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

Chapter 17｜Girls' Trouble

Yuzhou, a city located along the Great Wall, can be described as one of the pearls on the Loess Plateau. It can be traced back to the Yongle period, but it was not until the seventh year of Chenghua that the garrison was officially established.

There is a magnificent Danxia landform here, with layers of red rock patterns clearly visible, like carved static waves.

Today, Yuzhou under the rule of the Grand Federation is just an ordinary inland town with severe soil erosion and its economy is highly dependent on the thriving coal mining industry.

How much coal is there here? Estimated reserves exceed 100 billion tons, equivalent to 50 Datong coal mines.

"woo woo woo woo--"

"We are entering the station. Please take your luggage with you."

The sound of the whistle and the attendant's reminder brought Shang Ke back to reality from his thoughts.

He stared at the newspaper in his hand for a long time, and half an hour passed by unknowingly.

The latest international news made him sigh - the United Kingdom announced that it would give up three-fifths of its share of the Persian oil industry and transfer it to the Pacific Petrochemical Group of the Grand Federation.

That's all! The arrogant Anglo-Saxons are ultimately bullies who only care about the weak and fear the strong.

As the official news agency of the Grand Federation, the news released by Chomon News Agency is naturally a product of the Spring and Autumn style of writing.

The actual situation is that the supply from the oil fields controlled by the Grand Federation can no longer meet the growing consumption, so the federal top leaders started negotiations with the United Kingdom two years ago - in fact, they used the Indian colonies as a threat.

In the eyes of the British masters in London, it is reasonable to use delaying tactics appropriately - the Indian colonies will be lost sooner or later anyway, so it is better to deal with it by delaying the war. Every day of delay is a gain.

The two sides fought for two and a half years. After weighing the pros and cons, the British chose to give in, and part of their forces left Persia quickly.

The two major oil fields in Borneo and Old Port in Southeast Asia produce 960 million tons of oil annually, the Yenangyaung oil field in Myanmar produces 100 million tons annually, and the annual output of several oil fields in the Greater Khingan Range has a total of 1080 million tons, totaling approximately 2140 million tons, ranking second in the world.

Despite this, this still cannot meet the terrifying consumption of Eastern Industrial Cthulhu - at least 5500 million tons are needed each year, and the gap is very large. 3200 to 3600 million tons of oil must be imported from the United States of America every year.

Steel is my bones, coal is my muscles, oil is my blood—this is the best personification of Industrial Cthulhu.

Shang Ke had the impression that the annual output of Daqing Oilfield was quite considerable and should be able to meet the demand. Could it be that the refining cost of highly paraffinized acidic oil was too high?
There was no answer to this question for the time being, so he simply withdrew his thoughts and walked out of the train station.

What caught his eye were the dense crowds of buses and motorcycles picking up and dropping off passengers. He took a 50-cent bus and arrived at the Yuzhou Federal Defense Forces Office before sunset.

As he walked into the house, he saw two female clerks knitting sweaters and the evening news was just beginning to be broadcast on the radio.

They didn't expect someone to visit them after dark, so they quickly put down their work, stood up and saluted.

The civilian sergeant was a tall girl with a round face. She asked bluntly, "Sir, what are you doing here?"

Shang Ke shook off the snow at the door, took out a command document from his briefcase, handed it over, and replied, "Administrative order from the Garrison Command. I am here for an inspection on behalf of the First Mobile Division. The identification code is Bing 2 Yao Dong Yao San Guai Si."

The civilian sergeant took out a booklet and nodded, "Please register and I'll arrange a place for you to stay."

Shang Ke chatted and joked with them for a while, then said humorously, "Is there anything to eat? I don't have the energy to chat with you two when I'm hungry."

The two were a little embarrassed and quickly asked the kitchen to make a bowl of noodles.

The next day, it snowed heavily.

On the surface, the 77th Field Surveying and Mapping Battalion was no different from other Wehrmacht troop bases across the country. Outside, there was a red brick wall with barbed wire, at the gate stood sentries holding Type 26 rifles, and inside, there were rows of barracks.

Mr. Shang braved the heavy snow to come here and was allowed to enter only after a lengthy identity verification.

In the conference room on the second floor in the middle building, Shang Ke met several senior military officers in charge there - Brigadier General Tan Jing and Colonel Medical Officer Tang Xingyuan.

There were also quite a few female officers, nearly half of them, which was a rare occurrence. Shang Ke was surprised to see a familiar face among them—the female lieutenant from the border crossing operation.

"You came right after New Year's Day. Young people are so proactive. I thought you would come later. Come and sit down." Tang Xingyuan said with a smile.

“To be honest, thanks to our commander, I came here to avoid the limelight.” Shang Ke pulled out a chair and sat down.

Seeing that everyone looked doubtful, he briefly explained a few words to clear up their confusion.

"With the rapid development of large-scale construction projects in recent years, the number of officials has doubled, and the problem of civil service administration is much more serious than before." A lieutenant colonel staff officer said with deep sympathy.

"It's okay, I'll change it after this year." Tang Xingyuan didn't care.

[The illegal content has been deleted]

Tan Jing closed the file in front of him, took off his glasses, and said calmly, "Stop talking about government affairs and get down to business."

Everyone knew what was best for them and shut up.

The staff officer cleared his throat and began to tell the story.

What is going on now is a routine meeting, and Shang Ke, as an observer, is still listening attentively.

There was no empty talk or polite conversation. Each person in charge took turns to speak and report, and the matter was concluded in just a quarter of an hour. The efficiency was beyond imagination.

Is this over?

Before Shang Ke could finish his listening, everyone else was already packing up their documents.

Tan Jing wiped his glasses as he said, "Xiao Shang, you've arrived just in time. This training base has had no fewer than 200 incidents since its opening. With so many female soldiers joining the front lines in the future, you can imagine how much trouble this will cause. You're a handsome young man, so it'll be easier for you to deal with them. Besides, you've been a military police officer for a few years now, so you have plenty of experience managing grassroots discipline. If you have any opinions, just raise them directly. Conflicts will be resolved sooner or later."

It was actually a bit embarrassing to be praised for my appearance in public, especially since several female officers present were staring at me.

Shang Ke saluted calmly and said, "Understood."

"Xiao Lin, you take him." Tan Jing looked at the person on the left, who was the female lieutenant.

Half a quarter of an hour later, in Officer No. 2's dormitory.

Lin Ruojun, who was ordered to assist Shang, was a woman of about 26 or 27 years old. She was a civilian lieutenant and was temporarily in charge of the base's legal affairs department.

It was obvious that she was very worried about daily management and she kept complaining all the way.

"Little girls are so difficult to discipline. They are quick-witted and like to form cliques and fight in private. There are always people who are excluded and bullied." Lin Rujun sighed.

Shang Ke was not surprised by this and even thought it was reasonable.

He said "Oh" and said nonchalantly: "It is true that this kind of situation is easy to happen when girls get together, but don't worry, I have a way."

Oh! That's too easy to say!

Lin Ruojun expressed her doubts. She pondered and said, "I don't think it's that easy. This is probably due to human nature. Chief Shang, you haven't managed them before, so you don't know the truth..."

Shang Ke said nonchalantly, "It's just that you don't know how to grasp the main contradiction."

　Updating in the middle of the night is indeed not appropriate, so let’s change it to updating at noon from now on.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)