Why would I join the army if I can’t drive a Gundam!

Chapter 37 Accident!

"But blaming the Federation still won't improve the situation!"

Dalcia felt exhausted. The food reserves in the national treasury were not even enough for two months of consumption, let alone meat, eggs and milk. The rationing of non-staple food had been started a few years ago, and an additional tax on non-staple food was also levied.

As for the tax increase that Gihren mentioned, it’s not that it cannot be increased, but the Tax Department has run out of ideas of what other taxes can be increased. Now ordinary residents of Zeon have to pay air tax just for breathing air. Are they going to collect toilet tax and sleeping tax?
"If we can't change the status quo, isn't that still the Federation's fault? It's the Federation that's sanctioning us, preventing us from getting what we want. The people should be angry!"

"As for the people's food and clothing problem..."

At this moment, Kihlen wishes all the people under his command could evolve from humans into plants that only need photosynthesis, so that he can use the money saved to build warships.

"Stop allocating funds to Zeonic!"

Zeonic is the largest military-industrial enterprise in the Principality of Zeon. It is currently stepping up the production of the mobile suit MS-06 Zaku for the Zeon Defense Force. In the current economic downturn of Zeon, only these military-industrial enterprises are still thriving and growing stronger. Other enterprises are either closing down or going bankrupt, but they are the only ones who are constantly recruiting people.

It can be said that almost all of Zeon's financial revenue in recent years has flowed into a number of military-industrial enterprises headed by Zeonic. Now that the food crisis is imminent, the military industry can only suffer.

"This way, we can buy ourselves another six months!"

"Well, that's enough, Prime Minister Dalcia. Since the people of Zeon are suffering so much, I think the Federation delegation staying here shouldn't have it too easy either. What do you think?"

"I understand. I'll arrange it immediately. But to what extent?"

"Don't worry about this. The more intense the fight, the better!"

"But the Federation Army won't sit idly by. The Guardian Banchi will definitely send out personnel to suppress it!"

"Then let them suppress it. Remember, the Zeon government is being bullied by the Federation Army because of its outdated military equipment. Do you understand?"

"Understood, my Führer!"

Dalcia sighed helplessly in his heart, and then chose to say goodbye. As for the documents he sent, perhaps Gihren would remember to take a look at them one afternoon when he had a good meal and a drink, but it would just be a look. The citizens of Zeon were also his pawns, just like himself.

Thinking of this, Dalcia thought of the nominal leader of the principality, Prince Dekin. Like himself, his power had been stripped away by Kilian. Perhaps, it would be a good idea to have a chat with him?

Of course, the Prime Minister had no intention of rebelling against Kihlen. The Führer's Guard also took over the defense of these officials. Even their drivers and secretaries were appointed by Kihlen. He approached Dekin just to get more support in terms of people's livelihood, or even to think of other ways.

However, before that, he had to find a way to give the Federal Army something to do, or to be more precise, the Federal Army delegation in Zim City.

The next day at three o'clock in the afternoon.

In the spaceport of the Zeon colony satellite No. 7, a mining ship bound for the asteroid belt was waiting for the port's departure order as usual.

Because the spaceport's exit is closed, the channel is extremely narrow, typically only allowing one ship to pass through. When leaving the port, the ship will slowly leave the port, guided by two laser indicators. The process for entering the port is the same, but in reverse.

Just as the ship was about to leave the port, a Salamis-class cruiser of the Federation Space Forces with emergency lights flashing suddenly flew out from the dark universe in the distance.

According to normal procedures, in such situations, civilian ships must avoid military ships.

Federal ships were also constantly sending light signals and public channel broadcasts, asking all ships to give way.

However, the Zeon mining ship stuck at the entrance of the waterway refused to give way and even slowed down its departure from the port at this critical juncture.

Therefore, the dispatcher of the spaceport hurriedly sent warnings to both sides, warning the federal army to slow down and asking the mining ship to speed up. Because the waterway was extremely narrow, once an accident occurred between the two ships, the transportation of this port would be paralyzed.

But the dispatcher's efforts failed. He thought the federal army would slow down and the mining ship would speed up, while the federal army thought the mining ship would give way. However, the opposite happened. The mining ship, like a slow old ox, watched the Salamis-class cruiser rushing towards the channel at full speed.

"Slow down and climb!"

Seeing that the two ships were about to collide, the captain of the federal warship hurriedly ordered the warship to change its posture to avoid the impact. The mining ship also seemed to react at this moment and began to descend its altitude in an attempt to avoid it.

But it was too late, and the two ships inevitably collided.

"No!"

The dispatcher was in the channel dispatch room at the moment, separated from the space by only a layer of glass. He watched helplessly as the belly of the Salamis-class cruiser was severely rubbed by the mining ship, and then a huge wound was cut open.

There were flames, explosions, and human body fragments spurting out from the wounds. Then, these fragments began to spread everywhere, smashing hard into every corner of the spaceport channel.

As for the Salamis cruiser, its tail engine malfunctioned in the collision and lost thrust, but the auxiliary engine on the side of the battleship used to adjust its posture was still operating at full power. As a result, in the narrow channel, Salamis collided directly with the channel with its left side hull.

This led to an even more tragic situation. The deck of the port was cracked and collapsed by the impact of the warship, and the dispatching center located at this location was the first to be hit.

The entire dispatch room disappeared in the violent collision, leaving only wires flashing with sparks and large pieces of twisted steel.

As for the Salamis, after the collision, the warship slid along the deck of the port for several thousand meters before it came to a stop, but the warship had undergone drastic deformation, like a rag that had been squeezed dry.

Although the surviving federal soldiers on the battleship performed emergency damage control after the collision, the severely damaged battleship eventually exploded due to fuel leakage.

On the night of the accident, tens of thousands of people held an organized and disciplined demonstration outside the federal army delegation's residence.

At this time, the delegation had just learned about the accident from a third party.

(End of this chapter)