Chapter 784: The Empire of the Ring (1)

The allied forces of Russian mafia, Serbian militiamen, and some members of the Royal Bodyguards were dispersed and deployed in Kazakhstan’s northeastern border area.

While Kazakhstan’s military was distracting the Chinese troops with a small battle within the border area, the allied forces who quickly crossed the border joined forces with armed fighting forces in Uyghur and quickly took over the border cities of Aratai and Tacheng.

And in just ten days, the forces pushed their way down to the Junggar Basin.

There were quite a few casualties between the two sides in the process, but there were no major battles.

The Chinese military also focused more on protecting Urumqi, the capital of Uyghur, than on desert areas.

The allied forces advanced 100 kilometers ahead of Urumqi and began to solidify the front line as the Chinese Army was also there to defend Urumqi.

The Junggar Basin was a basin-type desert area blocked by the Altai Mountains in the northeast and blocked by the Tian Shan Mountains in the south.

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Securing this area itself would form a buffer zone in the northeast, so the forces pushed for it with all their might.

The Chinese troops, who were unprepared, simply stepped back, so there was no major battle.

For the Chinese side, it was not a big deal to give up the desert to the Uyghur militias that suddenly made an action. It also seemed to think that it could recapture the area at any time with the power of the Chinese Army.

The allied forces had a little trouble getting over to Uyghur to avoid the eyes of the Chinese troops stationed in the border area, and the rest of the section was a deserted desert, so they only needed to drive through on armored vehicles.

The Chinese military, which was focused on defending Urumqi only, did not care about the desert area.

However, the loss of the Junggar Basin isolated Chinese troops stationed on the border of Kazakhstan.

About 10,000 Chinese border troops were stranded because they had enemies on both sides.

Although the supply would not be cut off because the sky path was still open, 10,000 Chinese troops in northeastern Kazakhstan would automatically fall into captivity as Kazakhstan planned to block the sky path soon.

This was how far Youngho targeted to take over the Uyghur Independence War in the northeastern region.

If the Junggar Basin and the Tian Shan Mountains were seized, the northern passage linking China and Kazakhstan would be blocked.

The allied forces also advanced simultaneously in the Kashgar Autonomous Republic in the areas that bordered Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The Royal Bodyguards and Uyghur militiamen, all dressed up as Uyghur militiamen, pushed to achieve control of a branch of Tian Shan Mountains, north of Kashgar, and the Taklamakan Desert, part of the Tarim Basin.

Unlike the Junggar Basin in the north, fierce battles took place here day after day.

If the Tarim Basin was lost, China would lose one of China’s oil production sites, so it defended it with all its might.

Just like the Junggar Basin in the north, there was no intention of taking over the whole region from the beginning because that would only prolong the war.

If the Chinese troops fought back after the allied forces occupied the region to certain degrees, they would retreat to Aksu Prefecture, a city located in the tributary of the Tianshan Mountains, and fight back there.

They did not mean to occupy much of the area, so they planned to move forward and stop moderately, but they could not get out of the vicinity of the Aksu area.

The Chinese troops came out so strong that the fighting in the eastern part of Kashgar became fiercer day by day.

With the fierce battles, there were a number of casualties among militiamen, Royal Bodyguards, and mercenaries.

In particular, the most sacrificed people were Uyghur militiamen who lacked experience.

“The Chinese army is unexpectedly fighting back strongly.”

Cho Chul-hwan, who came into Youngho’s office to report the war situation, looked serious.

He had thought that the forces would move forward in a rapid manner once the battle started but was very embarrassed as it was getting out of his hand.

“Did you think it would end in one morning? It’s an independence war. The fight against the Chinese army. It will easily be dragged on for months.”

Since mediators were supposed to appear anyway if the war was prolonged, Youngho believed that if the war dragged out for a few months, it would be concluded.

“It’s because the Chinese military has an advantage if we struggle like this from the beginning. They’ve got over two million men. It’ll be hard to hold out for a few months if they deploy additional forces.”

“We expected a shortage of troops anyway, and there’s something we can do. Our specialty is guerrilla warfare. Don’t even think about confronting the Chinese military directly.”

It would be a suicide to fight the regular army with Uyghur militiamen who were not properly trained as regular troops.

The Chinese Army also had better weapons in terms of firepower as it was mobilizing fighter jets and helicopters.

“I think we should use fighter jets, too. Can’t you do anything about it?”

“How do we mobilize the fighters? We’re even careful to mobilize combat helicopters now.”

Although Zeynep Security Service’s private military company was on the rise these days, it had not yet been big enough to own fighter jets.

It only had a few small combat helicopters.

The mercenaries were mainly skilled in guerrilla warfare, but were less than the regular army in terms of equipment.

Under such circumstances, the use of fighter jets would signal that Kazakhstan was leading the war of independence behind the scenes.

Of course, China was well aware that Kazakhstan was in charge of the Uyghur militia.

However, there was no hard evidence.

