Chapter 5: "Intimidation"

Faced with a huge and fat prey that is completely unfamiliar, the jackal salivates and fears, whether to eat or not, it needs to be tested before making a decision, which must be patient or carefully create an opportunity. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info But there are always some smart fools in this world, full of confidence to amplify the move, but they don't know that it is actually a losing move. The merchant politicians of the White Ocean Democratic Federation flexed their muscles and wallets to intimidate the enemy into preventing the war, but let the Xilu army fully understand their prey.

In 95 of the B century, at the Battle of Cape Roquedel, the expeditionary fleet of the White Ocean Democratic Federation was victorious with the help of the Allies. The merchants were stunned by the huge benefits of this military adventure and expanded into the sea, and since then they have paid more and more attention to naval construction.

Businessmen are interested in practical interests and are keen to calculate the return on investment. Investing money in the army obviously does not bring benefits, but investing in the navy will definitely bring a lot of benefits. Because of the money word, most of the funds originally intended to be invested in the army to purchase equipment and strengthen training were allocated to the navy for shipbuilding, and the rest was also used for the development of the newly arrived colonies.

The money was sprinkled into the sea, and the work of refitting and reorganizing the army of the White Ocean Federation Army was bound to come to a complete standstill due to lack of funds.

Some federal army generals have jointly signed a letter demanding that the government restore the original plan for the reorganization of the army and fully allocate the army's military expenses. The top government officials composed of businessmen actually responded: "It's okay to give military spending, but when will the military spending be recouped?" What can be the rate of return? "These generals are required to produce a statement of investment income.

They seem to be justified in saying this, because "we were democratically elected by referendum, we are responsible for the rights and interests of our voters, and we have to spend every copper plate of taxpayers." ”

The British Labour government, which wiped out all the large ships of the British Royal Navy, also shouted such classic statements. Later, in the face of successive independent colonies, the British Empire could only bow its noble head. Even a small country like Argentina dared to grab the territory of the British Empire. If a large battlefleet had been maintained after the end of World War II, I am afraid that the Hong Kong issue would probably have been a different model. (The Labour Party today is using diversification to wipe out the British Empire.) London has fallen. ）

These elected businessmen, political leaders who are well-elected and popular with the public, often pay lip service to taxpayers' interests, suppress dissent under the pretext of defending the public interest, and achieve their own personal goals, but in the end they always calculate themselves. They have repeatedly asked the people to lower their taxes, and their own enterprises have naturally reduced their taxes the most, but the government has less revenue, but they don't want to tighten their belts, so "the province of national defense construction should be saved, especially the army that has no benefits." A few years later, these wealthy businessmen and politicians who believed in the "uselessness of the army" all died in the Caiyun City massacre. The navy ships that created economic benefits could not save them, and the money saved by the tax cuts ended up being cheaper than the Xilu barbarians.

However, at that time, in the face of their "taxpayer's rights" fallacy, the generals from military families were speechless, and seemed to hope that the prestige of the Federal Navy at Cape Rockdel would intimidate the sharpening Silu Empire. However, this kind of thing seems to be nothing but wishful thinking. They soon learned that this victory at sea could not frighten the Xilu Imperial Army, which was only stirring up trouble on land.

After the annexation of Nalan, the military strength of the Xilu Empire gradually improved, and the level of weapons and equipment began to make a qualitative leap. From the middle of B95, the troops began to be reequipped with new equipment and reorganized, starting with the various border guard units. Previously, the Xilu border guards were poorly equipped and had low self-esteem, and they never provoked the big money on the other side, but after changing to a new guy, the poor people began to tremble.

From March B96 to October B96, more than a dozen incidents occurred on the border between the two countries in more than half a year, and this kind of incident never happened during the period when Nalan was neighbors. The border guards under this new neighbor are really unfriendly. At that time, this behavior was more due to misunderstandings caused by unclear boundaries, and only a few times were tentative actions under the instructions of the high-level. However, the Federal Border Guards were relatively well prepared for the terrain, the border guards were equipped with a large number of automatic weapons, and their firepower was several notches better than that of the opposite side, and they never suffered in these clashes.

