Chapter 175: Insufficient Quality, Quantity Makes Up for It

"That's a light remark." Navy Minister Badai Liulang said slowly, his voice calm but each word pierced like a needle, "Gangshi, do you know how many troops are needed to capture Qingdao? How many ship guns support are required? How many Imperial soldiers' lives must be sacrificed?"

Gangshi Zhizhu's face darkened: "Badai, the Army has made full preparations. The 5th Division can be mobilized at any time, and together with the 18th Division dispatched from the homeland, total strength will reach 45,000 men. That is enough to deal with the 5,000 Deguo garrison in Qingdao."

"Five thousand?" Badai Liulang smiled, a cold, emotionless smile, "Your intelligence is outdated, Gangshi. According to the latest reports from the Navy Intelligence Department, in the past three months Deguo sent an additional two thousand naval marines to Qingdao and shipped at least twenty‑four of the newest 210‑mm fortress guns. The current Qingdao garrison exceeds 7,000 men, and its firepower is twice what you estimated."

Gangshi Zhizhu furrowed his brows: "Even so, 45,000 versus 7,000 is still a six‑fold advantage."

"But what if Lanfang intervenes?"

Badai Liulang's words silenced the entire conference room.

Da Wo Zhongxin leaned slightly forward: "Lanfang? Their ties with Deguo are indeed close, but would they go to war with the Empire directly over Deguo's Far‑East colonies?"

"Prime Minister, the issue is not whether Lanfang would go to war for Deguo," Badai Liulang said, pulling a thick dossier from his briefcase and spreading it on the table. "The issue is that Lanfang itself is the Empire's greatest obstacle to hegemony in the Far East."

He opened to the first page, which displayed a hand‑drawn naval strength comparison chart.

"Let's look at the figures. The Lanfang Navy currently fields: four Bismarck Class battleships, standard displacement 41,000 tons, equipped with eight 380‑mm Main Guns; two Hood‑class battlecruisers, displacement 38,000 tons, equipped with eight 381‑mm Main Guns; plus at least six Omaha‑class cruisers and a large number of destroyers."

He looked up, his gaze sweeping each person present: "And the Imperial Navy's Combined Fleet? We have four Vajra‑class battlecruisers, equipped with 356‑mm Main Guns; two Satsuma‑class, two Katori‑class, and two Hanoi‑class battleships, with Main Gun calibers ranging from 305 mm to 356 mm. Total displacement is about 600,000 tons, which on paper indeed exceeds Lanfang Navy's 450,000 tons."

"So we have a numerical advantage," Gangshi Zhizhu interjected.

"We have the numbers, but what about quality?" Badai Liulang retorted sharply. "The Bismarck Class's 380‑mm Main Gun reaches at least five thousand meters farther than our 356‑mm guns, and its armor‑piercing power exceeds ours by more than fifteen percent. Not to mention their fire‑control systems, armor protection, speed… on every key performance metric we are half a generation behind."

He turned to the next page, which was a map of Borneo marked in red and blue to show troop deployments.

"Now the land side. Lanfang has at least six fully formed divisions stationed on Borneo, two of which are Arab divisions, whose equipment level and training are not inferior to the Imperial Army. They spent four months completely crushing Dutch resistance, and now the whole of Borneo has become an armed fortress."

Badai Liulang removed his glasses and carefully wiped them with a cloth: "If we move against Shandong, what will Lanfang do? They might intervene with troops directly, or they might support the Deguo garrison from behind. But the most dangerous possibility is…" He put his glasses back on. "While the Imperial fleet's main force heads north to attack Qingdao, Lanfang could move south to strike Taiwan, even landing directly on Kyushu."

"They dare!" Gangshi Zhizhu slammed the table, his face flushing red.

"Why wouldn't they dare?" Badai Liulang's voice remained calm. "Ten years ago they dared to build a nation from scratch in the Persian Gulf, and four months ago they dared to launch a surprise attack on the Dutch Far‑East fleet and occupy all of Borneo. What is there that such a country wouldn't dare to do?"

The atmosphere in the conference room dropped to freezing.

Da Wo Zhongxin tapped his fingers lightly on the table, a habitual thinking gesture. After about a minute, he spoke slowly: "Badai, your analysis is thorough. So, in your view, what should the Empire do?"

Badai Liulang inhaled deeply; this was the moment he had long awaited.

"Prime Minister, gentlemen," his voice rang clearly in the quiet room, "my recommendation is: before taking action against Deguo, we must first resolve the Lanfang issue. Specifically, launch a decisive campaign aimed at completely destroying the Lanfang Navy."

"Strike Lanfang first?" Foreign Minister Jiateng Gaoming frowned. "That would put us in a very passive diplomatic position. Yingguo and Faguo, though busy with the European war, will not sit by while a large‑scale war erupts in the Far East."

"Therefore timing is crucial," Badai Liulang said, clearly having thought it through. "If the European war becomes stalemated, Yingguo and Faguo will have to pull troops from their Far‑East colonies to reinforce the homeland. By then their presence in Asia will be at its lowest. The Imperial Navy can then act freely, devoting all effort to Lanfang."

He pointed again at the naval strength comparison table: "Although individual ships are inferior, we have a numerical advantage. With proper tactics, we can heavily damage or even annihilate Lanfang's naval main force in a single fleet engagement. Once we control the seas, Borneo becomes a piece of cake—no matter how strong their army, without naval transport and protection they are merely trapped beasts on an isolated island."

Gangshi Zhizhu sat down again, his gaze fixed on Badai Liulang, eyes complex. As Army Minister, he instinctively resented a navy‑led strategy, yet he could not deny that Badai Liulang's logic was sound.

"But," Finance Minister Ruo Zhi Licilang began, being the one who handles money and cares most about costs, "how much budget does such a large‑scale naval battle require? Once war starts, it is no longer under our control."

"As for the budget, I can give a rough estimate," Badai Liulang said, clearly prepared, pulling out another document. "If the war ends within three months, the Navy needs an additional 80 million yen. If it drags on six months, perhaps 150 million yen. But please consider—"

He stood, walked to the South Ocean map hanging on the wall, and drew a large circle with his finger: "Once we defeat Lanfang and seize Borneo, what will the Empire gain? All the rubber, tin, and oil resources of the South Ocean will fall into Imperial hands. Their value exceeds a billion yen per year. More importantly, the strategic value: the Empire will control the entire South Sea route from the Strait of Malacca to the Taiwan Strait, becoming Asia's unrivaled hegemon."

Those words made many in the room's eyes shine.