Two Realms Shuttle Gate: Don't Call Me a Demon! Chapter 319

Chapter 319: Chapter 225: Stirring Up Conflict (Second Update)

Chan Country, East Qin State.

In a village near Ji State.

Su Jie was here visiting some displaced disaster victims.

“Fellow countrymen, rest assured, Jieke Group will definitely stand up for you. If you have any difficulties now, speak up, and I will solve them immediately,” Su Jie said.

Su Jie stood in front of an elderly farmer, holding the latter's rough and calloused palms in his hands.

“Mr. Su, thank you, thank you so much. Jieke Group has treated us well with proper arrangements for tents and food. We don't have any difficulties now,” the old farmer said, excited and nervous as he shook Su Jie's hand. It was his first time shaking hands with such a significant figure, and he was so nervous his speech quivered.

Behind the old farmer was a house that had been toppled by practice artillery shells from Japan.

The shells had exploded dozens of meters away, severely injuring several of his family members who were still receiving treatment in the hospital.

“Jieke Group must not let those scoundrels get away with this.”

“Exactly! Some people even came to persuade me to move south to Ji State. Bah, what kind of life did I have before? It was Jieke Group that made my life better. I would have to be crazy to go there and be exploited by them!”

“If Jieke Group needs to enlist soldiers, both my second and third sons are over eighteen, and they're ready to serve in the army and fight for Jieke Group.”

“Down with Japan, long live Jieke Group!”

Many other villagers who had gathered around were brimming with righteous indignation.

They had been living a poor life under the rule of other warlords in East Qin State, with no job security, bare survival wages, frequent arbitrary exploitation and taxation, and no avenue for redress when wronged.

After Jieke Group arrived, just the act of raising wages had won countless hearts.

The local wages increased by two to three or even four times, and, in addition to tax reductions, many destitute families and orphans received support.

With Jieke Group's investment in various civil infrastructure industries, such as establishing schools for free education, constructing hospitals that dramatically reduced medical costs or even offered free treatment to the needy, and paving roads to ease travel, it significantly improved lives.

The greatest measure was Jieke Group redistributing the land taken from corrupt officials and warlords to the landless poor, granting many impoverished citizens their own land.

Plus, Jieke Group's massive recruitment of employees, high welfare, high remuneration, and the distribution of profits from breeding insects were all visible benefits to the public.

As the saying goes, without comparison, there is no harm felt. Having experienced the administration of Jieke Group, people no longer wanted to return to their former lives.

Now, those who wanted to force Jieke Company to withdraw from East Qin State and destroy it essentially wished to revert them to those impoverished, miserable days.

This naturally led to widespread opposition and an intense dislike towards the Chan Country Government and Japan.

Su Jie turned around, faced the indignant villagers, and raised his fist, saying, “I have heard all your demands, and I once again assure you that I will not tolerate anyone who harms Jieke Group. I will ensure that we obtain justice, righteousness, and a voice for everyone.”

Clap, clap, clap!

Applause immediately filled the air as the villagers chanted the name of Jieke Group.

The accompanying official photographer and reporters clicked their cameras, capturing these valuable moments.

As Su Jie left the village and got into the car, he turned to Liu Yingying and smiled, saying, “See that? The will of the people can be utilized!”

Liu Yingying, wrapping her arms around Su Jie's, nodded and said, “With the support of these people, our chances of winning are even higher.”

“How is the military preparation going now?”

Su Jie rolled down the car window, looked at the verdant fields outside, and seemed to gaze toward Jinlao Mountain, sensing the tense atmosphere there.

“Currently, we have assembled eight brigades, one of which is a heavy composite brigade equipped mainly with various armored vehicles and tanks, including 88 tanks, 112 infantry fighting vehicles, 12 40-barrel 122mm rocket artillery, 18 122mm self-propelled howitzers, and corresponding anti-aircraft and engineer battalions, totaling 9,800 personnel per brigade.

The other seven brigades consist of two mechanized brigades and five mountain brigades, primarily made up of light armor and infantry, which form our major combat forces.

In these eight brigades, totaling over sixty thousand troops, we also have Second-class and Third-class Super Soldiers serving as scouts and battlefield spearheads, numbering 320 in total.

Furthermore, we have established an artillery regiment and an aviation brigade, which includes sixty-eight helicopters, covering transport helicopters, general support helicopters, medical rescue helicopters, armed helicopters, and a drone squadron.”

“Lastly, there is your direct command unit, the Steel Camp, responsible only to you, consisting of 92 personnel, all First-class Super Soldiers from Jieke Security, the elite unit.

In addition to these regular soldiers, we also have reserve militias serving as reserves, who are trained during their spare time and, although they obviously cannot compare in combat prowess to regular soldiers, can be called upon to the battlefield if necessary.”

Without hesitation and without needing to consult any data, Liu Yingying accurately recounted these details and the military situation, having diligently managed Jieke Group's affairs.

Su Jie stroked his chin, the population of East Qin State had reached three million today, originally just around two million seven or eight hundred thousand. The people from other areas of Chan Country, hearing of the life here, chose to migrate, increasing the population to three million.

