The Hunhuo Luo and Guohe Luo areas were originally the poorest places in the Western Regions. They were mainly desert areas. The territory was vast but sparsely populated, the farmland was barren, and only one kind of crop unique to the local area could be grown, with very low yields. In addition, there was animal husbandry. There was a kind of small cattle that could graze in the desert, but naturally it could not form a large scale within a certain area. In the past, only the old nobles could eat meat. Nowadays, there has not been much change, except that the new noble class has started to eat meat.
In fact, whether it is democratic election, dictatorship, or pure slavery in the past, it probably makes no difference to the lowest class of people here.
Lu Ming's convoy headed northwest, which is the direction bordering the Nile Autonomous Region. Starting from Hunhuo City, it first arrived at Chihuo City, the third largest city in the autonomous region. At this time, it was more than 300 kilometers away from Hunhuo City. Going further northwest, there were no slightly wider roads.
Rest in Chihuo City for a few days and meet with local dignitaries.
Then they set off again and arrived at a small town called Bahuo City a day later.
Some places along the way are basically deserts, not even roads to speak of.
However, Lu Ming's convoy consists of off-road military vehicles, and he also brought an engineering team. If they encounter a place where vehicles are difficult to pass, they can temporarily find a way to allow the vehicles to pass.
Although Bahuo City is called a city, it is just a village of a few thousand people. The 61st Police Station stationed here manages an area of several thousand square kilometers. In these thousands of square kilometers, there are actually only more than 50 villages, and the villages are not big. If Bahuo City is not counted, the population is less than 10,000.
There are eight people in Police Station 61, including a chief and seven police officers. They are equipped with five rifles and five pistols. There is no electricity here, so the police station is equipped with its own small generator.
Lu Ming's convoy consisted of five trucks, with two off-road trucks pulling RVs on the front. In addition, there was an armed helicopter, as well as two engineering vehicles loaded with engineering tools and some commonly used materials.
The guards are the chief's personal guards, organized at company level, but with more than 300 people, all equipped with submachine guns, assault rifles and large-caliber rifles. Their firepower is extremely strong whether it is long-range attack, medium-range fire suppression or close combat. They are also equipped with armored vehicles and armed helicopters. However, armored vehicles could not accompany them on this long journey, and they only brought out one armed helicopter.
After the convoy arrived at the 61st Police Station, it sent a message to the headquarters, informing them that a transport plane would arrive to drop additional supplies the next day.
The Guard Corps does not have an air force organization, but is equipped with two transport planes.
How could Shitou Luo, the chief of the 61st Police Station, have the opportunity to meet the chief officer who was several hundred ranks higher than him? According to military rank, he was only a lieutenant, and a lieutenant of the Western Region Police Corps, so his status was very low.
Police Station 61 is composed of two rows of simple bungalows. The rooms in the front row are offices, interrogation rooms and temporary detention rooms, while the rooms in the back row are dormitories.
In the office, Shitou Luo respectfully reported the situation here.
Lu Ming was looking at the map on the table.
Going further southwest, the soil gradually becomes fertile. The village of Hunhuo Luo, where a dispute over water sources led to gunfire, is more than 300 kilometers southwest of here.
"District 61, the Bahuo City plus the villagers in the nearby villages, although the population is not large, there are still more than 10,000 to 20,000 people, but there are only more than 100 valid voters?" Lu Ming was suddenly attracted by Shi Tou Luo's words.
Shitou Luo nodded, "Yes, because voters must have a public elementary school education or above. More than ten years ago, most people here were slaves. Not to mention elementary school education, there were not many people who could read." He said helplessly, "Originally, the Kingdom was going to build a public elementary school in District 61, but due to financial problems, the original promise was not fulfilled. So, I think this place will be like this for a long time."
Although Shitou Luo is not a local, he was born in a poor village and can empathize with the lives of the poor villagers here.
He has excellent physical fitness. Nine years ago, he was recruited as a police officer by the Chief's Guard Corps. He is also very smart. In just a few years, he not only continued to study culture, but also successfully graduated from the police officer training class. It can be said that these ten years have been a turning point in his life. All of this comes from the uniform he wears. He also loves this uniform. As for the chief, whom he has only seen in newspapers, he has long been the person he respects most.
