The imperial capital, the annex of the official residence of the first assistant.

The gazebo that was temporarily converted into a pantry has been opened.

Led by Qin Fenglie, more than a dozen cabinet ministers and senior generals have been here for almost an hour. But apart from making them wait patiently, Luo Youbin didn't reveal any news. As for what Shoufu was doing at this time, Luo Youbin didn't say anything, and others didn't dare to ask.

The "Panzhihua" was attacked, the oil tanker "Oil Carrier" was hit by missiles fired by Iraqi warplanes, and the air force fighters shot down Iraqi attack planes.

What could be more important than that!?

A few cabinet ministers are okay, after all, they are civilian officials, and they often encounter similar situations.

The dozen or so generals are different.

"It's all this time, what are Shousuke waiting for?" While saying this, Niu Zheng stood up. "Let's go to Shousuke now and ...... with Shousuke"

"Niu Zhengshen, you sit down for me!"

was reprimanded, Niu Zheng was stunned for a moment, but then sat down honestly.

In this pantry surrounded by screens, there is only one person who can make the chief of staff of the army honest and obedient, Defense Minister Qin Fenglie.

In fact, Niu Zhengshen was originally Qin Fenglie's subordinate.

"Shousuke's thoughts, how can you and I guess?" Qin Fenglie first glared at Niu Zhengshen, and then his gaze swept over the bodies of the other dozen or so generals. "You are so excited, who can guarantee that you will win this war? When the battle starts, which of you dares to make a military order with your life? If I don't have such certainty, if I don't have enough courage, just sit and wait for news for me! ”

These words were not only addressed to Liu Zhengshen, but also to other generals.

The point is not a war with Iraq, but the risk of a third global war with the other two superpowers!

Six years ago, after sending troops to help the Sri Lankan government quell a military coup, the Imperial military used a newly developed supercomputer to simulate the next global war, and has been conducting strategic-level simulations several times a year since.

To this day, the results of these simulations are top military secrets.

In fact, there are no secrets to speak of.

More than 10 deductions were carried out before and after, and the results were very different.

In the current situation, relying on the strength increase obtained by the second round of post-war military reform, mainly electronic technology, the probability of the empire winning the third global war is not very large, and to a large extent, it will still be forced to make peace with the enemy in the later stage of the war.

There is even a possibility of defeat!

The key point is that the changes brought about by electronic technology are still based on mechanized platforms, and there is no essential change in specific tactics.

To sum up, it is still possible to seize air supremacy, and there is no essential change in the means of seizing air supremacy.

The main equipment in service, such as the third-generation fighters of the three major groups, are all direct products of the electronic technological revolution. Crucial electronic equipment, especially fire control radar, has not improved significantly at the technical level, and is far from changing the shape of warfare.

It is precisely in this way that the imperial military took the lead in proposing and preemptively initiating the third post-war military-technological change.

This round of reform will completely change the face of warfare.

To a large extent, the third military reform can also be regarded as a continuation of the second military reform, or a comprehensive and thorough improvement!

Six years ago, when Sri Lanka was deployed, the first results of the third round of military reform showed great military value.

That's right, it is the "Attack-11", the world's first stealth combat aircraft, which participated in actual combat for the first time.

According to later information, before and after the bombing, none of the radars controlled by the rebels were able to detect the stealth attack aircraft that was already close at hand.

This battle fully proved that fighters with stealth capabilities can break through the existing air defense system.

Based on this conclusion, the Imperial Air Force not only accelerated the development of stealth bombers, but also clearly required that fourth-generation fighters must have stealth performance.

To say, the Imperial Navy was more active.

According to the plan, the "advanced joint general-purpose attack aircraft" developed by the navy and planned to replace all active attack aircraft of the navy and air forces, that is, the so-called "attack X", after several adjustments, the overall plan has almost been pushed to the beginning, giving up the supersonic cruise capability emphasized before, and it is still a subsonic stealth attack aircraft, and the stealth performance comprehensively surpasses the "attack-11" that was in the limelight six years ago.

To put it simply, it is to exchange speed for stealth performance.

However, the highlight is still the "Future Advanced Fighter" project led by the Air Force.

According to the latest arrangement, the project will be renamed the "Future Joint Advanced Fighter" project next year, and will include carrier-based fighters for the Navy. However, the meaning of the Navy should be to develop a heavy fighter according to the needs of the Navy on top of the Air Force's "Combat X".

