Time is a wonderful thing, and sometimes you feel like it takes a long time for a day to pass. But sometimes when you look back, you find that the things of a year or two ago are like yesterday, just like Yan Shao in his previous life, maybe his brain is confused, obviously he bought a refrigerator last year, but he remembered that he bought it this year.

It's good to say that this year has only passed for a few months, but in fact, more than half a year has passed...

The same is true today, since the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, although some large and small battles and battles have been transmitted from Europe, people continue to imagine the scene at that time, but soon several months have passed, and during this time, the Chinese Expeditionary Force has gradually become an important role and one of the mainstays of the Western Front.

With the troops of the five armies all arriving at the front line, the number of troops under Cai's command has reached as many as 300,000. Later, as Yan Shao's commitment to the Entente, the Nationalist government also began to gradually increase troops in Europe and mobilize in some parts of the country, expanding the original number of more than 700,000 in the Wehrmacht Army all the way to more than 1 million.

And except for a part of the troops left in the country, as a supplement to the lack of local troops sent to Europe, almost all of the rest were sent to the two battlefields of Europe and the Middle East—————— since the expeditionary force rushed to Europe, first the first army and the second army two A infantry divisions, and then the third, fourth, fifth and other five A divisions, originally there were only 33 A divisions in the country, and five were reduced in one go, and the local standing army has only 28 divisions and more than 600,000 people.

At this time, because of the European war. The pressure on northern China has eased a lot, if not at all, but due to the deterioration of relations with Japan. China's pressure on the coast and northeast has increased considerably.

Although China and Japan are allies now, considering the character of the Japanese, no one dares to guarantee that they will not give China a cold blow, so it is inevitable to maintain a certain number of local troops, otherwise if something really happens, it will not be caught off guard by the Japanese. At that time, the domestic reserve call-up took time and required sufficient weapons. Moreover, the combat effectiveness is unreliable, and the troops in Europe will take more than a month to return alone, not counting the time required to withdraw from the battlefield. and possible interceptions by the Japanese along the way, etc...

Coupled with the fact that China itself is extremely vast territory, even out of prudence, it is necessary to retain a significant part of its forces on its own territory.

Fortunately, with the expansion of the army and the recruitment of reserves, China's military strength has reached more than 1 million. Although a considerable number of them were sent to Europe. However, the number of troops on the home side has always remained at more than 700,000, which is the same as the original number, although the combat effectiveness may not be comparable with the original standing army, at least it is enough for Japan not to dare to move, and it is also enough to ensure domestic security...

It should be noted that at present, the size of the National Defense Army is only 1 million troops, and the number of troops fighting in the two theaters of Europe and the Middle East is only more than 400,000 or close to 500,000.

After all, mobilizing 500,000 people to Europe in a short period of time is not a realistic thing in itself.

That's actually the case. The production of the equipment needed for these 500,000 people alone was enough to keep the national government busy for some time. Therefore, even though the Battle of the Somme has been going on for quite some time, the strength of the expeditionary force on the Western Front in Europe and the Middle East is only more than 400,000 to 500,000, of which at least 100,000 are still in the Middle East theater, and there are only more than 300,000 on the Western Front.

The British and French were naturally very dissatisfied with this, and they did not distrust the combat effectiveness of the expeditionary force, which had proved its combat effectiveness since the Battle of Verdun, the Battle of the Somme and other battles, large and small.

All the officers and men of the expedition to Europe were basically on par with the officers and men of the coalition forces, and even the newly recruited reserve troops were far more effective than the colonial forces.

Therefore, let the Chinese be in charge of the Middle East battlefield, the so-called Mesopotamian battlefield, in fact, Britain and France are still more assured.

It's just that they invited China to join the war, after all, so that China could help them share the pressure and casualties, as well as deal with the Germans together.

Are there Germans in Iraq?

Yes!

But that was only one or two regiments, and the German army on the Western Front was in millions! The occupation over there is more crucial, and it is clear at a glance, but now that the Nationalist government has actually sent troops to Iraq, Britain and France will naturally be dissatisfied.

If it weren't for Yan Shao's assurance to Britain and France, the next troops would be concentrated in Europe, and only about 100,000 troops would be retained on the Mesopotamian battlefield.

