Newland Federation Capital, Huacheng, President Mansion, Grey Palace.
This official residence, located smack in the middle of the federal capital’s special district, was originally painted white with li when it was built. During the early phase of the Second War of Independence, the Newland Army was routed and not only lost towns and strongholds but eventually even the capital Huacheng itself. As a result, the President’s official residence was burned down by the enemy’s fire. When the Newland Army recaptured Huacheng, they were too poor to use anything but "li mortar" to repaint the walls, hence the grey color. According to another version, it was due to the Liangxia rchants selling substandard li as quality material.
After turning grey, it acquired the nickna "Grey Palace."
Over ti, the nickna beca the official title.
At least, no one called it the Federation President Mansion anymore.
When the secretary entered, Rofuss was reviewing a docunt that was about to be submitted to Congress, entirely engrossed, not even noticing the secretary.
It was a very important docunt and would beco a bill once Congress approved it.
Although it was late at night, Rofuss didn’t seem to have any plans to go to bed and rest.
"Mr. President."
When he looked up and saw the secretary, Rofuss put down the docunt he was reading, casually picked up the pipe next to him, habitually clamped it in his mouth, and then realized it wasn’t lit.
The secretary didn’t say much, went over to light the President’s pipe for him, and placed the files he had brought down.
"Just received and confird."
Rofuss took a couple of puffs of his pipe before picking up the file folder. Seeing the Navy’s insignia on the folder, he couldn’t help but shiver.
Now, it was already the early morning of the 29th local ti, and it was evening on the 29th over in West East Ocean.
Yesterday, or rather, more than ten hours ago, the Ministry of Navy and the State Departnt sent ssages one after another, confirming that the Saiyi Navy’s Permanent Fleet had been virtually wiped out, and even if there were still a few battleships left, after the loss of all carriers, defeat was just a matter of ti.
In the report, the Ministry of Navy ntioned that Permanent Fleet’s flagship "Dan" had been sunk in the Xu Sea battle, and the Permanent Fleet Commander, Takano, was likely to have perished.
Because the sources of information were limited, the Ministry of Navy could not confirm this conjecture.
Now, confirmation had been received.
Takano had perished or could be said to be missing—it didn’t matter how it was phrased; in any case, the Saiyi Navy’s finest commander had kicked the bucket.
So, could the Saiyi Navy fight on?
Or, how much longer could the Saiyi Imperial Country hold on?
Don’t forget, before the naval battle concluded, the Liangxia Army advanced tens of kiloters within just two days and, with little to no resistance, broke into Gaozhou. In yesterday’s eting, the Liangxia Army’s Chief of General Staff ntioned that if the issue of supplying the army via sea could be resolved, then the Liangxia Army could likely capture the Ice Storm Peninsula before the Spring Festival, thereby obtaining a springboard to assault the Saiyi mainland.
With the Saiyi Navy defeated, is there any problem with supplying the Army by sea?
At this juncture, hoping that the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom could hold out a bit longer was clearly unrealistic.
However, sending troops to join the war was equally impractical!
What Rofuss had never expected was that those fools in the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom hadn’t managed to deliver a declaration of war before launching a surprise attack!
Do not underestimate these few precious minutes.
To declare war before attacking is entirely different from not declaring war at all!
As long as the Saiyi Imperial Country had officially declared war, even with a completely nonsensical reason, that would still be a declaration of war—an act of war recognized by the international community.
The "right to declare war" is a part of national sovereignty itself.
According to current international law, any sovereign nation can declare a war status with another or multiple other countries at any ti.
Attacking without a declaration, especially staging a surprise attack, is not only extrely contemptible and shaful, it is also unacceptable by international law and the international community!
The gap of several minutes placed Rofuss in a dilemma.
Act on the previous secret agreent to deploy troops?
Clearly not.
Not to ntion anything else, since the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom initiated a surprise attack, the Liangxia Empire lost a fleet and thousands of military and civilian lives in the bombing; thus, those opposition mbers of Congress would certainly not agree to deploy troops for war, nor would it be possible to pass any proposals related to war.
Without congressional authorization, the President couldn’t mobilize the military either.
Furthermore, after the outbreak of war, the Pri Minister of the Bulan Kingdom called to indicate that since the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom did not declare war on the Liangxia Empire as agreed, the Bulan Kingdom would not deploy troops in accordance with the secret agreent, nor would they consider providing assistance to the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom according to the Alliance Group’s agreent.
With the Bulan Kingdom keeping out of the affair, what reason did Rofuss have to let the Newland Federation stick its neck out for the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom?
Let’s not forget, if we’re talking about a conflict of interests, the Bulan Kingdom is first in line—at least, after the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, it’s the country with the most significant contradictions with the Liangxia Empire.
But just to stand by and watch?
Although Rofuss had always felt that the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom, upholding Eastern cultural thinking, was not a reliable ally and that the alliance should be dominated by the Newland Federation rather than being on equal footing, he also knew that the Newland Federation would be the biggest victim after a rapid defeat of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom.
To put it bluntly, without the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom shielding them from trouble, the Newland Federation would have to go into battle bare-chested.
Even though the Newland Federation was the only one among the Western Powers with the credentials to contend with the Liangxia Empire, it still had a gap in strength.
In other words, if the Newland Federation got involved in a war without being well-prepared, it was very likely to be defeated.
Even if it didn’t end in defeat, the cost would be extrely severe.
Clearly, they could not just stand by and watch.
Even if God himself couldn’t save the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom and defeat was inevitable, it could not be now.
According to the original plan, no matter how inferior the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom was, it should have been able to hold on for at least a year. Besides, a year was enough.
Why?
The Newland Federation needed to use that year to complete the preparations for joining the war.
Not just for mobilization, but for industrial adjustnts.
To put it simply, it’s like warming up an engine.
In fact, eight years earlier, shortly after being elected President for the first ti and moving into the Grey Palace, when Rofuss decided to follow the example of the Liangxia Empire and adopt deficit spending to solve dostic economic problems, he began to prepare, laying the groundwork for leading the Newland Federation into the next global war.
Fundantally, it boils down to one point.
Whether it’s Xue Yuanzheng or Rofuss, their economic asures were rely palliative, not curative, serving only to ease the impact of the Great Depression, like giving high doses of painkillers to a critically ill patient, a thod that’s bound to fail in the end.
Eventually, when the final mont arrives, war becos inevitable.
To get to the heart of the matter, only a war that reshuffles the global order can overco the Great Depression and, precisely speaking, lead to several decades of developnt for the whole world.
Don’t forget, how did the "Golden Ten Years" co about after the last great war?
If the next great war is several tis larger in scale, what will follow in its aftermath will be "Golden Decades."
Xue Yuanzheng prepared for ten years, and Rofuss nearly as long.
However, the gap between the two is not a matter of years, but rely minutes!
What Rofuss could do was to do everything in his power to change the current unfavorable situation and steer the wheels of history back to the trajectory that had been set.
Of course, that was the trajectory he had set.
His efforts were reflected in the docunts about to be submitted to Congress for review.
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