Chapter 211, Sweeping across the Eastern Provinces
After the Central Group Army got a vacation and replenished the losses caused by the previous battle in the Qinggu area from the new barracks, it set off for the eastern provinces.
Their movements are smooth.
The connections between the eastern provinces, the three central provinces, and Fuxing City are very close.
The situation there is completely different from the Qinggu area.
The grain production capacity of the eastern provinces is very weak, even worse than that of the three central provinces.
That is mainly because the eastern provinces were the core urban areas on the main continent of Raging Owl in the pre-war era, especially towards the coastal areas. In the three central provinces, there is only one urban ruin, the ‘Tower Ruins’, which can be said to be everywhere in the eastern provinces.
Although there is still some flat field soil that can be used for agricultural production, the overall amount is not enough.
In fact, the main food supply for the five to six million people living in the eastern provinces also depends on the Qinggu area.
After the turmoil in the Qinggu area, famine spread unexpectedly in the eastern provinces, leading to turmoil.
The Alliance still has good intentions.
Gu Hang has always attached great importance to population. He does not want the eastern provinces to get into chaos and starve to death a lot of people, and then kill a lot of people to compete for food.
Severe famine may even be more terrible than the population reduction caused by war.
Under this situation, under Gu Hang's instruction, Bradford, who was currently in charge of the Union's Department of Commerce, continued to supply food to the eastern provinces in accordance with the Governor's wishes.
At the beginning, according to Bradford's businessman characteristics, he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to sell the grain at a high price, and he would definitely make a lot of money.
But this businessman's instinct was severely criticized by Prime Minister Oceana.
Amid the criticism, Bradford finally remembered that he was no longer a businessman. It is true that he is running the Ministry of Commerce, but he is a politician and he has to do things according to political logic rather than business logic.
For a long time in the past, the grain supply to the eastern provinces was maintained by large orders imported from the Western Desert; recently, there has also been an increase in grain imports from the Northern Qinggu Province.
The Qinggu region held an autumn harvest a few months ago. Although the output is still far behind compared to previous years, it is not a big problem to at least feed the 14 million people in the alliance.
A large number of cleared jungles and trees, as well as a large number of aberrant monsters that were killed in previous wars, were put into the synthetic starch factory.
The alliance conquered the self-developed technology of synthetic starch almost half a year ago. For related industrial lines, every time a set is produced, one set will be sent to Beiqinggu.
At present, many large and small synthetic starch factories have been put into operation in the Beiqinggu area.
The output of these synthetic starches is increasing.
Counting these things that don't taste very good, but if you eat them, you will definitely not starve to death, then the Qinggu area can export more food than in the original good harvest year.
That's enough.
The large quantities of various foods exported from the alliance to the eastern provinces were mainly exchanged for various industrial raw materials in commercial terms.
Industrial raw materials are the most important basic output and traditional output in the eastern provinces.
To put it bluntly, it is similar to the production mechanism in the ruins of the tower, which relies on picking up garbage.
Exporting food at low prices in exchange for industrial raw materials is a basic business. It makes no money, or in other words, makes normal money.
But since we have said that there are political considerations in this matter, it is essentially a political business.
The political goal of this matter is to prevent millions of people in the eastern provinces from uncontrollable large-scale famine and war. The excess profits that are not earned from business must also be earned from other aspects.
Through increased trade operations, the Alliance has established a very deep influence in many settlements in the eastern provinces.
The only one that can provide abundant food supplies is the Alliance. This forces many settlements to sell raw materials to the alliance at normal prices. Of course, this is not forced in the strict sense. After all, the grain is not sold at a high price and the raw materials are not sold at low prices. It is a reasonable transaction.
But there are some accompanying conditions, such as promoting the alliance's system and reaffirming that one's settlement is a member of the alliance, which are necessary.
Don't underestimate these things, people's minds will change.
