This Liu Zunshan is completely a fool.

is the same as fighting after an hour, and fighting is also the kind of ruthless character who doesn't want to die.

In fact, among them, only Liu Zunshan has been on the battlefield.

It's not that Liu Zunshan is more powerful, but he is stained with the light of the Marine Corps.

At the beginning, when the army aviation was independent and the air force was formed, because it did not want the navy to become the number one winner, and in order to balance the services, the Marine Corps was upgraded from an independent branch under the navy to an independent arm under the direct leadership of the cabinet, and it was almost built independently.

The reason why it was not able to become a branch of the military is that the Marine Corps has to rely on the ships of the Navy.

This also gave rise to the Ministry of Defense, and the General Staff, which was nominally subordinate to the Ministry of Defense, and which operated independently in substance, under the direct leadership of the Cabinet Chief, and was accountable to the Privy Council.

At that time, no one imagined that the Marine Corps would develop into a small army with all aspects of the army, navy and air.

What gave birth to all this was the Polish-Iranian War.

In the later stages of this war, the Marines were almost alone. By the time it was over, the Marines had formed their own armoured forces and aviation, as well as a fleet of river gunboats. If it were not for the strong opposition of the Navy, I am afraid that several small aircraft carriers would have been divided into several aircraft carriers for the use of the Marine Corps.

Up to now, the Marine Corps has a strength of 400,000 troops, hundreds of ships of various types, nearly 1,000 combat aircraft, as many as 2,000 helicopters, in addition to thousands of main battle tanks, hundreds of self-propelled guns, about 1,500 amphibious combat vehicles, and nearly 10,000 armored vehicles of various types.

If you think of the Imperial Marines as a national armed force, it is within the top 20 in the world.

In terms of combat effectiveness, the Imperial Marines are second only to several superpowers and military powers.

The key to the rapid development and growth of the Marine Corps is that it is directly led by the Cabinet, obeyed by the Cabinet's chief assistants, and is not subject to the control of the Privy Council and the Chamber.

The key, of course, is to get rid of the control of both chambers of the debate.

To put it bluntly, as long as there is a sudden major event, military action must be taken, or when it is necessary to protect the interests of the empire through military action, the first thing that comes to mind of the imperial chief must be the marines, and the only thing that the imperial chief can directly mobilize is the marines.

It is precisely for this reason that in the subsequent skirmishes in the region, it was the Marines who played the spearhead.

The most recent war took place four years ago.

At that time, Sri Lanka's pro-Van Rowe youth officer corps staged a coup d'état, took control of the capital Colombo overnight, and then sent troops to surround Trincomalee and other military bases, demanding that the Liangxia Empire hand over the fleeing democratically elected president and unconditionally withdraw troops from Sri Lanka.

Because the president's family is controlled by the rebels, the situation is very critical and could get out of control at any time.

After three ultimatums in a row, diplomatic efforts failed, and the imperial authorities had to admit that military action became the only solution.

In order to avoid an escalation of the situation, the Reich authorities did not mobilize the Army, but the Marine Corps took on the entire ground operation.

In just one night, the Marines relied on helicopters to take control of Colombo International Airport with air assault tactics, followed by a strategic airlift launched by the Air Force.

By the next morning, the counterinsurgency operation had come to an end as Marine armoured units moved into the city.

In this conflict, the "Attack-11" stealth attack aircraft, nicknamed the "Phantom", which participated in the war for the first time, did not pay much attention to the role played by the Marine Corps.

The "Attack-11" was able to destroy the rebel headquarters with 4 laser-guided bombs, killing all the top personnel of the rebels, not because they were not detected by radar, but because the Marine Corps special forces were deployed in advance to determine the situation at the rebel headquarters, and also illuminated the target with a laser designator.

As for sending the "Attack-11" to carry out bombing missions, it is just to let this new fighter that has just been put into service to be tested in actual combat.

Sri Lanka does not have a few decent air defense radars, and whether or not stealth attack aircraft are sent on bombing missions does not have much impact on the results.

It can be seen that the number one contributor to the counterinsurgency operation in Sri Lanka is the Marine Corps.

At that time, the armored unit that escorted the democratically elected president back to the presidential palace was commanded by Liu Zunshan.

In his words, the only battle during the entire operation was the bombardment of the rebel barricades outside the presidential palace with tank shelling.

That's right, as long as the Marines appear, then the battle is not far away.

This Liu Zunshan is also sincere, and after sitting down, he bluntly told Lian Mingyang and Bai Huawei that he had received an order from the Marine Corps Headquarters to take a plane to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, early tomorrow morning. It's just specific tasks, which the Marine Corps command has not yet arranged.

