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Won’t the middle class come and claim the money? Who can guarantee that the bakery owner won’t come and claim the money?”
They fell into deep thought. After a while, Domit suddenly realized, "Indeed, only the poor who have trouble even having three meals a day would ask for black bread that is harder than tree roots."
The adjutant was a little distressed: "Marshal, you know I was a farmer before I joined the First Army. I still hope that all farmers can eat white bread. Uh, is there no way to solve this problem?"
"Yes, but for the same reason, I can't spare the time."
After Zhang Mu finished speaking, he looked down and saw that his adjutant had thoughtfully prepared a pair of wooden chopsticks for him. The veterans of the First Army all knew that their marshal liked to use two round sticks to eat.
Zhang Mu picked up the wooden chopsticks cheerfully and said as he ate: "There are many questions, we have to deal with them one by one, with the most important ones first."
The adjutant asked curiously, "What is the most important thing for us now?"
"Kill the enemy."
"Uh... I don't think it's a goal that can be accomplished in a short time."
Zhang Mu laughed: "Trust me, it won't be too late."
Domit had no appetite at all and put his knife and fork next to the plate: "Marshal, should we put the ranger aside for now?"
"No." Zhang Mu ate the food on his plate in a few bites. "The premise for putting the problem aside is that the situation is under our control and will not cause unacceptable consequences or form an unsolvable dilemma."
"I don't understand." They said together.
"Don't worry, you will understand soon. Come, change into ordinary clothes and follow me to the street."
Chapter 384: Unify the surrounding areas first, then look to distant places
The streets of Kedun City are as prosperous as ever.
Street vendors are shouting hard to attract customers, bakery owners put up signs displaying the latest bread styles, and beauty-loving girls stop outside the windows of clothing stores to discuss with their companions the pros and cons of the clothes on the mannequins inside.
Zhang Mu put his hands behind his back, swayed past the girl, and said to the two people who were one step behind him: "Did you see those little girls?"
The two turned their heads and looked at the girls who were still standing in front of the window and talking at once: "I saw it."
"Although Lake is still in a truce period, the war is not far away. They don't seem to worry about being affected at all. Why? Are they sure that Lake will win?"
“Should…” Domit hesitated for a few seconds, “Not very realistic.
Not to mention the outcome of future wars, let’s just talk about the previous battle against the coalition forces. Except for the soldiers of the First Army, I guess no one thought we could win.
Even if we win, there will probably be many people who believe that we will still be defeated in the end. After all, our enemies are all kingdoms except our own. "
"Yes." Zhang Mu nodded in agreement, and then asked, "Why is that?"
"Uh, sorry Marshal, I don't know."
Zhang Mu was not embarrassed and said, "Because they have no idea what will happen to them after Lake is defeated, they naturally don't worry about the outcome of the war, and have never considered contributing to the war."
Domit knew the answer to the question, but he still didn't know why the question was asked.
Perhaps realizing that what he said was too profound, Zhang Mu explained directly: "As the administrator of the kingdom, many times we cannot force our people to understand everything.
Especially, it is nonsense that he never cares about the training of his people in normal times, but expects them to understand everything in critical times.
This principle also applies to the issue of rangers."
Zhang Mu stopped and turned to look at his adjutant: "You are right. After becoming a ranger, you oppress the poor people of the same class as you. Those people do not deserve sympathy.
Not to mention that this is a special situation and I can't spare the time to deal with it. Even if I have time, I won't waste my energy guiding them.
Like I said before, they are all poor people. Why can other poor people honestly cultivate the land and earn their living with the rewards from the kingdom, but they run away to do evil?"
"So we should follow the example of other cities and execute the rangers immediately after they are caught?"
Zhang Mu patted Domit's head and said, "Are you stupid? All I've said is in vain."
"Forehead……"
Sighing, Zhang Mu continued to move forward: "Don't worry too much about the rangers who join the dark side, it's easier to kill them with one blow. What we need to pay attention to are those who don't fall into depravity after becoming rangers, or those who don't fall too deeply.
They have people who can be saved, and we happen to be able to save them, so there is no reason not to save them."
"But you just said that we can't afford it now..."
"I also said that the premise for shelving the issue is that the situation is under our control."
The adjutant carefully took over the conversation: "Can you tell me more specifically?"
"Give them a chance. Those who choose to accept will be rescued. Those who are unwilling will be arrested and taken outside the city to be beheaded."
Domit thought of something and said excitedly, "We can imitate the land order to launch some relief plans, such as those who are willing to work seriously..."
"Silly, isn't it?
According to what you said, if they want something in the future, they will just make trouble first, and then give it to them after that. How can that be?”
After scolding Zhang Mu, he turned around and walked into a restaurant. After sitting down, he ordered a few dishes before continuing, "Do it with both hands at the same time.
Isn’t the second batch of factories in Kedun City about to be completed?
Allocate a few production lines to manufacture daily necessities, so that workers can be recruited from the public.
Well... when the time comes, you can calculate how much the local farmers earn in a year. The wages you offer will be slightly lower than the farmers' annual income.
On the other hand, we increased the intensity of our crackdown. As soon as we found rangers gathering, we immediately sent troops to disperse them, and we also deployed more patrol teams in the city.
