Wasteland Commander

The great battle with the Sea Monster's landing on Dawn Island lasted for more than ten hours and ended with a resounding victory for the Dawn Army.

In this battle, the Dawn Army actually suffered significant losses. Later, a regiment of new recruits supplemented during the battle saw one-third killed in action and nearly half wounded, leaving few still lively.

The Second Field Brigade also suffered almost two thousand casualties, which could be considered the greatest loss since the founding of the Dawn Army.

To outsiders, it seems inevitable that the Dawn Army would need a period of recuperation due to the heavy casualties before taking any further action.

But Ye Fan did not think so.

Although the losses to the Dawn Army were considerable, having the system meant that Ye Fan's losses were essentially just some money, and the fallen soldiers could be replenished with one or two hundred gold each.

Ye Fan merely valued the lives of his soldiers, unwilling to have them sacrificed in vain.

The true loss he sustained in this battle was roughly sixty to seventy million in funds.

Among this, there were two million funds for self-destruct trucks, and it was precisely the two million spent that swung the battle in their favor.

Currently, there are still some Ocean Giant Beasts lingering by the coast, though they are no longer a threat. Xiaoba is leading a hundred giant octopuses back, and in less than two days, they will clean up these Ocean Giant Beasts.

Meanwhile, Ye Fan is already considering his next strategic target.

This time, the Sea Monster landing was actually a conspiracy orchestrated by many parties united together, for the Dawn Army's rise threatened their status.

Ye Fan also realized that having Dawn Island as a solitary island surrounded by enemies was ultimately untenable; he needed larger territory and greater strategic depth.

If he were to launch military actions outward now, there were several potential targets to consider.

One was to advance west along the celestial path, targeting Jiangzhou.

However, Jiangzhou is currently not easy to capture; Zheng Jinnan's forces are strong, and multinational troops have stationed there.

Another option is to head south and attack the Quan Ting Base City.

Another choice is to head north and attack the Yungang Base City in the Loose Province.

Or directly enter the ocean and attack Crescent Island in the southeast.

Among these options, Ye Fan favors heading north.

Attacking the Loose Province would allow him to connect with the Qi Lu Province where Golden City Base is located.

If forces from Dawn City would move south, he could connect the Eastern Qin Han coastal areas together.

Once this is secured, he could deploy forces to the Eastern Islands and attack the Shanshen Country location, achieving his long-intended external military operations.

Though this plan sounds extensive, it's not really difficult since it's not like pre-apocalypse days where each location had to be attacked one by one; a province often has just two or three base cities, making it easy to capture in one sweep.

As for Jiangzhou, Ye Fan decided to put it on hold for now.

With a plan in place, Ye Fan immediately began to act.

With over forty million in funds at hand, Ye Fan immediately started a new round of mass military build-up following the end of the Sea Monster landing.

He reached the north bank of the Celestial River and deployed the base vehicle there.

After driving approximately a thousand kilometers northward, he reached the central area of the Loose Province and deployed the base vehicle.

Once deployed, constructions could begin here.

Ye Fan first built a purely military barracks, enclosing it with a wall encompassing about twenty square kilometers of land, and then constructed two Power Plants and one Spy Satellite within.

Building a Spy Satellite here was advantageous as it could link up with the Spy Satellite on Dawn Island.

With the two Spy Satellite areas connected, nearly the entire area of the Loose Province was within the coverage of Ye Fan's Spy Satellite.

Then Ye Fan began to construct barracks on-site; within these walls, he planned to build a hundred Barracks.

Here there were no other survivors, just a pure military zone, a fortress for troop deployment.

A hundred barracks, ten Tank Factories, and an airport.

Combined, these constructions cost about five million gold; as buildings were erected, Ye Fan continued mass recruiting troops.

A Field Brigade of twenty thousand troops costs around thirteen million; Ye Fan directly clicked furiously, increasing the troops by forty thousand at one go, enlisting the entire third and fourth field brigades of the Dawn Army.

Besides the newly added forty thousand Dawn Army troops, Ye Fan also augmented with a hundred rocket launchers and a hundred Apocalypse Tanks.

These two troop types cost Ye Fan fifteen million more, leaving him with little money left.

In fact, at Ye Fan's current stage, pure mass recruitment doesn't cost much anymore; rather, these weapons are pricier.

With the remaining few million funds, Ye Fan planned to recruit drones.

These forces were what he was going to use to sweep away all enemies in the Loose Province.

After the construction of the Spy Satellite, he already saw the entire situation of the Loose Province.

This province contains four large bases, with Yungang Base nearly reaching base city standards, having a population of over four million.

The other three large bases have populations ranging between one and three million.

As for bases with a population under one million, there are actually more than a dozen in Loose Province.

It's indeed a populous province. The total population of all the bases combined actually exceeds 25 million, which is certainly not a small number.

