Giant Tooth thinks that it is still too inconvenient to carry such a way as to change from a 'small sapling' to an 'armor', so why can't the current 'sphere' be kept in the middle as a transit?

To this, the witch doctor shook his head and replied,

"Tsk... Don't you think I know? But how can it be so easy to achieve.... It is now in a degraded semi-dormant state, and if it is to move from its armor and sapling form to its current state, it must abandon most of the growth components except for the 'nucleus'....."

"That is?"

"That is, it will abandon all the additional layers of armor, as well as the functional totems that are almost entirely laid on the carrier of these layers of armor, to be more precise.... It's probably equivalent to letting you return to the state of a fertilized egg and be reborn.... Understand? ”

"Got it.... You need to grow time, grow resources, and re-depict the Combat Support Totem, right? ”

"That's right, that's it..... So after you have assimilated it and turned it into an armor form for the first time, you still have to use it to carve a functional totem in order to obtain a complete activated armor. ”

"In the future, when the armor suffers a small wound, it can be restored by the nutrients you provide in the state of the armor stomach; When wounded, it can also self-heal in the state of small saplings; But after being hit hard, it had to go back to a semi-dormant state and re-cultivate. ”

"Also, if you want to change the appearance of its armor form..... It is also necessary to start from such a semi-dormant state. ”

"I see...."

"Okay, then you can go back and 'tame' the new implant first, and then 'tame' the armor core.... If you succeed in both of these steps, it will not only be a qualitative change in the armor, but also a change in the way the 'gun' is equipped. ”

Hearing this, Jufang nodded thoughtfully, and naturally thought of the 'Raider 1' 30mm rapid-fire assault gun and the 'Air Raider 1' 60mm high-level dual-purpose rapid-fire gun;

If the two can be equipped in this way, and form a combination with external armor and self-implants, it will undoubtedly be a huge tactical advance.

And if as the practice continues, the carrying capacity of the warrior is increased again.... For example, the speed of energy conversion, the speed of nerve reaction, etc., it is impossible to say that it can also become a loading platform for large-caliber weapons like the ancient tree of war.

Thinking of these possibilities, Giant Fang suddenly felt a 'mission' fall on his shoulders.....

As the most powerful and purest fighter at the present stage, his progress is not only 'self-growth', but also laying the foundation for the future of thousands of soldiers of the Republic and the development of military weapons.

So, he nodded solemnly and replied firmly,

"Greattooth will do his best."

"Haha! Okay, then go for it... Remember to come over once every three days to check and replenish the nutrients of the implant. ”

"Understood."

