newbobooks Chapter 121 Set off again
Chapter 121 Set off again
August 1st, Gregorian calendar, is a special day. Early this morning, all troops assembled. Afterwards, except for the necessary troops guarding Dawn City, everyone else proceeded to the newly built Dawn Square in front of the Dawn Building. Dawn Square, after two months of construction, was finally completed. It can accommodate 20,000 people simultaneously and is separated from Dawn City only by an eight-lane road. Recently, Li Chenglong also spent some precious stones to renovate the first and second floors of the Dawn Building. Now, in addition to conference rooms, the second floor also has a space resembling the city gate tower of Yanjing, convenient for inspecting the troops.
At eight o'clock in the morning, Li Chenglong, along with the main leaders of Dawn City and the Dawn Army, arrived at the city gate tower on the second floor of the Dawn Building. By this time, a large number of people from all walks of life in Dawn City had already gathered in Dawn Square, and the propaganda department's band was also assembled nearby, ready to go. On Dawn Avenue in front of the Dawn Building, all personnel from various combat battalions, special forces, Young Pioneers, joint logistics support forces, security departments, and militia units were already standing in formation, ready for battle.
At 8:30 AM, all eight cannons fired simultaneously, launching four salvos for a total of thirty-two rounds. Yun Qian then announced into the microphone, "The first item on the Dawn Army's celebration ceremony in Dawn City is the raising of the national flag and the playing of the national anthem." The flag bearer, two flag guards, and the honor guard solemnly proceeded to the flagpole in Dawn Square to the rhythm of the flag-raising music and placed the Chinese national flag. The orchestra immediately began playing the national anthem, and everyone in the square sang along as they watched the flag rise to the top. After the flag-raising was completed, prolonged applause and cheers erupted from the crowd.
Then Yunlan continued, "Please, City Lord Li Chenglong, inspect the troops." The band immediately began playing a welcoming march, and Li Chenglong's open-top military vehicle slowly drove out of the gate of the Dawn Building. Approaching from the opposite direction was another open-top military vehicle carrying Wu Gang. Zheng Yong and Li Chenglong saluted each other, and Wu Gang announced loudly, "All troops in Dawn City have assembled. Please inspect them, Commander." Li Chenglong solemnly said, "The inspection begins." The band immediately played the inspection march, and then, led by the lead vehicle, Li Chenglong stood in the back seat and began inspecting the troops. At each formation, he shouted, "Greetings, comrades!" The formations responded in unison, "Greetings, Commander!" "Comrades, you've worked hard!" "Serve the people!"
However, since the total number of troops in Dawn City was not large, the review did not last long, and Li Chenglong returned to the first floor of Dawn City. Two minutes later, Li Chenglong returned to the reviewing stand on the second floor of the Dawn Building. After the formations were arranged, Yun Qian shouted into the microphone: "Please, leaders at all levels of Dawn City and all residents of Dawn City, review the troops." The band immediately played military songs, and then each formation marched past the Dawn Building to the rhythm of the military songs. After each formation passed by, Yun Qian recounted the achievements of that formation into the microphone.
The first unit to march past was the 1st Battalion of the Dawn Army Combat Battalion, led by Battalion Commander Wu Gang, Deputy Battalion Commander Qian Guangming, and Political Commissar Wang Yousheng. Just as they were about to reach the front of the reviewing stand, Wu Gang shouted, "Right face!" The 1st Battalion marched in perfect unison and saluted the reviewing stand. Li Chenglong, Yun Lan, and Zheng Yong returned the salute. The 2nd Battalion and other units followed in order. In addition to the infantry formations, there were also truck formations, tank formations, drone formations, and a celebratory formation composed of residents of Dawn City.
After the military parade concluded, Li Chenglong stepped forward and addressed the microphone: "Fellow residents of Dawn City, soldiers of the Dawn Army, today we gather here to celebrate our first Dawn Army festival. The eight cannon salutes symbolize the eighth month since the end times, and the four simultaneous cannon shots symbolize the fourth month since the founding of Dawn City. Today, we are gathered here to review our troops so that the residents of Dawn City can see the full scope of the Dawn Army and strengthen the confidence of all the people in resisting the apocalyptic crisis. I believe that with the efforts of everyone in Dawn City and the hard work of every soldier in the Dawn Army, Dawn City will surely have a bright future! Long live Dawn City! Long live the people of Dawn City!"
As soon as Li Chenglong finished speaking, more than 10,000 people in Shuguang City Square erupted in deafening applause and cheers, shouting, "Long live Shuguang City! Long live Li Chenglong!" Then came various celebratory performances by the people, and Li Chenglong, along with leaders at all levels in Shuguang City, joined in the sea of celebration.