Lu Ming glanced at Shitou Luo and asked, "How is the management of the municipal committee here?"
In the villages of the Hunhuoluo Autonomous Region, there are simple elections and no parliament. Villagers directly elect the municipal committees of the divided constituencies, and the municipal committees exercise management powers on behalf of all voters.
However, the ruling body elected by more than a hundred people is likely to remain the same.
Shitou Luo smiled bitterly and said, "Many villagers feel that it is worse to be slaves than before, because tools, fields, livestock, etc. are all..."
Lu Ming waved his hand, "The means of production are still in the hands of the former slave owners."
The Sonyans dealt with many of the old nobles, but that was in the big cities, where the Sonyans could actually govern.
Rural areas were basically unaffected.
It's not like when he was in the Northern Territory, where he was determined to eradicate the military bullies and mobilized the lower-class people to divide up their property. The remote mountainous areas could also be mobilized.
"Yes, means of production." Shitou Luo repeated the word with admiration, and continued: "Now they hire workers and pay them very low wages, but there are too many poor slaves and too few job opportunities. They compete with each other more fiercely than before. At least as the property of the slave owners, the slave owners will not want to starve them to death."
Lu Ming nodded slightly. The Sonya people's abolitionist policy was a typical one where they only cared about killing but not burying.
After pondering for a while, Lu Ming said, "It's mainly because the Autonomous Region Council ignored this serious problem and didn't think of a way to solve it with laws and regulations."
"Chief, you really don't want to see them?" Shi Tou Luo asked again.
As soon as Lu Ming arrived here, five members of the Municipal Committee heard the news and came to visit him collectively, but were turned away by armed guards.
Lu Ming smiled and said, "There's nothing to see. Let me tell you first. Well, choose a few former slaves to represent me and I'll talk to them."
"Okay!" Shitou Luo agreed quickly.
…
The next day, a helicopter arrived from the southwestern city of Whitefire.
Baihuo Fort is the second largest city in the Hunhuo Luo Autonomous Region, only a hundred kilometers away from the place where the Hunhuo Luo and the Nile people conflicted.
According to the investigation of the First Control Intelligence personnel, the weapons smuggled from the United Kingdom were first sent to the Whitefire Castle.
In Hunhuo City, the middle-aged man who was not very respectful to him was the deputy speaker of the Hunhuo Luo Autonomous Region, and he was born in Baihuo Castle.
The first piece of information controlled was that there was a Hunhuo Luo organization in Baihuo Castle, and its philosophy was that the Hunhuo Luo people should rule the Western Regions.
Naturally, it was the expansion of ambition brought about by the occupation of Nile City in the past.
However, it is not hostile to the United Kingdom. Instead, it hopes to gain support from the United Kingdom. It is reported that it may have already gained support from the White Rose Party in the United Kingdom.
This organization calls itself the "Rose of the Western Region".
In the United Kingdom, the White Rose Party is already a publicly registered political group with many supporters. The poorer the people live in, the more easily they are infected by such extreme ideas. Its current seats in the United Kingdom Parliament cannot be underestimated by the major parties. Moreover, some powerful people obviously support the White Rose Party, but they will not publicly declare their political inclinations.
The military and political group to which his patron, Admiral Dönitz, belonged had some colors of the old-school politicians of the empire and was in competition with the extreme factions.
As for the helicopter flying from White Fire Castle, the leader was White Fire Castle Councillor Xiang Sha Shi Mi, a beautiful young woman in her early twenties. Just by hearing her name, you could tell that she came from an extraordinary background.
Indeed, she was the granddaughter of the Hunhuo King. She was in her teens when her family was massacred. She was even hailed as the Hunhuo King by the remaining tribesmen because she was the only surviving member of the Hunhuo King's lineage.
Probably because she has been involved in politics since she was in her teens, after the stability of the Western Region, the last Hunhuo King chose the path of politics, starting from Whitefire Castle, where the influence of her family had not been eliminated. With the support of her family and some loyal subordinates, she was elected as a city councilor of Whitefire Castle at a young age in the general election two years ago. She also has considerable influence in the city council and is a heavyweight councilor.
Upon hearing that General Bit had arrived in Eight Fire City, which was only two hundred kilometers away from White Fire Castle, she hired a helicopter from a flight service company to pay him a visit.