I'm the boss because I have a harem of anime characters.

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Section 96: A Shattered World

"I'm truly impressed!"

Qin Shan never expected that the Kurds were so divided.

As a complete foreigner who had never specifically studied Middle Eastern issues, Qin Shan naturally wouldn't have imagined that there were actually more than 110 tribes within the Kurdish community.

More than 110 tribes! We only have 56 ethnic groups. Are you trying to collect ethnic medals here?

If all 110-plus tribes recognized themselves as Kurds, things would be much easier. But the unity of nomadic tribes is like Nanjing firmly declaring itself the capital of Jiangsu Province, Kunshan being utterly loyal to Suzhou, Xuzhou announcing it never intended to establish Huaihai Province, and the Thirteen Protectors abolishing their secondary fiscal authority and obediently paying money to Jiangsu Province. Are you kidding me?

Because the Kurds are essentially fragmented, or rather, scattered, the various tribes within the Kurdish community have very complex conflicts of interest, even leading to feuds and killings. The overall political environment is very similar to the tribal system of Genghis Khan's era.

How can such a people unite? Even two closely related tribes cannot truly merge into one, because the local natural conditions do not allow it. If large tribes were to come together, they would surely starve to death relying solely on the agriculture and animal husbandry inherited from the classical era.

The saying "Every pitiful person has something hateful about them" has a hint of victim-blaming, but it is very appropriate in this context.

You Kurds yourselves are full of broken glass, how can you expect to establish an independent state in a time when the overall environment of this country is stable? No wonder the Americans have given up on supporting you. If you had been a little more united and made the Americans realize that you do have some value, they wouldn't have abandoned you so easily.

Even with the South Vietnamese regime of that time, the United States struggled to abandon it before giving up. But with the Kurds, they gave up on them without hesitation, which shows that the American soldiers there were also exhausted.

There are problems within the tribe, and there are also conflicts among Kurds in different countries.

Look at the river systems in the Middle East. Conflicts are easily generated between people living upstream and downstream. Now, these conflicts are compounded by contradictions of survival, religion, ethnicity, interests, nationality, and tribe. To unite these people is not something that a few exceptional individuals can accomplish. It would require a large number of exceptional individuals, one after another, over at least a hundred years, to allow the Kurds to establish an independent state within the constraints of the global situation.

In the current situation, that would be tantamount to telling them: there's no saving them, they can only wait to die, goodbye!

“Admiral, don’t you always say that God helps those who help themselves? This type of ally seems more dangerous than the Italians.”

This is Bismarck's assessment of the Kurds. It's enough to make German ship girls measure them against Italian standards. The Kurds are truly hopeless because they are internally divided.

It's worth noting that the various tribes don't really accept the term "Kurdish." In Jiangsu, no matter how diverse the tribes are, they are at least absolutely unified on the major issue of "we are all Chinese." But there's no such condition here.

Even the Kurdish demand for independence only accounts for slightly over 50% of the total population.

Are you kidding me?

"At worst, we can just go to Türkiye to find a suitable candidate."

Since the broad concept of "Kurds" cannot effectively unite the current Kurds, then let's target the Kurds who are most prone to causing trouble. The Kurds in Turkey are one option, as are those in Syria, Iran, and Iraq. At worst, we could even establish a four-Kurd state. In any case, the cohesion in the Middle East is like a raging torrent, which weakens and eventually collapses. These countries, which have long lost their fighting spirit and are merely occupying barren land, are simply incapable of fighting the Kurds to the death.

"Pick a few that are still usable; if necessary, just use puppets!"

In any case, Qin Shan is just a casual move; the main goal is to cripple Europe and America. No one will sympathize with the fate of the pawns.

And frankly, if the imperialist countries hadn't intervened back then, and the various ethnic groups in the Middle East had been allowed to carve out their own territories, the lack of nationalist fervor would have been the real root cause of the chaos in the Middle East.

The situation in the Middle East is much more stable now. The forced division and the meddling of those who try to force things together are a problem. Plus, the US and Europe don't have the energy to stir things up anymore. The Middle East can be completely rebuilt from scratch. Since the various ethnic groups within the region are not on good terms with each other, then let them go out and live independently. The 23 Middle Eastern countries are constantly in conflict, so dividing them into 230 countries would be fine. The main point is freedom of choice, and everyone can have their own life.

