Tiandu.

Imperial Palace of the Xilan Empire.

After living here for a few days, without even seeing the shadow of the soldiers, McLaren was somewhat bored, so he took the adjutant around here.

The adjutant's name was Aaron, and he was a member of the civilian bureaucracy, with a resume in the Ministry of the Interior, with the rank of commander of a thousand. About three years ago, he was sent to Borneo to run the local interests of the Triumph City civil bureaucracy, and his knowledge of the situation was not much different from that of the locals.

Passing by a side hall of the court, Maclaen saw a group of young men and women dressed in rich costumes sitting around a sand table.

The sand table was about a dozen square meters, and there were some wooden carved chess pieces on it, all of which were tigers, leopards, jackals, birds, and beasts with teeth and claws, pushed by two servants holding long poles.

Seeing this, McLaan couldn't help but be curious and asked.

"What is this?"

"Wargames."

「…… What about the soldiers?"

"The beasts on the chessboard are soldiers, snakes eat rats, eagles eat snakes, lions and tigers, both are afraid of elephants, cattle under the scorching sun are omnipotent, and mice in the night are invisible......" Seeing McLene's strange face, Aaron smiled and pointed to the maze and said, "Don't underestimate this thing, it actually reflects the political philosophy and spiritual world of the survivors here."

After a pause, he continued.

"In addition, a standard chessboard must be 12 squares, and the total weight of the chess pieces is 6 tons, which is not something that the rich and noble generally cannot afford to play. As for the chessboard for the assessment set up under the steps of the side hall of the palace, it is even more incredible, there are 3,300 square meters, a total of 1,000 pieces of chess pieces of human height, and I have been here for so many years, and I have not figured out how to play that thing."

"Assessment?"

"The main thing is to select some military talents."

McLean's brow twitched, and he couldn't help but ask.

"That's how they use this to select generals?"

"Partly yes, at least a six-ton chessboard can get rid of a decent number of poor ghosts."

"What about the rest?"

"That's our credit," Aaron continued, frowning, "We recovered some of the equipment left behind by the expeditionary force in the province of Luoxia through the mouth of Silvermoon Bay, and it cost them less than 30 million dinars to build a professional army, which is now the trump card of the entire province of Borneo."

Hearing the word Expeditionary Force, the corners of McClen's mouth twitched violently unconsciously.

While talking, a group of aristocratic children gathered around the chessboard also noticed the two people passing by and stopped discussing.

One of the young men, who didn't look like a low rank, stepped forward and said with a respectful bow.

"Good afternoon, Mr. McLene."

McKellen looked at the oily-haired guy twice.

"Are you?"

Seeing that the Willant was talking to him, the man suddenly showed a happy expression on his face and continued.

"The contemptible man is Manish, the second son of the Saisan family, and he has long heard of the prestige of the general, so I wonder if I can learn from you the skills of using soldiers."

Aaron whispered beside McClan.

"He is the champion of the last big exam, Prince Dilip's personal disciple, if you are interested in their war games, it is good to let him teach you the rules."

McLaen glanced at the young man, then grinned, said nothing, and walked away with his hands behind his back.

Seeing this, Aaron hurriedly followed him.

The nobles were not offended by the rudeness of the Willant, but were overjoyed, especially the young man who came forward to ask for advice.

"He just smiled at me." Manish turned and boasted to his companions.

A group of young men and women in front of the sand table laughed and sent compliments.

"General McLaan must have seen the shadow of a five-star captain in you!"

"Sir Manish, you will surely become a better general than your teacher." A young girl in a long emerald green dress with curly brown hair combed into braids

The mother clasped her hands in front of her chest and said with her eyes shining.

Listening to the compliments of his friends, Manish smiled and raised his hand, and made two false modest sounds.

"It's over."

"I'm not ...... to Prince Dilip?"

……

The corridor of the side nave.

Aaron, who was chasing behind McLene, said helplessly.

"Can't you just be a little nicer to them? They are also our nominal friends, and if you want to see your army as soon as possible, it is actually a good idea to establish good relations with these princes and nobles, and that witch has been consciously cultivating the military literacy of the children of the royal family."