That evening, Li Chenglong's entire family gathered together for a reunion dinner. Qi Guoan smiled and said, "It seems like it's been a long time since our family has eaten together. Today is a happy day. We must eat and drink well." Li Chenglong and Qin Fangyu worked together to cook many dishes and also made a soup. Li Xue and Han Xiaoling cleared the table and arranged the chairs. Yun Lan was enjoying an apple. Although it wasn't a spirit-energy apple, it was a specialty of Jinghai City, famous throughout the country, and tasted very good.
The family finished their dinner with relish and began chatting. After a while, Li Chenglong took out a file folder and handed it to Qi Guoan: "Dad, this was given to me by the Confidential Bureau this evening. Please take a look." Qi Guoan took out the document from the folder and quickly read it. After reading it, he frowned: "If this is true, then it's not good. I didn't expect that the apocalyptic crisis hasn't ended yet, but humans are already fighting each other." Yun Lan was a little curious and took the document from Qi Guoan to read it as well. After reading it, she also frowned slightly.
This evening, the Confidential Bureau suddenly contacted Li Chenglong to report on the situation of the Chinese Federation in the southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. According to the Bureau's intelligence and information from the Huaxing Base, the Chinese Federation is actively expanding outwards. Having learned of three bases in its neighboring Donghai Province, it is attempting to seize them. These three bases are, of course, the Huaxing Base, the Lanli Base, and Shuguang City. After two months of expansion, the Chinese Federation has already occupied two prefecture-level cities in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province, as well as surrounding counties and towns, forming a large-scale operation. However, there is some good news: the Chinese Federation has recently been attacked by a behemoth, slowing its expansion.
Li Chenglong thought for a moment and finally said, "This is a big problem that we have to deal with, but right now we only have some basic intelligence. We have almost no major information about the Chinese Federation, so I want to go and take a look. Otherwise, if a war really breaks out, it would be too troublesome if we didn't know anything. Moreover, the fact that the Chinese Federation can expand so quickly must be problematic. You know, we have Awakened Ones and a large number of Superpowered Individuals here, and Dawn City, but it hasn't developed this fast. Currently, Linhai City has only cleared 70% of its territory."
Qi Guoan nodded upon hearing this: "Your handling of this is definitely the right thing to do. It's just that Yunlan is newly pregnant, so your trip will likely be quite long." Li Chenglong looked at Yunlan: "It's precisely because Lan'er is newly pregnant that I need to leave immediately to deal with this matter. Otherwise, when the enemy is at the gates, we won't know anything about them. Can you understand, Yunlan?" Yunlan smiled and then took Li Chenglong's arm: "I know what you're thinking, and you're doing this for my own good, but it's not a good idea for you to go alone. The Chinese Federation is quite large; it will take you a long time to figure things out on your own, and it's not very safe either."
Li Chenglong thought for a moment, "I plan to bring Wang Shuang, a level 5 shadow-type ability user. Her abilities are perfect for intelligence gathering, and she can also conceal her aura, making it difficult for others to detect that she's an ability user. For the next person, I plan to use Jiang Hui. Although he's an ordinary person, he's very clever and eloquent. He's done a great job in the propaganda department these past few months, and recently he's been frequently going to the training room in the Dawn Building to learn from others. He's no longer the helpless person he used to be." Yun Lan thought about it and agreed.
Because the matter was urgent, Li Chenglong decided to depart at noon the next day. For Yunlan's health, he worked through the night using vegetables and exotic beast meat grown in his storage space to prepare a month's worth of meals for her, which she then stored in her storage space. Since time was frozen in Yunlan's storage space, this ensured she could eat freshly cooked meals every day. He didn't sleep then, going to Alice's place early the next morning to discuss many things. At eight o'clock in the morning, Li Chenglong convened a meeting of all the high-ranking officials of Dawn City, explaining the situation to them. Although many initially resisted his hasty departure, they eventually agreed after his persuasion. He concluded by saying, "Starting today, Dawn City will enter a Level 3 alert state. All departments should prepare to respond to any external attacks. After my departure, Yunlan will temporarily assume the position of city lord. Zheng Yong and Yunlan will jointly oversee the military. However, my departure must be kept secret from the residents of Dawn City for the time being."
Around noon, after bidding farewell to Yun Lan, Li Chenglong went to Li Xue and Han Xiaoling's rooms to say a few more goodbyes. He also asked Li Xue to take good care of Yun Lan before heading to the back entrance of the Dawn Building, where Jiang Hui and Wang Shuang were already waiting. Li Chenglong said to the two of them, "I personally selected you two to accompany me this time. If you have any objections or if it's inconvenient for you, you can bring them up now." Wang Shuang shook her head, "I have no objections. On the contrary, I'm very happy to be able to carry out such an important mission with the City Lord." Jiang Hui also smiled and said, "Me too. Although I'm just an ordinary person, I still want to do my best to contribute to Dawn City." Then, Li Chenglong slightly covered his face and sat in the back seat of the car. Jiang Hui sat in the driver's seat, and Wang Shuang sat in the passenger seat. Fifteen minutes later, a rather old sedan drove out of Dawn City.