My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 206

Even remnants of the army and Sarkaz mercenaries wouldn't dare venture that way, so how could the capitalists... Ah, they have a mobile city—a well-protected mobile city. A city that the capitalists have spent a fortune "modifying," claiming it can't be breached by poison gas, ordinary mortars, or boarding devices. Of course, they need a little help from some conquering knights...

The Knights of Conquest, pressured by the fact that capitalists still controlled their equipment production, had no choice but to agree to the request. They dispatched a large elite force to provide support, hoping that the city, which housed five factories, would not be destroyed or fall into the hands of the Colombians.

The capitalists were delighted, but they had no idea why the remnants of the army and the Sarkaz mercenaries were unwilling to approach the area...

......

Then the result is quite simple.

Capitalists paid a heavy price for their arrogance.

Perhaps that mobile city could indeed withstand the onslaught of poison gas and conventional bombs, perhaps the capitalists were fast enough at gathering resources, and perhaps their gamble might indeed have yielded good results—but they made the wrong bet.

The Colombians used new types of weapons.

First, during the chaotic battle, a group of Colombians planted some kind of bomb in a blind spot in the moving city. Then, with their tight defense, the Knights' plan to defuse the bomb was directly thwarted.

Then, three minutes later—accompanied by a deafening roar, a mushroom cloud and shockwave suddenly rose, even dispersing the surrounding poisonous gas, followed by a large amount of blue-silver metal debris floating in the sky.

The mobile city was paralyzed. It was paralyzed in an unsuitable location, and neither the conquering knights nor the capitalists could bring back what was on it, let alone the Sarkaz mercenaries and remnants they didn't trust at all.

And that wasn't all—the knights who managed to escape and the resource-gathering workers also suffered terribly in the hospital. The medical center in Kazimir was unable to provide them with any medical assistance; they could only watch as the wounded's skin gradually ulcerated, fat and muscle sloughed off their bodies like melting ice cream, and finally, while still conscious, their intestinal mucosa, along with uncontrollable excretions, mixed with blood, was expelled.

A very small number of people even emitted a fluorescent glow—but those who did not survive until they returned to the Grand Knight's territory. They essentially collapsed in the wasteland, just a stone's throw from the city. No one dared to collect their bodies; it simply looked too eerie.

Their bodies were left on the wasteland, just a stone's throw from the city's entrance. Finally, the returning knights, using engineering equipment, transported them to the wilderness and buried them in a shallow pit.

...

Now, the capitalists and their representatives have caused the entire city of Kazimir to lose a crucial industrial district due to their "unauthorized actions" and arrogance—even though the district was theirs, and although their desire to break away from the Great Knights' territory was to completely escape the control of the War Knights and create their own mobile city, the bitter consequences they have caused have directly made the entire city of Kazimir taste the heavy blow from within itself.

The Grand Knight Command, having lost five factories, is no longer able to provide enough equipment for its conquering knights, even if the knights were willing to pay fifty times the price—after all, the loss is of the factories that form the foundation. If you only lost a few warehouses full of equipment, while it would be painful, it would be more manageable...

But what you've lost is the fucking factory! It's like a man losing his testicles—how is he supposed to produce anything for every launch after that, you tell me? Sigh!

This is why the representatives of the Business Entities Federation were so humble, and why even outsiders like the Knights of Conquest mocked these people who were profiting from the national crisis... After all, what they did was simply too much.

But if Yang Hao were to say it—

This is fucking incomprehensible, really. Even if capitalism is incredibly capitalist, it shouldn't be like this, right?

"Kazimir, are you trying to tell me that you also once made a psionic pact?" Yang Hao thought to himself, taking a sip of his drink, though he maintained his serious expression with furrowed brows.

"all in all."

He began by speaking with an air of bewilderment at the current state of Kazimierz and an attempt to sow discord between the capitalists and the knights of war.

"I don't know what your two sides are thinking, and I'm not interested in your policies... I just want to ask one thing: Do you still want to fight Colombia? Or are you planning to surrender?"

...

Faced with Yang Hao's words, the capitalists' representatives remained silent—because they genuinely didn't want to fight anymore. Even if they became Colombians, they could still make money! So now, they just wanted to end the war in Casimir as quickly as possible, in whatever form, so they could make a fortune.

