Yes, Prime Minister of Japan

"Unfortunately, although the powerful figures in the four regions are different, they have all threatened us, demanding that we hand over the proceeds from the sale of grain. They believe this is a cruel exploitation of the Ukrainian people."

It can be said that they were surrounded from two sides.

The staff officers, officers, and administrative officials below began to express their discontent:

"Haha, isn't it because the Americans left, and we took money but not guns?"

A new player joined the Ukrainian PUBG tournament, but despite his high skill level, he brought no equipment.

"Those Russian bastards were willing to let us into Ukraine just for this day, weren't they? They know that once we get our hands on the land and minerals under the name of BlackRock Asset Management, we'll definitely clash with the local power factions in Ukraine."

Indeed, this is exactly what Putin, representing the Russian faction, means. In Ukraine, this wasteland battlefield, entry requires a bloody fight to break through; a successful fight would separate the EU from Russia and eliminate neo-Nazis and Tsarist elements.

But when it comes to war, everyone gets even angrier.

Turkey, that dog, is blocking the Bosphorus Strait and preventing weapons from entering the Black Sea, including those of the coalition forces.

"Damn it, I'll kill that bastard sooner or later."

Russia, citing "risk" as its pretext, is unwilling and unable to sell main battle tanks to Hu Zhantian, primarily because they cannot transport them. Small arms are possible to sell, but why not simply purchase secondhand weapons from smaller Balkan countries?

An advisor suddenly revealed the truth:

"Isn't it because Russia's Black Sea Fleet ships have all sunk, leaving them without control of the Black Sea?"

"Why are you speaking such obvious truths?"

The atmosphere was cheerful. Teasing Russia had become a daily occurrence for everyone since arriving in Ukraine.

Having easily finalized the plan to start the competition this winter, Hu Zhantian clapped his hands and greeted everyone:

"We need to discuss where we can get enough weapons to really slap the face off Kiev. I mean heavy weapons, tanks, artillery, and so on."

The unique advantage of the three East Asian countries lies in the fact that, although the level of enjoyment in education varies, the young men who emerge from these "study abroad" groups often possess both high academic qualifications and strong learning abilities. They are either science-oriented civil engineering or engineering graduates with considerable knowledge of infrastructure and industry, or adept at online learning, able to quickly acquire basic knowledge in a specific area.

This is a very precious and indispensable ability.

If you go out and find some young Ukrainians, they won't even know how to solve a basic elementary school equation, let alone restart the Odessa shipyard. All they'll do is steal power lines and traffic drugs. Over the past decade or so, Ukraine's education and social morality have shown signs of total collapse, rapidly degenerating into an Africanized state.

Everyone brainstormed and offered their ideas.

Someone suggested:

"The Odessa shipyard has several 3-ton dry docks. If it is restarted, we can consider using it to build coastal gunboats. For example, we can order a few 203mm naval guns from China and install them to shell Ukrainian cities that are not complying with orders in the coastal waters and on the Dnieper River. Currently, most of Ukraine's major cities are located on both banks of the Dnieper River, within the range of the guns."

"Navigation on the Dnieper River? Is that even possible...?"

Someone answered:

"Of course! The Soviet Union built six large reservoirs and lowered the navigable draft of the rivers to 3.6 meters. Many sections of the rivers are now as wide as the Yangtze River."

As a river with a relatively small elevation difference, the Dnieper River is navigable through the upgrading of dams, and its draft of 3.6 meters allows small gunboats of up to 1,000 tons to pass through unimpeded.

This is tantamount to reviving shallow-water heavy gunboats in the 21st century.

But Hu Zhantian, who specialized in tanks, still hoped to acquire a tank:

"What about our most important heavy armored forces? On a vast plain like Ukraine, not having tanks is like running naked in the middle of the night."

someone said:

"How about we collect trash? We can open our own tank repair shop, buy some scrap metal and secondhand parts and fix them up."

That's a good idea. There are junk tanks and infantry fighting vehicles everywhere in Ukraine; setting up repair shops to scavenge for them is one approach.

Some people have also suggested:

"How about we buy it from Romania?"

Hu Zhantian immediately asked:

"How to say?"

Everyone is searching for various intelligence summaries, and the following information about Romania has been compiled:

"Romania has 54 American-made M1 Abrams main battle tanks hidden in its military warehouses, which they acquired for $25.3 billion. But as you know, the Americans didn't provide them with any maintenance capabilities for these tanks. These things have been out of service since the economic crisis. The funds from this year's grain sales have all been transferred back to us by the boss, and we now have more than 2 trillion yen in floating assets."

