Chapter 13
~part 1
Australia Prime Minister Lee Yun-wha, met Taiwan President Zhan Xian-shon for the first time in two years. The two men are in Lee Yun-wha's country house back in Taiwan, this use to be Lee Yun-wha's home, but since he become Prime Minister of Australia, this place was usually vacant and only has two house servants, house sitting the place, until three years ago, his niece moved in, because she is attending university nearby.
Zhan Xian-shon and Ling Yun-wha sat in the living room, of the country house. The elderly female servant brought forward two cups of teas.
"Thank you, Ling sou." Ling Yun-wha said
The servant nodded and moved back.
"Look, I want to see you be able to retake Australia mainland too. But you have to understand, to take a landmass as large as Australia, require a lot of men power and resource. That is simply not something you got. Our priority right now, is Europe. We take Europe, we take the Vatican, we take the Vatican, we end this war. The American is making advancement now. Canada has stopped further Crusader advancement and turned into the free West Canada and Crusader controlled East Canada. But rest of the American continent are still falling and once the Crusaders took all of it, no one know, whether the US nor Canada can hold. Most of Africa is still too weak to be a real ally. We need to prioritize on Europe right now. Australia is not industrialized, it is less as an issue. If you want to retake Australia mainland, you need reinforcement troops from other nations and at this stage, I don't think it is wise, to spare troops from Asia, to reinforce the retaking of Australia. We do that, we risk vulnerability of an attack from Europe. Most of Africa is still too weak. Middle East and North Africa is on the front line against Europe, they can't afford to spare troops to fight in Australia. North and South America is in total war, they can't afford to spare troops, either. " Zhan Xian-shon said
"Can I ask, if my policy could work, how many troops can be spare?" Ling Yun-wha asked
"If I dispatch troops. I can afford to dispatch 3000 troops from Taiwan army and 1000 from the marines. On average each province of China can dispatch 4000 troops. That is one hundred and twenty eight thousand troops. To take a nation as large as Australia, that is not enough" Zhan Xian-shon said
"Well, it is a good thing, my plan for now is not to retake all of Australia. That is a long term goal."Ling Yun-wha said
"What is your plan?" Zhan Xian-shon asked
"Australia has a few major cities, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Alice Spring, Canberra and Darwin. With the exception of Alice Spring and Canberra the rest are all along the coastline. Australia's current navy is significantly much more powerful than the rebels. Using Tasmania as home base, our navy's reach is all of South Eastern Australia and East Southern Australia. That is a great deal of places, for us to dispatch our marines and army. Once we take a coastal location, we secure it. Then, we used the resource their to make further advancement possible and gradually retake the mainland, the process could take up to 20 to 30 years. Our army, marines and navy is elite in comparison to enemy. If we venture inland without securing a coastal location first, we risk having our supply route cut by the enemy and our supply route would be longer, needing to send supply from our ships to the army and marines, on the mainland. But if we secure a coastal town first, we are able to use that as a base, our enemy won't be able to cut our supply line and we shorten supply for further advancing troops. With are superior army, navy, air force and marines I am confident we are able to secure a coastline base, then we can use that coastline base, to launch further campaign, It would also ensure a shorter air support, range." Ling Yun-wha said
"There is another problem, the Catholic Republic of Australia, would be ready for you. They would know you are coming in from South Eastern Australia or East Southern Australia. They would be ready. You will have quiet a fight on your hand. Also, you have no aircraft carrier, this limited the locations you can dispatch quick air support, meaning they would be expecting your troops to land, somewhere close to Tasmania. They will be ready." Zhan Xian-shon said.
"Not necessary, apart from us, there are a few other countries that want to retake Australia mainland, as soon as possible. Prior to this I have already talked to the President of Indonesia. Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Vietnam all consider the Catholic Republic of Australia as more of an immediate threat to their national security, due to their geographical distance to Australia. With support of Indonesia, troops can also be deployed from any part of Northern Australia. If Taiwan is willing to dispatch reinforcement navel fleet from Taiwan and China, including at least one aircraft carrier, to provide air support, Australian marines can be easily dispatch to any part of South Eastern Australia or East Southern Australia, with immediate air support. Indonesia's President have already agree to support us on this campaign. We already secretly negotiated with Singapore, Indonesia Papua New Guinea and Malaysia, if the President of Taiwan agree, they have already signed a secret treaty of alliance." Ling Yun-wha said, showing, Zhan Xian-shon a copy of the report from the secret signing.
"Asap after the President of Taiwan agree to Australia government's request, upon the Catholic Republic of Australia. the northern alliance of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Papua New Guinea, under the command of Singapore, could dispatch troops to seize the beaches of Northern Australia, asap." The paper said. Asap, is a future English word that mean as soon as possible. It origin from the 21st century abbreviation of A.S.A.P, which stand for as soon as possible.
"If you launch a total war, against our enemy, and lost, you risk losing everything, not only everything you build at Tasmania, within the past few years. The same could go for Indonesia, Singapore, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia, if a total war campaign fail, checkmate." Zhan Xian-shon said
"That is why, it is not our intention to go into total war, of invasion. Even if we go into total war, an attack campaign like such, would still only take up a smaller part of military budget, not enough, to compromise our ability to defend ourselves, against the invasion of the Crusaders." Ling Yun-wha said
"That is what you say, but what about those nations north of Australia. The Northern alliance." Zhan Xian-shon said
"It is to my understanding that is their intention, also. Look, all I am asking is to be allowed to give it a shot." Ling Yun-wha said.
Zhan Xian-shon didn't say anything else, he took a sip of his tea "alright, continue with what you are saying."