While Giant Tooth was participating in this experiment, many affairs had also developed to a stage....

~~~~~~

In the north, the troops heading to the plateau for training have already begun their way back.

The exercise took the 'Outer North City' as the general logistics and command base and the city-states on the plateau as the route points, and carried out a two-month march and attack exercise.

Among the participating troops, there were nearly 100 'Bombarder 1' heavy guns, 160 ancient war trees, more than 300 'Armor Breaker 1' self-propelled combat vehicles, 1,000 logistics moose, and 1,500 infantry and cavalry soldiers equipped with 'assault guns'.

The tremendous momentum and power of the attack where it passed through made the ruling government's plan for the city-states of the plateau be carried out in the voice of 'Nuo', which its high-level leaders did not dare to be angry or speak.

But on the back side of the advantages such as firepower, the problems presented by the new equipment must not be ignored.

First of all, the cross-country performance of heavy artillery is too poor, and its combat radius is greatly limited by traffic conditions, and the firing range of tens of kilometers is indeed very long, but it still seems a drop in the bucket in the face of the long transportation routes brought by the huge area;

As far as this exercise is concerned, after the heavy artillery was transported all the way from the headquarters to the outer northern city by rail, in the face of the relatively backward traffic conditions on the plateau, they did not keep up with the footsteps of the large army in the early stage, and they were even directly transported back to the main base in the middle and later stages.

From this, it can be concluded that unless the Northland tribes kindly lay the track for the Republic in advance, the scope of application of land-based heavy artillery will be very limited for a long time.

Provided, of course, that there is no breakthrough in the technology of cross-country carrier power in the republic ....

Secondly, although the ancient trees of war and self-propelled combat vehicles have strong cross-country ability, their speed and endurance are hard and seriously delay the overall marching speed of the troops.

Again....

The emergence of reactor weapons, the successive application of individual knapsack magazines and ammunition supply chains, plus the means of rapid reloading of shells on combat vehicles...

All these changes have made the effective combat distance more than several times longer, and long-range firepower projection has become the main mode of warfare in the imaginary future 'overnight', and the short- and medium-range combat that once relied on survival has become a supplement.

This method of warfare not only increases the lethal efficiency, but also makes 'supply' the 'life and death line' for the maintenance of the combat strength of the troops.

As a result, the 'supply problem' has become one of the biggest dilemmas faced by this exercise.

Whether it's because of the incidental 'deterrence mission' or the purpose of the exercise itself, the training army will conduct a large-scale live-fire simulated battle in almost every city-state;

Such a 'simulation' not only contributed to the aforementioned 'political reform', but also naturally created a huge demand for logistics and supplies.

Fortunately in the early days, those city-states were not far from the outer northern city, and the moose could complete the logistics task relatively easily with a cart of supplies;

But in the medium term, as the army moves farther and farther away from the logistics base, maintaining logistics becomes quite difficult.

For the time being, such difficulties can only be relied on 'road construction' and 'construction of logistics supply transit bases' to 'cure the symptoms', but at the level of 'curing the root causes', everyone is at a loss.

Compared with the simpler 'sword, shield and spear period' in the past, this situation made the command cry out for extreme trouble, but they didn't want to take the initiative to give up such a bullish way of fighting and return to the previous frugality....

Finally, there is the issue of establishment arrangements and coordination of the arms;

Technological innovation has brought about the replacement of weapons, and the replacement of weapons has led to the need for innovation in tactics and formations, but the new establishment and new tactics have been inconclusive for a long time because of the uncertainty of the future.

Technologies such as 'engineering vehicle engines' and 'extracorporeal armor' are being developed to confuse the brains of commanders and tacticians.

Information such as the 'Northland Flying Arms' has also brought new issues to the organization and distribution of weapons.

The improvement of intelligence capabilities and the rapid development of technology have not only brought vitality, but also put the entire military in a state of excitement and instability.

Intelligence has promoted the demand for weapons, technology has realized the demand for weapons, and new weapons have brought about new needs in terms of tactics and preparation;

The five troll squads of the past and present have become anachronistic;

In the past, the foot-riding coordination has also been too backward.

Under the new situation, how to form an effective coordination among the many 'firepowers' with different ranges, different powers, and different target selections, and what kind of organization can efficiently and stably achieve such coordination have become problems that need to be solved urgently.

While considering the 'uncertainty' at the technical level in the future, the military department implemented a plan that was more similar to the plan for the transition period, using the combination of 'single-arm squadrons' to form a 'multi-service brigade'.

At present, the exercise has entered the end, and many mixed brigades have made a large circle in the cultivated fields, in the natural meadow area, in the highland swamp area, and even in the mountains;

After leaving behind the panicked city-states, they returned southwest from the east of the plateau, preparing to return to the outer northern city of the original starting point, and then end the exercise.

~~~~~

With the expansion of the scale of information in the Republic's possession, the information on the Northland races, especially those powerful races, has become quite abundant.

Among them, as one of the most powerful races, the Laiyin race is naturally the direction of intelligence that needs to be prioritized.

The collection of its intelligence can be roughly divided into three stages;

First, the first oral description of the migratory horn-hoofed species;

Second, in the early stage of the intelligence department's northward departure, it was indirectly learned from the interrogation of the prisoners of the rest of the tribes in the 'Central Continental Region';

Third, send intelligence agents deep into the territory of the Yin Seed and personally collect them from the hinterland area.

In this step-by-step process of collecting, the headquarters gradually understood the social forms and production methods they showed to the outside world;

And preliminarily grasped the sphere of influence of the Laiyin species, the status of the slaves and vassal races under his command, the intelligence of powerful troops, and so on.

Laiyin is a united chiefdom located in the western part of the continent, and its internal political form is the 'clan alliance' system, which can be further divided into three classes: small clans, large clans, and clan alliance headquarters.

Among them, the headquarters of the alliance is located in the most powerful clan transition regions, and its leader is called the 'Great Chief';

The Great Chief usually rules one or two powerful clans, while the rest of the Great Clans are ruled by his brothers, or allies.

The members of the Coalition are all males, and together they form the Council of Chiefs of the Alliance, which collectively agrees on the affairs of the race as a whole.

