85: Dragon Country’s trump card: Longevity of heaven and earth!

Mid-September.

The global international situation suddenly became volatile and unpredictable!

Even the Afghan battlefield became incredibly quiet!

However, every country in the world knew that this was merely the calm before an unprecedented, enormous storm!

This time, Dragon Country had truly enraged the Bear Empire, the world's foremost military power!

Western nations, through reconnaissance satellites, could observe a continuous stream of Warsaw Pact allies' equipment arriving in the Bear Empire's Far East region via railway hubs in Siberia!

T-55 AM2 tanks of the East German army rumbled off flatbed trains!

Polish Air Force MiG-23MFs queued on temporary runways, awaiting orders!

Most notably, there were the Czechoslovak RM-70 rocket launcher batteries!

When deployed, these 122mm 40-tube rocket launchers, with their dense launch tubes, resembled mechanical hedgehogs bristling with spines, ready to unleash a rain of steel at any moment!

The Trans-Siberian Railway had truly become a war railway, with a military train passing every 15 minutes!

On the trains, the 2S7 Pion 203mm self-propelled howitzers had their barrels wrapped in anti-freeze heating wires, appearing from a distance like colossal giants wreathed in lightning!

Additionally, newspapers within the Warsaw Pact nations were continuously reporting on this, the largest and most extensive military exercise in global history!

Whether it was the Bear Empire's Pravda or other allied newspapers, all were prominently covering the air bridge formed by An-22 Cock and Il-76 Candid strategic transport aircraft!

The Bear Empire intended to completely wash away the shame of the downed An-22 in this military exercise!

In this colossal military exercise, about to commence, the An-22 strategic transport aircraft were assigned the most intensive and critical combat missions!

In Siberia, a strategic transport aircraft formation landed almost every 90 minutes, unloading the most advanced heavy equipment, including T-80 tanks!

A million-strong armored steel torrent was on the move, converging on Siberia through various means!

Ready for battle at any moment!

Beautiful Country.

The White House.

Facing such a massive military operation by the Bear Empire, Beautiful Country had naturally detected it early on.

At this time, in the bipolar struggle for supremacy, the international situation had already adopted a strategic posture of Bear attacking and Eagle defending.

So, even Beautiful Country felt a shiver of dread upon seeing the Bear Empire's million-strong armored torrent moving through Siberia!

After all, not long ago, the Bear Empire had invaded Afghanistan under the guise of military exercises!

Indeed, if this million-strong armored steel torrent had appeared on the Eastern European plain instead of Siberia, no one in the White House or many Western countries would have slept soundly that night!

"Dragon Country's actions were truly ruthless, actually targeting the Bear Empire's strategic asset, the An-22!"

"The international authority of a world superpower is absolutely untouchable by any nation!"

The Beautiful Country's President frowned deeply, muttering to himself.

Although Dragon Country had struck at the Bear Empire's strategic transport aircraft, as an equally powerful world superpower, Beautiful Country also frowned at Dragon Country's actions.

Because Dragon Country had never informed or consulted with them before acting against the An-22.

All along, Beautiful Country had regarded Dragon Country as a chess piece to counter the Bear Empire.

And now, this chess piece seemed to be not quite moving on the board according to the intentions of the chess player behind it.

"Now that things have escalated to this point, is Dragon Country trying to provoke a Third World War?"

The Beautiful Country's President questioned again.

Limited warfare, which could consume the Bear Empire's strength and economy, was Beautiful Country's objective.

And now, if Dragon Country refused to yield and make concessions to the Bear Empire, the White House would not doubt for a moment that the Bear Empire would act against Dragon Country.

Because this absolutely aligned with the Bear Empire's consistent diplomatic and military style!

However, if Dragon Country, under pressure, yielded and made concessions to the Bear Empire, then Beautiful Country's interests would be harmed.

Because in the eyes of the White House, although this war superficially appeared to be Dragon Country aiding Afghanistan and confronting the Bear Empire.

In reality, according to the secret agreement between Yanjing and the White House, all these aid funds were actually borne by Beautiful Country and the Pentagon!

In just a few months, Beautiful Country had even provided nearly a billion dollars in funds to Dragon Country!

Therefore, if Dragon Country had to make concessions, it would actually harm the interests of Beautiful Country.

Making all their aid and funds go to waste!

"What should be done now?"

"How can we salvage our plan?"

The Beautiful Country's President inquired of the Pentagon and the National Security Advisor.

