Armor-piercing bullets don't believe in carbon-based monsters

Chapter 132: No-cost Business

Combat reconnaissance is a long and complex process.

Even with the help of drones, even though the enemy's various arrangements and dispatches are almost transparent to Chen Jian's team, it still takes time to collect enough effective intelligence.

After all, the power disparity between the two sides is too great.

If Chen Jian wants to fight a beautiful annihilation war, he must maximize his information advantage.

Not only is the information about the terrifying demons in the Anqing ruins important, but the information from the outside is equally important.

What is the attitude of the surrounding forces towards them, do they have any means to deal with them, can they be mobilized, will they participate in the war, and can they provide logistical assistance?
These are all problems.

Even if only one factor changes, it may greatly affect Chen Jian's deployment.

Therefore, in order to collect as much intelligence as possible, he made a step-by-step deployment.

Shen Yue, Lei Jie, Xie Liu and Li Shi stayed where they were to ambush, observe and guard, while the rest of the personnel followed him to Anqing City to conduct infiltration and reconnaissance.

The few people who were lurking and observing were fine. They just needed to stay and fly the drone honestly. When there was a chance, they could try to get closer and get as much intelligence as possible.

But for Chen Jian, he has more issues to consider.

Infiltration and reconnaissance must first ensure concealment, so they cannot carry overly exaggerated equipment.

Exoskeletons certainly cannot be worn, cat cars are even more prohibited, and relatively unfamiliar guns and weapons must also be concealed.

This alone poses a huge challenge to the safety of the team.

However, at this time, Ji Xing's role as the source of blood came into play.

She assured Chen Jian that she could ensure safety to the greatest extent possible, and if any unexpected situation occurred, she could stay behind to cover Chen Jian's evacuation.

Chen Jian was skeptical about her assurance. He believed that if the situation really became extreme, Ji Xing would definitely abandon them.

But in any case, having an unreliable insurance is better than having no insurance at all.

If it really doesn't work, revealing my identity at that time may be able to deter potential enemies.

After all, as long as they cannot destroy all the Chinese troops at once, it is equivalent to not being able to destroy the Chinese army.

The threat of nuclear weapons is still fresh in people's minds. No one is willing to take the risk.
Everything was planned, and after a night's rest, Chen Jian led the team on foot towards Anqing City.

Anqing City was 20 kilometers away. Their route went all the way east. They took their first rest after 10 kilometers and then turned northeast.

Caravans often pass by this section of road, and since it is paved, the travel speed is not slow.

Nearing 12 noon, several people had already seen black smoke rising from Anqing City from afar.

Chen Jian raised the telescope, observed for a while and said:

"Like the smoke from an iron blast furnace. Have any of you ever been to Anqing City? What does it look like inside?"

Hearing his words, Zeng Yi replied:
"Anyone who has traveled this route from north to south must have visited Anqing, which is one of the most important nodes on the Yangtze River waterway."

"Although the permanent population is not large, only about 4000, the resources here are very rich, and there are many merchants, so the actual population here should be able to reach 6000 people."

"These people have developed quite good technology, especially in iron smelting and casting, which are among the best in several major cities."

"The Mechanicus has set up a foundry here. According to them, more than 100 artillery pieces of various types can be cast here for the Mechanicus every year."

"But, strangely enough, people here don't live very well."

"In a sense, it's even worse than Hanshui City."

"why?"

Chen Jian asked curiously:

"With such a developed industry, the productivity level should not be low. Even if agriculture is underdeveloped, we can still have enough food just by barter trade, right?"

"Hanshui City is just barely better than having enough food. Anqing is not even as good as Hanshui City?"

"Yes."

Before Zeng Yi could answer, Ji Xing interrupted and said:
"No one would let the workers in the foundry have enough food. Maybe when Anqing City was just established and the Mechanicus just arrived, they did have a good time."

“But these good times are coming to an end soon.”

"The Mechanicus needs workers. They need professional workers who can work at full capacity, not amateur workers who own their own fields and only work in workshops when they don't need to farm."

