Empire Conquest-Chapter 881 - 110: Remaining on the Sidelines (2)

In common speech, Boi Country exhausted the entire nation’s wealth in an eight-year war, benefiting the arms dealers and financial capitalists of the Newland Republic!

Of course, not to mention the Newland Republic’s influence in international oil trade.

Before the Iran-Iraq War, the second most used currency after the Liangxia Empire’s Gold Yuan was the Gold Mark, with a weight one-third higher than the Newland Dollar. By the end of the Iran-Iraq War, the Newland Dollar had replaced the Gold Mark, with its weight increasing by over one hundred percent in eight years.

Without the Iran-Iraq War, there would be no current Newland Republic!

Can such an ally be trusted?

To say, even when exporting arms, the Newland arms dealers didn’t offer discounts to Boi Country due to their alliance.

For example, Boi Country paid 4 billion Newland Dollars for 80 F-14A fighter jets and 780 AIM-54 long-range air-to-air missiles, with the unit price after deducting the missiles reaching as high as 40 million Newland Dollars, whereas the price for Newland Navy’s procurement of F-14A at the same time was less than 12 million Newland Dollars.

In other words, Boi Country’s purchase price for these fighters was 3.5 times that of the Newland Navy!

While exported fighters are certainly more expensive, as arms dealers need to make profits and cover development costs, usually the price increase is only 50% to 100%. A sudden 250% increase is not only very rare but only possible for clients with average relations.

So, does this justify their "ally" status?

The explanation given by the Newland Authority was that the F-14A is only the fourth generation of heavy fighters to enter service, and Boi Country demanded immediate availability of stock and rapid combat readiness, thus occupying the production capacity originally allocated to the Newland Navy Air Force, causing the procurement price to be inevitably high.

Additionally, compared to fourth-generation fighters of the same era, a unit price of 40 million Newland Dollars is not considered too expensive.

Not to mention, the export quote for the Liangxia Empire’s "War-9" model is as high as 35 million Gold Yuan, equivalent to 50 million Newland Dollars. As for the "War-11" that entered service a few years later, the export price is as high as 50 million Gold Yuan, which is almost equivalent to 70 million Newland Dollars.

The key is that only staunch allies like the Gaoju Kingdom and Bakistan have the opportunity to get such prices!

However, Jialazad is well aware that these are all just excuses.

Can 40 million Newland Dollars from 16 years ago be compared to 70 million Newland Dollars now?

When Boi Country procured F-14A, neither the Newland Republic, Tiaoman Empire, nor the Liangxia Empire had abolished the gold standard. At that time, 40 million Newland Dollars could buy about 1 million ounces of gold, while now 50 million Newland Dollars can buy at most 400,000 ounces of gold.

In terms of gold valuation, the Newland Dollar has depreciated by 74%.

Of course, after abolishing the gold standard, the Gold Yuan of the Liangxia Empire and the Gold Mark of the Tiaoman Empire have also undergone significant depreciation.

In fact, Jialazad has long figured out that among the Newland Republic’s allies, Boi Country can at most rank second.

For the Newland Republic, the top ally is Luo Country on the Southern Subcontinent.

The key point is: Boi Country is not indispensable.

Besides the geographic advantage of being near Boss Bay, Boi Country doesn’t have anything that interests the Newland Republic.

Of course, if the sole purpose is to blockade Boss Bay, then even without Boi Country, it can be achieved by relying on Luo Country.

This is also a very awkward situation.

The Newland Republic itself is an oil-producing country, ranked third globally based on output, essentially achieving self-sufficiency in oil, with no need for oil imports, and even if oil needed to be imported, it could choose the much closer Nangu Continent.

In other words, even without Boi Country as an ally, the Newland Republic wouldn’t suffer significant losses.

Strategically, the Newland Republic’s original support for Boi Country in its war of independence was mainly to return to the international community, integrate into the Liangxia Empire-led international order, dismantle the Liangxia Empire and Tiaoman Empire, and protect and consolidate its own interests.

Clearly, this is the key reason the Newland Republic is reluctant to invest in Boi Country.

Over the past few decades, the Newland Republic has been willing to help Luo Country with education, improving the national quality to achieve industrialization, but unwilling to invest in constructing chemical plants in Boi Country, let alone enabling Boi Country to become an industrial power in the Boss Bay region.

