Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

And that back and forth took several days. Add to that the wrangling between the government, nobles and factory owners, the disputes over interests, and so on. Even if everything went smoothly, it wouldn't be until next spring before all this was settled.

And next spring will be the time of Kazdel's large-scale war, a fact that any scholar with even a slight understanding of international relations can see.

Theresis has found every ally he can find. Summer's dumping of grain has turned the autumn grain harvest into a storm of disaster. The nobles of Kazdel are demanding to pay Lungmen dollars directly, while the locals have no way to transport grain to Lungmen for sale because the Satti Oasis has established a blockade to prevent grain smuggling.

Their only option was to send the grain to Syracuse and Victoria, but a strike broke out in Syracuse, preventing the grain from being transported out and causing it to pile up. This meant that the farmers would have no fuel, no food to survive the winter, and no chance of survival.

As a result, the nobles, who were now struggling to make ends meet, would exploit the people even more, forcing large numbers of them to migrate to the Yankees.

Even if they sealed off the border and hanged every illegal immigrant they caught, they could not stop the endless flow of people fleeing to the north.

These exiles were soon incorporated into the Yankees. The women were sent to textile mills and silk factories to make clothing for the expanding legions, while the men were categorized according to their occupation and skills. Those with labor skills and who were honest and reliable were thrown into factories.

Those who are cunning and have bad habits will be thrown into the farm's labor camp. It is believed that under the heavy physical labor and strict management, they will soon become qualified agricultural workers. If they are really incorrigible, they will have a place in the mine or ice quarry.

Farmers and herders who lack labor skills, are physically strong, and have a clean background will be enrolled in recruit camps and receive training.

If Patriot, as the army commander, hadn't stopped the unlimited expansion, every month, Xia's side would have gained an additional infantry division, which would have been terrifying even if the vast majority were riflemen.

Therese would absolutely not start the war this winter, because his troops had not yet completed their training.

Moreover, he saw these refugees as a huge threat to Lao Xia. He sealed off the border only because it was late autumn and the refugees still had some hidden grain that hadn't been completely plundered, while the Sati Oasis had just harvested its autumn crops and had plenty of food.

He intends to open the borders during the winter, allowing the refugees—who have no food or clothing and have become agitated and frantic due to hunger and long waits—to create a refugee crisis.

If the people who have gone before can still be reorganized, then by then, the refugees who have been starved to the point of losing their humanity will form a large-scale group of raiders.

Next came the moment of encirclement. Compared to the impoverished Theresis, the Satti Oasis, with its proximity and abundant food, was clearly the place they wanted to go.

So, will the other party accept it or not?

It's important to know that even plain water can be toxic if consumed in excess, and these people are currently the workforce.

Then there will be a massive flood. If the other party chooses to slaughter or refuse, then these angry people will become their enemies. If they accept, it will be a huge burden.

It's not just about supplies; it also involves issues with grassroots management and public security. This is a completely open conspiracy. Is the new Kazdel of Satie Oasis willing to abandon the greater good? No. Are they short-staffed? Yes.

They have abundant resources, but they are not unlimited. They have some jobs, but they are not unlimited. Moreover, are these refugees still "human" when they reach that point?

Can they still understand kindness and malice, and can they still be grateful and obey discipline again?

In other words, by that point, these "people" had become "beasts," and it would take considerable time, effort, and a large amount of grassroots manpower to tame these beasts back into human form.

This will undoubtedly slow down the enemy's war preparations and severely damage their production and material reserves.

When spring arrives the following year, when labor is needed for spring plowing, Theresis will launch an attack, forcing the enemy to choose between organizing production and organizing defense.

Since Xia Lin and his group have chosen to settle down, they shouldn't blame the other side for adopting a nomadic fighting style.

Not to mention that a short winter is simply not enough time to thoroughly screen and identify these refugees, and once they go to the front to fight, the security situation in the rear will deteriorate.

If, at this point, some instigation and incitement are added, the Satie Oasis will immediately fall into internal strife.