In my own settlement, I don’t have enough food and clothing, I have to pick up garbage every day, I have to face mutant beasts in the wasteland, and I have to worry about marauders; in the alliance, as long as I go there, I become an alliance citizen and have a certain rank. , at least I have enough food and clothing. As for work, can it be harder than picking up trash? Not to mention, in the league’s propaganda, all ranks have basic medical care and vacations...
Compare and you will know what is good and what is bad.
In conjunction with the second promotion, our settlement is also a member of the alliance.
Then don’t the residents at the bottom, or even the middle class, think: Why are we all in an alliance and our lives are not good?
So if one day, the alliance comes and says that the entire settlement will be brought under the direct management of the alliance. So, how strong can the resistance of the entire settlement be?
Let alone resistance, I'm afraid they are not the leading party everywhere.
In addition to the minimum requirement to let the alliance's businessmen promote the alliance, there are also other more in-depth cooperations.
For example, they began to gradually accept the ‘guidance’ of some expatriate officials from various alliance ministries. The name is to help these settlements, build their homes, and bring the advanced experience of the alliance. Expatriate officials do not directly lead and manage each settlement, but act like consultants, providing reasonable advice to the leaders of the settlements.
That's what they say, but actually...
In fact, this is also true.
But in this process, the alliance's influence has naturally been further strengthened.
What strategy will those in power in the settlements who constantly listen to the advice of the alliance's expatriate officials and yearn for the alliance system adopt when the alliance's troops arrive?
In other words, the alliance’s long-standing food trade strategy and value export have brought about a strong expansion of political influence. In the past six months, a good situation has been established in the eastern provinces.
In fact, if the Governor-General Gu Hang hadn't urged him too hastily, the alliance might not have needed military action. It would have just fanned the flames when the time was right in the future, and a revolutionary wave swept across the entire eastern provinces. An area with millions of square kilometers and a population of six million was safely and securely collected.
Military operations are a double-edged sword.
Of course, this can speed up the process of bringing the entire eastern provinces under alliance rule, without having to wait for the so-called 'time is right'. But correspondingly, some of the people who might have been fought over may now be on the opposite side of the alliance.
It's harmless.
At present, the new troops that the Alliance Army has planned to form have not yet been reorganized, and the corresponding weapons and equipment are still in production. The Central Army Group that is leaving now has only seven divisions and more than 70,000 people.
But they still have good news.
The land in the eastern provinces is too large, and because many city ruins stand on the wasteland, the terrain is very different, and it is difficult for various settlements to form a joint force. In addition, there are quite a few places that themselves do not have very strong forces. The will to resist.
Therefore, when faced with the actions of Army Group Center, many places simply surrendered directly.
The league also has corresponding policies on this.
Those who do not resist are not considered enemies, and everyone from the people to the original ruling class will receive relatively good treatment. As for resistance...
That would be equivalent to using a mantis' arm as a chariot.
To put it bluntly, even if all the six million people in the entire eastern provinces were gathered together, they would be able to muster an army of hundreds of thousands at their maximum. The armaments and logistics would be rubbish, and if the alliance cuts off the food supply, more than half of them would starve to death immediately. , they are unable to resist.
Not to mention, they can't unite yet.
Yan Fangxu's army made rapid progress in the east.
Often every few hours, one or two settlements would be claimed.
Later, when the good news came, Yan Fangxu himself felt embarrassed.
Do you have anything to share? Just send a regiment and stand next to a settlement. Without firing a shot, they surrender in three minutes. If you are more aggressive, pull out the regiment's artillery and blast twice. The infantry will fire a few shots to intimidate rather than attack the enemy. It took only fifteen minutes to vote.
If there are really those who stubbornly resist to the end, then kill them.
Eliminate all the rebels and arrest all the leaders. There is no need to escort them back to Fuxing City. The verdict will be pronounced on the spot. Local people will be divided into other camps depending on the situation.
It can be considered a thunderous method.
After this whole battle is fought, even if only one regiment is separated, it usually takes less than a day to complete it.
In short, no matter what the situation is, there are corresponding and mature ways to deal with it.