If a country is small enough, it will call for world peace.

Look at Switzerland, they never take the initiative to attack, they rely on their agility and six days of neutrality.

You think you can remain neutral without the backing of a major power? What a joke.

After careful selection, Qin Shan finally chose a Kurdish armed group in Turkey and supplied them with a large amount of American equipment, all of which were currently in service with the US military. The characteristic of this type of equipment was that it had appeared in the Middle East before.

Meanwhile, warriors chosen by God (superhumans) have emerged within the Kurdish ranks, giving them the basic foundation for causing trouble. Get ready to enjoy the annual drama, "Esultan's Breakdown".

But before that, the annual blockbuster, "The Wrath of Pugo," is about to begin.

The previous American Civil War had already demonstrated the terrifying combat power of fully armed superhumans. Now, Qin Shan has sent three-digit numbers of superhumans to Ukraine in one go, which is a life-or-death situation for the Russian army.

Since the previous war situation had become completely one-sided, more than 95% of the Russian people believed that the war against Ukraine would end this year, possibly even in the first half of the year, and that the current situation was just a period of stagnation before enjoying the fruits of victory.

The compradors within Ukraine had long been prepared for Runhe to surrender. Those who remained at this time were either truly devoted to Ukraine or had no way out and could only die for the empire like the soldiers who defended the Empire State Building back then.

But those who were buried alive were at least members of the once glorious Third Reich; what did Ukraine have?

The children of your government officials are all foreigners and would never die for Ukraine. So, when the Russian army is about to reach Kyiv, do you think these people will either be buried with Ukraine or flee to Europe or the United States beforehand?

They won't go to the United States now; Europe is their best, and only, choice.

That's why people say the American Civil War was a huge boon for the EU. If the neighbor wasn't the Soviet Union, the US would have been doomed. Now it's better that it died too late. If only the US had gone with the Soviet Union when it collapsed.

In an atmosphere where everyone thought Ukraine wouldn't survive the year, Ukraine pulled off a historic comeback, relying on its elite troops to achieve a local breakthrough, carrying out precise decapitation strikes against Russian officers, and annihilating 50,000 elite Russian troops outside Kyiv.

Please note that 50,000 elite troops were encircled and annihilated, which is equivalent to directly breaking the spearhead of the Russian army's offensive.

At first, neither Russia nor other countries believed it, thinking it was just a gimmick put on by Zelensky in his death throes, without any real meaning. Although European media reported on it (American media are now busy reporting on their domestic civil war), it was only out of historical inertia of not wanting to see Russia in a good light, and not because they really believed that the Ukrainian army still had the ability to launch a counterattack.

But once the results of the battle were confirmed, the whole world fell silent.

Wait, what's wrong with me today? Why am I dreaming about Ukraine defeating Russia?

Upon closer inspection, it turned out that this was not a dream at all, but a real and confirmed reality. The captured Russian soldiers and the piles of captured equipment left the world speechless.

Then came the frenzied discussion: How did Ukraine manage to do that?

The EU was initially alarmed, then overjoyed. After all, they believed that once the US interference disappeared, the Russian interference should also disappear. However, due to geopolitical factors, Russia certainly couldn't move away. So, they could only try to weaken their neighbor's strength, ideally turning it into a fragmented state like the Soviet Union. In that case, a smaller Russia would be welcomed by European countries and become a new European palace.

Don't assume that they can accept Slavs. In reality, Europe in the strict sense only includes Western European countries, and even those Western European countries don't have a high degree of mutual recognition. Eastern Europe, in their context, is the birthplace of slaves and barbarians. They're lucky if they can even be their blood bank, let alone think they can govern Europe. That's overestimating your abilities and going against the grain.

It's unrealistic to expect the current EU to actually rush in and fight a bloody battle, but if there's a country that can restrain Russia, they would absolutely welcome it. Ukraine's performance is a pleasant surprise for them.

As for the dangers of Ukraine becoming too powerful, you're being humorous. It's decades away for this deindustrialized country to become too powerful. It's not something our generation should worry about, because we've already won decades of precious development for future generations. We should trust the wisdom of future generations to handle what happens next.

