Empire Conquest

Chapter 662 - 8 Testing Truth and Deception

Upon receiving a phone call from Qin Fenglie, the Minister of Defense, the Iraqi military began shelling and bombing Kuwait about half an hour after the ultimatum expired. Zhou Yongtao didn’t ask for further details. About an hour later, Lin Shiping received the most critical news.

Emperor Abbas III of Kuwait had reached the "Zhu Shijian" carrier and was about to travel to Riyadh on a transport plane.

It wasn’t until then that Zhou Yongtao let his secretary, Luo Youbin, call Nong Chengpei, instructing him to proceed to Riyadh to act as the Grand Secretary’s special envoy.

Having rescued the Emperor of Kuwait, they definitely needed to properly appease him.

Despite Kuwait being a tiny state, the oil imported from that country accounted for nearly thirty percent of the Empire’s total oil imports, and at a relatively cheap price.

"Should we announce that Abbas III has fled from Kuwait?"

Zhou Yongtao pondered for a while before asking, "And the Crown Prince?"

"He has already reached Riyadh."

Zhou Yongtao thought it over again and then said, "There’s no rush at the moment, the King will be in Riyadh soon, and the outside world will naturally find out. There is no need for us to intervene."

"Alright, let’s leave it at that."

Lin Shiping was fully aware that Zhou Yongtao was only concerned with the well-being of Abbas III.

As for the battle situation, there was nothing much to say.

Kuwait is a tiny state.

For a long time, the authorities in Kuwait had built their security on the foundation of an alliance with the Liangxia Empire, for which they transferred the majority of the oil field exploration rights to the oil companies of the Liangxia Empire. Their national defense forces, also known as the Royal Army, had a total force of only 5,000, and very few advanced pieces of equipment.

To put it bluntly, the number one mission of the Kuwait Royal Army was to function as an honor guard for visiting dignitaries!

For a city-state with a population just over three million and an area less than 18,000 square kilometers, Kuwait could not build military power capable of contending with the surrounding powers, no matter how hard it tried.

Facing the mighty Iraqi military, the Kuwaiti army was but a gap filler.

That’s why, last month in Kuwait City, Lin Shiping bluntly told Abbas III that upon the outbreak of war, it would suffice to just surrender.

There was no need to feel ashamed.

The war waged on Kuwaiti soil would have to be rebuilt by Kuwait themselves after the destruction.

Besides, enduring some humiliation could lead to future growth.

In response to the tense situation in Boss Bay, the General Staff Department conducted several war games.

Even without a surprise attack, the Iraqi military would need only one week to capture the entire Kuwait using conventional tactics.

Three days would be enough if they launched an unannounced assault.

Of course, for the Imperial Army, preliminary defensive deployment would also take a maximum of three days.

It wasn’t until 3 p.m. that a message from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was received.

After less than an hour of discussions, the King of Saudi Arabia had agreed to unconditionally open his airspace and waters to the Liangxia Army and provide a military base.

This message was simultaneously sent to the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff Department.

...

About two hours later, at the Lusha Federation Republic military base.

It was only after receiving instructions from the tower that Li Tianling finally throttled up, then released the brakes.

Accompanied by a deafening roar, the "War-11B" quickly took off, taxiing less than 600 meters before darting into the blue sky.

Behind it, 7 more "War-11Bs" were queuing for takeoff.

This time, Li Tianling made no mistakes and had included "minor duality" in the Reserve Team, making them follow the ground crew onto the transport planes to the destination.

After climbing to a high altitude, Li Tianling activated the autopilot.

As arranged, the "Expeditionary Mixed Wing" under his command would first head south through Bakistan’s airspace into the Mua Sea, then turn to fly to the King Khalid Military City in Saudi Arabia.

To avoid occupying the forward base, all bombers in the Wing were to fly to Diego base.

In fact, there was no need to deploy bombers only a few hundred kilometers from the battlefield, since bombers did not have the issue of an insufficient operational radius.

Meanwhile, the fighters would perform an aerial refueling over the Mua Sea.

For a considerable time to come, the "Expeditionary Mixed Wing" would be based in King Khalid Military City, guarding Saudi airspace.

In simple terms, they were tasked with campaign-level battlefield interdiction.

That was the greatest value of the "Expeditionary Mixed Wing."

Five years ago, as part of the new military reform initiative, the Air Force established the "Expeditionary Mixed Wing," giving it the primary mission to rely on a forward base with minimal facilities to buy enough time for the Empire’s Air Force to mobilize for war.

That’s why the "Expeditionary Mixed Wing" adopted a small but complete organizational system.

Typically, an "Expeditionary Mixed Wing" comprised 2 fighter squadrons, 1 transport and support squadron, 1 tactical support squadron, and 1 mixed bomber squadron. However, adjustments to the organizational system were made according to the needs of the mission before forward deployment.

For example, this time, there was no need to deploy the bomber squadron forward.

Of course, most of the time there was no need to deploy bombers forward; they only needed to arrange for bombers to provide cover for the tactical planes being forward-deployed.

If carrying out offensive defense missions or assault tasks, the bomber squadron was the absolute main force.

When executing defense missions primarily to ensure air superiority, the main force comprised fighters, particularly heavy fighters with a greater operational radius.

For this reason, all the fighters incorporated into the "Expeditionary Mixed Wing" were the most advanced of the Empire’s Air Force, piloted by elite aviators.