In contrast, the eastward expansion strategy is the other extreme.

To put it simply, the core idea of the eastward strategy is to concentrate on defeating the strongest enemy, the Nuland Federation, after the war begins. After taking control of the Guia, think about going south. However, there is also an extremely obvious problem, which is too difficult.

In addition, the eastward expansion strategy looks beautiful, but many places simply do not stand up to scrutiny.

For example, at the beginning, including Zhu Shijian, few people included the Narrow Empire, and they all thought that when dealing with the Newland Federation, it would be enough to clean up the Narrow Empire by the way, and there was no need to list them separately, and there was no need to even treat the Narrow Empire as an opponent.

But what about the facts?

After the Treaty of Hwaseong and the Treaty of Luntae, the Sagi Imperial Kingdom became a veritable and recognized naval power.

According to the provisions of the treaty, the total tonnage of warships, the tonnage of capital ships, and the tonnage of mother ships of the Sayi Navy are all 70% of the three first-class powers. On the capital ships of the second class, that is, the heavy cruisers provided for by the treaty, the narrow navy also took advantage and received a hundred percent share.

So far, the scale and strength of the Navy have been the fourth in the world and the third in the Guia.

Because the Nuland Federation is on the other side of the Guia Ocean, separated by more than 10,000 kilometers, and the Nuland Navy is mainly active in the eastern Guia Ocean, and rarely comes to the western part of the Guina, so strictly speaking, the narrow navy is the number one enemy of the Imperial Navy, and it is a threat that can be felt personally.

When war breaks out, the narrow navy will definitely act as a pawn of the great powers.

Continue to ignore the narrow-minded navy?

Obviously, that's self-deception!

It is precisely in this way that in every fleet exercise after 95 years of the new calendar, the role of the narrow navy is indispensable, and several times it is still the protagonist.

After several years of exercises, no one dared to ignore the narrow-minded navy.

The point is, if the Narrow Navy is taken into account, then even if the most ideal scenario arises, the Imperial Navy will not be able to solve the problem quickly.

If it turns into a protracted war, the consequences will be unimaginable!

Do not forget that without the capture of Posha Bay, the empire could hold out for two years at most. Strictly speaking, it's actually a year, because it takes a year to adjust the strategy.

Defeat two evenly matched opponents in just one year, sweep and control the Guia Ocean, which occupies half of the Earth's surface!?

It would be very good if the Narrowish Empire and the Newland Federation were prepared in advance, and could defeat the Narrowish Empire within a year, recapture the crucial North and South Sadou Islands, and by the way, defeat the Nanzhu Kingdom controlled by the Newland Federation, establish a defensive line in the Guia Ocean, and consolidate the empire's basic territory.

Even in the eyes of the most optimistic people, it would take three to five years to defeat the Narrow Empire and the Nuland Federation.

The second is that the eastward expansion strategy seeks a comprehensive victory.

From the standpoint of the soldiers, they must hope to win a complete victory. The problem is that in the eyes of politicians, total victory is too illusory.

If nothing else, what does it mean to be "totally victorious"?

Defeat all the enemies and force all the enemy countries to sign a surrender treaty, or do you want to send troops to conquer all the enemy countries, or even annex all the enemy countries?

To put it bluntly, what should you do after defeating all the enemy countries?

The occupation and annexation of enemy countries is certainly unrealistic, politically and militarily. You know, after the Battle of Atai, it took the empire nearly half a century to basically stabilize the occupied area and effectively administer this land with only a few million inhabitants. To put it more seriously, during the last war, the Imperial Army never made a breakthrough on the Western Front, which was related to the local people's feelings.

Since annexation is impossible, where does "total victory" begin?

Fundamentally, in the industrial age, there was little point in expanding the territory beyond the development of the wilderness. In recent decades, no major power has made territorial expansion the purpose of waging war, but has tried to avoid falling into the mode of land expansion.

The reason is also very simple, expanding territory is a loss-making business that cannot make ends meet in the economy.

It can be seen that the imperial authorities have never thought about winning a complete victory in the next war, but more about how to maintain the current situation.

In addition, all the successive chiefs and assistants after Tang Zude were immersed in the false prosperity of the post-war period, and none of them really felt the urgent threat of war, let alone became alert, and did not seriously think about whether the empire would have a way out when the war was ignited again.

If there is no way out, there are still concerns about "total war"?

Fortunately, in the twenty years after the war, the first assistant of the empire has changed several times, but the commander-in-chief of the navy has not been changed, and it is Zhu Shijian until now.

It was with Zhu Shijian at the helm that the Imperial Navy did not deviate from the course.

In a sense, only Zhu Shijian can control the world's largest warship, and make the two opposing factions bow down.

Zhu Shijian's commanding ability is not blown.

For more than a decade, the officers and men of the Home Fleet have felt that the commander-in-chief supports the eastward expansion strategy, and for this purpose has expanded the navy's strategic oil depots, increasing the strategic reserves several times. If you don't want to fight a protracted war, why spend a lot of money on building an oil depot?

The officers and men of the Southern Fleet also believed that the commander-in-chief supported the strategy of moving south, because the main force of the navy was basically concentrated in the Southern Fleet, and even the air task force directly under the naval command was stationed at the southern military port and was active in the Yanhai Sea most of the time.

In addition, after the last two ships of the "Longjiang" class are commissioned, the annual fleet exercises will be carried out in Yanhai, and they will definitely be confronted according to the routine of marching into Fanyanyang. If you don't plan to go south, is it necessary to make such a big deal and rehearse a set of tactics repeatedly?

So, which strategy does Zhu Shijian support?

Others don't know, but Bai Zhizhan knows it.

Strictly speaking, Zhu Shijian did not have a clear stand, nor did he have any illusions, and since he decided on the strategic policy of focusing on the southeast, he has been prepared for both. In other words, for the past decade or so, Zhu Shijian has been preparing for the worst.

At the annual summary meeting after the fleet exercise, Zhu Shijian would emphasize that the Imperial Navy must be prepared to challenge and defeat all the powers alone, not to have any unrealistic illusions, and not to expect foreign assistance in the next big war.

This sounds like a slogan.

It's just that it's definitely not as simple as a slogan.

For more than a decade, the Imperial Navy has been working hard in the highest, but also the most realistic direction, under the guidance of this policy.

Now, Zhu Shijian is old.

Just before the start of this year's fleet exercises, he celebrated his eightieth birthday.

At the birthday banquet, he personally mentioned that he would submit his resignation to Shousuke at the end of the year.

Soon, the Imperial Navy will test the Commander-in-Chief's strategic approach for more than a decade.

When the flames of war are ignited again, the soldiers of the empire will use their actions to prove whether they can change the fate of the country and the nation after 20 years of lying on their back!