256: military expansion

Looking at the dazzling list of new units in the system interface, and then at the over three million in funds still filling his account, Jiang Xin for a moment didn't even know how to spend it.

"First, enhance ground firepower," Jiang Xin pondered for a moment and made a decision. "prism tanks should be quite effective against Zombie Tides and light cluster targets. Equip each main brigade with 5 first, as firepower supplementation and an anti-infantry weapon."

"No. 1, select production of prism tanks, quantity: 12 brigades × 5 vehicles = 60 vehicles." Jiang Xin issued the command in his mind.

[Command confirmed. Deducted 240,000 gold. Relevant production tasks have been issued to all War Factories, estimated completion within 1 hour.]

The system's cold response came.

Next was a major item concerning the future.

"Aerospace City, this is the starting point for venturing into the sea of stars; it must be built as soon as possible!" Jiang Xin turned his gaze to the map, finally selecting a vast basin within Yongjiang County under the jurisdiction of Lujiang City. The terrain here was flat, relatively hidden, and close to the core area of Longxing City, making it easy to manage and protect.

"No. 1, at the designated coordinates in Yongjiang County, begin construction of Aerospace City!"

[Command confirmed. Deducted 200,000 gold. Aerospace City (Aviation R&D Center) construction task started. Estimated construction period: 4 hours.]

The command was issued, and a megastructure beyond the era began to rise from the ground in Yongjiang County.

Naval construction, however, felt a bit tricky to him.

"Although Xijiang Province has rivers and lakes, the only deep-water ports truly capable of docking large fleets are Jiangzhou Port and Hongdu Port. Moreover, inland river channels limit vessel tonnage, making aircraft carriers unusable for now..." He thought, "But we cannot be without a navy. The zombies and mutated creatures in rivers, lakes, and seas, as well as future water transport and cross-regional delivery, all require surface forces."

He soon made a decision: "First, establish an inland river and coastal defense fleet to form preliminary combat capability. No. 1, build 4 shipyards in Jiangzhou Port and 2 in Hongdu Port. Simultaneously, produce the following vessels to form the First Fleet: 1 Cruiser (as the main ship and flagship), 2 Destroyers, 3 Frigates, 6 Large Landing Ships, 2 Nuclear-powered Submarines, and 2 Large Comprehensive Transport Ships. Additionally, assign 20 hind attack helicopters to the fleet for fleet air defense and coastal fire support."

[Command confirmed. Shipyard construction and vessel production commands issued. Total funds consumed this time: Shipyards 6 × 4,000 + Cruiser 35,000 + Destroyers 2 × 30,000 + Frigates 3 × 10,000 + Landing Ships 6 × 6,000 + Nuclear Submarines 2 × 40,000 + Transport Ships 2 × 10,000 + hinds 20 × 3,500 = 355,000 gold.]

Jiang Xin's eyelids twitched; the navy was indeed a gold-swallowing beast, with a preliminary fleet costing hundreds of thousands. But he didn't hesitate: "Confirm execution. At the same time, equip the fleet with basic personnel: produce 2,000 Conscripts and 500 Logistics Personnel (including Sappers, medical, cooking squad, communications, etc.)."

[Personnel production command confirmed. Deducted 2,000 × 100 + 500 × 150 = 275,000 gold.]

Finally, the cornerstone for establishing absolute strategic deterrence. "Superweapons... these are strategic-level deterrent forces." Jiang Xin's gaze became deep and sharp. "System, deploy 2 Nuclear Silos each at Hongdu Base and Qianzhou Base, and 4 Nuclear Silos in the core military district of Longxing City. Also, deploy 4 iron curtain devices in Longxing City and 2 at Hongdu Base."

[Command confirmed. Nuclear Silos 8 × 100,000 + iron curtain devices 6 × 50,000 = 1,100,000 gold. Relevant superweapon fortifications will be automatically generated deep underground at the designated locations to ensure absolute concealment and safety. Construction period: 4 hours.]

As the series of commands were issued, the funds in Jiang Xin's account poured out like floodwaters from an opened gate, but he felt incredibly reassured! He was about to possess complete land, sea, and air forces, as well as strategic nuclear strike capabilities.

Just a few short hours later, the system notification sounded again, marking the positioning of the superweapons. Eight Nuclear Silos, like sleeping world-ending behemoths, lay quietly hidden deep within three strategic locations in Xijiang Province: North (Hongdu), Central (Longxing City), and South (Qianzhou). This meant Jiang Xin now possessed a nuclear strike capability of up to 32 million tons of TNT equivalent per week! This number was enough to make any enemy who understood its significance feel chilled to the bone. It represented absolute deterrence, the ultimate trump card in the process of civilizational reconstruction against the most extreme threats.

The construction progress of Aerospace City was also surprisingly fast, being declared complete in just 4 hours. Jiang Xin immediately ordered the construction of two kirov airships and, unable to wait, called Zhang Lei, Tanya, and Jiang Feifei to board an apollo fighter jet to visit this city of the future.

When the apollo aerospace fighter pierced through the clouds and lowered its altitude, and the full view of the Yongjiang County basin gradually unfolded outside the porthole, even with the extensive experience of Jiang Xin and the others, they were instantly stunned into silence by the magnificent picture before them that surpassed imagination, with only the radiance of steel and energy reflected in their pupils.

