OR1-EP1: Rainbow Nation (14)
Michael McNeil was lying on the dry slope; his right eye was observing the distant target through the scope. Before actually carrying out the mission, he needs to ensure that his combat capability is restored to the extent that he can match this young body. Even though many days have passed, McNeil still has not been able to get out of his original mentality. He has not participated in the fierce battle on the front line for a long time, and it is inevitable that he is unfamiliar with the fight. In addition, he didn't know what his purpose was and what mission he had in reaching this new world. In the past, everything he did was given meaning by the concept of GDI, but now he needs to find the right reason for his actions. The world is still sleeping in a dream of peace. McNeil judged by his experience that a new storm is about to emerge. Everyone before the start of a world war will deceive themselves into thinking that they will ensure the peace of a generation. EU has been in the position of the world's most powerful country for many years. It defeated the ancient empire in the far east, and frustrated several attempts to counterattack the remnants of the monarchy that fled to the Americas, and established a superpower that spans Europe, Asia and Africa, under this superficial prosperity is the increasing tearing and intensification of contradictions in the entire society. Taking South Africa as an example, McNeil has foreseen that a full-scale armed conflict will break out. As long as the South African authorities represented by Governor Herzog take any action to break the balance, all forces will rise up against it.
He squeezed the trigger again and hit the moving target in the distance. After that, it was convenient for two soldiers to greet the opposing companions to check the shooting results. McNeil threw the rifle aside and sat on the slope, thinking about the actions he would take in this large-scale conflict. As far as the EU is concerned, as long as it is not facing another full-scale war, it only needs to consider the cost of destroying any enemy, not whether it has the ability to destroy it. Therefore, whether it is the indigenous or other opposition forces who are ready to move, since they are against Governor Herzog, they have already gone to a dead end and will be defeated sooner or later; even if the Governor loses power for a while, EU will not stand by. Of course, the Senate will not allow anyone to mess around on their territory.
"I don't know if this is useful. The role of soldiers in modern warfare is getting smaller and smaller." Smilas watched McNeil raised his rifle again. "In the Middle Ages, a heroic soldier's role is sometimes enough to affect the entire battle... As for now, soldiers are just cheap consumables in the war."
"The important thing is not how we view soldiers, but what role the soldiers should play in the eyes of those who start the war and the soldiers themselves."
"There is some truth to this." Smilas laughed. "Indeed, even if the value of soldiers has been reduced, if all soldiers consider themselves irrelevant, the war will inevitably end in failure."
McNeil studied several classic cases of local wars with indigenous peoples in EU history. These wars usually took place in the late 1st century of the Republican calendar, and became more and more common as EU colonies penetrated deeper into the African continent. Facing the European colonists who wanted to bring the whole of Africa into their pockets, the indigenous Africans showed amazing courage and perseverance. Indigenous tribes and kingdoms everywhere have fought for decades, causing heavy casualties to EU colonists and the army. Among them, the most humiliating war for the EU in southern Africa happened to be fought in central South Africa.
When Europe is still in a state of fragmentation, European countries cannot concentrate all their energy on carrying out colonial activities abroad. They usually sign unreliable alliances with some local indigenous people and conduct trade activities with the indigenous people. After learning to buy guns and bullets from Europeans from the indigenous peoples, small-scale conflicts between the indigenous peoples often cost both sides unexpectedly and disastrously. Hundreds of years later, when the European colonists confidently marched toward the inland areas, the opponent they encountered was no longer the primitives with spears and stones, but a new generation of indigenous people that used the comparable weapons to them. The biggest tragedy happened in South Africa. The indigenous tribes wiped out thousands of EU troops in a battle, severely hit the EU's colonial activities in South Africa, and forced EU to rely on the African Britannians here.
"The last independent country to be conquered by our EU-I mean, those protectorates that are only nominally independent cannot be included-is Abyssinia." After the training, Smilas planned Ask McNeil to go to the military academy in Orange to listen to the opinions of experts on these military activities. These schools in Africa only train African soldiers to maintain local security activities and respond to general armed rebellions, and cannot be compared with those giants in the EU. In addition, the fate of those outstanding graduates also made the reputation of these military school's plummet: many people ended up in Siberia. Colonel Duttmann himself once said in front of McNeil that these influential military schools in Africa are training construction workers and railway engineers for Siberia.
Gene Smilas planned to send McNeil to Orange, but they were delayed on the way due to an accident. There was a series of car accidents on the highway, dozens of cars collided together, the scene was very spectacular. Looking at the messy appearance of the mixture of steel and flesh and blood, McNeil couldn't bear to look any more. He and the nearby drivers who survived immediately went into rescue work. Everyone found useful tools from their cars, and some volunteer passers-by stepped forward to demolish the squeezed car ruins.
This kind of tragedy is unbearable, and even the hardest-hearted people will be shaken. Those with relatively minor injuries can be rescued easily, but these amateur rescuers have nothing to do with the poor people trapped in the depths. McNeil saw a driver being cut in the waist. The unfortunate middle-aged man died as soon as McNeil touched him. Ten minutes later, the professional team who was really responsible for handling the matter arrived after receiving the alarm, but their methods did not seem to be clever.
"Some people have been trapped. Depending on the situation, they will be amputated directly under the premise of ensuring that the victim is alive." The captain considered it again and again and gave this order.
Afterwards, McNeil heard news reports that the cause of this serious traffic accident was that a truck driver had not been able to rest for several days, causing a tragedy in a trance. The accident resulted in 22 deaths and countless injured and disabled persons. After temporarily escaping from this living hell, McNeil intends to continue to Orange, but he strongly urges him to drive himself. The soldiers who had been sent to look after him took a ride instead.