McLaen said with a nonchalant expression.

"I'm just communicating with them the way they like, don't you notice that they respect me more when I do it?"

At first, he also reflected on whether he had gone too far.

Especially when he thought of the generosity of the survivors who died for their leader in the province of the River Valley, his heart was shaken.

Respect others is the only way to be respected, and perhaps the attitude of the Willant towards other races is indeed a bit too arrogant.

And yet—

There is no point in doing this here.

Everyone here is trying to figure out how to use their authority to the fullest, and at the same time make up for the dignity trampled on by those who are lower than themselves. He saw with his own eyes a duke who had taken the Countess's wife away in person at the dinner, and the Count, after laughing and sending them into the funny sedan chair, turned his head and took the hand of the other Baroness.

The entire court of Tiandu is like a connected centipede. Some people are dressed in clean and tidy clothes, but they are more filthy than those who have no clothes to wear.

Although he himself is not a good person, the thought of joining this centipede is not at all interested.

He had never been so pure-hearted.

At this moment, the communicator on Aaron's wrist suddenly flashed. He immediately took out his headphones and put them on, and his face changed.

McLaren was about to ask what was going on, when he saw the familiar and thick beard walking briskly towards him, surrounded by a group of servants.

It was completely different from the first time they met, the angular face was full of panic, the stumbling steps were like stepping on a single-plank bridge, and the deep sunken eye sockets were only blank and panicked.

He was not mistaken, it was the cruelty and cunning of the strong outside.

Without waiting for Aaron to open his mouth to greet him, the emperor of the Xilan Empire took the lead and said.

"The general save me!"

Looking at the witch who was holding his arm, McClan took a half step back in dismay.

"What are you...... What's wrong?"

Wu Dao let go of his hand and hurriedly sorted out his appearance, but he still couldn't hide the panic in his eyes, and his eyes wandered for a while and then said.

「…… Let's talk about it in another place."

……

Moving from the side hall to the council hall in the backyard, the witch finally explained the whole thing clearly.

In fact, at first, he was cover-up when he stated what happened, such as downplaying the cause of the incident, exaggerating the barbarism and rudeness of the coalition after landing at the port of Golden Gallen, and making a fuss in his response to the cease-fire agreement......

However, Aaron has his own intelligence system in the local area, not to mention that many people in the Gray Wolf Army are trained by them, so they naturally understand what is going on.

Of course, the truth is never the most critical thing, the real key is how to solve the problem.

Looking at the frightened emperor, Aaron coughed lightly and tried to comfort him.

"Please don't panic, Your Majesty, I have a general understanding of what happened...... The Alliance's response was indeed a bit out of line."

"Out of line?!" Wu Tuo's eyes widened, and he slammed his fist into the arm of the carved wooden chair in dismay, "The Golden Gallen Harbor is our most important outlet to the sea on the East Coast, and there are millions of imperial sons living there

People! You actually say it's out of line!"

McLaren played with the teacup on the table, not even looking at him.

This guy can still sit here and yell, it seems that the alliance really has no plans to expand the scale of the war, so naturally he is not as worried as when he first came here.

If this guy pulls him to run for his life, he can't say if he will panic.

Aaron, who was sitting on the side, said comfortingly.

"Don't get excited, Your Majesty...... Let's take a sip of tea and calm down."

He knew that this guy was not worried about the millions of animals that could live by eating the soil, but about the gold that was stored in the harbor.

500 million dinars is indeed not a small amount.

However, the chances that this money is still in the port are very small, and there is no point in getting angry about what has been lost, it is better to find a way to do something meaningful with this money that has been spent.

For example, the payment of compensation.

At least in his opinion, it is absolutely impossible to turn the tables with the current strength of the empire, and the more he struggles, the harder the opponent's hand on his throat will only get harder.

The witch took a sip of the teacup and slammed it on the table, as if to vent his last breath of anger.

Seeing that the frequency of his chest heaving had slowed down, Aaron slowly and methodically made his debut with the words and coils that had been prepared.