"So if it were you, what would you do?"

Chen Jian was silent.

After a moment, he answered:

“Try to keep workers’ wages as low as possible, exploit their surplus value, curb workers’ wealth accumulation, and freeze labor mobility.”

"You know it very well."

Ji Xing nodded and said:
“I don’t know what you mean by surplus value, but that’s probably what you mean.”

"This world is so big, and there are unowned lands everywhere. Even if monsters are rampant, it is not that difficult to find a relatively safe territory."

"But it costs money to cultivate the land, and you have to be prepared to survive without any food harvest for at least a year."

"How could the Adeptus Mechanicus allow this to happen?"

“In reality, the workers in the workshops here are paid barely enough to support themselves and maybe one child.”

“And their wives, too, have to hold a job.”

"The city of Anqing was built on this basis. It's cruel, isn't it?"

"But the most ironic thing is that although this way of operation is cruel, it is quite efficient."

"Through such means, the Mechanicus developed into the most powerful organization in the world in a relatively short period of time, even surpassing the Holy Blood Temple, which was once the overlord."

"No one can escape this curse, and perhaps Yellowstone City will become like this in the future."

"We won't."

Chen Jian shook his head and said:
“We have our own way to end this cycle.”

"any solution?"

Jisung asked curiously.

"As long as the efficiency gains brought about by technological growth are greater than the efficiency losses caused by the loss of labor, all the lost labor will be transformed into a driving force for development."

"They need 2000 men to cast 100 guns in a year. What if we only need 200 men?"

“The remaining 1800 people can do other things.”

"This is called... technology liberating productivity."

".But what you said, no one can do it."

After Ji Xing finished speaking, Chen Jian smiled.

"I'm not sure if it can be done in our world."

"At least until we can do that, we're going to have to go through a pretty painful and long struggle."

“But in this world, I have confidence.”

“Where does your confidence come from?”

Jixing asked.

Her tone was no longer entirely questioning, but inquiring.

From Chen Jian's words, she could indeed sense the arrogant and even extreme self-confidence. He really felt that he could do it, and it was not just "feeling", it was as if he really had evidence to prove it.
Chen Jian did not answer her question, but just said:

"Anyway, if you want to watch it, just keep watching."

"We will give you a satisfactory result."

"Understood"

Ji Xing nodded thoughtfully, and after a moment of silence, he asked again:

"So, you have designed a more advanced set of rules to manage the residents under your rule?"

"Do you think such advanced rules can exist in this world?"

“It can’t exist for a long time, but in the short term, it can burst out with great power - in fact, I can use a simpler example to make you understand this.”

Chen Jian paused, then said:

"For example, when you only need 100 grams of gold, you can only buy weapons worth 100 grams of gold."

"But if you borrow a treasure worth 1000 grams of gold from somewhere, you can buy items worth 1000 grams of gold."

"It's the same for us, except that what we borrow is not gold, but productivity."

".I think I understand."

Ji Xing nodded first, then shook his head and said:
"You have to return everything you borrow. When the time comes to repay the price, what are you going to do?"

"What a joke! I already have so many weapons, why should I pay you back?"

Ji Xing was stunned.

She looked at Chen Jian with a mixture of laughter and tears, and suddenly felt that he was not as serious and rigid as she had originally imagined.

After all, they are also human beings.

Ji Xing let out a long sigh and said with emotion:

"This is the first time I've heard someone explain his plan in this way, to be honest, it's very interesting."

“Perhaps we can continue to cooperate after we find a way to enter the mountain city.”

"Because I really want to see how far you can go."

"You should first look at what is in front of you - we have arrived at Anqing."

Chen Jian pointed to the building that appeared in front of him, and then said:
"Since you are all familiar with Anqing, you will take the lead this time."

"First find a place to settle down, and then proceed with our plan."

"Zeng Yi will be the leader, and Ji Xing will assist."

"Understood - but what's the plan?"

Zeng Yi asked.

