54: War is the best spokesperson for arms!

As the war entered the negotiation phase, Dragon Country, USA, and Soviet Union officially reached a private agreement.

Among the terms, Dragon Country was required to withdraw its troops after transporting all aid materials.

At the same time, the Soviet Union and USA would also simultaneously end their respective military exercises on the day Dragon Country withdrew its troops.

Thus, a preliminary ceasefire and an agreement to prevent the escalation of the war were approved and signed by the three parties.

As for the beaten party, the Viet Monkey Country, it didn't even have the chance to sit at the negotiating table.

And as the conflict between the two sides had gone on for so long, the Valiant Composite Brigade, this unit, officially moved from behind the scenes to the forefront.

This was because military reconnaissance satellites from both USA and the Soviet Union had detected the existence of this unit.

Including Viet Monkey, a participant in the war, which also disclosed a large amount of information about the Valiant Composite Brigade to the outside world.

According to the Viet Monkey Country authorities, their defeat was entirely due to the sudden appearance of this mysterious force in their rear.

They believed that the existence of the Valiant Composite Brigade completely changed the world's perception of modern warfare.

For example, Dragon Country's implementation of the “asymmetric island-hopping tactic” using the Z-8 and the Valiant Composite Brigade, shifting from linear advancement, completely collapsed their defenses.

Furthermore, on a strategic level, the Valiant Composite Brigade, acting as a sharp blade deep into their hinterland and rear, destroyed all their deep supply lines.

This caused them to completely lose the possibility of fighting a war of attrition strategically!

And as more and more information about the Valiant Composite Brigade was disclosed by USA, the Soviet Union, and Viet Monkey, the Dragon Country military department also proudly announced the existence of this unit!

“The Meritorious Force: The 3,000 Valiant Soldiers of the Valiant Composite Brigade are the true heroes guarding the four corners of the motherland.”

Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily, Daily Military News, and all other domestic newspapers almost exclusively featured the Valiant Composite Brigade on their front pages.

All departments, including the Dragon Country government and military, praised and lauded the Valiant Composite Brigade as loyal guardians of the people.

This battle greatly boosted the confidence of the Dragon Country people!

The entire nation felt a surge of pride regarding the Valiant Composite Brigade!

Before, they often heard about the impressive units of the Soviet Union and the USA.

But now, Dragon Country finally had its own fully mechanized modern composite unit that had gained worldwide prominence!

In addition, the Valiant Composite Brigade also dominated international media.

“A Modern Military Lesson from the Dragon Country Army to the World.”

This was a special issue of USA's “Time Magazine” urgently published for this major international event.

The cover of the special issue featured a Z-8 hovering above the ground, with a Valiant armored assault vehicle leaping out of it.

In this special issue, Time Magazine specifically invited the Superintendent of West Point, senior officers from The Pentagon, the Army Commander, the head of Lockheed Martin, and a series of other important figures in the USA military to comment on the Valiant Composite Brigade.

Without exception, all of them expressed extreme astonishment and admiration for the Valiant Composite Brigade.

For instance, the Superintendent of West Point believed that a unit that integrates various forces such as infantry, armored forces, artillery, air defense, and aviation allows different branches to complement each other's strengths, representing the absolute future development direction of the world's armies.

Composite units can achieve close coordination and efficient synergistic operations among various branches.

In combat, various branches can precisely coordinate in time and space according to a unified operational plan, achieving a combat effect of “1 + 1 > 2.”

The USA Army Commander also praised the Valiant Composite Brigade's rapid response and deployment capabilities as world-class.

He believed that due to the relatively compact organization and advanced equipment of composite brigades, they can complete assembly, loading, and transportation in a short period, quickly arriving at the combat area and launching operations.

In responding to emergencies or urgent situations, composite units can react quickly and seize the initiative in combat.

Of course, the consistent praise for the Valiant Composite Brigade from the USA military, besides the brigade's truly powerful combat capability and its subversion of their operationalCognition planning, had another crucial reason.

Most importantly, the military and the military-industrial complex wanted to collectively ask Congress for money.

Although USA had Chinooks, they completely lacked all-terrain assault vehicles like the Valiant and Lynx, which could be paired with heavy transport helicopters.

After seeing Dragon Country's Z-8 operational methods, they even thought their Chinooks were developed in vain.

So this time, the USA military was determined to ask Congress for money to develop composite units.

However, regardless of USA's motives, once the special issue of Time Magazine was released, coupled with the comments from the Superintendent of West Point and the Army Commander of USA, the Valiant Composite Brigade became famous worldwide!

Western New York Daily, The Sun Never Sets Post, Agence France-Presse, and other international media were almost entirely filled with analyses of the rise of the Dragon Country Army.