Subsequently, the two countries carried out a demarcation operation, strictly demarcated the border, strictly ordered their officers and soldiers not to cross the border, and signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Border between the two countries in December B96. However, this kind of demarcation only works on those who abide by the rules, and it is like an anesthetic for the invaded object of the Xilu Empire, which is already malicious and aggressive. The border has returned to the peaceful state it had at the time of the border with Nalan, but there are always things that are different from then. This is just the peace brought about by the lack of strength of the Xilu Empire, and it is only a temporary peace. With the completion of the rearmament and reorganization of the Xilu Imperial Army, the new troops gradually formed a strong combat effectiveness, and peace was about to cease to exist.

Since November B99, the border guards of both sides have again entered a state of frequent conflict. Most of the conflicts during this period were deliberate on both sides, and at least one side was deliberately launched and prepared for them.

On 20 December B99, another serious border clash broke out on the western border. In the morning of the same day, a small group of cavalry of the Xilu Imperial Army crossed the border to reconnoiter and penetrated several kilometers into the territory of the Federation. The Union border guards, who had been prepared for a long time, opened fire directly and turned the people who crossed the border on their backs, and then a large number of infantry rushed up to the "Chicago typewriter" to give full play to their firepower and completely annihilate this cross-border quasi-enemy force. Near noon, the Xilu Imperial Army, which had suffered casualties, transferred a 100mm field gun to return fire, fired directly at a border observation post of the Federal Army, and fired more than a dozen shells in the direction of the nearby border garrison barracks, many of which hit and caused casualties. In the afternoon, the Federation Army defending this section brought in a 75mm field artillery battalion to shell targets in the Xilu Empire. A large number of Xilu Imperial cavalry (about the size of a battalion) crossed the border to assault the artillery battalion position, only to be repelled by the infantry units protecting the artillery using automatic weapons.

In the aftermath of the clashes, tensions have erupted on the border between the two countries. But since then, there have been no more armed clashes on the border until the actual war.

The next day, the two sides came to the negotiating table. The Xilu Empire explained that the incident was caused by the weather, which caused the patrol cavalry to get lost and strayed into the territory of the White Ocean Democratic Federation. But it is clear to the federal side that this explanation is completely untenable. The cavalry of the Xilu Army, which crossed the border, carried mapping tools and extremely advanced portable radio stations at the time, all equipped with automatic weapons, and was completely an armed reconnaissance team. This area is also the traditional penetration of barbarian cavalry throughout history.

A war seems to be on the horizon, and the situation on the border between the two countries is extremely tense. As early as after cleaning up the two rich children, the Xilu Empire made up its mind to try its skills with the Royal Sister. The royal sister has a sharp sword, but it is rumored that there is a lot of gold there, which really makes the eyes of the poor hot, and we poor people also have daggers. But whether he could defeat the royal sister or not, the Xilu hooligans themselves at that time were not sure. The top brass of the empire believed that before making a desperate move, it was necessary to conduct one or several scientific experiments and real combat drills in the real war mode to fully understand the actual combat effectiveness of the Baiyang Democratic Federation Army. While the empire was secretly planning, the Baiyang Democratic Federation took the initiative to send the opportunity to the door.

On December 30, B99, the White Ocean Democratic Federation held a high-level military enlargement meeting of the cabinet and government in Caiyun City to discuss countermeasures.

At this meeting, the generals of the army demanded that the Cabinet Commander order all units to prepare for battle, and to issue full military funds, and if necessary or at the right time, they should take the initiative to attack and end the war. The Cabinet agreed to prepare for the war and pay for it, but was ambiguous about taking the initiative. One side of the delegates advocated resolutely not firing the first shot, and the other side said that they would seize the initiative in the war. The two factions competed, each with its own reasoning, and the meeting reached an impasse.

