikes on the premise of ensuring that the main military bases such as King Khalid Military City were not threatened, resulting in a significant reduction in operational efficiency.

At that time, even the aircraft carrier battle group of the Imperial Navy could not be deployed on time.

On Lu Xinhai's side, the "Lian Xusheng" aircraft carrier battle group will not reach the waters off Lebanon until the night of 5 August at the earliest. On Fanyanyang's side, the "Bai Zhizhan" aircraft carrier battle group and the "Liu Changxun" aircraft carrier battle group will not be deployed until the afternoon of 5 August to reach the northern waters of the Mua Sea. If the second round of operations is launched in the early morning of the 4th as planned, the Navy will only be able to put into operation 3 aircraft carrier battle groups.

Actually, the key is on the side of the Air Force.

By the night of the 3rd, there were only six tactical aviation wings deployed in combat units, and although there were more than 300 combat planes in total, less than 200 had completed combat readiness, of which the DA part was air supremacy fighters, and the total number of multi-role fighters was less than 100.

With two more days, the Air Force will be able to send four additional tactical aviation wings to Saudi Arabia, with more than 600 combat aircraft, and be ready for combat.

This includes at least 40 Battle-16A.

In addition, during these two days, the Air Force will be able to deploy a set of "Sharpshooter" long-range air defense systems to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

This is also key to ensuring that the Saudis continue to provide support to the joint forces.

According to the Saudis, if the combined forces are unable to ensure the basic security of their homeland, the Saudis will have to reconsider their position in the war.

However, the most important thing is actually the joint force itself.

It is called a joint force, and it is certain that not only the Liangxia Empire will send troops, but also other countries will have to send troops to participate in the war.

So far, the countries that have agreed to participate in the war are: Gaoju Kingdom, Daiman Kingdom, Nanzhi Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Nanzhu Kingdom, Malai Kingdom, Shiquan City, Pakistan Railway, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Federal Republic of Luosha, Sayi Imperial Kingdom and Austrian State, of which the Sayi Kingdom and Austria only provide logistical support.

On this basis, the Joint Forces Command was officially inaugurated on August 3.

Sending troops to war is certainly not as simple as a slogan, and action must be taken.

The most active was the Kingdom of High Ju, which promised to send an air wing with 160 fighters to participate in the battle, under the direct command of the Combined Forces Command. The Daiman Kingdom also promised to send 100 fighter jets, and several hardcore allies such as Sri Lanka and Malai would send aviation troops to the war.

This means that it takes time to solve problems such as communications, command, etc.

Of course, there are no problems at the command level.

The three-legged power situation lasted for decades, preparing for a global war for decades, and the empire had long since completed its control of the allies at the military level.

To be precise, a military command system with the empire as the absolute core was established.

All allies included in the system were required to submit unconditionally to imperial command in wartime, that is, to surrender military command under the collective defense mechanism.

The dispatch of troops to Poshawan is more like testing this command system.

In addition to completing the forward deployment, sending troops to the Posha Bay area, and stationing in the military bases provided by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and other countries, the most critical preparation before entering the war, that is, to negotiate and assign combat missions to bring the value of the allies into play.

Actually, this is also the most troublesome part.

Combat missions are certainly difficult and easy, and contradictions will inevitably arise in the assignment of tasks, and this will even have an impact on the unity of the joint forces.

Of course, it takes more time.

Fortunately, the relevant division of labor has already been determined in peacetime and has determined the basic composition of the armed forces of the allies, so the biggest problem among the major allies that have sent troops is to clarify the order of tactical tasks and integrate the participating forces of the allies into the joint forces.

It is precisely because of this that the launch of the second phase of the crackdown was postponed from the early morning of the 4th to the early morning of the 6th.

In order to gain two days, or to stabilize the authorities in Baghdad and prevent Hussein from taking risks during these two days, the group of oil-producing countries on the southern shore of Posha Bay headed by Saudi Arabia came forward to mediate diplomatically, nominally striving for a peaceful settlement of the dispute.

In fact, Iraq is also a member of the Group of Oil-Producing Countries.

In addition, most countries have severed diplomatic relations with Kuwait following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

In the past few days, nothing major has happened.

