I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 776 - 674 City Autonomy

Ultimately, Flame Country did not officially take over Nuremberg, nor did it maintain military control.

Of course, this was not because German officials arrived to retake the city from them.

In fact, until Flame Country proactively lifted the military control, the German officials dispatched to take over the city were still unable to reach due to "transportation issues."

Chen Xin made several inquiries and urgings, but always received only the response: "Traffic jam, please hand the city over to civilian self-governance and maintain the transfer of resources."

Such a reply no doubt made Chen Xin very frustrated, even thinking of just ignoring and letting the city fend for itself.

However, in the end, he didn’t go to such extremes.

After all, once Flame Country’s military and joint security maintenance forces withdrew, Nuremberg’s situation would visibly deteriorate, and whether supplies to the frontline could still be transported smoothly would become unknown.

As for the potential consequences, no one knew.

The city could not be left unmanaged, yet taking control had various issues; Chen Xin nearly broke his head trying to reconcile the dilemma before finally coming up with a solution.

He decided to truly follow the German side’s response and let the people of Nuremberg take over the city themselves.

But contrary to the German official expectation of civilian self-governance, with the city still belonging to German officials, Chen Xin gathered representatives from Nuremberg and Felt and informed them of Flame Country’s military lifting the control and the joint security forces withdrawal, proposing a new suggestion: Nuremberg and Felt declare city autonomy.

It should be noted that city autonomy here and civilian self-governance hoped for by German officials are completely different concepts.

Though both involve autonomy, the former means the city or region becomes an independent administrative division, even if nominally belonging to Germany, they would not heed nor be subject to German official orders.

Civilian self-governance, however, merely hands city management to the populace themselves to maintain city operations, while the city remains under German official control.

For unexplained reasons still preventing official staff from reaching Nuremberg, whether it declares autonomy makes little impact on the current German situation.

Or rather, from the German official perspective, unable to regain actual control over the city, whether civilian self-governance or separatist forces control doesn’t quite differ.

At worst, it’s just one city declaring independence, not a pain or itch for a German official already lacking control and influence over the city.

After all, with the control beyond reach, who holds the city doesn’t make a big difference; it’s just nominally nicer to hear.

In fact, for the German officials, the temporarily unmanageable areas might as well be autonomous, saving some resources, since controlling a city demands some input anyway.

But for the citizens of Nuremberg, the difference between the two is significant.

Under civilian autonomy, they can only keep the city running, especially ensuring the critical supply transfer operations, continually delivering supplies to the frontline, while retaining the need to pay German taxes.

Although they enjoy autonomy, functionally still managed and taxed under official control.

Regarding autonomy, it essentially equals independence; though nominally under a nation, functionally akin to an independent country.

For Nuremberg’s citizens, the only possible discussion was whether to continue ensuring the supply transfer to the frontline.

Faced with official inactivity and the impractical interference of Flame Country people like Chen Xin, Nuremberg’s citizens ultimately chose independent autonomy.

Disheartened and distrustful from German officials’ inaction, they preferred straightforward autonomy.

Therefore, under these circumstances, Nuremberg’s choice of independent autonomy post-military governance is understandable.

From a previous semi-separatist military presence, it eventually asserted true separation for Nuremberg.

Faced with such outcomes, Chen Xin seemed indifferent; it was merely much ado about nothing.

However, after the autonomous committee agreed to Chen Xin’s requests to continue maintaining supply transfers to the frontline, the situation seemed somewhat different.

At least the committee wouldn’t embezzle the transported supplies, merely retaining some to sustain city operations, hence invisibly reducing consumption and permitting more supplies to reach the frontline, contributing to human resistance against alien invasion.

In fact, for Chen Xin, had the garrison officers not been intimidated by two Land Ships into surrendering, he might not even meddle with Nuremberg’s affairs.

After this roundabout ordeal, despite seemingly futile work, the surrendering garrison presence still proved Chen Xin invested some effort.

These surrendering garrison forces were handed over to the autonomous committee by Chen Xin for their disposal.

And after some committee discussion, they chose to expel this German official contingent.

After all, the entire city bore little goodwill for the troops who previously abused their power within the city.

Though the garrison presence provided stability and deterred surrounding armed forces from causing trouble, nominally safeguarding Nuremberg’s citizens, this didn’t hinder their expulsion.

Regarding security and defense post-expulsion, the autonomous committee planned to form their militia to protect the city themselves.

To aid these citizens and oversee the committee’s future efforts towards the supply transfer, Chen Xin notified the Euro Assistance Fleet, deploying a task force here.

The task force primarily oversees and assesses Nuremberg’s supply transfer process, assisting the committee in militia training.

As for militia weaponry, the committee also planned to purchase from Flame Country, so after this roundabout journey, Nuremberg’s control still essentially rested with Flame Country.