Chapter 178: Chapter 178: Next Plan
The whole room was silent, so Xiaoyun decided to speak up again.
"I'll introduce our town situation for now."
Xiaoyun aimed the projector at the wall behind him and turned it on.
With a bright light, the wall displayed a map of the town.
"We are currently here, slightly southeast of the city proper Guangzhou and right between the two cities of Foshan and Dongguan." Xiaoyun pointed at the map with a ruler.
"We had set up an ally state in Qingyuan further up north, and most factions near our base have either absorbed into our town or left the city completely."
With that out of the way, Xiaoyun turned his attention to Renqin.
"Renqin, you want to go next?"
Renqin thought for a second and accepted the offer.
As Xiaoyun sat in his seat, Renqin showed a more zoomed-out map that showed the entire country.
"The info I had gathered from outside traders is that the Northeastern part of the country had been completely reunified. They had restarted their attempt to capture Beijing again.
The city has been historically significant geographically and symbolically, so it makes sense for them to try to capture it to proclaim legitimacy over the entire country."
Everyone at the table nodded in agreement.
"Of course, that's unimportant to us since we are nowhere near them. Our real threat is the military at the Southern Theater becoming our enemy."
The atmosphere started to get tense as soon as Renqin mentioned the military.
"Fortunately, the military should still be friendly towards us, and several of my agents have reported that the soldiers that had returned to the outposts are much smaller in numbers and less equipped than usual...
This could mean the military runs out of equipment to fight the zombies or something else is out there that is making them unable to use everything.
But this gives us critical info that the other theaters are either busy helping in the North or tied up in their problems since the Southern theater appeared not to have received any help.
Although the military appears weak, it has air superiority and advanced equipment over the entire region. I believe our current policy of avoiding conflict with the army at all costs is still a good idea... Perhaps we should even send a diplomat to talk to them."
Both Yuqi and Shuli nodded in agreement with the idea.
"Now, lastly, outside factions.
Besides the White Lotus that Mr.Xiaoyun had wiped from the map, there are still hundreds of minor factions throughout Guangdong provinces and several large factions that are almost rival to our sizes.
However, none are beyond their provinces due to logistics, so they are irrelevant to us for now... Which leaves us with only one enemy. The zombies.
I believe we should turn all our focus on dealing with the zombies. If we were able to capture it, we will become one of the strongest factions in the entire region——"
Suddenly, Yezi interrupted Renqin from finishing.
"Easier said than done. Everyone who had fought here knows how hard it is to recapture the cities. It's not some marching, you know."
"Yes, Mr.Yezi, I know, but I believe many of the zombies in Guangzhou had either migrated North just like Qingyuan or attacked the military during the mass migration," Renqin argued.
"Yeah, and how much is that? One million? Two million? There are over fifteen million in the city proper. We don't even have enough bullets for that many zombies." Yezi argued back.
"Ahem, I'll send out more scouting missions to see if the city is empty enough to try taking it." Xiaoyun stepped in to break up the two's argument.
After the two had calmed down, Xiaoyun turned his attention to Yuqi.
"Now Yuqi and Shuli, do you want to introduce the town's supply and resources?"
"Sure." Yuqi accepted the offer before Shuli considered it.
As Yuqi and Shuli connected the projector to her computer, all the men's eyes were glued to Yuqi and Shuli's body.
"Ahem." Wuli and Yueyue cleared their throat as they noticed all the unwavering glare toward those two.
Immediately, everyone's attention turned back to the projection on the wall.
"First, we currently have seven-three thousand four hundred and thirty-two people living in the town. Over ten thousand of them are full-time soldiers, and five thousand of them are militias.
We have three hundred tons of food in storage, and our monthly usage is... much bigger than what we produce. But it will drastically improve once people are more settled and left with only farmer jobs."
Yuqi stepped down to take a sip of water while Shuli took over the next part.
"The military expedition to the White Lotus has taken nearly 3 tons of food away, and I had sent a ton of food to Qingyuan as directed.
