Chapter 369 – Cold Snow!
Translated by: Kun
Edited by: Ulamog, Dedition
[Book 3: The South] Chapter 369: Cold Snow!
Yue Zhong looked at Bei Mingyang coldly and said: “I’m Yue Zhong! Whatever you have to say, spit it out! Don’t think about dragging the time, otherwise I’ll execute you on the spot!”
Bei Mingyang maintained his gaze as he spoke seriously: “Then I’ll cut to the chase! Yue Zhong, the armory behind me is filled with explosives! As long as I don’t make it back by 20 minutes, the explosives will go off. The resources and ammunition in there would be incinerated instantly. Other than the armory, I have sent men to the granary as well, as long as I don’t leave here alive, after 20 minutes, the place will turn into a sea of blaze!”
When Yue Zhong heard this, he frowned. There were over 50,000 survivors in Tianxin District. If the granary was to be blown to bits, the 50,000 survivors would become a heavy burden. Even if Yue Zhong transferred the rations from Jingxi City to save Tianxin District, it would leave Jingxi City with barely 3 months’ worth of supplies.
Wu Yin’s eyes narrowed, as he threatened with fury: “Bastard! If you dare do that, I’ll break you!”
“I’ll cut you in pieces bastard!!!”
“……”
The various leaders under Yue Zhong shouted out in fury.
Facing those agitated threats, Bei Mingyang did not falter, instead looking quietly at Yue Zhong.
Yue Zhong waved his hands, only then did the noise subside.
Yue Zhong looked at Bei Mingyang with an icy gaze as he said: “State your conditions! As long as it’s not too preposterous, I’ll promise you!”
Since Beii Mingyang had stepped out alone, and had not yet burnt the armory or granary, it was obvious he didn’t want to push things too far. He wanted to live as well.
Bei Mingyang eyed Yue Zhong and continued: “I’m willing to surrender to you, Leader Yue Zhong! However, I hope that you will promise to keep our families and personal property out of harm’s way. Also, after we surrender, we hope to gain the same rights as your current citizens.”
In this post-apocalypse, human lives were cheap. Bei Mingyang was worried that once they surrendered, they might be slaughtered like pigs and dogs. He had fought for his position in this new apocalyptic world and knew how dark and cruel humans can get, and was afraid that Yue Zhong would be like those terrorists who did whatever they wanted.
Yue Zhong replied: “Fine! I’ll promise you that!”
Those conditions that Bei Mingyang had stated, Yue Zhong already had the intentions of doing. It was true that Yue Zhong was merciless to his enemies, but it was just that. He never allowed his troops to engage in pillaging or rape nor widespread massacring.
Hearing Yue Zhong’s promise, Bei Mingyang heaved a sigh of relief, and he pulled out a walkie-talkie and said: “Everyone immediately surrender!”
Upon receiving Bei Mingyang’s orders, the various defences laid down their arms. The huge doors of the armory opened up as well, allowing the soldiers under Yue Zhong to make their way in.
Within the armory, there were numerous IFVs, Red Arrows, machine-gun mounted vehicles and various other modern weaponry.
Amongst the soldiers under Bei Mingyang, only a handful of the veterans commanded by Zhao Zhigang had the knowledge to operate these weapons. However, they had not the time to use these before they were routed and forced by Yue Zhong to surrender, in the end, they wound up not even displaying the prowess of these weapons.
Otherwise, this assault on Tianxin District would have seen more casualties on Yue Zhong’s side.
When Bei Mingyang surrendered, the defence of Tianxin District weakened by about 80%. There were a few troops that still tried to prevent Yue Zhong from entering parts of the town. However, under the threat and power of Yue Zhong’s troops, they were quickly defeated and killed.
Not long after, the entire defence of Tianxin District had crumbled, and the violence and various fights were put down. All troublemakers were executed on the spot, and under the pressure and vigilance of the troops, Tianxin District regained its peace.
With Tianxin District in Yue Zhong’s control, the expert battalion also fell into Yue Zhong’s lap.
The leader of the expert battalion Bai Xiaosheng had actually fooled around with a few beauties the night prior, as a result, he had been entirely spent, sleeping throughout the entire ordeal. When he awoke, he discovered that Tianxin District had already belonged to Yue Zhong.
Seeing that Bei Mingyang had surrender, Bai Xiaosheng also dutifully swore allegiance to Yue Zhong.
After obtaining Tianxin District, Yue Zhong set in motion the retraining and organization of the troops. He created 4 infantry battalions as well as an expert battalion. Furthermore, with the 6 infantry battalions and support troops, the army under Yue Zhong had swelled to a size of more than 4,000 people.
However, out of these 4,000 people, the actual number who could fight well were only 3 infantry battalions and the expert battalion. The rest were still in training, and within a short span of time, they would not be ready to engage in any battle nor provide any boost in fighting capabilities.
When the 4 infantry battalions and the expert battalion were assembled, Yue Zhong deployed them in shifts to clear out the zombies in the surrounding towns. On one hand, they managed to retrieve more resources, on the other, they were grinding to increase their combat abilities, raising the number of Enhancers as well as the levels.
