Empire Conquest-Chapter 859 - 99: Strategic Deception (Part 2)

That said, Bai Huawei’s personal abilities are not bad.

So, getting promoted smoothly is justifiable.

For civilian officers like Ding Zhennan to be recognized by the battle zone commander before turning 30 and to obtain a high position within the battle zone headquarters.

Undoubtedly, it requires extremely outstanding talents.

It also requires very crucial contributions!

Ding Zhennan’s most outstanding contribution is the bold prediction that the next global war will not last as long as the previous two, which lasted for years.

High-intensity and fast-paced modern warfare may not even allow the warring countries enough time to complete war mobilization!

The key is that the continually enhanced strategic strike capability driven by technology allows the weaker party, or those whose war readiness level is not high enough, to suffer destructive blows as soon as the war starts, defeating them before complete mobilization is achieved, or losing favorable conditions to turn the tide.

Of course, Ding Zhennan proposed more than just theory.

During those years of strategic-level wargames, Ding Zhennan defeated all opponents, including Bai Huawei.

In the first two years, Bai Huawei was always Ding Zhennan’s opponent. After consecutive defeats, Bai Huawei also recognized the correctness of this theory. It was precisely because of this that Bai Huawei became Ding Zhennan’s partner in the third year, beginning to promote Ding Zhennan’s theory within the Navy.

As for the result, it can’t be said to be great for now.

It’s not that the promotion is weak; the reasons are indeed too many.

First, the time is too short.

From being recognized by the Army, Navy, and Air Force to now, it’s only been a brief 3 years; many military thoughts derived from this theory have yet to be proven.

Nonetheless, time is actually a secondary issue.

The primary problem is indeed the impact of this theory on the social economy.

To put it bluntly, according to this theory, all social activities, including politics, economy, culture, diplomacy, public opinion, etc., must serve the military.

The entire societal force needs to be concentrated to support national defense construction.

Is this possible?

During wartime, fighting for survival is naturally unobjectionable.

But implementing a military-priority overall strategy during peacetime simply won’t work; at the very least, it won’t be accepted by the populace.

For politicians, even if it’s just for show, they wouldn’t outright oppose public sentiment.

According to the former Minister of Defense, the military theory proposed by Ding Zhennan essentially maintains sufficient military strength by keeping the Empire in a state of war.

If it’s necessary to continually maintain a state of war, why coexist peacefully with the enemy?

Another key point is that at the time Ding Zhennan put forth this theory, the Empire hadn’t fully emerged from the shadows of defeat in the Boi War, at least not enough for the people to forget the pains of war, as the Empire society continually reflects on the war, and anti-war thought has significant influence.

Fortunately, residing in the Prime Minister Mansion is Zhou Yongtao.

Without Zhou Yongtao’s support, not to mention the theory, probably few would know who Ding Zhennan is.

As a soldier who participated in the last major war and was almost entirely involved in the operations against the Newland Republic, Zhou Yongtao understands quite well why the Empire did not achieve final victory, why it compromised with the enemy during the late stages of the war, and accepted a half-hearted result.

Fundamentally, it was because mobilization took too much time.

One could also say that completing mobilization inherently results in missing the initial opportunities for engagement.

The reason is very simple: while the Empire carries out war mobilization, the enemy also conducts war mobilization, so by the time the Empire completes its war mobilization, the enemy has mostly completed theirs as well. After both sides enhance their strength through war mobilization, the improvement gained from the mobilization becomes less significant.

If it is possible to enter a state of completed mobilization when the war breaks out, only then can the value of mobilization be maximized.

What Ding Zhennan’s theory addresses is precisely this problem.

Zhou Yongtao is very clear about the value of this theory, which is why he tirelessly supports Ding Zhennan.

However, the related work has not been advancing very smoothly.

To put it plainly, without a very clear external threat, the 1 billion people of the Empire would absolutely refuse to implement wartime systems during peacetime.

Nonetheless, Zhou Yongtao can discern the priority and importance.