Their goal was also to deeply entangle the Bear Empire in the quagmire of the Afghan war.

Therefore, in Beautiful Country's view, Dragon Country completely enraging the Bear Empire and giving them a reason to launch a military strike was actually incredibly foolish!

According to the political wisdom of the White House, they would never do such a thing!

Meanwhile, facing the President's inquiry and the current predicament, the National Security Advisor appeared exceptionally calm.

"I have a plan that can not only prevent the Bear Empire from directly attacking Dragon Country but also completely make Dragon Country do our bidding!"

"Facing the Bear Empire's million-strong armored steel torrent pressing down, Dragon Country is probably already terrified!"

"So, at this time, we can grant Dragon Country a favor, which is to give them an opportunity to join NATO!"

"And we, Beautiful Country, will provide their army with approximately 90% of all weapons and equipment covering the navy, army, and air force!"

The White House National Security Advisor smiled and said.

"What?"

"We are to provide 90% of the navy, army, and air force's weapons and equipment to the Dragon Country army, allowing them to completely re-equip with NATO gear?"

The head of the Pentagon was greatly alarmed.

After all, even to internal NATO countries, Beautiful Country had never been so generous.

Moreover, the Dragon Country army numbers in the millions; how enormous would the military expenditure be to re-equip such a vast army?

"Don't just look at the present, look to the long term!"

"Firstly, allowing Dragon Country to join NATO will make the Bear Empire dare not act rashly against Dragon Country."

"Secondly, Dragon Country will, like Afghanistan, completely become our proxy frontline in the fight against the Bear Empire."

"Most importantly, if the Dragon Country's navy, army, and air force are fully re-equipped with the equipment we provide, then their domestic military factories will no longer be able to provide logistical support to the army, and the national military industrial system will completely shut down."

"This means the entire country's future weapon procurement rights will be completely handed over to us."

"Dragon Country's millions of troops, this is an enormous fat sheep for our military-industrial complex!"

"No matter how much we pay, we can always recoup it by selling weapons to Dragon Country then!"

"Moreover, Dragon Country re-equipping with our weapons can also doom Dragon Country's military industry's future, reducing one of our international arms sales competitors, as Dragon Country's military weapons and equipment currently sell for tens of billions globally each year!"

"Most importantly, our military's equipment is due for upgrades and replacements anyway; we can simply give the outdated weapons we replace to Dragon Country to arm them!"

"Even our obsolete weapons and equipment, I believe, will be enough to make a backward country like Dragon Country feel grateful..."

The White House National Security Advisor explained in detail.

After listening to his complete plan, the Beautiful Country's President and the head of the Pentagon fell into a brief contemplation.

Indeed, the more they thought about it, the more brilliant they found the plan to be.

It seemed as though Beautiful Country was actively courting Dragon Country, offering various benefits, and valuing this developing nation.

But in reality, through this move, they could firmly control Dragon Country's military in their own hands.

Completely locking down the future of this country!

...Meanwhile.

Dragon Country.

Compared to the global state of immense panic, Peng Lin and the Ministry of National Defense were exceptionally calm.

Because attacking the Bear Empire's strategic asset, the An-22, was originally a strategic move planned by Dragon Country!

Its fundamental purpose was to create chaos, demonstrate strength, and gain regional, even international, discourse power!

To break free from the shackles of being a chess piece and become a chess player!

And now, Dragon Country already fully possessed this strength!

Just two days ago, Peng Lin successively led Marshal Xu Yong'an and General Xu Liyou to inspect the heavy synthetic brigade, which had completed comprehensive selection and training, and the rapidly formed Z-10 Army Aviation Brigade!

Of course, what most gave Dragon Country confidence was that the Dongfeng-6 intercontinental missile could be manufactured within half a month!

Peng Lin always firmly believed a saying his teacher often repeated: The barefoot are not afraid of those wearing shoes!

In later generations, intercontinental missiles also had another name: "Heaven and Earth Co-Existence Missiles"!

The Bear Empire and Beautiful Country were the world's superpowers; Dragon Country was just a developing country that had just begun to develop!

With the blessing of the Heaven and Earth Co-Existence intercontinental missile, Dragon Country had been bullied to its doorstep; would a billion people still be afraid of your nuclear blackmail?

As for whether the Kremlin and the White House, as the world's power holders, were afraid of intercontinental missiles, the answer was naturally obvious!

Therefore, the more fiercely the Bear and Beautiful Country now stirred up trouble, the more awkward the final outcome would be!