War and achievements are always the best spokespersons for firearms!

Seeing how many Western powers so highly praised Dragon Country's Valiant Composite Brigade, coupled with the shocking 1:75 combat loss ratio of the Dragon Country army, many countries in the Middle East could no longer sit still!

...“You want me to return to Yanjing urgently?”

Peng Lin was greatly surprised after receiving the order in the command room.

“That's right, a few years ago, Iraq, a Middle Eastern country, ordered over seventy Chinook helicopters from USA.

And this time, our self-defense counterattack made this tandem rotor heavy transport helicopter shine.

So, a key figure from Iraq, a sworn enemy of Iran in the Middle East, secretly visited Dragon Country.

I estimate he wants to order Z-8 heavy transport helicopters from us,” General Xu Liyou said with a smile.

International arms trade is the most profitable business in the world today.

The world is not peaceful now, and national defense budgets generally hover around 10%.

As for many oil-exporting countries in the Middle East and the Soviet Union, their defense budgets even reach an astonishing 30% of GDP!

Previously, Dragon Country at most sold some inexpensive items like Type 69 rocket launchers to third-world countries.

Who knew that this time, even before the self-defense counterattack ended, a key figure from Iraq secretly visited Dragon Country?

“Iraq?”

“A key figure?”

“Could it be their President Saddam?”

Peng Lin blurted out.

Because he was one of the few famous Iraqi figures he knew.

“It is Saddam, but he is not yet president.”

“Although he has effectively controlled Iraq now, his position is still Minister of Defense and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.”

“But if you insist on calling him president, that's actually not wrong...” General Xu Liyou explained.

“It's really him?”

Peng Lin almost burst out laughing.

This Saddam was an international tough guy!

He not only pursued an independent and non-aligned policy but also continuously expanded his military to establish his leadership in the Middle East.

In other words, this person had great ambitions and only wanted to unify the Middle East!

Although Iraq had no military industrial base, it had a large amount of oil and a large amount of US dollars.

As the world's second-largest oil producer, Iraq was now almost at its wealthiest point in history.

So, it was a well-deserved major buyer of world arms.

The reason Peng Lin said Saddam was a tough guy was because he not only used all the money from selling oil to develop his army but even borrowed money from wealthy Arab princes and oil-exporting countries around him to develop his army.

As the saying goes, 'When neighbors hoard grain, I hoard guns; my neighbor is my granary.'

Saddam not only didn't pay interest on the borrowed money, but he didn't even repay the principal.

When neighbors demanded repayment from Iraq, Saddam only had two words: 'No money!'

When neighbors asked him where the money went, Saddam only replied that it was used to develop the army.

When those wealthy Middle Eastern countries asked Iraq where the army went, Saddam's army had already reached their capitals!

Not to mention interest and principal, he even took the creditors' land!

If it weren't for USA fighting a world-shocking Gulf War later to maintain the petrodollar hegemony system, this person would probably have truly become the Middle East overlord!

Now, although Saddam had not yet become the President of Iraq, he had already gained control of the military.

His visit to Dragon Country was clearly captivated by Dragon Country's war.

1980 was the famous ten-year-long Iran-Iraq War.

Peng Lin estimated that Saddam had long wanted to become president and go to war with his enemies.

Therefore, he couldn't wait to secretly come to Dragon Country to purchase military equipment.

“Just worried about not having money...”

Peng Lin was a little excited.

Now that the country was undergoing reform and opening up, whether in industry, economy, or infrastructure, a large amount of capital investment was needed.

The government could not give the military too large a defense budget.

And developing a heavy composite brigade was an extremely expensive project.

Peng Lin was previously thinking about how to raise funds.

He didn't expect the sugar daddy to arrive now.

Based on a Chinook helicopter's price of 8 million US dollars, Peng Lin estimated that Saddam would buy at least 80 Z-8s.

After all, even Iran bought over seventy Chinooks from USA, so how could a strong-willed person like Saddam buy fewer than Iran?

80 Z-8s would be 640 million US dollars.

In this era, this was definitely an astronomical figure.

After all, even the country's foreign exchange reserves probably didn't amount to 100 million US dollars.

A municipality like Yanjing had an annual GDP of only about 4 billion US dollars.

And the government and military department were so anxious for Peng Lin to go to Yanjing, probably because they wanted to facilitate this deal as soon as possible.

“I'm heading to Yanjing now!”

Peng Lin didn't hesitate and immediately set off.

Not only the Z-8, but Peng Lin also planned to sell other military equipment.

Saddam, this ruthless man, truly fought wars when he had them!

If he could use Iraq to open up the global arms trade market, the profits would be unimaginable!

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