Chapter 1001 Battle for the High Tower (Thirty-Five) (Patreon)

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"Before you embark on this topic, I hope you haven't harbored any expectations that we would engage in a tender, harmonious, and touching exchange of confidences like true teacher and student, or father and son."

Schiller set down his utensils once again, wiped his mouth with the napkin, and then said, "If you're seeking that kind of feeling, I suggest you look for Harvey or Gordon. They would visibly make better fathers."

"Do you know why our conversations always end in such unpleasant atmospheres?" Schiller posed a question and then answered it himself, "Because you harbor equal suspicion towards everyone in this world, including me, and I equally despise everyone in this world, including you."

"Well then..." Batman spoke slowly, "If I were to cease suspecting everyone in this world, would you cease despising everyone in this world?"

"What did you say?" Schiller narrowed his eyes. Suddenly, Batman saw him break into a manic grin, but quickly, Schiller reached out and pulled down the corners of his mouth, shaking his head vigorously.

"Damn it!" Schiller cursed, then muttered to himself, "Do you really believe it? Do you think Batman wouldn't suspect others? Not be so serious... No... your laughter is truly ugly..."

Schiller seemed to wrestle with the air, and with a clang, the dining knife fell to the ground. Grinding his teeth, Schiller turned to the nearby Demon and said, "Claude! Get him out of here! Throw him outside the castle!"

The burly Demon sidestepped Batman, who didn't want to engage in conflict, so he stood up and walked towards the outside of the castle.

As he was about to leave the castle, he saw Schiller bend over, pick up the knife, and begin devouring the food on his plate like a famished man.

Batman knew this wasn't normal, but he also knew he couldn't provoke Schiller any further, so he left with a heavy heart and found Alfred, intending to ask him about his views on the mine system and structure.

"Professor Schiller discussed communism with you? I suppose he told you that you're a capitalist, so no matter how you lead the mine, you're exploiting those slaves."

Alfred's initial words surprised Batman, but what he said next astonished Batman even more.

"Do you think I would tell you to relinquish leadership now and let all the Demons vote to exercise their democratic rights, and do the same with leadership in other departments?"

"But, Batman, the theoretical books you've read should have told you that everything must be based on the actual situation, not on idle speculation, not by copying blindly."

"You can't just take the Soviet Union's system directly, nor can you take some other system and force-fit it into the current situation... What is the current situation?"

Alfred answered his own question, "We're still within Belial's territory. In less than three days, news of the mine incident will reach his ears, and Belial's elite army is more formidable than General Putrescent's Demon army."

"Even if it takes him some time to mobilize his forces here, for us and all the slaves here, it's still a matter of life and death. You must ensure that we survive first before discussing anything else."

"There's no time for you to educate the masses, recruit talent, organize elections, or arrange departments. We can't even call this a partial victory yet; we've only managed to take a half-step out of the quagmire."

"In the history books you should have read, in the initial stages, there's no need to pursue too much procedural justice. Survival is the most important. If someone tells you at this time that your procedures are unjust, so everything is meaningless, you should punch him."

"Nothing is more meaningful than staying alive."

Seeing Batman's expression, Alfred chuckled and said, "Are you surprised? I've said it before; we're not the fanatical extremists you imagine. In fact, without decisive choices and flexibility, our cause wouldn't have come this far."

"So, feel free to exert your abilities. Or rather, if you were to relinquish your leadership now and not utilize your abilities, then all our previous efforts would have been in vain."

After listening to Alfred's words, Batman stood in place and nodded. He had to acknowledge that he still held some rigid biases towards the KGB, after all, he was a born and bred American, and it was difficult to avoid being influenced to some extent, no matter how wise and clear-headed he might be.

Running his fingers lightly along the edge of his cape, Batman spoke, "In my discussion with Schiller, I mentioned a method to quickly stimulate war potential. I think he might have been referring to a planned economy. Do you think it can be implemented here?"

Alfred shook his head, "It's not as simple as you think. The success of the Soviet Union's model was due to the Communist International acting as arteries, with industrial production from various countries providing blood to the Soviet Union, which acted as the heart, constantly digesting and transforming this blood into nutrients, and then redistributing it, leading everyone forward together."

"But this model also laid hidden dangers for the future... But let's not discuss that for now. To apply such a model, the prerequisite is that the scale must be large enough, and as for us now..."

"So, it comes back to that question. We need to win first before we can expand the scale. But to win, we need to expand the scale..." Batman fell silent for a while, as if pondering.