The only way is to reject these refugees and let them become a problem for Theresis, or for everyone. In that case, the cause of New Kazdel will be completely destroyed.

Moreover, in the spring, these people will become even more ferocious, turning into a frontal assault wave for Theresis.

In short, this is an open conspiracy with no other choice. All Lao Xia and his team can do is endure these people and then digest them, but this will take time, and Theresis is not prepared to give them that time.

Similarly, Lao Xia was not going to give Theresis any time. The trip to Syracuse was to ensure that Theresis would not be able to gather the resources and equipment to launch a full-scale attack in the spring.

Because they were all piled up at the docks in Syracuse, and no dockworkers were unloading them. As for the reason...

The people of Syracuse are fighting for their right to a minimum wage guarantee, who the hell cares what's going on in Kazdel, thousands of miles away?

If the war fails to break out in the spring, then in the summer, Theresis will be left in a predicament.

Because at that time, the summer grain harvest was complete, supplies were plentiful, the trained legions were almost fully armed, and the refugees, while not completely absorbed, had settled down and established grassroots management and security organizations—so they could concentrate their forces on the main battlefield.

Therese was not the kind of nobleman blinded by tradition. He knew perfectly well that the martial arts and combat skills that nobles were so proud of would eventually be eliminated in the face of machinery and steel. Even the rangers of Kazimierz knew this.

Therefore, in legionary warfare, especially after the Yankees popularized a type of firearm, martial arts became even more difficult. However… this also brought Theresis an unexpected ally.

In the royal tent of Theresis, the aroma of roasted meat permeates the air in this late autumn season, the last bountiful harvest of the year.

It's not that they have enough resources to do this, but rather that if they don't slaughter the livestock now for meat, they won't have enough fuel and fodder to feed so many animals in a month.

That would be a real waste. It's better to eat like crazy now and turn it into fat, which will give us a better chance of getting through the long winter. At least Lao Xia and his team can't dump meat products yet.

Therefore, regions primarily reliant on livestock farming were somewhat better off. However, farms in the plains of Kazdel in the south suffered massive bankruptcies.

Your flour, including processing fees, is more expensive than the flour from the Xia Group that comes across the valley. Even if you don't make a single penny, you still have no price advantage. Not to mention, the industrial cities in the central and southern regions have absolutely no interest in food self-sufficiency; they'd much rather have more cheap food to reduce labor costs.

Of course, this also means that workers have lower purchasing power, and even farmers who originally had some purchasing power have become people with no purchasing power.

Chapter Thirty-Five: An Old Horse in the Stable

Chapter 35

If an organization were to conduct a census of the entire population of Terra at this time, it would find that the number of households with low Engel coefficients and purchasing power has decreased by about 9% in six months, more than 11% less than last year, which is on a global scale.

If we only consider Kazdel and Lonmen, the figures are a staggering 57% and 36% respectively. In other words, more than half of Kazdel households will not have any spending power other than necessities such as food this year or even in the next year or two.

In monetary terms, the global consumer market has lost approximately 7000 billion Lungmen dollars this year, and it is rapidly evaporating at a rate of billions of dollars per day. The vast sums of money are concentrated in the hands of the nobility, who have not used it for luxury consumption but have instead hoarded it frugally.

Those in Kazdel facing war were relatively better off; they simply used their money to buy weapons, rations, armor, and clothing, which in turn boosted consumption.

However, for the manor nobles and bankers who were far removed from the war, the instinct to tighten credit, refrain from large investments, and frantically demand loans further exacerbated the situation, as they realized that a harsh winter was coming.

The consumption of these small groups of people who have concentrated their wealth is disproportionate to the speed at which they accumulate wealth.

Now, even the original luxury consumption is gone; they're hiding their money and hard currency as if they could reproduce.

Not only has there been a sharp drop in consumer spending, but there has also been deflation, which is not yet very noticeable. The amount of money in circulation has decreased, and people are choosing to save rather than spend.

The more people save, the more it means a decline in consumer spending. Factories can't afford to pay wages, so they are more eager to save to weather the storm.