"Ideally we would hope to retake the state of Victoria first, the city of Melbourne or the city of Adelaide." Ling Yun-wha said. Adelaide and Melbourne are major city, with a great deal of economic capability. In addition, because a lot of people live there, if we can take it, we can save a lot of life. It also mean, a great deal of manpower, to be drafted into the army and be use as new recruits against our enemy. The state of Victoria has the Victoria River, to be used as a buffer against the crusaders. The river can be use as a defense line. In addition, Melbourne is a part of Victoria, we take Victoria, we take Melbourne. And on the other side of the Victoria River, right next to the river, is the city of Adelaide. If we can take Victoria, we should be able to take Adelaide too. That is a great deal of economic strength, manpower and nature resource, now under or disposal. If all goes well." Ling Yun-wha said
"You do remember the danger of urban warfare, remember the battle of Shanghai?"Zhan Xian-shon said
"How could I forget, I was there. And as I recall, the paratroopers, you was a part of, took on a lot of casualty, also." Ling Yun-wha said
"1/5 of the men that went in, as the 1st wave, ended up either dead or wounded. So you know what I am talking about." Zhan Xian-shon said
"Yes, I know. But as I said, all of these detail are not fix, the final ground assault, could take place in the North, by the Northern alliance or in the South, by Australia, the land spot can still change, base on intelligence." Ling Yun-wha said
"Which brought me to our next point, Christianity is still the mainstream religion in Australia, it doesn't lack Catholics, how are we suppose to know there are no spies of the CRA embedded within your military high command or intelligence network?"Zhan Xian-shon said
"Well, for a start, every officer currently serve in the Australian defense force, whom range major or higher in the army or air force, every officer that rank higher than Lieutenant Commander in the navy, are not westerners. They are from South Africa or Singapore. We are afraid of double agents, we don't use westerners, in the central nerve system of our intelligence network, they are all foreigners, been recruited to serve in Australia military." Ling Yun-wha said
"Yet, many of your field agents embedded in the Catholic Republic of Australia are still westerners, how are you suppose to know, whether they are really double agents?" Zhan Xian-shon said
"There is always a risk of double agents, in war. It is something we worry about everyday, it is why we double and triple check information from our field agents, it is why, there is no way, we are going to allow a total war of invasion. But I know, under a circumstances where it won't compromise the safety of Tasmania, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia or Malaysia or the grand design to take Europe first. We need to give it retaking the mainland a shot, if we have a sound enough plan. And the fact is, we do have a sound enough plan." Ling Yun-wha said
"Would you be commanding the battle yourself?" Zhan Xian shon asked
"No, somebody else will be put in command. I will supervise." Ling Yun-wha said
"If we don't send you with reinforcement, who else might you ask for reinforcement?" Zhan Xian-shon said
"India, they got man power." Ling Yun-wha said
"Alright, I will do my own research into the matter. I will talk to the leaders of the nations of your so call Northern alliance, to get a more accurate picture of their government position on the matter. I will get my own people to look into the matter. If it is possible, you would have your reinforcement troops, providing if you can get India to send reinforcement also. Then, if your plan is successful, we will send you necessary reinforcement, if it is necessary. But this is not a yes, it merely mean, I will look into it." Zhan Xian-shon said
"That is all I need to hear." Ling Yun-wha said
~Part 2
Jack Simons was proud to reveal his new armor design, using the new highly resistant rubber. If you remember from a few chapters ago, there was a new form of rubber that has much higher resistance to heat, blast and explosion and is much lighter. But to make a rubber suit, would soon lead the soldiers to be overheated.
This rubber was developed by the joint effort of Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Shanghai, Beijing and Russia. After the design failed to achieve the objective they desire, it become an abandon project, by the Asians, but the researchers in Tasmania, asked for the rubber, hoping to be able to use it.
Now, Jack Simon successfully create a new set of armor using this rubber, which he is confident is effective in combat. The armor look liked the armor, worn by an ancient Japanese Samurai, except the color is that of modern army camouflage. It shouldn't be too surprising that the armor looked similar to that of ancient Japanese Samurai. After all, Jack Simon's armor design, was inspired by the Samurai armor.
The standard armor include three pieces. The first piece is a vest. In the center of the vest there is a layer of this high resistance rubber. The rubber is place within harden plastic, which is than place, within the vest, made of camouflage cloth. There are two big piece of detachable rubber flaps, also placed within camouflage cloth, one is been attached to the left shoulder area of the vest, the other to the right shoulder area of the vest, to be used as shoulder and upper arm guard. Except for the fact, it is place within a piece of modern camouflage cloth, It look exactly the same as the shoulder guard of a Samurai armor. The should guard is normally remain attached to the vest. There is also a detachable belt attached to the lower part of the vest, the belt have six pieces of flaps, made of this rubber, each place within camouflage cloth, to protect the lower part of the body, not protected by the vest and the upper leg. The belt normally remain attached to the vest. It also look like what you expect to see in a Samurai's armor, except, it is place within camouflage cloth.
The second piece of the armor is the helmet, the helmet look no different from a WW2 soldier helmet, except it include three pieces of flaps to protect the left and right side of the face, back of the head and protect the left, right and back side of the neck. Each flap is also place within a piece of camouflage cloth. The inside of the helmet that touch the soldier's face was made of cotton, follow by a layer made of this high resistance rubber, outside that is a layer of iron and outside that is a piece of camouflage cloth.
The third piece, is a pair of booth, which protect the soldier's feet and lower legs. The booth is just a pair of ordinary army booth, but inside the booth, they attached a piece of this high resistance rubber.
When the commander feel necessary, the soldier can go into battle without their shoulder guard or lower body/upper leg guard.
