After some indispensable agitation, Prime Minister Xue Xiyue did not forget to mention the current tense and dangerous situation, and with this he demanded that the officials and soldiers of the empire continue to fight for the empire and fight for the victory of the empire. Subsequently, the two marshals, Yan Dingyu and Nie Renfeng, introduced the combat situation of the army and navy in 23 years, as well as the short-term planning situation (this is not a strategic category, but a tactical category), and finally it was the turn of the two young generals, Tan Renhao and Gu Xunlei, to explain the long-term war plan of the imperial navy and army.

The order of speeches was decided by drawing lots between Nie Renfeng and Yan Dingyu, and as a result, Gu Xunlei was reported first.

"Headmaster, looks like we're in luck!"

When Tan Renhao sat down, he didn't forget to glance at Nie Renfeng.

Nie Renfeng smiled slightly, and then looked at Yan Dingyu opposite, not entirely lucky.

"Hello Prime Minister, my lord."

Gu Xunlei didn't look nervous, he took the manuscript and walked to the bottom of the oval conference table, that is, the end facing Prime Minister Xue Xiyue. "In the first two years of the war, we experienced defeats and setbacks, but at the same time we won brilliant victories. We have been moving towards the ultimate goal, without hesitation or pause. We are all convinced that it will definitely be the Tang Empire that will have the last laugh, and not any enemy. ”

"That's!"

Nie Renfeng muttered in a low voice.

Tan Renhao shrugged his shoulders noncommittally, the early victory was built on the basis of the navy, and the army could only be said to have been stained with the light of the navy, otherwise it would have been a complete defeat.

"In order to be able to go to the end, we have come up with a long-term war plan for the future, which is a war plan for the next few years after summing up the lessons of the previous period and drawing on the experience of the previous stage, and after careful consideration."

Gu Xunlei quickly glanced at everyone, and at the same time paused, "The plan passes the strategic direction. The four aspects of tactical equipment, army establishment and training, and logistics support elaborate on the Army's future combat operations, as well as the dangers and challenges it may encounter. ”

Nie Renfeng glanced back at Tan Renhao, and Tan Renhao immediately became nervous. The Navy's war report does not divide the future war plan into such detail! According to the traditional concept of the Navy, the strategic plan should not be too detailed, because the change on the battlefield is always faster than the plan. The present situation is so special that no one can judge the timing of America's entry into the war. Therefore, the navy cannot give itself a fixed war plan for the next few years, leaving a lot of leeway.

As soldiers, we all understand this truth, and a rigid war plan is not beneficial to the army. But from another perspective, as a politician, we don't necessarily understand this truth, because politicians are not soldiers, and politicians need order, a definite report, not an ambiguous report.

Tan Renhao coughed lightly twice, after Nie Renfeng turned his head. He just focused. The Army made full preparations this time. With a posture that is inevitable, the Navy is going to be in trouble.

"In terms of strategic direction, we will still focus on the northwest battlefield."

Gu Xunlei walked to the map at the end of the conference room. The staff responsible for assisting the conference venue has hung a map of the Northwest Battlefield on the wall. "In the next year to two years, we will launch a major offensive against Russia. To this end, we will mobilize 280 divisions, including at least 35 tank and armored divisions, and 55 artillery divisions, including 3,500 tanks and self-propelled guns, and 13,000 artillery pieces. In addition, 20 aviation divisions and at least 4,500 combat aircraft will be mobilized to launch a strategic offensive at the beginning of next year. We will strive to complete the war against Russia within one to two years. Removing the threat to the northwest of the empire will allow us to mobilize forces to assist the Persian and German empires in their offensive operations in North Africa and Europe. ”

"What an appetite!"

Nie Renfeng glanced at Yan Dingyu, who was a little proud, and then said to Tan Renhao in a low voice, "The army is going to play the real game this time, Yan Dingyu has never worked so hard before." ”

"This is a good thing, if the army is not able to fight seriously, then there is no hope."

