Although no one admits it, everyone, including Herbert, knows that 10 years ago, when voters sent Ronald to the Gray House, a full-scale war with the Liangxia Empire became inevitable. What happened after that only accelerated or slowed down the pace of the coming of the war.

It's just that the subsequent development exceeded everyone's expectations.

When it was decided to take the step of hegemony, that is, to dominate the Western Hemisphere, everyone including Ronald thought that there would be enough time for the Nuland Republic to build a first-class military force before the outbreak of the Great War, and obtain enough comprehensive national strength to rival the Liangxia Empire.

It was at this time that the Republic of Nuland began to build its navy and vigorously develop its air force.

Most representatively, after being elected, Ronald announced that he would bring the number of large warships to 350 during his tenure.

Although it has not been able to fulfill this promise, that is, at the time of departure, the Nuland Navy only has 335 large warships, but no one can deny that it is with Ronald's efforts that the Nuland Navy has developed from a regional navy to a second global navy in addition to the Liangxia Navy.

The strength of the air force has also increased by leaps and bounds.

Unfortunately, the gap with the Liang Xia Empire is still obvious.

As for catching up with the Liangxia Empire in the short term, it is obviously an extravagant hope.

Thinking of this, Herbert felt very uncomfortable.

Although he is only 5 years younger than Zhou Yongtao in terms of age, in the last war, Zhou Yongtao was one of the main heroes of the Liang Xia Navy, and was later promoted to marshal of the navy, while Herbert was only a torpedo pilot in the war, but a small second lieutenant officer.

In fact, Herbert's life was originally chosen, or it was given by the Liangxia Empire.

On the last mission, the torpedo plane piloted by Herbert was shot down, the machine gunner was killed on the spot, and the navigator broke his head during the forced landing, but he survived, only breaking his left arm, and was picked up by a Liang Xia destroyer three days later, after which he spent several months in a prisoner of war camp. He was released shortly after Wallace fled to the Howai Islands and established government in Honolulu, and managed to return to Nuland proper, where he became a Republican federal congressman after the war.

If it weren't for the chance encounter with that destroyer, and the lookout on the destroyer did not doze off, Herbert would have fed the shark long ago.

After diplomatic relations returned to normal, Herbert also went to the Liangxia Empire to visit and thank the captain of the destroyer who rescued him.

From a personal standpoint, Herbert prefers to live in peace with the Liangxia Empire, even if he must recognize the Liangxia Empire as the world's number one hegemon.

Unfortunately, as a politician, Herbert certainly could not handle national affairs according to his personal preferences.

Unlike Ronald, Herbert never believed that the Nuland Republic would be able to defeat the mighty Liangxia Empire in the next major war.

This idea arose more than 40 years ago, when he was still waiting to be resettled in a prisoner of war camp.

During those months, Herbert was spared from ill-treatment, healed his broken arm, and gained almost 20 pounds before being repatriated.

Just waiting for prisoners of war is enough to tell the story.

Is there any chance of winning against such an opponent?

Of course, the choice is not in Herbert's hands.

After several other federal officials and generals had read the information sent by Cullen, that is, the satellite photos, Herbert turned his attention to Admiral Collin, who was sitting next to him.

He is the Army's Chief of Staff and the rotating Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"The current situation has not exceeded our expectations." Colin pushed down his glasses and said very calmly: "If we are to fight this battle, in addition to needing to get more time through diplomatic efforts in the early stage, our performance on the battlefield will not be much worse than that of Liang Xia's army." It's not that we are more powerful, but the combat effectiveness of the Iraqi army is too poor, and it is not an opponent of the Liangxia army at all. ”

"How long will Iraq be able to hold out?" Secretary of State James asked directly.

Colin didn't rush to speak, and only said after Herbert also showed interest: "The key depends on what the Liangxia Empire wants to achieve. If only Kuwait is liberated, it will take 3 months at the earliest, and half a year at most. If it is to overthrow the Hussein regime, it will take at least half a year. The only thing that is certain is that before the official ground war is launched, the Liang Xia army will spend a long time carrying out air strikes. ”

"Is this necessary?" Herbert was puzzled.

