Oran left, but she revisited the keep a week later. This time she brought a basic version of a biological modulation system, twenty research assistants, and an intelligent management system.
The fifth floor of the main building of the fortress has been completely transformed into a biological laboratory. Although the implementation cannot be compared with the laboratory in the previous Zero Company base, at least the most basic modulation work can be carried out. Zero plans to add an expanded version, but it will take a month for Istar to deliver it, but these devices are enough for pre-modulation now.
It took two days to install and debug the equipment, and the fifth floor was completely forbidden, and only Zero could enter and exit freely. Others need to use identification to enter and exit to ensure the confidentiality of information.
As for the intelligent management system brought by Oran, it was soon put into practical use. One intelligent brain host was placed in a room on the fourth floor, and five operating sub-machines were connected. At the same time, the recording terminals were distributed to the three small towns including the fortress and Marley, and it took another week to register the identities of workers and soldiers, and back up the information in the brain host.
At the same time, a smart card is issued to every person who serves zero, and through it, when zero pays salaries or they trade some supplies and food, the points inside can be updated through the recording terminal.
So far, the economic system under Zero Territory has been established, and the points system has been used in reference to Asgard. The ratio of every 10 points to 1 gold coin is carried out, which reduces some unnecessary links in zero financial operations, thus saving a lot of time.
Oran also provided Zero with five data officers to manage the system for him, which was regarded as a gift from Istar.
Next, the fortress and the three towns were fully activated. Kanon Fortress is mainly engaged in mining and military training. With the continuous supply of workers and recruits, several mining areas can finally operate at full capacity, and the value of resources produced every month has reached more than one million gold coins. As for the recruits, 2,000 recruits were recruited. Most of them came from the outer islands where life was difficult. Therefore, these recruits were naturally resolute, and their physical fitness was not much worse.
What they lack is combat experience. In this regard, they still need to be trained by the soldiers on the Destiny.
Canon's original fortress area obviously couldn't accommodate so many people, Ling could only set up simple shanties near the fortress or even on the edge of the mining area for the workers to live in. The soldiers lived in the original fort barracks. After the previous slave camp was remodeled, it could accommodate nearly 5,000 soldiers.
The towns of Marley, Montgomery, and Tucson were also in operation. After the soldiers from Pope Hall were beaten away, the residents of the towns did not flee because of this. For them, it doesn't really matter which one occupies the town. The important thing is that Zero still provides food and lodging, and also increases their salaries. Of course, there was resistance, but after the soldiers suppressed it a few times, they resigned to their fate.
Zero's principle is very simple, if you work for him, everything will be the same, and even the treatment will be better than before. But if you make trouble, especially if you incite other people to resist together, you will be ruthlessly suppressed. In this regard, there is no compromise at all. His kindness is aimed at his own subjects. Those who are so rebellious or have ulterior motives will only be cruel to them.
His enemies were far away, and Zero had no time to dwell on these branches, so he could only prune them in the fastest way. After the first two weeks, order was re-established in the three towns. The factories in the two towns of Montgomery and Marley continued to operate, producing a steady stream of food and clean water. The time to restore order in Tucson Town was even faster. Most of the residents in this town were family members of the army. After the war, the families of the soldiers who died in the battle were counted and expelled by Zero. Their family members died in battle, and they formed a blood feud with Zero, so naturally they would not work for Zero.
Zero didn't want to kill them, because it would give him a cruel reputation, and he didn't want the Pope to make a fuss about it. A lord can be strict and iron-blooded, but if it is cruel, then the meaning is completely different. Therefore, he only chose to expel them, and he also distributed them enough food and water so that these people could reach another city, Cage, 500 kilometers away.
There are hundreds of these people, once they all flood into Cage City, it should affect their food reserves. At that time, how to arrange the families of the war dead will become a headache for the Pope's Hall. If it is not handled well, the Pope's Hall will be criticized.
The rest were basically the families of the 200 surrendered soldiers. For the surrendered soldiers, Zero broke them up and assigned them to work in the mining area. The soldiers and their families knew that there was no way to go back to the city of Rome. Under Sauron's high-pressure policy, the Knights basically executed the surrendered soldiers. In other words, even if Zero agrees to release them, they will be executed if they are caught when they go back, and their family members will be reduced to slaves.
Under such a rule, the Pope's Hall undoubtedly pushed the soldiers to zero. At least stay here in zero, they can still be alive, although they all know that the Pope will call back sooner or later. But if Zero is not defeated, they will be able to get shelter. Given the choice between dying now or dying later, most people know which one to choose.
So Ling got more than 400 workers, plus the new workers he recruited, after training, the arsenal also restored most of its production capacity.
Now, the fortress occupied by Zero and the three small towns are extremely busy, and Zero himself is also very busy. It's the high-level pixels who have nothing to do. Now they only think about when the Pope's hall will call, so they can move their rusty hands and feet.
Three weeks into the occupation of Canon, a scouting party outside Tucson spotted an army finally approaching from the city of Cage, five hundred kilometers away.