Tan Renhao said an objective word.

Nie Renfeng laughed, and his gaze at Tan Renhao changed a lot.

"Headmaster. That's what you taught me. ”

Tan Renhao avoided Nie Renfeng's gaze.

Nie Renfeng nodded, and then said no more.

“…… The initial campaign was mainly focused in the Volgograd direction, and our primary purpose for the breakthrough was ......"

The war plan that Gu Xunlei brought was indeed very detailed, and it was a bit too detailed. In anyone's understanding, what the army and navy need to put forward this time is only a war plan in the general strategic direction, while the army's war plan is detailed at the campaign level. In this room, except for those soldiers (Xue Xiyue can also be regarded as a soldier), no one would be interested in the army's campaign operations.

"Anyway, it's a good thing."

Nie Renfeng was a little impatient when he heard this, "The army is seriously planning combat operations, which is much better than their performance on the Korean Peninsula. Although the Army has made many mistakes in the past, we cannot deny the great power of the Army because of this. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, he didn't know much about the tactics of the army (there was a minor course in army tactics in the Naval Officer Academy, and Tan Renhao had only listened to the explanations of the army instructors a few times, and had not studied this course in detail), but he also heard a little clue from Gu Xunlei's report.

Judging from the offensive plan now proposed by the army in the northwest theater, the army has completely abandoned the traditional tactics of positional warfare and is changing to mechanized warfare. Perhaps, Tan Renhao could not see many signs in the entire strategic plan of the army, but when Gu Xunlei talked about the tactical changes of the army, he completely understood.

“…… In future offensive operations, we will focus on the use of armored forces, artillery, and aviation units. Using the powerful assault capability of the armored corps, the fierce firepower of the artillery, and the rapid strike capability of the aviation troops, we will strive to form several breakthroughs on the battlefield, tear through the Russian defense line, and then penetrate directly into the rear of the Russian defense line......"

When it came to tactics, many government officials were whispering something, and few were still listening.

Tan Renhao had been listening attentively, and he had already grasped the point. The Army's tactical reform is far greater than the strategic change, and it is this change that is the most critical.

The Army's tactics are no longer a single armoured group of rapid assaults (long after the start of fighting on the European theater of wars). There was a group of officers of the Imperial Army Armored Corps who went to Germany to learn armored tactics from Germany) but combined with artillery, after aviation, with armored clusters as sharp knives, artillery and aviation provided fire support, forming a fast, large-depth assault. After tearing through the enemy's defensive line, it immediately carried out a detour in great depth to complete the encirclement combat operation, and finally achieved the goal of annihilating the enemy. Obviously, this is by no means a simple "blitzkrieg" theory, but more like the theory of large-depth operations that the Russian Army is implementing.

The core of these two theories is actually to let the armored cluster act as the main force of the assault, and the difference is that the blitzkrieg does not pursue a rapid in-depth assault and encirclement, but only pursues rapid intersperse, using armored troops and aviation to solve the opponent. And in the theory of large-depth operations. The status of artillery has increased a lot. And it's a lot more important. Of course, which tactical theory is better can only be determined in war.

“…… In terms of army formation. We will concentrate on the use of armored assault forces such as tanks, self-propelled guns, strengthen the independent combat capability of tank corps, armored forces, artillery units, strengthen the establishment of armored corps, and ......"

Gu Xunlei didn't seem to notice the government officials who were about to doze off, he was still "speaking" energetically. Tan Renhao was still listening intently, and the more he listened, the more he understood the army's plans.

Regardless of the "blitzkrieg" tactics adopted by the Army. Or the tactics of "large in-depth assault", the basis of which are all armored troops. Of course, the armored forces are not the only masters on the battlefield, and in these two tactical theories, the position of aviation is actually as important, if not more important, than that of armored forces. In the whole tactic, the coordination of armored forces and (tactical) aviation is extremely crucial. With the ability to assault armored troops, coupled with the support and cover of aviation, the assault will be successful.

