After all, they were knock-off biological batteries, and their manufacturing method was full of irregular, mobile workshop guerrilla tactics, so naturally, they had all sorts of problems.
The rest were fine, but the high temperature and the smell were unavoidable.
The former would put a certain burden on the vehicle body and engine, while the latter would inevitably leave clues for the pursuers.
One should know that the Mok Speed Beasts, which the Sand People nomadic horse bandits loved to raise, were animals with noses even sharper than dogs.
However, no matter what, it would be several hours before the Sand People caught up.
Yu Lian also finally got his first long break since his rebirth, and it was time to introduce the current situation on New Yumen Star.
As is well known, the Andromeda Galaxy, or “Andromeda Nebula” as it is also called, is the closest large galaxy to the Milky Way Galaxy.
Its diameter is 1.6 times that of the Milky Way Galaxy, its mass is 2 times, and as for the number of stars, conservative estimates put it at more than three times.
Since the Milky Way Galaxy gave birth to such a diverse array of intelligent races and civilizations, there was no reason for the Andromeda Galaxy not to have them.
Thus, after the Qiming Star Gate, the most precious and mysterious legacy left by the ancient Enlighteners to the civilizations of the Milky Way Galaxy, inexplicably opened, the civilizations of the Milky Way Galaxy felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy, always feeling that powerful invaders from another universe would swarm out.
For example, high-dimensional demons or something...
But after the United Fleet, led by the Galactic Civilization Council and formed by the sincere cooperation of the two poles and two major factions, stood ready for more than a month, nothing happened.
Finally, the Milky Way Galaxy sent probes and reconnaissance ships cautiously into this new universe.
And later facts proved that everyone was indeed overly nervous.
Civilizations and intelligent beings did exist here, but they were far from reaching interstellar travel.
At least after so many years of exploration, no interstellar spacecraft from Andromeda Galaxy civilizations had been discovered.
The most advanced local galaxy civilization known at Present was a planet called “New Nodal,” discovered and named by the Commonwealth, which had just vaguely entered the era of the industrial revolution.
What does this represent?
What did the regulations of the Galactic Civilization Council say again?
Oh, right!
“Civilizations that have not independently entered the era of space exploration are native indigenous civilizations.
It is hoped that the major civilized nations under the Civilization Council will uphold the simple moral values that intelligent life should possess and provide due guidance and respect to indigenous beings.”
Yes!
Guidance and respect, that's how the Empire and the Commonwealth treated Earthlings back then.
If it weren't for the fact that everyone was actually of the same race with no reproductive isolation and more than ninety percent similar in appearance, who knows if they would have been made into canned goods.
In short, this meant that this vast expanse of sky, even larger than the Milky Way Galaxy, was clearly an ownerless land, an undeveloped New World.
This was already 30 years ago.
At that time, the great founding father of the Blue Star Commonwealth, Marshal Li, died of overwork at his desk in his office.
When he was born, the Blue Star Commonwealth, with Earth as its capital, was an autonomous territory dominated by the Galactic Empire; when he died, the Blue Star Commonwealth was a dignified independent nation.
Although its overall national strength was far from comparable to the two poles, it held a place among the second-tier strong nations in the All-Galaxy.
Moreover, it had won several times against overwhelming odds, beating up the “rebellion suppression” army composed of most of the Empire's vassal states, and even directly defeated the Empire's direct fleet.
Some even believed that the Blue Star Commonwealth was the “third largest military power in the Milky Way Galaxy.”
Since it was already the “third largest military power,” the Commonwealth continued to play a fence-sitting game between the two major factions, adhering to the strategy left by Marshal Li, leveraging its geographical advantage.
At the same time, with the opening of the Star Gate, they naturally began the path of developing the Andromeda Galaxy.
Superluminal warp travel within the Milky Way Galaxy relies on hyperspace channels formed by the gravitational influence between stars, while to reach outside the galaxy, a Star Gate is needed—the most precious legacy left by the ancient Enlightener civilization.
So far, eleven Qiming Star Gates have been discovered in the Milky Way Galaxy.
The Galactic Empire controls three, the Free Star Alliance has four in its homeland, the Empire's little brothers have two, the Alliance's allies (lackeys) have one, and the last one is within the Blue Star Commonwealth.
However, compared to the powerful Alliance and Empire, the Blue Star Commonwealth's New Universe development was not particularly smooth.
Several colonial stars and space cities required central subsidies, and New Yumen Star was considered one of the best developed among them.
At least it could supply a considerable amount of high-energy minerals, high-grade spices, and other special products to the homeland.
As for the natives who originally lived on this planet, the creatures called Sand People... well, this race, which looks a bit like an upright flat-mouthed crocodile, seems to have evolved from oviparous reptiles and doesn't quite conform to human aesthetics, but we are willing to live in peace with them.
We are willing to offer them jobs in the city, and we are willing to employ them in mines and plantations.
Of course, they haven't received a proper civilized education after all, and they can't even do labor-intensive work, only digging, moving bricks, and drilling mines.
And since they are not citizens of the Commonwealth, they naturally don't have any social security or labor protection.
But even so, we sincerely hope that after bathing in the light of civilization for a period of time, the Sand People will be willing to become part of the civilized family, an inseparable part of the Blue Star Commonwealth.
