Chapter 963: Attacks, Countermeasures, and Supply Cutoffs

There must be people nearby.

This method of blocking the road has been passed down in the human world for who knows how long.

From the days when transportation was inconvenient and there were no internal combustion engine vehicles, back when people were still using horse-drawn carriages, this method already existed.

Not everything is like science and technology, where the more advanced it is, the better it works.

For things like this, the old, traditional, yet still functional methods are often the simplest and most efficient.

Some scientists once claimed that using artificial toys to satisfy personal physiological needs was a moral and spiritual advancement, but people still use the most primitive way to solve it.

Just like these large tree trunks in front of them; if you want to pass, you must find a way to move the things on the road.

There are several huge logs, and it looks like trying to push them away slowly with a vehicle won't work either.

These trunks are intertwined; unless you apply the force of a collision, it's hard to knock them all away at once, so in the end, they have to get out.

As long as the people leave the vehicles and come outside, those people's scheme will have succeeded.

This is a blatant conspiracy, but it is also the most effective one. Judging whether a scheme is good or not isn't about how complex it is, but whether it works.

The transport team on the road remained in a strange state; they neither continued forward nor got out to move the roadblock, each person gripping their weapon tightly, wary of everything in the surrounding wilderness.

It wasn't that they didn't want to get off the road and bypass the obstacle, but they truly couldn't.

Whether in the Federation or Lapa, roads outside city limits are often higher than the surrounding ground.

This is to prevent rainwater from accumulating on the road and damaging it during rainy days.

Even to give the road better drainage, there is only a vertical drop between the road and the ground, not a slope, so that water penetrating into the road can flow out directly from the edge.

This leads to a common situation where the ground on both sides of the road becomes soft due to rainwater erosion and other reasons.

Once a vehicle drives onto it—especially a transport truck fully loaded with heavy supplies—there is a high probability it will sink deep into the mud on the roadside.

If the tires get stuck or slip, things will become even more troublesome.

After all, to pull a fully loaded truck out of soft mud, the first thing they would have to do is unload the cargo, which is too time-consuming.

In short, besides turning back, if they want to continue forward, someone must get out of the vehicle and move the trees.

After "silence" for about seven or eight minutes, the transport team's officer ordered the soldiers to get out and move the trunks, and the soldiers looked full of resistance.

The probability of becoming a target while exposed outside the vehicle is much higher than being inside, and in this environment—the wilderness—there is nothing that can provide protection.

If there really are people, and they really want to keep them there, then they will definitely be shot into a sieve.

But an order is an order, and no one is allowed to resist; if they resist, then an order is no longer an order.

More than a dozen soldiers got out of the vehicles, nervously holding their weapons and observing the surrounding wilderness; everything around looked extremely quiet.

It was precisely this quietness that made them feel something was wrong.

Now that the arrow is on the string, whether they do it or not, they have no choice.

Several people, carrying their weapons, came to the side of the trunks and tried to lift them, but they underestimated these logs.

These trunks looked at most a little over a foot in diameter, as if three or five people could lift them, but in actual operation, seven or eight people couldn't lift a single one.

They had to seek help from more people.

After a brief consideration, the officer ordered everyone to get out, with some people moving the cargo and others keeping watch.

Just as that group of people stood by the trunks, found a point to apply force, and began shouting slogans together to try to lift the logs, the sound of submachine gun fire erupted.

Some anti-government militants, covered in camouflage and crawling in the bushes on both sides of the road, suddenly stood up and fired wildly at the soldiers. The officer immediately lit a signal flare while ordering the accompanying telegraph to start working.

The telegraph operator at the front line began recording the telegrams urgently the moment they heard the "di-di-di-di" sound.

They were using plain-text telegrams, so there was no need to decrypt them.

When he handed the note saying "Transport team under attack, location at..." to the front-line officer, the officer immediately issued an order for assistance.

The anti-government armed forces in this city had been cleared out almost completely. In fact, he also knew that these rebels in the city were not those real anti-government armed forces.

In this small city of only over 100,000 people, several gangs were entrenched.

Although Lapa is poor, there are still gangs here.

After the chaos arrived, these gangs had some crooked ideas; they claimed to be anti-government armed forces, directly overturned the city's order, and then looted the city's wealth.

These people didn't have many firearms or weapons at all, and dealing with them was like dealing with ordinary people who wouldn't listen—there was no difficulty at all.

Now, those people are still hanging on the execution racks in several squares in the city, swaying constantly in the wind.