Next, about our expansion toward our previously abandoned settlement. Within next year, we will be able to connect the two once again and create a safe zone across this line."
As Shuli drags the ruler across the forest, everyone can see a natural barrier formed by a large chunk of wood between the back of the town and the highway.
"However, this also means we will again have two entrances to the town... with the second one connected to a dirt road connecting to the highway.
We have planned to turn this entrance into our main entrance to our town for the outsiders rather than the one we currently have as it is too close to Guangzhou.
This also means there will be a heavy emphasis shift from the East towards the west of the town, as you might have noticed the overpopulation recently."
As Shuli stepped down, Xiaoyun stepped up.
"Thank you for your explanation. Now, does anyone have any suggestions or changes to their plans?"
The Majors and Yezi looked at each other as if they had no clue what to say other than start clapping.
After a short clap, Xiaoyun turned his attention to Yezi.
"Yezi, you want to talk about the armory situation?"
"Sure, I don't mind it."
Yezi handed everyone a piece of paper and started reading out loud.
"We currently have one hundred thousand various styles of gun serving their purpose, with the majority of them being AKM. We also have ten artillery pieces, with three boxes of shells to fire them.
There has been a breakthrough in the rockets, and Anna has been able to reproduce the same mechanic used in an RPG and the chemical composition of it."
"Anna? I thought the three Russians were on it." Xiaoyun interrupted Yezi.
"They couldn't do any chemistry, and they were too stubborn to ask for help, so I went over to Anna and asked her to find a way to shoot it," Yezi answered.
"I see..." Xiaoyun noted something in his notebook.
"Anyway, next, we have vehicles. We currently have three buses for civilian use, with twenty buses on standby to transport civilians and soldiers if needed. We have five semi-trucks and can always get more at the dockyard, so transporting goods is no problem.
Finally, we currently have fifty reinforced cars for military vehicles, with fifteen APCs usable and five IFVs. Unfortunately, one of the type 05 had broken down, so we only have one working one inside the armory.
Oh, right, I almost forgot. For ammos, we have enough to fire nonstop for a week. I was about to ask for armory expansion earlier." Yezi sat back down.
"I'll write that down," Xiaoyun reassured him.
The following few presentations weren't too important as they talked about the overall health of the town regarding its agriculture, health, crime, and education, which are mostly fine.
Finally, it was Yueyue's turn.
"Um, hello, everyone." Yueyue nervously got up from her seat and waved.
"I'm the head of the Department of Internal Security——"
"Mr.Mayor, shouldn't she be responsible for what happened at the trading zone? Are you going to shield her from having to deal with any responsibility?" The head of health suddenly interrupted Yueyue from continuing any further.
"She only had gotten the post for a few weeks. It was outside of her responsibility at the time." Xiaoyun dismissed the complaint.
"But she has caused——"
"Health director, I recommend you think before you say anything." Lingang suddenly stood up and moved his hand down as if he was about to pull his gun out.
The health director immediately froze and shut her mouth
"Lingang! Sit back down." Xiaoyun said coldly.
"Yes, sir." Lingang immediately sat back down and acted as if nothing had happened.
"Next time you do that, it's going to be court-martial," Xiaoyun warned.
"Thank you, sir."
"Yueyue, you may continue." Xiaoyun turned back around with a warm face.
"Um, where was I... right, I'm the head of the Department of Internal Affairs. I'm also a former militia member and a former police sergeant.
So far, my department has found fifteen people with confirmed corruption cases and arrested them accordingly, with ten more people still under investigation for possible corruption or bribery."
Yueyue suddenly looked toward the head of the health department.
"And you, Ms.Zhangmei, I didn't want to mention this right here, but April, you received a donation from an anonymous source.
A few days later, a factory that was closed for health reasons was reopened with the health inspector's permission despite workers' complaints about the same health conditions still being violated.
So, would you mind explaining how you got the money?" Yueyue stared back at the health director with determination in her eyes.