The Manman Empire, the capital of Bailin City, the Prime Minister's Palace.

It wasn't until the wee hours of the morning that Reinhardt waited for the latest news, or the final news.

After the arrival of the last batch of 8 MG-21s, already in this evening, 188 combat aircraft of the Iraqi Air Force fled to the Poian country.

In addition, about 60 helicopters flew to the country of Poland.

These are the remnants of Iraq's air power.

After that, there were no more aircraft on the territory of Iraq that could take to the skies for combat!

The point is, it's only been 3 days!

Although Iraq was expected to be defeated, and absolutely no one believed that a country with only more than 20 million people could resist the world's number one hegemon, none of the military and political leaders of the Manman administration, including Reinhardt, thought that the defeat would come so quickly.

It's not that Iraq's strength is exaggerated, it's that the strength of the Liangxia Empire is underestimated!

A few months earlier, the General Staff had conducted war games and had come to the conclusion that if the army launched a military operation against Iraq, it would take at least 20 days to seize air supremacy, and then it would take two to three months to crush Iraq's air defenses. Even with adequate support, it would take about three months to defeat the Iraqi army that had invaded Kuwait.

That is, it will take at least half a year to defeat Iraq.

Here, the time of pre-deployment is not taken into account.

It is precisely because of this that the Manman authorities determined that even if the Liangxia Empire was more militarily powerful, it would take four months to half a year to achieve a decisive victory after counting the previous deployment, and that the time taken in the air strike phase would not be less than three months.

Of course, it will take 7 to 10 days to seize air supremacy.

This inference was also supported by the intelligence agencies, and the battle plan drawn up by the joint forces took 7 to 10 days to seize air supremacy in the early stage.

Who would have thought that it actually only took 3 days.

If you want to say, this is a true portrayal of the defeat of the army!

In the afternoon, before the Iraqi Air Force launched the withdrawal operation, the military adviser in Baghdad sent a message that Hussein's position had changed subtly, and that even if he did not give up, he no longer had hope of victory, so he did not rule out the possibility of a sudden change in the situation.

According to the advisory group's speculation, Hussein may have compromised with the Liangxia Empire in order to retain power.

Didn't Hussein send troops to invade Kuwait to keep power?

Even if the factors of the Manman Empire are not considered, the contradictions accumulated from the Iran-Iraq war, which lasted only 8 years but did not achieve victory, can force Hussein to take risks. If other methods could defuse the growing domestic crisis, Hussein would not provoke the Liangxia Empire.

As long as the Liang Xia Empire promised not to attack Baghdad, he would withdraw his troops from Kuwait or abandon the ground forces that had invaded Kuwait.

If this is the case, then it is only a matter of time before Iraq falls to the Liangxia Empire, or if Hussein's regime falls.

Can such a thing be tolerated?

Or can Iraq be lost?

The answer is clearly no!

This is not only related to the political future of Reinhardt and a large number of other people, but also related to the fate of the Manman Empire and even the entire Western Continent Group.

Is the Empire supporting Iraq regardless of returns?

Apparently not!

The first purpose of supporting Hussein, who came to power through a military coup, was the oil of Posha Bay.

If anything, the problems faced by the Empire can all be attributed to oil.

This is also the biggest shortcoming of the Hindan Empire.

At the end of the last war, the only oil-producing area under the direct control of the Empire was the Romanian oil fields, which were not very productive.

At that time, two of the world's three largest oil-producing regions, Posha Bay and Baguo, were under the control of the Liangxia Empire, and the other was Nuland proper.

This was also the key to the high dependence of the Liangxia Empire on the Liang Xia Empire in the post-war years.

After that, the Beihai oil fields were discovered, to be precise, the reserves were discovered, and the oil fields in the Beixuan area were gradually discovered, and the Yiman Empire gradually got rid of its dependence on the Liangxia Empire and became independent politically and diplomatically, and only then did it have the Xilu Group that was later established.

also embarked on the road of competing for hegemony with the Liangxia Empire.

In fact, it was in order to control the North Sea oil fields that the Empire continued to exploit the Bran Kingdom and pushed the Bran Kingdom out of the Western Continent Group step by step. In order to resist the tremendous pressure from the Riman Empire and safeguard its core interests, the Bran Kingdom also strengthened its contacts with the Liangxia Empire for a time, such as leasing the strategically important Scapa Gulf, and later threw itself into the arms of the Newland Republic without hesitation.