However, even if there were only more than 100,000 people on the Mesopotamian battlefield, it was enough to achieve Yan Shao's goal, and the commander in charge of the Mesopotamian battlefield at the same time also more or less experienced the thrill of commanding foreigners...

I won't mention these for the time being...

Although the strength of the expeditionary force on the Western Front is only more than 300,000, which is much inferior to the coalition army, after all, it is already the country with the third largest number of troops on the Western Front, and the combat capability of the expeditionary force is very strong, so it has become a matter of course to become the mainstay...

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Although there are more than 300,000 expeditionary forces on the Western Front, and there are also a considerable number of [Type 15 tanks] whose performance is far stronger than that of the Mark tank, in fact, the situation on the Western Front is not much better than in history.

This is not to say that Cai Ye and these people do not contribute to their work, in fact, when commanding the operation, Cai Ye is still working very hard to make suggestions for the coalition forces, and when he met with Haig, Fuxi and others, he put forward many good plans, but the problem is that the Germans on the opposite side are not given in vain.

As for the tank?

With the anti-tank weapons that Yan Shao sold in the past, even the most powerful tanks are useless.

At least on the Western Front, some destroyed tanks can be seen from time to time. Fortunately, at this time, the number of tanks of the expeditionary force on the Western Front was only one tank regiment, and the surplus tanks were basically supplied to the coalition forces.

And the Nationalist government is making a lot of money on arms at the same time. I also got a 'thanks' from the coalition forces—————— which is indeed a thanks, at least in the eyes of the coalition forces, it is a thing to be grateful for the expeditionary force to reduce the number of tanks and sell them all the tanks, even if Yan Shao's ultimate goal is actually for money or something...

Although the [Type 15] tank did not have any particularly effective defense methods in the face of German anti-tank fire, it was still much stronger than the British Mark tank and the later French Schnaud tank, at least the reliability was guaranteed. It will not lie on the nest halfway—————— even if it does, the probability is better than that of the tanks produced by Britain and France.

Moreover, the tank crews themselves made some steel plates and installed them on the front, which was more or less useful.

Most importantly. Regardless of whether these tanks were useful in the face of German anti-tank fire, at least they were powerful in the face of machine guns. And now the artillery fire of the Germans has fallen into a situation of passive beating, and the most feared thing for the Coalition forces at the moment is machine guns ...

And with these iron guys in front, at least the soldiers can rest assured. Even if the tank is destroyed. It doesn't have much to do with them, which is why the coalition forces have not cut their orders, although many tanks have been destroyed...

But even so, the casualties of the coalition forces were still not small, in the first month, every time they saw the casualty figures, Fu Xi, Haig, Cai Ye and others felt blood dripping from their hearts, but after a long time, gradually. Numbers really become numbers.

Compared to the unpleasant situation on the Somme side, the direction of Verdun was obviously much smoother.

In fact, after the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of Verdun did not end but lasted for a long time, so that when the two sides of the Somme were fighting each other, the direction of Verdun was also full of gunfire.

It's just that if in the Somme, the coalition forces are the attacking side, then in Verdun, each other's identities need to be reversed.

"But according to the information we have got..."Standing beside Yan Shao, Lu Ying said softly, the work of Yan Shao's personal secretary has been a long time, and she is gradually becoming a little familiar with it." Now that the Germans are moving their forces in the direction of the Somme, it may not be long before the fighting on the Verdun side ends..."

"Verdun..."Listening to Lu Ying's words, Yan Shao lowered his head and groaned.

In fact, not long after the expeditionary force was evacuated from Verdun, the Germans began to use poison gas bombs in Verdun on a large scale. At the beginning of use, due to the surprise, the defenders of the fortress, that is, the French, suffered a lot of casualties, and it was not until later that the protective measures were in place, and the situation was alleviated a lot, and this also made the national government happy, after all, if the French had not transferred the expeditionary force from Verdun at that time, I am afraid it would have been the turn of the expeditionary force to taste the taste of German gas bombs.

Of course, this is not to say that the expeditionary force did not encounter gas bombs, at least in the direction of the Somme, the Germans did not use them less. It's just that at that time, because of the case of Verdun, whether it was Fuxi, Haig or Cai Yi, they were already on guard, so the casualties were not very large.

