Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

The so-called good people are those who should have guns pointed at them. If Lao Shi had acted as unruly as Shuofang Town, he wouldn't have been sent to fill in the gaps.

"Where did Kazdel get so much money?" When the Emperor first received the reform suggestions from Old Chen, he wondered if Old Wei was subtly criticizing him. He was only slightly relieved when he realized it referred to Kazdel's military system. Then his new question was:

Where did these Sarkaz get so much money? They couldn't have stolen it, could they?

The Great Flame people never discriminate against any race in Terra, whether it's the Sarkaz or the birdmen of the Sarkaz; in their eyes, they are all the same—don't misunderstand, they're not targeting anyone in particular, they just think everyone here is trash!

There is no inherent value difference between different types of trash, thanks to this wonderfully simple and egalitarian way of thinking.

Therefore, when the Emperor of Great Yan was looking at the military policies and army system of the Sarkaz, he did not show the same contempt as the Victorian nobles, but instead studied it seriously.

The research hadn't yielded results, but it did raise entirely new questions: "These Sarkaz people certainly know how to make money. It's a pity we don't know what secret method they use." The emperor sighed regretfully.

Every soldier in Kazdel is a pure, full-time professional warrior who trains very diligently and frequently conducts military exercises. Weapons made of real gold and silver are consumed in these exercises—it's incredibly extravagant!

As for the food standard for individual soldiers, it left the emperor speechless. How much money could they possibly afford to eat like that?

I did a quick calculation out of habit and found that each Kazdel soldier's daily food rations, converted to commodity prices, amounted to almost 4 LMD (in reality, the cost was only 1/8 of the LMD, as agricultural products from Lao Xia were cheap). Over the course of a year, without extra meals or combat canteen subsidies, that's 1400 LMD gone.

Excluding the extra expenses for officers, the daily food expenses for a legion of 10,000 soldiers alone amount to 14 million Lungmen dollars per year. If we take into account the current military strength of the Great Yan Dynasty, the annual food expenses are 28 billion.

The emperor nearly fainted on the spot. The annual military expenditure was enough to feed the people for three years, but what about the soldiers and armor?

What about military pay? What about rewards for victories? What about holiday and daily allowances? Even if Kazdel doesn't have a king, these actions still exist under a different name. After all, soldiers are human beings, not machines that can be operated simply by adding fuel to their power.

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Mysterious Cube

Chapter 35

The Leitanian soldiers and generals no longer wanted to fight in this quagmire.

However, Letanian politicians still demanded that they hold onto their current territory and refused to negotiate peace with Kazdel.

This is not merely a matter of saving face; there are very practical reasons behind it. If it were simply a matter of being soundly defeated in conventional warfare, then Letania might choose to negotiate peace or temporarily ceasefire.

However, if attacked by a man-made natural disaster, they will not retreat until they are certain that they have the ability to retaliate or restrain others.

The reason is the same as when the other side uses nuclear weapons, the best way is to rush up and fight them.

Although they didn't know what kind of witchcraft those demons used, they were certain of one thing: the other side couldn't have created such an effect out of thin air.

No matter what kind of witchcraft those demons use, it all requires a medium and a process, and is subject to the basic laws of reality. It's impossible for them to destroy the capital of Letania out of thin air from thousands of miles away. So if the front line retreats, Kazdel can directly launch such weapons or witchcraft into Letania.

Conversely, if the current controlled area is maintained, then Kazdel can only use Scourge weapons on its own land. Fighting on someone else's land is always better than fighting on your own home, isn't it?

"When will this wretched life end!" Light snow had begun to fall from the sky. Far away on the battlefield of the Great Yan, poisonous fire raged, scorching people so much that they were drenched in sweat, as if they were in a sea of ​​fire, with poisonous smoke and flames burning sea monsters everywhere.

On Kazdel's side, however, the cold was bone-chilling. It seemed their enemies were in no hurry to advance; they simply camped at a distance, watching and waiting, letting the bitter cold completely bury the Letanians on this land.