Either way, the Air Force and Navy attach great importance to stealth performance.

The Air Force made concessions on the "Attack X" project and agreed to accept the Navy's design plan in exchange for the Navy making a compromise on the "Battle X" project.

In fact, this is a helpless move, mainly because the cost of developing new combat aircraft is getting higher and higher, and the navy and air force are still doing their own thing as in the past, and the navy and air force cannot support it.

According to the project planning of "Battle X" and "Attack X", the investment in development and design alone is as high as 30 billion gold yuan.

And that's just the budget, and the actual spending will definitely be exceeded.

Even if it is not exceeded, it is an unbearable burden.

The Air Force's total investment in the development of the "Zhan-11" and "Zhan-10" projects is less than 10 billion gold yuan, while the Navy's investment in the development of two types of third-generation carrier-based fighters is only 7 billion gold dollars, and even if the procurement costs are included, the total investment of the four third-generation fighters is only 100 billion gold dollars.

So far, the most eye-catching part of the "Battle X" project is actually the comprehensive stealth capability.

All in all, with the advent of the fourth-generation combat aircraft represented by the "Battle X" and "Attack X", the war will enter the era of stealth.

Only then will the empire have a good chance of winning.

Of course, that's not all.

According to last year's war games, if the empire can successfully complete the development of fourth-generation combat aircraft such as the "Battle X" and "Attack X," the technological lead over the Manman Empire will be expanded to 10 years, and the technological lead over the Nuland Republic will also reach five years.

Theoretically, the Empire could rely on a military system with fourth-generation combat aircraft as the core to achieve a decisive victory before the two fierce enemies completed the all-out war mobilization!

According to the strategic plan made by Zhou Yongtao himself, both the Imperial Air Force and the Imperial Navy will complete the third round of military technology reform before the 160th year of the new calendar.

In addition, the stealth bomber, known as "H-X", is expected to enter service in the year 155 of the new calendar.

At the strategic level, it will not be until 155 years of the new calendar at the earliest, when the empire has a sufficiently reliable strategic strike capability, that it will have the ability to win the third global war.

This is the basis for all strategic plans.

It's just that now it seems that I am afraid that it will not be delayed until then.

Of course, from another point of view, this is also the key to the Manman Empire's instigation of Hussein at this time, and the Nuland Republic disregarded the interests of the Boi State and acquiesced in Hussein's annexation of Kuwait, that is, to force the Liangxia Empire to ignite the smoke of the Third Global War.

Otherwise, I am afraid that the Empire will not last for 10 years.

It is not difficult to understand why Iraq sent attack planes to attack the warships of the Imperial Navy.

To put it simply, if the imperial authorities decide that the Panzhihua has been attacked, they must take action and make Iraq pay for the attack.

At the beginning, after the attack on the "Zhaotong," the Imperial Navy carried out a 24-hour indiscriminate bombardment of Iraq.

If the Liangxia Empire had intervened for this, a third global war would have broken out.

Niu Zhengshen and other generals obviously won't think about this issue, and as the first assistant of the empire, Zhou Yongtao definitely needs to seriously consider this issue.

In the study, Zhou Yongtao made more than a dozen phone calls in an hour.

Although the foreign minister had spoken on the phone with the foreign ministers of the allies and friendly countries one by one before Iraq sent troops, explaining the Empire's position on safeguarding Kuwait's sovereignty, which was tantamount to giving a preventive shot to the allies, at this critical moment, it was still necessary for the first assistant to come forward in person.

More than a dozen allies, without exception, mentioned that they hoped that the imperial authorities would calmly deal with the current situation.

The implication is that no one wants to fight.

This is also understandable, after all, the post-war situation has been largely peaceful for more than 40 years, not to mention the allies, and the situation is similar for the Empire.

Of course, the leaders of these allies have said that they will unswervingly stand by the side of the empire and fight side by side with the empire.

After Zhou Yongtao finished calling, Lin Shiping, who was on the balcony, returned to the room.

The nights were cool, but there were more mosquitoes outside.

Lin Shiping was not idle, and also made a few phone calls.

"Abbas III has arrived, and when he meets the Shau king, he will meet with reporters. All that has been arranged, and after a press conference, he will formally send us a request to help expel the invading Iraqi army. ”

When Lin Shiping made an introduction, Zhou Yongtao went to pour two glasses of water.