The commander is Mesa, the deputy head of the 2nd Legion who escaped from Tucson. This time he integrated three surrounding towns including Cage City, a total of 5,000 soldiers, 100 Paladins and 30 Griffins The powerful combat power of the knights is coming to Tucson.
Mesa wants to avenge its shame and retake the military base in Tucson. Su was very happy when he heard the news. She called Berrien who was staying in Tucson, and then she took 300 soldiers and went to Mesa's army quietly.
Mesa's fighting style has always been steady and steady, otherwise he wouldn't have mobilized so many soldiers in one go, because they were planning to push down Tucson's enemy army with a numerical advantage. But when there are too many troops in the army, the march cannot be fast. Advancing at a speed of 100 kilometers per day, on the evening of the fifth day, I saw the city of Tucson under the night. Mesa ordered the entire army to rest, and will officially attack tomorrow morning.
But on the same night, Su led a team to the door. After she handed over the soldiers to Berrien, she single-handedly charged into Mesa's barracks. You must know that Mesa's army is stationed in the wild, and there is no danger to defend. Although the barracks were arranged very rigorously, they couldn't stand the charge of the ninth-order Destroyer, so Su marched forward singing all the way, heading straight for Mesa's main camp.
In the end, if Mesa hadn't dispatched a dense mecha troop to open fire on Su, Mesa might have died that night.
Under the strong firepower of the mech troops, Su had no choice but to retreat. Joining up with Berrien's team in the middle, and after charging left and right, Berrien sent a thunderous fury to the Mesa barracks. A dozen or so paladin mechas were dispatched, which made Mesa furious, but there was nothing he could do.
In this raid alone, Mesa lost hundreds of soldiers and dozens of mechas, causing the knights' morale to plummet.
The next day, Zero, who received the news, drove over with Hu Ke and Man Shan's battle group, and Haiwei Yeliu and other high-ranking officials also followed. At exactly nine o'clock in the morning, Mesa launched the attack. Thirty Griffin Knights took off first, and they were the most advantageous aerial firepower of the Knights. The light machine guns fired by the Griffin Rider pose a threat to ordinary soldiers, while the pocket missiles are firepower that even high-level soldiers are unwilling to face.
Mesa's first wave of offensive is obviously going to suppress Tucson in the air, which is true tactically. It's a pity that there are quite a few capable people on Zero's side, especially those in the elemental domain like Berrien, who have obvious advantages on such a battlefield. What's more, Zero also updated a batch of equipment from Istane. As soon as he saw the Griffin Knight take off, under Zero's order, the soldiers of his side who had already occupied various commanding heights immediately picked up the Ahn'Qiraj guns they had just purchased.
When the Griffin Knights approached, what greeted them was the powerful air-controlling firepower network constructed by the Ahn'Qiraj cannon, as well as the thunder and light fires constantly released from Berrien's hands. In such a situation, even if the Griffin Rider had thrown the guided missile, it would have been intercepted and detonated by the zero-side firepower network before it hit the ground.
Seeing this situation, Mesa gave the order for a general attack with a gloomy face. As a result, hundreds of paladin mechas were scattered all over the place and marched towards Tucson with ordinary soldiers. From a high altitude, 5,000 soldiers formed a magnificent wave and pressed towards Tucson.
Finally, full-scale fighting broke out outside Tucson.
After the capture of Tucson, zero consideration for the Pope Hall attack, the city was sure to turn into a war front. Therefore, although Su and Berrien were idle some time ago, the other soldiers did not rest. About a hundred people were left to maintain order, and the others went to dig fortifications outside the town. In addition to the trenches, a few unused armor plates were also sent from the steel mill in Marley.
They were fixed outside the trenches as cover, and people cut square holes in them so that soldiers could shoot after cover.
These arrangements are finally coming in handy now. Even if the armor plate allows the paladin mechs to shoot with firepower, it can last for a while. As for ordinary rifles, they can't pose a threat to them at all. Only heavy firepower such as rocket launchers and missiles can destroy these things. Finding his army's advance met with unexpectedly strong resistance, Mesa ordered those armor plates to be removed first.
So nearly half of the mecha's firepower was aimed at those armor plates, and soon, two sides were blasted to pieces. Seeing this situation, Zero has no reservations. Point towards the knight mecha, and Zero Bend will rush towards this army first. His meaning is obvious, that is to clear the opponent's power armor first.
After Ling, Hu Ke, Man Shan, Ye Liu, Hai Wei and other capable people joined the battle. The Paladin mechs of Mesa's army were quickly reduced, and the Griffon Knights were also eliminated one by one with the cooperation of Berrien and Ahn'Qiraj. When the casualties of the mech troops exceeded two-thirds, the balance of the war began to tilt towards zero.
After almost clearing up the mech troops, the zero-class people began to charge and kill in the Mesa army. Facing these killing gods, ordinary soldiers couldn't stop them at all. Zero and the others didn't compete with those ordinary soldiers, their target was someone at the level of the other party's chief. These people are like the nodes of the entire command network, and when these officers are also downsizing, Mesa finds that he can't command the army.