In this way, when they regained the two million people in the central province, they only played with the remaining things. They were just trying it again in the eastern provinces, which were larger and more dispersed in population.
This kind of good news really has no intention of passing it forward.
From now on, Yan Fangxu will just make a summary battle report every other week and be done with it.
……
Gu Hang was too lazy to read more of Yan Fangxu's various reports.
It's nothing more than conquering a city today and a town tomorrow, which is meaningless.
To be honest, he had no doubt at all that the Central Army Group could easily defeat the entire eastern provinces.
The only thing I need to worry about is that no more monsters and monsters appear from the east.
Just the local survivor force does not pose any threat.
He was still tossing around the remaining gift points in his hand.
The new blood of the Phoenix, the construction of the 10th Special Forces Brigade, the expansion of the Alliance Army... In these aspects, Gu Hang spent a total of about 5,500 points of gifts.
He still has more than 12,000 points in his hand.
As for these gift points, he plans to invest them all in the construction of the territory.
This is divided into two parts: technology and architecture.
Let’s talk about architecture first.
After the war in the Qinggu area was settled, Gu Hang discovered that three new buildings had appeared in the [Buildings] interface.
They are [Farm I], [National Church], and [Trial Hall].
Gu Hang estimated that the [Farm] building was because after he captured the Qinggu area, the area of agricultural production land increased significantly, reaching a certain goal built into the system, thus achieving the achievement of unlocking the [Farm] building.
[Farm I] buildings have the same properties as [Civilian Factory I] and [Military Factory I] that Gu Hang has unlocked before. Spending 100 gift points and loading it onto a farm that has been built and put into production can increase production to a certain extent.
Before, he didn't have extra gift points to use for these production-increasing buildings, but now he has quite a lot of gift points, so he can use them.
After thinking about it, he didn't redeem any farm buildings.
no need.
According to a rough report recently sent back by Beiqinggu Province, the production plan for the next year is mentioned above.
According to optimistic estimates, next year, the food production in the Beiqinggu region, including agricultural products and synthetic starch, can reach a total value of about 6 million tax dollars.
In addition, some grain output imported from the Western Desert and the three central provinces must add up to food worth about three million tax coins.
This batch of food is enough to feed a well-off society, which is the alliance's E9 food supply standard, and can feed a population of more than 18 million people. With a little attention to food rationing and supply, it can meet the food and clothing standard, which is the alliance's E5 standard. That can feed a population of more than 27 million people; if it is more stringent and based on the standard of not starving to death, which is the Alliance E3 level, it can feed a population of 45 million people.
Even if the six million people in the entire eastern provinces are included, the total population of the alliance is only 20 million.
Nothing is enough.
On the contrary, industrial production is never enough.
Especially the military industry.
The production of civilian factories is mainly in various consumer goods. If you use these things to pay taxes, the empire will recognize them; if you go out to do interstellar trade, others will also want them. But overall, demand is relatively small. If you engage in commerce and trade, you can't sell it at a high price, so you can give tax credits to the empire, and the tax amount assessed is generally lower than its true production value.
But on the contrary, arms are hard currency in the interstellar world and are a hot spot for trade. The empire will give them enough tax coins to pay taxes.
In this case, Gu Hang exchanged 16 military factories and 4 civilian factories in one go.
The former have all been added to various military industries in Wei Xing City.
The latter will also be put into the metal smelting industry of basic heavy industries such as ceramic steel and plastic steel, as well as the metal processing industry.
Don't say anything. Now the alliance's production of wind falcons has increased to ten per month.
After redeeming these twenty factory bonus cards, it is estimated that the annual industrial output value of Weixing City will increase by 400,000 tax coins.
The price is only 2000 gift points.
He still has ten thousand points left.
And Gu Hang no longer used these 10,000 points of gifts for other purposes, but used them all to draw technology cards!
It’s time for the exciting lottery draw again, and Gu Hang is gearing up!
(End of chapter)