Yesterday evening, Li Shenzhi called a meeting of all the senior officers, emphasizing that the enemy would look for an opportunity and launch an all-out attack.

In order to attract attention, Li Shenzhi also asked the special commissioner of the Military Intelligence Bureau to give an explanation.

Here, the overall strategy of the Sairiku Group is involved.

Xilu Group has always had three main strategic directions. That is, the Northern Sunset Battlefield in which the Empire of Riman seized the initiative and the Kingdom of Bran assisted; a continental battlefield with West Luosha as the absolute main force and other allies supporting it; The battlefield of Luxinhai jointly led by the Raleigh Kingdom, the Rock Kingdom and the Siban Kingdom.

Among these three strategic directions, only Lu Xinhai is not directly related to the Juman Empire.

It's not that the Manman Empire doesn't want to meddle in Lu Xinhai, it's that it can't be caught.

With a population of more than 100 million in the Empire, it is almost the limit to suppress Xiluosha, which has 80 million people in the east, to control the Bran Kingdom, which has 50 million people in the west, and to keep an eye on the Locke Kingdom, which also has more than 50 million people, and several small countries with a population between 10 million and 20 million.

Although the Empire has the most powerful navy in the Western Continent Group, with 3 large aircraft carriers, about 100 large ships and hundreds of combat aircraft, and the total tonnage of the fleet ranks third in the world, it is still far from enough for the tasks it undertakes.

Otherwise, the Riman Empire will not loosen the bonds of the Bran Kingdom, that is, the Bran Kingdom will rebuild its navy by default.

Now, the Kingdom of Bran has the fourth largest fleet in the world, with 3 small aircraft carriers and nearly 100 large warships capable of fighting in the open ocean.

But the problem is that the combat missions of the Western Continent Group in the North Atlantic are too heavy.

Just to cover the shipping routes, it is necessary to use the vast majority of the forces of the Yamaman Navy and the Bran Navy.

For decades, the Royal Navy's number one mission was anti-submarine and escort, and the several small aircraft carriers built were all genuine escort carriers.

The three "Invincible" class aircraft in service are also anti-submarine escort aircraft carriers, and the carrier-based aircraft carried are mainly anti-submarine helicopters.

In fact, the Royal Navy of Bran has been seeking large aircraft carriers.

When working with the Empire, the Royal Navy managed to acquire some technology for building large aircraft carriers, and also received help from the Empire. However, due to the influence of the Polish-Iranian War and the restriction of the status of the defeated country, during this honeymoon period of more than 10 years, the Royal Navy did not build a large aircraft carrier. Later, the Royal Navy turned its attention to the Republic of Nuland across the setting ocean.

After unremitting efforts, the Royal Navy launched the design and construction plan of large aircraft carriers three years ago, preparing to build three, at least two large aircraft carriers, in more than 10 years, to replace the three "invincible" class ships that had been in service for 30 years and were retired due to the aging of the hull.

The key is also that in the overall strategy of the Western Continent Group, a defensive strategy will be implemented in the North Sunset Ocean.

To put it simply, it is to rely on the 6 aircraft carriers of the Beixi Navy and the Royal Bran Navy to seize and master the sea control of the Beixi Ocean, block the Liang Xia Navy from the Beixi Ocean, and then use ships and aircraft to cover the shipping routes connecting the Western Continent and the Beigu Continent.

It can be seen that even if there are 6 aircraft carriers, they are mainly for anti-submarine services.

As for arranging aircraft carriers to carry out strike missions, it is clearly not in consideration.

In addition, neither the Rann Navy nor the Royal Bran Navy thought of sending a fleet to fight in the Luxinhai.

On Lu Xinhai's side, the Xilu Group is still defense-oriented, but it is more active, which can be said to be the purpose of defense by taking the initiative to attack.

Fundamentally, it is actually a blockade of Lu Xinhai.

After the war, the Raleigh Kingdom and the Siban Kingdom attached more importance to aircraft carriers, relying on the identity of allies to obtain several small aircraft carriers from the Liangxia Empire, and after transformation, they became the absolute main force of their own navy. Locke has also built a fleet with 2 aircraft carriers, which is not too bad.

However, this situation did not last long.

From a military point of view, after the advent of the jet age, the combat radius and strike capabilities of carrier-based aviation and shore-based aviation increased several times. As a result, Lu Xinhai, who was not too narrow and could barely allow aircraft carrier activities, suddenly became very crowded.

Of course, there are also economic reasons, that is, after the completion of the reconstruction of the Raleigh Kingdom, the Spann Kingdom and the Rock Kingdom, the economy did not develop rapidly. When it was time to update the fleet, it was discovered that it had lost the ability to build large aircraft carriers alone, and even large warships.