"First of all, please accept this ceasefire."

There was silence in the chamber.

There was silence between the three of them.

McLaen raised his eyebrows and glanced at Aaron, then withdrew his gaze and silently played with the teaspoon next to the teacup.

The witch stared at Aaron in a daze, then glanced at McLene, who didn't look at him at all, and then looked at Aaron again and said.

「…… What about your army?"

Aaron took a sip of tea to moisten his throat and said softly.

"Each legion has its own battle plan, and they hate the unexpected, and it's easy to invite them here, but it's hard to send them away."

Witch Pack's eyes widened as she stared at him.

"Aren't we the closest friends?!"

Aaron looked back at him in surprise, as if surprised why he was asking such a question.

"Of course you are, Your Majesty, so we offer you a solution to the problem, not the worst possible situation...... The Marshal doesn't want this regional conflict to turn into a full-scale war, and you don't want to see those people put their planes, tanks, and artillery on the shore, for with all due respect, they are much more restrained than they were in the province of Luoxia."

"But, ...... of the Golden Gallen," the witch was so anxious that he was about to cry, his hands clenched tightly on the armrests of his chair, like a child who had been robbed of a toy, "what if we retreat a hundred kilometers and they have to move forward inch by inch?!"

General McLene, who had not spoken, suddenly spoke.

"You don't have to worry about this, they will retreat, at least to the vicinity of the port. But from what I know about them, I'm afraid they'll do some small things, just like when they were in the Falcon Kingdom."

Aaron looked at McLalen curiously, as if he didn't know what was going on there.

"For example?"

McLaren said casually.

"They had a civic council to check and balance the nobility, and it was tricky to explain, but ask Captain Cohenwan, who took over the position of General Klaas, and now he is the governor of the Luoxia Province."

Aaron continued to look at the desperate Witch, who seemed to be just going to say something through McClen's mouth.

"You've heard it, it's unrealistic to expect the Alliance to withdraw honestly, the they pull down won't be flushed clean no matter how many times they flush it, my advice is...... Set up a buffer zone in the Golden Gallen Harbor and keep their ***, but keep them out of the Empire, so at least you don't have the dirt they leave behind to impinge on your authority."

After a pause, Aaron looked at His Majesty the Emperor with a dead face and continued.

"Of course, we understand the importance of the Port of Golden Gallen to you, the Empire's finances

It depends on the gold contributed by that port, but gold is not the only thing of value. If you don't like it, we can help you build a similar port on the west coast of Borneo, closer to Triumph City, and even help you develop some of the heavy industries that the empire lacks...... Of course, in order for the project to work better, we need some autonomy on the ground."

Wu Dao looked at him and said in a trance.

「…… Does this make any sense? I need troops, not craftsmen."

"I know what you need is an army, and that's exactly what we're giving you," Aaron said with a smile on his face, "Do you know why the Alliance can run after you with hundreds of men? Because they have things that you don't have...... Their factories can produce rifles and cannons in batches, and as long as you have factories, you are no worse than them."

Honestly, there are enough minions in Triumph, especially the Willantes who have recently returned from defeat in the east are also thinking about how to make life better.

After all, no matter how fast a slave fanned his fan, he couldn't catch up with electric fans and air conditioners, and physiological needs were something that could be easily satisfied.

Although the legion also has some factories that produce consumer goods in addition to the factories that produce weapons, due to its low proportion of the total industrial output value, the cost remains high, and it is mainly consumed by officers, and it is difficult to benefit everyone like the ideal city.

It might be a good idea to ask Borneo to help with some of the low-to-mid-range industries.

There are both resources and manpower here, and even if he can reduce the price of consumer goods in Triumph City by 1%, he can make a lot of money for the interest groups behind him.

By the way, he can arm this little brother with a bad brain a little, which can be described as a great joy for everyone.

The witch was lost in thought.

After a long time, he let go of his ten fingers that were clenching the armrest, and nodded hesitantly.

"I'm thinking about ......"