Most of these bases look up to Jiangzhou Base City as their leader. This time, Ye Fan decided to eliminate them all!

The opposition would definitely not surrender without a fight, so Ye Fan needed a powerful military force to subdue them completely.

While Ye Fan was busy, he also assigned a task to Dawn Island TV Station.

Declaration of war!

.......

"Hello, viewers. This is Dawn Island TV Station. I am the host, Ye Luo!"

"The Sea Monster landing incident that occurred two days ago is undoubtedly etched into everyone's mind."

"If this were just a normal accident, we would have nothing to say. But according to our investigation, this was a conspiracy jointly orchestrated by multiple countries and forces, intending to use the power of the Sea Monster to annihilate everyone on Dawn Island."

"We absolutely cannot tolerate such behavior. Leader Ye Fan has clearly stated that a retaliatory action will soon commence, and all those plotting against us will face severe punishment!"

"We will conduct our retaliatory actions at any time and place, so please stay tuned for further reports."

In the Jiangzhou conference hall, Zheng Jinnan, along with a group of people, watched the television and then began a tense meeting discussion.

The discussion revolved around how to respond to the Dawn Army's military actions.

The current difficulty lies in not knowing in which direction the Dawn Army will strike.

Quan Ting, Yungang, Crescent Island, or even Shanshen Country and Jiangzhou could all be possible targets of the Dawn Army's attack.

And at this moment, no one knows where Ye Fan has gone. His whereabouts are unknown, making this meeting especially challenging.

Continuing the attack on Dawn Island is no longer feasible. Firstly, the Dawn Army's fleet has returned.

An aircraft carrier accompanied by two battleships and four frigates. After the fleet returned, no one dared to rashly challenge the Dawn Army's naval power.

This also presented the Dawn Army with the opportunity to defeat them one by one, leaving Zheng Jinnan's group somewhat at a loss.

After multiple analyses, they concluded that Ye Fan might attack either south or north, given that these two directions are his neighbors. To launch a military operation, Ye Fan must first deal with his neighbors.

Thus, the meeting ultimately decided that the bases of Loose Province and Jiangnan Province would form a temporary strategic alliance.

All bases would expand their military forces, and other countries were also selling weapons to them for the potential impending war.

The people of Loose Province and Jiangnan Province hoped Zheng Jinnan's side could send troops from Jiangzhou to their bases because Jiangzhou's military strength is the strongest.

However, Zheng Jinnan refused, as Jiangzhou itself is not peaceful.

In the southeastern area of Jiangzhou, a horde of corpses is forming, numbering up to three million, according to their reconnaissance.

This horde is only over three hundred kilometers away from Jiangzhou, so they must reserve enough military strength to guard against a possible zombie siege.

Jiangzhou cannot be relied upon, and other countries are also unlikely to send military support.

After all, their initial strategic goal of rescuing people has already been accomplished. Now, other countries are adopting a wait-and-see approach, and are unlikely to intervene in the imminent civil war in Eastern Qin Han.

Previously, this wasn't the case, but ever since the Dawn Army used a small Mushroom Bomb to annihilate the Sea Monster on Dawn Island, the attitude of Western countries has changed.

Even the troops from some Western countries have halted their advancement, clearly showing some hesitation.

Therefore, in the upcoming civil war in Eastern Qin Han, foreigners are not likely to get involved easily.

Even Zheng Jinnan, the old fox, has decided not to venture rashly.

He intends to remotely control the war from behind the scenes, letting Ye Fan and others fight it out, while he takes the opportunity to profit from the war.

Jiangzhou has been developing well during this time, and Zheng Jinnan's first fleet is about to be reassembled.

Since he has purchased overseas arms, warships from White Eagle Country, Rakshasa Country, Shanshen Country, and several other countries are already on their way here.

Even their shipbuilding industry has made good progress, with four large warships already launched.

This time, the ships are not the modified cargo ships of the past but are real warships.

Once the first fleet is rearmed, that's when Zheng Jinnan plans to settle accounts with Ye Fan.

For now, let other bases and Ye Fan deplete each other's resources, as Zheng Jinnan has already sold a large amount of their outdated weapons and equipment to the warlords of Jiangnan Province and Loose Province.

Zheng Jinnan is quite pleased with his operation this time. The feeling of profiting from the war from behind the scenes is extremely satisfying, sitting comfortably in the catbird seat.

He even found a perfect excuse for his actions this time: the agitation of the southeastern horde of corpses.

In fact, this horde has existed for several months and hasn't ventured out of the county to disturb Jiangzhou.

There's no better excuse than this, and Zheng Jinnan even thinks it might not be a bad thing if this horde continues to exist.

However, what he doesn't know is that while humans are developing, the zombies are not idle either, and changes are quietly happening.