After the start of the Russian offensive campaign in the summer of 1916 and the Battle of the West Rume River, the Germans did not commit any new forces in the Verdun direction, and the subsequent offensive operations were only aimed at pinning down the French army in front of them. Eventually, the ferocity of the Battle of the Somme forced the Germans to draw part of their forces from Verdun to deal with the Anglo-French forces in the north. By the autumn, the Germans were already very tired, and the commander-in-chief of the German army, Paul? Feng? Hindenburg removed General Falkingham and appointed Erich? Ludendorff was the commander of the Battle of Verdun.

On the other hand, in fact, by September, Kaiser Wilhelm II had already approved the cessation of the offensive, and at the same time the French launched a counteroffensive in the direction of Verdun, using the latest 400mm heavy artillery...

Just like Lu Ying said, I am afraid that it will not be long before the war in Verdun will be over, but according to the statistics of the Secret Service Bureau and the Ministry of National Defense, in the past six months, the casualties of the Entente and the Allies in Verdun may have exceeded one million, and there is absolutely no water in the name of the meat grinder.

"At the moment, except for the Somme, I'm afraid there is no battle that can surpass Verdun's tragedy..."Gently, Yan Shao sighed and said, put his hand on Lu Ying's small hand, and kneaded it gently.

Maybe it's because of proper maintenance, although Lu Ying is already in her twenties. But the skin is still like a teenage girl.

As for Lu Ying, maybe she has long been used to it, so she faced Yan Shao's 'harassment'. She didn't change her face. It's just that she can see that she actually enjoys the quiet atmosphere of the two of them alone.

Although as Yan Shao's wife, she and Yan Shao spend a lot of time together, but usually Yan Shao and they are in a state of sleeping together, that is, five people sleep together, even if they go out, they also go out of the gang together. And although Yan Shao looks very idle. But as the president of the republic, he actually has a lot of official duties every day, so even if he is Yan Shao's personal secretary. There is definitely not much time for the two of them to enjoy the atmosphere of solitude, it's like...

It's the same now...

".........." A piercing phone call broke the atmosphere of Yan Shao and Lu Ying being alone.

In the face of this wave of calls that came at an untimely time, both Yan Shaoyi and Lu Ying looked annoyed. But there is nothing to be done. After all, as a high-ranking person, there are always countless things to deal with every day.

Isn't there such a saying, the greater the power, the greater the responsibility, and this is the case with Yan Shao at the moment.

Unless Yan Shao wants to learn from Emperor Tang Ming, he can only continue to work hard, even if...

One day he stepped down from the presidency, and I'm afraid it still is.

Will Yan Shao learn from Emperor Tang Ming? Although the great empire that he built himself was ruined by the light. It seems to be very cool, but as long as you think of Tang Minghuang's fate............... He had to kill Yang Yuhuan alone. so that Yan Shao would not learn from him.

Not to mention Yang Yuhuan for the time being, if Yan Shao can't even save his wife and children one day, he won't feel that he has any point in surviving.

So even for the sake of his family, he can only keep going.

Otherwise...

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Picked up the phone from the table, Yan Shao put it to his ear to listen, and at the same time glanced at Lu Ying.

has been by Yan Shao's side for many years, and Lu Ying already understands Yan Shao's habits very well, so after seeing Yan Shao's eyes, she quickly walked to the refrigerator in the corner of the office, and took out the juice that had been frozen for a while, and walked to the table and poured Yan Shao a glass.

Taking the cup from Lu Ying's hand, Yan Shao took a small sip to moisten his throat, and then listened carefully to the content, and after more than half a minute, Yan Shao's face was already obviously filled with joy. When Yan Shao hung up the phone, even Lu Ying could see the joy on his face.

"Is there anything good?" Looking at Yan Shao's happy appearance, Lu Ying asked with some curiosity.

"What a good thing!" Ha Lu smiled, and Yan Shao hugged Lu Ying.

It's a great thing, a great thing...

Yan Shao sent more than 100,000 expeditionary forces to Iraq, and immediately took over Kuwait from Britain and France, Britain and France thought that Yan Shao was impatient, and even some domestic newspapers felt that Yan Shao was not in such a hurry, anyway, sooner or later it would be his, and it was not too late to talk about Iraq's problems after ——————the war.

