si-mexico Chapter 175 Westward Advance
Chapter 175 Westward Advance
On March 4th, Li Chenglong and the Dawn Army had just repelled the monstrous beasts surging up from the ocean east of Linhai City and were preparing to rest for a few days when they received a request for joint operations from Black Gold City. A large number of monstrous beasts and zombie beasts were descending from the Taihang Mountains, heading towards Black Gold City and Dawn City to the east. However, they were quite far from Dawn City and would likely take several more days to arrive. Nevertheless, Li Chenglong decided to send troops to provide support without hesitation.
Because there are large areas of cultivated farmland to the west of Dawn City, the wheat is growing well, and the harvest will definitely be good in June. If it is destroyed by the alien beasts now, it would be a great loss. He first communicated with the person in charge of Black Gold City via radio. Then he decided to personally lead the team, with the 3rd and 4th Combat Regiments plus some soldiers from the Joint Logistics Support Department participating in the battle. The 1st Combat Regiment was responsible for guarding the east side of Dawn City to prevent the alien beasts from attacking again. The 2nd and 6th Regiments were responsible for guarding Dawn City, while the 5th Regiment went to help General Sun Tianlong move.
Li Chenglong was holding a military meeting with several regimental commanders, deputy commanders, and political commissars in his combat vehicle. He took out a detailed map of the area and began to deploy them. Along the way, the communications officer maintained constant contact with Black Gold City to ensure the timeliness of operational information. After the operational meeting, Regimental Commander Hao Dahai said, "Division Commander, could we expand our forces again? Recently, the zombies, zombie beasts, and other strange creatures have been behaving very frequently. The brothers have been fighting continuously for a week and are somewhat exhausted." Zhao Gang also said, "Yes, and especially since March, three giant beasts have appeared. This situation is truly unprecedented."
Li Chenglong nodded: "Actually, Zheng Yong and I discussed this matter the day before yesterday. Our Dawn Army's combat regiment currently has 1500 people, but that was already full strength before the apocalypse. However, in order to adapt to the ever-changing situation and combat needs, we plan to expand each regiment to 2000 people, and incorporate the Young Pioneers into combat units to undertake some combat and logistical tasks. In this way, we will have 14,000 people capable of fighting."
The Dawn Army is currently a corps-level unit, comprising 6 combat regiments, each with 1500 personnel, a joint logistics support force of 1200 personnel, a Young Pioneers brigade of 1200 personnel, a military discipline inspection department of 300 personnel, and a special operations team of 20 personnel. This is roughly the configuration of a full-strength division in peacetime, except that the Dawn Army lacks heavy weapons such as tanks.
Yesterday, Liu Cheng from the Joint Logistics Support Department sent a report stating that the Type 20 assault rifle has been issued to the entire army. Upgraded rifles and existing standard weapons have been traded with some small bases in exchange for a considerable amount of supplies. However, apart from the Type 20 assault rifle, the Dawn Army doesn't have many other good weapons. Most are still the squad machine guns supplied by Sun Tianlong, and some grenade launchers, but these weapons are not very effective against the current zombies. While crystal grenades and crystal bombs are very powerful, they are difficult to manufacture. Even with Shen Menghua's factory working overtime, the daily output is only 500, a drop in the bucket.
Zhao Rui said to Li Chenglong, "Commander, you really didn't need to come this time. Your wife is about to give birth, isn't she?" The other officers also looked at Li Chenglong. He replied, "A nation, a nation. Without a nation, there is no home. Dawn City is the same. This time, the alien beasts are coming with great force. If we don't fight well and let those farmlands be ravaged by the beasts, and they cut off our connection with Black Gold City, we will be in trouble. If Dawn City is in trouble, what good is it if my personal family lives well?"
This time, the entire special forces team except Zhao Liying came. Zhao Liying was to be in charge of operating the central computer room. With Yunlan's production imminent and Li Xue extremely busy in the research department, the heavy burden fell on her and Chen Xiaoke. Originally, he and Zheng Yong had selected several people to be operators, but due to the urgency of the upcoming battle, they didn't implement it. Li Chenglong simply decided to establish a central computer department specifically to handle this work. The number of people shouldn't be too large, 10 would be enough, but they all had to be very reliable people, and also had to be people with supernatural abilities, because operating the computer rooms required people with supernatural abilities.