"These people would rather wait for an accident than let the employees take a vacation." McNeil sighed. "How can you do business with such shortsightedness?"
"Mr. McNeil, this is not an exception." The soldiers sitting in the back row answered, "The last time a company had money to buy luxury goods but lied that it had no money to pay employees. The CEO of the company was immediately brought to court by the employee."
"Good job!" McNeil patted the steering wheel with both hands. "What happened then? How did the court decide?"
"...I don't know, no one paid any more attention afterwards." The voice from behind gradually became low. "It is strange to say that people's attention is always shifted quickly, and no one cares about it in a few days.
The group came to Orange with a heavy heart, and found the school according to the address Smilas said. The guard heard that McNeil was a character appointed by Colonel Karl Duttmann, and did not dare to neglect, and immediately invited him in after confirming the authenticity. Smilas recommended an old colonel who is about to retire to McNeil. He has been engaged in theoretical research in South Africa for many years and is considered half a celebrity. "
However, the way of thinking of most military theorists is still like that of decades ago. For a long time, the EU's biggest enemy in history and imaginary is the Chinese Federation, not Britannia. The bloody trench battles and street battles caused almost two full generations of EU people to die in the trenches. The terrible consequences were finally manifested more than 20 years ago, directly reflected in the fact that the age composition of the population did not catch up. The generation that was supposed to be the mainstay has become the most vulnerable pillar. For this reason, based on the starting point of minimizing losses, the EU hopes to let its opponents use up their forces in a war of attrition and retreat when they know difficulties. This kind of thinking is also reflected in the functions of the Guardian Corp in various parts of Africa. Once a war breaks out, their only task is to do their best to slow down the enemy's offensive speed until the main force comes to reinforce it. There is no other way. McNeil conjectured that, with the exception of a few geniuses with foresight, no one can escape the vulgar when the balance of power between the old and the new is still very obvious.
The old professor kindly asked McNeil to listen to his class. He has not participated in a world war, and the largest conflict he has ever directly encountered in his life was only a proxy war that took place in the Middle East more than ten years ago. After the trainees took their place, the old professor talked about his understanding of the situation in Siberia. EU has almost completely abandoned its strategy of external expansion. Generally speaking, it tends to be active in defense. It is a good way to defend against enemies outside the country. As the front line of the confrontation between the two superpowers, the Stanovoy Range Defense Line in Siberia has often become the focus of fierce disputes and confrontations between the EU and the Chinese Federation. All political figures in the EU deliberately exaggerated its importance and resources for their own propositions.
"Our experts are optimistic that, in the event of a new war, we will ensure that at least 2 million enemies are killed on this line of defense." The old professor read the speech vaguely. "However, this view is still not stable enough, because we have failed to achieve this result in any war with them. On the contrary, the topic we are discussing today is the result of the breakthrough of this line of defense: how we will maximize our goal in the ice and snow of Siberia when facing the enemy. This topic is of great significance to us, because the guerrilla warfare carried out by the indigenous people with the help of the harsh natural environment has caused considerable losses to our army..."
Others spoke enthusiastically, trying to show their maverick and ingenuity. It is said that the plan to continue to send more troops in Siberia was approved only recently. Perhaps the Council and the consuls judged that the threat of the Chinese Federation has not diminished. Switching to McNeil, he would think so too, because the Britannian Empire, far away on the other side of the ocean, is still deep in the quagmire of the noble group. Maybe in a few hundred years, the situation will not change anymore, and it will be its destiny to sink into the end.
"As we all know, our country's dominance in military technology is unshakable. From the current point of view, the land that is defended by soldiers must be occupied by another soldier. As long as we greatly improve the cost of the operation of the enemy's presence in the occupied areas, while maintaining the corresponding strategic depth, the enemy will be defeated after our successful counterattack several times." A student with the face of an Arab from the Middle East replied, and his statement was supported by everyone. In the past, the EU also used similar means to confront surrounding hostile forces and achieved many results. These strategies are still effective today.
The old professor shook his head. This may not be the answer he wanted to hear. He saw McNeil sitting in an inconspicuous corner behind, so he wanted to know how capable this guy who could be entrusted by Colonel Duttmann was. Seeing that the old professor clearly wanted to let himself speak, McNeil, who pretended to be a student, couldn't refuse.
"If I, as the commander of the enemy, launch an offensive, your approach is meaningless, because I will not occupy any land at all." McNeil said lightly, "On the contrary, I will use various methods to totally destroy this land. All the industrial infrastructure will be destroyed, I'll let it roll back to the Middle Ages, leave a piece of wasteland for the people who are struggling to survive, and let their anger burn toward their own people who are still stubbornly resisting."
"Is this also a war?" Someone objected on the spot, "What is the purpose of the enemy's war?"
"Ladies and gentlemen, when do you think you can understand the enemy's ideology?" McNeil frowned. "You have already said that this is war. As long as the enemy can get enough benefits from it, why should they worry about the form of war? Wait until the enemy country is completely reduced to rubble, and then support a number of agents and commercial companies to firmly control it from top to bottom. This is much more cost-effective than any military occupation."
This is true. McNeil completely carried out Solomon's theory. The greatest achievement of the latter in his life was the successful acquisition of the leader of the NOD in the Eastern Hemisphere to act as a puppet of GDI for decades.
"...However, it is not others who are capable of carrying out this attack, but we the EU." Seeing that other people seemed to have been hit, McNeil quickly mobilized their self-confidence, "We still have many technologies that can be applied in the war, but the potential of these technologies has not yet been discovered. Why are we just satisfied with the Apollo's Chariot to send some observers to do a new type of global travel? Suppose we use it to launch some that can be in space with long-stay detectors, you can imagine that we will be able to monitor every move of the enemy in all directions... and they will not be able to fight back."
TBC