"That's natural. We will take back our land, no matter the cost."

The representatives of the War Knights, on the other hand, were much more upright—while they might not be diplomatically adept, they were at least loyal to their country. If one didn't view it from the perspective of the enemy or Theresa, the vast majority of War Knights were admirable soldiers!

Therefore, Yang Hao nodded in satisfaction to the knights and then stood up from his chair.

"Then, on behalf of Ursus, I agree to your terms—the Ursus army and the Kazimir army will be commanded by their respective leaders. We share a common enemy, Columbia, and we can tolerate some minor disagreements before dealing with Columbia... However, we hope that you can present a unified message... At the very least, don't let our guests see the two factions arguing in the same place again. That's all for now. I have to have dinner with guests from Kazdel today, so I'll be leaving now."

Dining with Kazdel's guests was purely a formality—but Yang Hao went to the extra lengths to make the Kazimir people understand their current situation: if you truly displease me, I'll have to pay the Sarkaz mercenaries even more to stop serving you. So, next time, could you send only one group?

This would not only make Yang Hao feel better, but also make his plan to sow discord between Kazimierz Capital and the Knights of Conquest more effective—what? You're saying their relationship is already so bad that I don't need to sow discord? That's not good! A powder keg already full of gunpowder just needs to be ignited with a torch, right? When the time comes, if you can only send one group, the other group that can't come will probably be restless and unable to eat or sleep.

Just like the secretaries or employees in some aggressive companies who worry all day about whether the person sitting across from them is engaging in underhanded deals with their boss to get promoted, if Yang Hao simply talks to the Knights about whether the food in Kazimierz is good or not, the capitalists will be very suspicious of the Knights, let alone if he really intends to set a trap.

So, Kazimir—I look forward to seeing changes in you.

With this in mind, Yang Hao and Sonia left the area. After meeting up with the guards outside, they prepared to return to the landship to rest.

"But, Mr. Yang Hao? Aren't you worried about your person operating in the Great Knight Territory..."

"Oh? Margarita? Don't worry, she's fine. I'm keeping an eye on her."

"I see...hehe."

"what happened?"

"No, it's nothing."

Sitting in the car, Sonia gently rubbed Yang Hao's ear. She was becoming increasingly satisfied with her child, especially after last night.

Chapter 86

After a brief resupply in the city, Yang Hao returned to the land-based ship and immediately summoned the officers of his troops to discuss matters concerning the upcoming war.

Ten minutes later, the generals and officers had assembled in the conference room. Because this army, whose war objective was "revenge," was destined to have few high-ranking officers in command, and given that the only general in this army was the temporarily promoted Mr. Bozokastie, the senior officers present in the conference room were mostly colonels and senior colonels.

After everyone had taken their seats, except for Mr. Bozocasti who remained standing due to his robust physique, Yang Hao asked Sonia's mother to unfold a map for him. Then, with a serious expression, he addressed his officers:

"It seems our situation is not optimistic. The Casimir people are in dire straits and are still fighting amongst themselves—we are the only ones left to fight the Colombians."

His statement was endorsed by all the officers—especially Mr. Bozokastie. He looked down on the capitalists of Kazimir, especially after learning that the filthy picture books in his son's possession were produced by capitalists.

However, there are still many respectable figures among the Knights of Conquest. So, after thinking for a moment, Bozokasti said to Yang Hao:

"But we still need to fight the Knights to ensure the vigilance of our flanks. At the same time, we also need to obtain intelligence from the Colombians."

“I have complete and up-to-date intelligence on Colombia—this is intelligence that our spies recently brought us.”

"...I see. Well then, at least on the flanks, we hope to secure them."

“That’s natural. Our flank will be that Grand Knight Territory. They can’t possibly abandon their cities… I mean, the Conquering Knights can’t abandon their cultural centers, but the capitalists might not. And then, to ensure our safety, we won’t get our supplies from the Grand Knight Territory—the United City that previously had a contract with my Duke of Koschche is near the Grand Knight Territory. We can get the resources we need from there.”

"United City?"

"Ah."

After leaving Ursus, the United Cities headed to Casimir to obtain the resources they wanted—but they never expected to find themselves in a den of wolves right after escaping one. They survived the civil war in Ursus, but they couldn't escape the war between Casimir and Columbia.

