As night fell, a roaring bonfire lit up in the camp.

Although the military rations brought by Yang Yi and the others were not delicious, they were definitely delicious for these refugees, especially children, who had not eaten enough for a long time. The key is that there are plenty of them, so that everyone can eat enough and no longer have to compete with each other because of lack of food.

Wait patiently, and naturally there will be good rewards.

Before dark, Maria replied that she was willing to assist Yang Yi and others in fighting the occupation forces, but she had to ensure the safety of civilians.

This request was reasonable, and Yang Yi immediately agreed.

Considering that the occupying forces would retaliate frantically after the destruction of the forward base, Maria decided to leave the place the next day and set up camp elsewhere. Because of the long journey in the desert, Yang Yi proposed to let everyone relax, especially those children who have been hungry for a long time. The food was brought by Yang Yi and them, and Maria did not object, and there was not enough physical strength, so the refugees could not go far.

Through Maria, Yang Yi knew that Paul was the main fighter.

If it weren't for the fact that the occupying army was very strong, his own manpower was insufficient, and there were many ineffective old people, children and women who needed to be protected, Paul would have led a group of men to attack the occupying army. In addition, the militia that followed Paul wanted to fight the occupying forces.

It didn't take much effort for Yang Yi and Jackson to get together with Paul and start calling each other brothers.

Paul is only two years older than Mr. Yang, but he has been in the militia for four years. Although they don't have much actual combat experience, the militia units have to conduct two month-long training camps every year, and occasionally conduct actual combat exercises, so the basic quality of the militia such as Paul is not bad.

After getting acquainted with Paul, Yang Yi learned more about what was happening on Shennong.

Paul and the others are inevitably residents of Dwink, and Maria is the mayor's wife. Although Shennong was within the jurisdiction of the Third War Zone, at the end of the Fifth Greenwich War, the federal authorities did not clearly divide the jurisdiction of the nine war zones. Like other similar colonized planets, Shennong already had indigenous people, including Saxons, before it was placed under the jurisdiction of the Third War Zone. In order to facilitate management, after Shennongxing was under the jurisdiction of the Third War Zone, the Saxons were concentrated and settled on the Wild Grass Continent. It is precisely because of this that the inhabitants of the Wild Grass Continent are mainly Saxons, and the Huaxia tribe that dominates the planet of Shennong is a minority.

Like other towns on the Wastegrass Continent, Dwenk City is a small town with less than five thousand permanent residents.

When Shennong was blocked, Mayor Alex called in the militia and asked Maria to take the elderly, children and women to the countryside farm for refuge. When the occupying forces arrived at Dwink, they first claimed to be the 3rd Theater Garrison, and demanded that Alex hand over the keys to the granary and have the citizens gather together to obey the command of the occupying forces. Alex did not agree, but asked the occupying forces to show the approval of the theater command and the federal authorities. As things spiraled out of control, the occupying forces arrested Alex and declared martial law in the city, prohibiting citizens from going out. In order to prevent the news from getting out, the occupying forces also took control of the communication center, cut off the communication lines, and carried out full-band electromagnetic interference.

Because he escorted Mary and others to the suburban farm, Paul was not in the city at the time of the incident.

Returning to Dwenk City and finding that the mayor had been arrested by the occupying forces, Paul immediately contacted the other militia and then infiltrated the town hall through the sewers. The occupation forces were heavily guarded, and Paul and the others were found when they escaped from the town hall with the mayor. During the fighting, the mayor was hit by a stray bullet.

Although Paul and other militias escaped, a small number of militiamen alone could not drive out the occupying forces.

Upon learning of her husband's tragic death, Maria activated the granary's self-destruct system in a fit of rage, burning hundreds of thousands of tons of grain, leaving not a single one behind.

Fearing reprisals from the occupying forces, Maria left the farm with the escaped citizens.

The coastal areas have been taken over by the occupying forces, and the refugee contingent has had to take refuge in the inland deserts. Although only half a month has passed, more than half of the refugees have either died of hunger, disease, or sudden attacks by the occupying forces.

In addition to Dwenk City, similar tragedies have occurred in other towns on the Grass Continent.

According to Paul, only a few towns have yielded to the occupying forces, but the inhabitants of those towns are also having a very hard time. Not only are the occupying forces strictly forbidden to go outside, but they are in fact extremely strict in their control, with daily necessities being rationed according to the population.

The occupying forces showed no mercy to those who resisted.

In the beginning, Paul's army consisted of more than fifty militiamen. After a few battles, now only twenty-three remain.

In order to prohibit the locals from secretly supporting the resistance, the occupying forces not only banned free trade, but also severely punished civilians who sympathized with the resistance. As a result, the ranks of refugees who left the towns had little access to the usual means of subsistence and would sooner or later succumb to the occupying forces under the pressure of hunger and disease. As far as Paul knew, many groups of refugees had returned to their original towns and were forced to surrender to the occupying forces.