In addition, the Grand Chief and his allies ruled over the race and over their respective direct clans for a period of thirty years, and the last three years of their reign were the 'Great Chief and Chieftain's Council Challenge Period' for the entire Lai Yin population;

Traditionally, a challenger group with one or more members and less than twice the total number of members of the current Council of Chiefs is decided during the challenge period, and the current Grand Chief is obliged to lead his or her own Council members to the challenge.

This battle takes place at the end of the last year of the term, and the victors will become new Grand Chiefs, council members, and there will be no term limit for as long as they continue to win;

Under a rule called the 'Sacred Clause', the loser will not pay with his life, but must serve the winning side for ten years.

Because of this ruling tradition, the ruling power of the 'big clan' within the Laiyin species is basically directly in the hands of the current great chiefs and their allies, ensuring their right to speak and enjoy resources during the reign.

There are 14 'big clans', each with 50,000-70,000 clans under their direct jurisdiction, usually with one main city and several sub-cities depending on demand.

In addition to the 'big clans', there are many small clans like a sea of stars, which have their own fixed territories and control many vassal and slave tribes;

They do not have a strict affiliation with their own source clans, and they only have war obligations and a very small proportion of tax and tribute obligations for the Great Chieftain and the Council of Chiefs.

The chiefs of the minor clans are challenged by alien males, and also have 10 years of rule over the term of the Grand Chief, and the chiefs are obliged to accept at least three challenges less than twice the size of their own alliance in the last year of their reign.

If you win, you will continue to rule, and if you lose, you will lose the right to rule the territory and serve the victor for 3 years.

The strong male can concurrently serve as the chief of three neighboring small clans at the same time, and exchange his combat power and fertility for the resources of the female of the clan;

Clan females, in addition to 'feeding', will oversee the current chieftain accepting the tradition during the challenge period, and will mob them when they escape.

An ordinary small clan of the Lai Yin species, usually with thousands of city-state citizens, all living in the city;

Its vassal and slave tribes live in the suburbs and provide food, clothing, and other supplies to the clan hosts in the city-state.

Racial traditions stipulate that no vassal relationship can be established between clans of the Lai Yin clan, and that all the Lai Yin clans can only oppress foreign clans, and this tradition has a certain transcendent level of binding force, just like the rules of the 'Great Chief Challenge' and 'Chief Challenge'.

In addition, whether it is a large clan or a small clan, the citizens of the living species will be divided into three categories: 'core citizens', 'high citizens', and 'citizens';

The females of the 'core citizens' are the ruling group of the clan and have direct jurisdiction over the estates of the territory;

The males, although they will be driven out of their clan when they reach adulthood, have the owners to form alliances to challenge the natural power of the 'Great Chiefs' and 'Chiefs'.

According to early and mid-stage intelligence, the sign of core citizens and high citizens seems to be that they have their own mounts, and will divide their citizenship ranks according to their physical strength and mount strength;

In other words, in the eyes of the outside world, these two levels of citizens have circulation, and even ordinary citizens seem to have the possibility of becoming core citizens, but the process is like seeing flowers in a fog that cannot be seen clearly.

The core and high-ranking citizens and their mounts together form the 'air cavalry' and 'ground cavalry' of the Laiyin species, which are the most powerful combat forces of each clan, and have a strong deterrent power in the entire northern land.

'Cavalry', as the name suggests, is a class of troops that fight on horseback, and its prefixes 'air' and 'ground' mark their combat area.

The mount of the 'Air Cavalry' is called the 'Griffin' in the Laiyin language, and is a winged amphibious beast;

The mount of the 'Earth Cavalry' is a ground specialized type of the former, and it is a 'Earth Lion' that has a larger size than the 'Griffin', but cannot fly.

It is said that these two creatures are closely related to the Lyin species, have been fighting side by side since ancient times, and there is no precedent for them to be tamed by other races to this day.

According to the compilation of the information of the various races, the relationship between the mount and the cavalry has become so intimate that it is incomprehensible to the foreign race, and even has a similar status as a citizen in the society of the Lai species.

Ordinary 'citizens', on the other hand, have no mounts, and they are all soldiers, forming the main fighting legions of each clan, and are an important force to deter the vassal and slave races in the territory.

In addition, the slave and vassal races under the clan are also obliged to contribute to the war, and are usually used as cannon fodder to fill in the line.

These vassal tribes will also be divided into three, six, nine, etc. according to their obedience and combat effectiveness, and bear their own different production and combat indicators;

The lowest vassals are usually required to provide 80% of the harvest of grain and livestock, and the highest can replace part of the supply with blood taxes.