"Our first 'expeditionary mixed wing' has reached Saudi Arabia, and by tomorrow there will be more than 100 fighters deployed at forward bases, enough to stop Iraqi forces from moving south." Catching the water cup handed by Zhou Yongtao, Lin Shiping continued: "The navy has found the pilot who parachuted, but the condition is not very good, he was seriously injured when he ejected, and I don't know if I can survive." ”

"Is there any news from Baghdad?"

Lin Shiping pursed his mouth and shook his head.

If there was any news, he would have said it a long time ago.

It's just that Zhou Yongtao's mind is obviously not on this. After Lin Shiping finished speaking, he asked, "What do you think about this?" ”

"It should be an isolated incident."

Zhou Yongtao didn't answer, waiting for Lin Shiping to continue.

"According to the information we currently have, neither the Empire nor the Republic of Nuland actually have any reason to start a major war through this, but more to figure out how far our military reform has progressed through this war and how valuable it is. It's not just us, but the Empire and the Nuland Republic are also unprepared to instigate Hussein to do such a stupid thing. ”

"It's just your speculation."

Zhou Yongtao didn't suspect Lin Shiping, he was just talking about things.

Lin Shiping knew very well what Zhou Yongtao meant, after all, to make a strategic decision related to the future of the empire, it would definitely take more than the speculation of the intelligence chief.

"I'm just worried right now that if we talk about the attack, the situation will get out of control."

"It's a real possibility."

Zhou Yongtao let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead vigorously before he said: "But the problem now is that if we don't see it, we will give the opponent an illusion of weakness." If the Empire and the Republic of Nuland misinterpret this signal, the situation will also spiral out of control. ”

Lin Shiping was stunned for a moment, and then sighed.

Obviously, this is also something that many people overlook.

Zhou's fear is not that a global war will break out immediately, but that after this miscalculation, the Empire and the Nuland Republic will give more support to Iraq.

Let the situation continue in this direction, a big war is still inevitable!

As things stand, the most worrying thing is that Hussein is using chicken feathers as an arrow, and the Iraqi army continues to move south after occupying Kuwait.

If it is true, the strategic deployment of the empire will be completely disrupted.

This is also the outcome that the Empire and the Republic of Nuland want to see the most.

To put it simply, if Iraq can be turned into a second Polish-Iraqi country, and the Liangxia Empire can fight a regional war like the Polish-Iraqi War, then there is no need to wait for the outbreak of the third global war, maybe in a few years, the Liangxia Empire will have to hand over the scepter of the world's number one hegemon.

In addition, factors within the empire could not be ignored.

Zhou Yongtao didn't let Qin Fenglie bring the military generals over, which had something to do with it.

The general only wants to fight, and obviously does not think too long-term.

If they seize the opportunity, they will treat Iraq as another Polish-Iraqi country, and then throw in a million-strong army to fight a war that will do all kinds of harm and no benefit.

After pondering for a while, Lin Shiping said after a long sigh: "At present, it seems that the only way is to advance the strategic plan as a whole. ”

"You mean ......"

"Talk about the attack on the oil tanker, warn the authorities in Baghdad that they can issue an ultimatum if necessary, and send additional combat troops to Saudi Arabia in advance to ensure that the Iraqi army does not dare to go south. As long as the Saudis can be stabilized and the Saudis are not invaded, the rest will be easy to say. ”

Zhou Yongtao thought for a moment and said, "Who is that oil tanker?" ”

"The shipowner is a shipping company in China, but the tanker is registered in Shiquan City, so it can be said that it is ours or that it is from Shiquan City."

"That's fine."

"Do you want me to make arrangements?" Lin Shiping had already seen that Zhou Yongtao had made a decision, that is, he had adopted the suggestions put forward by him.

This is currently the only option.

Zhou Yongtao nodded, and when Lin Shiping got up, he said, "When you go out, let Qin Fenglie and them come in." ”

"Okay, I'll call you again after that."

Lin Shiping knew very well that Zhou Yongtao asked him to inform Qin Fenglie, instead of arranging for Luo Youbin to go, in fact, he wanted him to ventilate with Qin Fenglie in advance.

It was precisely like this that Lin Shiping simply explained the situation to Qin Fenglie.

The key is to keep the Iraqi army out of the national border by speeding up the pace of military deployment and providing adequate security guarantees for the Saudis.

What Qin Fenglie has to do is to ensure that this arrangement can be realized, so that the generals of the army and air force do not make extraneous complications.

As for the admirals, there is no need to worry about Zhou Yongtao.