Of course, this is not a situation that only emerged now.

Because of this, after gaining independence and founding the nation, Boi Country has been pursuing a relatively independent foreign policy and diligently developing its domestic industry.

As for whether to make a desperate attempt for the Newland Republic, it depends on the price that the Newland Authority is willing to offer.

Unfortunately, to date, the Newland Republic has not offered a price that could move Jialazad, or one that could drive 60 million Boi citizens to risk everything.

As mentioned by the Newland Envoy at the beginning, after Boi Country enters the war, the Newland Republic will provide 20 billion Newland Dollars in unconditional loans, but these can only be used to procure weaponry produced by Newland enterprises and arrange battleships to escort transport fleets, ensuring that the purchased equipment can reach Boi Country’s ports.

What can this amount of money do?

At the export quotation of Newland’s arms companies, 20 billion Newland Dollars can only procure about 400 F-15 fighter jets, without inclusion of support equipment and weaponry. Or 1,500 AH-64As, or 7,500 M1A1s, or 20 "Kidd" class destroyers, all being just the weapon platforms without support equipment and weaponry.

If it’s just to fight a local war, this is barely enough.

To wage a full-scale war against the Liangxia Empire?, even if the amount increased tenfold, it would still be far from enough!

What Boi Country truly lacks now is a complete and advanced military system, particularly an air and anti-air system, which involves cutting-edge weaponry that the Newland Republic still refuses to export, such as the E-3A large early warning aircraft and the "Patriot" air defense system.

Of course, even if the Newland Republic were willing to sell these cutting-edge weapons, Jialazad would not be swayed.

The answer is simple: establishing a complete military system takes time, at least several years. It’s not that having advanced weapons equates to possessing powerful combat capability.

The most critical factor is actually joining the war itself. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

During talks with the envoy, Jialazad once again tactfully reiterated Boi Country’s stance: it will not enter the war before the Newland Republic does.

Only after the Newland Republic joins the war will Boi Country consider joining.

Of course, consideration is only consideration.

By then, whether to join the war still depends on whether the benefits offered by the Newland Republic are substantial enough.

In fact, last month, Jialazad already had the Newland Ambassador, acting as envoy, deliver a list to Newland President.

Claimed as a weapon procurement list, it is actually a list for unconditional aid.

Before joining the war, the Newland Republic must provide 300 F-14D and 500 F-16C/D fighter jets, 350 AH-64A attack helicopters, 600 CH-60 general-purpose helicopters, 150 CH-47 heavy transport helicopters, 4,500 M1A1 main battle tanks, 3,000 M2/M3 infantry fighting vehicles, 2,500 M109 self-propelled howitzers, 4 "Kidd" class destroyers and 8 large attack submarines to Boi Country.

Of course, these are Boi Country’s demands, naturally with an exorbitant asking price.

Jialazad isn’t foolish, knowing that the Newland Authority would not possibly agree to so many demands, and providing some of these would already be quite good.

According to Jialazad’s plan, once the Newland Authority makes concessions, the most crucial demand will be raised.

Deploy three divisions in advance to help Boi Country guard the critically important Lowland Province and blockade the Hormuz Strait, and they must obey Boi Country’ command.

Nominally, this is to fulfill the security guarantee to Boi Country, i.e., to provide defense assistance.

Actually, it is to involve Newland Republic troops in the ground war against the Liangxia Empire.

To put it bluntly, it’s to prevent the Newland Republic from standing by while abandoning second-tier allies like Boi Country once the situation changes.

Of course, if the Newland Authority agrees to send ground troops to fight in Boi Country, then they will certainly dispatch air force units, at least pilots.

By then, aid in fighter jets would naturally not be an issue.

It must be said, Jialazad is indeed very clever.

In the face of the powerful military force demonstrated by the Liangxia Empire, even if Boi Country is larger in size, the outcome against a superpower wouldn’t end well.

With Iraq as a precedent, stepping out now is tantamount to seeking death.

Moreover, a global war has already erupted.

Since the Newland Republic values Luo Country on the Southern Subcontinent more, let Luo Country take the lead.