201: Pre-war meeting (2)

"Commander Zhou, you are too kind," Jiang Xin responded modestly, giving the other party a graceful way out. "The Southern Military Region is located in the most populous province of China, surrounded by powerful enemies. The pressure from Zombie Tides here is the highest in the country. To have successfully saved millions of people and cultivated such a vast force of Evolvers in such a difficult environment is a monumental achievement. How can you call it 'showing off'? I can only look up to you in admiration."

"Haha, Young Friend Jiang, there's no need to flatter us old fogies." Commander Zhou Keming waved his hand, his expression turning serious as he cut to the core issue: "Enough idle chatter. I wonder how many troops your legion plans to commit to this campaign?"

Jiang Xin had long since prepared his answer, his tone relaxed yet carrying the weight of strong confidence: "Aside from the troops necessary to garrison Xijiang Province, I can deploy 8 main regiments, approximately 16,000 elites, along with 120 mechs of various types to participate in this joint operation."

"Good! 8 regiments is enough!" Yang Zhen nodded immediately, secretly calculating that this was nearly equivalent to the strength of 3 full brigades, and they were all elites. "Then our military region will commit 90,000 troops, including 2 heavy combined arms brigades and 11 conventional combined arms brigades. The preliminary operational plan is as follows: for the 13 counties in the Shaocheng of Shao and Shaocheng of Mei, excluding the central urban areas, our two forces will jointly deploy about 10,000 troops per county to ensure a quick resolution. As for the two central urban areas, our military's heavy combined arms brigades will lead the main assault!"

"General Yang, I'm afraid this proposal is inappropriate." Jiang Xin shook his head slightly, directly raising an objection. "While your military's heavy combined arms brigades are certainly powerful, facing millions of zombies in the central urban areas along with an unknown number of high-tier zombies—especially Third-Tier Corpse Kings—they would likely fall into a bitter struggle with unpredictable casualties."

"Oh? Then what is Young Friend Jiang's suggestion?" Yang Zhen's brow furrowed slightly. He knew all too well that the central urban areas were tough nuts to crack, but whoever led the main assault would have the dominant right to distribute survivors and resources after the war.

Jiang Xin walked to the massive electronic sand table, his finger tracing across the map of northern South of the Ranges, and said clearly: "The Shaocheng of Shao and Shaocheng of Mei are located at the junction of our respective spheres of influence. I believe we should adopt a strategy of flanking from both sides and finally encircling them. My force will be responsible for clearing the northern counties bordering Xijiang Province, while your military region will handle the southern counties bordering Rongcheng. Once the outskirts are cleared, our forces will meet outside the central urban areas and concentrate our absolute superior strength to take the core regions in one fell swoop!"

"This..." Yang Zhen's expression shifted slightly as he inwardly noted how formidable Jiang Xin was. Jiang Xin's plan essentially turned the most densely populated central urban areas—which likely held the most survivors—into 'international waters' that had to be distributed according to the agreement (previously set at a 6:4 ratio for spoils). Meanwhile, for the counties handled individually in the early stages, whoever could search and rescue survivors faster and in greater numbers would do so by their own merit. This disrupted his original scheme for the Southern Military Region to monopolize the populations of the two central urban areas.

"For your unit to take on the offensive tasks of multiple counties alone, isn't that a bit... overreaching?" Lieutenant General Xu Lifeng, the Chief of General Staff of the Southern Military Region, couldn't help but speak up, his tone laced with doubt.

His implication was: does your Red Alert Legion really have such a large appetite? If you can't digest it, don't let it affect the overall war situation.

"Haha, I understand General Xu's concerns," Jiang Xin said, seemingly well-prepared. He calmly took out a USB drive, inserted it into the conference computer, and projected the image onto the giant screen. "Words alone are no proof. Please watch this combat footage of our army during the battle to reclaim Sword City."

The screen lit up, showing the combat footage of Chen Hao's main regiment:

Xiong Da was like a giant beast of war, swinging massive claws covered in earth-element energy, invincible among the zombie crowd. Second-Tier Vajras and Iron Backs were easily disemboweled under his claws like they were made of paper. Massive earth-element meteors fell from the sky, instantly clearing large areas of low-tier zombies.

The scene shifted to Chen Hao piloting the 6.5-meter-tall destroyer mech, engaged in a fierce battle with a Third-Tier Heavy Armored Corpse King. The mech's flexibility was comparable to a human body. Under destroyer's mechanical Iron Fists, the Armored Corpse King was toyed with like a monkey. Finally, the high-power laser sword lit up, melting through the Corpse King's boasted hard armor as easily as a hot knife through butter!