Furthermore, the United City, currently situated between the Grand Knight Territory and the eastern cities of Casimir, has been used as a buffer zone by the Casimirians. Therefore, the United City has no choice but to try and protect itself within Casimir's borders—but Colombia's gas attack won't affect an independent city.

So, left with no other choice, the United Cities could only do this: they participated in the resistance against Kazimierz, contributing no soldiers, but at least providing some supplies.

Yang Hao needed their supplies, and he also needed to check on his good friend Jack and his wife along the way...

Meanwhile, the officers in Ursus were utterly shocked by Yang Hao's preemptive move, breaking out in a cold sweat. Aside from Bozokasti, they genuinely hadn't expected this man, single-mindedly focused on revenge, to be so efficient—his wife had only been dead a few days before a spy targeting the Colombians was sent into Kazimir. But why Kazimir? They racked their brains but couldn't find an answer, finally concluding that perhaps their lord intended to deliver a quick blow to the Colombians nearby, rather than planning a direct attack on Colombian territory.

Bozhuokastie, however, seemed to know much more. He said nothing, simply watching quietly as the officers engaged in a serious discussion. After a moment, he saw the officers point to the map and propose a plan to Yang Hao:

“Although we cannot command the knights of Kazimierz, the remnants of the Great Knight Territory around the area have no one to belong to, so we can try to win them over.”

"That's fine. Anything else?"

Not bad, not bad. Those remnants are my little foals, of course they'll listen to me—but speaking of which, did you make your own judgment based on the intelligence you gathered? Hmm, they're all military talents worth cultivating.

"The Sarkaz mercenaries are only employed by the people of Kazimir, but they should still have command in their own hands—as long as we can ensure that their mission objectives are not jeopardized, they are probably willing to follow our orders."

"That's fine too. Anything else?"

The Sarkaz mercenaries are indeed my men—alas, if it weren't for Ms. Therese's little secret about me and her interest in this "widower," I'd be quite happy too...

Hopefully, nothing will go wrong next time we go to Kazdel. Yang Hao was truly praying this from the bottom of his heart, especially since he planned to go to Kazdel with Karina and Sonia.

“In addition, we need more radiation protection suits to collect samples from the urban wreckage that the Kazimirs have smuggled out. We need to figure out what those are in order to fight them.”

“Good idea. I have more advanced radiation protection suits here, but you can choose the specific personnel for the recycling.”

As for the hazmat suit, Yang Hao had already made preparations beforehand, and he did bring it with him—so there's no need to worry about that.

Hmm... So are there any other details we need to consider?

Yang Hao nodded thoughtfully, then he thought of something:

"There's one more thing—will the Empire's reinforcements come to our aid?"

"...I personally hold a somewhat pessimistic view on this. After all, the Empire's army is still rebuilding, so..."

"so be it."

It seems unlikely that the Ursus Empire's army will be able to come to their aid—so all Yang Hao can rely on are his 3 Ursus troops, Ms. Therese's Sarkaz mercenaries, and Theresa's remaining troops?

Um...

Is the force no more than 6 men?

Yang Hao nodded thoughtfully, thinking that with 6 men, if he handled things properly, he should be able to repel the Colombian attack while also putting some pressure on Casimir.

How can we make their high-ranking officials die in a "natural" way?

Yang Hao sighed and decided to go find Theresa later to ask about the assassination methods used in Kazimierz.

Chapter 87

That afternoon, the Ursus landships set sail. But the Kazimir people did not let their guard down; they stood atop the defensive wall, watching the landships sail away until they disappeared completely on the horizon, along with the army behind them. None of them left the area.

After a while.

"...I heard that the widow of the Nowitzki family—that Theresa—and those remnants of the Nowitzki family who fought against the family were actually supporters of Ursus."

A knight, leaning against the defensive wall, spoke to his comrade. He was a typical pragmatist; his longsword at his waist was badly damaged, and his armor was filthy. He must have just returned from the front lines.

"—Then we need to find a way to drive those remnants out! Don't they like Ursus? Then let them go to Ursus!"

This was an elderly war knight, clearly a commander operating from the rear, even his hair styled with precious hair wax. They were more like commanders who had gradually withdrawn from the battlefield and focused solely on giving orders than actual combatants. While most war knights held these men in the highest esteem for those who had earned their positions through battle, now...