Three million people, sixty thousand combat troops, still adhering to the initial ratio Su Jie had set: one soldier for every fifty citizens.

This ratio was just right, neither affecting the production and life under the rule of Jieke Group nor compromising the formidable combat power.

It wasn't that they couldn't recruit more soldiers, Jieke Security offered very attractive conditions, and entering it required selection of the best candidates.

But there was no necessity, with the current situation, if sixty thousand regular soldiers couldn't hold, recruiting new recruits to throw into battle to fill the lines would be useless.

“How about the military deployment on Chan Country Government's side, and Japan? Have all their stationed soldiers arrived?”

Su Jie asked again, he had also been preparing for war these days, the thousand-hand centipede had been digging everywhere underground, even more diligent than a mole.

“After Chan Country accepted the qualifications of the Eight Nation Group, they have also been frantically recruiting soldiers during this period, refilling the slots of soldiers who were previously drawing pay without serving, and they have been significantly bolstered by the Eight Nation Group with many heavy weapons.

Currently according to the intelligence we hold, the combined forces of Chan Country's army, navy, and air force total 350,000 soldiers. Their main equipment includes 600 various types of main battle tanks, armored vehicles more than 1000 units, 150 self-propelled artillery, and over 800 towed artillery. They have about 300 aircraft, including 100 fighter jets, more than 120 helicopters, 25 transport planes, and more than 90 trainer aircraft.

Although these heavy weapons are somewhat outdated models, the sheer numbers still represent a hugely terrifying force.”

Meanwhile, Japan's soldiers have already all arrived in Chan Country, all stationed in Jibang territory, amounting to about eight thousand soldiers.

Together with the soldiers Chan Country has deployed at Jibang Jinlao Mountain, the soldiers now facing us on the Jinlao Mountain frontline amount to a whopping 80,000.”

Liu Yingying was familiar with the enemy's situation as if she had counted it herself, many were exposed by foreign media themselves, it was unclear if there was any exaggeration.

From the paper strength, Chan Country's armament situation was much stronger than Jieke Group.

Especially in terms of heavy weapons, it was nearly ten times that of Jieke Group, completely dominating the skies over Jieke Group.

If it weren't for the fact that the Chan Country Government needed many forces to defend against other directions' warlords, it wouldn't be possible to bring them all up, even if these soldiers' training was questionable, they could still pose a huge pressure on Jieke Group.

“That's quite a lot of heavy firepower! We need to take some of them out first.”

Su Jie narrowed his eyes, a cold light flickering within, these devices posed a huge threat to Jieke Group.

“Ah! Are we going to fire the first shot?”

Liu Yingying was startled. She detected this intention from Su Jie's tone, indicating a proactive approach.

“Rather than letting the enemy fully prepare and draw the battlefield into East Qin State, I'd rather strike first.”

Su Jie touched Liu Yingying's pretty face, and said lightly, “Notify all, from today on, the entire territory will progressively enter a wartime state, close the domestic airspace, mobilize all regular military forces and special forces, initiate first-level combat readiness, and utilize all bomb shelters and strategic logistical warehouses.”

“We… Are we directly committing aggression? In the international community, that might be…”

Liu Yingying's heart thumped rapidly, although forewarned, still tense upon hearing Su Jie's war commands.

Su Jie tapped Liu Yingying's head, correcting her erroneous terminology, “What aggression? This is called liberation, liberating the vast masses of oppressed people. You too must maintain this statement externally.”

Liu Yingying, holding her head, looked at Su Jie with great admiration. Simply changing a word made the perception completely elevated.

“Then, the reason for starting the war…”

“Leave that to me. Have Steel Camp prepared, first give those Japanese soldiers who came all the way to Chan Country and have constantly been challenging us recently, a grand welcoming gift.”

Su Jie looked at the map spread out before him, his lips curling into a cold smile.

Three days later, October 16th.

On this day, Jieke Group announced that they would hold an anti-violence exercise near Jinlao Mountain to increase their measures and experience in dealing with violent elements.

For this, participants in the exercise included Jieke Group's only heavy composite brigade, an air brigade, three mountain brigades, with over a hundred tanks, countless light and heavy weapons, and thirty thousand soldiers entering the exercise area.

The news being released immediately made the outside world judge Jieke Group's move as a reaction forced by the threats from Chan Country and Japan.

Many professional military commentators definitively stated, “Jieke Group's such ostentatious exercise is merely a bluff, warning Chan Country and Japan not to provoke them, actually revealing their own weakness. Otherwise, why make such a big fuss? If they were truly strong, they could completely ignore the provocations.”

However, on the next day, the 17th, Jieke Group officially suddenly issued a statement.

“At 11 AM today, one of our soldiers participating in the exercises, Lu Qiufei, disappeared. After meticulous investigation, it was discovered that the soldier disappeared near Wuhe Military Camp where Japanese soldiers are stationed. We demand immediate access to the camp for a search, and the Japanese soldiers must cooperate with our work.”

The appearance of this declaration immediately caused a huge stir worldwide, especially in East Asia, awakening long dormant memories.

Chapter end

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