If the plan is not to seize land from the wealthy and distribute it to the poor, or to prematurely hang all capitalists and factory owners, then the only solution is war. Just like the nobles of Kazdel, when faced with war, they have to take out the gold and silver from their cellars and pigsties and turn them into weapons, equipment, and clothing, thereby driving industrial production throughout society.

Similarly, soldiers who receive military pay are also a powerful consumer group because they don't know if they will have a tomorrow and are very willing to spend all their money while they are still alive.

At the same time, war will destroy excess productivity and population. As profits increase and labor shortages occur, factory owners will be willing to slightly increase wages, allowing wealth to flow in a positive cycle until the war and demographic dividend are exhausted, leading to the next stage of economic crisis.

Two visitors, completely cloaked, entered Theresis's royal tent. They talked from morning till night, and no one knows what they discussed. But they left soon after.

Next, Lateran announced sanctions against New Kazdel for allegedly stealing their gun technology secrets, and banned all Sarkaz from serving them on religious grounds.

This is indeed a very serious problem. Most Sarkaz are devout believers, even cheerful characters like Exusiai are actually very devout.

Most of them are also excellent mechanics and scientists, and many of them even possess quite advanced patented technologies.

This sanction didn't come early; in fact, according to Lao Xia, it should have been issued two years earlier. In those two years, he had been trying his best to avoid using Terra's local patented technology and to prevent Sarkaz from becoming the core managers of research and development or production.

The reason for the delay was that the original special investigator was inexplicably imprisoned in Lungmen for robbery, and Laterano argued about it for a long time without sending a second batch. Before they could even make a decision, the other side had already been equipped with a large number of firearms.

Laterano's sanctions were not unexpected. They weren't based on arrogance, but rather on a fundamental concern for national security. The Sarkaz's Originium Arts are generally not very advanced, their overall land area is small, and their population is limited by the size of their safe zones. In other words, their war potential is very limited.

They relied entirely on their superior firearms and technology to maintain their status as an independent theocratic state.

If Xia promotes technology diffusion and firearms become ubiquitous, the deterrent effect of the Papal Cavalry will be greatly reduced. Even if Xia's riflemen cannot defeat the Papal Cavalry, as long as the difference is not too great, Lateran will become a second Kazimierz, a battlefield of four wars.

Besides, Old Xia's rifle is indeed more powerful than their etched firearms, it just doesn't have the personal enhancement capabilities of Originium Arts. But, we can't look at it that way.

On one hand, it can be said that a powerful gun knight, with personal enhancement, can unleash the power of a small cannon. On the other hand, it can also be said that, apart from a very few powerful gun knights, the rest will all be blown up by Old Xia's assault rifle.

At worst, we can use the strategy of "Tian Ji's horse racing" – using inferior horses against superior horses, superior horses against middle horses, and middle horses against inferior horses – to hold off the Papal musketeers with cannon fodder, while the rest can basically slaughter the Sarkaz regular troops equipped with Guardian Guns.

Just like the Doctor did during the exercise, use a large number of heavy armored units to hold off Big Daddy and his elite shield guards, then use other elite troops to raid and cover his troops, and finally kill them all before concentrating firepower to take down Big Daddy.

Even Patriot admitted that on the battlefield, he would be worn down or surrounded and killed by the Doctor using this tactic, let alone the Pope's musketeers. This was even when Old Xia only had rifles and hadn't equipped the infantry squads with cannons—if they had been equipped with cannons, it would have been a different story.

Therefore, Lateran must sanction him and crack down on this new type of firearm, because it concerns their life and death and national security, and it is not a joke.

The Lateran's sacred mountain is free from natural disasters for some reason, which has long been coveted by nations like Sargon. They only gave up because they couldn't defeat the Lateran's insane ranged firepower, with each person carrying one or even several guns.

Imagine a high platform and low ground densely packed with Exusiai using her third skill. Even a slight scratch would instantly evaporate everyone's health, not to mention the Pope Gun Riders with their immense damage output.