However, the logistics of the Letanians who retreated to the vicinity of their starting point were not as dire as they had been at the beginning. Compared to the real "Winter General" on the Ursus side, they at least had enough fuel, thick coats, a meager amount of food, and relatively warm and sturdy bunkers and mobile supply depots.

However, compared to the real barbarians on the Ursus side, the Sarkaz on the other side were more like a well-trained, modern army, as evidenced by their field kitchen.

To be fair, Letania's logistics weren't bad. While they weren't as good as Colombia's, they were a completely different story compared to the livestock that ate mud cakes in Ursus.

They have field kitchens that provide meals, including those who are infected, which is not a privilege.

It was simply a matter of providing meals in a unified manner to save costs, but the food that this field kitchen could provide was still very limited.

The better food was definitely taken by officers and main force troops, and the rest went to ordinary soldiers. As for the infected, they ate whatever was left in the kitchen. But no matter what, it was much better than the mud cakes of Ursus.

But it's still much worse than the Sarkaz's field rations. "What good food are they having today?"

An infected soldier crawled in from outside the trench, jumped into the ditch, and looked like he'd seen a ghost. "This is really something, they're eating fruitcake today."

"Huh?" Not only did the infected soldiers gather around, but even the ordinary soldiers who were supposed to be supervising the battle perked up their ears. "What are they eating? Fruitcake? Here?"

If you stretch out your hand, fine snowflakes will fall. In this weather, there's no way you can get any fruit, let alone cake…

"Are they celebrating some holiday or a victory?" This reason is plausible. After all, on Earth, even the poor imperialist Japan can use this excuse to distribute small cakes and cookies and pretend that they have won a battle. Here, the other side has really won a battle, so it is normal to celebrate.

"Uh, I don't know, but it shouldn't be a celebration." After all, the Sarkaz people all had hesitant expressions on their faces, and didn't seem that happy.

"Aren't you happy about eating fruit cake?"

"Wait, are they about to attack? Is this their last meal before they're executed?"

This immediately put everyone on edge. Although a few of them would occasionally climb over to join forces, the other side usually wouldn't say anything. But when a fight broke out, those Sarkaz were incredibly ferocious.

Meanwhile, back in Kazdel, "The fruit is very good, but this..."

Theoretically it's a fruit cake, it looks like a fruit cake, and it tastes like a fruit cake, but apart from the fruit possibly being real, there's neither egg nor cake.

The new product made by Sati Military Supplies Pastry Factory is a foamed cake made from protein extracted from scraps produced by the pea shoot and rock crab farm, insect powder produced from mountain insect farming, unused industrial edible starch, and sugar powder from the sugar factory. It is made by adding canned fruit and mass-producing it directly in the field kitchen.

If the soldiers hadn't seen what it was made of, they would have eaten it as if it were a delicacy. However, in order to reduce logistical pressure, the new mobile field kitchens were set up directly at the front line. They watched as the cooks poured the pile of stuff with strange writing on it into automated equipment and then baked large quantities of "cakes".

While it may indeed meet food-grade standards in terms of health, the psychological discomfort is another matter, just like those "mystery meats" such as eating rock crabs and rock crab meat products.

Both its green color and its strange, fleshy texture are hard to accept.

However, the Leitanians who came to join the meal generally didn't have this problem. It wasn't that they weren't disgusted, but rather that they were illiterate and couldn't understand the writing on the ingredient barrels. Just from the appearance, they thought it was egg powder (insect powder), whole wheat flour (animal protein), and refined flour (industrial edible starch).

Industrial edible starch is the most normal type. The leftover portion from pharmaceutical companies is indeed edible, but it's unclear what kind of processing it undergoes, as it tastes slightly bitter, which forces cooks to add a lot of insect powder for flavoring.

So, what kind of insects are in this insect powder?

The answer is: earthworms and cockroaches. If the Sarkaz people hadn't generally been out of the famine for several years, they would have vomited at the mere mention of these things.