Those experienced veterans who had recently retired from the front lines exchanged glances and responded to the old man's statement with silence.

After a while.

“If it weren’t for those remnants, we wouldn’t have been able to stop the Colombian attack at all,” said the first combat-oriented knight to speak. “I know what you old men are thinking—you won’t allow the Nowitzki family to return to Casimir. Even if Miss Theresa did receive the credit she deserved. You’ve already paid too high a price for your so-called chivalry, and now you’re going to push your people and warriors, who are still loyal to your country, to the opposite side?”

"...But this is no reason for a cowardly family to return to Kazimir. Not to mention the fact that the widow of the Nowitzki family is now the Duke's chief spymaster!"

"..."

Now things have reached the worst point—neither side can convince the other.

Practical knights aren't particularly sensitive to political matters, but they understand very well that if you can't even secure the present, then talking about the distant future is utterly pointless—it's like the trade-off between survival and ideals. If you're going to die today, what meaning does the light of a week from now have for you?

For them, this is the situation Kazimir is facing right now—Kazimir might be finished in the next two years, so what's the point of you political manipulators thinking about the future decades from now? Isn't the most urgent task right now to save Kazimir?

Practical knights cannot understand the command-oriented knights, and command-oriented knights cannot understand the thinking of practical knights.

They were considering the near future—a future that wouldn't be too far off, perhaps within the next couple of years. That future was one where Ursus, under the guise of the Nowitzki family, would turn Kazimir into a puppet.

Not all of Kazimierz's intelligence personnel are incompetent. At least for the spies on the Knights' side, they have indeed obtained a lot of useful information from Ursus—most notably, the fact that the widow of the Nowitzki family has become the chief spymaster under Duke Yang Hao of Ursus, or rather, Duke Yang Hao.

The previous head of that family was a coward, and now his daughter is a traitor—how can anyone believe that the "patriotism" of her remaining soldiers is genuinely serving Kazimir? Perhaps the commanding knights wouldn't mind using them, but they fear the consequences will be beyond their control.

The remnants of the army and the reputation of the Nowitzki family have led the people of the Grand Knights to believe they are saviors reborn. If this continues, it will only be a matter of time before Kazimir becomes a vassal state of Ursus, or even just a province! Therefore, the commanding knights will not allow the Nowitzki family to return to this land under any circumstances...

Their only hope was that Prince Yang Hao had truly come only for revenge, but in reality—

That Mr. Yang Hao was already discussing with his little pony how to make their deaths seem more natural.

... .....

Inside the land-based warship, in Yang Hao's private suite.

Ms. Sonia was reading with Hela, while Miss Karina was focused on her research—she was studying a new ritual, a ritual related to desire... However, Yang Hao felt that with him around, she wouldn't get too engrossed again, so he kept an eye on her while letting her go further and further down her path of ascension.

Not only that, Yang Hao was indeed talking to Theresa, who was sitting at his desk, about how to make a death in Kazimierz, a kind and simple place, seem "not so strange".

"To be honest, boss, asking this is a bit awkward. After all, even the most predatory capitalists wouldn't assassinate someone if they had the choice. Um, I mean—they basically wouldn't do it unless things really got out of their control. But in those situations, they don't care about 'naturalness' when they strike."

The little pony sat on Yang Hao's desk. Wearing a bodycon skirt, she crossed her legs and seemed to be talking thoughtfully, while Yang Hao could see a glimpse of white under her skirt through the gap between her legs.

"So, what exactly will they do? I hope to give the people of Kazimir the illusion that capitalists and knights are killing each other."

Yang Hao propped his chin up with his hand, glanced at Theresa's lingerie a couple of times, and then refocused his attention on his work. When Yang Hao asked her about it, Theresa simply shrugged, indicating that it wasn't as difficult as Yang Hao had imagined.

"That was—an accident."

"An accident? We all know that death is an accident, but what exactly will happen?"

"For example, what if a crazy knight suddenly breaks into another knight's house and hacks the whole family to death? Oh, and then that crazy knight will be sent to a sanatorium, and after two months he'll be released with a pile of prize money in his hand or something."

"Oh..."