"Reconnaissance, investigation, spreading of information, testing and feedback."

“The specific details will be determined after we settle down.”

"clear."

Zeng Yi did not ask any more questions, and the group successfully entered the city as merchants. Then they followed Zeng Yi and prepared to check into a hostel specially prepared for merchants.

Chen Jian and He Shuo walked quietly behind the two Holy Bloods, carefully observing their surroundings and collecting all the information they could.

After observing for a while, Chen Jian said:
"The armed forces of Anqing City should be much stronger than those of Hanshui City."

“Although Hanshui City can mobilize a team of nearly a thousand people, most of them are logistics personnel, or what they call artillery priests and machine servants.”

"Those characters are not full-time combatants, but more like 'government soldiers'."

"But Anqing is different. The number of patrolling city defense personnel alone is much higher than that of Hanshui City."

"These people must be full-time workers. Their weapons are also much stronger than those of the Hanshui City Defense Team."

"Based on this calculation, the entire Anqing City should be able to mobilize a combat team of more than a thousand people."

"Although it may not be able to hold back 4000 Terror Demons in a head-on battle, it is definitely enough to serve as a support."

“But only if they are willing to go to war.”

He Shuo looked at the residents walking through the city whose skin was generally stained with black ash, and said:
"The Mechanicus may not have the motivation to take the initiative to fight. 1000 combatants cannot defeat 4000 Terrors in a field battle, but they are more than enough in a city defense battle."

"Instead of actively seeking a war of annihilation, they might as well stay put."

"What's the word? Deterrence?"

"In short, to get them to join the war, there must be a strong enough motivation."

"And now. It seems we haven't yet."

"So we have to release the intelligence about Huadu first to test their reaction."

Chen Jian followed Zeng Yi into the hotel. The owner simply recorded the information of several people and then quickly arranged the rooms for them.

Although the conditions here are not as good as the single-family house they lived in in Hanshui City, they are much better than Xiama Town.

There is even a special room next to the lobby of the hostel, which contains a radio for external communications for use by businessmen passing by.

However, this thing is expensive. The startup fee alone costs 10 grams of gold, and it is charged by the minute, which means another 10 grams of gold per minute. Unless the situation is really urgent, I guess no one would be willing to use this thing.
-
Of course Chen Jian didn't know how to use it. Although the power of the radio they carried was only 50 watts, it was completely sufficient.

There are very few radio signals in this world, and the ionosphere is extremely clean. Let alone 50 watts, if you are lucky, a 10-watt radio station can transmit the signal 1000 kilometers away.

Perhaps this is why radio equipment has been passed down in this world.

Because this thing is really useful.

After simply putting down his equipment and luggage, Chen Jian breathed a sigh of relief, turned on the radio to contact Shen Yue and others who stayed behind, and then switched to the frequency band where Wang Lizi of the Yuanhuan Chamber of Commerce was located, intending to explain the latest information about the Anqing ruins to them and raise the price by the way.

But at the same time the channel was connected, he received a call from Wang Lizi.

It was obvious that they had already been trying to establish contact with their side.

Chen Jian's heart suddenly skipped a beat. At this moment, he suddenly had a premonition like an intuition.

These circle merchants may have known about the situation in Anqing for a long time.

Chen Jian had no evidence to prove his guess. Of course, it was also possible that logic had not yet caught up with him and his intuition led him to call the police first.

But he did not expose himself. Instead, he calmly exchanged information with the other party and informed them of the progress.

After receiving his message, just as Chen Jian had guessed, the Ring Merchant immediately arranged a meeting.

"Our people will arrive in Anqing City in two hours. We will contact you then."

"We will discuss the details later."

"If the situation is as serious as you say, we can consider deepening our cooperation."

"clear."

Chen Jian answered briefly and cut off the frequency.

Then, he exhaled lightly and said to the people waiting around him:
"The minds of these ring merchants are not that simple."

"Whatever they are planning, we have to be prepared."

"We have to cooperate with them, but we must not let them take advantage of us!"

(End of this chapter)