Without any stops along the way, the entire convoy returned to the base at the fastest speed possible. It wasn’t because they were worried about any actions from the military district in the Tibetan area, but rather because it would take at least two days to travel from the base to the salt lake at the fastest speed, and there were still many issues that needed to be discussed before they left.
After returning to the base, Han Ya had Mo Yan arrange the team that was robbed, while he and several other key personnel went directly into the conference room to quickly discuss the Tibetan military district’s intentions with the base’s defenders, Yan Wei Guo and Lin Yan.
Due to its location in the sparsely populated Tibetan region, the military district there suffered the least damage compared to the other major military districts in the inland areas after the start of the apocalypse. In this situation, there was no other reason for them to negotiate with Xiao Wen’s base except for the arms factory that they had snatched.
“It seems that our neighbor is not doing well either!” Yan Wei Guo snorted.
Xiao Wen and Wen Le glanced at each other, and even a blind man could see the gloating in Captain Yan’s eyes.
Han Ya suppressed the smile in his eyes and cleared his throat. “It’s normal to not be doing well. Although there is no threat from zombies here, there is also no place to replenish supplies, whether it’s food or other materials. They have to enter the city to obtain them. Although the nearest city, N City, has fewer zombies compared to inland cities, it still lacks the accumulation of supplies. Not to mention, just the food alone is enough to make them go crazy. And if they want to obtain food, they must have a large amount of weapons and ammunition to support them entering the inland areas. I don’t think the Tibetan military district, no matter how much weapons they had stored before, could allow them to squander them at will. After all, it has been a long time since the apocalypse started, and they have already done well to survive until now!”
Yan Wei Guo smiled. “It’s not just food and weapons. The amount of gasoline consumed every time they enter the inland areas is not a small number. I think they have reached a point where they have exhausted all their resources, no matter what kind of material it is.”
Everyone nodded in agreement with their analysis. If they were not forced to do so, the Tibetan military district would not have been so easy to talk to after suffering such a big loss at the weapons factory.
“Do they really want to negotiate with the Apocalypse Base?” Yan Wei Guo sighed.
Han Ya nodded, “Their biggest possibility should be to hope that we can share some weapons, and both parties can send troops to obtain grain or oil together.”
Wen Le leaned on one hand and rolled her eyes, “They think too highly of themselves. With weapons in our hands, we can totally go out and obtain the supplies ourselves. Why should we give them away for no reason? If we help them get stronger, we will be in danger.”
“Indeed,” Yan Wei Guo nodded. “If they cannot offer enough benefits to match our weapons and ammunition, we absolutely cannot give them any benefits for nothing. Of course, I don’t believe they have anything that can exchange for weapons, so this negotiation is completely unnecessary.”
“Even if it’s not necessary, we still have to go,” Xiao Wen shook his head. “We don’t have to give them everything, but we should try not to push them into a corner. Although they have used up a large portion of their weapons while gathering resources outside, each military district is equipped with heavy weapons, which are not easily depleted. If they really have to attack our base with all their might, it won’t be good. Even if we manage to escape, we will both suffer.”
Xiao Wen’s words made sense. If the other side was really desperate, they wouldn’t just sit there and wait for death. They would fight back, and it would be a gamble to see who would come out alive.
“So we have to give them weapons?” Bai Yang asked angrily. “After all the trouble we went through to steal back our machines, we have to work hard to produce weapons for them too?! That’s ridiculous!”
Yan Wei Guo clenched his teeth. Bai Yang was straightforward, but he didn’t expect him to be so narrow-minded. How come he couldn’t think of a better solution?
Han Ya concealed her smile and explained, “Unless it’s a matter of life and death, I don’t think the Tibet Military District will want to suffer along with us. They need resources to survive, but guns and ammunition cannot be eaten or drunk. They need weapons and gasoline, mainly to support their acquisition of food and other necessities for survival. The military district is quite large, and there are many people to feed, so the consumption of food must be considerable. We don’t want to give them weapons because we’re afraid that they’ll get too strong and turn their guns against us. Therefore, we can’t give them weapons, but we can still provide other kinds of aid to show our friendly attitude.”
“Other kinds?” Bai Yang suddenly realized and chuckled.
Xiao Wen and the others had their eyes on that big piece of fat in the military district. Even if the other side did not turn on them, it would still hurt to see so many soldiers starve to death.
They had been waiting for the base to become stronger before they could swallow up that piece of fat, but now the other side was coming to them before they were ready.
Compared to their initial plan of conquering by force, it would be better to slowly erode the will of the Tibetan military region.
