Doctor, I'm really strong!

Although the gap is huge, if she had to choose, Texas would prefer Lappland as her current ally.

Texas looked down at the crowd. Although the people standing there were dressed in uniform and their ranks were straight, they were just a group of technical school students who had received the most basic military training.

After the liberation of the entire Kazdel, various purges and rectifications were immediately launched. A large number of anti-revolutionaries became historical dust, leaving behind only the working masses. After undergoing a series of ideological reforms, they were about to embrace a brand new life.

In any case, their future is much, much better than their past; at least there is light in their eyes.

Living in such a passionate and glorious era is an incredibly fortunate thing. When this era was still materially abundant and morally upright, you could attract countless envious glances with just a passport.

This is a source of pride that only citizens of a great power can have, and the community has already achieved it.

With Kazdel being fully incorporated into the Community's territory, Rembiton officially bordered the Community, and the entire eastern and western dividing line of the Terra continent was completely controlled by the Community. Yan Kingdom and Dong Kingdom were like a large piece of meat cut off a steak, waiting for the Community to feast on them.

On September 11, 1107, a momentous event occurred in the Ursus Empire that shocked the world.

Emperor Nicholas of the Ursus Empire...

Assassination attempt!

Section 332: Early Signs of a Crisis

(At that time...)

The assassination of Nikolai was not an isolated incident; there had been at least ten similar assassination attempts before that.

The reason is quite simple: Nicholas's centralized reforms threatened the interests of the Ursus nobles. These local tyrants, who ran rampant in their fiefdoms, would not simply obey orders from the emperor of the Ursus Empire. For a ruler to force his subjects to die, the ruler's power must be such that the subjects have no room for negotiation.

But the nobles of the Ursus Empire were clearly entitled to bargain with the emperor.

Not only were they qualified to bargain, but they also dared to take up arms and go to Luoyang to argue the pros and cons with the emperor himself.

Don't forget that the Ursus Empire originated from military nobles. Even though many nobles have become useless, unable to draw a bow on horseback or slash on foot, there are still quite a few military nobles who retain their fighting power.

The environment of Terra is particularly conducive to the emergence of local powers at the level of feudal lords. Natural disasters physically divide the land, while mobile cities control military, political, and financial power all at once. The level of centralization is comparable to that of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The fact that it didn't turn into a Spring and Autumn Period with five hegemons, a Warring States Period with seven warring states, or a final An Lushan Rebellion is already a testament to the founding emperor's recognition. The so-called nation is more like a loosely organized group sticking together for mutual support, even more like a CIS than the United States.

We'll follow orders from the capital, but ignore anything that doesn't benefit us. After all, the emperor himself can't possibly wipe us all out. When it comes to interests, all pretense and titles are meaningless. As for benefits, the price the emperor can't afford to pay to persuade dukes and other nobles is too high.

The Ursus Empire chose the path of aristocratic feudalism because it was unable to govern the entire country through centralized power, much like Russia during the Tsarist era. However, Ursus was even less advanced than Russia in this respect. The reason why those nobles did not rebel and take over was simply because the Ursus Empire was too poor. They were more interested in going out in groups to rob and make extra money than in fighting a bunch of guys who would lose money if they won and die if they lost.

This is the fundamental reason why the Ursus Empire can project itself as a military superpower – by raiding in groups.

However, the good days of the Ursus Empire came to an end when the fragmented nation encountered a monolithic centralized government. Its eastward expansion was completely blocked, leaving it with no choice but to head west.

Letania has become part of the community. Even if it hadn't, this country wouldn't be so easy to bully. The only one that the Ursus Empire could truly ravage is Kazimir, but after being squeezed for over a hundred years, there's not much left to extract from it. Even if they squeezed it hard, the profits wouldn't be enough for the nobles to share.

It's not that we can't fight countries further away, like Sami, but the latitude there is higher than Ursus, so the cost of raiding is high, and we might not even be able to get much money. Moreover, Sami's fighting strength is not bad, and they also have a unique witch army, so it's not worth taking them down. As for Syracuse in the south, it's easier to bully, but you have to cross the territory of the community.

Given Liu Jiuli's "If anyone offends me, I'll kill their whole family" mentality, the Ursus Empire would have to be out of their mind to provoke this monster they absolutely cannot afford to mess with.

However, the existence of the community exacerbated the internal conflicts within the Ursus Empire. Capitalists wanted profits, the proletariat wanted a better life, and the feudal lords watched the show from the sidelines. Nicholas was like a bear roasting over a fire, ready to be cooked and served.

In this situation, Nikolai's awareness that "no destruction, no construction" is commendable.