"Purely in the military aspect, there is really no such necessity, and launching a ground war as soon as possible can more effectively test the value of the new military theory, after all, after more than 10 years of military reform, the 'air-ground integrated warfare' promoted by the Liang Xia military has not been tested in actual combat, and no one can say what it will do. However, taking politics into account, it is more ideal to carry out high-intensity air strikes first. ”

"Why?" Defense Secretary Bruce asked.

This question is enough to prove that Bruce is a layman.

It is not a strange thing for a civilian official to serve as Minister of Defense. More than a decade ago, Secretary of Defense McMallaman in the Democratic administration was an accountant.

"Time doesn't allow."

Colin didn't put on a show, but Admiral Norman, who was sitting next to him, answered first.

He was the commander of the central theater of operations in Nuland, which is dominated by the Crescent Zone, and his headquarters is in Tehran, and he only took a connecting flight back to Hwaseong last night.

When Norman spoke, everyone looked at him.

"If this is just a local war, there is nothing to say, no matter how it is fought, the combined forces led by the Liang Xia army can achieve the final victory. The question is, who can guarantee that this is only a local war, or that it will not develop into a global war? ”

This sentence gets to the point.

In the past few decades, global peace has been maintained by a dynamic balance formed by three superpowers: the most powerful Liangxia Empire is not sure to defeat the other two superpowers, and the other two superpowers combined cannot defeat the Liangxia Empire.

Now, it is clear that this situation cannot be sustained.

Norman's meaning is clear, the key reason why the Liang Xia Empire will not immediately launch a ground war is that it needs to spend more time preparing for a global war.

That's what's happening too.

The two chambers of the Liangxia Empire have passed a war authorization law, which includes the mobilization of reserve forces, that is, to increase the combat readiness of reserve forces.

If anything, that's the key.

Isn't it necessary to mobilize reserves in order to fight a global war?

Or is it necessary to mobilize reserves to deal with Iraq, which is several orders of magnitude worse?

Only by preparing for a global war can we mobilize reserves!

"General Norman is right, this is indeed something to worry about." Herbert broke the silence. "But what we need to worry about is not the Liangxia Empire."

At this moment, everyone's eyes fell on Herbert.

"President......" Secretary of State James's anxious look was obviously a reminder to Herbert that there were too many people here, and there was a lot to say casually.

It's just that Herbert deliberately pretended not to notice.

After glancing at the Secretary of State, he continued: "Back at the beginning of the year, the authorities hinted that we would take action to change the situation in the world at Posha Bay. Although at that time, we had similar fears that the Manman authorities were playing with fire, and the Liangxia Empire would definitely not rest on its laurels, no one expected that the situation would develop to this point. According to the information obtained, the Empire will never compromise. ”

"You want to send troops directly to the war?"

Herbert didn't answer Norman's question, and rubbed his forehead vigorously.

"It's not that simple." Colin took over the topic at this time and said: "Although the Terman Empire has been actively improving relations with the Republic of There, and has also proposed that the Republic of Thell can be considered to join the Western Continent Group, the influence of the Terman Empire in Posha Bay is very limited, and there is no reliable channel to send troops to Posha Bay. That is to say, the Empire is not yet qualified to challenge the Liangxia Empire in the Posha Bay region. ”

Norman immediately frowned, he had already guessed what Colin meant.

Losing to the Liangxia Empire at Posha Bay, the only option for the Empire was to open a new front, which would inevitably lead to a third global war.

Seeing that Norman had already understood, Colin turned to say: "At that time, we had similar concerns, and we had made deductions in this regard, and the conclusions we came to were not optimistic. As long as the Liang Xia Empire is prepared, even if we go all out with the Manman Empire, we may not be able to achieve good results. ”

"In the current situation, it is impossible for the Liang Xia Empire not to be prepared!"

Colin nodded, indicating that Norman was right.

"It is clear that after the situation gets out of control, in a few months at the earliest, the authorities will preemptively attack in order to seize the initiative, and we will be forced to get involved in a global war that is not destined to be won, and to bury the capital that has been accumulated so hard over the past few decades." Herbert took over the topic and said: "As for supporting Iraq in the Posha Bay area, it will not work either. ”

"This is tantamount to starting a global war ahead of schedule." Secretary of State James followed.