“Since that’s the case, we can’t let them misunderstand that our base is a military base when we go to negotiate this time,” Han Ya said, looking at Yan Wei Guo.
Yan Wei Guo waved his hand. “We came for you in the first place, and we rely on your food. If we hadn’t met you, very few of us soldiers would have survived. So there’s no need to worry about face. It’s better if you make it clear directly. With us as an example, it will be beneficial for the recovery of the Tibetan military region. With our precedent, they won’t resist too strongly. Similarly, with our support, they’ll have to think twice about rebelling after the merger.”
Xiao Wen and Han Ya smiled gratefully at Yan Wei Guo.
To be fair, Yan Wei Guo really didn’t care about reputation. They were a group of people who had survived through repeated struggles. What’s the value of reputation compared to a few bowls of rice? They can survive now without worrying about food and drink, and they won’t face life and death again in the short term, which they couldn’t even ask for on the road before. They could have earned a good reputation for their actions during the zombie siege in F City, but what did they get in return?
They were soldiers, but they were also human beings!
Now that they had preliminarily decided to provide food support, Han Ya asked Wen Le to record on paper. They needed to analyze how much food to send and what kind, as well as other materials to support them.
“Captain Yan, how many soldiers do they have in the military region now?” Han Ya thought about it and still didn’t know much about the several military regions.
“At least tens of thousands,” Yan Wei Guo thought carefully before speaking.
Xiao Wen was stunned, and Wen Le blinked his eyes. Han Ya almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.
Except for the few officers sitting under Yan Wei Guo’s command, everyone’s expression was not very good.
“More than ten thousand? Or at least?” Han Ya trembled his fingers and asked uncertainly.
Yan Wei Guo nodded. “If their mutation rate is similar to our military district after two mutations, there should be around 160,000 to 170,000 people now.”
“How many people did they have before the mutation?” Han Ya asked further.
“The configuration of the Tibetan military district was 280,000 people.”
“So many?!”
Yan Wei Guo chuckled. “What did you think? Don’t forget how long the border line he is responsible for is.”
“But back then, there were only 60,000 to 70,000 people in the X city military district where you were stationed. How come they have so many more than you?”
Yan Wei Guo looked at the several confused children in front of him, feeling both amused and exasperated.
Even Bai Yang and the others shook their heads helplessly. They had no idea what they were talking about when they kept targeting the Tibetan military district!
He really didn’t know whether to say they were bold as a calf, or simply crazy!
“You guys, you guys! I thought you knew what you were doing when you kept staring at the military district next to us. It turns out you were fearless because you were ignorant!” Yan Wei Guo sighed, “The X city military district is just a sub-military district. There is one army group stationed in X city. The Tibetan military district has four army groups under it. These four army groups must be integrated to form the complete Tibetan military district.”
The so-called “as if separated by mountains,” although Xiao Wen and his friends were engaged in some illegal activities at that time, with just a few people, they could not possibly provoke a military region, so they had almost no knowledge of the various military regions.
“Shouldn’t those four army groups be stationed in different places?” Wen Le asked.
Yan Wei Guo shook his head. “Originally, they were stationed in different places, but at the beginning of the apocalypse, the Tibetan military region must have gathered its troops and settled here. The places where their four army groups are stationed are all in sparsely populated areas along the border. Even if they wanted to gather in the Central Plains region, it would be impossible. Not only are there countless zombies between them, but they also have to protect the survivors.”
Wen Le looked at Xiao Wen and the others, and everyone fell silent.
Han Ya tried to smile, but it was a bit stiff.
“It seems that we not only need to speed up the production of the newly built small-scale munitions factory, but we should also start producing heavy weapons and equipment.” Xiao Wen tapped the table.
Although he had always known that this neighbor was not easy to deal with, he didn’t expect that their numbers alone would be enough to trample them several times over.
Yan Wei Guo thought about it and looked at Han Ya.
Han Ya had already come back to his senses from the shock, and his brain was starting to work.
“It’s appropriate to invest in production, but there’s no need to be too hasty. After all, the things they need, we can carry with us. Even if they really attack, don’t expect to gain anything. I just thought about taking the food directly to the salt lake and giving it to them, but that’s not possible now. It’s best to let them come and get it themselves. After knowing their numbers, the amount of food we give them will definitely not be a small sum. Let them come and see the scale of our base, and they will have doubts about where our food comes from. In addition, when Wen Shao directly emptied the munitions factory, it proved that we have enough space to take the supplies they need and run away. In this way, they will have to seriously consider their plan to take over our base. Even if they are capable, they cannot catch us unawares on the vast grasslands. We have a small number of people, but it is easier for us to run away, and leaving them an empty city is definitely not what they want.”