As a result, the Raleigh Kingdom and the Spann Kingdom degenerated to the point where they each had only one small anti-submarine aircraft carrier.

If you want to say it, these two "victorious countries" are not even as good as the Rock country as a "defeated country".

In order to consolidate its position in the Xilu Group and enhance its right to speak, the Rock Kingdom withstood the pressure and spent a lot of money and resources to build two medium-sized aircraft carriers with a displacement of about 40,000 tons, thus having the only fixed-wing conventional take-off and landing carrier-based aviation of the Xilu Group in addition to the Manman Navy.

In Lu Xinhai, this is not a big problem.

To the north of Luxinhai is the West Continent, and to the south is the Beixuan region, except for the Xifan Canal in the east, the others are under the control of the Xilu Group, several of which occupy key positions, and the countries with relatively developed social and economic development are also members of the Xilu Group.

In other words, in the periphery of Lu Xinhai, there are enough places to deploy shore-based aviation.

It can be seen that there is no need to use aircraft carriers or even fleets to control Lu Xinhai.

Even in the heart of the Eastern Continent, the Western Continent Group has a very prominent geographical advantage, especially after the declaration of permanent neutrality by the Republic of There.

Before the Polish-Iraqi War, the Empire's existence in the Eastern Continent was mainly based on the Republic of There, that is, to establish good relations with the Republic of There.

Of course, the Republic of Ther also hoped to use the Liangxia Empire to counter the powerful Terman Empire.

Although historically, the relationship between the Republic of There and the Empire of Terris was very good, and it can be said that it was the spokesperson of the Crescent region of the Empire, but after the end of the Second Global War, for reasons of safeguarding vital interests, the Republic of There and the Empire quickly parted ways.

The reason for this is also very simple.

The Empire wanted to absorb the Republic of There, and to incorporate the Republic of There into the "Great Western Continent" group, so as to gain a shortcut to Posha Bay.

The fundamental purpose, of course, was to get oil from Posha Bay.

But the problem is that this will inevitably clash with the Liangxia Empire, and the leadership of the There Republic does not believe that the Empire can defeat the Liangxia Empire.

It can also be said that the Republic of Thell prefers to act as an intermediary between the two great empires, reaping the benefits of both sides.

It is a pity that the leaders of the Republic of There overestimated their own strength.

In fact, it was this choice that eventually led the Palman Empire to shift its focus to the Boi region, and by instigating the Boi to launch a war of independence, weaken the Republic of There, and in so doing make it insignificant, to achieve the goal of "dismembering" and "annexing" the Republic of There.

Although in the end, the Empire did not take much advantage, and it was not until after the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War that the Empire gained a foothold in the Poshawan region, but the marginalization of the Republic of There did hit the Liangxia Empire hard and weakened the influence of the Liangxia Empire in Lu Xinhai.

As a direct result of the decline of the Republic of There, a number of small states were born in the Balkans in the southeast of the western continent.

Among them is Greece, which controls the entire Aegean Sea.

Because it gained independence with the support of the Empire and later joined the Western Continent Group, Greece has always been the number one ally of the Empire in the Balkans.

In addition, he is also a pawn guarding the Bosphorus.

Because almost the entire Aegean Sea is the territorial waters of Greece, there are hundreds of islands large and small, including hundreds of islands that can build airfields and deploy aviation forces, and large islands like Crete that can station hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers, so if you want to enter the Bosphorus, you must attack and occupy Greece, at least destroy the local air force, and ensure that the fleet and fleet can pass safely.

If anything, that's the point.

Although Greece joined the Western Continent shortly after its independence, after the declaration of permanent neutrality of the Republic of There, Greece withdrew from the Security Council of the Western Continent Group, maintaining only political and diplomatic alliances, and integrating into the Western Continental Economic Community, led by the Empire.

To put it simply, Greece is actually a neutral country that has not declared neutrality.

As for the reason, it is that he does not want to be an enemy of the Liang Xia Empire.

Greece joined the Western Continent Bloc in order to gain the protection of the Empire against the more powerful Republic of There.

The key is that after receiving the guarantee of the Manman Empire and the Liangxia Empire and signing the "Istanbul International Convention", the Republic of Ther abolished its martial arts, not only reduced the total strength of the Wehrmacht to less than 200,000 after three successive major disarmaments, but also gave up almost all advanced equipment. Even during the Iran-Iraq War, the Republic of There expanded its Wehrmacht strength to 500,000, mainly deployed in the eastern and southeastern regions of the mainland, along the border with Poland and Iraq, to block the influx of war refugees.

As a result, Greece's security is no longer an issue.

