On the night of August 9, the official residence of the first assistant of the imperial capital.

In the afternoon, Zhou Yongtao received a call from Shi Zhiliang from the front line, saying that the first phase of the strike mission, which was planned to be "overwhelming" for one week, had been basically completed, and it was only three days, that is, the large-scale concentrated bombing would officially end in the early morning of 10 July.

This will be followed by a focus on the purge focused on weakening Iraq's military forces.

The fact that the air strikes went so smoothly was not unrelated to the huge investment.

Among them, the most critical is the use of cruise missiles, which have increased several times.

In less than three days, about 1,500 cruise missiles were used, and more than 800 were fired on the first day of the operation.

Actually, when making plans, no one thought that so many cruise missiles could be used!

It is precisely for this reason that, in the planning stage, traditional bombing tactics are the mainstay. Against high-risk targets, combat aircraft are certainly less effective at striking than cruise missiles.

Of course, this also proves from one side that the combat efficiency of fighters with the use of unguided munitions can no longer keep up with the needs of the times.

That is, according to the calculation of the efficiency of the bombing, Ding Zhennan set the time of the first phase of the strike mission at 7 days.

During these seven days, the Iraqi army's strategic targets were concentrated on the functional departments of the government and the army, the national telecommunications company and other communication facilities, the power plant and substation power infrastructure design, and the transportation hubs such as stations, completely paralyzing the Iraqi national defense forces.

In addition, it is a blow to the hideouts of the Iraqi military dictator, the presidential residences scattered throughout the country.

As a result, because of the large-scale use of cruise missiles, the efficiency of air strikes has been greatly improved, and the combat efficiency of the air force has also been higher than expected, the task that was originally planned to take seven days to complete took only three days, but in fact it was completed in less than three days.

This also brings up a very prominent problem.

Preparations for the second phase of the strike have not yet been completed!

According to the joint forces command, about one-third of the air forces planned to participate in the second phase of the strike are still in the deployment stage, that is, they are not fully deployed. Among them, the Imperial Air Force alone has hundreds of fighters still being deployed.

It's not that the imperial army is inexperienced, it's that the bases provided by countries such as the Saudis are too few.

For example, King Khalid Military City is nominally the number one military fortress in the northeast of Saudi Arabia, which can station tens of thousands of troops including three brigades at most, but the air base has less than 200 parking slots and only more than 20 forts.

At this scale, it can only accommodate less than 400 combat aircraft at most.

As a result, the Imperial Air Force had to send in engineering troops to open a second airfield outside the military city.

Although funding is not a problem, the Saudi royal family has said that it will bear all the costs, but it will definitely take a lot of time to carry out construction.

In addition, there are logistical problems.

Due to the lack of transport capacity, the joint force also reached an agreement with the Saudi authorities to borrow the ammunition from the Saudi army's stockpile, which will be returned in the future.

However, Saudi Arabia's stockpiles are all ordinary munitions, and there is no precision-guided munitions, let alone advanced munitions such as air-to-surface missiles.

Even fuel is a problem.

Saudi Arabia is only an oil-producing country, not an industrial country, and the only few petrochemical enterprises that are simply unable to meet the operational needs of hundreds of thousands of troops.

Eighty percent of the fuel has to be transported from the empire itself!

In the fight against the platform, there are also a lot of shortcomings.

For example, the Air Force originally planned to deploy 64 "Attack-12" stealth attack planes to Saudi Arabia, but so far, only 20 have been deployed. Even according to the most optimistic estimates, it will take about half a month before all the remaining 40-odd aircraft are fully deployed.

In response to these problems, the Joint Forces Command has made adjustments.

However, according to Shi Zhiliang, it is still necessary to postpone the launch of the targeted elimination operation for 24 hours, and it will not officially start until the early morning of the 11th.

In this regard, Zhou Yongtao did not object.

How to fight is Shi Zhiliang's business, after all, Shi Zhiliang is the commander-in-chief of the joint forces.

The naval aircraft carrier battle group participating in combat operations also needs this day, that is, to replenish the consumed ammunition.

What Zhou Yongtao is thinking about now is actually a war expenditure that has seriously exceeded expectations.

In just 3 days, just the ammunition used up has reached 5 billion gold yuan, of which the 1,500 cruise missiles are worth more than 1 billion!

In addition, the lost combat aircraft, as well as the fuel burned, were worth billions of gold dollars.

According to incomplete statistics, the combat expenditure in the first three days was close to 10 billion gold dollars.

