Empire Conquest-Chapter 919 - 129: Multiple Contingency Plans

Before the end of the last great war, the illiteracy rate in the Gaoju Kingdom exceeded 90%, with only a very few nobles and the children of the landlord class having the opportunity to attend school.

The Gaoju Kingdom implemented a ten-year compulsory education system starting after the New Calendar year 115, and it was not until New Calendar year 130 that compulsory education became basically widespread.

If Park Tae-hee was truly a commoner, then he would definitely be illiterate and would have no chance of entering the Royal Military Academy.

If Park Tae-hee were an orphan of the Southern High Royal Family, then the events that followed would make sense.

Of course, Ding Zhennan did not concern himself with whether Park Tae-hee was an orphan of the Southern High Royal Family, as the Gaoju Kingdom had long since emulated the Empire in completing constitutional reforms.

The key point was that the Gaoju Kingdom was adjacent to the Empire, and in terms of economy and culture, as well as military and political affairs, it was entirely influenced and controlled by the Empire. Even if Park Tae-hee managed to seize the throne one day, he would pledge loyalty to the Imperial Family of the Empire before ascending, in order to receive the appointment from the Emperor.

What Ding Zhennan cared about was whether Park Tae-hee would agree to increase the troops or, more specifically, what price he would demand.

For this, Ding Zhennan made a special visit to Park Tae-hee.

Of course, unlike their last meeting, Ding Zhennan was already an Imperial Army Brigadier General and the Chief of Staff of the Alliance, having proven his abilities through actual combat.

Even if Park Tae-hee was dismissive of others, he would not dare to underestimate a general of the Imperial Army.

Perhaps due to a change in mindset, upon meeting Park Tae-hee again, Ding Zhennan immediately thought that the rumors about Park Tae-hee were not false.

The most significant point was that the guy was extraordinarily composed.

This calmness, along with his ability to hide his emotions, was not developed after reaching adulthood but was a result of his childhood experiences and the influence of his upbringing!

Fortunately, the matter of concern for Ding Zhennan did not take a surprising turn.

After Ding Zhennan explained his intentions, which involved hoping for the Gaoju Kingdom to increase troops and take on more combat tasks, including occupying and controlling southern Iraq, maintaining order in the occupied areas, quickly resuming production in undamaged oil fields, and restoring operations in the Fao port, Park Tae-hee agreed without hesitation and even stated that he would take personal responsibility for the occupation actions in southern Iraq.

As for air power, Park Tae-hee did not refuse but mentioned needing some time to make adjustments in deployment, promising to dispatch an additional 200 to 300 combat aircraft to compensate for the deficiencies of the Imperial Navy Air Force, ensuring adequate support for ground forces in the operation against Baghdad.

To reassure Ding Zhennan, Park Tae-hee even made a call to the Gaoju Prime Minister in his presence.

Afterwards, he personally escorted Ding Zhennan back to the Alliance Headquarters.

At this time, another arrangement made by Ding Zhennan also yielded results.

According to his requests, the Air Force Headquarters agreed to dispatch three "Zhi-10A" Joint Command Aircraft to the Boss Bay area, to increase support aircraft like refueling aircraft by 20%, and to send an additional 150 bombers to the Diego base, even though these bombers were not solely for the Boss Bay area.

However, the key was the support aircraft represented by refueling aircraft.

Although the Empire Air Force made a compromise after the third round of military reforms by equipping large refueling aircraft like the "Oil-29A" with hose refueling systems for naval combat aircraft, the Imperial Navy continued to stubbornly use its proprietary hose refueling system.

The reason was simple: the Navy did not have large combat aircraft like bombers.

The Air Force insisted on using the boom refueling system mainly to accommodate strategic bombers, as the boom system not only had higher transfer efficiency but also lower requirements for refueling aircraft pilots, offering better stability during refueling, and was more suitable for servicing large aircraft with considerable fuel consumption and cumbersome operation.

However, the boom refueling system also had notable drawbacks.

For instance, its complicated structure required a dedicated operator to control the refueling equipment, making it challenging to use on the Navy’s ship-borne aircraft.

Therefore, the Imperial Navy developed and equipped the hose refueling system.

Due to the lack of large platforms and the inability of carriers to accommodate large aircraft, the Imperial Navy primarily adopted buddy refueling in air over the past decades.