If anything, on the day of the war, air battles during the day, and ground battles at night, and ground battles were not hyped up.

As for the diplomatic mediation, it is clear that it has been fruitless.

Hussein rejected the demands of the group of oil-producing countries, claiming that Kuwait was originally a province of Iraq and a sacred and inviolable territory of Iraq, so his troops to Kuwait were reconquests, not invasions of a sovereign state.

Following the failure of the good offices, this morning, the Group of Oil-Producing Countries announced Iraq's expulsion from membership.

Subsequently, under the leadership of Saudi Arabia, the members of the oil-producing group announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Iraq.

At this point, all avenues for a diplomatic solution have been blocked.

Due to the time difference, Zhou Yongtao received the news that the diplomatic mediation had failed in the evening, and then signed the first order to launch the second round of military operations before dinner.

Although he never had hope for diplomatic mediation, he knew that sooner or later he would sign the power of attorney, and he asked Luo Youbin to prepare the relevant documents early, and even the pen for signing was prepared in advance, but when he signed his name, Zhou Yongtao's mood was still very complicated.

To say, this is the main reason why he came to the garden.

Is this just a local war?

In fact, just before receiving the final news, Zhou Yongtao signed another first auxiliary order, appointing the former chief of staff of the Northwest Theater as the acting commander.

This appointment is related to the combat readiness order issued by the General Staff.

According to the current command system, only the commander has the authority to issue combat readiness orders, and the power of the theater chief of staff is very limited, and he cannot overstep his authority.

After becoming the acting commander, there is no problem of insufficient authority.

In any case, it is only a regional war of limited scale, and there is no need to break the rules.

Besides, Shi Zhiliang is in the Joint Forces Command, and he can't manage the affairs of the Northwest Theater.

The key is the combat readiness order issued by the General Staff.

The General Staff was the highest military command body of the Empire, so orders related to combat and training had to be issued by the General Staff.

At this moment, the millions of imperial soldiers deployed around the world have entered a state of combat readiness.

This was the first time after the end of the Polish-Iranian War that the Empire had brought its entire armed forces into combat readiness.

In Qin Fenglie's words, this is a precaution.

Zhou Yongtao didn't object, because that's what he meant.

If we can increase the combat readiness of the troops and produce enough deterrent effect to discourage the Empire and the Nuland Republic from thinking about military adventures, we can control the scale of the war, or prevent this regional war, which does not have much suspense, from developing into a global war.

So, did the Empire's military deployment have a sufficiently large deterrent effect?

If you want to say it, Zhou Yongtao didn't think about this problem at all, after all, there is not much point in guessing.

When Lin Shiping arrived, he was pruning the phalaenopsis that had been transplanted this spring.

"Have you had dinner?"

Zhou Yongtao didn't look back, and when he heard the footsteps, he knew that it was Lin Shiping who was coming, because only Lin Shiping could deliberately control the footsteps when he was walking fast.

"Ate on the way over."

When Lin Shiping approached, Zhou Yongtao put down the scissors in his hand.

"I just received the news that Norman has returned to Tehran, and the Nuland Air Force has also sent an additional batch of support military aircraft to the Central Theater today."

Zhou Yongtao nodded slightly, pointed to the water cup placed on the stone bench, and asked Lin Shiping to drink saliva.

This Norman has always been the focus of the military intelligence agency's surveillance.

Not only because he was the commander of the Nuland Central Theater of Operations, but also because he was one of the most talented senior generals in the Nuland army.

In previous years, Norman had been commanding imaginary enemy forces during joint exercises held by Nuland's army, and had won the confrontational phase for several years in a row.

The imaginary enemy troops commanded by Norman play the role of the Liang Xia army!

To put it simply, Norman was the general in the Nuland army who knew Liang Xia's army best.

In fact, he also became the commander of the Central Theater of Operations because of this.

The Nuland Army's "Central Theater" refers to the center of the World Island, the Crescent Region.

To the north of the Crescent Moon region is the West Continent, to the west is the Luxin Sea, to the southwest is connected to the Xuan Continent, to the southeast is bordered by the Fanyan Ocean, and to the east is the Huge Continent.

Geographically, the Crescent region is located right in the center of the World Island, at the crossroads of civilizations.

