Empire Conquest

Chapter 657 - 6 Intelligence Boss

"The dumpling soup has cooled again, I’ll heat it up."

After calling out to Luo Youbin, who had entered at some unknown time, Zhou Yongtao said, "No need to trouble yourself, I’m not hungry now, let’s just handle lunch together later."

Luo Youbin also sighed inwardly and began cleaning up the bowls and utensils.

This bowl of dumpling soup had already been heated three times; the broth was all muddied, heating it once more would probably turn it into paste.

"Have Nong Chengpei and the others departed yet?"

"The private plane is still at Kennedy International Airport, there are three hours left until the final deadline. According to the previous arrangements..."

Upon seeing Zhou Yongtao wave his hand, Luo Youbin stopped talking.

"Call the Minister of Defense and a few Chiefs of Staff here, everyone else can go back."

"Should I arrange the next meeting in advance?"

"When the next meeting will be held will be known at that time."

Luo Youbin was stunned for a moment, but he soon understood Zhou Yongtao’s meaning.

The war would break out in a few hours; there was no need to arrange the next full Cabinet meeting in advance, notifying them once the war commenced was not too late.

As the lifelong personal secretary to Zhou Yongtao, Luo Youbin knew well that the Grand Secretary had made up his mind.

Compared to the previous Grand Secretaries, especially the intensely fierce Lian Xusheng, Zhou Yongtao appeared much more mild. But deep inside, he was a genuine hardliner.

Actually, this was also a characteristic of the Navy.

All the past Navy Commanders were soft on the outside but tough on the inside.

In Zhou Yongtao’s words, the stronger the heart, the gentler the demeanor.

A few minutes after Luo Youbin left, the Minister of Defense and four Chiefs of Staff came to the study.

The Ministry of Defense, replacing the Ministry of Army and Navy and considering the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, no longer had a separate Commander-in-chief but instead had Chiefs of Staff taking over the highest military leadership—this was one of the chief outcomes of the military reform initiated during Lian Xusheng’s tenure as Imperial Chief Minister and led to the establishment of a modern command system.

However, to accommodate Bai Zhizhan, Li Yunxiang, and many other such distinguished figures, the military command institution centered around the General Staff Department was only declared established after Lian Xusheng left office.

Thus, Li Mingbo became the last Commander-in-chief of the Imperial Navy and the first Chief of Staff.

The key point was that according to the rules established by Lian Xusheng, the Minister of Defense had to be a civilian officer, but he could be a retired general.

The current Minister of Defense, Qin Fenglie, was a retired Army General.

Of course, there was no rule that prevented generals from wearing military uniforms after retirement, and traditionally, there was essentially no concept of retirement for generals.

This being the case, Qin Fenglie was almost always in his military uniform, only wearing his honorary military rank.

Compared to the military ranks of active-duty officers, the honorary military ranks of retired officers primarily featured two purple ribbons on their epaulets.

As for the Army Chief of Staff, Niu Zhengshen, the Navy Chief of Staff, Zhang Xiaotian, and the Air Force Chief of Staff, Zhen Bisheng, all of them were active-duty First-rank Admirals while the Marine Corps Chief of Staff Tian Kaixuan was a Vice Admiral.

Limiting military ranks was also a result of the military reform.

At the end of the Great War, the Empire’s Army, Navy, and Air Force had over 20 Marshals and hundreds of Generals, with more than 10,000 officers above the rank of Major General. Consequently, just the allowances for these officers accounted for five percent of the annual defense budget in the post-war years.

Spending money was a minor issue.

The major problem with having too many generals was that it became a case of the tail wagging the dog.

After three rounds of military reforms, the Marshal rank was set to be awarded only in wartime, and the General rank during peacetime was an honorary title awarded for meritorious service.

Additionally, General ranks were further divided into three levels.

As a result, the highest military rank achievable by active-duty personnel was First-rank Admiral.

Controlling military ranks was also to elevate the status of the Chief Cabinet Minister.

In the presence of Marshals and Generals, not to mention civilian officers, even a Chief Minister without a military background had to maintain a pleasant demeanor.

The few Chief Ministers following Lian Xusheng didn’t last long in office precisely because they lacked a sufficiently strong presence and had no say in front of highly respected military officers.

From another perspective, this was also one of the reasons Zhou Yongtao could move into the Prime Minister Mansion.

For Zhou Yongtao, this wasn’t an issue; before becoming the Imperial Chief Minister, he was a Navy Marshal and even the youngest existing Marshal of the Imperial Navy.

Those who were of higher merit than him were all in their seventies or eighties.

Actually, Zhou Yongtao himself was already 70 years old.

Zhou Yongtao had kept them here, not to discuss combat matters, but to have them recommend frontline commanders.

If a battle was indeed upon them, the first thing to ascertain was the leading General.

This issue, actually, had no contention.

According to the current division of battle zones of the Empire, Boss Bay was located within the Western Battle Zone jurisdiction facing Land Heart Sea, Fan Flame Ocean, West Continent, and the areas north of Sahara.

However, the issue was that the Western Battle Zone was one of the five special zones.

Following the Boi War, the position of the Western Battle Zone Commander had been vacant, with the Chief of General Staff filling the role on a long-term basis, and the Chief of General Staff would be rotated among the three military branches’ Chiefs of Staff.

This situation arose because the conditions in the Western Battle Zone were the most complex, with no single military branch able to handle it alone.

Therefore, they could only choose between the Northwest Battle Zone and the Southern Battle Zone.

The Northwest Battle Zone, facing the Giant Continent and West Continent, had always been under the control of the Army and Air Force, with little involvement from the Navy and Marine Corps.

The Southern Battle Zone, facing Fan Flame Ocean, the areas south of Sahara, and the Aus region, had long been handled by the Navy.

Clearly, in an unavoidable ground war which would surely start with air strikes, the best choice would be Air Force General Shi Shouliang, the Commander of the Northwest Battle Zone.