In order to promote this tactic. The Army must carry out organizational reform. It can be said that the most important thing is to separate the armored corps and form an independent tank corps and armored corps with various cooperative arms (engineers, artillery, motorized infantry). The Tang Empire did not lack enough tanks (the introduced Type 7 tank is the current main battle tank of the Tang Imperial Army, and the new tank under development is almost completed) Before the war, the Imperial Army had 3,800 tanks and 2,500 self-propelled guns. In the first two years of the war, the Tang Empire produced 5,500 tanks and 4,800 self-propelled guns (in addition to about 2,300 tanks and self-propelled guns consumed in the war).

In addition to the armored corps, the Imperial Army Aviation has been equipped with 14,000 tactical fighters, including 3,800 fighters and 4,900 tactical bombers. These tactical aircraft were organized into a total of 18 fighter divisions and 27 tactical bomber divisions. In terms of scale, the Reich Army is also the most powerful in the world, but its ground results are the worst, compared to the much smaller Luftwaffe, the performance of the Reich Army on the battlefield can be described as a failure!

Changing the establishment of the army is the key to bringing into play the army's combat effectiveness, and when Yan Dingyu realizes this problem, he will definitely start immediately. As a matter of fact, it can be seen from the changes in the establishment of the army that the army has completely abandoned outdated tactics and instead sought more effective and advanced tactics.

“…… In order to achieve this war purpose, we need more tanks, artillery, aircraft, we need more good officers and soldiers, we need more ammunition, we need more support! Within two years, the army needs at least 10,000 tanks, 15,000 self-propelled guns, 100,000 other types of artillery, and 50,000 aircraft. This is just the beginning, as the scale of the war grows, the Imperial Army will need more support, and in the same way, we will bring back more victories and create more miracles! ”

After Gu Xunlei's words fell, the conference room was quiet at first, and then Xue Xiyue was the first to applaud, and then the other officials and generals applauded.

"Nice speech, though, it's not what the officials need!"

Nie Renfeng clapped lightly and laughed.

Tan Renhao also smiled, Gu Xunlei's final demand was too big. Although this is within the scope of the empire (much lower than the war survival index proposed by Xue Xiyue), the empire still needs to provide assistance to other allies, and needs to export a large amount of weapons and equipment, and it is impossible to provide all the weapons and equipment produced to the army. Of course, the Army's needs are actually quite reasonable. Russia is the most extensive country in Europe, and it is also the world's largest land area after the Tang Empire and the United States (Australia had not yet become an independent country at that time), and it is not easy for the most extensive power (Brazil's land area exceeds Russia's, but it is not a great power) to defeat Russia, otherwise in World War I, the Tang Empire will not drag Russia down through a war of attrition, and defeat this enemy through the upheaval in Russia.

Throughout Gu Xunlei's speech, he has been emphasizing one point, that is, the army will turn to mechanized operations, and will comprehensively strengthen the importance of armored troops, artillery and aviation, use multi-arms coordinated operations to achieve the goal of tactical breakthroughs, and accumulate tactical breakthroughs for strategic breakthroughs, and ultimately win victory in the northwest battlefield.

Whether it is for the Tang Empire or for the Tang Empire's army, this transformation has only benefits, not harm. After the first two years of the war, as well as many setbacks and defeats, the Imperial Army finally recognized the changes in the war. The positional warfare that was enshrined in the First World War has been completely eliminated, and the war is changing to firepower and speed, and firepower and speed determine everything in the war. Perhaps, it is not too late for the Army to recognize this change, because they can still grasp the opportunities in the future.

On the whole, Gu Xunlei's speech was not very successful, and he emphasized too much military to ignore that it was a report to the cabinet ministers, not to the army commander, and as a result, many ministers were confused.