Empire Conquest
Chapter 99 - 95: Shocking Plan

Chapter 99: Chapter 95: Shocking Plan

In the meeting room, more than ten Cabinet ministers, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Minister of Finance and Tax, Minister of Science and Education, Minister of Mines and Resources, Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Minister of Culture and Propaganda, Minister of Transport, and Minister of Overseas Territory Affairs—nine civilian officials in total—along with the Army Commander and the Navy Commander, made for a total of eleven members of the War Cabinet who had been waiting for some time.

The Cabinet Chief, along with these eleven ministers, formed an informal body also known as the "Imperial Cabinet."

During the era of Emperor Shiwu, it was the Imperial Cabinet that constituted the core power structure of the Empire. It was only after the Constitutional Amendment that an expanded Cabinet was established.

Also present in the room were two non-Cabinet senior figures.

One was Zhu Shijian, the former Navy Commander who had retired to his hometown ten days ago; the other was Ma Zhongyi, who had left the Army Headquarter over a decade ago.

Compared to Ma, Zhu was in much better spirits.

Not only was he a few years younger than Ma, but his good living habits also played a part. Zhu not only abstained from smoking and drinking but also maintained a regular lifestyle and understood self-discipline; he even remained committed to rising early and exercising for half an hour each morning after his retirement.

Moreover, Zhu had led a relatively smooth and successful life, whereas Ma had faced a lot of unfair criticism after the war.

Each Cabinet minister held a document, identical in content as they were all copies of the same file.

However, Zhu Shijian and Ma Zhongyi did not have it—not because they lacked the necessary security clearance, but because they had overseen the drafting of this top-secret document more than ten years ago.

For the eleven Cabinet ministers, it was their first time seeing this top-secret document.

Although they were all extremely surprised, not a single Cabinet minister dared to doubt the authenticity of a document endorsed with the Dragon Seal and the stamps of the Eight Pillars. This had nothing to do with legends, as the nine seals represented the foundational powers of the Empire.

Even now, the descendants of these nine foundational powers still wielded considerable influence within the Empire.

In fact, all thirteen people seated in the room, including Xue Yuanzheng who arrived last, had intricate ties to the forces behind these nine seals.

After Xue’s arrival, the discussion was not hindered.

The focus of the debate was no longer the document itself, but how to realize the plans mentioned in this top-secret document.

The difficulty was extraordinary!

In truth, the document only revealed part of the plan; many sensitive details, or those that could not yet be disclosed, were blacked out.

Even just the portion that was revealed was frightening.

How frightening?

Liangxia Empire planned to confront the entire world alone!

At least, at the time the plan was drafted, around the year 85 of the New Calendar, the decision-makers of the Empire had not considered forming alliances with other nations.

According to the document, while analyzing the previous global conflict, a primary conclusion was that the Empire had been hindered by its allies.

Almost all the defeats suffered were in some way related to the allies!

To protect its allies, the Empire had incurred many unnecessary losses, and despite strenuous efforts, had not received corresponding rewards.

If allies were of no use, why have them?

Could they not win alone?

Indeed, following the war, all the Empire’s strategic plans and long-term constructions were aimed at serving this scheme.

These included the infrastructure projects initiated by Xue Yuanzheng after he took office, especially the construction of railroads and highways in the western region and the policy-driven relocation of heavy industries associated with armaments production to the inland, as well as the military reforms of the Army and Navy.

Subsequently, the reconciliation with the Luosha Federation was not part of the plan, perhaps an anomaly.

Indeed, the Liangxia Empire has not signed a true alliance treaty with the Luosha Federation to this day. The so-called treaty is actually an agreement with little binding power, whose key provisions are subject to various interpretations, and whose central content and core meanings are ambiguous.

Even now, the Imperial High Command has not considered the possibility of forming an alliance with the Luosha Federation.

It should be said that the Luosha Federation is also a burden, and it has contradictions with the Empire that are difficult to reconcile, even fundamentally irreconcilable.

Not to mention, after the conclusion of the friendly treaty, the Luosha Federation still continuously reiterated its sovereignty over the region east of Yenisei-Balkhash, repeatedly proposing negotiations about this matter to the Empire and often exploiting the issue, even planning to link it to oil exports.

All these actions were warning the Imperial Authority that the Luosha Federation had not forgotten that humiliating history and had never regarded the Liangxia Empire as an ally.

If allies were needed, the Empire would look to the Tiaoman Empire, a powerful country without territorial disputes.

In fact, the Empire maintained friendly relations with the Luosha Federation only for the oil produced in the Baku oil fields in the northern part of Broad Sea, one of the main oil-producing areas on both the Giant Continent and the West Continent, which could be transported directly to the western part of the Empire by rail and pipeline.

Of course, maintaining friendly relations with the Luosha Federation could also greatly reduce threats from inland.

If ground warfare, or more accurately, multi-front warfare could be avoided, then the Empire would be able to allocate more resources to building the Navy.

Furthermore, the implementation time of this plan extended until the beginning of 105 New Calendar.

What does this mean?

It would be best to delay another five years, starting from the 85 New Calendar, requiring twenty years for the Empire to have sufficient confidence to defeat all the Great Powers in a Global War by its own capabilities. If only fifteen years were available, the Empire might not be able to secure a significant strategic advantage before the war began.

Clearly, this was the key point.

The great war had already erupted; it was definitely impossible to delay another five years.

Fortunately, this was also anticipated.

Nothing surprising about that.

For over a decade, the Empire had been preparing for the great war; had the other Great Powers not been doing the same?

Moreover, the Great Depression ten years ago completely destroyed the world order built upon the Seba Peace Treaty, laying the groundwork for the next great war.

How much longer could peace last?

When would the flames of war be rekindled?

Recognizing these points, the first thing the Western Powers needed to do was to keep a close watch on the Liangxia Empire and adopt development strategies that closely followed those of the Liangxia Empire.

The new policy of the Newland Federation was a typical representation of this strategy.

The conflicts between the Bay Sea Three Countries and the Luosha Federation were actually the Western Powers stirring trouble behind the scenes.

Without the encouragement of the Western Powers, would three small countries with a combined population of less than three million dare to challenge the colossal Luosha Federation?

In the morning meeting, Xue Yuanzheng emphasized this.

The Western Powers had forced war upon the Empire, and the Empire had no choice but to bravely face the formidable foes and accept their challenge!

In fact, this was the very issue being discussed now.

How could they win this unprecedented war if the preparations were insufficient and many pre-war tasks were not in place?

It might be better described as taking the initiative in war.

After all, the war had just erupted, and victory was still far away.