Now that firearms have spread, if Laterano doesn't react, it really has to prepare for its demise—this is what's called a civil war in Kazdel, and as a result, Laterano died inexplicably.

Beyond just sanctions, Laterano also bleeds money, providing Theresis with a large number of firearms and etched bullets, and even larger weapons and equipment, similar to the Lungmen defensive cannons.

It is said to be able to penetrate approximately 1200-1500 mm of iron-containing steel plates, making it perfectly capable of eliminating the most troublesome armored units in New Kazdel.

If the Doctor saw this, he would definitely exclaim, "Wow!" The anti-asteroid laser cannon designed and produced by the Ark Project back then, which was then launched by Originium Mage guiding the energy of the engine. The person who came up with this idea must have been at least a master of technology, and maybe even a master of no technology.

Of course, this arms purchase was not disclosed. Therefore, the Satie Oasis was proceeding with its training, arming, and exercises in an orderly manner.

"Ta-da!" "It's done!" Nian handed over the small toy that had been forged. After concealing her identity, she found a job at a forging factory here under the code name "Nian". In her spare time, she also opened a small blacksmith shop and made small trinkets.

Her real name is not "Nian". Nian is a terrible monster that can be driven away with firecrackers. At the same time, Nian is also a unit of time, the beginning of a year in the Great Yan Dynasty, unlike "Xi".

She hopes that the people of Terra can have a "New Year" again, a fresh start, and new "firecrackers" in the flames and sounds of rocket launches, so that the name "Year" and her mission can simultaneously cease to exist.

"Xi" represents the end of the year and is also a terrifying monster. Her mission, or rather her job, is to soothe the crew and keep them sane at the end of their long voyage, dispelling the mental distortion caused by their prolonged hibernation.

At the same time, she is also the one who brings things to a close. If the Terrans really can't do anything, then the 6000 brains and the vision of their homeland that she "drew" will be the tombstone and epitaph of this civilization.

The helium flash would be mostly blocked by the planets, but the intensity of the penumbra would be enough to send the Ark flying like a ping-pong ball. It would then drift far away in the void, like a lonely tomb, until it is captured by a star or something else. It might just fly to the end of the universe until it is completely destroyed and becomes a real tomb.

"It's good that there's change. Whatever the change is, taking a step forward is a step forward—"

After finishing her private orders for the day, the white-haired girl moved a deck chair to the front of her blacksmith shop and lay down, lazily gazing at the sky and the distant dome.

The Terrans wouldn't recognize it, but she was familiar with it, though there might be some technical differences.

But it is clearly an alien ecological dome, which means that they are now really preparing to work in that direction.

"Master Nian, are you still doing business with us?"

"No, I'll rest this afternoon!" the white-haired girl said without hesitation. "I have to go to work at the forge tomorrow!"

Because of her knowledge of the Matrix, her skills in manipulating Originium constructs, and her mastery of the ancient forging techniques, she was already a master craftswoman in the forging factory. They wouldn't ask her to do anything that wasn't extremely difficult.

In her mind, or rather in the matrix, were all the materials science achievements and technological processes of the ancient people. This container was also specially designed for forging and casting. In her hands, the alien iron was almost like putty. Using the force field generated by Originium Arts, she could enhance her own side's defensive capabilities on the battlefield and also block the enemy.

Of course, its main purpose is to create a mold with a uniform pressure field; forging and casting are her specialties.

Of course, machining was a bit of a problem. On the one hand, there was no equipment she was familiar with, and on the other hand, it required hands-on operation, which she found quite clumsy.

"How could this happen!" Bagpipe complained. "I've asked several places, but none of them have time to fix this for me..."

"What?" Nian looked at the girl in front of him, who was carrying a Victorian standard cavalry rifle. "Oh, a Victorian weapon. They really don't have time to help you. All the factories are fully booked right now."

Even she was informed by her supervisor that she would have to work three shifts starting tomorrow. The supervisor felt bad that this master craftsman needed to do such high-intensity work, and even approved a special allowance for her.

They were afraid that this big shot might quit or get into trouble due to overwork, and then he might even hang himself on the spot.