In the Hokugen region, that's even more so!

In order to control the Beixuan oil fields in their own hands, the Manman authorities first personally directed the Algiers War, that is, through the Rock State to encourage the local indigenous people to launch an independence movement, and then on the grounds of maintaining the stability of the group, let the Raleigh Kingdom, which dominated the Beixuan region after the war, accept the fait accompli of Algeria's independence, and finally control the main oil fields in the Beixuan region through acquisitions.

As a result, the Raleigh Kingdom has always been stubborn, and thus has become the number one unstable factor in the Western Continent Group.

In addition, because he refused to return the Telok Fortress, he seemed to be separated from the Kingdom of Span Span.

Even in Romania, the local population was seriously dissatisfied with the Empire because of the super-profits made by the Hindman enterprises.

Many of the problems in the Democratic Republic of Rosa are also related to oil, or energy.

In order to be able to purchase oil and gas from the ROSA at a lower price, the Empire, as a victorious or occupying power, controlled and manipulated the economy of the ROSA and controlled its industrial types, resulting in its deformed industrial structure.

With a population of 80 million, the Luosha Democratic Republic has the largest heavy industry of the Xilu Group, but there is almost no light industry that directly determines the living standards of the people, and there is also a serious lack of high-tech industries such as electronics, so it has to rely heavily on the Xilu Group in many aspects.

The size of the Luosha Democratic Republic is about 7 percent of that of the Empire, and the level of industrialization is also very high, with a GDP of only 3 percent of the Empire, and per capita is only equivalent to 4 percent of the Empire.

It can be seen that a series of foreign policies adopted by the Empire after the war are actually very related to oil-based energy.

But the problem is that the output of the Beihai Oilfield and the Beixuan Oilfield is not large enough to satisfy the Manman Empire and the Xilu Group!

With the development of the economy, especially the improvement of people's living standards, the demand for energy is increasing day by day, but the energy production has not increased much.

So far, the dependence of the Western Continent group, led by the Empire, on imported energy has reached 40%.

Of these, 60% was reached in the Hindan Empire alone.

Every year, the Empire imports almost 120 million tons of crude oil, with about 80 million tons imported from countries outside the Western Continent Group.

Of those 80 million tons, about 40 million tons came from Iraq!

This scale can be said to be quite amazing.

It is not difficult to see how important Iraq is in the strategic system of the Empire.

Only now, does it really need to fight with the Liang Xia Empire for this country?

When Reinhardt returned to the boardroom, the other ministers returned to their positions.

The plenary session of the Cabinet began in the evening and lasted for about eight hours, and it began with a temporary recess to allow the Cabinet Secretary to have something to eat.

According to Reinhardt, no matter how long it lasts, a result must be discussed.

The point is that he must give Hussein a clear answer within 24 hours.

Intelligence agencies have sent confirmation that the joint forces will adjust their deployment, such as allowing logistics support forces to keep up, and air strikes will be suspended for 24 hours, which is expected to resume in the early morning of the 11th, and Hussein will make a decision at that time.

In addition, the 7th Armored Division of the Liangxia Army will be deployed in place on the night of the 10th, and the 17th Armored Division will also be deployed in place from the 11th.

If the scale of the war expands, the Liangxia Empire can launch a ground offensive as soon as the 11th.

As long as a ground war is fought, there will be no room for maneuver.

Politically and militarily, the authorities had to give an answer to the question of whether or not to go to war by the early morning of the 11th.

If no answer is given, it means that there will be no war.

So, in order to avoid a direct conflict with the Liangxia Empire, abandon Iraq?

Obviously, there is no point.

For the current Riman Empire, let alone a few more years, even if it is a few months, it may not be able to survive.

Just this month, the annual natural gas procurement negotiations with the Luosha Democratic Republic on behalf of the Horman Empire in the name of the Western Continent Group broke down, to be precise, the authorities of the Romans Democratic Republic rejected the proposal of the Romans, and if the Romans did not issue a new price, then starting from November 1 this year, the National Energy Group Company of the Rosa Democratic Republic will sell natural gas at the market price to all the member countries of the Western Continent Group, including the Romans, and will no longer supply at the agreed price. At least until October 31 next year.

This means that the price of natural gas for heating in winter will increase by 250%!

