Li Ruobai explained in detail, and Chu Jungui understood more details.
The Federation is under an overall central government, but its actual structure is relatively loose. Each star region and even the largest families have a considerable degree of autonomy. This is also the basis for the unique private military nature of some of the Federation's legions. Strong families often establish their own legions. The federation will provide some basic army building expenses and provide basic training. Then most of the main equipment of the legion will be paid by each family themselves, thus turning it into a semi-private army. .
In major battles, such legions must obey the call of the Federation, but in peacetime, they have certain rights to act independently.
Under the loose military system, most of the family legions are famous for being elite. Their combat power is not bad, and it even exceeds the legion formed by Star Territory itself, and outstanding generals are constantly emerging. In this way, the descendants of famous families in the Federation, especially the Ring of Roses family, have a high starting point and many opportunities to join the military. Their promotions are not subject to seniority restrictions, and they are promoted based on merit. Therefore, a group of very young major generals have emerged. However, the threshold for promotion from major general to lieutenant general has become quite high. The rigid requirements for military merit have forced many young major generals to accumulate war after war. Most of them slowly turned gray in the process.
The military system in the prosperous Tang Dynasty was relatively strict, and there were strict requirements and restrictions on promotions. For example, Chu Jungui is still only a second lieutenant, and Li Ruobai, as a pilot, has a high starting point in military rank, but so far he is only a major. Without military merit on the battlefield, soldiers in the prosperous Tang Dynasty had to slowly climb up the ladder step by step if they wanted to be promoted.
The Federation is not monolithic. Many families have feuds with each other, and the hatred between each other may even exceed the conflict between the Federation and the Tang Dynasty.
Li Ruobai analyzed that Agnes was obviously tricked by Gan Bo. She had no idea about the situation on Planet 4, so she gave Chu Jungui such a long time to develop. In addition, her preparations for the first battle were completely unqualified. All indications indicate that Gamble did not share any real information with the Crystal Falcon Legion when he left.
After breaking through the second beast nest, Agnes will immediately leave Planet 4, obviously intending to leave Chu Jun to the next successor. It is not uncommon to use the enemy's hands to attack the enemy. Li Ruobai did not mind playing an important role in it, so he also supported Chu Jungui's sale of the chariot. In this environment, strengthening yourself is the first choice.
It's just that Chu Jungui's chariot was sold a little cheaper.
By the time Agnes finished her meeting with the officers, her exclusive room had been created. She was noncommittal about this room, but after comparing the accommodations of Li Xinyi and Li Ruobai, she knew that this was the best room in the entire base. After viewing the room, Agnes handed over a ransom list.
Chu Jungui discussed it with Li Ruobai, and Li Ruobai believed that most of the people on the list should have some background. The role of these people in the shadow of doomsday is no different from that of ordinary people. It is better to let them go, both for ransom and favor.
Looking at the list of 200 names, Chu Jungui felt a little reluctant. These are some good labor forces, and he also has some doubts about the usefulness of things like favors.
"Human affection is..." Li Ruobai tried to explain, but found that something was not clear, especially that he could not explain it quantitatively. For example, the difference between one favor and two favors may be more than one favor, how many small favors are equivalent to a big favor, etc.
Before Chu Jungui understood this knowledge, Agnes's ransom had been delivered.
Several Crystal Falcon high-speed chariots were parked outside the gate of the Doomsday Shadow Fortress. After receiving the notification, Chu Jungui personally welcomed him out of the fortress and saw an elegant man standing in front of the chariot waiting.
Seeing Chu Jun return, the elegant man took a step forward and said, "I am Hearne, the senior staff officer of the Crystal Falcon Corps. I have sent a ransom on the order of General Agnes. Please check it."
He handed over a box, then pressed the side and the lid opened automatically.
Inside the box were four dark gold cards, all made of strange crystals. Each crystal card had the Commonwealth Bank's logo and the number 10 million on it.
"This is a fixed face value crystal card issued by the Federal Bank. It is anonymous and can circulate freely in any star area. Anyone holding this crystal card can open an account at any branch of the Federal Bank and deposit the face value of the crystal card. Commonwealth Dollar. Under no circumstances will Commonwealth Bank inquire or verify the identity of the cardholder."
This is equivalent to special large-denomination cash, but it is usually not seen in the market.
The ransom of 40 million was more than expected.
Chu Jungui took the card box and put it away, then returned to the fortress and let Agnes out. The delivery of personnel and tanks will take place one day later, at which time Chu Jungui will deliver 200 tanks and the personnel on the list.
The delivered combat vehicles did not have increased configurations as required by tactical deception, but quite the opposite. After Li Ruobai's painstaking explanation, Chu Jungui finally understood that the previous price was not too high, but too low. Things like tanks are priced based on combat power rather than cost. For example, if this tank can compete with the Federation's main battle tank, the pricing should be based on the pricing of the Federation's tank.
In the end, Chu Jungui redesigned a reduced-performance version of the tank's attitude control and fire control systems, integrating the two systems into one and using only one biochip to drive them. The performance of such a tank is reduced by about one-third compared to the personal version. However, the armor and weapons are the same, so the overall combat effectiveness is only a small loss.
When Hearne sent another crystal card worth 140 million, Chu Jungui asked the Crystal Falcon warriors scheduled to be released to leave the base in a chariot. The last 30 tanks will leave an hour later, carrying ammunition.
This was Li Ruobai's idea to prevent Agnes from using the purchased chariot to turn around and attack the Shadow of Doom. However, Agnes seemed to have no intention of breaking the contract. After receiving the chariot, there was no movement.
The release of a group of Crystal Falcon warriors had an unexpected effect, and all the Crystal Falcon warriors who were still captives surrendered. After careful questioning, Chu Jungui found out that these soldiers were all from civilian backgrounds and came from ordinary families. Their families cannot afford a rescue operation. This is not because of the ransom. As civilians, their ransom amount is not much. However, if they want to leave Planet 4 and return to their hometown across several star fields, the travel expenses required far exceed the ransom. It is not their family at all. What you can afford. Under normal circumstances, one can only wait for the two sides to exchange prisoners of war.
However, the exchange of prisoners of war is a matter between the Tang Dynasty and the Federation, and it is currently far away. Therefore, most of the remaining soldiers felt abandoned and chose to surrender.
