Chapter 332 Even if there are 20,000 pigs, it will take a while to catch them, right?
Even if there were 20,000 pigs, it would take a while to catch them if they ran into the city.
What's more, people?
Honghe Town and the Snake Clan had been fighting in the north for nearly half a year, and the money spent on mercenaries and military purchases was enough to buy a mine.
However, even so, they did not gain any advantage from those plunderers.
Not only Sim learned the news, but also other Chamber of Commerce bosses and mine owners in Honghe Town.
Soon this incredible news spread throughout Honghe Town...
The meeting room of the Mining Association.
More than ten minutes have passed since the president of the association announced the agenda of the meeting.
The people sitting at the conference table looked at each other, and no one spoke for a long time.
Unable to bear the weird atmosphere in the conference room, a mine owner hooked his index finger on his collar and loosened it, breaking the silence with a hesitant voice.
"...Is the news reliable?"
The president of the association nodded with a complicated expression.
"...It should be reliable. They won't slap themselves in the face with a lie that could be exposed at any time..."
It's too easy to verify the truth of the news. Just send someone to check and you'll know whether Xizhou City has been conquered.
What's more, there's no need to falsify.
Announcing victory in the war in advance will not bring any substantial benefits to the New Alliance.
Whispers rang out in the conference room, and everyone began to discuss in a low voice.
"...I think it's necessary to reconsider the relationship with the New Alliance."
"Why don't we build an office there?"
"But in whose name...do we all build it ourselves? Or in the name of the Mining Association?"
"I think it's necessary. Even if we don't consider their military strength, they are also our important trading partners."
This war deeply shocked them.
From the blitzkrieg on Qingshi County to the Songlinyu Battle... According to the current intelligence, every war between the New Alliance and the Bone Chewing Tribe, whether as the attacker or the defender, ended in an overwhelming victory.
It is possible that they exaggerated their results and concealed their casualties, but in terms of the final result, the strength they showed was enough to surprise people.
A new survivor force with a total population of less than 10,000.
It took only two months to defeat the predator clan with 30,000 troops and 27 tanks!
Such a terrifying strength is hard not to be feared!
Moreover, unlike the old survivor force that has stopped expanding, such as Boulder City.
This new alliance that suddenly emerged not only has a strong war potential, but also has indeed expanded its territory.
At first, their territory was only a park, and then it was the northern suburbs of Qingquan City. Now it has expanded to the shore of Xizhou Lake, more than 100 kilometers north of Qingquan City.
Where is their next step?
Continue to the north?
Or to the east...
Just as everyone was discussing how to deal with the relationship with the new alliance, someone suddenly stood up.
"Everyone, if I remember correctly, our topic today should be to discuss our future relationship with the New Alliance. However, so far, all I have heard is how we should please our neighbors... Do you really think that we can coexist peacefully with the New Alliance?"
Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Sim paused and continued.
"Don't forget that the first thing they did after conquering Xizhou City was to announce the liberation of the plunderers' slaves!"
Everyone's faces were full of astonishment, and those who knew something in advance like Sim remained silent.
Noisy discussions soon rang out on the conference table.
Liberating slaves...
This is definitely a sensitive topic in Honghe Town.
The "mines" in Honghe Town are not mines in the traditional sense, but garbage mountains that have been compacted and landfilled. Since the landfill data was lost in the war, only God knows what will be dug out from below, so mining accidents often occur.
They can't hire free people to mine those mines. It's not a matter of how much money they make, but the benefits are completely disproportionate to the effort.
Red River Town cannot be without slaves. This is the consensus of all mine owners and business association presidents.
If the blue ticket is to coordinate the ore production capacity and help the mine owners sell the ore at a better price, then the issuance of the red ticket for purchasing slaves is to facilitate the major mines to obtain a large and stable source of labor...
A chamber of commerce president raised his hand to raise an objection.
"... Your information is inaccurate. My information is that they gave those slaves the identity of "guardians", which obviously does not completely release them."
His name is Andrew, the president of the Gray Rhino Chamber of Commerce, and he mainly does import business. Whether it is importing weapons, food, or feed for slaves.
He also knows what Sim said, after all, he also set up an office in Dawn City, but he doesn't care much.
The only business under the Gray Rhino Chamber of Commerce that has something to do with slaves is the nutritional paste.
Andrew's objection was completely expected, Sim continued with a plausible argument.
"Is there any point in picking words? Whether it's guardians, managers, or other new words they created... they can't cover up what they are doing."
"Now they are liberating slaves in Xizhou City. What if one day in the future, they come to liberate the slaves in our hands? Mr. Mudis of Misty Mountain Mine, are you willing to return freedom to the slaves in your mine?"
