However, the Alliance must possess this capability for mobilization.
Currently under a Level Two Mobilization Order, it should not significantly impact residents’ lives; corresponding welfare and allowances will not be cut. The consumer goods market and the food industry market will be affected to some extent, but not severely, with a lesser variety available.
Yet, moving to the next tier with a Level One Mobilization Order, maintaining an unaffected state would become challenging.
At that point, there would likely be a significant drafting of troops; a wartime economy would be initiated, cutting welfare and allowances; and civilian factories would be further converted into military ones.
With a Total Mobilization Order, it would be as if the entire Alliance was deploying all its strength in response to war. All population, all production and living, would revolve around the war.
Most able-bodied men and even a considerable number of women would be conscripted into the military; the remaining populace, from the elderly to the youngest, would be engaged in war-related work, as producing even one more bullet was beneficial; all non-war-related consumption would be minimized…
Since the establishment of the Alliance, such a level of total mobilization has never been initiated. But Osenia was confident that the system she had built, in line with Governor General’s overall expectations, was capable of reaching that degree and unleashing immense wartime potential.
This was her pride and joy, but she would prefer it to never be necessary. She was well aware that if the Alliance mobilized to that extent, the damage to economic development would be tremendous.
Anxiously returning to Revival City, she went to report to Mr. Gu. Arriving at the conference room door, she was right on schedule.
The Alliance values practical matters, without fussing over the superfluous. Even when meeting with Mr. Gu, there’s no need for an appointment during slow times; during busy periods, meetings are schedule to avoid long waits and there’s no need to arrive early.
Osenia arrived on the dot, only to learn that Mr. Gu was with Generals Yan Fangxu and Tadeusz. Their appointment was before hers, and by rights, they should have finished by now, but perhaps due to some unexpected issues, or some topics not thoroughly discussed, they had been delayed.
She waited outside patiently, only to hear a voice echo in her mind:
“Come in, listen along and share your thoughts.”
That was the voice of Mr. Gu.
Osenia quickly gathered her wits and proceeded forward.
The guards outside did not stop her, apparently also having been informed.
Once inside, two men were engaged in a debate about something; Mr. Gu sat at the head of the table, not participating in the discussion, but listening intently.
Osenia didn’t rush to speak either. She casually found a seat and listened attentively.
After a while, she roughly understood what was going on.
The Alliance’s overall mobilization was in preparation for war, and naturally, it was the military’s job to fight.
At present, the Rage Bear Legion, soon to receive an official designation from the Star Realm Army, had been deployed. A fourteen-thousand-strong force moved from its original base in the Central Province, traversing five hundred kilometers west to the Western Desert.
Joining them was the Central Group Army.
Of course, this Central Group Army was no longer the same one that fought in the three provinces in the east. The original Central Group Army was divided into three sections: one part established the Heijian Star Group Army to maintain the colonies; another was integrated into the Rage Bear Legion.
Only the First Brigade remained, augmented by the newly established 46th to 50th Divisions, forming the new Central Group Army.
Recently, the newly formed 39th and 40th Reserve Divisions of the former Eastern Group Army, along with the 21st to 25th Reserve Divisions from the Green Valley Group Army, were also incorporated into it.
As a result, the current Central Group Army also consisted of thirteen divisions, totalling a hundred thousand troops.
Combining these two corps equaled two hundred and fifty thousand troops.
This represented the Alliance’s main maneuverable force, available without initiating further mobilization and without affecting the defense of each region itself.
Meanwhile, the “new recruit camps” across the Alliance had recruited around a hundred thousand people in total. They were in training and would supplement the frontline troops in accordance with the progress and needs of the war, ensuring that the two western armies would always have ample personnel.
These new recruits were the result of the mobilization order, which Osenia was aware of. Although conscription wasn’t under her jurisdiction and belonged to Tadeusz’s military administration’s Draft Office, it still required close cooperation with local governments.
Under the second-level mobilization order, the number of reserve forces would continue to increase. It was estimated that the military personnel pool could reach 5% of the total population, which meant about 1.25 million people.
Aside from the more than four hundred thousand already in service and the hundred thousand in new recruit camps, there was still recruitment space for approximately seven hundred thousand more.
If that wasn’t enough, it might be necessary to issue a first-level mobilization order, which would raise the total number of people mobilized to 10%.
And if that was still insufficient, reaching the point of an Alliance-wide mobilization order, the ceiling could go up to 20% of the population, but that would be quite exaggerated.
The strategic goal of the 250,000-strong legion gathering in the west during the first phase was the West Desert Region. It wasn’t about occupying the entire vast Western Desert, for that was too large; scattering two hundred thousand people across it would be like sprinkling water on a desert, meaningless.
The main objective was still to control the “oasis” in the eastern part of the West Desert Region that already had more contact with the Alliance and, especially, to secure control of the main thoroughfare that ran across the Western Desert straight to the western continent.
This main thoroughfare was likely a remnant from the pre-war era, originally a solidly paved road. However, due to environmental changes, warfare, and the collapse of the unified government, this thoroughfare was in particularly poor condition without maintenance. It was barely passable thanks to the self-maintenance efforts of itinerant traders and the oases along the way.
Most crucially, there was nowhere else to go if not through here.
All sorts of heavy equipment and vehicles, although possessing excellent off-road capabilities, crossing ten thousand kilometers of wilderness to embark on an expedition to the west, would still be too much. This barely usable highway not only needed to be occupied but also required engineer troops to further repair and maintain it.
At the moment, the troops were not far from the Western Desert.
The point of contention between Yan Fangxu, the Major General Commander, and Tadeusz, the military governor, was how to deal with the many oasis powers in the Western Desert.
There was no unified government in the Western Desert; each oasis and the plantation factories beneath them were like independent city-states, with their own political systems and armed forces.
Coming from a military perspective, Yan Fangxu did not wish to conquer through sheer force alone as this would heavily burden his troops, making it difficult to complete the task of pushing the front to the central region of the Western Desert and establishing the main defense line within a month and a half. His troops would spend a lot of time and effort suppressing resisting forces.
He would rather see diplomatic measures employed as long as the oases on the eastern side caused no trouble.
Tadeusz, on the other hand, was concerned about the uncertainties regarding the plantation factories beneath those oases. A lengthy supply line with too many third-party forces possessing their own military might along the way was extremely dangerous.
Both had valid points.
Of course, their disagreement wasn’t particularly fierce, as no one was a fool; both understood that the other’s concerns were justified, and they were constantly discussing possible solutions.
They discussed a range of topics, from the intensity of diplomatic measures to how to deal with local armed forces, which strategic points along the way definitely needed to be secured for safety, which could be left for later, and how to arrange troop defenses and suppression…
Osenia listened and noted many things.
She also came to understand why Mr. Gu had wanted her to listen in.
The Alliance Foreign Affairs Department was a relatively independent institution outside of the government, and it had not been given much attention—there hadn’t been much need for diplomacy until now.
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Conversely, the Alliance Commerce Department under Osenia had more capacity to play a role in this area.
She slowly joined the discussion, mainly contributing to discourse about the political attitudes of the oases and their relationship with the Alliance, as well as potential starting points for engagement.
During the discussion, a plan gradually took shape.
Throughout the process, Gu Hang seldom spoke, only making decisive judgements when matters were left unresolved.
This was precisely the situation that Gu Hang desired.