However, this is enough to prove that the top of the empire is indeed considering the possibility of military action, which can also be seen as preparing for the situation to get out of control.

If Hussein didn't plan to pull back from the precipice, the first thing to protect was actually the Saudis.

Kuwait was too small and there were no natural hazards to defend, and the fall was an inevitable result.

If Hussein is bold enough, or if the Manman Empire and the Nuland Republic are ready to start a third global war, then Iraq's million-strong army will surely continue to advance south into Saudi Arabia after sweeping Kuwait.

The point is, the Empire is not prepared for this war.

Whether it is conducted in the form of a local war or in the direction of a global war, in the direction of Posha Bay, the empire will need at least a few months to mobilize and deploy troops, send war materials to the front line, and mobilize allies to send troops to war.

Until then, the Iraqi army must be kept out of Saudi Arabia.

In other words, a defensive line needs to be built to the north of Saudi Arabia to ensure that the oil fields located in the northeast of Saudi Arabia, that is, on the side of Posha Bay, are not threatened.

If anything, the bottom line of the empire is that the oil fields of Posha Bay oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia will not be threatened.

Although more than 40 years after the end of the Second World War, the empire is still the world's largest consumer and importer of oil.

Everything the empire has done in Posha Bay for decades, without exception, has been aimed at ensuring the supply of oil and ensuring the country's energy security.

In the words of the outside world: the third global war will begin the day after the empire is driven out of Posha Bay.

This is also the reason why Liu Zunshan was sent to Saudi.

Because the war has not yet broken out, there is no authorization from the two houses of discussion, so the only people who can be mobilized by the Imperial Chiefs and Auxiliaries now are the marines.

In the current situation, it is certain that the two houses will not authorize the war between the first and the secondary.

After chatting for a while, the three of them returned to the command center.

The meeting entered the stage of operational planning, and in accordance with Shi Zhiliang's intentions, it was still announced to the outside world that the "Westward 150" joint military exercise was being carried out as planned.

The discussion lasted until midnight, and Shi Zhiliang made the decision, and several sets of plans were retained, and each drew up a corresponding plan.

As for which scheme to use, it is up to the actual situation to decide.

Naturally, no one objected to this arrangement, which everyone was happy with.

Actually, this is also the norm.

Even if the atmosphere is already tense, everyone knows that there is still some time before the real work begins, and there is no need to determine a specific battle plan.

However, the meeting did not end there.

After arranging the task, Shi Qiliang started a new topic.

Pre-investigation.

To put it simply, whether it is to arrange stealth attack planes of the Air Force, cruise missiles of the Navy, or helicopter gunships of the Army to carry out the first round of assaults, that is, the so-called "kicking the door" mission, it is necessary to find suitable targets through reconnaissance and grasp the target situation.

In several sets of combat plans, there is no mention of the implementation method of preliminary reconnaissance.

It is precisely for this reason that Shi Zhiliang explicitly demanded that the officers of the army, navy, and air force who are responsible for drawing up the plan must first determine the part of the preliminary reconnaissance operation.

Subsequently, Shi Zhiliang announced the end of today's meeting.

At this point, it was already past 1 a.m.

After Shi Zhiliang left, Bai Huawei left the command center in a hurry, and even ignored Lian Mingyang, who came to him specifically.

At the beginning, it was already said that he would see off Liu Zunshan after the meeting, but Bai Huawei ran away by himself.

In fact, when Shi Zhiliang mentioned the preliminary investigation, Bai Huawei thought of one thing.

…………

At this time, on the west coast of Posha Bay, in the southern region of Iraq.

In the desert hinterland, about 20 kilometres southwest of Basra and about 40 kilometres from the Iraq-Kuwait border, a large armoured force is being assembled.

The most striking is the Hammurabi Panzer Division of the Republican Guard.

Last year, the division completed the refitting and obtained nearly 200 T-72 main battle tanks imported from the Luosha Democratic Republic, which is full of combat effectiveness.

In fact, the division was the only armored division in the southern region that was armed with T-72.

In order for this elite force to secretly reach the forward base near the border, that is, the offensive position, without being discovered, it took no less effort.

In the past few months, the Iraqi Defense Forces (IDF) and the Republican Guard (RDS) have begun to move their forces frequently, disrupting their military deployments in the south and covering the southward movement of the Hammurabi Panzer Division. In order to avoid being detected by reconnaissance satellites, the main combat equipment of the Hammurabi division was delivered at night.

In addition, the officers and men of the division temporarily changed into the uniforms of the Wehrmacht.

