Chapter 928 Target: Western Theater?

As soon as Chief of Staff Wu Bin finished speaking, as if triggering some kind of tacit understanding, the youngest deputy theater-level general in the theater, the Strategic Support Force Commander Xu Yuanhang, who was only 45 years old, stood up in response.

This young commander, who usually keeps a low profile and has a very low presence, now has a sharp look in his eyes:

"Report to the chief, fellow comrades! I partially agree with Chief of Staff Wu Bin's core concerns, but I also put forward some supplementary suggestions for the chief and fellow comrades' reference!"

"First of all, I fully agree with Chief of Staff Wu Bin's assessment of 'strategic exposure risk'. If the Air Force's large-scale strategic reconnaissance plan is implemented as originally planned, it will indeed pose an unbearable exposure risk to the core command nodes, key base facilities and campaign strategic deployments in the theater!"

"Especially given our current actual control range and force projection capabilities, it would be strategically reckless to immediately launch a large-scale strategic reconnaissance covering the entire country. The timing is not right."

"But..." At this point, Xu Yuanhang changed the subject and said in a firm tone:

"Intelligence is the lifeblood of modern warfare. Air Force Commander Zhou's proposal is also very desirable. He has pointed out a major strategic loophole in our theater of operations for a long time!"

Hearing this, the sweat on the forehead of Air Force Commander Zhou Tianyi eased a little. "It's good, it's good, I finally said something good, at least I wasn't criticized for nothing..."

"I found that as the theater's forces grew rapidly, defending the two provinces of Ye and Yu and being satisfied with regional situational awareness had become 'strategic shortsightedness'!"

"This will not only limit our theater development vision, but may also lead to major strategic security risks at the macro level due to lack of intelligence!"

"Therefore, I suggest adopting the principle of 'limited expansion and avoiding the core': that is, based on the original plan of Commander Zhou Tianyi, the scope of aerial strategic reconnaissance should be strictly limited to the surrounding provinces (focusing on covering the non-Zhou State central strategic direction areas), and set a clear red line - the range of combat aircraft activities must never cross the 'Qinling-Huaihe' line!"

"In this way, we can obtain specific intelligence about the adjacent strategic areas to support the next step of the war zone, and at the same time, we can minimize the risk of prematurely stimulating the Zhou State Center and exposing core secrets. Over!"

After saying that, Commander of the Strategic Support Force Xu Yuanhang calmly sat down, and his eyes met with the Chief of Staff Wu Bin who was sitting opposite him.

The standing committee members of the major war zones present did not notice this and were still immersed in Xu Yuanhang's analysis and suggestions.

It was also at this time that Gu Chengyuan, who was sitting in the main seat, took a serious look at this deputy theater-level official who had the weakest presence and was the youngest among the several standing committee members in the theater.

Xu Yuanhang has a gaunt face with slightly visible cheekbones and a fair complexion. He has the bookish air of a technical cadre. He usually has little expression on his face, and usually has a stern "poker face", but this does not mean that this person is lifeless.

On the contrary, Xu Yuanhang has a pair of deep and bright eyes, and he looks very spiritual at first glance.

"He usually doesn't show off, but hits the nail on the head at critical moments. He is a man of great talent!" Gu Chengyuan commented in his heart with satisfaction.

.....

"Report to the commander, fellow comrades! I have additional tactical suggestions for the principle of 'limited expansion, avoiding the core' proposed by Commander Xu Yuanhang!"

Chen Haitao, the naval commander of the theater, who had been listening silently, suddenly stood up, his voice steady with a long-dormant sharpness.

"I think that Comrade Xu Yuanhang's principle of 'limited expansion' can be further refined into a strategy of 'block-based gradual engagement'!"

"The core is: the real barrier that restricts the expansion of our war zone is not at the geographical level, but at the official forces of the major Zhou states entrenched in the geography. They are the entities that truly have the ability to pose a real threat!"

Hearing this, Gu Chengyuan nodded slightly in agreement. The Zhongzhou war zone has developed to this point. Apart from the official authorities, the civilian forces are almost no different from weeds on the roadside.

Looking across the country, the only ones we fear are the officials who hold the "nuclear power".

Seeing Gu Chengyuan nod in agreement, Navy Commander Lieutenant General Chen Haitao couldn't help but feel happy, and then took a deep breath and continued:

"Therefore, I suggest that the area controlled by Nanzhou Bang outside the Qinling-Huaihe area be divided into four strategic blocks according to the sphere of influence of the Zhou Bang Theater - the Central Theater (Hubei Province), the Southern Theater, the Eastern Theater, and the Western Theater. The focus of reconnaissance should be shifted from 'geographic coverage' to 'theater-level force perception'!"

"Among the four major regions, our theater has only established a solid relationship of mutual trust with the Southern Theater. The other three regions (Central, Eastern, and Western) are still in a strategic fog and need to be broken urgently!"

“Based on this, I propose three principles of ‘block-based engagement’:

First, focus on the target: reconnaissance resources should be invested first in a single uncontacted war zone!

Second, contact is reconnaissance: intelligence infiltration, signal interception, edge zone patrols, etc. are used to simultaneously complete reconnaissance and initial contact;

Third, step-by-step advancement: After a single sector reaches 'basic mutual trust or deterrence balance', the next sector will be launched, and multiple fronts will never be opened at the same time! "

"In this way, we can avoid multiple stimulations that may cause alertness to the entire Zhou State, and accurately anchor limited intelligence forces to the most valuable strategic direction to break through the situation!"

"Here, I suggest that our first active reconnaissance target be the Western Theater!"

"Western theater? Tell me the reason!" Upon hearing this, Gu Chengyuan remained noncommittal.

“Reporting to the Chief, I have made the Western Theater the primary focus, mainly based on the following two strategic considerations:

"First, from the perspective of strategic threat assessment, the Western Theater of Operations occupies the western border of Zhou State. Due to its special geographical environment, this region is least affected by the impact of the end of the world. Unless something unexpected happens, its armed forces system will be the most intact."

"What is particularly critical is that the northwest region is home to a large number of military industrial clusters, among which nuclear industrial facilities have outstanding strategic deterrence capabilities. The combination of the above factors makes the Western Theater of War the most realistic potential threat to our theater in the area south of the 'Qinling-Huaihe' line."

"Second, based on the advantage of geographical control, our theater has now firmly controlled the strategic locations of Ye and Chongqing provinces, substantially cutting off the connection between the Western Theater and other theaters in the south, and the strategic isolation zone has taken shape!"

"In this case, even if an armed conflict occurs with the Western Theater, we have a high probability of suffocating the Western Theater in the western territory of Zhou State, thereby avoiding the risk of a chain reaction and avoiding falling into a passive situation of responding on multiple fronts!"

...