Wasteland Commander

Ye Fan had long planned the restructuring of the Dawn Army.

More defined units make both command and combat more convenient.

It's just that there was never time nor money, so things have been left on hold.

The battles of the past ten days have given Ye Fan confidence.

The Survivor Alliance's strength is advancing by leaps and bounds, and the Dawn Army cannot afford to stagnate; it's time to expand.

With Ye Fan's command, Dawn City has begun to enter a state of martial law.

The gates of the Outer City District have been closed.

A platoon of warriors is responsible for guarding the Outer City District, preventing survivors from leaving Dawn City at will.

In fact, most survivors don't wish to leave; Dawn City has houses, troops, and heating, while outside is freezing cold, so what's there to do outside?

The martial law is mainly to prevent those with dubious intentions and unruly behavior from wandering everywhere.

The small gate of the Inner City District is open, allowing normal vehicles to pass through.

The Core Zone is strictly off-limits, even Ye Fan's parents are not allowed to enter; if needed, Ye Fan will leave the city to meet them.

Warriors patrol twenty-four hours, radar always monitors everything around.

Ye Fan delegated other trivial matters to his subordinates and began focusing on studying military issues.

First, Ye Fan constructed the fourth barracks.

When Dawn City was initially designed, it included four barracks districts.

Four barracks can accommodate 2,200 soldiers.

Now it seems insufficient, but there is still vacant land in the Core Zone.

Mining vehicles are not built here, and the wind power plant occupies little land, allowing for two more barracks to be added.

With the fourth barracks constructed, the troops can raise their numbers to 2,200.

Next is to increase military strength.

Ye Fan has already calculated the general cost for a regiment.

Excluding heavy weapons like aircraft and tanks, just basic soldiers, military dogs, heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, and combat vehicles, including armored cars, a company costs about 60,000.

A regiment costs about 210,000 because it also includes guard platoons, engineer platoons, and engineers.

Then Ye Fan spent 210,000 directly to establish three fully-equipped regiments!

550 combat units were replenished in full!

By now, Ye Fan's infantry units have been replenished.

Indeed, money flows out like a stream; over 600,000 in money leaving just 310,000 remaining.

With this money, Ye Fan started to enhance advanced military units.

First, eight tanks were produced, costing 160,000!

Fighting against humans differs from zombies; tanks, as mobile artillery, can play a significant role.

Including the previous two light tanks, the Dawn Army's light tanks have directly increased to ten.

Ten tanks form a tank combat unit.

This is the strongest assault force of the Dawn Army and the main force for external war.

Tanks in conjunction with infantry tactics, although not the main force in modern warfare, given the current low level of technology, Ye Fan's forces definitely have strong combat power.

With the tank unit complete, Ye Fan has 150,000 left.

150,000 doesn't seem much nor little; Ye Fan has two choices.

One is to continue replenishing armed helicopters, the other is to establish the Heroic Battalion.

The Army Heroic Battalion construction requires 120,000, Ye Fan can build it now, and perhaps it might yield heroic units.

Replenishing helicopters would give Ye Fan's troops very strong mobility.

After thinking for a long time between the two, Ye Fan decided to first establish the Heroic Battalion.

First, if he doesn't build the Army Heroic or Air Force Heroic, his next constructions won't unlock, and military development would stagnate.

Additionally, Ye Fan wants to see how the system upgrade optimization changes differ from those in games.

After confirming, Ye Fan resolutely built the Army Heroic Battalion.

Spent 120,000.

Of course, the combat units Ye Fan produces are not ready immediately.

For instance, those eight tanks require a considerable time to produce.

With 30,000 money left in hand, yet this money continues to grow slowly.

It's estimated that once all units are produced, his money will reach over 40,000.

By this time, Ye Fan's current wave of military expansion can be considered concluded.

Afterward, it is a matter of patience in waiting.

The barracks and Heroic Battalion buildings will take over a day.

While Ye Fan is massively expanding and producing, his opponents are also not idle.

********

On the Wangbei Army side, Zhang Zhijian is daily overwhelmed with anxiety.

Currently, the entire Alliance feels like a boiling oil pot, all have started to bustle.

This time the Alliance went all out; their surplus resources were basically exchanged with the Rakshasa for weapons.

Winning against the Dawn Army would naturally be ideal; there's quite a bounty in Dawn City, and once it's divided, everyone's strength will skyrocket enormously.

If they lose, then perhaps they won't be celebrating this year.

The Rakshasa are demanding an exorbitant price, turning every resource into something as cheap as cabbage. Through this war, the Rakshasa have made a fortune and become the biggest winners.

However, Zhang Zhijian has his own plans. After dealing with the Dawn Army, he intends to unify the entire Alliance. By then, with the combined strength of the entire Huacheng Region, he is bound to compete against the Rakshasa for supremacy.

