Chapter Forty-six

  On January 18, the world was shocked when news broke out that Longwei had taken over Rugel, a major city in eastern Xizhou, in just three days. The Green Empire and the English Empire issued a joint statement strongly condemning Longwei's actions as a brutal invasion that trampled on democracy, and vowed to take severe measures to restrain Longwei. As soon as the statement was released, Eastern countries and other Western nations expressed their support for it; Russia also issued a statement expressing regret over the incident and urging Longwei to stop its military action, which was supported by Eastern European countries. Only Pakistan, North Korea, and Afghanistan explicitly expressed their support for Longwei's actions, claiming that they would eliminate their enemies without any other reason. The rest of the non-Arab developing countries were shocked by Longwei's actions but respected its choice. The global situation was turbulent, with undercurrents surging.

  I was also furious at Lugou, the reason is that the local people didn't come out at all, it's been 2 days, it's unbelievable! For a moment, I couldn't think of a good solution, so I had to order a meeting. At the meeting, I asked everyone to think of a way. For a moment, no one spoke, everyone was thinking, just when I was about to lose my patience, Deputy Director Wu spoke up: "Commander, I have an idea, but..."

  "I said impatiently: 'Hurry up and don't drag it out.'"

  Wu Deputy Director continued: "My approach is to lure."

  "What's going on?"

  He nodded and said: "It's just a matter of distributing food and water to them household by household, after a long time they will also think that we are kind."

  I almost fainted when I heard it and said: "What kind of idea is this? No way! What are we supposed to be?"

  At this time, General Lan said: "Commander, I think it's better to let the Western Garrison troops enter the city. Let those who have family members or relatives in New Delhi go and do ideological work. As long as one person comes out, they will all come out one by one. At that time, we can throw out our policy."

  "I thought for a moment and said: 'It's just like this, it's more tiring than going to the battlefield! What kind of thing is this?! Disperse!"

  In the afternoon, Davier and Dairo brought people over. Davier was excited to think about how to beautifully complete his first formal task of joining the Longwei Army, which would test the abilities of all those under him; while Dairo was thinking about how to expose the evil tyrants and old wealthy men in New Delhi as examples, in order to carry out their work. I briefly told them the situation, saying: "You both understand, I won't say much more. You just need to make the people accept us, obey our leadership, and keep New Delhi stable. You can act freely, I'll have other troops cooperate with you."

  Diluo Yue listened and said: "Actually, this is also for the people to live a good life in the future, I think they will cooperate with us."

  "After listening to the translated words, I said: 'You can think like this, take action, my comrades, it's hard on you.'"

  "Serve the people." I was so surprised to hear this sentence with a strong Western accent that my eyes almost popped out. After they left, I still hadn't recovered and muttered to myself: "This ideological transformation is too fast, is this what they call genius?"

  What followed was the thunderous unfolding of what would later be called the "Rugel Revolution". When I heard reports from below that Dairo had taken a group of civilians he had forcibly brought out and confiscated the property of New Delhi's most notorious thugs, executing them publicly and distributing their assets to the people, except for houses and other immovable properties. I said, "Don't worry about him, I only ask about the results." As time passed, those who had tasted the sweetness joined Dairo's ranks, telling him who in the city was a wealthy tyrant, who was a corrupt official. In this way, as more and more people joined, the entire Rugel became lively, with scenes of public trials and denunciations everywhere. Meanwhile, Davir also took the stage, letting the families and relatives of his soldiers publicly speak about their hardships, evoking resonance from the crowd. Then he let the soldiers explain the benefits brought by communism, so that the crowd could compare and know who was good. Finally, Davir announced that all civilians could receive land to cultivate on their own without having to pay taxes, and the people were finally stirred up, expressing their willingness to live in the present life, which was what they wanted. Three days passed in a flash.

  I was sipping tea in the military department, looking at the message that had just been delivered, and I said: "Chas, now is a great opportunity for revolution!"

  "Yes, my superior comrade, I see the comrades of the land administration are busy going down to remeasure the land and redistribute it, and also restoring the factories to operation and improving workers' welfare. All this is really too wonderful."

  I listened with joy and said: "Communism is great!"

  I said: "I don't know how things are going with Delos's arrangement of having a famous person take over the position?"

  Chas listened and said: "My superior comrade, Comrade Dier Yao will strive to do a good job."

  "Well, how is Daviel's troops now?"

  "Comrade Commander, Davier received your order to form the 1st Army just 2 days ago and is probably busy with it now!"

  "I heard someone say: 'Nothing's wrong, let's go outside and stretch our legs.'"

  "Ah! Comrade Commander, your most loyal deputy guard is having a stomachache now. Let me not be in pain before accompanying you to practice again, thank you!"

  "Never mind, I'll go take a look at the Chief of Staff and all that. If you're feeling better, come along."

  "Ah! As your most loyal deputy guard, I am delighted to follow you and do things with you!"

  "Let's go." I said with a roll of my eyes.

  I arrived at the staff room and found Vice Military Commissioner Pang was also there. I said: "What's going on? Everyone is here."

  Lao Pang said: "I just arrived too, I want to have a chat with Lao Lan."

  Lan Canmou said: "You all came today, it seems that I'm having a lucky day!"

  We chatted for a bit, and Old Luan invited us to sit down, continuing: "The Western Expeditionary Army is currently building defensive lines along the Tang River, I estimate there are quite a few troops. Nehru and his people plan to establish an exile government in the British Empire, and they're running around crying and seeking help everywhere. This is just the latest news from above."

  "I said: 'Well, let's consolidate our defenses and thoroughly scout out the surrounding environment.'"

  Lao Pang said: "Now the 201st Division is stationed in the He Li area west of Rugel to build a defensive line; The 142nd Division is in Huan Yu in the southwest direction; The 84th Division is in Ge Li in the northwest; The First Army of the Liberation Army is still in the rear for reorganization and training; In the city of New Delhi, there are our guard troops and military department organs, plus the newly formed police personnel, roughly these situations."

  "Uh-huh, nothing new, right?"

  "No."

  After returning to the office, I thought that the army had been reorganized for 3 days and the situation in Rugel was under control, so I ordered the whole army to set off towards Disburl tomorrow.