It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 12 | This is just a twenty-year truce
What’s a bit nonsensical is that this chance encounter has made Shang Ke feel a little stronger about his belonging to this world.

He thought about many things and suddenly realized that he seemed too aimless since traveling through time. Maybe he should have more plans?

After returning to the base, he looked at the world map and thought about each one carefully.

From a geopolitical perspective, the European war in this world ended rather hastily.

In the last year of the European war, the long-awaited United States of America was ready to join the war, but the United States did not want to see America intervene in Europe to expand its influence, so it forced them to give up participating in the war by selling Alaska and using diplomatic pressure.

This directly led to the Marianna Republic, which was short of manpower and plagued by rebellions, being forced to reduce its war demands and relax its terms to negotiate peace with the Varland Empire. Meanwhile, Imperial Russia, or rather the Ivan Rus Empire, was crumbling due to the deadly uprising and was completely unable to continue the war.

With the signing of the peace treaty, the bloody European war came to a hasty end. Afterwards, the United Kingdom and the Marianna Republic joined forces to help the Ivan Rus Empire suppress the uprising.

For the Marianne Republic, they took back Alsace and Lorraine and divided up the German colonies.

As for the Varland Empire, they seized Lithuania and the entirety of western Poland, but lost their overseas colonies.

For the United States of America, they got Alaska at a good price.

As for Austria-Hungary, they fell apart. Hungary bore the heavy punishment for the war, but they fought hard with the help of Walland and had a better outcome.

The only complete loser in this war was the unfortunate Ivan Rus Empire, which paid millions of bloody casualties and gained nothing. Instead, they lost large tracts of land in Eastern Europe and were burdened with huge debts that they could not shirk.

What a pitiful peace!

Shang Ke couldn't help but sigh. It was hard to imagine how crazy revenge such a tragic ending would bring about, especially for people who regarded land as their lifeline.

Against this backdrop, the Ivan Rus people persevered, advancing industrialization at an astonishing pace. The recent economic crisis, in particular, provided a golden opportunity, allowing them to purchase large quantities of second-hand machinery and equipment from Americans at low prices.

More importantly, the United Kingdom and Ivan Rus, which had maintained a good relationship since the 19th century, became closer, and there was widespread suspicion that the two countries had signed a secret alliance.

The current situation worries both Vallander and Marianna. The people of Vallander are increasingly worried, and the people of Marianna are increasingly anxious. Some politicians are calling on both sides to put aside their differences and jointly resist the threat.

In Shangke's view, such a European situation is a powder keg that can explode at any time, and there is no possibility of compromise at all.

He immediately thought of a famous saying: This is not peace, it's just a twenty-year truce!

Fortunately, as the world's most populous and industrialized country, our country possesses absolutely strong hard power, which is even surpassed by the United States of America across the ocean.

However, the country also faces many problems, such as isolationism with Eastern characteristics, fierce party struggles, and the decline of military equipment, all of which need to be urgently addressed.

Among them, Shang Ke felt the same way about the disuse of military equipment. The Federal Armed Forces had not participated in a large-scale war for two generations. The last action was many years ago when they went to Southeast Asia to expel Dutch colonists. At that time, breech-loading rifled cannons were still advanced weapons, and smokeless powder rifles had just been invented.

Today, the size of the Federal Armed Forces has declined to a point where it is seriously disproportionate to the country's size.

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Excluding border defense units, the army has only 12 fully equipped regular divisions and 18 mobilized divisions that are mostly understaffed. The Army Aviation has about 1300 aircraft and only 44 active troops.

The navy is quite large, with a total tonnage of 118 million tons, including 13 battleships and 12 aircraft carriers. The naval aviation has about 820 aircraft.

In reality, the Grand Unified Federation simply disdains participating in the naval treaty, and naturally, there are no treaty restrictions. The navy is maintained at this size simply because the ruling Co-construction Federation believes it's sufficient, there's no need to waste money, and the financial focus should be on economic development. In other words, the Co-construction Federation has been happily farming behind closed doors.

After comprehensive thinking and evaluation, Shang Ke even lost his appetite for lunch.

People lack the painful historical lessons, so most people are still intoxicated in a comfortable greenhouse and content with the status quo, with a serious lack of sense of crisis.

This situation, which is so close to putting weapons into storage and letting horses go to the mountains, obviously cannot continue any longer. We must act immediately.

Shang Ke admitted that he was a bit playful, but he also believed that ability and responsibility were proportional, so he might have to put his idle enjoyment on hold for the time being.

Although his academic performance in his previous life was not very good, he believed that he would never disgrace the honor of that institution.

It's a pity that the tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop.

The Xijing Capital Special District has three secondary units - similar to the ancient counties, namely Chang'an Special County in the south, Xianyang Special County in the west, and Weiyang Special County in the north.

"What are you still doing here? Get out of here! Can you just turn away people when the prosecutor's office comes to inspect? It would be a disgrace if you couldn't keep your promise!"

Chang'an County Police Chief Yuan Dayuan became angry when he mentioned the case that happened a few nights ago.

It was only a few days away from a successful conclusion, but such a serious case happened on the eve of New Year's Day. The matter has inevitably been reported to the Special Administrative Region Police Department, which will leave an indelible fault on his brilliant past political achievements.

Detective Director Fan Defang, who had just taken office, saw this and took it to heart.

So who exactly caused this situation?

After leaving the office, Fan Defang in the corridor suddenly thought of the source of the disaster.

The last day of 1937.

In the morning, Xijing was greeted by falling snow, red decorations could be seen everywhere, and an atmosphere of relaxation and joy enveloped the entire city.

Shang Ke reviewed the disciplinary records of the entire division in the past two days, and then concentrated on reading the reference documents of the supernatural power unit whose confidentiality level had been reduced.

"That's what I said. If there's no countermeasure for such an incredible ability as vision enhancement, then we'd better not fight a war." He flipped through the pages, amazed.

At this time, the phone rang, and the staff at the division headquarters reminded him to go there on time at noon.

For the military, clear rewards and punishments are the most basic principle. Even though military spending is limited, the Federal Armed Forces still maintains good order and honor.

In any case, Shang Ke represented the 1st Mobile Division to the border, and his military exploits and promotion deserved public recognition. Coincidentally, the Military and Political Affairs Office also sent someone to deliver the long-awaited silver Border Guard Medal, so the division headquarters prepared a small celebration banquet for him.

But at this moment, two police cars stopped at the gate of the 1st Mobile Division Military Police Company’s base.

In response to the sentry's questioning, the visitor said righteously, "I am following the orders of Director Fan and request the chief officer of your department to cooperate in the investigation."

(End of this chapter)