Who can afford to burn at this rate!?

According to the plan submitted by Shi Zhiliang, the "overwhelming" operation will last for 45 to 50 days, and even if the combat time can be compressed to 30 days after the combat efficiency is improved, then the consumption rate of the previous three days will be as high as 100 billion gold yuan in the war expenditure in the air strike phase alone.

Of course, this is only the cost of consumables.

If you take into account the depreciation of combat aircraft, as well as the cost of operating the base, the loss of logistical support, and the cost of transporting ground troops to the front line, then the operational expenditure in the "overwhelming" phase of the operation will exceed 150 billion epochs, which is three times the original plan.

And that's not all.

The next ground war will definitely burn more money!

Also according to the operational plan submitted by the Joint Forces Command, the ground fighting is expected to last seven to 10 days, and the estimated direct expenditure is within $40 billion to $60 billion.

Even if there is no overspending, it means that the total cost of this war will reach 200 billion gold dollars.

What is this concept?

It lasted for 14 years, and the empire directly sent troops to participate in the Polish-Iranian War for 8 years, and the total war funds burned were only 500 billion gold dollars.

Even if inflation is taken into account, the average daily consumption is only 1.7 billion. The point is that at its peak, the empire had more than 500,000 troops participating in the war, more than 200,000 ground troops alone, and much more combat weapons were invested, such as thousands of combat aircraft.

This time, if it is calculated according to 40 days, the average daily consumption will be as high as 5 billion gold yuan!

More or less?

Zhou Yongtao's attitude is the best way to name the problem.

Don't forget, before living in the Shoufu Mansion, Zhou Yongtao served in the Imperial Navy for more than 40 years, and his gestures were very atmospheric.

Now, even he can't bear it!

The key is that the number of troops participating in the battle this time and the main battle equipment used are much smaller.

Obviously, modern high-tech warfare is not only about the combat effectiveness of the army, but also about the economic strength of a country.

If anything, this is the biggest problem.

According to the results previously agreed with the allies, or the reported war expenditures, only 80 billion gold dollars.

To put it bluntly, when the plan was formulated, it was fought according to the consumption of 80 billion, but the actual expenditure may reach 200 billion.

How to explain to the allies who paid for it?

Even if the Imperial Kingdom was defeated, and Austria was in essence the object of protection of the Empire, it would be impossible to raise the asking price for no reason.

Before dinner, Zhou Yongtao personally called the top leaders of several allied countries.

He didn't say anything about the war spending, but only hinted that the war would cost more than expected, and that it would definitely be based on the actual spending, not the previous estimates. To put it bluntly, it is to prepare the leaders of the allies ideologically.

It's actually a trifle.

In any case, the allies of the Imperial and Austrian States, which had vital interests in Posha Bay and were unwilling to send troops, could only pay more.

The real trouble is actually within the empire.

The reason is also very simple, the empire is the one who is wronged.

According to the results of the negotiations before the start of the war, the empire bears 40% of the war expenses, while the other 60% is borne by the interested allies.

However, after the Empire and Austria agreed to bear more of the war costs, and the Saudis and other oil-producing countries were willing to share some of the costs, the empire's war expenses had been reduced to 30 percent, and at the current trend, it could eventually be reduced to 25 percent.

Even so, it's not a small amount of money.

25% of 200 billion is 50 billion gold dollars!

According to the original estimate, 40% of the 80 billion was only 32 billion.

What should I do with the difference of 18 billion?

The war appropriation approved by the two houses before was only 32 billion, and the maximum allowed floating range, or additional appropriation, was only 8 billion.

In other words, Zhou Yongtao can only call the shots, only 40 billion.

Then, the extra 10 billion can only be re-applied to the two houses.

Obviously, those big men in the two houses may not be willing to give the 10 billion, and they are more likely to bargain with Zhou Yongtao with the 10 billion.

Those big men in the two houses obviously don't think about fighting on the front line, they only value their vital interests!

After dinner, Zhou Yongtao was thinking about this problem.

After thinking about it for several hours, he didn't come up with a way until Lin Shiping came to the Shoufu Mansion.

"I've already had dinner on the way, don't bother." Lin Shiping was in a hurry, and when he came in, he told Luo Youbin, meaning that he would not stay too long, and he would have to leave later. "The information that has just been obtained has been verified by the intelligence officers."

Approaching the fire, he handed the stack of photos he brought to Zhou Yongtao.

