Empire Conquest

Chapter 582 - 578: Major News

The banquet ended, and on the way to the port, Bai Zhizhan felt a profound sense of wonder.

Although it was called a celebration of the rendezvous, it felt more like an exchange of information.

The busiest person was not Bai Zhizhan, but Zheng Jiangming, who attended in his capacity as an adjutant.

Even though everyone knew Zheng Jiangming was an intelligence officer, no one pointed it out, since intelligence personnel are not exactly welcome in such semi-public settings.

Before the banquet began, Zheng Jiangming had vanished without a trace.

It was not until the banquet was almost over that he suddenly appeared.

"How did it go, did you find out any good news?"

"It’s not exactly good news, but there certainly has been a significant gain."

Bai Zhizhan smiled and waited for Zheng Jiangming to continue.

Fortunately, the driver was Li Mingbo.

"You all have to ensure that this matter must not be leaked."

"Brother Li, did you hear that?"

"What are you talking about, I haven’t heard a thing?"

Bai Zhizhan was speechless, but Li Mingbo’s response was quite clever and at least didn’t make the atmosphere awkward.

"I heard it from a Tiaoman intelligence officer that the Tiaoman Empire might make a move on the Raleigh Kingdom soon."

"What!?"

As Bai Zhizhan’s face showed his shock, the car jolted suddenly as well, and Li Mingbo was equally startled.

"You don’t need to be so alarmed; there really is a possibility of that happening."

"Why?" While utterly shocked, Bai Zhizhan kept his emotions in check, and as Zheng Jiangming said, there was no need for a big fuss.

"If we’re to speak frankly, we’ve had similar concerns for a while now." Zheng Jiangming paused for a moment before explaining the causes and effects.

It was no strange affair for the Raleigh Kingdom to play both sides.

During the last war, the Raleigh Kingdom had deceived the Tiaoman Empire.

Before the outbreak of the war, the Raleigh Kingdom signed a secret pact with the Tiaoman Empire, promising to join the war and send troops to attack the Locke Republic. However, when Tiaoman forces were embroiled in a hard fight on the Western Front, the Raleigh Kingdom just sat back and watched, missing the prime opportunity to defeat the Locke Republic, leading the Tiaoman Empire to struggle on the Western Front. By the time the Newland Federation entered the war, the Raleigh Kingdom had turned face and joined the Alliance Group.

This time, the situation was similar.

After the Alliance Group’s counteroffensive on Malta, the Raleigh authorities realized that the Consortium Group’s chances of victory were not great, claiming that the Tiaoman Empire could not hold out until the moment of victory, hence they started having second thoughts. It was after this that the Raleigh Kingdom secretly contacted the Alliance Group through a third country.

Despite the secrecy of the action, there were no walls in the world that could contain every whisper.

Moreover, within the Raleigh military, there were a group of pro-war Young Turks who did not agree with the upper echelon, that is, the political gambit.

Clearly, the Tiaoman Empire was also on alert early on.

It was on this very evening that Zheng Jiangming found out that the Tiaoman intelligence agency had already been preparing for a while, and the Tiaoman forces had increased their defenses.

In fact, this was also the key reason why the Tiaoman forces had been steadfastly holding onto Malta.

From another perspective, it was also the prime reason for the Tiaoman forces to cooperate with the Imperial Navy, to seize Suez City at the fastest speed and then control the Xifan Canal.

No matter what, if something were to happen in the Raleigh Kingdom, the Tiaoman Empire would have to strengthen its ties with the Liangxia Empire.

As for the preventive measures taken by the Tiaoman Empire, it was essentially to strike first.

For this reason, the Tiaoman Army had deployed an elite mountain unit to the north of Raleigh Kingdom and had also placed several Airborne Forces around the Raleigh Kingdom.

As long as there were enough transport planes, the Tiaoman military could deploy 100,000 troops to the Raleigh Kingdom within a single day.