Prior to this, the negotiations with the Bran Kingdom had also broken down, that is, the Bran Kingdom would impose a 15% resource tax on oil exports to the Sairiku Group from January 1 next year, and if the Empire was unwilling to compromise, the Bran Kingdom would hold a referendum next year on whether to secede from the Sairiku Group.

The point is, it's not as simple as a 15% price increase.

This is a blatant challenge to the Empire!

The Bran Kingdom is a defeated country, and even a defeated country dares to do so, what about other countries, such as the Raleigh Kingdom and the Spann Kingdom, which have always been dissatisfied with the Riman Empire as the victorious country, will they make similar demands, and will they break away from the Western Continent Group because their demands are not met?

Obviously, as long as the Bran Kingdom takes this step, the Western Continent Group will inevitably fall apart.

Within the Empire, there were also many contradictions.

Dissatisfied with the weakness of the current government, which is essentially a decline in the quality of life caused by severe inflation, there have been more than a dozen mass demonstrations in the Empire in the past few months, and popular support for Reinhardt's cabinet has fallen below 30%.

According to speculation, the deadline for Reinhardt's cabinet is November 1, that is, whether it can reach an annual purchase agreement with the Democratic Republic of Rosa before then.

If not, a winter blizzard will bury the Reinhardt cabinet.

In fact, it is also very likely that the situation will get completely out of control.

The point is that it is not only the Riman Empire that imports natural gas from the Democratic Republic of Luosha, but also the Kingdom of Locke, Raleigh and Span.

To put it more bluntly, almost all of the countries on the western side of the western continent have to rely on natural gas from the Democratic Republic of Luosha through pipelines to cope with the winter.

Let's not forget that the Democratic Republic of Luosha was also a defeated country.

What's more, the Luosha Democratic Republic also relied on the Riman Empire to fight against powerful enemies in the east, unlike the Bran Kingdom, which had other backers to rely on.

If the Manman Empire can't even control the defeated countries, why should it dictate to other countries?

Herein lies the problem.

How can we make the Luosha Democratic Republic honest?

Obviously, conventional means will certainly not work.

According to the agreement signed between the two sides 25 years ago, the Democratic Republic of Luosha will supply natural gas to the Western Continent Group, including the Empire, at an annual agreed price, until this year, that is, in 1990. After that, the supply will have to be negotiated at the new agreed price.

In other words, there is nothing wrong with the fact that the Luosha Democratic Republic proposed a price increase!

For the past few decades, the Democratic Republic of Nakshah has been supplying natural gas to the members of the Western Continent Group at an annual price well below the market price.

Conservative estimates put the annual losses in the tens of billions of gold marks.

Even if it is a defeated country, it has already paid off all its debts!

Rely on the occupying forces to bring the Rosa Democratic Republic into order?

If this were the case, the Eastern Bloc, led by the Liang Xia Empire, would definitely be the happiest.

As early as the beginning of the year, the Federal Republic of Luosha issued a statement to unconditionally support everything that the Democratic Republic of Luosha does to safeguard its rights and interests.

Subsequently, the Liang Xia authorities also expressed their opposition to any party settling the economic dispute by means other than negotiation and consultation.

It can be seen that at this time, the Manman Empire oppressed the Luosha Democratic Republic as a victorious country, and the only result was to push the Luosha Democratic Republic into the arms of the Liangxia Empire.

However, it is not without a solution.

This is to declare a state of emergency for the Western Continent bloc and secure the supply of energy from the Democratic Republic of Raksha and the Kingdom of Bran through military control.

There is no doubt that there must be a reason for a state of emergency!

That's right, all that is needed is a war!

This is also the key reason why the Hindan authorities instigated Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, that is, if the flames of war are ignited, then international energy resources, including oil, will rise sharply, and the Hindan Empire will have more reason to persuade the two energy-exporting allies to maintain a tough stance in this war.

Even if it's just for show, there is a reason for the Sairiku Group to increase its combat readiness.

As long as the Liang Xia Empire competes against each other, it is not difficult to even let the Western Continent Group enter a state of war, or even start war mobilization.

More importantly, as long as the Liang Xia Empire was trapped in Posha Bay, it would be impossible to deal with the challenge from Luo Sha's side.

In other words, the Riman Empire can take this opportunity to free up its hands to clean up the already dishonest Luosha Democratic Republic.

In addition, he can also bargain with the Nuland Republic with the power of victory.

In the end, the Empire has a high probability of becoming the number one winner.

Unfortunately, it now seems more like wishful thinking.