Empire Conquest

Chapter 544 - 540: The Second Battlefield

Surely, the Navy was not the only service in need.

During the discussions, Rofuss specifically mentioned a matter.

According to Isenway’s report, once the Bulan Army reclaimed Malta, they should consider deploying troops to the North Xuan region, more precisely, landing on the Sunset Ocean side of the area.

In direct terms, that meant opening up a new battlefield.

In fact, this was also an alternative plan to a direct landing on the West Continent.

In the original plan, they were to land on the West Continent next year, opening a second front against the Tiaoman Empire, striving to defeat the Tiaoman Empire as quickly as possible.

Regrettably, with the Raleigh Kingdom entering the war and the Luosha Federation suffering heavy losses, the idea of landing on the West Continent next year was no longer viable.

However, in order to put sufficient pressure on the Tiaoman Empire, stabilize the front in the eastern part of the West Continent, and prevent the Tiaoman Empire from launching a reprisal in the near term, thus relieving the pressure on the Luosha Federation and allowing them to concentrate their forces to cope with the Liangxia Army’s offensive, an attack had to be launched this year.

Currently, the only option was to land in the North Xuan region.

Indeed, this was the key reason why Rofuss agreed to let two carrier fleets go to the Land Heart Sea to assist and support the Bulan Royal Navy in attacking Malta.

Only by occupying and controlling Malta, securing absolute sea power over the Land Heart Sea, could they land in the North Xuan region.

Politically, landing in the North Xuan region was actually a test for the Newland Federation.

Simply put, it was about demonstrating their resolve to fight to the death by participating in ground warfare and gaining the trust and support of the Allies.

Let’s not forget, after Nanzhu Country fell, the Newland Army faced ground battlefields that were all limited to small islands without having to deploy many ground troops or engage in large-scale ground warfare, which meant that the pressure of ground warfare fell almost entirely on the Luosha Federation.

Even Bulan Kingdom was no better in this regard.

Regardless, the Bulan Army was at least still defending Jibu Fortress and Nara Fortress, fighting a fierce battle with the Tiaoman Army on the west side of the Xifan Canal.

Previously, they had also fought a battle with the Tiaoman Army in the North Xuan region.

Thus, both the Luosha Federation and the Bulan Kingdom were worried that the Newland Federation could withdraw from the war at any time and might not fight to the death.

Let’s not forget, the Newland Federation resided alone on the Gu Continent, dominating the western hemisphere, with no formidable enemy nearby.

With sea power, using the Sunset Ocean to the east and the East Ocean to the west, along with strong industrial strength and self-sufficient resources, the Newland Federation could keep enemies outside their gates, because they did not need to fight to the death against the Consortium Group like the other Great Powers.

Following the end of the last war, the Newland Federation briefly hoisted the flag of isolationism once again.

Even in the year before the outbreak of the war, the Newland Congress had rejected military aid to the Bulan Kingdom and the Saiyi Imperial Country, fearing it would provoke a Global War.

In view of this, the Luosha Federation had long proposed that if the Newland Federation failed to achieve anything on the ground battlefield within the year, the Luosha Federation would consider negotiating peace with the Consortium Group on acceptable terms, which meant unilaterally entering peace talks with the Consortium Group.

Rofuss had already sent envoys to the Luosha Federation to discuss ground operations with the Luosha leaders.

The initial idea was to send an expeditionary army to the Luosha Federation.

Unfortunately, not only was this unfeasible, but it also held little significance.

Let us not mention whether Newland’s troops could endure the harsh winter of the Luosha Federation; the issue of arms, equipment, and logistical support was an insurmountable challenge.

Deploying to the Luosha Federation meant not just sending troops over but also transporting equipment and supplies.

Clearly, if it were possible to smoothly transport equipment and supplies to the Luosha Federation, there might have been no need for the Newland Federation to send troops to fight.

Indeed, opening a second front had become the only option.

At first, the Luosha Federation had consistently insisted that the Newland Federation should open a second front against the Liangxia Empire in order to contain the Liangxia military forces.

Unfortunately, the difficulty was too great.

To counterattack the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom or to attack Nanzhu Country, they had to traverse the entire East Ocean, so they had to face a maritime shipping route stretching tens of thousands of kilometers.

The key issue was that the Newland Navy had not secured command of the sea.

If the Liangxia Empire attacked Aus and marched into the Southwest East Ocean, these problems would not exist.

That’s why, after several months of repeated discussions and after the Newland Federation agreed to increase aid, the leaders of the Luosha Federation agreed to consider opening a second front against the Tiaoman Empire to reduce the pressure on the Luosha Federation by attacking the Tiaoman Empire.

In this way, the Luosha Federation could deploy more forces to the east.

Still, this was not an easy matter either.

The Liangxia Empire had already strengthened its commitment on the Giant Continent battlefield, achieved a series of victories, and pushed the front line to the east side of the Broad Sea.

Because the Raleigh Kingdom joined the Consortium Group and the sudden entry of the Ter Republic into the war, the Tiaoman Empire’s commitment in the Land Heart Sea was actually far less than expected, allowing them to have enough military forces to strengthen the eastern front’s defense while also bolstering defensive deployments in the western part of the West Continent.

Overall, the Consortium Group had a very clear strategic advantage on the World Island.

That’s why, over the previous few months, the Newland Army Air Force had intensified strategic bombing against the Tiaoman Empire at the expense of heavy losses.

As a result, the Newland Federation had expanded the production scale of strategic bombers.

But the problem was that bombing alone could not defeat the Tiaoman Empire, and the massive losses also meant that high-intensity strategic bombing was not sustainable.

After several months of efforts, it was finally decided to land in the western region of North Xuan.

This move could not only force the Tiaoman Empire to send reinforcements to the North Xuan region but also relieve pressure at the Xifan Canal and strengthen the military presence in the Land Heart Sea.

If the military operations in the North Xuan region went smoothly, they could even consider using Malta as a springboard to attack the Raleigh Kingdom’s homeland.

According to Rofuss, forcing the Raleigh Kingdom to exit the war early or defeating the Raleigh Kingdom first was also a viable strategy for victory.

Do not forget, the Saiyi Imperial Country of the Alliance Group had already been defeated.

Furthermore, after taking down the Raleigh Kingdom, not only could they strengthen their advantage in the Land Heart Sea, but they could also advance eastward to strike at the Ter Republic.

On a strategic level, as long as the Ter Republic was defeated, the Liangxia Empire and the Tiaoman Empire would be left to fight on their own.

To put it another way, this was actually the only method to defeat the Consortium Group.

In the last Global War, the Alliance Group was able to turn defeat into victory not only because the Newland Federation joined the war at a critical moment but also because of their victory over the Ter Empire.

However, this reprisal strategy meant that the Newland Federation had to increase its commitment to the Army, particularly in procuring more tanks and artillery.

Without a doubt, this meant that the resources that could be allocated to the Navy would be significantly reduced.

According to Rofuss, the current shipbuilding scale of the Navy could be maintained until the end of the following year, but once ground warfare commenced, or if forced to engage in combat with the Liangxia military forces in the Southwest East Ocean or Aus, the Navy would have to reduce the building quantity of some secondary warships.

Perhaps in the end, not even the main battleships could be guaranteed.

Full mobilization might solve some problems but could not solve all of them.

Rofuss was discussing these matters with Nizi in hopes that Nizi would understand that a Navy-focused strategy could be maintained for at most one year, leaving Nizi only one year to turn the situation around.