"In the initial stages, it's always like this. Every country in the world like the Soviet Union has a difficult history of stepping forward." Alfred looked at Batman and said, "The days ahead are destined to be tough, but do you remember that saying? You're not alone in this fight."

Batman looked up at the distant sky, thinking that perhaps he wouldn't have such a precious opportunity in his lifetime again, to unleash his strategic mind in such a large-scale war.

Even a small step forward would be an extra gain for him. So why not take the plunge?

Back in the mine, Batman first found Merkel to begin addressing production issues. There were no smelting factories in the mine, but there were smelting furnaces used to smelt production tools.

These furnaces used magma as an energy source, so Batman didn't need to start from scratch. However, the challenge was that the furnaces only had molds for tools like pickaxes or minecart components, while what Batman needed now was equipment and weapons.

In other words, they had to research the mineral ratios for equipment smelting from scratch and the enchantment of weapons.

Fortunately, General Putrescent's army hadn't been completely wiped out. Many Demon soldiers were captured, and they expressed willingness to fight for Batman. The armor and weapons they carried could provide some reference.

Batman led a scientific research team, mainly consisting of Merkel, sorcerers from General Putrescent's former army, and soldiers from the logistics department. Their main task was to analyze the original equipment and use the minerals in the mine to forge armor belonging to the mine army.

Batman's scientific research abilities were beyond doubt, and the research progressed smoothly. There were other reasons for this, such as the fact that the Seven Mountains mine was the second largest in Belial's territory, but in terms of the variety of minerals, it ranked first.

Moreover, General Putrescent was the queen's cousin after all. Although he hadn't participated in any major wars in recent years, the soldiers under his command were of high quality, and the sorcerers were quite clever, saving Batman a lot of effort.

Soon, a simple equipment forging production line was set up, with mining, transportation, and smelting carried out seamlessly.

Batman also improved the ecology of the mine, treating everyone as parts on an assembly line. Everyone had to participate in production and training, all striving to survive.

As for military training, Merkel was in charge all along. Batman no longer used the old-fashioned Demon army structure, where large-sized Demons were heavy infantry wearing heavy armor, and small-sized Demons were light infantry wearing light armor. This classification method, although convenient, had significant problems.

Batman adopted a modern army structure, with some modifications. Demons were differentiated based on functionality, and different races appeared in different companies due to the functional differences.

For example, in the light infantry companies, there were more small-sized Demons, but there were also medium-sized Demons. In the company's headquarters, medium-sized Demons were responsible for defense, transportation, and construction of defensive works, while small-sized Demons would be deployed for raids.

Of course, due to the different marching speeds of various Demons, it often happened that the vanguard had already arrived while the rear troops hadn't even covered a third of the distance. To compensate for this gap, Batman had to start thinking about manufacturing transport vehicles.

He had ready references, such as the minecarts traversing the mines, which were excellent subjects for study.

In the human world, it was normal for the frontline to advance while the rear built up. However, due to limitations in human physical abilities and the era, it was difficult to connect all occupied areas with railways after taking control of an area. There weren't enough materials or workers, and it wasn't necessary.

But in hell, the foundation for implementing such a railway network existed. On one hand, the minerals needed for smelting rails or making minecarts were plentiful in the mine. On the other hand, Demons required fewer resources to maintain their physiological needs, and they were strong. In simple terms, they worked fast. As long as resources were allocated properly, the speed of infrastructure construction was astonishing.

Of course, the majority of Demon lords used portals for troop movements. Batman's sorcerers could use portals too, but they needed a lot of materials. They couldn't gather enough materials for now, and even if they could, the consumption was considerable, and Batman didn't have that much money.

Moreover, a well-planned and well-constructed railway network might not necessarily be inferior to portals. After all, portals were one-time use and consumed a large amount of materials. They also needed preparations days in advance. If they were disturbed, material loss was secondary; the personnel being transported might get lost in the spatial turbulence and never return.

Even for someone as powerful as Belial, 80% of the material exchange in his territory relied on special Demon races for transportation. For example, the giant sandworms in the mine were a type of transport demon.

Batman naturally hadn't forgotten about these sandworms. Before, when he was preparing to deal with General Putrescent, he had carefully considered strategies for dealing with these creatures.

However, General Putrescent had not yet struck when he went to offer assistance to Schiller. Therefore, Batman acquired an entire established team of sandworms for free.

This indeed provided him with great assistance in the initial battles.

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1002: Battle for High Tower (Thirty-Six)