Empire Conquest

Chapter 637 - 633: Deeply Calculating

The biggest disagreement was actually about the way to handle the East Ocean Fleet of Newland.

From the beginning, when Zheng Jiangming initiated negotiations with Nizi, they adhered to a principle: Nizi and, more precisely, the officers and soldiers under their command in the East Ocean Fleet, must surrender unconditionally and cooperate with and accept the arrangements made by the Imperial Navy.

Regarding the battleships, they must also be transferred intact to the Imperial Navy.

What the Imperial Navy could guarantee was to provide all Newland Navy personnel with living conditions no worse than humanitarian assistance before the end of the Global War, and to provide repatriation services after the war ended, as well as assuring that they would not be pursued for war crimes committed under orders of the previous government.

Clearly, Nizi did not accept these terms.

According to Nizi’s demands, the East Ocean Fleet of Newland would belong to the government of Wallace and would listen and follow the directives of the Wallace government.

As for whether to accept the dispatch of the Liangxia Navy, that would be determined by the Wallace government.

Undoubtedly, this was also something the Empire could not accept.

Although in theory, after the surrender of Wallace, his forces must surrender and unconditionally accept the arrangements of the Liangxia Empire, the issue involved when exactly to surrender, not to mention the current situation suggested that this could take a few months, or even several years.

Key here was that Wallace hoped to surrender to the Liangxia Empire with the title of the sole President of the Newland Federation.

The two parties first signed an armistice agreement, then Wallace, as the President, would sign an alliance treaty with the Liangxia Empire and request the Liangxia Empire as an ally to assist in quelling domestic rebellion, and only after defeating insurgents like Hale, would they discuss the matter of surrender.

In Wallace’s words, he was going to Huacheng to sign a surrender treaty.

So, when could Huacheng be taken?

During this period, who would command the East Ocean Fleet of Newland?

More importantly, with Nizi’s fleet backing, could unexpected developments occur?

Clearly, these were massive problems.

Simply put, to achieve a comprehensive victory, or to make Wallace’s surrender meaningful, the regime held by Hale in Huacheng had to be overthrown.

This simply meant making Wallace the sole President of the Newland Federation.

Accordingly, the East Ocean Fleet of Newland had to surrender and unconditionally accept the dispatch and command of the Liangxia Navy.

Most crucial, actually, were those battleships.

According to the data brought by Wang Kaiyuan, including the 5th Fleet and even excluding those stranded on the west coast of Newland mainland and in the Aus Military Port, the East Ocean Fleet of Newland consisted of over 1,000 ships, including more than 600 large battleships each displacing over 1,000 tons.

Additionally, there were about 4,000 combat aircraft and a Marine Corps strength of not less than 800,000.

Without a doubt, this was a formidable military force.

In Wang Kaiyuan’s words, several hundred battleships, several thousand combat aircraft, and several hundred thousand up to a million armed military personnel meant that the Imperial Navy simply could not assist Wallace in returning to his homeland, because as soon as Wallace returned with his military, he would immediately tear up the surrender agreement!

Thus, to make the surrender a reality, Nizi had to hand over the entire fleet.

The delay by Wang Kaiyuan had to do with this as well.

Nizi’s top bargaining chip was actually the 5th Fleet commanded by Spur.

Now, with Spur already on the "Qinling" and the battleships of the 5th Fleet controlled, what bargaining power did Nizi still have?

Compared to the 5th Fleet, the garrison on the Howay Islands was absolutely inconsequential.

Getting Nizi to make concessions was still no easy task.

In a previous meeting, Wallace had already mentioned to Wang Kaiyuan on behalf of Nizi that getting the East Ocean Fleet of Newland to surrender was not a difficult task. The Liangxia Empire only needed to meet one precondition, which was to agree by treaty to help the Federation recapture its homeland.

In simple terms, it was to sign a legally binding agreement.

To make the agreement legally binding, it needed to be made public, at least to the allies including the Tiaoman Empire.

This meant that the Liangxia Authorities had to stake the Empire’s reputation as a guarantee.

Obviously, this was also unlikely.

According to Wang Kaiyuan, the Imperial High Command was very unified in its stance on Newland’s internal conflict, no matter how dire the situation became or how far it developed, they could not get involved. It was Newland Federation’s civil war and had nothing to do with the Liangxia Empire or the Consortium Group.

The Empire had just won the Global War, and there were no reasons to let the nation’s soldiers sacrifice their lives for the former enemy.

Of course, giving assistance was not a problem.

Weapons and equipment, whatever could be provided, would be given.

As for leading charges, that would have to be done by Newland’s own military personnel.

With this in mind, what could the Empire guarantee that Wallace would definitely return to Huacheng?

Moreover, the stance of other members of the Consortium Group was similar.

Even the Tiaoman Empire had made it clear that they would not send troops to intervene in the Newland Federation’s civil war.

The war had been ongoing for years, and the Tiaoman Empire had suffered more than 8 million military and civilian casualties, with its homeland being bombed, it was certainly in dire need of reconstruction.

Why would they help a president-in-exile restore his position?

To put it another way, what benefits would helping Wallace restore his rule bring?

Not to mention substantial benefits, there wasn’t even a verbal promise!

As for other countries, like the Raleigh Kingdom and the Sban Empire, they also stated they would not intervene in Newland Federation’s internal conflict and had no interest in sending troops to Gu Continent.

Of course, Wang Kaiyuan also brought a backup plan.

As long as Nizi was willing to hand over the East Ocean Fleet of Newland, the Imperial Navy would help the garrison at the Howay Islands, or forces loyal to Wallace, land on the west coast of Newland and assist Wallace in quelling the domestic rebellion by providing weapons, equipment, and supplies.

Additionally, if Tiaoman Empire and other key members were willing to participate, they could launch a support operation under the name of the Consortium Group on the Sunset Ocean side with the aim of supporting a counterattack.

As long as conditions permitted, this included attacking islands close to Newland’s homeland.

Simply put, it was to send Wallace back.

As for whether Wallace could kill Hale and recapture Huacheng after his counterattack, that depended on whether he could garner more support from Newland’s military and civilians.

Moreover, there was another "Plan B."

To make Wallace accept his fate, give up the idea of a counteroffensive, treat the Howay Islands as his base, and become the only legitimate representative of the Newland Federation in the international community with the support of the Consortium Group. If Wallace was willing, he could still participate in international activities as the Newland President. His led Newland government would also become a member of the post-war international community as an observer of the Consortium Group.

Then, the Liangxia Empire would launch a global strategic blockade against Huacheng’s illegitimate regime.

If that were indeed the case, the full-scale warfare phase of this grand war would soon end, and the strategic blockade against Newland would be another matter.

In fact, the main purpose of this move was to exclude the powerful Newland Federation from the post-war international order, effortlessly eliminating the number one threat.

As for whether Wallace would accept, or which plan he would choose, that was not important.

In Wang Kaiyuan’s words, after the surrender of the 5th Fleet, there wasn’t much of importance left!