Li Chenglong glanced at his watch; it was already noon. They were still two hours' drive from the combat zone. Zhao Gang suggested that the soldiers get out of the vehicle to rest and eat something. However, Li Chenglong believed that speed was of the essence. The soldiers could eat whatever they could in the troop transport vehicle, but they absolutely couldn't stop. They needed to quickly eliminate the horde of monsters before giving the entire army a proper meal.
After marching for another half hour, the two regiments began their separate advances as planned. The target location was the former site of the Langley base, which had been largely demolished, with only some remaining simple defensive fortifications that could be utilized. Hao Dahai, Zhao Rui, and Zhu Qian's three regiments were responsible for the frontal defense, while Zhao Gang, Yang Hu, and Li Nian's four regiments would flank them. The two regiments would then launch a combined attack, wiping out the wave of alien beasts and zombie beasts in one fell swoop, before advancing westward to cooperate with the Black Gold City forces in eliminating all enemies near Black Gold City.
If this battle proceeds smoothly as planned, it will severely cripple the zombies, zombie beasts, and alien beasts roaming the area south of the Taihang Mountains, rendering them powerless to fight back. Simultaneously, the Fifth Regiment, having completed its westward advance, along with General Sun Tianlong's three regiments and the Second Regiment remaining to guard Shuguang City, will divide and gradually eliminate the two smaller cities between Jinghai City and Linhai City.
One advances westward and the other northward, completely establishing connections between the three bases. Together, they will annihilate all the alien species within, turning small victories into larger ones. If this continues, Li Chenglong estimates that Donghai Province can be completely recovered by April. Then, they can focus their efforts on Beihe and Nanhe provinces to the west of Donghai Province, as well as Heijin Province further west, and Jiangzhe Province to the south.
Meanwhile, during yesterday's communication, General Sun Tianlong also brought good news: after a bloody battle in the Northeast Military Region, they successfully prevented this major zombie outbreak, eliminating no fewer than 400,000 zombies and other mutant species. Li Chenglong instructed the Shuguang City Broadcasting and Television Bureau to broadcast the news immediately through Shuguang Television to boost public confidence in fighting the apocalypse.
At 2 PM, Li Chenglong and Hao Dahai's Third Regiment had reached their designated positions. Li Chenglong ordered his men to quickly repair some defensive fortifications to counter the attacks of ranged zombies, and to prepare anti-aircraft firepower, as there would certainly be a lot of zombie birds this time. Hao Dahai placed his regiment's reinforced battalion at the forefront. This battalion was the vanguard in every battle, comprising almost 70% of the regiment's high-level ability users, and was intended to deliver a head-on blow to the enemy.
The special forces team followed Zhao Gang's Fourth Regiment to flank the enemy. Flanking wasn't easy; they had to traverse areas infested with zombies. Li Chenglong only gave them an hour to maneuver and encircle the enemy. Zhao Rui polished his battle axe to a gleaming shine. As a rare, bound weapon, he cherished it greatly, carrying it almost everywhere. Even his wife said the axe was more important to him than she was.
Looking at the bustling scene, Zhu Qian sighed and said, "This should be called a battle. Not only will we be working together with Black Gold City to wipe out all the enemies in the southern part of Beihe Province and the Taihang Mountains, but the Fifth Regiment and the Second Regiment will also cooperate with General Sun's troops to sweep away the two cities on the east side of Donghai Province. This is an unprecedented large-scale battle since the end of the world."
Li Chenglong added with a smile, "Not only that, but the troops under Commander Wei Lanxin of the 6th Combat Regiment will also cooperate with the Feiyun Base in northern Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province to clean up the area formerly occupied by the Huaxing Base. Since the Huaxing Base moved to Shuguang City and joined us, it has not been properly managed, and many zombies and monsters have invaded the area. So this time, we will join forces with Xu Limin and Wei Jing's troops to completely open up communication channels between us."
After the Dawn Army of Dawn City was recognized as a regular army, Xu Limin and Wei Jing were also recognized and granted authority. The troops of Feiyun Base were merged into one army, totaling 3.2 men, with Xu Limin as the army commander and Wei Jing as the deputy army commander. Both held the rank of major general, and the army consisted of four divisions, with each of their families leading two divisions. After such a long period of development, the number of people at Feiyun Base had reached 11.
Black Gold City has the largest military force, as it encompasses several prefecture-level cities in southern Black Gold Province and southern Beihe Province, boasting a population of 200,000 and an army of 60,000, divided into two corps and six divisions. Qianyun Base currently has a population of 120,000 and an army of 50,000, also divided into two corps and six divisions. Therefore, among these large bases in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei military region, only Shuguang City has the smallest population, with an army of just over 10,000.