“If it’s the end of the war, it would be a different story, but we can’t mobilize fighter jets or missiles right now.”

“Then what if we distract the Chinese military’s focus from Uyghur to somewhere else?”

“Do you have any good ideas?”

“I was wondering if the Royal Navy could provoke the Chinese Navy in Southeast Asian waters.”

Youngho had thought about it too.

Nevertheless, it was not implemented because if the Uyghur independence war was brought out of the country, it would not be supported by the international community.

The idea of dispersing the Chinese military’s attention in Southeast Asian waters was only short-sighted.

In Southeast Asian waters, which had the largest number of logistics transfers, there had been staging of armed protests but never direct combat.

Countries were refraining from armed conflict in Southeast Asian waters, which were logistics routes.

Who would like it if the Kazakh Navy appeared, causing troubles when it was not an interested party in Southeast Asian waters?

It lacked justification and could brand Kazakhstan as a terrorist country.

Also, if Kazakhstan took such a reckless action in Southeast Asian waters, its solid cooperation with the U.S. and India in the Indian Ocean could be broken.

Anyway, the idea was wrong in many layers.

Cho Chul-hwan, who was listening to Youngho’s explanation, immediately withdrew his proposal after realizing that it was a reckless operation.

“I almost got our country into international trouble. Then I guess there’s no way to distract China from focusing on Uyghur. We need to reduce the sacrifice of the militia somehow though…”

“Don’t think of breaking through the front line, but shake the whole Uyghur area with guerrilla warfare. It’s hard to win this in a short period anyway, but we can’t use high-tech weapons that could lead to an escalation. Wouldn’t someone at least go ahead and try to mediate if it looks like the war will prolong?”

If Syria and Uyghur were stirred up, the global economy would be shaken.

Developed countries would not just neglect such a situation as their economy was highly dependent on exports.

The United Nations, the European Union, and the United States were bound to mediate.

Then the forces would stick to the current occupied territory and agree to a cease-fire.

Of course, China should agree, but China also had no alternative, so it expected to respond to a ceasefire.

This was because Uyghur’s war of independence was pushing its economy to the bottom.

There had even been moves to impose economic sanctions on China for its inhumane acts

against the Uyghurs, which was threatening to China as its economy depended on trades.

“We’ll have to release the allied forces of mercenaries, militias, and Royal Bodyguards, who are good at guerrilla warfare all over Uyghur, but there will be sacrifices no matter what we do.”

“We’ll make sure they’re ready before letting them out. Don’t just think about the attack and try to prepare them to make a comeback without losing one member.”

The battle was raging everywhere.

As a result, numerous injuries were reported, and field hospitals were set up throughout the battlefield so that they could be transferred directly to receive emergency treatment.

A large field hospital was operating on the Kazakh-Chinese border in eastern Kazakhstan, and the performance of a medical volunteer group led by Zeynep was quite notable.

She stationed special hospital trains at the border area and responded quickly to give medical attention to injured soldiers.

It was possible because all the hospital trains that had been doing medical volunteer work in the Caucasus area had been moved to Kazakhstan in advance.

Even if there was a battle at sea, the existence of the hospital ship would have saved the lives of countless soldiers.

The operation of a hospital ship and mobile hospital trains, which began with Zeynep’s suggestion, was now widely known around the world.

In the early days, it was accepted as a rich Kazakh royal princess’ pretentious humanitarian work, but now many looked up to her cause, and many organizations promised assistance.

Thanks to the volunteer work of the hospital ship and trains in remote areas, countless people in the medical blind spots had been able to be treated.

However, now, Zeynep was insistent that she would go to Uyghur herself for volunteer work, which caused Youngho a headache.

“Everyone is grateful for your help on the border, so stop being stubborn. If you’re in the middle of the battlefield, how can our family and the soldiers feel comfortable? The bullets or shells won’t dodge you automatically.”

He felt like he was getting more gray hair because of Zeynep.

“People say that there are many soldiers whose lives are in critical condition because the militia is not treated in time. It’s about saving lives. If you avoid it because of some danger, who would the soldiers trust?”

Once Zeynep was determined to have her way, no one could stop her.

Fatima had tried to persuade her earlier and handed the ball over to Youngho.

“You are still a spoiled little girl! You don’t have to go to the front line because we transfer the soldiers by helicopter right after giving them first aid.”

When Youngho strongly opposed it, Zeynep was no longer stubborn, but she tried to use other excuses.

“I really wanted to visit for the morale of the militia…”

“I don’t know why everyone’s so crazy about going to a dangerous battlefield.”

Who would not know how dangerous a battlefield was?

However, it was amazing that everyone was trying to play a role.

Every Kazakh person was willing to lend a hand in this fight as they felt responsible for Uyghur’s independence.

Youngho did not expect this kind of atmosphere, but on the other hand, it was fortunate.

It would have been a headache if the people criticized the royal family and the government for causing a national crisis by being nosy and bringing in unnecessary work.