Players Invade Cyberpunk

Chapter 1327: Chapter 431: Before the Troops Move, Public Opinion Leads

Henry persistently questioned David quite extensively, from why he isn’t afraid of sacrifice, the situation within the military, to why he’s willing to fight in Cuba, and whether they’ve truly been brainwashed.

If feudal armies are considered the 1.0 version, then the modern army that formally entered the capitalist world after multiple rounds of anti-French wars is the 2.0 version. Regardless of any subsequent iterations, reorganizations, or military technology advancements, the internal structure between officers and soldiers remains fundamentally unchanged.

What are we fighting for, why are we fighting, what does war have to do with me? Military discipline is non-existent, morals are corrupted, and the greatest buff one can receive is nationalism.

Removing the nationalist drive from World War II, and surveying nearly a century of wars, it’s always large forces suppressing smaller ones, from technology to equipment overpowering the enemy.

Once absolute suppression cannot be achieved, if the strengths of both sides are brought to a certain level, and without nationalism as a justification for the drive, skills immediately plummet. The US and Soviet Celestial Soldiers spend trillions annually in regions like Afghanistan and Iraq, only to ultimately flee awkwardly.

Israel’s glorified army struggles to deal even with Hamas, let alone facing the Yemeni slipper army, they’d be utterly humiliated.

Repeated defeats in foreign battles quickly lead to diminished morale and low spirits, a problem even the Soviet Red Army couldn’t resolve.

In more severe cases, like the Cuban army, it’s common for a thousand-man retreat within the home country to transform into eight hundred midway, leaving only half upon arrival.

When companies drive the army by profit, soldiers are driven by profit themselves, and even nationalism vanishes.

What do you ask them to fight for?

To earn more money for the board?

The common grunt laughs mockingly, then frantically sells bullets and guns outside the camp in exchange for money for prostitution, drug money, and gambling fees, with black marketeers squatting outside the station hauling stock away by the truckload, some bold enough to sell warheads.

It’s a trickle-down effect.

Military Science’s military budget spending yearly has accounts mismatched by nearly 95%, and company auditors dispatched to investigate mostly end up dead.

Having toured European military corporations, Lancaster couldn’t figure out why there’s such a disparity in strength; it’s perfectly normal, everyone is the same.

Until he saw this video, he finally realized where the real gap lies.

He watched while jotting down notes in his small notebook.

Instructor, combat officer, counselor... ideological work...

When they established the organizational structure of the Dragon Field army, they incorporated many new elements, even more idealistic and futuristic than reality.

Information control is a good thing; European and American upper echelons closed off from others, and from themselves, still holding an impression of the East filled with Kung Fu, Qigong, and pandas, where everyone is a Shaolin Temple monk.

The Soviet Union never did this, I wouldn’t know.

They simply have no concept of what it means to build branches on the company level, having never heard of it, at most thinking of it as a novelty.

The education Lancaster received was elitism and heroism, believing the people below are fools, ignorant, needing leadership - battles are decided by which commander’s skills are superior.

That’s why the West always refers to the lower class as sheep, and themselves as shepherds.

But according to David, within Horizon Corporation’s army, there are only differences in positions, each with different functions, without high or low status.

There may be heroes, but certainly not the elite [heroes] in Lancaster’s imagination.

This inevitably reminded Lancaster of a work he once read.

The opening summary in the military treatise "Total War" by modern German general Ludendorff.

"The underlying logic of war has changed through ages. In classical times, war was the army’s affair, unrelated to the people, but now, war is the people’s war, and the military has integrated with the populace, needing to draw continuous strength from them."

But can an army fighting for corporate and personal interests truly say it is one with the people?

Even their nationalism is gone, regressing to classical era’s old mercenary-style army.

Can Military Technology, like World War II’s United States, rally the entire nation’s citizens to enthusiastically enlist, making young people ashamed not to serve? Can it make factory workers labor overtime diligently?

Obviously, that’s impossible.

Then consider Henry’s interview of British and American war prisoners.

Why did you come to Cuba to fight?

Their answers were blunt.

Don’t know, my superior told me to come, so I came.

To earn money, I need to pay back my college loan.

I heard there’s some hard stuff to inhale here... so...

The officer said you could make big money here, so I applied to come.

Listening to these soldiers’ answers, Lancaster couldn’t help but feel horrified, with goosebumps standing on end.

If it weren’t for the earlier interview with David, he wouldn’t find it odd, but now, under extreme comparison, this chasm of difference becomes apparent.

Lancaster finally understood why he lost, and as a result, a question emerged in his heart.

Can we truly win?

Or should we deploy more powerful weapons to annihilate Horizon Corporation?

Even, are our weapons truly more advanced than theirs?

Lancaster couldn’t help but recall the reality of his hackers invading the opponent’s system only to be repelled by AI, along with the air-ground seemingly low-tech, yet extremely tightly coordinated drone formations.

Reflecting on this, Lancaster suddenly felt bewildered.

He didn’t know what he should do at this moment to salvage this war, as the supreme ideology of Europe had already shaken within him.

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