Lao Lao Wang's Works The Butterfly that Crossed Time and Space Volume 2: Politicians' Farce Twenty-two, the Unlucky December

  Twenty-two, The Unlucky December

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  The winter of 1990 was particularly cold, and as soon as December arrived, snowflakes began to fall in the northern, central, and even southern parts of New Zealand. Thick layers of snow covered the mountains and fields, bringing both natural beauty to residents and endless trouble to travelers who had to make long journeys during this season.

  A team of over a thousand people, more than half of whom were wounded, trudged through the mud and snow, requisitioning priests from every temple they passed, as well as large quantities of food and laborers. This not only increased the number of travelers but also intensified the disruption to the residents ahead.

  A group of sturdy, high-ranking dog bears with military shoulder badges hung around their necks trudged along, dragging a long rope behind them... or rather, crawling at the back of the formation. These poor guys should have been hibernating in their warm dens long ago, but they were first lured out to eat white food on the mountain, only to end up eating bullets and knives instead. After barely escaping with their lives, they were coerced by the great Druid's magic into signing a contract of servitude, inexplicably becoming glorious soldiers of the Norsel Empire under the crackling nine-tailed whip of Little Griselda. They had no choice but to brave the wind and snow, taking up the promising profession of... porter? Their bodies were even covered in a thick layer of ice, making them almost indistinguishable from polar bears if you didn't look closely. What a tragic history! As a result, many dog bears under the whip cried all the way, their eyes frozen into two ice balls on either side, looking like they were wearing glasses.

  However, in the eyes of others, these bear dogs were already quite lucky. As soon as they joined the army, they were taken care of by several officers and formed an independent squadron. Without any experience, they all became sergeants, and on top of that, they got to eat five times the normal soldier's rations every day. General Taylor was considerate of their hard work and spent a large amount of expensive materials to make them a luxurious flag that shone with magical light at all times. The flag had a picture of a white bear wearing glasses and looked very handsome, and it even had the name "Unlucky Bear Squadron" written in magical characters. That flag was worth half a year's salary for an ordinary soldier, and these bear dogs were already enjoying so many benefits as soon as they joined the army. They were truly lucky, but unfortunately, they didn't know how good they had it.

  The other end of the rope pulled by the thin men was naturally the latest luxury airborne sedan chair of Grand Druid, floating in the air 30 yards above the ground in the original gray castle's organ room. Now a small tent has been set up on top of the large iron box, and Mr. Vinnie is inside, avoiding the cold wind and flying snow. Unfortunately, due to the limited space at the top of the organ room, the tent can't accommodate Grand Druid's increasingly prosperous body, so he had to stick his fluffy head out. The wind and snow are even stronger in high places, and after a short while, his face has an additional white mask made of ice and snow, freezing his bear hair. However, in order to show off in front of the new bear cubs and to demonstrate his position as deputy commander, Mr. Vinnie still insisted on sitting in the uncomfortable seat, enjoying the pleasure of being in a high position and overlooking others, as well as the biting cold sensation of ice water flowing through his fur after being melted by body heat. Alas, being a leader is also superficially glorious, but secretly hard work.

  Other leaders in the legion did not have Mr. Vini's leisurely and carefree attitude, each driving their own carriages at high speed, even overtaking the scouts. They were afraid of getting too close to Great Druid Vini, specifically to the compartment under his buttocks where the mysterious nuclear device was installed. Although that thing had been relatively stable on this journey, who knew if it would suddenly self-destruct? Since Mr. Vini had already undertaken the glorious mission of defending national property with his life, it was better for everyone not to get too close.

  Fili sat in the front row of a horse-drawn carriage, looking at his reflection in the mirror with distress, his smooth head gleaming. The hair that had just grown back was burned off again in the intense battle. Maybe it was because he hadn't rested well these two days, and even the remaining bit of hair fell out.

  "It's okay, my little Phil. Renie lovingly stroked her little lover's smooth scalp, "Hair will grow back anyway, and boys look cute with a shaved head too."

  "I'm not a kid!" Fili shouted, waving his fist at the female pastor in protest, but his body, which was smaller than his lover's in every way, lacked persuasive power. Renny laughed and hugged Fili into her arms, rubbing him up and down. Fili also took the opportunity to grope the female pastor's athletic and toned physique. The two of them laughed and tumbled around on the carriage, and the cold carriage seemed to be dyed with a rose-like color.

  Norm sat in his own carriage, with thick stacks of files spread out before him, his face filled with worry and despair. It was clear that he had been driven nearly to the brink of collapse by the constant stream of bad news coming in along the way.

  In a sense, the raid on Onsen Valley continued the unfinished business of Mole-Soliton and caused great harm to the 13 states of New Nazaril, making outstanding contributions to the great cause of the Elf Kingdom's conquest of the world, enough to write a heavy stroke in the history books of the new continent.