Since ancient times, the region has been a battleground for soldiers.

It is precisely because of this that among the Nuland army, the importance of the Central Theater is very high, second only to the Guia Theater of Operations, which directly faces the Liang Xia Empire.

In addition, the Central Theater is a typical multi-service joint theater.

Comparatively speaking, the Guia Theater has always been dominated by the Navy.

In other words, only the most capable army generals are qualified to become the commander of the Central Theater of Operations.

Since the secret alliance with the Boi State and the establishment of the Central Theater, the successive commanders of the Central Theater have all been Army Generals Nuland.

It is precisely for this reason that successive commanders of the Central Theater of Operations have been the focus of the Imperial Military Intelligence Bureau.

Lin Shiping sent the news three days ago that Norman had secretly returned to Hwaseong and went directly to the Gray Palace after arriving.

At that time, Lin Shiping told Zhou Yongtao that the Republic of Nuland might be preparing for war.

It's just that Lin Shiping also feels that it is unlikely that the Nuland Republic will enter the war, and at most it will secretly support the Manman Empire.

The point is, the Nuland Republic is not sure of victory.

Even if it had been premeditated and prepared months in advance, it would have been impossible for the Nuland authorities to send the country into a state of war without any reason.

Without mobilization for war, the Nuland regime had no reason to believe that it would be able to win a global war that would suddenly erupt.

Here's the point.

As long as the Republic of Nuland directly sends troops to Posha Bay, this regional war will immediately turn into a global war!

Do Nuland's leaders have the determination and courage to fight a global war?

However, it also supports another fear, that the Nuland administration will support Iraq during the war, either indirectly or through advocates.

It is precisely because of this that Zhou Yongtao asked Lin Shiping to strengthen surveillance.

After reading the information brought by Lin Shiping, Zhou Yongtao's expression has become very solemn.

The Nuland Air Force sent to Poland mainly includes large aircraft such as early warning command planes and electronic reconnaissance planes, and their main purpose is battlefield reconnaissance and surveillance.

Theoretically, a large early warning command aircraft of the "Finger-8C" level, such as the E-3C of the Nuland Air Force, can monitor the entire Posha Bay by flying in the airspace of Poland, and then send the battlefield information it has to Iraq's air defense command center through a tactical data link.

This also proves that Zhou Yongtao's worries are not groundless.

The Nuland administration will certainly cheer Iraq up with its actions, and through this war, it will grasp the fruits of Liangxia's military reform.

There's nothing surprising about that, though.

From another point of view, the Liang Xia army will also make similar arrangements.

"But there's another piece of good news."

"What's the good news?"

"Prime Minister Koji has pledged that if the war costs exceed the forecast, he will be willing to bear more costs, but he hopes to be able to get more benefits after the war."

Zhou Yongtao was stunned, obviously not understanding what Lin Shiping meant.

"It's just quotas for importing oil, as well as participating in the exploitation of local oil fields. In any case, the Imperial State was highly dependent on oil from Posha Bay. ”

"That's it?"

Lin Shiping smiled reluctantly, he had already guessed that Zhou Yongtao would have such an unshaven expression after hearing about it.

In any case, the Imperial Kingdom of Narrowness is just that ambitious.

According to Zhou Yongtao's words, it is a mouse's eye.

In fact, for a defeated country that was deprived of even its basic sovereignty, the prime minister of the Narrow Imperial State dared to make a demand, which was already a great progress.

"Well, isn't it just about importing oil?"

"If that's the case, I'll go and talk back."

"One more thing."

Lin Shiping had already stood up, and after being stopped by Zhou Yongtao, he did not sit down.

"Judging from the military deployment of the Nuland authorities, the probability of watching from the sidelines is extremely low, and we need to strengthen our precautions and be prepared for what may happen." Zhou Yongtao paused for a moment before he said, "What worries me the most is that the Manman Empire will attack, and the Nuland Republic will contain us in other directions. By that time, we will be fighting in three directions, or even four directions. ”

"You mean ......"

"Especially the Oja, and the Southern Subcontinent."

Lin Shiping was stunned for a moment, and then nodded, indicating that he remembered Zhou Yongtao's advice.