If Yang Yi and the others hadn't arrived, Maria's team would probably have succumbed in a few days.

In the desert, not to mention food, there is very little fresh water. Even more serious are the injuries, many of whom have died due to lack of medicine.

Until then, Paul and others had been confident that federal authorities and the Theater Command would not sit idly by.

Although the arrival of Yang Yi and others gave Paul their hope, Paul did not know that the theater command had no intention of sending troops at all. As for the federal authorities, because Shennong Star is a grain producing area in the Third War Zone, it has always been under the jurisdiction of the Third War Zone, and it will not send troops. Besides, the federal authorities have no troops to send. If it weren't for the fact that the nine theaters, especially the first, second, and third theaters, formed a three-legged situation, no one could hold power alone, and a central agency was needed to coordinate relations, there would be no need for the federal authorities to exist at all. The only thing that the federal authorities can mobilize is the police force that maintains the security of the home system, and they have no ability to come to Shennong to quell the chaos.

Yang Yi didn't want to hit Paul, so he didn't say these things.

Although Paul does not mention the situation on the other three continents, and the inhabitants of the Wild Grass Continent were unable to travel to the other continents after the arrival of the occupation forces, it is certain that the situation on the other continents is no different. Even if some residents refuse to bow to the occupying forces, because of the huge disparity in strength, it is difficult to throw up a big storm. The fact that the occupying forces only controlled the main towns and did not wipe out the resistance groups on a large scale shows that they did not take the resistance groups seriously at all, nor did they intend to occupy them for a long time, and that they only controlled the important towns to stabilize the situation.

After the bonfire, Yang Yi called Jackson aside.

"Brother, what do you think?"

"The Luo family has no fear." Jackson let out a sigh of relief and said, "It's not all bad news, though, and it's not terribly bad. ”

Yang Yi didn't say anything, waiting for Jackson to continue.

According to Paul, the strength of the occupation army will not be too much, there are only a few hundred people at most in Dwenk City, and there are only tens of thousands of officers and soldiers on the entire barren grass continent, which is equivalent to a full legion. If the situation were the same on other continents, then the total strength of the occupation forces would not exceed two hundred thousand. ”

Yang Yi nodded slightly. "Even so, it's still a force to be reckoned with."

"It depends on which way you look at it. There are two hundred militias in Dwenk City, and if the militia in other towns is about the same size, there are at least 100,000 militiamen on the Barren Grass Continent, and about 400,000 in the entire Shennong Star. Even if only half of the militia is still resisting, there are 200,000. Jackson paused slightly. Of course, we can't count on these militias, even if they have the morale to fight the enemy, they are not capable enough, and they lack heavy equipment. Fighting an occupying force armed to the teeth is tantamount to death. Besides, in a short period of time, we will not be able to gather all the militias, let alone make them obey our command. ”

"So what to do?"

"Surrender."

Yang Yi was stunned for a moment and looked at Jackson in disbelief.

"Paul made it very clear that as long as they surrendered, the occupying forces would open their nets, and there were many groups of refugees who had already surrendered to the occupying forces."

"Dude......"

"Only then will we be able to return to Dwenk and have a chance to catch the officers of the occupying army and find out what is going on with the occupying forces."

Yang Yi's brow jumped a few times and asked Jackson to continue.

"More importantly, we have to figure out the purpose of Luo Zhenyu's troops to occupy Shennongxing. If it's just against us, there's no need to make such a big move, just block Shennong. No matter how strong the Luo family's power is, it is a loss to use 200,000 troops to occupy a colonial planet. Besides, if this matter is big, for example, Lin Xiaoting is forced to ask Du Wantu for help and let the Third Fleet quell the rebellion, Luo Zhenyu will lose his old capital. ”

"You're saying that Luo Zhenyu's real purpose is not to deal with us?"

Jackson nodded slightly and said, "Although this is just my guess, it is very likely. The point is, we don't know what Luo Zhenyu's real purpose is. You have a saying, it is better to get a tiger in a tiger's den. The best way to find out Luo Zhenyu's true purpose is to go to Dwenk City and arrest an officer to ask him clearly. Perhaps, there is a chance to infiltrate the interior of the occupying forces. ”

After pondering for a while, Yang Yi said, "Okay, let's go talk to Maria." ”

Although he felt that surrender was not feasible, Yang Yi did not deny Jackson's judgment. The Luo family made a big move, not just to deal with Yang Yi and Lin Feng. Besides, Luo Zhenyu may not take Yang Yi and Lin Feng in his eyes, even if he takes revenge for Luo Xuankong, it is just a gimmick. If you don't even understand the purpose of the Luo family, no matter what you do next, it will be half the effort, and there will be no good results.