  However, the fate of the Solerton family was also thoroughly pushed into hell by this attack. If some people had planned to cut off the sheep's head and others had planned to squeeze out the sheep's milk before, now everyone unanimously believed that they should catch the stubborn and uncooperative fat sheep as soon as possible, chop it up into a thousand pieces, make a mutton hot pot to nourish the severely blood-depleted parliaments and governments in various regions, and get through this harsh winter.

  The instructions for the large-scale looting and manhunt arrived via magical transmission on the same day as the battle ended, and before being forcibly dissolved according to law, all state councils passed resolutions declaring the Solerton family to be enemies of the state. Every place in the thirteen states of New Nordsriel was scrambling to divide up any assets related to the Solerton family, capturing and killing every member of the family, including the elderly and infants. The senators who received large sums of gold under various pretexts seemed even more joyful than during a festival, while General Norm, or rather the War Zone Commandant's Office, received an estimated nearly 400,000 gold coins, almost equivalent to two years' worth of taxes from the state of New Sorbia.

  However, this huge sum of money temporarily did nothing to alleviate General Nohm's predicament. The invasion of the Elf Army was imminent, and there was no time to spend the money on turning it into something needed for war. Although General Nohm had always understood that New Dalisrael's military strength was limited, when he really got down to preparing for battle, he deeply realized what a mess he had inherited.

  The long-standing peaceful life has made the military strength of the 13 states of New Eridoria extremely empty. The local government and parliament use taxation to replace military service, and the so-called 200,000 militia are just a fictional number on paper for external propaganda. In fact, how many troops there are, I'm afraid no one can say clearly.

  Even among those militias that actually exist, their combat effectiveness is a huge question mark. General Norm thought the militia in New Masovia was already quite exaggerated, but after carefully checking the situation in other states, he found that his own jurisdiction was doing extremely well. Some states had completely turned their militias into clubs for elderly military enthusiasts and Boy Scout camps, with not a single one capable of fighting. In some places, recruitment went back to ancient history, with most personnel on the payroll already buried in graves, who knows which necromancer summons them every month to collect their salaries.

  In the militia organizations of the thirteen states of New Color Rhode, the strongest fighting force is surprisingly the Great Lakes State Militia, which has no coastline and does not have to worry about foreign invasion. The reason is that for many years, they often had to engage in group brawls with the New Continental Army stationed here, a traditional exchange activity that benefits physical and mental development, and was honed and grown in practice...

  The remaining 3,000 New Continental Army troops, who could have been a strong force, were instead turned into a huge threat due to Mole-Soliton's infiltration. To disarm and imprison this army, General Norm had to abandon his plan to mobilize the militia and security forces from the Great Lakes State and New Komir State, and even had to recruit troops from other places to reinforce them to suppress the regular army. Otherwise, these defeated troops would stab them in the back, and no matter how brave the military and civilians of New Masobray were, they could not hold the defense line under attack from both sides.

  The army was short of personnel, and the supply of weapons was equally difficult. Due to the blockade at sea, everything in New Zealand had to be self-produced. While other things were manageable, New Zealand's industry and agriculture were well-developed. However, magical items suddenly faced a severe shortage, with many things becoming unaffordable, even basic healing potions for soldiers became a luxury. Enchanting weapons also became a privilege reserved for a few officers. Without the power of magic, it would be even more difficult to defeat the Spirit Army. Thinking of this, General Norm couldn't help but think of the over twenty mages from the Solerton family guard who had been killed in the surprise attack on his own army. If they could have defected to him, the Giant Bear Legion wouldn't have been unable to assemble even a single combat mage squad... Unfortunately, not only them, but also the remaining military mages of the New Zealand Army were unusable due to loyalty issues, which undoubtedly further weakened their already poor magical combat power.

  "Alas, who can tell me how to repel the enemy and defend the city?" General Nuo was at his wit's end, clutching his hair in frustration, with no idea what the future held.

  "Hasn't Emmon arrived yet?" He looked up and glanced out of the car window, still hearing the howling wind and fluttering snowflakes.

  Behind the vast snow, a vague black shadow of Ammon Port can be seen.

  (End of Volume 2)

  PS: Preview of next volume

  "As long as we can achieve victory, why should we begrudge the lives of our soldiers?"

  The largest invasion of the Spirit Army, the most severe crisis in the colonies, an unprecedented strong enemy appears on the sea surface. Let's see how the outsider leader who has been demanding military obedience to politics all day, the corps commander who has no confidence in his subordinates, the female pastor who can only talk about war on paper, the animal-type deputy general with limited intelligence, and the protagonist who is thinking of escaping with his lover lead a team that lacks both morale and equipment to fight hard in the icy snow. Please look forward to the third volume "Battlefire in the Cold Wind".