Lin Lin’s reply perplexed Jiang Chen.
His original wild and irresponsible idea turned out to be true.
He once heard Zhao Chenwu describe that in the years immediately after the end of the nuclear war, the nuclear winter that shrouded Wanghai was just like a white hell. Many people escaped the war, but they failed to escape the snow. Almost half of the survivors died in winter in the years before the mutants were born and the leakage of X1 bacteria.
The next day, AS Order arrived over the West Coast.
Groups of soldiers set foot on North America and settled in an empty colony. Since yesterday, the Aurora-20 squadron had constantly lifted off to cruise over the West Coast. Their missions were to search for the whereabouts of the West Coast Meteorological Monitoring Center and to search for the missing colonists.
As Li Wang and the Tiger II tank on the lift platform landed on the ground, he walked to Jiang Chen. He opened the face shield on the power armor helmet and performed a clean salute.
“Li Wang, Commander of the Expeditionary Force and Captain of AS Order, reporting for duty.”
“How many people came?”
“A total of 2,000 soldiers have landed on the West Coast, and another 3,000 people will arrive subsequently in cargo ships along with supplies,” Li Wang reported.
The expanded NAC Army was at an absolute advantage with five thousand soldiers strong. Supported by the industrial capabilities of the Sixth Street and the other world, all these five thousand soldiers were armed to the teeth with the K1 kinetic skeleton, and some elite troops were even equipped with the new K2 kinetic skeleton. Even if those USN soldiers inherited NATO’s military legacy, Jiang Chen would still be in an advantageous position.
The only problem now was the attitude of the National Guard and the Minuteman.
If these two local forces decide to stand on the USN’s side, then NAC would be pressured from all angles.
“We must now figure out what National Guard and Minuteman are thinking. If they decide to stand with USN, then we will act fast and destroy them first,” Jiang Chen said.
“Will they be on our side?” Li Wang hesitated for a moment before he explained his thoughts. “Compared to USN, we are outsiders. My suggestion is that instead of giving them time to organize, it is better to just decrease the likelihood of war and bomb their settlements.”
Li Wang’s idea was very simple.
If he stood from the perspective of a survivor in North America, he would also choose to join force with USN to drive out the invaders who landed on the West Coast first and then discuss the ownership of this land. There would be no reason to contact them at this time, but rather, it would alert them. The best option was to use the electromagnetic pulse naval cannon and fireball-1 to bombard Liberty City and Steel City, directly erase them from the map, so their side selection would no longer matter.
But Jiang Chen’s opinion was completely contrary.
“But we will not interfere with them, and USN intends to rule them,” Jiang Chen looked at Li Wang and said, “For most North American survivors, America is already a term that should be in the grave of history. They have established their own settlements on the West Coast and established their own rules. Now some people have appeared to claim the sovereignty of this land, saying that they want to take them to rebuild a certain country. What would you think if you were put in that position?”
From the opposite angle, if a group of survivors emerged from north of Pan- Asia, waved the flag to revive the Qing Dynasty, called on the NAC and Southern Survivor Alliance to join forces, and claimed to be the rightful ruler of this land, how many people would join their cause?
Not to mention the Qing Dynasty that had long been left behind in history, the Northern Alliance Area that claimed to be the righteous representative of Pan-Asia Cooperation was pushed back by NAC tanks deep into the northwest region. Only the mutated humans responded to their call, and the premise was that they promised a large tract of land to the mutated humans.
No matter what choice the leaders of the National Guard and the Minuteman make, Jiang Chen was certain about one thing, and it was that these leaders would never surrender easily. It was very likely USN had already contacted them before Jiang Chen arrived in North America on Aerospace G100.
It was quite an obvious point, but Jiang Chen didn’t understand the connection until now.
Why did the National Guard and Minuteman start preparations for war when the residents of the Outpost Town disappeared? They were definitely not preparing to fight against the NAC that had “withdrawn” from North America, but the USN soldiers who were about to land on West Coast and claim sovereignty over this land.
After a pause, Jiang Chen looked at Li Wang and continued.
“Send someone to Liberty City and Steel City to contact the leaders of the National Guard and Minuteman. If they are willing to remain neutral, we promise that our outpost will only retain this square kilometer outside Los Angeles. If they are willing to stand on our side and fight USN together, we can exempt tariffs worth 100,000 to 200,000 credit points each year for the next ten years. This is very flexible. You can get someone to negotiate.”
“Roger!”
Li Wang stood straight, saluted, then turned around swiftly.
Although Li Wang was still skeptical about whether or not those people would accept such a covenant, in the hierarchical military government system, the command of the general was absolute. Before the order was issued, everyone had the right to raise objections, but once the order was issued, there was only one thing for him to consider.
That was how to execute the order.
With the alliance treaty given by Jiang Chen, two envoys left the fortress one after another under the escort of NAC soldiers. Li Wang made two-handed preparations. While the two envoys were on the mission, the electromagnetic pulse cannon at the bottom of the Order was also loaded with shells.
If those North American survivors reject the alliance, the uncooperative forces would be bombarded. Before they could organize an effective defense, their organization would be completely wiped out.
Jiang Chen expressed his silent approval to Li Wang’s preparation.
On the other side, the Engineering Regiment that landed on the West Coast through AS Order also moved into the fortress one after another. It began the construction of fortifications on the battlefield.
At the highest point of the concrete fortifications of the fort, the NAC flag was raised once again. The engineers, under the command of Zheng Shanhe, were busy deploying the electromagnetic anti-aircraft guns and land-based radars from the Order in every corner of the fortress.
The powerful combat effectiveness demonstrated by the F-79 already posed a threat to NAC’s air supremacy.
For other survivor forces, AS Order flying in the sky would be an unchallenged existence, but for the USN that also possessed an air force, this big guy flying in the sky was just an easy target. The use of airships for air defense was obviously unreliable. NAC hoped to rely on ground air defense to make up for Aurora-20’s disadvantage in the combat for air supremacy.