Sadly, the Sand People, who had already entered the city-state era, were full of martial prowess, and had somewhat awakened a little group consciousness.
Coupled with some shady existences fanning the flames behind the scenes—or rather, it would be strange if no one fanned the flames—they naturally would not be reconciled to the Earthlings' rule, and various riots and attacks never stopped.
Plantations, mines, cargo tracks, settlements, and even larger towns were all targets of the Sand People's attacks.
If a human living in New Yumen hadn't been attacked, then they must have moved to a fake settlement.
But no matter what, the Governor's Office still tried its best to ensure its absolute control over Tulon and several other towns, and then, through the garrison stations of various security teams and the industrial settlements guarded by the militia organizations under the command of farmers and mine owners, it formed a relatively smooth transportation network, thereby barely ensuring its rule over the entire planet.
How about it, does it look a bit familiar?
Now you know why the 12th Garrison Station served as a blockhouse, right?
And you can understand the Sand People's irritability, right?
“Overthrow the Earthlings' tyranny, freedom belongs to the Sand People!”
“What New Yumen, this is an insult the Earthlings imposed on us! This is Dann, our homeland!”
“What Dann, it's clearly Nuwa!”
“What kind of backwater talk is Nuwa, this is clearly Egaonu!”
Well, the Sand People's understanding of the world is still several millennia away from the concept of a planet.
Different tribes also have different names for the world beneath their feet.
They united because of a common enemy to overthrow, but they would always fight fiercely over the above minor details.
Because of this, there should be hundreds of millions of Sand People living on New Yumen Star, yet they have never been able to become a threat to this New Yumen colony.
Therefore, the fact that the disorganized Sand People tribes were actually able to gather an army of a million to besiege Tulon was news that could make headlines in the media of various Galactic civilizations.
In fact, it was true.
In later generations, because there was too much information in this area, and it was also the beginning of a series of events in later generations, Yu Lian had even seriously studied this past.
The person who spearheaded this operation was the most prestigious spiritual leader among the Sand People, Elder Hessen of the Brown Eyes.
He was originally a priest of the local primitive religion and also a spiritual energy user.
After the Earthlings incorporated the entire planet into their territory, he led his tribes to resist, awakened his spiritual energy during the arduous war of resistance, and later “coincidentally” obtained a systematic method of spiritual energy cultivation.
Over these decades, he also trained some excellent disciples, and he himself became the most revered figure among the Sand People.
Of course, everyone must understand the term “spiritual leader.”
What is spiritual is definitely not secular.
Although he had outstanding prestige and was the “number one expert” among the Sand People, the real power had always been in the hands of the various tribal chiefs and the former “kings” of the city-states.
And this brown-eyed Hessen, who had never had his own followers and subjects, was able to gather such a large army—even if it was a “motley crew,” it was still an army—naturally also received behind-the-scenes support.
Now, the Sand People have obtained a considerable number of firearms, high-carbon blades, composite material armor, and even siege cannons that can threaten the city shield of Tulon Port.
Compared to that, it's not too strange to have a few armored vehicles, right?
Although he said that, when Ina saw the hovering armored vehicles emerging from the dark night through the telescope, she still showed an incredulous expression: “There, there really are armored vehicles!
How on earth were these things transported to New Yumen?”
“The Commonwealth's monitoring of the entire Andromeda Galaxy is like a sieve, and even this New Yumen Star has large unexplored areas,” Yu Lian said casually.
“Uncle Carl, can you tell where they're from?
Is there anything we can use?”
“Hmm… just by appearance, it looks a bit like a product from Beidaixing Heavy Industries on the Alliance side, but we'll only know the specifics after dismantling it.
However, analyzing the signals fed back from the sensor you just buried, there's a high probability that it's modified from the chassis of a Kaitai people's Mastiff-type tank.
That thing uses the Empire-produced Lu-3 type land combat engine, I'm too familiar with the sound of that thing…” The old mechanic answered casually, then seemed to think of something, and said helplessly: “Wait, sir, you don't think I can identify the model, structure, and even analyze the weaknesses of the opponent just by looking at them from a few kilometers away, do you?
No matter what, I'm just an ordinary human!”
He seemed to be reminded of some sad past, and he babbled: “Although when I was young, I always felt that I could become a spiritual energy user and embark on the great path of exploring truth and knowledge!
Even if one day I would become a self-isolated lunatic with constant tinnitus, it wouldn't matter.
But, at this age, I finally realized that dreams are just dreams, and no matter how hard I try, life is destined to be mediocre…”
Those are called “Listeners,” Fifth Ring masters of common knowledge and research-type spiritual energy, and any nation or force would treat them well.
Also, not all “Listeners” are autistic; the ones I knew in the “future” were all more cheerful than the last.
Yu Lian didn't pay attention to the old mechanic's rambling; he had already gotten the answer he wanted, then turned and nodded to Ina.
“So, let's take them out right here!”
The military officer nodded and silently picked up an anti-material rifle—this was the heaviest weapon they had besides the Vulcan cannon on the black panther car.
“There are forty of them… all riding Mok Dragons,” the old mechanic said.
“I counted them.”
“They also have five tanks, no matter what they're cobbled together from, they're still tanks, with big cannons and armor…”
“I saw them! That's why we're meeting them here!”
“…”
Alright, whatever you say.
Anyway, if you order everyone to charge now, no one would dare say anything.