It is undeniable that Pang Yuelong had a good intention and did bad things.

Given the situation at that time, if Mu Haoyang did not submit a letter of war, he would still consider it. The current problem is that if Mu Haoyang insisted on fighting an amphibious landing war, he would likely be accused by Qi Kaiwei of favoring the Marine Corps and sacrificing national interests for the sake of individuals or small groups.

You know, the cost of fighting an amphibious landing battle is not small.

Before the outbreak of the war, the size of the Chinese Marine Corps did not expand, but the landing fleet increased to six. The three fleets each had two landing fleets, and the eight permanent marine divisions were reduced to six. However, the military strength of each division was expanded by 50%, which was equivalent to the increase of one-eighth of the permanent force. After reorganization, the combat capabilities of the Marine Corps, especially the independent combat capabilities, were greatly improved.

More importantly, the Marines' delivery ability is not comparable to that in the past.

At that time, the Marine Corps had six amphibious assault ships, twelve integrated landing ships, twelve dock landing ships and twenty-four troop delivery ships, and twenty-four rapid integrated transport ships and eight liquid cargo transport ships. The landing fleet of each fleet could send one landing division at one time. If civilian ships were requisitioned, any fleet could send two landing divisions during landing operations.

It can be said that this is an amphibious force that cannot be underestimated.

You should know that the US Marine Corps' troop delivery ability can only guarantee the delivery of two Marine Divisions on one battlefield, and the scale of the US Marine Division is no larger than that of the Chinese Marine Division.

Of course, the Chinese Marine Corps also lacks some, such as lack of aviation strike capabilities.

Because it is equipped with short-range takeoff/vertical landing fighters such as F-35b, the US Marine Corps has an independent aviation team, so it can provide air support for the landing troops. On the contrary, China is not rich yet to spend hundreds of billions or even tens of trillions of yuan to develop and purchase vertical takeoff and landing fighters for the Marine Corps. Therefore, the Marine Corps aviation team is mainly equipped with inclined rotary wing aircraft, which only has vertical air transport capabilities and does not have air strike capabilities. When performing landing combat missions, the Marine Corps still has to rely on the Navy and Air Force to provide air support.

However, there is one thing that is undeniable that the Marines have strong enough independent combat capabilities.

At that time, the six land divisions had more than 18,000 troops, of which the three main land divisions had a permanent force of more than 22,000 troops, which could be appropriately strengthened during wartime, such as adding one to three armored battalions, one to three artillery battalions and air defense battalions, or adding logistics support units, the force would exceed 25,000. According to this calculation, the three main land divisions had a wartime force of more than 70,000 troops, which was equivalent to one army group. If three standing land divisions were included, it was equivalent to two army group of the army.

Although the Marine Corps has not yet been replaced and cannot match the two army's army in terms of equipment quality, it has greater advantages in combat in coastal areas, that is, the Marine Corps can receive full support from the Navy fleet and is more reliable in terms of logistics support than the long-distance raiding army.

In fact, it was precisely for logistical support that Mu Haoyang believed that the Marine Corps should be used.

But the problem is not that simple.

On March 21, at the first meeting of senior generals of the General Staff, Qi Kaiwei made it clear that instead of using the Marines, it would be better to send the 42nd Army directly to the estuary of the Ganges River, or the naval fleet went up against the Ganges River to support the army's operations. As for the Marines, they could participate in the work in the rear, such as guarding the ports of Bangladesh and helping the fleet sweep the areas on both sides of the river.

Obviously, Pang Yuelong had no intention of letting the Marines do chores.

According to his proposal, the Marines will open a landing ground in southeastern India, then march into the Deccan Plateau, cut off the Indian army's strategic defense line south of the Ganges Plain, and then the army will launch an attack from both east and west to assist the army in sweeping the Ganges Plain and capturing the richest areas in India.

In name, the Marines assisted the Army in combat, but in fact they took on the main responsibilities alone.

At that time, the Indian government had fled to Bangalore and gave up New Delhi. Therefore, sweeping the Ganges Plain was just an extremely long-distance march, which was not challenging at all. The real battlefield was on the south side of the Ganges Plain, that is, the Marines' march route, because the Indian army would definitely defend the Deccan Plateau and prevent the Chinese army from going south to capture the southern part of the Indian Peninsula, and even use the Deccan Plateau as a base to counterattack the Ganges Plain.

If you really want to fight like what Pang Yuelong said, then the Army will become a supporting role.

Obviously, Qi Kaiwei could not agree to such a combat plan.

As a result, the meeting became a quarrel between Qi Kaiwei and Pang Yuelong.

After the meeting, Mu Haoyang first found Qi Kaiwei and proposed a compromise plan, that is, the Marines would first open the landing ground. If it was necessary to attack the Deccan Plateau, the army would act as the main force, and the Marines would be responsible for sweeping the coastal plains. As for capturing the Ganges Plain, it was not the main problem at all.

