Chapter 240: Seizing Ning Guang County!
When Zhang Bao saw the four Type 69 tanks, his face immediately turned deathly pale,
“Tanks!!!! They actually have tanks!! How is it that they have things like them?!”
On land, tanks were the kings of modern weaponry. As long as the target was hit, one shot fired by the tank was enough to turn even an Evolver like Zhang Bao into mincemeat. The 2 battalions of elite troops from Ning Guang County would be almost completely crushed once the 4 tanks began their assault, whilst those remaining would be slaughtered by Yue Zhong and his men.
Niu Sheng ran to Zhang Bao’s side, his face deathly pale as he exclaimed,
“Brother Bao! Let’s quickly escape!! If we stay here any longer, we will become Yue Zhong’s captives!”
He had already noticed that there were military vehicles mounted with machine guns coming towards them, indicating that Yue Zhong’s main forces were now hurrying over.
If Yue Zhong’s main forces managed to reach them, the Ning Guang County soldiers would have absolutely no way of escaping.
Zhang Bao glanced at the army vehicles and tanks that were noisily approaching. He was very clear that his side didn’t possess the necessary strength to even defend against a single attack from Yue Zhong’s forces. Eventually, he gritted his teeth and made a prompt decision to abandon the elite soldiers from the two companies as he escaped together with Niu Sheng into the wilderness.
When the Ning Guang County soldiers saw that their two leaders were escaping, they, who already had low morale, lost all of their remaining willpower, causing their force to completely collapse as they escaped one after another.
“Throw down your weapons, we won’t kill those who surrender!! Surrender and you shall be spared!!”
Yue Zhong’s forces closed in on the despairing soldiers, managing to round up a huge portion of them. However, some of the luckier ones managed to evade capture as they ran away.
Due to the outstanding efforts of Guo Quan and his team, Yue Zhong’s side had only lost 5 men in the throes of battle, yet they had caused 98 casualties on the opposing side, captured 687 of the remaining enemies and even killed an Agility-based Evolver. They had even gained 2 whole companies’ worth of equipment and a large number of vehicles.
“Battalion Commander! What do you need me for?”
Liu Erhei shouted as he excitedly ran forward towards Yue Zhong.Just now, he had led some soldiers to chase and round up those Ning Guang County runaways, causing him to become elated about his success.
Yue Zhong said heavily,
“Bring some people and take the captives back to town. I’m taking our forces out to take down Ning Guang County. Until I’m back, you have to defend Mahogany Town well! All you need to do is coordinate with Chen Ming to protect the town and you will have rendered a great merit!”
Liu Erhei’s greatest strength was his ability to follow orders,
“Yes! Battalion Commander!”
Yue Zhong lightly nodded before bringing Zhang Niujiang and Xiong Zheng with him. Both warriors were armed to the teeth. Their subordinates drove the four Type 69 tanks and a large number of other military vehicles that were fully loaded with arms as they sped towards Ning Guang County.
In the current era, the strong devoured the weak. The attack by the 2 battalions from Ning Guang County had revealed that their soldiers lacked training. Their morale wasn’t high, nor was their fighting spirit strong. Adding to the fact that they lacked heavy weaponry, Yue Zhong couldn’t resist the desire to obtain this tasty piece of meat.
When Clear Wind Camp was at its weakest, Ning Guang County had tried to take advantage of the fact to swallow them up. Yue Zhong now wanted to turn the tables and make use of this chance to subdue them instead. As long as he could obtain Ning Guang County’s food and people, Yue Zhong’s forces would grow tremendously.
Ning Guang County was not like Qing Yuan County with a huge city wall surrounding it. However, to prevent possible assaults by zombies or Mutant Beasts, there were many tall wooden fences that surrounded the roads leading to the main town.
At the same time, they had garrisoned soldiers who were in charge of keeping watch along the main road.
A Ning Guang County soldier, who was carrying a Type 03 Rifle, was currently yawning from time to time. As he lazily gazed into the distance, he suddenly straightened his eyes and hollered loudly,
“Attack! There’s an enemy vehicle fleet approaching!!”
The other 7 soldiers on duty immediately stood up and looked into the distance. Upon confirmation of the enemy, their faces turned pale as they shouted,
“Tank! There is actually a tank!!”
In the distance, four steel behemoths were constantly getting closer. Following behind the tanks, there was a long line of military vehicles fitted with various machine guns.
Right as the eight soldiers were considering whether to escape or not, a young man carrying a white flag strode up to the 8 soldiers and spoke in a manner that was neither servile nor overbearing,
“I am Xu Feng, a representative for Mahogany Town’s Yue Zhong. I would like to request an audience with your Highest Commanding Officer Tao Zhengyi.”
Inside Ning Guang County’s CPC county committee conference hall, Tao Zhengyi was currently staring at Xu Feng and the person standing beside him with an ashen face. The person acting as Xu Feng’s bodyguard was actually Yue Zhong. Tao Zhengyi spoke coldly,
“What do you want?! Speak!”
Xu Feng and Yue Zhong had already been searched, and did not possess any weapons. Tao Zhengyi had also brought along 11 Enhancers for his own protection, and so he wasn’t too concerned about his own safety.
Xu Feng immediately came on strong and said,
“President Tao, the 2 battalions you previously sent to attack us have already been annihilated. This time, we have brought along our own forces and hope for you to surrender unconditionally. In exchange, we would protect your assets and guarantee your family’s safety. If we have to force our way in, I’m afraid we can’t promise the same.”