M1... You Lin is not Lin Mei, I am empty, you Lin is here, not here...

It's good, but the main problem is that it's expensive.

Even if you take a used, rusty tank home and fix it yourself, the price of an M1 main battle tank is still quite painful.

After deliberation, the General Staff concluded that:

"It's worth a try, but the success rate is low. And the price is definitely not right."

Like many of its neighboring countries, Romania's politics are in a state of great turmoil. The current president, Nicušão Dan, a two-time Olympiad winner, is embroiled in conflict with his consistently unstable prime minister and cabinet. President Dan is an extreme pro-EU figure, constantly considering the EU's stance, while his ruling coalition cabinet contains both the left-wing Communist Party of Romania and the right-wing National Liberal Party. The establishment on both sides stands in opposition to the far-right populist Romanians' Solidarity Alliance.

It's easy to imagine how difficult it must be for Romania to maintain its national stability if the United States has become like this under such a populist wave.

After some research, everyone proposed:

"If you think it's a bad deal, Romania also has TR85 tanks, which are really cheap. You could probably get a used one for a few hundred thousand US dollars."

The so-called TR85 main battle tank is essentially a redesigned version of the famous T55 (Type 59 tank) by the Romanians. It features the power components of the Leopard 1 tank and a German V8 engine, and also includes a redesigned suspension, armor, and a Leopard 1-style upgrade to the gun's sighting system.

It can be said that this is a Leopard tank with one and a half guns, retaining the original Type 59 gun. Although the 100mm main gun of the Type 59 was not replaced, the modern sighting and electro-optical system has given this old gun a new lease on life. Romania has more than two hundred of these upgraded Type 59 tanks.

The General Staff concluded that purchasing tanks from neighboring Romania was the best option at the moment. Firstly, the quality was guaranteed, and secondly, the delivery speed was fast, unlike picking up scraps and piecing them together piece by piece.

"I'll provide the money, you sell the goods, there's no risk in our deal."

So they went to Manager Alex to discuss and arrange the procurement.

After hearing the results of the European Command's discussion, Manager Alex stared at these people with the look of someone who was looking at idiots:

"Are you all idiots? Why are you going to the Romanian government?"

Everyone was dumbfounded:

"Ok?"

"Wait, I'll go find a channel for you."

When it comes to smuggling and reselling, the Slavs are genuinely experienced and have many connections.

Manager Alex skillfully went south to inquire.

The tanks the US sold to Romania are now piled up in Constantine, the country's largest port, not far south of Odessa. This is because Romania hasn't paid the remaining balance, and its military budget is insufficient to support these expensive vessels.

Buying things from the Romanian military is simply not cost-effective.

In the style of Eastern Europeans, they would just go directly to the warehouse manager at the port.

The warehouse manager doesn't know anything; he just pays for the goods.

After a brief conversation, using the pretext of needing to buy and sell some sensitive goods, the warehouse management staff of Port Constantine all fell for it, demanding that Alex provide immigration funds ranging from $300 million to $1000 million, allowing them to flee with their families to a better country afterward, such as Australia.

Of course, it wasn't just the warehouse manager at the Port of Constantine; Alex bribed local gangsters and politicians who acted as his political protectors, one after another. He simply used the excuse that "a shipment of sensitive Chinese goods needs to be sold to Germany and some facilitation is required," and in doing so, he spent tens of millions of dollars.

After securing this connection, Manager Alex returned to Odessa and showcased his achievements:

"How about this? If you were to buy it from the Romanian army, they might ask for billions of dollars. But now you can get it for less than $2 million."

Everyone was shocked.

This isn't buying; it's robbing state-owned assets!

But Manager Alex doesn't think so:

"No, no, no, buying goods directly from warehouses is a routine business activity that started after the collapse of the Soviet Union."

What belongs to the state is mine; what's in the state warehouse belongs to the people. Taking directly from the state warehouse was common practice for people in Eastern European countries after dramatic changes. So what's wrong with me taking some goods from Romania's state warehouse?

Old Hu was even more shocked by the trauma following the social collapse in Eastern Europe.

Is there really such a thing as a zero-yuan purchase?

Hu Zhantian, with some skepticism, dispatched several cargo ships to the port of Constantine.

With the US dollar as the go-ahead, the local warehouse manager happily opened the warehouse and let them find the products they wanted to 'take'.

So the coalition staff opened the tank depot. Inside, 54 M1A2 SEPV3 Abrams main battle tanks stood quietly, followed by a large number of ammunition, supply, engineering, and bridging vehicles as complimentary items.