"Tell me, what happened?"

Pu Gou's face was gloomy, his expression like that of an 18-level typhoon about to pass through.

It's no wonder he was in a bad mood after turning a winning situation into a complete rout. After all, someone has to take the blame for such a huge defeat. But even if a few military representatives are thrown out to take the blame, Pu Gou is still culpable.

To put it bluntly, such a crushing defeat after a great victory is a huge blow to the morale of the entire nation's military and people. The fact that Pu Gou did not erupt in a roar like a head of state on the spot is already a sign of his composure. However, his silent gloom is even more frightening.

"Mr. President, this hasty and reckless advance was my fault, and I am willing to resign from all my posts."

Pu Gou didn't say anything, but that was tantamount to acquiescing.

It wasn't Shoigu who resigned. The composite general did a good job; he was a capable and competent officer with unquestionable abilities. Now, replacing him would be difficult to find a suitable replacement. So, those who were sacrificed were mostly from the General Staff.

But at this point, taking the blame was no longer the main point. The only way to restore morale was to win a battle. After all, if you can't win on the battlefield, everything is for naught. The Slavs understood this saying very well.

Therefore, send more troops!

Chapter 97: Zelensky's Path to Godhood

Here's a joke: Russia gets stronger the more wars it fights.

Please remember that the greatest truth of Sun Tzu's Art of War is: the skillful strategist achieves no great feats.

When it comes to a life-or-death struggle on the battlefield, the cost is destined to be the highest among all options. Russia is getting stronger and stronger because it has a supporter backing it, coupled with the exclusion from other countries, which has forced Russian oligarchs to return home to develop their businesses. They brought back most of the funds to stimulate the Russian economy. In essence, they threw money that could have been used for other purposes into the battlefield and burned it. They are overdrawing Russia's future. The debts they owe now are the price they cannot escape in the future.

Those who think Russia, Ukraine, or even us have won too much are basically only seeing one side of the problem (or perhaps selectively viewing it). The high cost of war can be shifted, but it will never disappear. The overall resource consumption of human civilization will not change. This is the fundamental reason why the US and the Soviet Union avoided direct confrontation during the Cold War after World War I and II. A life-or-death war between major powers is just too damn agonizing. Capitalists are in it for making money; how can they make money if they fight tooth and nail?

Besides, who is Russia fighting? Ukraine. Are the two sides of the same size? This means that a protracted war is advantageous to Russia. But if China cuts off the lifeline, then look at the situation. Russia can hold out for a year or two, or even three or four years, on its own. It can wear down the small-scale Ukraine. But to win by crushing secondhand cars with tanks and dragging things out like this is not a dignified victory; it's even more shameful.

With the abyss descending, the emergence of superhumans, and the proliferation of Avengers, the war is escalating rapidly towards an increasingly uncontrollable direction. This is why Pugo is eager to end the war; he simply cannot afford to drag it out. Every day the war continues, the more uncontrollable factors will spread, and what if... well, you know.

Unfortunately, reality is cruel; what Russia fears most is what happens on the battlefield.

With its elite vanguard wiped out, Russia's offensive momentum came to an abrupt halt. When Zesheng reappeared on camera as a superhuman, the entire EU immediately descended into another bizarre frenzy.

In today's human society, superhumans represent the upper class, a status symbol that is more reliable than bloodlines or family ties. No one can resist the temptation to become a superhuman.

If it's Superman on my side, I'd be even happier.

Maintaining good neighborly relations between Europe and Russia is a long and arduous task (shrug).

"Our Ukrainian friends need our help, and it's time for the EU to show its friendship!"

Feeling once again as if he had received a de Gaulle experience card, the French pastry president immediately began to demonstrate his astonishing wisdom.

Although Russia's losses this time were not large, they were real losses of elite troops. The cost of these 50,000 men is equivalent to the cost of an army group under normal circumstances. Even in modern armies, the spearhead units responsible for breakthroughs are the most precious of all. As a result, they were completely wiped out this time.

These are all veterans who have fought countless battles; Pugo's heart is broken even more than that of the former Soviet Union.

"The European Union is really interesting."