But in fact, Yan Shao has his own ideas.

Yan Shao originally wanted land in Iraq, Kuwait and the eastern Persian Gulf coast, for a very simple reason, it was for the two words 'oil'...

It is precisely for the sake of oil that Yan Shao will choose to send troops to Europe, and it is precisely for the sake of oil that he would rather sacrifice a large number of soldiers than get this land that is very desolate in the eyes of the world...

However, if there is land, there will not be oil, and if this were not the case, there would not be such a thing as a so-called "oil-poor country" in future generations. Because there are places where you don't have oil or you don't have oil, even if you find a professional expert, you still can't drill oil out of the land where there is no oil.

Similarly, even in land where there is oil, it is definitely not a simple matter to drill oil, after all, you need to consider the conditions of extraction, and in some places due to the harsh extraction conditions, it is either high cost or high technical conditions. Of course, this is nothing in later generations, but in this era when the oil industry has just begun to develop, it is more difficult for some places with high extraction conditions.

And in addition to this question, the more critical thing is...

How to find oil.

This one. It's the most troublesome...

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In fact, the most troublesome thing about oil is how to find oil, even if you find oil. You can't control whether there's more or less oil there.

In 1867, a captain in Boston, USA, bought some land in Tuxpan, on the east coast of Mexico, drilled a number of wells near oil seedlings on the coast, and found oil at a depth of about 500 feet. An oil refining kettle was built to produce kerosene and sell it to the locals. Due to the low production of oil wells, the kerosene yield is low. Instead of making money, they lost money. The captain committed suicide due to disappointment.

Similarly, even if there are signs of oil, there may be no oil. This is not uncommon. In fact, there were two very different reports in Mexico. The location of the report is a place with a lot of oil seedlings, but two completely different reports have also come out.

One of the two reports was produced by O'Donis, who is still working in Mexico. Prior to the discovery of Well Dospocas I, Mexico's National Director of Natural Resources had asked two geologists to visit the Tampico region and the "Golden Belt" area, respectively. There are a lot of oil seedlings in both places, but the conclusions of the two men are diametrically opposed. The former is O'Donis, who argues that "since there are so many oil seedlings outcropping on the surface, it is not difficult to imagine that there will be a large amount of oil in underground traps". Another Villarillo said, "Since there are already so many oil seedlings outcropping. As you can imagine, there is not much oil left in the ground. "Angry, the director tore up their reports in front of them.

So. Even if there are signs of oil, it is not certain that there is actually oil there.

What's more, no one had ever imagined that there would be a lot of oil in the Persian Gulf, as long as it was not found in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, even at the end of 1916...

Of course, Yan Shao dared to conclude that there was oil there, after all, it didn't take long for him to cross back, and the amount of oil needed to be calculated over countless years, so his crossing could not change the oil at all.

However, even if he knew that there was oil in Iraq and Kuwait, it was only a general idea. Don't look at the map these two places don't seem to be very big, but in fact, if you go, it's still a very vast place, even the smallest of Kuwait, it's bigger than an ordinary city, and it's not easy to find oil fields there without some effort...

And Yan Shao's idea is very simple, that is, to set the location of the oil fields first, and when the time is ripe, he will slowly exploit them one by one, which is why he will send 100,000 troops in Iraq...

After all, oil exploration takes a long time, and Kuwait is good to say, the place is small, and it is easier to find, but in Iraq...

If you can't get it right, you may not be able to find it even if you look for three or five years, so in order to save time, it has become an inevitable choice to explore in advance.

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A Mesopotamian battlefield, in fact, does not need more than 100,000 troops, not to mention that after counting the British army and colonial troops, the number of troops there has reached more than 200,000—————— and now Turkey's troops have been transferred to the Caucasus battlefield after the Battle of Gallipoli, so there are not many troops in Mesopotamia at all, which is also a reason why Britain can mix up so many people in Iraq.

The problem is that oil exploration is, after all, a secret matter, and if it is developed with great fanfare, it is easy to attract wolves, and it may be difficult to say whether Iraq, Kuwait and other places will still have a surname by then.

Even if there is no problem, Britain and France come to the door and ask for a piece of the pie, how can you refuse.

So there is only a secret, but no matter how secret, it is still easy to find out in someone else's territory, unless it becomes your own territory.