Unfortunately, his strength did not allow him to make such a difficult choice. The backlash of the feudal system was becoming increasingly severe, and the proletariat was all inclined towards the community and had no interest in protecting the country belonging to the nobles and the royal family. If they were pushed too far and caused internal strife, then the community's tracks would definitely be the next to come knocking.

Anyway, these people have nothing left to lose. Their revolutionary will is very strong, and their resistance is very stubborn. At most, they can only maintain a neutral stance. If you expect them to support Nicholas, at best you can win over some royalists on the left.

They are classified as right-wing opportunists by the community, and they will certainly be purged after the community liberates Ursus.

Capitalists are willing to cooperate, but their weakness and tendency to compromise mean they will hedge their bets. If they feel one side is not working out, they will immediately withdraw their investment to cut their losses. Their skill in switching sides makes Nikolai suspect that they are all breakdancing masters.

There were indeed nobles who supported Nicholas, but unfortunately, not a single one was willing to join him in overthrowing the aristocratic system. Even the loyal royalists among the nobles often advised him to be careful, emphasizing that the nobles were the foundation of the Ursus Empire and that they couldn't dig their own graves.

As for the opposition, they are determined to fight to the death, and are preparing to find a way to make Nikolai die by falling, choking, drowning, or drowning.

Emperor Wuzong of Ming, Zhu Houzhao, was very annoyed.

Regarding the assassination attempt on Nikolai, Liu Jiuli simply asked, "Is he dead?"

Felix from the Ministry of the Interior replied, "According to our sources, Nikolai only suffered minor injuries, but he pretended to be seriously injured."

"Pretending?" Liu Jiuli raised an eyebrow. "It seems this person is planning something big."

"Should we intervene?" Ling asked.

"There's no need. Let Nikolai do what he wants. With the Ursus Empire being so terminally ill, the more he messes around, the faster it will die. If he just messes it up until it falls apart, everyone will save themselves a lot of trouble."

At this moment, Felix suggested, "Chairman, this is an opportunity. If we push things a little, the Ursus Empire will break out into civil war. Once they're all locked in a fierce battle, we can step in and reap the rewards."

Although Felix was a selfless man, even knowing that victory was inevitable, as an Ursus native, he still hoped to see Ursus liberate itself as soon as possible, so that all his compatriots could bask in the sunshine.

Liu Jiuli: "Then let's get started. It's time to completely resolve this issue."

Felix exclaimed excitedly, "Yes, mission accomplished!"

Columbia, Philadelphia

This is the second year since Carving Knife returned to Colombia, but now she has a mission. It's not some desperate pangolin mission, but rather to investigate and monitor the living conditions of the people of Colombia.

This isn't the kind of news report, but the most authentic, relatable portrayal of the lives of the vast majority of Colombians.

"Bread prices have dropped, and by such a large amount."

The carver glanced at today's bread prices and noticed something was amiss.

She then went to other stores and bought some daily necessities. She found that all the goods were on sale and the once bustling pedestrian street had become much emptier. However, there were many more people under the factory recruitment signs.

"We've got enough people, we're not hiring anymore!"

"We have enough here."

"Please have mercy! I have loans and children to support. I can just take half my salary!"

"No way! We don't need any more people here, get out of here!"

Similar scenes played out at many job fairs, with those who managed to snag a job secretly rejoicing and those who didn't feeling utterly devastated.

Back in their rented room that evening, Ke Dao and the other comrades compared the data they had and discovered that unemployment and price drops were widespread phenomena, suggesting that something was wrong with the Colombian economy.

"Rheinmetall and Raytheon Industries are also laying off workers."

"I heard that Kazimierz and Victoria next door have similar situations."

"Factories are closing down on a large scale, and the unemployment rate is spiraling out of control."

"This morning I saw a group of people dumping milk into a ditch."

"The number of people in the slums has increased, and they are now very crowded. Not to mention houses, many people are sleeping on the streets."

"Integrate the information and report it all. Comrades, something big might be about to happen."

Ke Dao had not received systematic economics training, but as a warrior, she had a strong intuition for risk. Columbia seemed fine now, but a terminal cancer patient could also appear to be perfectly normal.

Soon, a large amount of intelligence was gathered by the Ministry of the Interior. After big data analysis and rigorous analysis by experts, a conclusion was finally reached—a precursor to an economic crisis.

As to how this economic crisis came about, we must start with the rise of the community.

Don't forget the level of productivity of the Community. It's true industrialized mass production on a large scale. When it comes to manufacturing Originium Staffs, others work themselves to death by hand to make ten (the core processing cannot be broken down because everyone's Originium Arts are different, while the Community has disassembled the basic template of Originium Arts and can efficiently mass-produce them industrially, and this is without using the universal factory). The Community, on the other hand, ships them in containers.

Cheap food, cheap medicine, cheap clothing, cheap bicycles, and so on in the market—basically all the daily necessities of the residents—were swept away by the tyrannical and violent Confucian community like a flood.