"Just make do with what we have. We're quite far from the supply line now, so we should be grateful that we can even have cake. Look at what they're eating over there."

The destroyed towns and stations along the way have not yet been repaired, and logistics are indeed struggling to keep up. We can only try to meet the needs of the front lines.

Therefore, the food these days has been made from mystery meat and mystery powder, because these are the only two that are quick to raise.

Especially the mysterious powder—the insect-raising area wasn't very big—so the soldiers saw what that "mysterious starch" was made of.

"Just bear with it a little longer. In a few days, the aviation mages' airport will be moved here, and there will be land transport ships accompanying them. The food should be able to improve a bit."

The aircraft canteen did indeed seem much better than the infantry rations. However, the idea of ​​improving the food ultimately failed.

Following the mysterious powder, the soldiers at the front lines received an even more mysterious food: a vacuum-packed, cube-shaped dried solid.

It is said to have been invented by Dr. Kal'tsit of Rhodes Island, who successfully achieved compression and drying while preserving the nutritional value of food.

Moreover, it retains about 80% of the food's flavor, which makes the actual eating of this mysterious cube even more terrifying. The dry, hard texture and the eerie, mostly original flavor that it retains crumbles in your mouth, as if you are eating a piece of flavorful sandstone.

If it's cooked into a paste, its bizarre shape and smell, along with its vomit-like texture, make it require considerable courage and willpower for anyone who wants to eat it.

Compared to the Mystery Powder and Mystery Meat, which are just strange in terms of ingredients and taste no different from meat and refined starch if you close your eyes, this Mystery Cube became taboo for all frontline troops within a day. Boss Xia commented: It has the feel of Covenant emergency food - no more worrying about those Sarkaz soldiers eating emergency field rations for no reason, causing food shortages at critical moments.

Previously, the meals were provided according to the standard Covenant field service meal package. Who knew that these Sarkaz people didn't usually eat much good food, so when they were bored in the trenches and on the march, they would take out these things and eat them.

Several attempts to enforce discipline failed to stop the problem, so the only option left was to resort to traditional methods.

If field emergency rations are made so badly that they taste like Covenant Organic Sauce, then absolutely no one will ever use them for leisure in normal times.

On Earth, if you run out of emergency rations, you can still find a way to eat grass roots and tree bark. But in space, a spaceship's emergency rations are usually eaten up before it even starts. You can't exactly fly 30 light-seconds to eat an asteroid.

(The minimum distance between two asteroids in the asteroid belt is 980 million kilometers, or 33 light-seconds. The dense effect seen in movies and games is for artistic expression...)

Even if you could physically traverse the universe, asteroids are mainly composed of silicates and chromium iron, so you can't eat them.

Fortunately, the mysterious cubes were just emergency rations. They were only given to everyone for one meal and then distributed for storage. The rest of the food was hot meals provided by the field kitchen.

Although the raw materials were... well, compared to the mysterious cube, the soldiers on the front lines didn't have any extra complaints.

"Winter is here, really. How long will this war last?" Although the Sarkaz's morale was higher, they also felt the same weariness of the war. "Happy, those Letanians won't last much longer."

"By the way, has the food on the other side improved too? A lot of people from the other side came over to eat with us before. Did they think we wouldn't recognize them just because they changed their clothes?" After all, this matter still needs to be kept secret, even though it's not really useful.

"I don't know. The people on the other side definitely haven't come over. Could they have retreated?"

"Perhaps, who would like to touch it?"

"Have you forgotten the lecture given by the military law department? Do not act without orders!"

It's good for soldiers to have initiative, but it's not good if it disrupts the entire battle plan and causes a lot of unnecessary casualties.

"But normal fire reconnaissance is allowed, right?" Although they cannot act without authorization, it does not mean that every action of the soldiers needs approval. Ordinary reconnaissance operations are permitted.

"Then let's prepare for a small-scale reconnaissance mission to test the waters."

"Hey, that's how it should be. Lying in this pit for half a month is like being in a dungeon."