"Is there any other way to prevent a global war from breaking out?"

"It's not to stop it, it's to find a way to postpone it. In fact, no one could have prevented the outbreak of World War III, and it would be nice to be able to postpone it for a few years. ”

Norman frowned, pondering the question.

Herbert nodded at Colin and told him to continue.

"Fundamentally, the most important thing to worry about is the Empire. If the Empire is not stabilized, the Third Global War will surely break out in a few months. On the other hand, judging from the current situation, Liang Xia Dingguo has no intention or motive to launch a global war. ”

"In that case, we need to find a way to discourage the Mangman authorities from starting a global war."

"I have sent an envoy to Bailin to discuss relevant issues with Prime Minister Huiman." At this time, Herbert took over the topic. "What is certain at the moment is that the Mangman authorities have long recognized that if they continue to drag on, they will be the first super-hegemon to fall. So to stabilize the Empire, we have to make the necessary commitments, and when a global war breaks out, we will actively participate in the war. ”

"This is tantamount to encouraging the Manman authorities to start a war!" Norman immediately followed.

"In fact, this is also what we are worried about, or what needs to be solved by the generals."

Norman was slightly stunned, obviously not understanding what the president meant.

"We have to stabilize the Empire, but we also have to let the Empire know that if we start a war now, we will definitely lose more than we will win. So to put it another way, when is the chance of winning a war better? Or how long will it be delayed, and how many years will it be before it has a better chance of winning? Again, what do we need to do before that to make us more confident of defeating the Liangxia Empire in our next big war? ”

This series of problems stumped Norman.

He was nothing more than the commander of the Central Theater of Operations, a real soldier.

However, Herbert obviously did not intend to let Norman go.

"To put it another way, if we start now, how much time will it take, that is, how many years, will it take to be ready for the big war?"

Colin's words were to relieve Norman.

Actually, it wasn't Herbert and others who wanted to embarrass Norman.

Norman was one of the most prominent generals in the Nuland Army, otherwise he would not have become an army general at the age of less than 50 years old and sat on the throne of commander of the Central Theater of Operations.

Regardless of the fact that the Central Theater is far from the mainland, it has a pivotal position in the strategic layout of the Nuland Republic.

The key, in fact, is the country of Boi.

To put it bluntly, the Boe State is the foothold of the Nuland Republic on the world island and determines the right of the Nuland Republic to speak in international affairs.

Otherwise, the Nuland Republic would not have spent so much money to support the independence of Poland and Iraq, which was backed by the Empire, for eight years.

It is not difficult to see from this that Norman's ability is definitely not bad.

In fact, this is also the key to Herbert getting Colin to call him back.

If war cannot be avoided, then the first thing to ask is the general who will unite the army.

After pondering for a while, Norman said, "First of all, we can't mobilize for war for no reason, let alone expand beyond the army. Besides, it is impossible to keep a large-scale military mobilization secret, and it is certainly impossible to hide it. Therefore, the so-called pre-war preparations are, at most, only speeding up military reform and intensifying the popularization of the results of reform. From this point of view, we need at least another 5 years. ”

"5 years is enough?"

Nou glanced at Secretary of State James, who was asking, and nodded.

Obviously, like Colin, he was not interested in this secretary of state, who had a hand in everything.

Colin's lips moved, but he finally held back.

The atmosphere was obviously a little awkward, after all, 5 years is indeed too long.

Despite the fact that the post-war situation has been largely peaceful for 45 years, everyone knows that there is a very high probability that a major war will break out in the near future.

The contradictions are there, and there is no need to guess at all.

After thinking for a while, Herbert said: "If the big war breaks out suddenly in the near future, what are the odds of winning, or what can be done to get a greater chance of winning?" ”

"It's hard to say."

Norman replied so directly that Herbert was clearly a little unprepared.

"General, you don't need to reply right away. Anyway, we still have time. Colin stepped up at this point.

Norman was also smart enough to know that what needed to be talked about was over, so he got up and followed Colin out of the office.

However, the meeting did not end there.