Two weeks later, all civilians in the occupied zone had been evacuated.
Half of Jiang Ye's army also withdrew from the area and returned to the fleet in space.
The evacuated civilians were resettled in cities controlled by warlords in the temperate and frigid zones. Each family was allocated housing and received war subsidies directly from Jiang Ye's funds.
The subsidy calculation formula was complex, with different subsidies for civilians in different situations. For example, families with children received more, as did merchant families. Ultimately, each adult received approximately 800,000.
On Wheeler, this was an extremely high figure. The compensation for a Gunter Army soldier was only 300,000, a bull cost 10,000, and most families had savings below 100,000. Civilians evacuated from the war zone even benefited from misfortune, instantly becoming well-off.
Jiang Ye's army did not continue to attack the tropical regions but instead held its occupied positions and built more military bases.
The Gunter Army also did not continue its offensive, possibly due to heavy losses or the realization that Jiang Ye's bases were no longer as easy to attack as they were initially. The first military bases were defended by local irregular troops who had been incorporated, with outdated weapons and still under construction.
However, the current military bases were now guarded by seasoned Jiang Ye Army veterans, equipped with advanced weaponry, supported by high-speed missiles and rapid air support. Large numbers of automatic machine gun turrets and laser turrets were deployed nearby, along with mechanical soldiers and combat drones patrolling everywhere.
If a military base could have been taken with a few divisions of troops before, it would now take the sacrifice of 100,000 soldiers just to reach the base gates.
With the tropical regions quiet, other warlords in the temperate and frigid zones resumed their conflicts. All warlords were placing large orders for mechanical soldiers and forming mechanical soldier divisions. When several warlords felt ready, they would negotiate, demarcate combat zones, and deploy massive numbers of mechanical soldiers onto the battlefield for fierce engagements.
The battles were intense, akin to live-fire exercises without regard for cost. Thousands of armored vehicles burned on the plains, bomb drones detonated like tides, and mechanical soldiers were blasted to pieces in rows, turning into glittering piles of parts in the scorched earth, only for subsequent mechanical soldier corps to crush them with armored vehicles. Swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles danced in the sky, leaving countless white trails and dropping tens of thousands of bombs daily. Missiles and rockets streaked across the night sky like swarms of fireflies, and incendiary shells rained down incessantly. Positions changed hands repeatedly, and corps advanced and retreated, with newly replenished mechanical soldier divisions immediately replacing those destroyed.
Huang Bingyan was responsible for the sales of various combat weapons and mechanical soldiers. To maximize profits, she even implemented a weekly weapon upgrade sales mechanism. The weapons and equipment purchased by warlords one week became outdated the next, forcing them to spend money on upgrades to avoid being completely routed by their opponents. Both offensive and defensive weapons saw continuous price increases. Each time Huang Bingyan's sales representatives made a sale, they claimed, "These are the best offensive weapons," or "These are the best defensive weapons." However, the defensive weapons bought last week could not stop the offensive forces purchased with increased funds this week, and the offensive weapons bought last week could not penetrate the defenses reinforced with this week's investments.
The brutal arms race escalated weekly, and Huang Bingyan reaped immense profits. Some minor warlords initially harbored illusions, but after several weeks of major battles, they were utterly defeated on the battlefield and financially ruined off it. Numerous minor warlords recognized reality, realizing they had no standing on Wheeler's stage. Rather than losing money to maintain appearances, it was better to cut their losses and surrender immediately.
According to Jiang Ye's policy, surrendered minor warlords could still hold official positions locally or on other planets and would receive a certain amount of recruitment funds. Thus, the minor warlord leaders gladly relinquished their military authority, enjoying a leisurely life under the protection of a powerful patron, and shouting praises for Jiang Ye.
In just one month, 40% of Wheeler's territory declared a permanent ceasefire, and over seven million warlord troops were disbanded. This was a historic achievement, as Wheeler had never seen such a large-scale demobilization and return to civilian life.
With vast areas of peace established, Jiang Ye began to focus on economic development. For a raw planet like Wheeler, which was extremely poor, economic development was relatively easy. The strategy was to inject massive investment and leverage cheap labor and low prices for rapid growth. Following the principle of keeping benefits within the family, enterprises from Jiang Ye Star, Bi Rong Star, and Exile Star were the first to establish a presence on Wheeler. Spiral Star was also their own planet, but it was almost equally poor and still in the pioneering stage, lacking strong enterprises capable of capitalizing on the situation.
Jiang Ye and Feng Zhi Shuang held continuous consultations for three days, finally proposing a slogan: Within the next year, increase the income of the people in the Jiang Controlled Zone by twofold. Within the next ten years, increase the income of the people in the Jiang Controlled Zone by tenfold. The so-called Jiang Controlled Zone referred to the areas under Jiang Ye's actual control, characterized by their distance from the fighting, declaration of permanent ceasefire, disbandment of warlord forces, presence of Jiang Ye's army, and the establishment of foreign enterprises. This slogan was also known as the "One-Ten Plan," signifying the plans for the next year and the next decade, marking the official commencement of Wheeler's economic war.
The concept of economic war was proposed by Feng Zhi Shuang. Feng Zhi Shuang believed that by putting the economic development of the Jiang Controlled Zone onto a super-fast track, achieving unprecedented explosive wealth growth, it would create a strong impact on the people in the warlord-controlled regions. Initially, people in different parts of Wheeler were similarly poor, but with Jiang Ye's arrival, like a god of wealth, his controlled regions rapidly became prosperous, a financial temptation that was difficult to resist. As time passed, the widening wealth gap between different regions would inevitably and drastically accelerate the unification process of Wheeler. At that point, ordinary people in the warlord-controlled regions would do everything they could to flee to the Jiang Controlled Zone with their families. Even warlord leaders would feel apprehensive, questioning how long their secession could last and whether it was truly worthwhile.
Feng Zhi Shuang had even prepared an outline for the economic war: In the first year, aggressively mine all of Wheeler's mineral resources. The profits from mining alone would double per capita income. This would be followed by industrial development, using the extracted mineral raw materials to establish nearby factories, mass-producing industrial goods for export to other planets to earn money. Once factories were widespread and most people had jobs, they would begin accumulating personal wealth. As ordinary people gained wealth, they would pursue a better quality of life, leading to the emergence of various industries and the continuous expansion of the consumer market. Foreign capital would undoubtedly rush in with greedy eyes, and it would also be appropriate to cultivate local enterprises on Wheeler.
Xu Yan was highly impressed with this economic war outline and was overjoyed, as both mining and large-scale urban construction were her areas of expertise. Jiang Ye quickly approved Feng Zhi Shuang's economic war outline. The items in the outline were not novel; there were many planets similar to Wheeler in the universe, and this set of procedures had been implemented countless times. The standard answers had long been verified by numerous predecessors, requiring only diligent imitation.