Too frequent fighting can damage morale, but conversely, prolonged stalemates on the front lines without any conflict can also damage morale.

A few minutes later, "even the command headquarters thought it was a good idea. However, there can't be too many people. If anything seems amiss, retreat immediately!"

"Understood!" Meanwhile, on the Letania side, several blackened wooden stakes were erected, and the soldiers who frequently ran to the other side to join the enemy were caught by the military law inspectors and sentenced to hanging for desertion and defection. The execution was to be carried out publicly to prevent the soldiers below from running to the other side.

If we have to say something, there's nothing wrong with this decision itself, because these guys were genuinely planning to desert and were trying to make connections everywhere. They were afraid that if they went to the other side alone, they wouldn't be taken seriously, and that bringing more people to defect would give them more leverage.

"Watch closely, all of you! This is what happens to cowards and deserters!" The noose was placed around the necks of the ashen-faced soldiers, while the others stared blankly at them. They would either die at the hands of the enemy or at the hands of the military court; it was all the same.

The noose tightened little by little. The soldiers were pulled up by the firing squad. After struggling in mid-air for a while, clutching their necks, they slowly lowered their hands and lost consciousness. There was still a short, extremely painful period before they were hanged.

The reason for choosing this method of strangulation, instead of using gravity to instantly break the cervical vertebrae and kill the person, was to use terror to deter others.

Just then, a distinctive gunshot rang out from the position; Kazdel's rifle was very easy to recognize.

Because they were the only ones in all of Terra using this electrothermal weapon, the two military officers were immediately knocked to the ground.

Although it's unclear what these Leitanians are up to, this is indeed a good time to launch a reconnaissance mission.

The Sarkaz swiftly penetrated the enemy lines, quickly taking down enemy officers with a powerful and swift attack. The falling mortar shells then tossed the bodies into the air. After the rapid assault, seeing the enemy in disarray and launching a counterattack, they quickly retreated back to their starting positions.

If the Leitanians were preparing to gather their forces for an attack, they would realize their exposure and hastily launch the attack.

If the other side does not have this intention, it will also fall into chaos and launch a counterattack in the chaos, thereby discovering the other side's troop deployment and firepower preparation.

Furthermore, it also reveals part of the enemy's operational intentions. This is the significance and purpose of fire reconnaissance: to lure the enemy into revealing themselves and to conduct feints to divert the enemy's troop deployment.

The results were unexpectedly good. The Letania position was thrown into chaos. Kazdel seized the opportunity and launched a rapid attack. The enemy had to withdraw to their own artillery cover only after they deployed land ships.

However, they also successfully burned down one of the enemy's forward storage sites, and an exposed landship docking area was bombed by the newly arrived air mage group. Due to the lack of charged bombs, the bombing was not very effective.

However, this shock also prompted Letania to urgently relocate its fleet, which was followed by a gun battle that lasted for more than a day. The ship's cannons and Letania's Originium railguns clashed for a day, with neither side suffering any damage. However, both sides' positions were thoroughly ravaged by the enemy's artillery fire, and the infantry on both sides were cursing.

Only at this moment could both sides' ground troops, officers and soldiers alike, reach a consensus: the reason why every single artilleryman on both sides was that their shelling landed too close, their counterattack was not fast enough, and they failed to destroy the enemy's artillery positions in time.

The arrows and shrapnel turned the Sarkaz's position into a steel grassland, while the Originium railguns used dragonfire shells to bring the enemy winter warmth. The 3500-degree warmth was enough to turn rocks and soil into molten lava and steel into flowing water.

Every Leitanian who received this warmth will never feel cold again and will become deeply integrated with this land.

Kazdel's mobile artillery excels in its rapid mobility, allowing it to withdraw from the battlefield immediately after firing, while the enemy's counter-fire explodes into the air. Meanwhile, the opposing fleet, in addition to its mobility, also possesses sufficiently robust defenses. With the application of various spell cannons, high-power spell suppression equipment has also begun to appear on warships.