According to the latest intelligence Qin Shan received, the EU's aid arrived with lightning speed. However, what arrived first was not weapons and equipment, but a group of military experts, as well as many medical and biological experts, who said they wanted to study how to provide better equipment for the superhumans in Ukraine and enable them to deal more damage.

If you're lusting after someone, just say so.

There will definitely be people trying to win over and bribe superhumans, but Qin Shan doesn't care. These people are already firmly bound by contracts. If they dare to run away, they will die in the pursuit of financial freedom in no time.

Once they boarded the pirate ship, they lost the right to disembark.

Moreover, when Qin Shan allowed Zelensky, the puppet, to select personnel, he chose the most steadfast humanoids, each one an extreme nationalist or a Nazi, scum whose sins could not be atoned even after being dragged out and shot for ten minutes. Their fate would be to be used and then discarded, and their actions were entirely worthy of their inevitable tragic end.

Until then, make the best use of everything.

Therefore, the EU's biggest achievement is bringing back a lot of data, but whether they will share this data is hard to say. It should be noted that although it is nominally an EU expert group, in reality, the majority of its members are French and German scientific and technical personnel, with other countries accounting for less than 20%.

Poland had originally planned a team of over 100 people, but the EU rejected it, arguing that too many people would be easily exposed and that these talents were too valuable to be taken down by the Russians.

That makes perfect sense. The problem is, why did you all bring over a hundred professionals? That's a huge double standard!

That's how things are within the EU. Poland, you can tolerate it if you're unhappy. Although you swallowed your grievances, what you gave back was a display of magnanimity. Germany and France, on behalf of the EU, thank you for your help and sacrifices. Poland, which contributed a lot of money but received little in return, gritted its teeth and expressed its gratitude to Germany and France (amnesiac).

In fact, Poland has long been used to being taken advantage of, ever since the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth era. It's just a historical inertia now. If they really think that the EU is one country and everyone is one family, that would be the most ridiculous thing ever.

Would the German army help Poland with disaster relief? It's more likely that Poland would immediately send troops to the border to stop the German army, so that they wouldn't discuss with their neighbors, "Poland, you smell so good."

"Admiral, should we deal with this?" Saratoga asked.

Qin Shan thought for a moment, then waved his hand and said, "There's no need. Let them do their research. Giving them the illusion that they can keep up with the times is beneficial to the overall stability of human civilization."

Ze Sheng's superhuman force is not a normal superhuman; they are just garbage from the dump, possessing no superhuman power of their own. Researching them is meaningless. However, the EU will definitely provide weapons to arm these superhumans so that they can be armed when their own superhumans are born.

On the battlefields of the future, those with extraordinary abilities will inevitably have a place, and nations without them will be destined to have no future.

Many countries are now extending olive branches to people with superhuman abilities. As long as they are willing to join, they will offer them all kinds of benefits without hesitation, for fear that they might run away. If they were to run to the opposing camp, oh ho ho, that would be a real disaster!

Overall, however, the olive branch from a superpower is more attractive. Putting aside everything else, China's industrial chain, capable of producing everything, offers a much greater potential than other countries. If other countries want to arm superhumans, they have to import equipment and technology from China, which inadvertently exposes relevant information. After all, the level of those equipment and the extent to which it can be modified and processed can be predicted. On the battlefield, superhumans from a superpower are destined to deliver a devastating blow to superhumans from other smaller countries. The gap between them is probably even greater than the gap between a person and a banana.

Every country has its share of smart people, and the EU is no exception. They see the enormous, insurmountable gap between themselves and China, but if they can't be number one, being number two in the future is just as comfortable. So, the EU's goal in becoming number two is to put aside its efforts and, if it can't see any possibility of surpassing China, then become the strongest entity after China, hold onto its core strengths, and persevere until the day new opportunities arrive.

The problem is that the gap between the third and fourth place and themselves isn't incomprehensibly large, so the EU is quite anxious, especially regarding the issue of superhumans. Their anxiety is almost scorching, with everyone desperately trying anything. Rather than letting them develop mental illness from inexplicable anxiety, it's better to give them a goal that has no chance of success. Anyway, before they realize they've been tricked, high living standards are beneficial for young people's efforts, as long as the superhuman economy is still on the rise (smile).