The battle lasted from day to afternoon, and finally came to an end.
Mesa's army killed more than 3,000 soldiers, and almost all the mecha troops were wiped out. Most of the people at the officer level were killed or injured, and even Mesa himself died in the hands of Zero. About 500 of the remaining knight soldiers chose to surrender, and the rest fled back to Keqi City.
Counting after the war, there were more than 700 soldiers who died in this zero battle, most of whom died on the armor plate and were bombed by the enemy. Compared to the loss of the Knights, Zero's side can only be regarded as a minor injury, but if it weren't for the fact that Zero had too many high-level men, otherwise he would not be able to clear the opponent's mech troops in time. That way more people will die at that time. The zero-recovered equipment this time is not much, most of them are ordinary equipment, and the rewards cannot be compared with the previous few times.
It's just that after this battle, there are no forces within nearly a thousand kilometers that can pose a threat to Zero. The next morning, Zero took a thousand soldiers and a few high-ranking officers and went straight to Keqi City. Three days later, the city, which was in vain, was breached by Zero in just a few blows. The size of Cage City is not small, about the sum of the area of the three towns of Marley. Here is the recruit training camp of the Holy Seal Knights. Only then did Zero know that among the troops assembled by Mesa, there were actually 3,000 people from the training camp. recruits.
Basically, all the soldiers in the training camp were transferred to Mesa, and it was no wonder that the remaining soldiers were not enough to resist Zero's attack. After news of Mesa's defeat reached the city, the mayor of Cage City and some officials evacuated the city knowingly. Only more than 20,000 civilians were left behind. A thousand soldiers.
But Cage City is located on the plains, and there is no danger to defend. Zero asked himself that the current strength is not enough to swallow a big city like Cage, so the residents of Cage City only have enough supplies for ten days, and the rest can be taken away. Take away as much material as possible. Among these materials, Zero's priority was food and water, followed by knights' equipment. These items would cost nearly a million gold coins, and the most valuable of them were twenty paladin mechs. With them, and Kanon's remaining Knight of the Round Table, Rei had a mech squad.
As for the future life of the residents, it naturally became another headache for the Pope's Hall. And as long as it can make the Pope's hall a headache, Zero is willing to do it.
When he returned to Tucson, he received an unexpected news.
Oran came again, but this time, she also brought the mysterious patron behind Istar.
He returned to Kanon at midnight that day, and when he arrived in the evening, he met Oran first. Oran had already heard about the battle outside the town of Tucson, and when they met, he said, "Master Zero, congratulations on defeating the Pope's Hall once again."
Zero said in disbelief: "It's just a small victory, not a major setback. You're overrated."
"No, you are being humble. You defeated an army of 5,000 people from the front. This is not a small victory, no matter what."
"The numbers don't tell the story."
"When the number reaches a certain level, that's a problem." Oran said with a smile.
Zero had no intention of continuing to entangle with her on this matter, he changed the subject and said, "I heard that you didn't come alone this time."
"Yes, I also brought the adult who supported us behind the scenes."
"I don't know which big person in the Pope's Hall?" Zero asked casually.
The two came to the command room on the fourth floor, and Olan stood outside and said, "You will know it when you go in and take a look. I guarantee you will be surprised."
"Oh? The person who can surprise me won't be the young pope." Zero joked and pushed the door open.
There was only one person in the command room. He stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked towards the inner city of the fortress. A cloak envelops the whole body, and even his face is buried in the shadow of the hood. When Zero came in, he said with emotion: "The current Canon can be said to be truly impenetrable."
Zero also walked to the window, and the evening light painted a layer of golden color in the fortress. The outer city wall composed of armor plates has basically been assembled. In a few days, the gate will also be completed. After installing heavy artillery turrets and anti-aircraft machine guns on the city wall, the defense of the fortress will jump several levels. The city wall made up of a row of metal armor plates, with the luster of metal flowing under the sky, is indeed worthy of the word "iron wall".
"In this world, nothing is eternal. No matter how strong Canon is, it is impossible for it to fall forever. Just like Sauron, it is impossible to sit on that throne forever." Ling Yong said in a flat tone.
The cloaked man shook slightly, turned his head, and Ling could see a pair of bright eyes from the shadow of the hood: "Are you confident that you will enter Rome?"
"It's not that I have confidence, but I will definitely."
"I really don't understand, where does your confidence come from?"
"It's very simple. In front of the mountain I want to climb, the city of Rome is just a small hill." Zero's simple words revealed strong confidence.
"That is to say, in the process of your climbing to the top, the hillside of the city of Rome is just an obstacle that you must jump over. I understand, strange outsider, although I don't know where your end point is. But I am very happy that I can walk with you for a short period of time during your journey of life." The cloaked man finally pulled down his hood, revealing a handsome sunny face: "We met for the first time , I am the current Pope Paul VI."
Zero's pupils shrank slightly, and then he showed a wry smile. Whatever he said casually, it actually hit the mark.
The backstage supporter of Istar turned out to be the current pope!