Tao Zhengyi’s small eyes glinted maliciously with a look of shock. He retorted coldly,
“Are you threatening me right now? Ning Guang County has a population of 15,000 and a 4000-man strong army. We even have an entire military camp’s worth of equipment, if you dare to attack my Ning Guang County, just know that my 4000 soldiers are not vegetarians.*”
[*TN: It’s said that vegetarians have not seen blood, so if you are not a vegetarian… you get the gist.]
[UBPC: Celery bleeds green >.>]
“Nevertheless, this matter truly was an error on my part first. I’m willing to hand over 3000 tonnes of rations, 20 beautiful ladies, 1 tonne of fuel and 150kg of gold as compensation.”
After ‘flexing his muscles’, Tao Zhengyi immediately attempted a soft approach.
Ning Guang County had 5 main battalions, as well as an additional battalion that was dedicated to public security, making its forces number about 3000 people in total. Tao Zhengyi’s claim of 4000 soldiers was just a figure of speech, and it didn’t mean that his numbers equated to strength. Amongst the 5 battalions, Yue Zhong had already subdued 2. There were 4 battalions left, and if the soldiers in charge of public security were to try and fight with their cold weapons, it was tantamount to suicide. As for the other 3 battalions, only they had proper military equipment, but they did not possess enough heavy weaponry.
Ning Guang County had 2 infantry fighting vehicles that could be dangerous, but like Yue Zhong, they lacked the manpower and knowledge to operate the advanced weaponry. Therefore, when facing Xu Feng’s intimidation, Tao Zhengyi wanted to display his own power and threaten them before offering another way out. This was all in the hope that they could try to reconcile matters between Yue Zhong’s side and his.
The four Type 69 tanks outside Ning Guang County were also giving Tao Zhengyi a huge amount of pressure. Tanks, they were considered the kings of land-based modern warfare!
Yue Zhong looked at Tao Zhengyi and he instantly activated his Art of Fear Skil, causing a terrifying spiritual pressure to spread out with him as the centre.
Everyone was caught off-guard, and other than Yue Zhong, everyone was engulfed in the huge area of effect of the Art of Fear. Since Xu Feng and Tao Zhengyi were only normal people, they immediately fainted. Out of the 11 Enhancers that Tao Zhengyi had brought, 7 of them also fainted directly while 3 others could only hug their heads in agony.
Only the strongest, Tao Zhengyi’s only remaining Evolver Tie Ya, remained conscious despite the sharp pain in his head. His eyes were filled with shock and fear as he pointed at Yue Zhong and exclaimed,
“Evolver!!”
Yue Zhong looked at Tie Ya, saying coldly,
“You’re also an Evolver right? Surrender or you’ll die here!”
“Go to hell!!”
Tie Ya bit the tip of his tongue as a scarlet glow flashed past his eyes. With a wave of his hands, many blades of air were flung in Yue Zhong’s direction one after another.
Tie Ya was a Spirit-based Evolver. He possessed the Level 3 Skill: Air Manipulation, which had already undergone 2 enhancements to reach Level 5, making its power truly fearsome. The sharp blades of air could even cut through a gun! Furthermore, the air blades were formless and left no tracks, making them very hard to defend against.
[Dedition: Gun? What type of gun? For all I know, this might be a plastic gun designed for undercover missions. Ambiguous way to let me know his strength. Pfft…]
“It’s useless! You’re too weak!”
Yue Zhong activated his Shadow Steps Skill and with a flash of his body, he easily dodged the air blades. He then appeared behind Tie Ya and grabbed his neck, before forcefully twisting and breaking it with a resounding ‘Crack’!
Yue Zhong then directly poured a drink onto Tao Zhengyi’s face, waking him up.
He took out a gun and held it to the space between Tao Zhengyi’s eyebrows as he spoke with a voice full of killing intent,
“Will you surrender to me right now! Or should I cut your head off and show it to all your subordinates? Do you want to try and see who will still fight to the death for you after your death?”
Yue Zhong had risked entering Ning Guang County purely for Tao Zhengyi. If Tao Zhengyi had surrendered willingly, then that would’ve been it. Even if he had refused, Ning Guang County would be without a leader after killing him, and so seizing the county would be easier.
Tao Zhengyi could feel the gun pressed against his head as he looked at the fainted soldiers and the defeated Tie Ya. Laughing bitterly, he spoke,
r“I admit defeat. I surrender, please spare my life.”
Tao Zhengyi was not a soldier who did not care about death. Like most people, compared to death, he would rather live on.
Tao Zhengyi then asked carefully,
“May I know who you are?”
Tao Zhengyi’s perception was rather good, and he could tell that the person in front of him was not ordinary. He guessed that the person before him had to be Yue Zhong. In Clear Wind Camp, the only person who could take care of his Evolver Tie Ya so easily was Yue Zhong himself.
Yue Zhong gazed at Tao Zhengyi for a moment before replying blandly,
“I’m Yue Zhong.”
Tao Zhengyi laughed bitterly. He didn’t expect that he had actually brought in such a huge shark, nor did he expect that Yue Zhong would actually enter the enemy camp by pretending to be an envoy, even when he was the backbone of Clear Wind Camp.
With Tao Zhengyi’s cooperation, Yue Zhong’s forces successfully entered Ning Guang County easily and occupied all the strategic locations. At the same time, they disarmed the 4 remaining battalions and carefully gathered all the equipment.
All of this was witnessed by the indifferent survivors of Ning Guang County.
Although Ning Guang County possessed 80,000 tonnes of rations, like many other rulers, Tao Zhengyi had only provided his direct subordinates with ample supplies. As for the normal survivors, he gave them barely enough to survive. It was the same tactic that Yue Zhong and most other leaders would have used.
After all, the current situation was still quite bleak and crops could not be grown yet. They would save as much as they could, just so it would last longer in the future. Tao Zhengyi naturally wouldn’t squander the rations in his possession.