This will last for a year, and those who are still Rangers after that will not be distinguished and will be dealt with violently. "
Domit asked, “Will there be any omissions?
For example, if there are not enough jobs, I can only continue to be a ranger? "
Zhang Mu was silent for a moment: "There is no perfect solution in the world."
The two were stunned for a moment, and after waking up, Domit's face was heavy: "I understand."
He did understand this truth. When he was in the resistance, wasn't he in the dark and desperate? Otherwise, why would he have traveled around and desperately searched for a chance to turn things around?
Who will care about them then?
Now someone is giving the Ranger a chance, he is lucky.
After quickly finishing the meal, Zhang Mu led the two back to the parliament building and began to arrange the counterattack.
First sort out the information collected.
It is reported that the Saints from the coalition countries have not appeared for a long time. If there are no other accidents, it can be confirmed that all the Saints have left and their whereabouts are unknown.
The royal families of various countries were facing their doomsday. Some of them fled with the royal treasury. The country was leaderless and in chaos. Among the rest, half of them prepared for war and gathered the morale of the army under the slogan "Lake is a heretic country, and the whole continent is its enemy". The other half was more bizarre and serious rebellion broke out in the country.
Unlike Novak, who openly rebelled but was actually loyal and arranged a way out for the royal family, they were officially usurping the throne and directly hanged any royal members they captured.
No one knows what's wrong with the legion commander and the city lord who are plotting rebellion. Even if they succeed, Lake will attack soon. What's the point of getting the throne?
Anyway, it's really a mess inside.
After confirming the news, Zhang Mu simply excluded these kingdoms from the first batch of attack targets.
The strategic goals of the counterattack were to eliminate surrounding threats and to train soldiers for combat. Neither of these could be effective for a kingdom embroiled in war.
So naturally, Zhang Mu turned his attention to the kingdom that was preparing for war.
After a little thought, Zhang Mu decided that the First Army would stay behind in this counterattack, the legion that participated in the defense of Lake would be stationed at the border as a backup, and the new legion composed of a large number of farmers would take the lead in the attack.
After the military order was issued, Domit, whose body had already rusted after resting for many days, immediately returned to the camp to carry out the preliminary resource allocation work.
In fact, Zhang Mu’s “world” can transport baggage, but it cannot be that Zhang Mu has to deliver it for all future battles. After all, the major legions must become familiar with conventional ways of warfare.
In this operation, Domit plans to use newly produced military trucks.
In addition to testing how effective the trucks are in actual warfare, the goal is also to get soldiers accustomed to the new tools.
As for truck drivers, Domit trained a group of them. Not too many, but enough to support a small-scale battle.
Military orders were sent out from Domit's tent, and the new recruits who were training around the city of Kedun immediately set out, crossing the eastern border one after another and marching quickly towards the coalition's position.
Zhang Mu watched from the command center, and when Domit was free, he asked if there were any empires from a distance rushing to attack Lake.
Domit shook his head.
To be honest, Zhang Mu felt very strange about this.
Everyone on the mainland knows that the gods have not appeared for ten thousand years. They suddenly appeared and pointed out that Lake was a heretic from the Ice and Snow Empire, the former first empire of the continent.
It stands to reason that even if the major empires did not send troops, there would be high-level professionals coming to watch the fun.
However, the reality was just the opposite. Except for the elves sending out a large army, the rest of the empire was unusually quiet, as if nothing had ever happened.
Zhang Mu stretched out his arms on the recliner. "This is really new. I thought that when the oracle came, all the kingdoms and empires on the continent would send troops to besiege us. But, let alone those far away, the ones nearby are half fighting us and half watching the show. What's going on?"
"Watching a show? Lagu?" Domit turned his head and asked while looking up at the map hanging on the wall.
"Who else could it be?"
Domit scratched his face and said, "It's strange. I thought the coalition was organized by Lagu. After all, they have a thousand-year-old grudge against Lake."
"Right? The two countries' dog brains were all beaten out at that time."
“I really can’t figure it out.”
"Then forget it." Zhang Mu stood up from the recliner, walked to Domit's side, looked up at the map, "How is the battle going?"
“The vanguard troops exchanged fire with the enemy several times.
Because our main force was composed of new legions and the soldiers had only received basic military training, and the opponent had the advantage of a large number of low-professional soldiers, we did not gain any advantage.
The good news is that the morale of the new recruits is quite good and desertion is rare.”
Domit had not only been to the battlefield, but also fought on the front lines many times. He knew very well how the will of the Blood and Fire Team recruits was destroyed, so the performance of the vanguard at this time had reached his ideal state.
Zhang Mu put his hands on his waist and said, "No, it's too slow. We need to speed up."
"Of course you can, but..." Domit hesitated for a few seconds and emphasized, "The casualties will definitely increase."
"Time." Zhang Mu knocked on the wall across the map. "We are very short on time."
Domit didn't understand why he was so nervous. It was obvious that no one paid attention to Lake except the coalition forces. But since it was the order of the marshal, he had to obey.
The military order urging the advance was delivered to the front line, and the originally lukewarm battle situation immediately became intense.
Inspired by the system of military merit and nobility, the Lake Legion was in high spirits and broke through the defenses of several small kingdoms in succession, capturing members of the royal family alive.
The results were fruitful, but the price was naturally heavy.