The officer and the soldiers also gained some benefits from this battle, so the soldiers and the officer were very enthusiastic about the work of "suppressing bandits."

Now they need to go to further places and larger cities, so they need more supplies and equipment, mainly food and ammunition.

They could think of other ways if they lacked ammunition, but they absolutely could not go without food.

These soldiers would mutiny; this time Diego recruited so many soldiers by relying on his policy of "as long as you join the army, you can eat your fill."

If these soldiers are not fed, they will definitely cause trouble.

Once the army is unstable, a terrible situation could arise: mutiny, or even treason!

The officer found a regiment commander, let him arrange it himself, and dispatched a portion of the soldiers to the scene to solve the problem.

He never thought this was a problem, until more than an hour later.

A large group of soldiers who fled back told him that on the way to support the transport team, they encountered an ambush and suffered heavy casualties.

This was clearly a premeditated and planned attack and ambush!

They didn't know what was happening outside the city, and after requesting instructions from higher authorities, the officer did not dispatch again but waited for new orders on the spot.

When new reinforcements set out from Zhuolan and arrived at the scene three or four hours later, besides a ground full of shell casings, blood, and some burned corpses, there was nothing else left...

This matter was quickly fed back to the Presidential Palace in Lapa, and Diego couldn't help but show a frustrated expression upon hearing it.

Ever since the Federation set its sights on the Xiang Yalan region, the troubles here have become more and more frequent!

He even had the idea of wanting to go to the Federation to study.

At least after defecting to the Federation, he wouldn't have to be as frustrated as he is now.

He wanted to reach out and pull his own hair, but in the end, he gave up.

Seeing President Diego so miserable, Fernandez said, "There are their people in the Presidential Palace, or rather... there are their people in the Ministry of Defense."

When saying this, Fernandez felt a hint of... awkwardness that he couldn't describe.

After coming to Lapa and intervening in the government's work here, he realized how terrible the situation here was.

Previously, Diego only held an army of over 30,000 people; the so-called Ministry of Defense and military were actually just for show!

They had no training plans, no logistical support, never studied strategy or tactics, and didn't even know how to fight a battle or a war.

Perhaps rushing up in a swarm and firing while holding weapons high was their tactic.

Their daily business was sitting together chatting, or going out together to enjoy themselves, shopping, and visiting brothels.

He was talking about the officers here.

They were too lax; they were able to become generals and officers not because they were outstanding, but purely because they had gained Diego's trust.

But even under such circumstances, there were traitors within the military, which he hadn't expected.

Diego didn't react at first, but soon he realized what Fernandez was saying; he held his head with both hands, and a hint of pain appeared on his face.

Bloodshot eyes climbed into his eyes. "What makes you say that?" Fernandez threw the simple report back onto the table; their officers couldn't even write reports, and these reports were written by officers he brought back from Jiede.

It briefly described what happened, the situation at the scene, and the officer's handling method.

Everything was appropriate; a new batch of supplies had begun to be transported, and this time more soldiers were arranged to go together.

Diego wanted to know if Fernandez had any thoughts on the group that attacked the transport team, but Fernandez told him that there were anti-government armed people in the Presidential Palace or the military.

Fernandez shook his head. "These don't need evidence, Mr. President."

"What the transport team was carrying, where it was being transported from and to, as well as when, and how many people were escorting it—these were all kept confidential from the outside; only people on the inside knew."

"Military personnel, some people in the Presidential Palace, but look, those anti-government armed forces might have known their transport route and time even earlier than the soldiers in this operation. Do you still think this was just an accident?"

Fernandez shook his head. "This was not an accident!"

Diego listened to his explanation, not knowing what he was thinking.

After a long while, he asked, "Have you encountered such problems during your development process?"

Fernandez nodded. "Jiede also had such a period, and we solved all the problems very well."

The Republic of Jiede also had a very fierce ideological competition before, because the current president and the former president wanted to fully learn from the Federation's social system and decentralize the power held tightly by the privileged and ruling classes.

This harmed the interests of some people, so similar things happened in the country, but it wasn't as serious as Lapa is now.

In the end, the president's side defeated the other side, determined the reform plan for the Republic of Jiede, and in a sense, achieved "greatness."

So when talking about this aspect, Fernandez indeed seemed to have a lot of experience.

"The most important thing now is to find the turncoats hiding in the Presidential Palace and the military as much as possible."

"Especially some very key departments, such as the Presidential Secretary's Office; those you think you can trust must all be screened."

"If they always grasp our specific movements, then I can only say that even if the best general comes to command this battle, the final result will be the same."