Most of the above information was confirmed during later field visits, but after all, it was indirect information, so some of it was later proved to be inaccurate.

In particular, in many aspects of the division of third-class citizens, the status of mounts, and the distribution of power within the clan, more interesting things were found in the later intelligence gathering.

】

~~~~~~

Time: a certain year and a certain month;

Location: Northland, a district under the jurisdiction of the western Inner Emirate.

Malvinates, having just taken her captive and shook off her pursuers, returned to one of the underground bunkers she had arranged.

She is an intelligence officer in the Western Intelligence Division, and has been responsible for gathering intelligence on this area for nearly three years.

Four days earlier, the first capture of the land had been carried out during the mission;

Malvina understood what 'mother-in-law' and 'mother-in-law' meant in the language of Laiyin, and in this intelligence gathering that had been going on for several years, she gradually understood the definition of relationships such as 'parents and children';

Although she was very unimpressed and felt that it was a useless relationship, this did not prevent her from confirming the value of the target she had captured, based on the paraphrased title that was extended from it.

This is a core citizen who has just come of age, and the Earth Lion mount he killed four days ago also illustrates this.

The underground bunkers are covered in dust, and don't seem to be used very often;

Several snorkels meander from different positions hundreds of meters apart and grow into trees, providing nutrients for the bunker itself and covering its own 'aeration' effect.

The interior of the underground is not large, but it preserves important food and water supplies;

Food, usually shelf-stable, dehydrated bread, the kind that can knock out some of the weaker races with a stick;

Water, on the other hand, is a little bit of root precipitation from the ground, but due to design problems, it has become stagnant.

In addition, all that was left in the bunker was a table and chair, a bed, and a cell, the former two for the intelligence officers to write and rest, and the latter as the name suggests.

This kind of bunker arrangement is the 'standard' of the Intelligence Department in the entire Northland at this stage, and because it is a product of totem technology before the innovation, it does not have any 'functionality' brought by totems.

But even so, it took the Ministry of Intelligence more than ten years to spread out the intelligence fulcrum in various regions of the Northlands, whether it is the front-line intelligence officers or the liaison officers in the no-man's land, they live in such places.

And now, Malvina had arrived in the bunker with her captive.

She locked the captives in their cells, then lit dim oil lamps, filled a bowl of water from the cistern and began to eat;

After several days of escaping and assassination, and using totems countless times during this period, Malvina is now in urgent need of replenishing her physical consumption.

The bread in her hand was particularly astringent, but she still dipped it in raw water and began to gnaw it raw....

'Kacha', 'Kacha'.....

"The water is a bit stinky.. Forget it, you can't drink it anyway, so let's change it after avoiding this while....."

Nibbling on the cold bread, Malvina muttered.

"Phew.... Where am I.... You.. Who are you? Why are you arresting me? ”

At this moment, a muffled voice came from behind, and Malvina looked back in surprise, just in time to see the captive who had spit out his mouth.

"I'm awake..."

Malvina was the third group of informants to be dispatched, and by her time, the Republic had mastered a large number of Northland languages through the first two batches of exploration, and included them in the 'compulsory' curriculum of the education system.

Since then, every student of the Central School has had to choose at least one of the languages of the dominant race and two additional languages of the weaker race if they want to graduate.

Old-school trolls also have learning opportunities, and every 'prime-age amateur school' has a 'foreign language interest class' for those who can't stay idle and want to be an intelligence agent.

Marvina is a new generation of soldiers, she signed up for the ruling government's 'Intelligence Commissioner Training Program' when she was in the middle grade, passed the relevant qualification assessment, entered the 'Commission Training List', and has since received education with a certain professional bias;

And when she reached the senior year, she naturally chose the 'intelligence major' to receive more detailed special training.

For students like her, the 'commission training program' has a higher application standard for 'foreign language' than ordinary graduates, and Malvina's 'compulsory foreign language' is 'Laiyin'.

As a result, she can now understand and open her mouth to communicate with this 'backup mother' without any obstacles....

Malvina put down her food, stood up, and took five steps forward with her chair to the corner cell.

The dim oil lamp in the room rendered his face very terrifying, coupled with his exaggerated height and strong and somewhat 'deformed' figure, all brought heavy pressure to the 'nobles' in the cell.

"Ah!! You monster! Let go of me! Mother and sisters won't let you go! ”

Malvina ignored the female's screams, and simply lowered her chair and faced the cell.