In other words, the conditions for forming an alliance with the Empire and obtaining security through it do not exist!

It is for this reason that Greece has opted to withdraw from the Security Council of the Western Continent Group.

However, Greece remains a member of the Western Continent Group.

Herein lies the problem.

In peacetime, Greece can refuse to allow members of the Western Continent such as the Empire to use its military bases, or it can refuse to open its territorial waters and airspace to other countries, but as long as Greece remains a member of the Western Continent, it must abide by the most basic alliance obligations.

Unconditional facilitation of allies in wartime.

These include providing military bases to allies and prohibiting non-allies from using their territorial waters and airspace.

To put it simply, the Empire could deploy combat units, including aviation, to the islands in the Aegean Sea, and the Greek Wehrmacht would have to blockade the Aegean Sea.

This is also the most critical intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Agency.

In the aftermath of the war, the Greek authorities had opened their military bases to a number of allied countries, including the Empire, in accordance with the treaty of alliance of the Western Continent Bloc.

However, for the time being, it has not been found that the member countries of the Western Continent such as the Empire have deployed combat forces to Greece.

That's not something to be happy about, though.

The Great War has broken out, and the Liang Xia Empire will not give up Dongluosha no matter what, and will definitely do its best to hold the vital shackled land bridge, at least do its best here, and the Lu Xinhai Detachment of the Imperial Navy has not withdrawn, and the strength has not shrunk significantly.

In addition, the convoy is about to arrive in Alexandria.

Then, the Western Continent Group must block the route to the Bosphorus, and it should deploy enough troops to the Aegean Sea, or at least to the Balkans, especially combat aircraft capable of carrying out sea strike missions, such as the Vulcan long-range bombers.

This long-range bomber can hang six heavy anti-ship missiles with a range of 500 kilometers under the wings, and after flying 3,000 kilometers, launch attacks on enemy ships. Including the range of the missile, it is theoretically capable of attacking an aircraft carrier battle group at a distance of 3,500 kilometers.

Just because the Empire has not taken action so far does not mean that it will not act.

The reason is also very simple, the Western Continent is so big.

Even if it takes off from the mainland, Vulcan can attack the fleet of the Eastern Continent Heart Sea, and at most it will have to land nearby after completing the attack.

If the fighters are deployed in the Apennine Peninsula, that is, the Raleigh Kingdom, they can also escort bombers.

All in all, there was no need for the Western Continent Group to deploy combat aircraft to Greece in advance.

If you want to say it, this is also what Li Shenzhi is most worried about.

Because the enemy can deploy bombers in the rear, and even the fighters responsible for cover are in the rear, it is impossible to grasp the enemy's whereabouts at all by relying on the fleet's own reconnaissance capabilities, that is, it is impossible to know when the enemy will attack.

Obviously, that's where the worst part becomes.

To add insult to injury, Li Shenzhi was unable to preemptively dispatch carrier-based aviation to launch a strike first, so that the enemy could not launch an attack.

Not only are the enemy's bases too far away, but also because there are too many airfields for the deployment of aviation.

The 51st Task Force has only two supercarriers, and even if the shore-based air force on the other side of the Shifan Canal is counted, there are less than 500 combat aircraft, and the maximum number of aircraft that can be dispatched and carry out strike missions is 250, and it can only attack a few airfields at a time.

Obviously, even if the attack is a big victory, it doesn't make much sense.

In view of the impending vicious war, it is all the more impossible to let the elite carrier-based aviation, especially those pilots who have already been baptized by war, take risks.

If anything, the hundreds of pilots who participated in the Bosshawan War are more important than the 51st Task Force itself.

The problem in front of Li Shenzhi is that no matter what he has in mind, what he can do at present is to defend passively, and at most expand the scope of defense.

But how long can this state be maintained?

No matter how tight the defense network is, there are loopholes, and passive defense of any nature can be defeated by the enemy in the end.

The aircraft carrier itself is an offensive weapon, and it is only in the offensive that it can show its value.

Take the aircraft carrier for defense?

Since the beginning of the last war, the Imperial Navy has not thought of responding to the enemy with defense!

Besides, in the Eastern Continent Heart Sea, there is no room to turn around for defense.

It was precisely for this reason that Li Shenzhi advocated retreating to the Narrow Sea.

Of course, he would prefer that the Navy Command would send a few more aircraft carriers over and then take the initiative to attack them and destroy all the air bases along the way.

If you can, you will also need to seize and control strategic towns like Istanbul to ensure that the route to the Sea of Ink is unimpeded.

It's a pity that he now has only 2 aircraft carriers and can't retreat yet.

So, will it be able to withstand the blow that is coming?