The bald man looked away.
Sim stopped looking at him and continued to look at another person - his strategic ally, Demps of Blackstone Mine.
"... or you? My dear Mr. Demps."
"I don't think so... some slaves were originally predators, clones, and synthetics who were about to be scrapped. Besides, even in their own territory, they only bought slaves from those slave owners and did not force them to hand over the slaves."
Demps' tone was slightly hesitant, but his nervous expression had betrayed his uneasiness.
Seeing through his thoughts, Sim admitted that he continued to speak.
"All your assumptions are based on what you think is 'not serious'. A year ago, the Bone Chewing Tribe was still doing business with us. Didn't they just turn against us?"
A Chamber of Commerce boss couldn't help but say.
"Then what should we do? Should we oppose them?"
Sim said immediately.
"Of course not. With our current strength, there is no benefit in going against them, but we must recognize one thing - getting too close to these blue coats is an extremely dangerous thing. We should at least be vigilant."
"First of all, we must unite and establish an organization that is more centralized than the Mining Association. It should take more responsibilities, not just issuing those red and blue tickets, it should also be responsible for the establishment of standing troops, handling relations with other survivor settlements, deciding who to do business with, how to do business, and operating our own settlements."
"After that, we should strengthen our ties with the surrounding survivor settlements and reduce our dependence on the new alliance...whether it is weapons or military."
After a pause, Sim raised his voice and knocked his fist on the table twice.
"Everyone, the alarm bell has been sounded. The River Valley Province is facing a change that has not happened in a century. The past methods are no longer applicable."
"Whether you like it or not, if we don't want to be eliminated by this world, we must look forward."
"I'm done."
After Sim's words fell, there was a commotion at the conference table.
Some people supported it, while others opposed it.
However, strangely, most of those who supported "establishing a more centralized management agency" were the mine owners.
Instead, the bosses of the Chamber of Commerce stood opposite Sim, who was in the same industry.
Everyone held their own opinions, and from the initial debate, they almost quarreled later.
"Establish a more centralized organization? How to centralize it? Find someone and let him take care of our business?"
"I think what Sim said makes sense!"
"What a point! Isn't it good for everyone to take care of their own business like now?"
"Of course not! You don't care who you sell the garbage to, but I have to make sure that the garbage I sell won't turn into bullets and fly back!"
"So who will be the leader of this new organization? That's all I care about!"
The president of the Mining Association knocked on the table with his hand, but everyone was arguing fiercely and no one noticed what he was saying.
The meeting was forced to be interrupted.
After the meeting, several chamber of commerce bosses gathered together and whispered.
"What's wrong with this Sim? Why did he suddenly represent the interests of the mine owners?"
"I guess he lost a lot of money. I heard that he had hoarded a batch of copper ore before... thousands of tons were all smashed in his hands."
At this time, Andrew, the boss of the Gray Rhino Chamber of Commerce, suddenly spoke up.
"I have a little news here, but it may not be reliable."
The business owners immediately looked over with interest.
They may not care about other people's news, but the news of Mr. Andrew can always bring them business opportunities.
"What news?"
Andrew said in a low voice.
"The New Alliance has discovered a copper mine in Qingshi County, and it seems that they have been mining for a while."
This news is incredible.
Everyone's face immediately showed surprise and even astonishment.
"Copper mine?!"
"How did you know?"
Faced with everyone's questions, Andrew said softly.
"It's not difficult to guess... Those trains to Qingshi County are not empty. Some copper-containing slag can always be picked up near the rails. And according to my salesman's judgment, the grade of that copper mine is not low."
Hearing this, the expressions on everyone's faces were moved.
The New Alliance has discovered a copper mine!
No wonder they suddenly announced the Northern Expedition!
No wonder the price of copper and sulfur has hardly fluctuated after two months of fighting!
It is no wonder that Sim's reaction was so intense. He wanted to establish a more centralized organization and win over the surrounding neighbors to be vigilant against the threat of the rise of the new alliance.
Thinking of the thousands of tons of copper ore stored in the warehouse of the Horseshoe Trading Company, the Chamber of Commerce bosses could not help but mourn for their colleagues for a second.
This is really miserable.
…
The Chamber of Commerce bosses and mine owners in Red River Town were in disagreement on how to deal with the relationship with the new alliance.
A similar scene was also staged in the parliament hall of Garbage City.
The congressmen quarreled over whether to establish diplomatic relations with the new alliance and what kind of diplomatic relations to establish.
Everything happened too suddenly.
A month ago, they were still discussing the issue of increasing armaments, how to deal with the crisis of the Bone Chewing Tribe moving south, and most importantly, how to persuade Boulder City to join the war.