However, there will definitely be no more high housing prices in China (except for some areas in first-tier and super-first-tier cities where housing prices are high, since some resources are indeed limited at this stage. If prices were to be overcrowded, it would be bad for everyone. The solution is to ensure the mobility of all social classes and prevent class solidification). This is because Qin Shan will manipulate the Avengers to destroy them. After a few such incidents, no one will dare to raise prices, and they will not dare to go too far with anything related to people's livelihoods. Wages and consumption will be kept at a healthy level (if they don't obey, the Avengers will destroy them). Since they cannot exploit the lower classes at low cost, they can only strictly tax the upper classes and implement industrial upgrading to squeeze out the excess in the economy, truly clean up historical problems, and move forward with a lighter burden.

Qin Shan knew all this was difficult, of course, but the knife was in his hand. As a superhuman who had lived for hundreds of years, he no longer had many worldly desires, and only longed for the realization of a communist society.

Qin Shan admitted he wasn't capable enough to truly stand at the forefront and manage all of human civilization, but he still had many ways to force bad people to become good. Although Hou Jing was a scoundrel, pairing him with Gao Huan would make him a pillar of the Northern Kingdom.

Talent without virtue can be restricted, and garbage can be a resource that can be reused repeatedly, it all depends on how you use it.

Zelenskyy once again demonstrated his value in the united front, earning him a generous reward from the EU. However, this time, Zelenskyy's change was somewhat astonishing. He actually called his family members abroad back to Ukraine and then, at a press conference, declared in front of reporters from all over the world: "Look closely, this is my son, this is my daughter, and this is my daughter-in-law. They have all joined the Ukrainian army and will go to the most dangerous battlefields to dedicate everything to the people of Ukraine."

At this point, the whole world thought it was just a performance. Don't forget that Zelensky is an actor by profession; acting is his forte. It's just that Zelensky's willingness to go all out in his performance is truly astonishing. Regardless of how much of it was acting or what happens later, all that matters now is applause.

EU newspapers went on a frenzy, praising Zelenskyy for his incredible courage, even risking his own wife and children, and declaring that with such a leader, Ukraine would surely win the final victory. Hurrah!

However, what happened next surprised the whole world, because Ze Sheng actually sent his son, daughter and lover to the army, and the whole family said that they would give everything for Ukraine, and then they really went to the front line.

Oh, you're serious!?

Section 98: St. Zelensky

Russian media once conducted a test by calling Putin's son and telling him that he had been drafted into the army.

Putin's son, of course, didn't believe it and refuted it on the spot. Then Putin actually sent his son into the army, although it was the kind of service that was provided to the rear. Given his status as the crown prince, he would definitely be well protected, but he did indeed join the army.

Compared to the actions of those wealthy individuals in neighboring Ukraine, Putin's public image immediately shifted in favor of the "Great King," silencing his political enemies. After all, his son had genuinely joined the army; if you're not happy, you can send him your own son too.

To everyone's surprise, Zelenskyy went even further, sending his entire family to the front lines.

Yes, that's right, the front line, the very front line, holy crap!

Although this cannot completely reverse Ukraine's defeat, everyone has to give a thumbs up and say: He's a real man.

"Don't worry, there's more to come. The world has been competing to be the worst for so long, it's time to strive for something better."

Qin Shan's next script is filled with great sacrifice and dedication. The Russia-Ukraine war will also take an uncontrollable turn in the future under this script, and everything will exceed everyone's expectations.

Zelensky's family's spirit of sacrifice has successfully given the Ukrainian army a much-needed boost, with a noticeable increase in the number of people willing to join. However, this is only a small improvement compared to the previous wars, which have already weakened Ukraine. For Ukraine, which no longer has an industrial base, all the current battles are draining its resources.

Russia still believes that victory in the war belongs to it, only that it has been slightly delayed.

The regrouped Russian troops launched another assault toward Kiev, this time with serious intent.

The superhuman forces are indeed difficult to deal with, but you can run away, but your capital cannot. Without the capital, the president loses a great deal of legitimacy and can at most become a government-in-exile, which will greatly reduce the threat to Russia. At that time, with a ceasefire and actual control, Russia will still be the victor.

In general, countries around the world still believe that Ukraine is doomed and that the formation of a government-in-exile is only a matter of time.