Empire Conquest

Chapter 602 - 598: The Root of the Contradiction

If we could join forces with the Tiaoman Empire to attack the Newland Federation, that would naturally be ideal.

However, there are many issues that seem negligible or unworthy of concern to a layman, but from a politician’s perspective, they pose severe problems.

The most prominent and concerning issue is actually the post-war relationship with the Tiaoman Empire.

To put it differently, after exhausting all means to defeat traditional enemies such as the Newland Federation, could the Tiaoman Empire become the new adversary?

If the answer is yes, then the victory achieved in this great war would be overshadowed.

Speaking more directly, the Tiaoman Empire, too, is a Western nation, albeit a newly industrialized power. To pursue its own interests and challenge established empires like the Bulan Kingdom and Locke Republic, it has aligned with the Liangxia Empire, another newly industrialized power.

Moreover, the Newland Federation is also an emerging industrial nation.

Before the last Great War, the Newland Federation was on the same front as the Liangxia Empire and Tiaoman Empire, challenging and opposing traditional Great Powers. They sought to break the world order established by the old empires through colonial rule to gain and protect their own interests.

In the past few decades, these three emerging industrial powers have each initiated or participated in three highly representative expansion wars.

There is no need to elaborate on the Liangxia Empire, which, taking advantage of the Luosha Empire being severely beaten by the Ter Empire supported by the Bulan Kingdom and Locke Republic during the Crimean War, waged a war aimed at capturing the hinterlands of the Giant Continent and areas of the Extreme North, eventually becoming the Eastern hegemon.

As for the Tiaoman Empire, it actively supported the Boers in South Xuan in revolting, weakening the colonial rule of the Bulan Kingdom and reducing its hegemonic status.

The Newland Federation, however, made the biggest move.

While the Tiaoman Empire used the Boers to strike at the Bulan Kingdom, the Newland Federation, without any warning and under a trumped-up pretext, launched a war against the Sban Empire, seizing its colonies in the Caribbean and West East Ocean, thus becoming the hegemon of the Western Hemisphere.

It is evident that in the struggle for interests against the old empires, the Newland Federation’s assertiveness is no less than that of the Liangxia Empire and Tiaoman Empire.

The major difference lies merely in choosing the declining Sban Empire.

If judged from the perspective of new replacing the old, the three emerging industrial powers are natural allies.

Unfortunately, the gap between reality and ideal is too vast.

Many believe that a primary reason the Newland Federation entered the war late as a member of the Alliance Group was the unrestricted submarine warfare by the Tiaoman Navy in the Sunset Ocean, especially after they sank the "Lucy" cruise ship without warning, killing hundreds of passengers and crew, including over a hundred Newland citizens, and the Tiaoman Empire did not cease its unrestricted submarine warfare following that.

It’s clear that this was just a pretext used for propaganda.

Fundamentally, it was still a matter of interests, with a crucial point relating to the Tiaoman Empire.

The Tiaoman Empire, attempting to expand into the Western Hemisphere, was secretly contacting several ambitious and somewhat powerful nations in Gu Continent like Mexico.

As for the so-called telegram in the legends, it was actually nonexistent or rather fabricated by the Newland Authority.

The key point is that the Tiaoman Empire would never promise Mexico to return places like California, Arizona, and New Mexico.

According to records declassified post-war, the goal of the Consortium Group, before the Newland Federation’s involvement, was merely to keep it neutral.

As long as the Newland Federation remained neutral, the Consortium Group hoped to achieve victory in the New Calendar year 77.

Then, what reason did the Tiaoman Empire have to provoke the Newland Federation when victory was only a few months away?

However, enhancing control over the Western Hemisphere using nations like Mexico from Gu Continent and weakening enemy nations was fundamentally Tiaoman Empire’s strategy during the last Great War.

When formulating this strategy, the Tiaoman Authority did not ponder whether the Newland Federation would become an enemy.

Strictly speaking, it was not that they did not consider it; they just did not consider it seriously.

Clearly, it was the Tiaoman Empire’s expansionist actions in the Western Hemisphere that eventually pushed the Newland Federation into the arms of the Alliance Group.

Before the Newland Federation joined the war, the Liangxia Empire was still making its final efforts through secret negotiations. The Imperial Authority had already agreed in principle that the Newland Federation need not join the Consortium Group or send troops to fight. As long as they continued to maintain their stance, they would be recognized as a victorious nation after the war and would accept its dominant status in the Western Hemisphere. Moreover, they would not interfere with Western Hemisphere affairs, preserving the interests of the Newland Federation.

Given the situation at the time, this proposal was highly enticing.

To put it bluntly, the Newland Federation could achieve the same wartime benefits as the Liangxia and Tiaoman Empires without mobilizing a single soldier.

Moreover, the Bulan Kingdom was on the verge of defeat, the Luosha Empire was under siege, and the Locke Republic had spilled its last drop of blood.

Within half a year at most, the Alliance Group would be defeated due to the enormous cost of the war.

However, the situation on the Consortium Group’s side was the exact opposite.

The Liangxia Empire had already stabilized the East, while the Tiaoman Empire, after withstanding the Luosha Empire’s reprisal, was about to launch its final offensive on the Western Front.

At that time, launching one more campaign could force the Locke Republic to surrender, or else the Tiaoman forces could enter Seba City.

It was at this moment that the "Diplomat Telegram" incident occurred.

As a result, before the Imperial Authority could react, the Newland President announced joining the Alliance Group and subsequently declared war on the Consortium Group.

According to post-war disclosures and some semi-public information,

it was not the malicious telegram that led the Newland Federation to war, but rather the core national interests and the irreconcilable contradictions with the Tiaoman Empire.

This problem was something even the Liangxia Empire could not solve.

The reason is simple: if the Consortium Group emerged victorious from the war, it was definite that the Liangxia Empire would dominate the East.

Fundamentally, the Liangxia Empire’s ultimate ambition was to dominate the East and control the World Island.

The remaining Western Hemisphere could only accommodate one superpower.

The Tiaoman Empire?

The Newland Federation?

If the Liangxia Empire still valued its alliance with the Tiaoman Empire, what would satisfy the Newland Federation?

From the perspective of Newland’s leaders, there would naturally be concerns that the Liangxia Empire and Tiaoman Empire would abandon them after achieving their goals.

Merely relying on promises, even if they were put into signed agreements, offered no security.

Clearly, there were no such concerns within the Alliance Group.

Even if the Bulan Kingdom had always been the leader of the Alliance Group, in order to win the great war, they had to recognize the hegemony of the Newland Federation in the Western Hemisphere, especially on the Gu Continent.

This was also the most central interest of the Newland Federation.

It was this irreconcilable contradiction that made the Newland Federation the Empire’s foremost formidable enemy.

Indeed, the Imperial Authority had long recognized that they had to defeat all opponents with substantial power before the end of this great war.

In the post-war world, there could only be one superpower.

Then, could this opportunity allow the Tiaoman Empire to become a superpower?

To that end, after defeating the Alliance Group, only the Tiaoman Empire had the strength to stand toe-to-toe with the Liangxia Empire on a global scale.

This was the root of the internal contradictions within the Empire!