At a time when the offensive and defensive factions were at a stalemate, some cabinet members suggested that they could use intimidation to contain the war and avoid bloodshed on both sides, thus saving huge military expenditures. This proposal was unanimously approved by the dignitaries and generals attending the meeting, and they voted unanimously by a show of hands.

In fact, this kind of intimidation is ineffective against those who insist on going to war, and even if they can scare the other side, they may not have any more thoughts when the other side is strong in the future. If it concentrates its financial resources on the army, the Xilu Empire, which is reckless in military force and has Nalan as a stable source of finance, will definitely surpass the Federation in terms of military strength of the army. In other words, this war between the two countries is only a matter of time and scale, not a question of whether it will happen. Intimidating an adversary to contain war is in fact only delaying the outbreak of war. But at that time, even the generals of the Initiator faction supported this absurd mode of getting by, after all, people who had lived in peace for too long wanted to avoid war.

In terms of the specific methods of intimidation, the participants had different opinions.

The army has proposed to conduct a border military exercise on an unprecedented scale at the corps level. The members of the cabinet collectively shook their heads -- "The money spent on such a campaign will not be less than a local war, but it is also possible to conduct a small-scale exercise and spend less money." ”

The navy proposed to hold a ship parade. The cabinet decided that the Silu people could not see it, and that this method was useless. But one politician proposed, "If we invite the Xilu people and let them see our big warships, they will know how powerful we are, and if we let the main warships fire a salvo of main guns, they will be scared to death." This suggestion was widely accepted.

Many legislators know in their hearts that this kind of intimidation can only solve their worries for a short time, and they will have to think of other ways in the long run. However, there are smart people who have come up with a solution that seems to be a complete solution at once. One cabinet member and a few parliamentarians and politicians collectively proposed: "We must make the Silu people understand that our war potential is beyond their reach, so that they will stop building up their armaments and give up war with us permanently." ”

Then, applause!

In terms of specific implementation, this cabinet member meant, "Let the high-level Xilu people come to us, pass through the prosperous inland areas, enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way, let them have a good look at the wealth of the Baiyang Democratic Federation, let them know that we have money, and we can buy arms several times more than the amount they have in reserve in an instant." In terms of overall strength and war potential, they will never be our opponents. ”

More applause.

As a result of the meeting, the cabinet pinned its hopes on this "state guest tourism reception", hoping that by displaying "powerful" military and national power, it would be able to scare the Xilu Empire into abandoning its war attempts.

Specific travel itinerary: First, invite the barbarians to visit the wealthy areas of the Federation all the way, and let them go to the capital Caiyun City to see the metropolitan city built by the Federation for thousands of years. They will surely understand how strong the military potential of the Federation is. Subsequently, military exercises on the outskirts of the capital. Let the hillbillies see how well the nobles are well armed. After the exercise, the Air Force sent transport planes to take them to the naval base, escorted by a large number of fighter jets along the way. Let them see the large battleships of the Federation at the naval base and admire a salvo of capital ship guns. Finally, send a warship to see them off.

(Since all the participants were killed in the Caiyun City Massacre, and the conference archives were also burned by the Xilu Imperial Army that slaughtered the city, the date and specific content of this meeting may be incorrect)

It seems like a perfect solution, but some things always backfire. Originally for the purpose of intimidating the Xilu Empire to contain the war, the stupid politicians lured the wolves into the house and showed the wolves their martial arts and treasures. However, this kind of display inadvertently assisted the Xilu Empire to complete the "strategic reconnaissance" before the war, and also allowed the military-experienced jackals to fully understand the many Achilles heels of the Baiyang Democratic Federation Army. This is a self-inflicted clever death, a lame performance that exposes its flaws.