And now, someone suddenly told them that Gold Fang was dead and the war was over.
This is undoubtedly a happy event...
But the powerful war potential shown by the new alliance made them feel a little more apprehensive while being delighted...
...
Outer city of Boulder City.
City Hall.
Looking at the report jointly submitted by several big business owners, the director of the city hall pinched his eyebrows with a headache.
"It seems that the situation in the northern suburbs may have exceeded our expectations... Although they are dealing with the Bone Chewing Tribe, it is hard not to worry about the speed of their armament expansion."
The secretary standing by said softly.
"Indeed, airplanes, cannons and rockets... Although they don't have tactical nuclear bombs, their power is not much different."
It is not necessarily high technology that can produce destructive effects.
A pound of iron and a pound of cotton are the same weight, and a sufficient amount of black gunpowder - even flour, can also produce daunting power.
Of course, he could see that what really worried the factory owners in the city was not the guns of the New Alliance, but the expanding productivity of the northern suburbs that was taking away their profits.
In Boulder City, the retail price of nutritional paste is 1~2 chips per kilogram, the wholesale price is 300~400 chips per ton, and the production cost is about 450.
But in Dawn City, this number is only 200 silver coins, and even the exchange rate of silver coins and chips is firmly locked at 2:1 by the New Alliance Bank.
Other products are fine, but nutritional paste has no technical content, no brand effect, and no quality difference. It is purely feed.
Now the entire Boulder City nutritional paste market has almost been taken away by the Didiwei brand nutritional paste.
The New Alliance not only manipulates the exchange rate, but also uses fiscal subsidies for industry and trade.
This is what the factory owners in Boulder City hate the most!
The director of the city hall thought for a long time.
"...We should indeed discuss security issues with them, and it just so happens that their battle is over."
The secretary said softly.
"There is very little we can do...I suggest reporting this to the Lord Mayor."
"Lord Mayor..."
The mayor of the city hall smiled bitterly.
That person doesn't care about these things at all.
Unless that group of blue jackets who don't play by the rules intervene in the affairs of the center of Qingquan City, or are involved in the affairs of enterprises and legions.
But this possibility is too small...
...
The news that the New Alliance liberated Xizhou City stirred up the situation in the southern part of the entire River Valley Province.
At this moment, the man in the center of the storm was following Yan Ya's footsteps and came to Jin Ya's "palace".
In fact, rather than a palace, it was simply a pigsty in Chu Guang's taste.
The ruins of the five-story villa were reinforced with wood and concrete, and the walls and gates were decorated with parts of people or aliens. There was even a head of a dead person on the front wall of the hall.
And in that head, there was a human head.
Even standing here, even wearing power armor, Chu Guang could still feel his SAN value dropping wildly.
However, Yan Ya, who was standing next to him, did not feel uncomfortable at all.
This also confirmed Chu Guang's idea that these predators were not human at all.
It is better not to manage them in the way of managing people...
"Golden Tooth lives in this kind of place?"
Yan Ya had a flattering smile on his face.
"This is his living room, his treasures are upstairs, please follow me, sir!"
As he said, he led Chu Guang and a group of guards to the upstairs of the villa and came to a door.
It seemed that the whole door had been widened to accommodate Golden Tooth's body size.
From the moment he stepped through the door, Chu Guang smelled a pungent odor and couldn't help frowning.
In front of him was a large bed with a width of 5 meters, and more than a dozen white bodies were tied here.
They were pretty, with curvy bodies, fair skin, and fine hair. They didn't look like survivors in the wasteland, but they didn't look like people in the shelter either.
From the bruises and scars and the stains on the floor, it's not hard to imagine what kind of torture they had suffered before.
And the fate of the slaves imprisoned in the dungeon is even more imaginable.
Looking at the people who appeared at the door, a trace of fear flashed in the girls' eyes, and the iron chains tied to their ankles made a clanging sound.
"... These are all high-end goods bought by Lord Jin Ya from the Free State of Bugera, which are different from those stinky slaves. Hehe, now they are all yours--" Feeling the murderous intent on the side, Yan Ya was frightened and immediately shut his mouth.
Chu Guang looked at him meaningfully, but didn't blame him for what Jin Ya did.
Looking at the guards next to him, Chu Guang said.
"Find them some clothes to wear."
The guards standing next to him stood at attention.
"Yes!"
After issuing a task and finding a few female players nearby to help, Chu Guang asked Yan Ya to take him to continue searching in the villa.
According to the information given by other prisoners, Jin Ya had obtained 2 million dinars from the Legion before, and the money was not all spent on weapons.