Simply put, it involved using heavy ship-borne aircraft like the "Attack-5" to carry a refueling pod to temporarily act as refueling aircraft.

This was also the key to the "Attack-5" being favored by the Navy Air Force; it continued to serve 15 years post-extension after being in service for 30 years.

Among the naval ship-borne aircraft, none were more suitable for acting as refueling aircraft than the "Attack-5."

On the other hand, due to the lack of large refueling aircraft like the "Oil-29A" and "Oil-20D," combat aircraft often had to return with missiles, resulting in the Imperial Navy Air Force’s combat efficiency being inferior to that of the Tactical Air Force, even after landing.

During the ground warfare stage, this defect of the Navy Air Force became even more pronounced.

Of course, this was also related to the Navy Air Force’s mission characteristics.

In traditional sea-air operations, the Navy Air Force usually undertook "one-time" missions, with significant focus on the effectiveness of the first strike. Especially in sea control operations, whether the shipborne air force could defeat the enemy at the first opportunity would often determine the outcome of the battle.

Influenced by this, the Navy’s ship-borne aircraft never prioritized loiter time.

Take the "War-9B" as an example, with a maximum combat radius exceeding 1500 kilometers in a typical air superiority loadout, making it a leader among third-generation fighters. Yet, with the same loadout, its patrol time 500 kilometers from the carrier was a mere 60 minutes, less than half of the "War-11A".

The reason was that the "War-9" prioritized the lift-to-drag ratio during high-subsonic cruising, resulting in higher fuel consumption during slower flight.

The same was true for the attack aircraft.

The "Attack-5F," when loaded with four heavy anti-ship missiles, could engage enemy ships 1800 kilometers away, and when loaded with eight 500-kilogram class air bombs, reducing the ammo load by 2000 kilograms, it could attack ground targets 1000 kilometers away, with a battlefield patrol time of just 30 minutes.

Under the same load, the Air Force’s "War-16A" could loiter over a battlefield 1000 kilometers away for 90 minutes.

With the support of air force refueling aircraft, it was a completely different story.

Supported by refuelers, the "Attack-6F" could carry 16 500-kilogram class air bombs and patrol the airspace over a battlefield 1000 kilometers away for 2 hours. With prior preparation to ensure pilot vitality, patrol time could be extended to 4 hours.

The key was that the attack aircraft of the Navy Air Force often had the strongest load-carrying capacity among the same model of aircraft at the same time.

This was not surprising, as heavy ship-borne attack aircraft like the "Attack-5" mainly had the mission of carrying heavy anti-ship missiles to strike enemy carrier battle groups, with a typical mission configuration of four 1500-kilogram anti-ship missiles, reaching a total external payload of 6 tons.

Air Force attack aircraft typically had mission payload weights between 2 and 4 tons.

It was for this reason that Ding Zhennan requested additional support aircraft from the Air Force.

However, not all was good news.

In the early hours of October 4th, after receiving the Air Force Headquarters’ reply, Ding Zhennan had not yet left the headquarters when the latest battle report arrived.

Roughly 4 hours earlier, at around 2 a.m. local time on the 4th, without previously declaring war, the Fanluo Army launched an attack on Bakistan along a 2000-kilometer front line, sending about 30 divisions simultaneously, thus igniting the South Asia Subcontinent War.

The air combat was the first to erupt.

Just after midnight, the Fanluo Air Force launched an attack, sending over a thousand combat aircraft to launch a surprise raid on dozens of military bases across the border. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

However, it was far from "surprising."

Despite being able to draw from the actions of the Alliance in the early stages of the Boss Bay War, the Fanluo Air Force’s performance in this surprise attack was still mediocre.

The key issue was that the Fanluo Air Force’s assault did not achieve operational surprise.

Shortly after the Fanluo Air Force’s fighters took off, the Bakistan Air Force entered the highest state of readiness, with over 300 forward-deployed combat aircraft all taking off urgently.

Moreover, the air defense forces deployed along the border were promptly prepared for battle.

As a result, the Fanluo Air Force’s first assault not only failed to achieve operational surprise but was instead met with a head-on attack by the Bakistan Air Force.

By the time the Fanluo Army launched its offensive, the air battle was still unresolved, and despite having the advantage in numbers, the Fanluo Air Force had not gained air superiority.

It must be admitted that the Bakistan Air Force is indeed a formidable force on the South Asia Subcontinent, a power not to be underestimated!