In early February of the first year of the C century, in order to ease the border tensions, the federal cabinet politicians invited the high-level officials of the Xilu Empire to Caiyun City, the capital of the Federation, for a friendly visit, and by the way, to visit the routine military exercises being held by the troops of the Baiyang Federation. Accompanied by more than 50 retinues, many dignitaries of the Xilu Empire entered the territory of the Federation, led by the new Chief of the General Staff of the Xilu Empire, Marshal Norman Konstantin, and the military experts of the Nalan people personally hired by the emperor. The federal officials who received them knew very well that these dignitaries were high-ranking military officials, and I am afraid that there were many professional soldiers in their entourage. Indeed, the more than 50 entourages were all professional soldiers, and most of them were officers at the rank of colonel. Among them is the youngest major general officer in the Xilu Empire, the newly formed commander of the rapid assault force - Gao Hu; There is also Gao Hu's top boss, General Xiao Qi, and the most elite mobile combat force of the Xilu Imperial Army are under this command.

The cabinet invited the dignitaries or jackals to take a car to Xiangye City, a transportation hub city on the southwest border of the Federation, and then changed to a cruise ship to rush to Caiyun City through the ancient canal. The prosperous scenery along the way made these poor country dignitaries sigh, and the entourage was even dazzled. The riches of the Commonwealth are far greater than they could have imagined. The federal cities passed along the way were far better than any city of the Xilu people, and some even believed that Xiangye City was the federal capital.

After arriving at Caiyun City, the capital of the Federation, the Xilu people were once again shocked by the wealth of the Federation. There are so many new things in this rich tyrant city that the officials and dignitaries of the poor Xilu Empire can't imagine.

In Caiyun City, the capital of the White Ocean Federation, the soldiers defending the city held weapons made of gold in their hands (in fact, several of them were gilded), and their handsome uniforms were also inlaid with gold wire and precious stones, and the buttons of the officers' uniforms should be made of silver, which is actually the case, and it can be said that gold is like copper and silver is like iron.

The buildings of Caiyun City are majestic and magnificent, and the exterior walls are also pasted with marble and other precious stones, and it is said that the Baiyang Federation spared no effort to build the city, and even used the precious colorful jade as wall tiles in the prosperous areas of the city. The streets of those bustling neighborhoods are covered with marble and asphalt, and rare laurel and magnolia flowers are planted along the roadside.

All roadside manhole covers are made of refined copper (@河南人), a luxury that is hard to imagine in other wealthy cities in the world. There are also hospitals...... School...... Library...... Naval Museum ...... Army Museum ......

After tasting the delicacies of the other two countries, the Xilu Empire has long been full of illusions about the Aries Democratic Federation. During this on-the-spot investigation, the best senior generals of the Xilu Empire witnessed with their own eyes how rich this land was, how rich the people were, and how rich and prosperous even any town was than the central city of the Xilu Empire. There is no doubt that there is gold, there are beautiful women, there are many, many slaves to enslave, everything they want to get, they want to possess, they want to plunder. It's just that all this has to come at a price. A war has a price to pay, whether won or lost. Some of them even have the idea of going to all-out war at all costs......

The glitz and glitz of these wealthy regions was not the main purpose of the trip by the high-ranking officials of the Xilu Empire and the generals who pretended to be retinues. They came to see what the army of this rich country was like and whether it could survive the battle, and that was the key point, the most important thing. And it was precisely this flawed exercise and a few unintentional words from the federal cabinet dignitaries in the exercise that made the Xilu Empire finally make up its mind - "copy the guy and do a vote".

After the glitz, a military show aimed at intimidating a potential enemy begins. The Bundeswehr military exercise was staged at the Jade Mountain National Military Training Base on the outskirts of Caiyun City.

At 7:30 a.m. on February 15, the first year of the C century, the month-long military show began.

In the first step, the exercise director group reported the contents of the exercise to the senior cabinet officials, high-ranking military officials, and visitors from prospective enemy countries.