Some of them were taken during the day, or in the afternoon to be precise, and they could be seen from the direction of the shadows.

Photographs were taken at air bases, or civilian airfields, with the focus on fighter jets that had just landed or were in the process of landing.

Looking through it, Zhou Yongtao looked at Lin Shiping incomprehensibly.

It is completely obvious that they are some combat aircraft of the Western Continent Group, and judging by the surrounding buildings, it may be in the Posha Bay area.

It's just some Iraqi fighters, what's all the fuss?

"These are three Boi airfields, two of which are air bases, and they are all in the northwest of Boi, not too far from Iraq."

"Boi Country!?"

Lin Shiping nodded and said: "In these three airports, they can be recognized, and there are more than 100 Iraqi fighters on the opposite number, and the number is still increasing. According to our analysis, there will end up with 180 to 200 Iraqi fighter jets. ”

Hearing Lin Shiping say this, Zhou Yongtao immediately tightened his brows.

"There are only about 200 fighters that can still take off in the Iraqi Air Force." Probably worried that Zhou Yongtao didn't understand, Lin Shiping added again.

Zhou Yongtao let out a sigh, then shook his head with a wry smile.

Obviously, he did not expect that the Iraqi Air Force, which is known as the strongest in Posha Bay, could not even hold out for three days before it was completely defeated.

Otherwise, how could a fighter plane be allowed to take refuge in a former enemy?

Because they had already been defeated, the airfields and air bases left in the country would definitely be destroyed, so these Iraqi fighters flew to Poland.

So, how long can the Iraqi army hold out?

The key question is, will the Hindan Empire and the Nuland Republic, which are behind Iraq, continue to sit on the sidelines?

After completely defeating the Iraqi Air Force and mastering absolute air supremacy, it is not even necessary to launch a ground war, and Iraq can be capitulated through high-intensity bombing.

Even if it is necessary to wage a ground war in order to liberate Kuwait, the time of the ground war can be compressed to a minimum.

A decisive victory is achieved in the air strike stage, and the final ground offensive is more like picking the fruits of victory in the air strike.

In this way, Iraq's million-strong army is completely useless!

As long as the empire is willing to invest more, such as sending a few more divisions, and appropriately extending the duration and scope of the air strike, it will be sure to declare victory in Baghdad, that is, to overthrow the Hussein regime supported by the Empire before the end of this war.

Against this backdrop, will the Empire compromise?

When Zhou Yongtao was thinking about this question, the phone suddenly rang on Lin Shiping's body.

It was a wireless phone, and it had a secrecy function, standard for senior intelligence officers.

Lin Shiping didn't answer the phone in front of Zhou Yongtao, but went to the corridor outside.

It's not that you need to keep it secret from Shousuke, but that there are many sensitive issues that can't be told directly to Shousuke, or that Shousuke can't be pulled into the water.

A few minutes later, Lin Shiping returned to the study.

"I just received that Hussein has been relieved of his post as commander of the Air Force, to be precise, he ordered the arrest of the commander of the Air Force, and appointed his close confidant, Admiral Aziz of the Republican Guard, as the commander of the Air Force. However, he did not order diplomats to negotiate with Poland. ”

"You mean ......"

"The commander of the Air Force is just a scapegoat, and he is taking the blame for Hussein. This also suggests that Hussein will certainly not surrender. ”

Zhou Yongtao nodded slightly, indicating that he understood the meaning of Lin Shiping's words.

If Hussein wanted to surrender, he would not have sent the remaining fighters of the Air Force to the country of Boi.

Only by preparing to die can we preserve valuable forces by transferring them so that they can make a comeback in the future.

How can it be so easy.

"It's definitely not that simple."

"The fact that Poland did not intercept these Iraqi fighters indicates that it had received the information in advance and tacitly provided shelter to these Iraqi fighters." Lin Shiping paused for a moment before saying: "This shows that the Republic of Nuland must be secretly putting pressure on the Poy authorities." ”

"Then it must have something to do with the Empire."

"The key is to see if the Empire will personally end up for Iraq, after all, with the current situation, Hussein will not be able to achieve the final victory no matter what."

Zhou Yongtao rubbed his forehead vigorously, in fact, this is also the problem he is thinking about now.

Hussein can't hold on, will the Empire personally end?

Moreover, in what way to participate in this war?

Crucially, how will the Nuland Republic, which has been hiding behind the scenes to support the Empire and Iraq, face the coming changes?

These questions must be clarified!