It would not cost so much to buy a dozen clone slaves, and Chu Guang wanted to find out what else this guy bought.
Came to the basement of the villa, which was converted into a warehouse.
Pulling the door lock off the door with a strong grip, Chu Guang pushed open the half-drooping iron door and walked in.
The area of the warehouse is not large, only about 50 or 60 square meters, and it is full of sundries.
What surprised Chu Guang was that among these sundries, there was a high-tech gadget.
After studying for a long time, he still couldn't figure out what the device was used for. Chu Guang could only take a few photos and call Yin Fang when he returned to the ground.
"I found some interesting things in Xizhou City. I have sent you the photos..."
"Help me see what that thing is now."
...
In the eastern part of Xizhou City, on a street full of concrete fragments and car wreckage.
Under the protection of the soldiers of the Third Corps, Ma Ban, Wu Chengyi and other high-ranking members of the resistance organization slowly walked out of the abandoned subway station entrance.
With the sun shining on his face, Wu Chengyi subconsciously raised his hand and squinted his eyes.
Looking at the familiar street in front of him, the tear glands of this man with a resolute face suddenly loosened.
Speaking of which, when was the last time he was bathed in the sun?
He couldn't remember it.
Yang Duo, who was standing next to him, was the same, and even his voice choked.
"The Ya Clan... those predators, were they really driven away?"
Ma Ban replied.
"To be precise, they were captured."
After a long silence, Yang Duo lowered his head and said softly.
"Thank you..."
"Even if you want to say thank you, you shouldn't say it to me. Go find those who deserve thanks... I was also one of those who were saved by them."
As he said that, Ma Ban showed a comforting smile on his face, and patted his arm with his hand, "Don't bow your head, go and call everyone up."
"The war is over."
Yang Duo went back to the subway
Not long after, the residents of Hope Town came out of the subway station with large and small bags.
Some people were empty-handed, as if they were planning to leave that dark day underground.
Of course, it may also be because they had nothing and really had nothing to carry with them.
Looking at the long-lost sunshine, people breathed in the air outside, and many people even shed tears and hugged each other and cried bitterly.
Looking at this scene in front of him, Ma Ban's heart was also a little throbbing, but he did not forget the work assigned to him by the manager.
There are still a lot of things waiting for him to do, and now is not the time to be sentimental.
After counting the number of people and confirming that no one was left behind, Ma Ban led the survivors to the southern suburbs of Xizhou City under the protection of the Third Corps.
There was a relatively open and flat open space next to the wreckage of the viaduct. Compared with the rat-infested urban area, it was relatively more suitable as a residential area for the new settlement.
The trenches and positions of the New Alliance were not far away, and the soldiers of the First Corps were standing on duty there.
Although the Ya Clan had been defeated, the threats in the wasteland were far more than just predators, and the alien species wandering around here also needed to be guarded against.
Seeing the flag of the New Alliance, the residents of Hope Town immediately swarmed up, surrounded the sentinels patrolling in front of the position, and asked anxiously.
"Where are those who were captured by the Bone Chewing Tribe? Are they here?"
"My father was captured by the Ya Clan and may be imprisoned in the plunderer's dungeon... Can you let me go over and take a look? He must be alive!"
"My wife and I are separated. Let me go to the dungeon and take a look... Please!"
The surrounded sentry didn't know what to do for a while.
Looking at the chaotic scene, Ma Ban, Wu Chengyi and others felt their scalps tingling and wanted to go up to maintain order, but the scene was in chaos and no one could hear his shouts.
Seeing that the situation on the scene was out of control, Wrench immediately stepped forward, turned on the speaker on the helmet, and shouted loudly to the crowd.
"Quiet!"
The noisy sound at the scene weakened a bit.
People subconsciously stopped making noise and looked at the man wearing an exoskeleton.
Seeing the head of the corps come out to take charge of the situation, the sentry surrounded by the residents finally breathed a sigh of relief and let go of his tense nerves.
Glancing at the survivors around him, Wrench continued in a loud voice.
"I know that many of you were separated from your loved ones in the chaos a year ago, and I understand your eagerness to reunite with your loved ones, but things have to be done step by step."
"The resistance of the Ya clan has basically ended, but there are still a few stubborn elements in the city who are resisting. I believe you don't want to fall at the last moment before dawn and become the target of those thugs' attacks, or even their rations."
The emotions of the survivors finally stabilized.
Wrench paused and continued in a soothing tone.
"... As long as your relatives are still alive, they will return to you soon. What you have to do now is to obey the arrangements, wait patiently, and build your home."
"How to celebrate the reunion is your own business. But before that, you must prepare a place for yourself and your family to shelter from the wind and rain."