Aaron knew that he was already moved, but such a big matter had to be discussed with his officials and relatives for a while.

But what constructive advice can the echo bugs give?

At most, they helped him to retouch the grammar of the edict, so that a thing that was originally very embarrassing could be said in a different way, so that it would not be so embarrassing.

So he was not in a hurry and said patiently.

"We are waiting for your good news...... But to be honest, other things can be slowed down first, and the trouble with the ceasefire agreement is still as soon as possible, you are already at a disadvantage and cannot be reversed in the short term, so the longer it drags on, the better it will be for them."

Wu Dao nodded slightly, got up and left the council chamber.

How do you look at that back, how lonely.

The room fell silent.

Looking at McLene, who was sitting dumbly on the side, Aaron's serious face showed a smile and he leaned back in his chair comfortably.

"We didn't do anything, but we got no less than our opponents."

Seeing that the titular commander was speechless, he continued triumphantly.

"What do you think I'm talking about? If you want to get along with them, you can never be more anxious than them."

McClen coughed lightly.

"But Bicester Town, at least outside the Falcon Kingdom, we haven't lost an inch of land."

Aaron shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile.

"Who cares, they're not our vassals, they're just our friends."

……

Bad news always spreads faster than good news.

Within a few days, the news of the defeat of the Gray Wolf Army on the front line was transmitted back to Tiandu, causing panic in the entire Tiandu.

Some people say that the entire Gray Wolf Army was captured, while others say that it was actually a team of 10,000 people that was captured, and the remaining four teams of 10,000 people still had the strength to fight.

But no matter what, these greyhounds have disgraced the royal family and fought the dumbest battle with the most expensive equipment.

General Alayan has also changed from the god of war admired by thousands to a clown who is spit on by thousands of people, and some wolf boys and girls angrily attack him

The propaganda portrait was thrown out of the house, but it was picked up by some rat people and snake people and used as materials for clothes.

The rumors became more and more outrageous, and I don't know who said that the people of the alliance planned to go up the river and fight all the way to Tiandu, which really frightened many people, and the gate of the settlement was crowded with fleeing carriages and ox carts.

Fortunately, His Majesty's edict was issued in time, and it was only after calling back the waste who had been swarming outside the city and clarifying all the rumors.

【…… Due to the climatic reasons, the suppression of bandits was not smooth, and the gray wolf army was allowed to turn 100 kilometers to the west, and rebuild the defense line in the mountains and forests east of the city of a thousand pillars.

In addition, the Tiger Army and the Black Panther Army will bring 100,000 people to the front line in the north and south respectively, and form a three-sided attack with the Gray Wolf Army to form a siege of the enemy.

At present, the port of Golden Gallen is full of bandits, and the people of the empire are not allowed to go unless necessary. 】

The edict seems to say everything, and it seems that nothing is said, but in the end it makes two points clear - the "enemies of the empire" will not continue to advance westward, and the 300,000-strong army is already on the front of the battle, ready to deal a devastating blow to the enemy.

The upper echelons of the burghers and nobles knew a little bit about what was going on, and His Majesty's clever decision led to the Alliance's retaliation.

As for the middle and lower class citizens and most of the poor, they use the term "iron man" to refer to those enemies from the sea, and their attitudes are also strangely different, some are curious, some are not concerned with themselves, but more often they are mainly swearing.

Originally, it was only His Majesty and the nobles he canonized on top of their heads, but now, there was another "iron lump" pressing on His Majesty's shoulders.

The sequence of dignity and humility has been extended one level down, and the people who were already humble to the dust can only look down on themselves even more.

However, in the port of Golden Gallen, it is a completely different style.

The nobility and townspeople welcomed and curryed favor with these "iron men" to the point where they were embarrassed.

As for the poor, they are more conservative.

Except for those who collected money when digging trenches, demolishing houses, and leading the way, they secretly rejoiced and welcomed them, and the rest of the people were more indifferent and indifferent than panic and stammering.

The people who eat the soil are still eating the soil, and nothing has changed. And people who can eat a few meals of beans are complaining about the rise in feed prices, and the price of a pound of black beans finally broke ten in hesitation, and the days are really getting harder and harder......