All in all, it's all about secrecy.

Of course, in addition to tanks and other main battle equipment, thousands of logistics support vehicles have also been mobilized to ensure that they can advance hundreds of kilometers south in one go.

Kuwait is only a small country, and there is no strategic depth at all.

In addition, Kuwait's defence forces are completely negligible.

More crucially, the Kuwaiti authorities destroyed the Great Wall two years ago, sent away the Liangxia Empire's military advisory group, and refused to provide a base for the Liangxia army.

One drum is ready to go!

Major General Ali has full confidence in this.

In his opinion, there was no need to even use other combat forces, as long as enough support was given to the Hammurabi division, the whole of Kuwait could be swept away.

In addition, if the logistics can keep up, he even has the confidence to rush all the way outside Riyadh.

If anything, it's early exposure of strategic intent.

In this small desert, in addition to Hammurabi's division, there was also the Nebuchadnezzar Mechanized Division, which also belonged to the Republican Guard, and five infantry divisions of the Wehrmacht.

Nearly 100,000 officers and soldiers, all gathered together!

If the Liangxia Empire had been prepared and decided to strike first, I am afraid that the three aircraft carriers cruising in Posha Bay and Mua Hai would have already sent carrier-based aircraft.

Thinking of this, Ali couldn't help but look up at the starry night sky.

The night is the best cover.

When drawing up the battle plan, Ali repeatedly asked the military advisers to the Men if they could ensure concealment during the night movement and assembly.

In other words, did the Liangxia Empire have any strategic reconnaissance satellites capable of taking pictures at night?

To this, the military adviser gave a clear answer.

Optical reconnaissance satellites can only work during the day, and radar reconnaissance satellites are not omnipotent, and can be deceived by camouflage and other means.

For this purpose, the Republican Guard has also purchased a number of camouflage tools, such as inflatable tanks with metal film on their surfaces.

The key is that the assault force led by the Hammurabi Division, such as the main battle tank, is all buried in situ to hide.

All tanks and combat vehicles, after reaching the forward positions, were covered with yellow sand and mud.

In addition, the military adviser provided a key piece of information: the orbital parameters of the Liangxia reconnaissance satellite, which is often referred to as the "star map".

According to the star map, the four hours between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. are the window period for the Liangxia reconnaissance satellite.

Make full use of these 4 hours, and you will be able to complete the first round of assault.

The key is actually to let the assault force led by Hammurabi's division deploy.

As long as the armored forces make a charge, there is nothing to worry about.

In the night sky, there was nothing but dense stars.

It's not that there isn't, it's that it can't be seen with the naked eye.

Unbeknownst to Ali, when he was looking up at the starry sky, in a low-earth orbit 500 kilometers above the ground, an infrared imaging reconnaissance satellite nicknamed "Cat's Eye" flew over his head, took thousands of photographs in succession, and threw the return capsule containing the negatives into the atmosphere about half an hour later, when it was orbiting over the Federal Republic of Luosha.

The reconnaissance satellite, numbered HZ-5031C, photographed not only the troops deployed outside Basra, but also the entire southern part of Iraq.

In fact, it was also the first reconnaissance satellite of the Liangxia Empire equipped with an infrared imaging camera.

If it weren't for the sudden tension in Posha Bay, the satellite was originally planned to be officially put into use next year, mainly because its infrared CCD chip still has several unsolved problems, and it does not meet the resolution required by the military, so the military value of the photos is questionable.

However, it is certainly possible to photograph the infrared radiation produced by the operation of the tank engine.

In order to keep it secret, the satellite was temporarily programmed in the "Eagle Eye" visible light reconnaissance satellite sequence, and was initially operating in a sun-synchronous orbit. A few days after being in orbit, the Imperial military announced that the satellite's attitude control engine had failed, and it had voluntarily crashed into the atmosphere to avoid a catastrophe and burned up.

What crashed into the atmosphere was actually a weather satellite that was about to be scrapped.

After several orbit changes, this "cat's eye" was transferred to low-earth orbit.

It is precisely because of this that the intelligence agencies of the Empire and the Republic of Nuland did not discover that it was an infrared imaging satellite, and mistook it for a military communications satellite.

This kind of strategic deception can be said to be unexpected.

Of course, the intelligence provided by this satellite is of unparalleled value.

By the time the MIA got the photo capsule recovered by the Air Force Special Forces and finished reading several of the main photos, it was already 7 a.m. on August 1, Imperial Capital time.

At this time, it was less than six hours before the deadline for Iraq to be announced, which was 8 a.m. Baghdad time.