A behemoth covering an area of one hundred square kilometers, like a silver-gray chessboard cast down by a deity, was laid out orderly and powerfully in the vast basin. It was no longer just a "city" but more like an interstellar beast lurking on the earth, exuding a cold, precise, and era-transcending majestic aura.

The outermost perimeter was a fifty-meter-high monolithic honeycomb-structure wall flashing with a metallic cold light. It was not built of brick and stone but of some kind of integrally formed superalloy, with a faint energy luster flowing on its surface, clearly deploying some sort of defense device.

At key nodes of the wall, prism towers stood majestically. Their bodies were slender, and the polyhedral prism crystals at the top refracted heart-palpitating seven-colored glares in the sunlight. Occasionally, subtle energy arcs leapt at the tips, as if ready to burst forth with beams that could tear through the sky at any moment.

The entire Aerospace City was centered around a giant structure like a small mountain, with five clear functional areas extending outward in a radial pattern.

Countless maglev tracks and elevated passages, like the silver veins of a behemoth, crisscrossed to tightly connect each area. Unmanned freight platforms suspended above them, loaded with special alloy components tens of meters long or huge sealed containers, glided silently at astonishing speeds, precisely delivering to various buildings.

The energy indicator light strips on both sides of the tracks flowed incessantly, carving the silhouette of this future city into sharp angles in the not-yet-fully-arrived twilight, full of sci-fi rhythm.

"Good heavens..." Zhang Lei was the first to break the silence, pressing against the porthole with his eyes wide open. "This... this is even more... more exaggerated than Longxing City!"

Although Tanya still maintained a calm expression, her slightly constricted pupils and her hand tightly gripping the seat armrest revealed the waves in her heart.

Jiang Feifei was quickly doing mental math, murmuring, "One hundred square kilometers... this energy consumption, this material dispatching... Commander, the daily maintenance and operational costs of this city are probably an astronomical figure..."

Jiang Xin did not answer; his entire mind was captivated by the scene below. The fighter jet slowly lowered, flying over the most eye-catching Spacecraft Assembly Area.

Here stood three kilometer-level open assembly sheds that could be called wonders. The frames of the sheds were made of an unknown composite material flashing with a dark blue luster, and the retractable domes at the top were partially open, like the open jaws of a behemoth, exposing the terrifying creations being nurtured within.

In two of the sheds, two kirov airships so massive they were breathtaking had already begun to take shape! The silver-gray streamlined hulls were hundreds of meters long, like an inverted mountain range, with the large, majestic Iron Cross and Sword-Shield insignia of the Red Alert Legion sprayed on the hulls, glinting with a cold luster under special lighting.

On the hull surface, thick energy transmission pipes were like the veins of a giant dragon, with faint blue coolant seen rushing through them. Thousands of multifunctional engineering robotic arms, like a living steel forest, waved around the hulls: some spat out pale blue particle welding flames, precisely fusing every armor seam, sparks blooming silently in the vacuum atmosphere; some were hoisting Proton Jet Cannon barrels with diameters comparable to building foundations, where complex superconducting coil arrays at the muzzles occasionally leaked subtle energy glows, causing the surrounding air to ripple like water; others were installing huge Anti-gravity Engine bases and light-energy-absorbing outer decks. On the floor of the sheds, countless nano-repair robots like a silver tide shuttled through every corner, detecting and repairing the smallest flaws in real-time.

And in the very center of the city was the energy core area that one could not look at directly.

A spherical Nuclear Fusion Reactor over five hundred meters in diameter stood like an artificial sun, its outer layer shrouded in a constantly fluctuating, iridescent high-strength energy shield.

Inside the shield, at the core of the reactor, was a blindingly white plasma sphere, representing the constrained, terrifying energy comparable to the interior of a star. Even through the shield and the fighter jet's armor, everyone could faintly feel the majestic energy pulsation.

Around the reactor, eight tower-like light, geothermal, and wind energy composite power stations stood like loyal guards. The towers constantly absorbed solar energy and geothermal heat, converting them into backup power, forming an indestructible dual energy security system with the main reactor, completely solving the "appetite" problem of this energy-consuming beast.

The fighter jet finally landed smoothly at a dedicated landing pad within Aerospace City.

The hatch opened, and the four stepped onto this futuristic land. The roads in the city were wide, and all sorts of never-before-seen large engineering vehicles—some eight-legged multifunctional haulers, some suspended heavy modular transporters—shuttled in an orderly fashion, transporting various equipment and materials.

Technicians in gray work uniforms (system-generated) and Red Alert Soldiers responsible for security and patrolling could be seen everywhere.

When the soldiers saw Jiang Xin and his group, no matter how far away they were, they would immediately stop their work or steps, straighten their bodies, and salute their supreme Commander with the most respectful military salute, their eyes filled with pride and fanaticism.

Jiang Xin walked at the front of the group, feeling the solid and special ground material beneath his feet, breathing the highly purified air with a slight metallic and ozone scent, his ears filled with the low roar of distant machinery, the hum of energy transmission, and the slight sound of nearby suspended vehicles gliding past.

He stopped, looking up at the bow of the kirov airship right before him, being meticulously carved by countless robotic arms, and then scanned this magnificent city that seemed to have been moved directly from a science fiction movie.

"Here," Jiang Xin's voice was not loud, but it reached the ears of the three people beside him exceptionally clearly, carrying infinite prospects, "will be the starting point for me to conquer the sea of stars."