……

The official website of "Wasteland Online".

Today's forum was as lively as ever.

Since the elimination of the mutant slime nest in Qingquan City, more and more progress has been made in the meeting under the auspices of the administrators, and with the establishment of two save points in Ice Sea City in the Far North and Yunxia City in the Far East, many players have tasted the sweetness of the map's wasteland, and brought distant stories and information back to the official website.

However, compared to the bits and pieces of information on the way, it was naturally more exciting to make the big news made by the Burning Corps in Borneo Province.

Five hundred people have defeated a settlement of millions of people, and the population of this settlement is almost more than the total population of the alliance combined!

As usual, today is still by Elder Brother Fang, bringing a new day's fun to the friends who are moving bricks, dusting, lowering books, and brushing ruins in the river valley province.

Chief: "A telegram from the Imperial Capital! They promised to retreat a hundred kilometres, but at the same time mentioned that they would send more troops to the front unless we were completely withdrawn from Borneo. In addition, they demanded that we not leave the port of Golden Gallen, either return to the sea or stay in the settlement, which is their bottom line, otherwise the agreement on a temporary ceasefire will be null and void. As for the specific cease-fire agreement, it will be negotiated and signed by the Duke of Galava, who is in Dawning City."

Quit Smoking: "?"

Tail: "Wow!?"

Night Ten: "Good guys, are these guys so brave? (funny)"

Elven King Fugui: "Can this be endured?!"

Irena: "I can't bear it, I'll fix it at the airport and them!" (funny)"

post

Dozens of floors were built in an instant, and the entire forum was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

A small number of people are brushing in the post, and most of them are arching the fire, instigating them to fight all the way west to Tiandu and capture the emperor alive.

There are also some people who just want to go to the front line to join in the fun.

Midnight with an umbrella without a knife: "Iron Juice, do you need mercenaries?" The garbage I raised is too edible to eat. (cried)"

"Look at me, brother, I didn't raise that mentally retarded thing, mainly to help the local suffering survivors. (funny)"

Picking up trash Level 99: "???"

I wanted to be quiet: "Be human. (Khan)"

Fang Chang: "Calm, we are civilized people, we still have to abide by the rules that should be followed, how to fight, where to fight we know in our hearts."

Commander of the Spring: "Actually, I think it's okay if you don't obey the last one, but they won't be able to see it anyway, and if they do, they probably won't see it. (squinting smiles)"

It was more like a cruel remark to save face for the empire.

Just like the previous "notice".

Lao Bai: "We think so too, but we don't plan to do anything for the time being, the Golden Gallen Harbor is now a mess of chicken feathers, from the Governor's Palace to the Craba Market in the north of the city, there are ruins everywhere. We're going to rebuild part of the city, buy some industries or something, and then set up a local force to take over the municipal and police agencies...... At present, this is what Elder Brother Fang is doing, and I don't know much about it, so if you are interested in life professional players, you can ask him. (bared teeth)"

Fang Chang: "Well, the land characteristics of the French Fries Port are not suitable for the development of industry, and the maintenance cost of industrial facilities is too high, but the relative planting industry can get the BUFF of accelerated growth, especially some tropical and subtropical crops, and the growth is gratifying from the feedback of local residents. Therefore, we have adjusted our original plan to put the secondary industry in the port of Jingallen, and the coast of the Baiyue Strait to focus on the development of the primary industry."

Leave someone under the knife: "Good fellow! DNA moves! (funny)"

Ward beriberi Levine: "Do you need us to build a Laiyang branch?"

Lao Bai: "You must welcome, there are a lot of minerals here, but the electricity bill is probably more expensive. (bared teeth)"

Borneo is rich in mineral resources, and a large amount of garbage from the de-urbanization movement more than two centuries ago has either rusted and weathered, or is buried under soil layers or mountains.

Resources don't disappear in a vacuum, they just exist in a different form. For example, "mines" similar to the Red River Alliance are everywhere in Borneo.