Other countries can erect trade barriers.

That makes sense, but even communities can engage in smuggling.

As a native Chinese, Liu Jiuli is all too aware of things like power-money transactions, political donations, and shady dealings. The greed of capital can render many laws ineffective.

You thought the Colombian government was fiercely guarding against the community.

In fact, a number of Colombian companies, represented by Raytheon Industries, have a very active trade relationship with the Community and have provided a lot of smuggling channels. Many things are produced in the Community, and then Colombian companies add a logo and call them Colombian-made. The Community only provides intermediate goods, and the final product is Colombia's "pride".

Because it is a domestically manufactured product, it is eligible for tax exemption for manufacturing.

In particular, for the chips produced by the community, Raytheon Industries directly requested a batch of chips without a logo, and then printed Raytheon Industries' logo on them, calling them: Colombia's own chips.

In fact, Raytheon Industries' chip manufacturing technology is still based on the standard Originium Industries nanoscale chip technology.

Sounds pretty high-end, right? It's made by a highly precise caster, so the performance is guaranteed. It's just a little bit more expensive. The cost of one Originium Nanochip is enough to buy several tons of chips from the Community, and the performance difference isn't that big, maybe only 10% at most. Besides, the Community doesn't lack high-performance chips that are even better than those made by the caster.

If that's the case, then why make such a high investment? You can just buy it and resell it to make money; there's no comfort in lying down compared to standing.

This is clearly comprador behavior.

With the support of a series of Colombian companies, represented by Raytheon Industries, many foreign trade laws have become virtually ineffective. The Colombian government can certainly issue orders, but the mobile cities below can ignore them and even get their supported members of parliament to oppose them. Coupled with certain veiled transfers of benefits from the Community to the Colombian government, this has directly led to a serious split within Colombia regarding the issue of tariffs, sometimes resulting in a fanatical mentality of opposing for the sake of opposing.

During the US-China trade war, the US, despite having the upper hand, didn't play any useful cards. Now, Colombia is being completely crushed by the Community. Liu Jiuli could win even if he played all four 2s one by one. So why be polite? Let me show you what a steel torrent of productivity looks like.

Many Colombian companies have gone bankrupt or switched to import and export trade. These companies have made a fortune in trade with the Community, but their self-developed capabilities are practically non-existent.

The bigger problem is that because these companies don't need many highly skilled workers, the development of higher education talent in Columbia has been hampered. Many university graduates are unemployed after graduation, and only a few top talents can enter large companies. The rest either go to assembly lines or management positions, and the industries in between are rapidly declining.

Next, capitalists lowered production costs, reduced workers' wages, extended overtime hours, and engaged in all sorts of inhumane practices. In terms of exploitation, capital is indeed more egalitarian. Whether it is an ordinary person or an infected person, we treat them equally, and even allow both sides to work together in a work environment with absolutely no protection, truly achieving the great unity of the proletariat.

So what if they're just ordinary people? They're just as miserable as us.

The shared tragic experiences evoke empathy, which is why various worker strikes have been occurring frequently in Colombia. The capitalists' solution is to purchase machine guns and armored vehicles from the community, although they are all inferior versions, but they are sufficient to suppress the workers.

If the community doesn't sell, they'll produce them themselves. Mass production is definitely impossible, but making a few sets by hand to show off is no problem.

So the Columbia factory was transformed into a complex of high walls, trenches, steel gates with barbed wire, four watchtowers surrounding it, and two guard dogs at the entrance…

I know, this is called a prison for serious offenders.

The community's response was also very straightforward: they simply sent weapons to the workers. After dismantling the 107mm rocket launcher, you couldn't even tell if it was a farm tool or a weapon. Rockets could also be smuggled in, leading to a full-blown brawl between the workers and the capitalists.

With the support of a variety of factors, Columbia experienced a period of great enthusiasm, both psychologically and physically.

However, the tsunami that followed was no small matter.

Section 333: Communication Between Two People

(September is almost over, what have you all gained? (?ω?))

"It was bound to happen sooner or later."

Liu Jiuli closed the document; he wasn't surprised by what was happening in Colombia.

It's just an inherent contradiction of capitalism. The community is merely a means to induce it through productive forces. The contradiction between private ownership of the means of production and large-scale socialized production will eventually erupt. Without a major economic crisis, how can the proletariat truly realize their position in the eyes of those capitalists?

Only when there is no turning back will one be forced to make the choice to move forward bravely, even if one is forced into it.

“For us, this can be considered an opportunity.” Ling handed the milk tea he had just brewed to Liu Jiuli.

"This is a rare opportunity. If all goes well, we can take advantage of this economic crisis to take over the entire Eastern Continent."