In order to get Qi Kaiwei's support, Mu Haoyang put forward a crucial reason.

Only by fighting like this can we fundamentally solve the problem of logistics support, otherwise the army would not be able to advance more than a thousand kilometers in the hinterland of the Indian Peninsula. To be precise, if Qi Kaiwei intends to use his troops to win this war instead of asking the General Staff to increase his troops, then he would have to fight like this.

Qi Kaiwei is not a fool, he knows that Mu Haoyang has grasped the point.

You should know that when formulating the war plan, Qi Kaiwei only proposed to mobilize four armies and ensure that large-scale ground wars could be ended within half a year. Although Qi Kaiwei only mentioned the capture of New Delhi and sweeping the Ganges Plain at that time, and did not mention entering the Deccan Plateau, that is, the ground war plan he formulated did not include the latter part at all, but the battlefield situation changed rapidly, and whether to enter the Deccan Plateau was decided by Mu Haoyang. Therefore, in terms of combat mission allocation, Qi Kaiwei had to compromise with Mu Haoyang.

Given the situation at that time, it was no longer a suspense to enter the Deccan Plateau.

The reason is simple. Huang Hanlin has made a commitment to the authorities of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to properly end the war and restore peace and stability in South Asia as soon as possible, and will not affect neighboring countries in India due to the legacy of the war.

You should know that the biggest impact is the legacy of war, that is, the refugees produced by war.

If these refugees pour into neighboring countries, it will definitely be a huge humanitarian disaster, and this is the main reason why neighboring countries are still scared.

To avoid triggering a wave of refugees, the only option is to avoid a civil war in India.

In this way, the Chinese army must have a beginning and an end, and cannot give up halfway, and must eradicate the former Indian regime before the end of a large-scale ground war.

In terms of means, the entire territory of India must be captured.

Maybe there is no need to occupy the entire territory of India, but it is necessary to ensure that the former Indian regime is completely eliminated.

Obviously, this goal can only be achieved by entering the Deccan Plateau.

In this way, Qi Kaiwei has to face the problem of increasing troops. If Mu Haoyang gets stuck, Qi Kaiwei will be in a dilemma. In this way, sharing part of the combat tasks by the Marines becomes a compromise, that is, increasing combat troops by sending additional Marines.

At that time, in addition to increasing troops, there was another problem, namely logistics support.

If you rely entirely on land transportation, let alone investing in four armies, even if you use four armies, it may not be possible to ensure smooth traffic. Under the circumstances at that time, after choosing land transportation, you must ask for help from the allies, and only Pakistan is able to send combat troops.

The problem is that on a political level, Pakistan should not be intervened too deeply.

Relatively speaking, the Indian people are not very disgusted with China, but the India-Pakistan conflict has accumulated for decades and obviously will not welcome the Pakistani army.

In other words, if Pakistani troops were dispatched to occupy India, it would only make the contradictions worse.

As for the ground forces in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, they are simply unreliable and cannot be counted on.

In this way, the land route will not be accessible.

Fortunately, India is a country surrounded by the sea on three sides. The Indian Peninsula penetrates deep into the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. There are many deep-water ports and a large number of natural harbors for ships to moor. Therefore, sea routes can effectively solve the problem of logistics support.

To put it bluntly, as long as the Marines advance south with the army and seize the ports along the way, the length of the ground supply line can be effectively shortened, and the army does not have to care whether they can defend the rear of the front line, because the supply comes from the direction of the sea, that is, the flanks of the front line, rather than from the rear of the front line.

In other words, the army's advancement southward on the Deccan Plateau was actually a strategic mobile war.

It can be said that Qi Kaiwei could not refuse Mu Haoyang's proposal and had to compromise with the Marines on combat issues. Moreover, Mu Haoyang also guaranteed to give the Army a high enough position and the Army led the offensive operations. The Marines only cooperated with the Army to launch an attack on the flank.

After convinced Qi Kaiwei, Mu Haoyang invited Pang Yuelong to his home that night, and the two had a good talk.

On March 22, at the meeting of senior generals of the General Staff, Mu Haoyang formally proposed the combat plan, but neither Qi Kaiwei nor Pang Yuelong expressed opposition.

In the afternoon of the same day, Mu Haoyang went to the head of state to report to Huang Hanlin.

Like Li Pingko, Huang Hanlin rarely cares about military affairs, but only puts forward the purpose of the combat, that is, ending large-scale ground wars within half a year as originally planned. As for how to fight, it is the matter of the Chief of Staff. As the head of state, he only cares about whether the final goal can be achieved.

In the evening, Qi Kaiwei took a special plane to Islamabad.

Pang Yuelong stayed in the General Staff for a few more hours, and in the early morning of the 23rd, he flew to South Andaman Island on a Marine Transport Plane.
Chapter completed!