Although Iraq and Kuwait have become Chinese colonies according to the post-war demarcation, they are still dominated by Britain at this stage, and there is only one way to change this situation, and a very simple way is to take back the dominant power from the hands of the British.

The problem is that the dominance of a war zone is not so easy to take.

First of all, you have to be strong enough. Secondly, you must have enough troops, and strength is more important than troops.

After all, 20,000 elite and 200,000 colonial troops. Which is stronger is completely obvious.

In terms of national strength, although China is not as good as Britain, the gap between their status is not as big as before Xinhai, and their position in the European theater is also on par. Similarly, the performance of the expeditionary force in Europe will definitely not be inferior to that of the coalition forces, so the strength ratio needs to be worried.

So the crux of the matter, that is, the strength of the troops...

Since there is not much difference between them in terms of strength, they must have an advantage in terms of troops. Only in this way can he gain the dominance of the war zone, so Yan Shao will send more than 100,000 people over. This, in the eyes of Britain and France, was naturally to secure the colonies as soon as possible. However, the top level of the national government is very clear about the purpose behind this.

And everything was indeed as Yan Shao expected, after the strength of the expeditionary force was much higher than that of the British army, the British gave up the dominance of Mesopotamia, and even let the British troops in Mesopotamia obey the command of the expeditionary force—————— and now the coalition forces are considering the issue of unified command. I guess I suffered too much loss on the Western Front.

Equally. The British, who simply thought that Yan Shao would send so many people only for the sake of the territory, also felt that Yan Shao should be given some sweetness, and only in this way could Yan Shao's enthusiasm be mobilized, so in addition to the dominance of the battlefield, the British also took the initiative to withdraw from some facilities in Iraq and Kuwait and handed over these places to the expeditionary force, so as to do so. The dominance that Yan Shao needed was also in hand, and the exploration work could naturally begin...

And in order to be able to find oil as soon as possible. To appease the minds of the top level of the government (although Yan Shao has always said that there is oil, but in fact, this is Yan Shao's one-sided words after all, and no one knows if Yan Shao lied to them, so although they have supported going to Europe to participate in the war, there are still some people in the top of the government who doubt whether there is oil in Iraq. Yan Shao also chose Kuwait as his target.

As mentioned earlier, Kuwait is relatively small, at least not as large as Iraq, and at the same time, the oil reserves are not much less, the difficulty of finding them is obviously lower, and it is easier to produce results.

And that phone call just now was to report on this...

Not long ago, when the exploration team had been wandering around Kuwait for at least two months, they finally found a place in Kuwait that should have oil, and the reason why it should be is because although there are oil seedlings there, many times the presence of oil seedlings does not mean that there is oil, and it must be drilled first to be sure...

The problem is that in order to avoid exposing the oil, Yan Shao has strictly ordered that no drilling is allowed, so at present, their report can only —————— the words "found signs of suspected oil".

But even these words are enough to make Yan Shao ecstatic, after all, others don't know, but Yan Shao knows very well how much oil reserves Kuwait has.

From a certain point of view, Kuwait, a small country, is probably the country with the largest per capita oil reserves, right?

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"Really?" Looking at the information that Yan Shao had just handed over to him, Li Liang said in disbelief.

"Of course it's true..."Yan Shao said with a smile. Although it is only an indication at the moment, the exploration team has admitted that even if they have not drilled yet, they still think that the probability of oil there is very high..."Yan Shao said and pointed to a corner below. "You see, there's their word here..."

Hearing Yan Shao's words, Li Liang immediately looked in the direction below, and sure enough, he saw the words written by the exploration team.

The simple thing is that although there is no drilling yet, from the superficial signs, there is a high probability that there is oil here, and as for how much —————— they can't guarantee.

After seeing this line of words, Li Liang breathed a sigh of relief, and his face also showed the happy expression on Yan Shao's face not long ago. "It seems to be true..."

Although he has supported the decision to send troops to Europe, in fact, Li Liang has always suspected that Iraq and Kuwait have no oil at all. Not only him, but many people in the cabinet have this opinion, some of them are more dirty, and even think that Yan Shao will support the Entente because of the relationship between the pillow wind—————— by the way, this statement is also relatively marketable in China. Even Li Liang himself had been so suspicious, but he later dispelled his concerns.