The head of the director group with the rank of major general reported to his superiors: "This exercise is the third routine exercise of this year. The main content is to focus on improving the seven specific capabilities of the participating units in the exercise: forward reconnaissance, command and control, rapid mobility, positional defense, firepower strike, solid position penetration, and comprehensive logistics support. The units participating in the exercise include infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineering, armor, and baggage. ……”

In the second step, the exercise begins. All ministries are in place and carry out live drills according to the content of the previously issued drama script.

…………

This is a very wonderful military exercise. But everyone knows that this is an act that has been arranged a long time ago. In order to save money, the federal cabinet did not send elite field army units to perform here. This time the actors came from two units, the attacking side was the capital garrison, a reinforced independent division, which was also used for the military parade after the exercise; The defenders were a separate mixed brigade stationed near the capital. Because of the problem of military spending, and the fact that they do not undertake the task of combat readiness duty, both units lack training. So, therefore, something happened, and the exercise unit made a fool of itself in front of foreign guests, and more than once.

At that time, it was impossible to find out the specific situation, but there was one incident that directly caused the Xilu Imperial Army to despise the Federation Army very much. Due to the lack of relevant exercise experience, the auditorium failed to maintain a sufficient safe distance from the exercise ground, and a 75mm field artillery shell that missed fell less than 100 meters (some say 50 meters) from the auditorium. The master jumped up, the politicians were scared on the spot, and the performance of the soldiers was not much better than that of the politicians, and one general even hid under the table, and then came out with a smile, and many of the generals of the Federation Army who were frightened laughed. Seeing this, the generals of the Xilu Imperial Army also smiled contemptuously.

The Xilu Army's evaluation of the participating troops was that the soldiers' movements were stiff, the officers' command was rigid, and their tactics were completely inconsistent with actual combat.

The layman put together a play, thinking that it was wonderful, but he didn't want the connoisseur to see the flaws and laugh generously.

The third step is the military parade. After the troops are read, there will be a separate column.

This project is the strong point of the capital garrison, and there will be no problems. After the Battle of Cape Roquedel, the greatest progress made by the White Ocean Democratic Federation Army was that the garrison of the capital was equipped with unprecedentedly beautiful, unprecedentedly expensive, unprecedentedly new, and seemingly unprecedentedly impractical special equipment for military parades. These glittering golden guys are very good-looking at the military parades and parades of the troops, and the local tyrants have a strong atmosphere, and the effect of showing off their wealth is extraordinary. The sole purpose of the partial large-scale refitting of the capital troops is to "demonstrate the wealth and strength of the Baiyang Democratic Federation," which is only a national image project. In addition, the government of the country no longer cared about the development of the army, and the army's military expenditure allocated by the state treasury was extremely limited, "only enough for food," and the theory of the uselessness of the army seemed to have been deeply rooted in the bone marrow.

However, the Baiyang Federal Air Force that swept by at the end of the parade really surprised the generals of the Xilu Imperial Army -- "Zi said: Those who are good at attacking move above the nine heavens." The planes of this era were basically used for reconnaissance, but the large size of these aircraft is enough to indicate that they are ground attack aircraft.

At 16:30 p.m., the military exercise was over. On the whole, it was a successful exercise, and the top brass of the White Ocean Federation Army and cabinet politicians were very satisfied with the performance. The top brass of the Union Army and the head of government seem to think that the Xilu Army's war plan is over, and the Federation has "surrendered without a fight".

They believe that in this exercise, the White Ocean Federal Army has indeed shown great deterrence. In particular, the artillery fire cooperates with the infantry shock troops, and then the infantry uses various automatic weapons to shoot in the hash line, which is very exciting.

But the visiting Xilu army came to the opposite conclusion.

The Xilu Imperial Army believes that the exercise has exposed a weakness of the Federal Army:

First, the firepower preparation of the attacking side is somewhat excessive, and this army seems to rely heavily on artillery, and may not have such logistical support capabilities under actual combat conditions.