According to the US main battle tank improvement program, these 54 expensive tanks, each costing more than silver of the same weight, are the most advanced new main battle tanks under the US upgrade program. Whether it is electronic warfare systems, armor, active protection, data links, or infrared thermal imagers, they all belong to the highest combat capabilities under the US combat system.

"Load up the goods!"

Everyone rushed to inspect the tanks, and tow trucks came to haul them onto the cargo ship.

Alex was responsible for taking the alcohol to get the warehouse manager drunk, which easily solved the supervision problem.

The next day, the tanks and ammunition in the warehouse were all removed, leaving only an empty warehouse and piles of US dollars.

When the port workers discovered that the warehouse where the Abrams tanks were stored had been completely emptied, they finally realized something was wrong and that they had been tricked.

Enraged, they called Alex to hurl insults, but Alex sent them a mass email with Australian immigration visas and thoughtfully advised, "Run now, or you'll face the death penalty if you get caught."

They had no choice but to run away together.

To make it appear as if they were fleeing, they simply killed several refugees and threw their bodies into the fire.

The only option left is to set a large fire.

A massive fire in the Port of Constantine reduced thousands of containers, hundreds of thousands of goods, and more than a dozen important warehouses to ashes.

The fire burned for several days.

The Romanian National Defense Forces then discovered that their tanks had vanished in the fire.

However, they couldn't openly make their stance clear, since the budget they had spent was protection money paid to the United States. Now that the United States was no longer effective and the Romanian government was cutting military spending, they might as well go with the flow and continue to demand new supplies.

"We demand new tanks, and we'll sell the used ones to the Chinese." The Romanian Ministry of Defense put forward a tank replacement plan.

Because the coalition forces that stole the Abrams tanks openly submitted a plan to the Romanian National Defense Forces to purchase their M1 and TR85 tanks, as well as Piranha infantry fighting vehicles. Unfortunately, the M1s had already been burned, but there were still many TR85 tanks available for sale.

The coalition offered a good price: $200 million per tank and $50 per infantry fighting vehicle. After all, they were all second-hand goods.

"Tanks? What tanks? What kind of tanks are they?"

The Romanian Chamber of Deputies reviewed the list of casualties from the Constantine fire and that was the end of it.

Romania's purchase of M1 Abrams tanks originated in 2023, after years of delays in the United States before finally arriving at the port of Constantine. Since then, Romania has been embroiled in a bitter political struggle between the establishment and populists, as well as a fierce battle over military spending cuts, resulting in several cabinet collapses and four changes of the Minister of Defense and Chief of the General Staff.

Most politicians have already forgotten about this...

……

As the Romanian tanks were being pulled back, both overtly and covertly, fires began to rage in Ukraine.

In a Christian society, problems and conflicts are naturally ignited first by religion.

Sectarian conflict.

The Church of the Eastern Ukraine, established in Odessa Oblast, clashed with the Central Patriarchate of Kyiv over which denominational rites to follow.

Naturally, the Patriarch of Kyiv demanded that the Eastern Church pledge allegiance to the Kyiv Patriarchate of Ukraine and reject the Moscow Patriarchate.

In Ukraine, about 30% of churches are Kyiv Churches, about 25% are Moscow Churches, and about 30% of Orthodox churches are autonomous and do not submit to any one authority.

"No!"

Father Ivan resolutely rejected this extortionate demand. Because if they joined the Kiev sect, their small church would have to accept guidance from priests sent from there.

This wasn't a big deal.

However, it became a hot topic in Kyiv, with the Odessa warlord and the newly emerged Eastern church being called a "new era of Tatar invasion." Fanatical Nazis from other parts of Ukraine crossed the border in an attempt to stir up trouble on the edge of the Odessa region.

From October to November, conflicts continued along the state border.

Finally, someone died.

A Ukrainian woman who had joined the Church of the East and been assigned a marriage was attacked by thugs who crossed the border and hanged herself at an intersection in Dobroslav, northeast of Odessa.

When the European Command arrived at the scene in a Btr infantry fighting vehicle that had been salvaged and repaired from scrap, they were filled with a heavy feeling as they looked at the lonely figure hanging from the tree and the other believers surrounding it.

The flight of American forces, the transfer of assets by asset management companies, and the export of 400 million tons of wheat are all sparks that ignite a powder keg in Ukraine that was bound to explode sooner or later.

Hu Zhantian sent Li Xinghe a very brief telegram:

"War is the smell of gunpowder."

The nationwide PUBG tournament in Ukraine is about to begin.

Chapter 968: The EU Freezes to Death, Soviet-Style Religious Holy War (3900 words)