This force was not enough to crush the Raleigh military but was sure to seize the crucial transport hubs, laying the foundation for ground troops to enter the Raleigh Kingdom.

If the Imperial Navy could provide assistance, that would be even better.

Moreover, the Tiaoman military had formulated a combat plan to attack the Raleigh Kingdom, which included sending airborne troops to take control of the capital of the Raleigh Kingdom and its high-level leaders after the war broke out, making every effort to minimize the negative impacts and ensure the situation remained stable after the operation concluded.

To speak of, the key was to keep the situation stable.

No matter the reason, if the Raleigh Kingdom were to descend into turmoil, the Consortium Group would be the damaged party, and the Tiaoman Empire would bear the brunt.

Actually, this was also the biggest gain for Zheng Jiangming tonight.

According to information disclosed by the Tiaoman intelligence officers, if the Imperial Navy could ensure an assault into the Land Heart Sea in the near future and take control of the sea dominance there, the Tiaoman Empire would take preemptive action to control the Raleigh Kingdom with the force of a thunderbolt. The main task of the Imperial Navy was to blockade the Raleigh Kingdom.

This was also a key step in controlling the entire region surrounding the Land Heart Sea.

Regarding this proposal, Zheng Jiangming mentioned that the Imperial High Command was very interested.

The reason being, it could solve the contradiction between the Raleigh Kingdom and the Ter Republic in one fell swoop. In the eyes of the Imperial High Command, the Ter Republic was obviously a more important ally.

If one had to choose between two allies, it would undoubtedly be the Ter Republic.

However, the key lay in the Tiaoman Empire.

It was the Tiaoman Empire that had brought the Raleigh Kingdom and the Ter Republic into the alliance, so ultimately the decision lay with the Tiaoman Empire.

That being said, assaulting the Raleigh Kingdom without cause also had very prominent negative implications.

The key was, no matter how you put it, the Raleigh Kingdom was a member of the Consortium Group. If the war had not ended yet and the Tiaoman Empire turned against an ally, while the Liangxia Empire as the alliance leader turned a blind eye, it would certainly dishearten the other allies, leading to baseless suspicions that were all harm and no benefit.

Not to mention, the defection of the Luosha Federation halfway through already had a very negative impact.

In addition, it was no secret that the Consortium Group was controlled by the two great empires.

Well before the outbreak of the Global War, countries from the Alliance Group such as the Newland Federation and the Bulan Kingdom had, through propaganda, portrayed the Consortium Group as a tool of the two old empires, existing to serve them, and any country joining the group was labeled a lackey of the two empires.

Although this propaganda targeted the last Global War, its impact was still not to be underestimated.

One might say that the late participation of the Ter Republic was related to this sort of propaganda since the Ter Republic had to consider the feelings of its domestic populace. Even knowing that the earlier one joined the war, the greater the benefits, the Ter Republic could only wait for the right moment to choose its stance.

Of course, this also related to the national conditions of the Ter Republic.

The current Ter Republic was a secular state established after overthrowing the feudal imperial system, with its foundation being anti-feudal and anti-imperial.

Now, with the war not yet ended, if one were to create internal strife, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Losing a favorable situation over a Raleigh Kingdom was definitely not worth it. And if this reversal led to an about-face in the situation, the loss would be even greater.

Truly, if so, the Imperial Authority absolutely would not agree.

In Zheng Jiangming’s words, perhaps the Alliance Group had also anticipated this, which is why they had not subverted the Raleigh Kingdom.

To put it more bluntly, it was to make the Raleigh Kingdom a hidden danger, and then force the Tiaoman Empire to act.

As long as the conflict escalated, the Consortium Group might fall apart from within.

Evidently, the leaders of the Alliance Group knew well that the Raleigh Kingdom was a fool contributing little but making many demands.

For such a country, the idea was clear: use it if possible, but forming an alliance was a separate matter.

This was exactly why the Tiaoman Authority had not made up its mind.

In Zheng Jiangming’s words, what was lacking now was a reason.

So, where could this reason be found?