Yan Wei Guo nodded his head, and Xiao Wen and the others also agreed with Han Ya’s statement.
“Is the food you’ve stocked up enough, Wen Shao?” The idea is good, but the premise of all this is that Wen Le really has enough food to feed the tens of thousands of people. Otherwise, they would be in real danger.
Wen Le nodded his head. Not to mention that there is already a considerable amount of food grown within the space after the apocalypse, but before the apocalypse, he had collected and stored nearly 100 million yuan worth of food. The amount of storage was terrifying to Wen Le, but it could still support the consumption of tens of thousands of people. In addition to the special nature of planting within the space, as long as he and Xiao Wen work hard, the food supply will continue to increase. Not only food, but the breeding of livestock on the grasslands also increases exponentially. Even if they don’t eat grains and just eat meat, it is enough to make the tens of thousands of people vomit!
“You can negotiate the price with confidence. I can afford to feed not only one military district, but also a few more,” Wen Le said boldly.
The other few people were speechless. They had too much idle time on their hands, why bother feeding people who might become enemies?!
However, this was enough to once again raise Wen Le’s preciousness in everyone’s hearts.
Yan Wei Guo and a few other military officers looked at each other, really not understanding where Wen Le got so much food from.
But as long as there is food, it doesn’t matter where it comes from.
Afterwards, Han Ya and Yan Wei Guo called the logistics officers who had been responsible for logistics in the army, and began to discuss the amount and types of food to be prepared, as well as other necessary military logistics supplies.
They roughly listed a checklist and asked Wen Le to carefully compare it with the supplies in his space and make adjustments accordingly.
Looking at the list in his hand, Wen Le hesitated for a moment, considering the items stored in his space.
“What’s wrong?” Han Ya asked.
Wen Le hesitated before speaking, “I have more meat than vegetables stored in my space.”
“Not enough vegetables?” Han Ya took the list and prepared to make changes.
Wen Le shook his head, “There are enough vegetables, but there is too much meat in the space, and it takes up too much space.”
The onlookers, including Yan Wei Guo, who had not left, looked at Wen Le strangely. Although the base had a ranch, the reproduction of animals was far behind the speed of vegetable planting and harvesting, so they thought it would be better to leave more meat.
Xiao Wen, on the other hand, remembered the geometrically multiplying livestock in Wen Le’s space and agreed by nodding to Han Ya, “Reduce some of the other items appropriately and add more meat. If we continue like this, there won’t be any space left for other things.”
This statement was a bit inexplicable, but Han Ya immediately remembered the live domestic animals and poultry that Wen Le had taken out before, and with the association of Xiao Wen’s words, he immediately realized it. However, he was shocked by his own conclusion.
Wen Shao had actually managed to breed livestock in his space?!
However, this question was not appropriate to ask at the moment. He closed his mouth, took a deep breath, and continued discussing with the soldier in charge of military logistics beside him.
After receiving the final confirmed list, the team split into two groups.
Han Ya, Lin Yan, and several staff members under Yan Wei Guo were responsible for the negotiations.
Yin Chengyang, Mo Yan, Bai Yang, and another military officer were responsible for security.
The base was left under the care of Xiao Wen, Wen Le, and Yan Wei Guo.
As they left, the large force of nearly two thousand people who had previously gone out to receive them remained stationed at the base, ready to defend and retreat in case of a sudden attack by the military district in the Tibetan area.
After resting for a night, Han Ya and his team left the base and headed for the salt lake. If they arrived early enough, they could collect salt on-site and have a few space ability users carry it back.
After Han Ya left, Xiao Wen and Wen Le, together with a trusted team of soldiers assigned by Yan Wei Guo, cleared out a warehouse and slaughtered the livestock. If they wanted to limit the food supply of the Tibetan military district, they couldn’t give them live poultry to breed themselves. Although it was troublesome, it was safer.
As they looked at the lively livestock, not only the others, but even Yan Wei Guo’s gaze at Wen Le was exceptionally profound. Wen Le didn’t explain and just smiled at everyone’s eyes.
Yan Wei Guo had finally figured it out. Wen Le was simply unfathomable. Not to mention Xiao Wen and the others, even if others had Wen Le as such a powerful and mysterious backing, they couldn’t guard their territory with peace of mind. Even if they didn’t aspire to rule the world, it would still be much easier to dominate one region compared to others.
Thanks for the update!! 😂😂