In the past 3 years, the Empire, according to this theory, has done a lot of preparatory work.

Militarily, it has raised the readiness rate of A-class units and carried out fundamental construction according to the standards of major wars. The more representative work is the construction of large airports on the Howay Islands, specifically on over a dozen islands west of Honu Island, along with necessary infrastructure.

In addition, regarding logistical support, the Empire Air Force has also put in considerable effort.

All large air refueling aircraft of the Empire Air Force are converted from civilian aviation passenger planes. The conversion method is simple, mainly installing fuel tanks in the cargo hold and adding a refueling control system. Theoretically, civilian aviation passenger planes of the same model can be converted into air refueling aircraft within a few days.

Actually, the cargo versions of these civilian aviation passenger planes can also be used as transport aircraft.

In other aspects, the Empire Air Force does not show any ambiguity either.

For instance, all support equipment for the Strategic Air Force can be airlifted by transport aircraft, and the basic equipment can be put to direct use after being delivered.

Even technical equipment can be operated by accompanying ground crew and engineering troops. By using prefabricated components, an engineering troop at the platoon level can build a simple hangar up to A-class standard in just a few hours, providing comprehensive maintenance support for strategic bombers.

All these efforts are made to resolve logistical support.

In the civilian sector, similar war preparations are even more numerous.

All shipping companies registered in the Empire, as well as the shipping enterprises directly managed by the Empire, need to organize crew members to undergo at least one month of military training each year, as all sailors of the Empire are quasi-military personnel capable of directly serving the Navy once the war breaks out. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Most cargo ship management personnel, especially captains, are almost all retired naval officers.

As for these ships, they are actually all within the Empire Navy’s management scope; once the war breaks out, they can be forcibly requisitioned according to relevant regulations.

Furthermore, civilian ships with military value, such as tankers, container cargo ships, and roll-on roll-off ships, strictly adhere to military standards.

Take roll-on roll-off ships for instance; their cargo hold decks have a load capacity of 70 tons, capable of directly transporting all main battle equipment, including main battle tanks, with a deck height of no less than 5 meters, ensuring it can accommodate large-sized cargo, like the Air Force’s over-the-horizon warning radar.

As for tankers, even less needs to be said.

The comparatively fewer product tankers are almost entirely directly or indirectly controlled by the Empire Navy, capable of serving the Navy at any time.

Many of the Navy’s supplies during peacetime rely on these tankers.

Of course, only ships built in the last three years comply with these mandatory standards.

No matter what, the ultimate goal of these adjustments is to ensure, after a war outbreak, to minimize the time needed to complete the mobilization.

Moreover, to explosively unleash sufficient wartime potential to defeat the enemy within the shortest time!

These civilian-related tasks simply cannot be kept confidential.

Precisely because of this, within a short span of 3 years, this military theory has spread globally, receiving significant attention from the Tiaoman Empire and the Newland Republic.

Actually, this is also the crux of the matter.

Everyone believes that the Liangxia Empire is actively promoting this military theory, yet few know that the theory is actually divided into two versions.

Accurately speaking, it is implemented in two steps.

The currently promoted phase is only the first step; moreover, during the present stage, its primary value aside from improving the close integration of national economy with wartime mobilization and enhancing the efficiency of completing wartime mobilization, there is one extremely important, unacknowledged, and unpublicized function.

Strategic deception!

Of course, the number of people aware of this is no more than 10, Bai Huawei being among them.

It’s not surprising at all; Bai Huawei was entirely involved in the formulation of this theory, and it was he who proposed utilizing this theory for strategic deception.

The key is that the theory, during specific implementation, is influenced by hypothetical enemies and needs adjustments according to the hypothetical enemy.

Simply speaking, when targeting the West Continent Group led by the Tiaoman Empire, naturally, fast, decisive action must be sought, but when targeting the Beigu Group led by the Newland Republic, blindly striving for fast and decisive action is not feasible, at least not at the present stage, as the capability is not there yet.

Bai Huawei came here to meet Ding Zhennan, which indeed relates to this.