"When we are blindfolded and fighting them, our opponents are competing with us with their eyes open."

"In a boxing ring, a blind person can never beat an opponent who has no bottom line and good eyesight."

"Even if this blind person was once a professional boxer."

"Even if his opponent is just an amateur boxer."

Diego had already understood; he rubbed his temples. During this period, those who went to the Federation for study and inspection were basically people who had already defected to the Federation.

The reason for not dealing with them now is to avoid greater internal chaos.

These people are not just simple individuals; they often represent some forces. If they are dealt with now, it is very likely that the forces behind them will be forced to stand with the anti-government armed forces.

So Fernandez's suggestion to him is to temporarily not move these people, and wait until the civil war achieves phased victory before taking it step by step.

But now it seems that not dealing with them won't work.

They all know that it looks like an incident of anti-government armed forces looting a government transport team, but in reality, it has a very direct relationship with the Federation people behind them.

If there were no Federation people, let alone a civil war, these anti-government armed forces wouldn't even exist.

Diego asked, "What do you plan to do?"

"Kill them?"

Fernandez shook his head. "No, it can't be that intense. Find a way to give them something to do so they don't have the opportunity to continue caring about our work."

"This way, it won't cause them excessive resentment, leading to internal chaos at the high level, and it can solve our current problems."

Just as he was saying these words to Diego, the phone suddenly rang.

"Sorry, let me take a call."

This is Fernandez's office; he invited Diego over because he needs Diego's authorization to start rectifying the Presidential Palace.

Diego is an emotional person, and these people in the Presidential Palace are all people he trusts.

When he can trust these people, he will show that kind of unconditional trust, as if he doesn't believe these people can hurt him.

For example, Gomez; so many of his funds and projects were completed through Gomez. When he didn't doubt Gomez, he gave Gomez complete trust.

But once he starts to doubt, he will find ways to kill all these people, as long as he can prove that these people have really done something to betray him.

So rectifying the Presidential Palace might touch on some of Diego's more sensitive emotions, giving him an illusion—

Is Fernandez doing this with some purpose? So he must explain it clearly to Diego.

Diego nodded; he didn't leave either, just sat there, watching Fernandez answer the phone.

He is the supreme ruler of this country; he doesn't think there are any secrets that need to be kept from him.

Fernandez looked at Diego twice more, sighing that being born well is indeed a technical skill.

Then he focused his attention on the content in the receiver.

The call was from Jiede, and the other party told him a very important thing.

Effective immediately, the Federation will no longer sell standard-specification bullets to the Xiang Yalan region, but will instead sell bullets with smaller calibers.

In other words, now all weapons in Xiang Yalan can no longer obtain matching ammunition from the Federation.

"When did this happen?" he asked in a low voice.

The voice in the receiver was a bit panicked. "It was rumored a few days ago, but today the federal government officially implemented this policy."

Fernandez took a deep breath, his face full of discomfort.

He didn't find it surprising, because this is the meaning of technological monopoly, and this is one of the reasons why the Federation invests so much money in science and technology every year.

Once unpleasant things happen, they can directly cut off supply to increase pressure, or even improve their own war potential.

"How is it being discussed in the office?" He couldn't help but take out a cigarette and looked at President Diego again.

President Diego was also looking at him, which made him feel a bit awkward all of a sudden; he could only force a smile and then turn his head to look elsewhere.

"Mr. President has already gathered experts in domestic industry and is discussing the possibility of us producing our own bullets."

Fernandez sighed when he heard this. "Alright, I know. Call me anytime if there is further news."

Although he is not in Jiede, he knows that this discussion will not have any positive results.

They can't produce them.

Diego saw him hang up the phone and asked curiously, "You look very frustrated."

Fernandez suddenly didn't know how to talk to Diego. Arming 200,000 soldiers sounds like a very simple thing.

First find 200,000 people, then give them full equipment, weapons, ammunition, and then send them to the battlefield after simple training.

But in fact, it's not that simple.

Even if everyone only fired one shot, that's 200,000 bullets.

On the battlefield, soldiers can't just fire one shot; it's very likely that they could use tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of bullets in a single battle.

Lapa's ammunition reserves are actually not very large; once the battle becomes intense, their bullets will soon be exhausted.

At that time, how will they fight the anti-government armed forces?

The Federation people will definitely continue to transport standard-specification bullets to the anti-government armed forces. Thinking of this, Fernandez suddenly had the same painful and frustrated expression that Diego had just now.

Why must the Federation people target this land?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 964 =====