After all, in addition to sending troops to Europe, Yan Shao's other strategies have always been aimed at making the European powers shed the last drop of blood. There is no doubt that as one of the protagonists of the European war, France is also one of the targets, and Yan Shaona's so-called plan to shed the last drop of blood obviously includes France, so the so-called pillow wind seems a bit absurd.

But even so. Li Liang still had some doubts in his heart after all.

After all, even if Yan Shao didn't lie to them, it was not impossible for him to make a mistake, and Li Liang had learned a lot about oil exploration over the years. It is clear that there are often bankrupt and suicidal adventurers in Mexico, some of whom have lost their fortunes in places that seem to have oil, and finally have to choose to commit suicide.

The problem is that those people are bankrupt and can commit suicide. But what about them...

For the sake of this war. The casualties of the expeditionary force were in the hundreds of thousands...

And now, now that there is such a report, Li Liang can finally breathe a sigh of relief, and I believe that the rest of the cabinet is the same.

However, after breathing a sigh of relief, Li Liang quickly looked at Yan Shaodao. "Speaking of which......... No one else will know about this, right?"

As mentioned earlier, Li Liang has learned a lot about oil, and he knows very well what the value of this thing is, and naturally he also knows that if this thing is known to the British and French powers. What will happen in the end.

"Don't worry." Yan Shao said with a smile. "As soon as I received the telegram, I had already sent a telegram to the theater of operations in Mesopotamia. I even sent a telegram to the Secret Service to make sure that no one knew about it, and in fact there were some people in the Exploration Team who were from the Special Service, and if something really happened, or if someone wanted to sell the information to other countries, and we would know before the information was sold..."

In history, it is not uncommon for people to sell their country to seek glory, not to mention far away, Yan Shao's original history is more than 20 years later, and the names of traitors can be said to be a long list, and they can't be counted.

Although the current situation in China is much better than that of Yan Shao's time, there is no guarantee that no one will sell intelligence to other countries—————— not to other countries, only to some oil companies.

In fact, with the development of the times, as well as the development of some domestic oil fields, domestic oil exploration and some foreign oil companies are also related, similarly, even if there is no oil exploration and exploitation rights, but foreign oil companies also have a certain market in China, the representative of which is once belonging to Standard Oil Mobil company, when Rockefeller Jr. came to China, or Mobil people were responsible for reception.

If the people of the exploration team sell the news to an oil company like Mobil for the sake of wealth, I am afraid that it will not only be Britain and France, but also the United States...

Even if the scientific researchers of this era are usually more backbone, and rarely do things that betray the country to seek glory, but Yan Shao still needs to be careful after all, so in the exploration team, Yan Shao sent more than a dozen people from the special affairs bureau in one go, although compared with the huge exploration team, this number is nothing, but just like Yan Shao and Li Liang said just now, if someone really betrays the country to seek glory, before he sells the news, Yan Shao will know...

The members of the Secret Service Bureau are not just ordinary spies, some even have very prominent identities in the outside world as cover, and a few are relatively famous scientists in China. Some of the people from the Special Affairs Bureau sent by Yan Shao this time were even originally engaged in oil exploration, and they also belonged to the relatively well-known kind in the industry, so no one would doubt them at all.

At the same time, this report has also been locked in the safe by Yan Shao, except for the person in charge of the exploration team, Yan Shao and a very small number of people, no one else knows at all...

In this way, it cannot be said that it is foolproof, but the chance of an accident is indeed pitiful...

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Hearing Yan Shao talk about the Special Affairs Bureau, and also said that the Special Affairs Bureau had been mixed into the exploration team, Li Liang frowned. For such a spy organization, Li Liang can be said to be disgusted in his heart, but at the same time, he also has to agree with Yan Shao's measures, after all, such a thing should indeed be cautious.

So shaking his head, Li Liang could only look at Yan Shaodao after throwing out the unhappiness in his heart.

"In that case, take the original plan, finish this battle first, and then develop it little by little..."

"Naturally, large-scale development is not realistic, after all, we still need to be vigilant against pressure from the great powers, only by subsidizing the country with oil first, so that the country has enough strength, then we have the ability to keep everything we have now..." Not just in the Middle East, but elsewhere as well..." (To be continued......)