After all, they have the advantage in numbers. As long as they defeat the Dawn Army, those currently wavering factions will immediately join the Alliance, significantly boosting their strength.

This is the battle that will determine the leader of the Huacheng Region. Zhang Zhijian believes it's a contest between him and Ye Fan, with everyone else merely playing supporting roles.

For this battle, Zhang Zhijian has made extensive preparations.

The Alliance's readiness for war is just on the surface; in reality, he has already secretly left the Wangbei Army to contact the Daqing Mountain Prison Base in Mei City.

********

Daqing Mountain Prison Base.

This place naturally has the advantages needed to become a base.

Tall walls, electrified fences, towering watchtowers, and rooms like honeycombs.

Everything a base should have is basically here.

Nowadays, the Daqing Mountain Prison Base is nothing like before.

When Xing Hai was here, it was just one of the ordinary survivor bases in Coal City, only better in defense, not particularly outstanding compared to others.

However, under Hu Yuan's leadership, the Daqing Mountain Prison Base has transformed dramatically!

The entire base's territory has expanded by fivefold!

Based on the original walls, new ones have been erected on the perimeter.

Although not as strong and towering as the Dawn Army's walls, four meters high and one meter wide are basically sufficient.

Survivor bases from all over Mei City have now mostly gathered here.

The base's population has exceeded seventy thousand and continues to grow.

All the bases Hu Yuan destroyed, like the hot spring, airport, and Dazhuang Village, as well as those he allied with, have now all moved here.

It's not just people arriving, but countless supplies and vehicles too.

Hu Yuan's strong influence is inseparable from his personal power.

After Xing Hai's death, Daqing Mountain faced a horde of zombies.

A survivor team went out to collect supplies and encountered zombies, resulting in their annihilation.

Hu Yuan was the only survivor from that team.

There were two Evolvers in their team, but the other one got infected by the zombie virus and evolved into a Crawler.

Hu Yuan was lucky enough to hide in a bunker, and the Crawler got stuck while trying to get in to eat him, thus becoming his trophy.

The crystal he obtained opened the door to a new world for him.

After consuming the crystal, his strength soared.

Moreover, he felt he had found a shortcut to evolution.

He began to frame other Evolvers, infecting them into zombies to provide crystals for himself.

The remaining few Evolvers at the Daqing Mountain Prison Base were all killed by him.

Hu Yuan kept consuming crystals and got closer and closer to the Second-level Evolution.

After conquering the airport and the hot spring, his strength was almost at the threshold of Second-level Evolution.

He believed it wouldn't be long before he could break through and become the ruler of this region.

But then two bad news came in succession.

First, he got stuck at this threshold and couldn't break through despite consuming crystals.

Second, the three helicopters he seized at the Airport Base were shot down by the Dawn Army in Huacheng.

These successive setbacks left Hu Yuan very frustrated.

He wanted to seek revenge on the Dawn Army, but it was a long journey with considerable risk.

Besides, he didn't want to waste his current strength in a futile battle with the Dawn Army.

If his meager resources were exhausted, how would he contend with survivors from other cities in the future?

In the north, it's not just Coal City and Huacheng, but also Ice City, Oil City, and a dozen other major cities. Survivor bases in various regions are now stabilized; doesn't everyone harbor dreams of unifying the province?

In Hu Yuan's mind, zombies are not a significant threat. What's terrifying about those brainless zombies endlessly circling in the same place?

If he had infinite life and a rifle with infinite bullets, he could eliminate all zombies on Earth.

The real competition was with people.

While he was troubled by the Dawn Army, Zhang Zhijian, the Commander-in-Chief of the Huacheng Wangbei Army, came looking for him.

He invited Hu Yuan to meet at a location ten kilometers north of the Daqing Mountain Base!

When he first heard the news, Hu Yuan thought Zhang Zhijian had ulterior motives and was setting a trap for him.

But hearing that Zhang Zhijian only brought a dozen people, Hu Yuan realized it wasn't the case.

The other party was likely seeking to discuss cooperation.

As a base leader, they're always privy to information others aren't.

Zhang Zhijian knew about Hu Yuan, and Hu Yuan also knew about him.

What would this prospective overlord of the Huacheng Region want to discuss with him?

Hu Yuan thought for a moment and felt he had guessed the reason for the meeting.

The Survivor Alliance in Huacheng is at odds with the Dawn Army, so the visit is probably related to the Dawn Army.

If that's the case, Hu Yuan wouldn't mind getting involved.

Gathering his group, Hu Yuan boarded the armored vehicle they got from the security forces.

"Let's go, let's meet with the friends from Huacheng, maybe there's a good deal on the table."