Empire Conquest

Chapter 600 - 596: The Troubles of Victory

The Ter Republic was demanding exorbitant prices at this time, which could be seen as just the tip of the iceberg of the internal contradictions within the Consortium Group.

Whether it was the Raleigh Kingdom, which had always been indecisive, or the Sban Kingdom, which had suddenly become active, as well as the now score-settling Ter Republic, the most core issue reflected was the contradictions within the Consortium Group regarding the distribution of war dividends.

However, such contradictions were simply unavoidable.

In the words of Zheng Jiangming, this was "the trouble with victory."

It must be admitted, Zheng Jiangming was rare in his optimism.

However, Bai Zhizhan always felt that it was not yet time to be optimistic.

Was the great war really about to end?

Clearly, it was far from the time to say it was over.

Not to mention anything else, the three main enemy states—the Newland Federation, the Luosha Federation, and the Bulan Kingdom—were all still fighting fiercely, not one had been defeated.

Even the Locke Republic was not so peaceful, holding up a million-strong army from the Tiaoman Empire.

The Saiyi Imperial Kingdom was slightly better off, but feeding millions of Saiyi people was still a heavy burden on the shoulders of the Empire.

Even if victory seemed within easy reach, it was still fundamentally different from having already secured victory.

Just like the last great war, in the final months, almost everyone believed that the Alliance Group had victory firmly in hand and was sure to achieve final triumph. Yet, after the major naval battle in the Watcher Strait, the Alliance Group had to face reality and negotiate with the Liangxia Empire.

To put it bluntly, even if the Luosha Federation and the Bulan Kingdom were already defeated, as long as the Newland Federation had not surrendered, victory could not yet be declared.

Cross-ocean expeditions were not to be taken lightly.

Before the outbreak of the great war, the Imperial Navy annually strategized on a global scale in joint war-games with the Army for the next global conflict.

After more than ten simulations, regardless of the methods and processes, the outcomes were consistent.

Even fighting alone, the Empire could achieve decisive victories on World Island and its environs, but the cross-ocean expeditions almost always ended in failure. In the later years of simulations, elements from the Tiaoman Empire were added, considering advancing through Tiaoman Empire from the Sunset Ocean side into the Beigu Continent and opening a second front. However, the results of the simulations showed little difference—the expeditions still ended in failure.

It was not that the Imperial Army wasn’t formidable enough, but the difficulty of a cross-ocean expedition was simply too great.

If setting out from East Ocean, even if the initial operations were all successful—securing footholds like the North Ma Islands and the Howay Islands, ensuring the logistic shipping routes were unobstructed, and deploying 1.5 to 3 million troops to invade mainland Newland—it would require around 2,000 ten-thousand-ton cargo ships, arranging thousands of escort battleships, and placing thousands of patrol planes on various islands along the way for anti-submarine tasks.

To manage these ships and guard military bases along the routes, an additional force of about one million was needed.

Moreover, whether the 3 million-strong army could conquer the Newland Federation, which had a nearly 200-million population, an area over 8 million square kilometers, and spanned the entire Beigu Continent, remained a big question. Indeed, this was one of the most debated issues during the simulation period.

According to the Navy’s view, the Army’s proposed expedition was far too optimistic.

Even if the most capable generals were to command the operations to conquer the Newland Federation, this number of troops would still be insufficient.

In reality, the Army was not blindly optimistic.

In the last few simulations, the Army adjusted their combat plan. The 1.5 to 3 million troops were only needed to capture the west coast of Newland. Upon advancing eastward, entering the interior of the Beigu Continent beyond the Rocky Mountains, the required force would need to be increased several times.

If military occupation was the goal, the required force could likely exceed 10 million.

Here, the Army pointed out a key factor.

The Newland Federation was the only major country in the world that did not ban firearms, and the number of guns owned by civilians not only far exceeded the military’s but also accounted for half of the global total of firearms.

To put it bluntly, the Newland Federation was almost entirely armed.

Of course, it at least had the capacity to arm its entire populace.

When attacking the mainland of Newland, the opposition would not merely be millions of Newland soldiers, but tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of armed Newland citizens.

Strictly speaking, they should be called militiamen.

This is exactly why a greater military force input is necessary.

The problem lies here.

According to several pre-war military plans made by the Army to attack Newland’s mainland, even the most optimistic plan mentioned a need for no less than 10 million troops.

In the initial plans made, the force input even exceeded 20 million.

For this, the Empire needed to undergo full-scale mobilization.

In fact, this is precisely why the Imperial Authority had not implemented full-scale mobilization.

According to the strategic plans formulated before the war, it was only after the battle to attack Newland’s mainland had started that they would decide whether to proceed with full-scale mobilization, depending on the situation.

Before that, as long as they could hold on, they could not undergo full-scale mobilization.

The reason is simple: even with full mobilization, it would take about four years to conquer the whole territory of Newland.

Of course, there has always been controversy over how long it would actually take to conquer the entire territory of Newland Federation.

In over a dozen simulations, the time taken to conquer Newland’s mainland varied greatly.

The shortest took less than a year, the longest nearly six years.

Four years was just a compromise, or rather, a result that everyone could accept.

In some sense, whether or not full-scale mobilization could be delayed until the attack on Newland’s mainland would determine if a complete victory could be achieved.

Here, the key is actually logistical support.

Even under the most optimistic estimate, using 10 million troops to conquer Newland’s mainland, to ensure that these 10 million soldiers can fight on the front lines, at least 25 million military and civilian personnel must be mobilized for logistical support, not to mention the millions of troops necessary to control the entire East Ocean.

This does not even take into account the operations on the Sunset Ocean side.

Additionally, the consumption of materials must be considered.

To put it simply, for every 10,000 tons of materials produced in the rear, only about 3,000 tons reach the front lines, with the remaining 7,000 tons lost during production and transportation. If losses during transit, such as cargo ships being sunk by submarines, are also accounted for, even fewer materials reach the front lines.

These are not mere speculations.

The Newland Federation has been assisting Bulan Kingdom and Luosha Federation, with only a fraction of the supplies reaching Luosha Federation.

Thus, to support an army of 10 million on the other side of the Earth, in Newland’s mainland, the Empire’s industrial production capacities would need to be squeezed dry.

A logistical supply line exceeding 10,000 kilometers, even reaching 15,000 kilometers, proves to be a barrier not even the Imperial Army can easily cross.

So, can one still say that victory is easily within reach?

In some sense, the difficulty of defeating the Newland Federation is no less than that of conquering Liangxia Empire.

There are only two global superpowers.

Liangxia Empire became a superpower relying on its massive scale, such as having the world’s largest population, the vastest territory, and the richest resources.

Of course, it also has the longest history and the core culture that has been shaped by this historical legacy.

The other superpower, Newland Federation, possesses not only a vast scale but also a uniquely advantageous, coveted geographic environment that no other country possesses.

It is precisely because of this that Bai Zhizhan felt that it was not yet time to celebrate victory.