Second, when it was learned that the entire army of the Federal Army did not have a heavy machine gun establishment, the generals of the Xilu Army unanimously agreed that the firepower allocation of this model was unreasonable and there were blank areas;

Third, the infantry in the charge used a lot of automatic firepower, and the bullet casings were everywhere, which seemed to be very fierce, but from the comprehensive perspective of the length of the body barrel of the individual weapon, the arc of the impact point, and the length of the bullet casing, the range of the individual weapon of the federal army was barely enough.

Fourth, the commander lacks sufficient courage and courage. A battle that could have ended in a short time dragged on for a day. The generals who formulated the strategy for this exercise were obviously laymen, and did not consider the logistical problems and the importance of time for the attacking side in actual combat.

Fifth, in the audience, the general who hid under the table was definitely a cowardly general, but a cowardly person cannot be a general. There were many more such generals in the upper echelons of the Union Army, as evidenced by the reaction to the accidental missile.

In the eyes of the generals of the Xilu Imperial Army who were present, the Baiyang Federal Army was completely finished, this is an army where soldiers are addicted to pleasure and generals are timid and cowardly, with luxurious weapons and equipment, but people are too scum. "The mighty Xilu Imperial Army can completely defeat this ancient armed force with a luxurious appearance and a decaying heart", "Although this army has guarded this rich land for thousands of years, the long-term peace has degraded them", "This time they encountered the army of the Xilu Empire, which has a thousand-year-old military front, and their luck has come to an end".

There was also an unexpected and huge gain from observing this exercise.

As the saying goes: If you are not afraid of thieves stealing, you are afraid of thieves. The new Chief of the General Staff of the Xilu Empire, Field Marshal Norman Konstantin, made a point of asking the members of the Federal Cabinet about something this time. It was an ancient legend, a legend he had always been interested in, a gold legend he had heard from the ancestors of the Nalan people - the Caiyun City National Treasury could only enter and exit, and the gold in the treasury had been stored for thousands of years, perhaps thousands of tons or even tens of thousands of tons. This gold, which may have been coveted by all the reich, was confirmed by the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Norman Konstantin, as no point - it was true.

Thousands of tons of gold, it's just too tempting. So much so that almost all of the empire's military operations at the beginning of the war revolved around the vaults of Caiyun City. Finally, on June 8, 01 of the C century, the Xilu Imperial Army grabbed the gold as they wished, and also destroyed the core military institutions and government agencies of the Baiyang Federation in Caiyun City.

In the days that followed, the White Ocean Democratic Federation demonstrated to its neighbors a formidable maritime power and a newly formed air force. Merchants and politicians believed that these powerful advanced technological weapons would be enough to intimidate the Xilu Empire into abandoning its aggressive ambitions. The international-level tyrants in Caiyun City seem to be able to sit back and relax.

However, after all, the Xilu Empire has grown up through wars and has grown up as a war expert, proficient in tactics and strategy, and the level of war is definitely higher than that of federal politicians. The Xilu Empire had the largest army force in the region, and the navy was almost blank because it had just become a coastal state. How did Sister Bai Yang intimidate the Xilu hooligans who had never done anything on land and could only do it on land with her skills at sea? ?

Attach:

Aries Democratic Federation Army Independent Mixed Brigade

Independent mixed brigade (deputy division level), a special flexible formation of the White Ocean Federal Army. The composition of the mixed brigades also varies. Generally speaking, a mixed brigade has 2 to 3 infantry regiments, 1 to 1 cavalry company, 1 to 2 artillery battalions, and 1 company of engineers and baggage men. Mixed brigades usually have one or two battalions of 12 field guns (75mm) with 3 companies. The smaller ones have more than 6,000 officers and men, while the largest ones have more than 10,000 men, and it can be seen from the composition of the armed forces that the mixed brigade has the all-round functions of combat, combat support, and combat service support, and can independently undertake combat missions.