As for the reserve troops, Yue Zhong sent them through reformative and strict military training. Although these reserve troops could not yet fight, with a few months of training, they would start to resemble a proper army.
In the governing side, with the experience he gained from establishing a government in Longhai City, Yue Zhong picked out a few officials familiar with the running of affairs with the help of Bei Mingyang, and established a new cabinet of officers.
Bei Mingyang was an extremely capable and talented man. He was a billionaire industrialist prior to the apocalypse, who made his way up one step at a time. He was knowledgeable, talented, had the charisma to lead, and was extremely determined. This was why he could have slowly grown a small team into a faction of more than 50,000 people. If there were any weak points to be pointed out, it would be that his personal combat ability was weak, and was merely a Level 11 Enhancer.
Although Bei Mingyang was extremely outstanding, Yue Zhong did not select him as the head of the cabinet, instead, promoting Wei Ningguo into that position. While Wei Ningguo was indeed capable, he lacked ambition.
If Yue Zhong allowed Bei Mingyang to become the head of the cabinet, the moment Yue Zhong was gone, he might come up with ways to revolt, and wrestle the power away from Yue Zhong! As for Wei Ningguo, while he was strong, even if Yue Zhong was not around, he would not have any intention to betray him. In this world, the human heart is the hardest to fathom. Capable yet loyal men were extremely hard to find.
With such a capable and ambitious character like Bei Mingyang, Yue Zhong would only be able to leave the place without worry after he fully established an order from the ground up. In such an unstable period, Yue Zhong had no choice but to utilize Wei Ningguo who was loyal to him.
Yue Zhong’s troops had cleared out the zombies in the towns that led to Yunlong County in the southwest direction for an entire week, and had no choice but to return to Tianxin District.
“It’s starting to snow!!” In Tianxin District, within a villa, Yue Zhong was looking at the skies, watching the snowflakes falling from the sky. He stretched out his hand, as a particular snow flake landed on his palm and dissolved into a small drop of water.
Yue Zhong gazed at the drop of water, and heaved a long sigh.
“Master! Why are you sighing? Isn’t the snow very beautiful? It actually is my first time seeing snow!” Beside Yue Zhong, the beautiful voice of Ming Jiajia sounded.
Yue Zhong turned to look at her, and saw that she was dressed in thick cotton clothing, wearing gloves, her face flushed red from the cold, and her entire being looking as though she was an extremely cute cotton doll.
Ming Jiajia was currently looking at the pure white snow, her face full of excitement. She had grown up in the south, and it was the first time she actually saw real snow.
Yue Zhong looked back at the pretty snowscape and said heavily: “ We have been living in Guangxi and are used to the warm weather. Places that snow are actually rare. Tianxin District itself had not experienced snow in the past few decades. Even if it snowed, it wasn’t that heavy. It is obvious that the current climate has changed and become stranger. With the onset of such strange weather, to us humans, it’s unclear if it will be a good or bad thing! However, in this coming winter, we will definitely face a number of deaths from the cold!”
The current weather outside had dropped to -4 °C, and this *1 weather had already persisted for an entire week. Outside, there was snow everywhere, and roads were blocked.
When Yue Zhong had conquered Tianxin District and Jingxi City, he had obtained a large number of warm clothing for the cold. Even then, in just this week, they had already lost 20+ survivors who froze to death. *2 Almost everyone was cooped up at home now, shivering uncontrollably.
If Yue Zhong brought the people now to the hills and hid within caves, a sudden snowstorm would be enough to rob the lives of many of them.
Under such harsh cold, the various troops under Yue Zhong had returned to either Jingxi City or Tianxin District and were conducting their own training within cover. The operations to hunt for resources and killing zombies came to a halt.
“Achoo!!” Ming Jiajia suddenly sneezed in a cute manner.
“Go back in!” Yue Zhong ruffled Ming Jiajia’s hair and said fondly.
With regards to the problem of the weather, Yue Zhong had no means of changing anything. Although he wanted sorely to bring troops and deal with Wuyan Hong, he could only wait out the winter now. Otherwise, before he even reached the battlefront, he would lose his troops to the cold.
Yue Zhong brought Ming Jiajia towards the most luscious villa within Tianxin District.
“Welcome back Master!” Yue Zhong brought Ming Jiajia and had just entered the villa when he saw 2 rows of beautiful ladies in a half bow, speaking in unison.
Yue Zhong looked at them with a slight amazement as he smiled and said: “Not bad!”
*3
After conquering Tianxin District, Yue Zhong had kept himself busy by training the troops and establishing the new government, while training himself as well. There was no time to truly go home, and had always slept in the office. This was the first time in a long while that he had gone to a home to relax.
=====================================================================
龙云县: Yunlong County is in the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture located in Yunnan Province, China.
*1 [Ulamog] This is somewhere between 24 and 25℉. I could understand if his people were really malnourished, but he has been raising them back right? 25℉ certainly isn’t swimming weather but It’s not that bad where I am from xD
*2 [Ulamog] People Pops! Get them at discount rates now! Our delicious Popsicle Brand features a Mystery Middle!
*3 [Ulamog] “…”