In addition, there are abundant human resources in the local area, and although the education rate is a little low, some labor-intensive industries do not require a high threshold for education.

Fang Chang: "...... Heavy industry is not in a hurry, we plan to start with the textile industry first, I checked the import and export books of the port, textiles themselves are one of the main export goods here, whether it is raw materials or employees, there is no shortage of production equipment, and the production equipment can also be bought in Boulder City and Dawn City, and it is not very troublesome to transport it through Silvermoon Bay."

Fujito: "Anyway, there is a shortage of electricity there, so I'm afraid I'll have to use a foot-operated sewing machine...... Anyway, do we still have that thing here? (doubts)"

Night Ten: "There must be, what kind of electrification is there in the POW camp, and it has only been a few months since the city of Dawn replaced kerosene lamps with electric lights. (funny)"

Siss: "Ahem, I'm not an expert, but I think it's better for you to think about the locals' food first. The fertile soil of the port of Golden Gallen is mostly grown with cash crops such as cotton, sugar cane and spices, and the staple food of the locals is mainly imported from the plains of the west by the inland port of the Yongliu River...... If this continues, they'll probably have to eat the dirt."

Tail: "Oh! The tail thinks so too! That soil was so bad that it almost sent me away last time. (「-Д-; )ゞ」

Quit smoking: "Damn, have you eaten?!"

C really has mosquitoes: "Irena: It's a loss. (funny)"

Irena: "I'm so angry, but I feel like I'm losing my rebuttal at this point. (Funny Angry Limited .jp.)

g)」

Elven King Fugui: "Hahahaha."

Fang Chang: "We will pay attention to this problem, we have found the problem of the general rise in the price of beans in the past two days, at this stage we are considering importing some grain from Yinyue Bay to solve the short-term problem, and in the medium and long term, it should be feasible to replace some cash crops in the plantation with corn fields or rice fields."

The mole at the run: "By the way, what about the more than 10,000 captives? What are you going to do with it?"

Fang Chang: "I'm about to say that the Empire wants us to return those people as soon as possible, for the sake of the more than 10,000 families behind them. However, we intend to postpone the release of the captives until the ceasefire agreement is formally signed, and in the meantime we may arrange for them to do some work, such as the Kraba market renovation project or something, because we can't keep so many people in vain."

Commander of the Spring: "It's a good idea to go to re-education, maybe they'll be able to bring some things home. (funny)"

Chief: "I hope, but to be honest, I don't really have much hope for the locals' self-consciousness, and the few guys worth training are all warlord-like talents. They can probably go to the early days of Boulder City if they take a step forward mentally, and if they step backwards, they are pure marauders, and let alone assimilate them, if they stay there for a long time, they will have to become like Big Eyes and lose their discipline."

Debt-related eyes: ", lying down and getting shot?"

Tail: "Got it! Go tell Dolly and take advantage of the situation to take the lovely Miss Dolly away! v(°V°S)」

Siss: "???"

Fang Chang: "Hehe, if you can do it, just give it a try, I'm still quite confident in myself...... By the way, Ah O, what about the people you let go of the port area earlier? Is there a way to reach them?"

Tail: "Oh, Sis left them a radio, if they didn't break it, it should be fine!" Anyway, do you have something to do with them?"

Fang Chang: "Well, we'd like to talk to them."

Just when the players were chatting enthusiastically, Chu Guang, who was sitting on the B4th floor of Vault 404 drinking Coke at the moment, was also full of relief and emotion on his face.

A long, long time ago, when the corps system first came out, he envisioned that players would use the corps as a collective to spontaneously spread the fire of civilization outward.

Although what they do is still a little rusty, and their motivations and starting points may not be exactly the same as their own, they are still like that.

He is well aware that it is not advisable to want both at the same time, and that the result of being too controlling and wanting everything is often nothing.

There's only one thing he's expecting from these players, and so far they've done a good job and are improving little by little.

Chu Guang stretched out his index finger with relief and rubbed Xiao Qi's little head.

"Yes, my son is out."

Xiao Ran: "......???"