newbobooks Chapter 197 Acceptance
Chapter 197 Acceptance
In the following ten days or so, as arranged by Chen Guoqiang, people and remnants of the army from Shanghai, Zhejiang and Xijiang provinces arrived in Linhai City, east of Shuguang City, escorted by soldiers from Qingshui Base and Feiyun Base. The area had been completely cleaned up, and many houses had even been repaired for convenience.
During this period, General Sun Tianlong also came once. He talked for a long time with Li Chenglong and his men about the situation in the Southeast Military Region. Finally, through discussions with Black Gold City, the three forces jointly decided to temporarily abandon the prefecture-level cities that had been recently developed and instead focus on gathering troops in preparation for a possible major battle.
Sun Tianlong was also very disappointed. They had finally managed to almost recover Donghai and Beihe provinces, but now this had happened, and they could only hand those places over to zombies and zombie beasts. Li Chenglong, however, said that as long as their base was safe, those places would eventually be theirs again.
On June 10th, nearly half a month had passed. According to communications from the Qingshui base, the area occupied by zombies in the south showed no signs of expansion, seemingly entering a period of stability. In order to defend against the zombie invasion, the Qingshui base mobilized almost all its personnel to prepare for the construction of a high wall and beacon towers several tens of kilometers long.
Because things have been relatively stable recently, Li Chenglong lifted the Dawn Army's Level 6 alert status and switched to general wartime alert. He cautioned against keeping things too tense, as constantly being in a highly stressful environment can easily lead to problems. Dawn City was supposed to hold its first anniversary celebration on June 8th, but although that date has long passed, it hasn't been held due to recent events.
The commemorative ceremony also included a grand military parade. The city's security department, defense department, militia, two combat divisions of the Dawn Army, special forces, information support department, joint logistics support department, discipline inspection department, Dawn City Air Force, and Young Pioneers marched past the Dawn Building, receiving the people's review. Dawn City Television broadcast the event live to all locations within Dawn City's jurisdiction via radio, television, and Crystal Network. Even General Chen Guoqiang and others, located in the Northwest Military Region, watched the Dawn City military parade through the Central Military Region's broadcast.
In addition, Sun Tianlong from Qianyun Base, Shangguan Feng from Black Gold City, Gao Shixin from Qingshui Base, Xu Limin and Wei Jing from Feiyun Base, and others came to watch the Dawn City military parade. Besides these soldier formations, a long line of armored vehicles and crystal communication vehicles, as well as an air force formation consisting of helicopters, beta and gamma spacecraft, slowly passed by on the ground and in the air under the watchful eyes of the people.
After the military parade, a float carrying representatives from the Shuguang City Radio and Television Bureau and the Propaganda Department passed by, first displaying large busts of several leaders, followed by crowds of people celebrating the bountiful summer harvest and the great achievements of the war in Shuguang City. The people sang and danced, wishing Shuguang City a bright future.
Chen Guoqiang and others watching the military parade in the conference room couldn't help but admire it. In the aerial footage from Shuguang City TV, Shuguang City had become a multifunctional modern city with all kinds of functional areas, happy people, and well-equipped soldiers. In addition to informationized troops and armored vehicle troops, it also had an air force.
After the vehicles and crowds of people who had participated in the celebrations had all passed, Li Chenglong spoke into the microphone from the second-floor viewing platform: "All residents of Dawn City, comrades of the Dawn Army, guests from other bases, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Today is the anniversary celebration of the founding of Dawn City. Today we gather together to celebrate Dawn City's first birthday. Today we are gathered here to wish Dawn City a bright future!"
More than 10,000 soldiers and residents of Shuguang City erupted in enthusiastic applause and cheers that lasted for a long time. The remaining soldiers had already returned to their posts after the parade, ready for battle at any moment.
Li Chenglong continued, "After more than a year of development, our Dawn City now has 104,200 residents, of which the Dawn Army has 30,000 soldiers. The number of people with superpowers has also reached 3855, including 1258 people with superpowers of level 6 or above, and 56 people with superpowers of level 8 or above. After our arduous efforts, Dawn City has reached 900 square kilometers and has been divided into more than 20 functional zones. The people have basically achieved a stable life of self-sufficiency."
"Over the past year, our Shuguang City government has gradually formed more than 20 departments serving all the people of Shuguang City. As of now, these departments have more than 3000 employees. We consistently adhere to the principle of handling urgent matters quickly and slow matters efficiently, ensuring that everyone can truly feel the various benefits of Shuguang City..."
This was Li Chenglong's longest speech to date, lasting a full 40 minutes. He systematically summarized the work of the past year and looked forward to the future of Dawn City. At 10:30 a.m., the first anniversary ceremony of Dawn City officially ended. Li Chenglong also specially chose a cloudy day so that all the soldiers and people of Dawn City who came to participate in the ceremony would not feel hot.
Many of the soldiers and refugees who recently moved to the Southeast Military Zone of Linhai City also watched the live broadcast on the televisions provided to them by Dawn City. A battalion commander with level 6 superpowers sighed, "Comparison is the thief of joy. Look at the weapons in Dawn City. Everyone has a new rifle, as well as armored vehicles and communication vehicles. They even have an air force. Plus, with such sturdy city walls, they really have nothing to fear."
Recently, regarding whether to join Dawn City, these people have split into three factions. One faction is the neutral faction, which, needless to say, neither leans towards either side. Another faction is the supporter faction, which supports joining Dawn City; this group is mainly composed of military personnel. The last faction is the opposition faction, which consists mainly of government officials and a considerable number of ordinary citizens.
Their objections were mainly: First, Dawn City is now an autonomous region. It's hard to say what will happen in the future if they join now. Second, they wondered if the administrators of Dawn City would treat everyone equally, since they were refugees. If they were to join and end up at the bottom of the social hierarchy, it would be better to stay in Linhai City for now. In any case, Linhai City has been completely cleared out, and with Dawn City's protection, there's no danger at all.
However, after seeing the full view of Dawn City and the commemorative ceremony today, and after their representatives' inspection over the past few days, everyone except a very few people joined Dawn City. Li Chenglong and others welcomed their arrival and, together with Yun Lan, Shen Menghua, and Yun Qian, personally designated residential areas for them.
Currently, the residents of Shuguang City live in individual residential compounds. Each compound has everything they need: distribution points for supplies, charging stations for mobile phones, mini-supermarkets, farmers' markets, job postings, and more. The compounds are quite large, simply furnished, but equipped with all the essential amenities. There are also small parks, fitness facilities, basketball courts, and other recreational facilities in the center of each compound. Each compound can house 3000 to 4000 households, and there are public transportation options available for convenient travel.
With a larger population, the amount of wastewater and garbage also increases. Currently, all wastewater is sent to the Shuguang City Wastewater Treatment Plant for harmless treatment before being reused or discharged. The garbage treatment station processes the pre-sorted garbage separately.