The camera changed again, showing the tall apocalypse tanks like mobile steel fortresses. They didn't even need to fire their cannons; their treads alone could crush First-Tier Zombies. tesla tanks coordinated in the battle, and as thick high-voltage electric arcs flashed, a fierce Second-Tier Vajra was instantly electrocuted into charcoal!

The Red Alert infantry displayed skilled tactical movements, precise marksmanship, and seamless fire coordination, showing extremely high military literacy.

This video served as the most powerful evidence, deeply shocking all the high-ranking officials of the Southern Military Region present! they asked themselves if their own troops, even the elite heavy combined arms brigades, could achieve such efficient clearing with such low losses.

The answer was obviously no. The combat effectiveness of the Red Alert Legion had already exceeded their understanding of conventional forces.

"With our legion's combat power," Jiang Xin turned off the video, his voice calm yet full of confidence, "a fully equipped Red Alert main regiment is enough to independently take a county with a population of 400,000 to 500,000 in a short time and effectively control casualties."

"This..." Chief of Staff Xu Lifeng's face turned somewhat unsightly. He understood that Jiang Xin was fighting for dominance over the campaign and a larger share of the benefits.

But the reality was that for a regular combined arms brigade of the Southern Military Region to take a county with several hundred thousand people, they often had to pay a significant price, and their speed was far inferior to the Red Alert Legion. Facing the potential existence of thousands of Second-Tier Zombies and unknown Third-Tier threats, their existing main battle tanks and firepower were indeed struggling.

"General Xu," Jiang Xin pointed directly to the key points, his finger tracing seven spots on the sand table. "Fellow colleagues, for the sake of campaign efficiency and to reduce unnecessary casualties, my unit will be responsible for taking the 4 counties in northern Shaocheng of Shao bordering Xijiang, as well as the 3 counties in northern Shaocheng of Mei, totaling 7 counties. How about it? Your military region will be responsible for the remaining 6 counties."

"No!" Xu Lifeng nearly slammed the table in anxiety. If a "local force" was allowed to undertake more than half of the main offensive tasks, where would the Southern Military Region's reputation go?

"The 4 northern counties of Shaocheng of Shao can be given to you. As for the Mei City of Mei area, your unit can be responsible for Ping County, which is closest to Xijiang. The Southern Military Region will handle the remaining areas ourselves; there's no need for your unit to trouble yourselves!" He insisted firmly, trying to hold onto more offensive territory.

The atmosphere in the meeting room suddenly became tense.

Jiang Xin looked at Xu Lifeng, a meaningful smile suddenly appearing on his face as if he had long expected the other party's reaction. He threw out a new bargaining chip: "General Xu, as far as I know... your military's armored units don't seem to have very abundant fuel reserves at the moment, do they? Without sufficient fuel, no matter how powerful a heavy combined arms brigade is, I'm afraid it will be difficult to maneuver in time and exert full combat power, isn't that right?"

Xu Lifeng's eyes narrowed: "What do you mean by that, Young Friend Jiang?"

"What I mean is," Jiang Xin leaned forward slightly, his tone carrying a hint of temptation, "if my unit, in addition to the munitions previously offered, provides an extra 30,000 tons of desperately needed fuel and the military rations required for this campaign... delivered to Rongcheng via the Zhejiang-Jiangxi-Guangdong Grand Canal system... I wonder if this condition could make our cooperation a bit smoother?"

Another resource dump! The people of the Southern Military Region were once again stunned into silence by Jiang Xin's "tycoon" style. Fuel was precisely one of their most scarce strategic materials at the moment! 30,000 tons of fuel was enough to support the high-intensity operations of the entire campaign's armored units! A mix of desire and embarrassment was etched on the faces of every high-ranking official in the military region.

After another round of intense bargaining over details and exchange of interests, faced with Jiang Xin's unsparing resource offensive and the absolute strength he had displayed, the Southern Military Region finally had to choose to compromise.

The final plan was determined: of the thirteen counties in northern Lingnan Province's Mei City of Shao and Mei City of Mei, the Red Alert Legion would be responsible for attacking 7, and the Southern Military Region would be responsible for 6.

Both sides agreed that after their respective areas were basically cleared, they would meet outside the two central urban areas to jointly discuss the final general assault plan.

The tone for a massive joint military operation was thus set.