Chapter 91: Chapter 91: The Dawn Army’s Weaknesses
Ye Fan is constructing the base.
Following the suggestion of Logistics Officer Zhang Kunlin, he extended the walls on both sides of the base forward by one kilometer.
The rear walls are not needed; only the front and side walls are necessary, still encompassing four square kilometers.
This four square kilometer area is the main city district of the Dawn Army Base.
The rear four square kilometers belong to the core area, off-limits to outsiders.
The six-kilometer-long walls have been completely set up.
There are five gates in total here.
Three gates at the front, including the Water Gate, and two gates on the sides.
Having more gates allows for a quicker military response.
After constructing the walls and gates, Ye Fan created an independent courtyard within, enclosed by a three-meter wall. This is the residence he reserved for his parents and sister.
Watchtowers were constructed at the wall corners, the main gate, and the Water Gate.
Above the main gate, the flag of the Dawn Army was hoisted.
The enormous flag, measuring several meters wide, fluttered in the wind, standing out conspicuously.
After the four watchtowers were completed, Ye Fan’s entire battalion reached full capacity.
When Nana informed him that the Red Alert Units had reached their limit, Ye Fan finally halted the construction efforts.
This time, the main base was practically completed.
The area measures eight kilometers, divided into the main city district at the front and the core area at the back.
Of course, there are about ten square kilometers of land in front of the main city district reserved as the outer city district.
However, there is no need for walls and watchtower constructions here; this will be the area for ordinary survivors to operate, where they can build on their own.
Looking at this heavily guarded base, a sense of pride surged in Ye Fan’s heart.
From now on, this will be his home.
This base, otherwise, couldn’t claim much, but a horde of zombies below ten thousand poses no threat here.
While inspecting the walls, the roaring of vehicles could be heard outside, and John’s squad returned.
The base gate opened, and jeeps along with a dozen large trucks drove in.
They passed through the main city district, and the core base gate opened again, allowing them entry inside.
Soldiers quickly disembarked and unloaded the goods, with Zhang Kunlin directing engineers to store some materials in the resource recycling station.
Some materials were piled in a corner of the inner section. Without a supply warehouse, they could only be stacked outdoors for now, waiting for a storage facility to be available.
Most of this material consists of food and a portion of fuel collected as taxes, as ordinary survivor forces struggle to acquire high-quality items.
Yet these were exactly what Ye Fan desperately needed.
With this food acquired, surviving for another two months would not be an issue.
At this moment, soldiers at the radar station shared the radar image with Ye Fan’s personal radar.
The riverbank he visited yesterday showed two blue dots driving a jeep upstream, nearly reaching here.
These were the two people Zhongjing intentionally let slip through, hoping they would find their way here.
The gate was prepared, hoping these two would take the bait.
********
Wang Dashan and Eagle Hook Nose returned to their broken jeep, removed the dead driver, and drove the car themselves, taking half a day to get it started, then wobbling upstream.
Initially, they traced the tire tracks, trying to see where those foreign soldiers took the heavy trucks, but the further they went, the more chaotic the tracks became.
It seemed like countless vehicles had passed through here, with messy tracks making it impossible to track.
"Looks like we’re near the Dawn Army Base. Judging by the tracks, we shouldn’t be far."
Driving the rickety car, Wang Dashan was filled with anger, unable to vent.
He dared not confront those foreigners, but the Dawn Army should be of Qin Han descent.
Since they’ve established themselves here, they should know about the Survivor Alliance, right?
If they know, they should be afraid, and if they’re afraid, things will be easier.
He already planned on how to extort and intimidate the Dawn Army, as this was his usual trade.
Nobody wants to pay taxes these days, but in the end, everyone complies.
After driving for another ten minutes, rounding a corner, they finally saw the Dawn Army Base.
The car stopped two kilometers before the base, leaving both of them dumbfounded.
They thought the Dawn Army was just an ordinary survivor gathering site, occupying a place, fortifying some walls, stacking some sandbags, nothing more.
But they never imagined seeing such a large city before them!
It was noon, with the sun right overhead.
A five-meter-high wall with battlements made it hard to distinguish between a wall and a fortress wall.
The sunlight reflected off the walls, looking as if they were metal-cast.
Tall watchtowers stood behind the walls, and from a distance, you could even see soldiers patrolling.
The massive metal gate was tightly shut, looking imposing and heavy from afar, deterring any approach.
The Star River flowed out from within the city, where another massive gate stood, with a huge water gate separating the river, making the inside and outside two separate worlds.
Wang Dashan’s mouth hung open, and he couldn’t close it for a while.
If he remembered correctly, he had been here just two months ago.
It’s been almost a month since the apocalypse erupted.
When did this large city appear?
Is the construction speed so fast now?
A large city like this, even the Burning Corps doesn’t have it, let alone the Commander of the Huacheng Survivor Alliance, Zhang Zhiguo of the Wangbei Army, who probably couldn’t achieve this level.
Backed by green mountains and with a river inside the city, this is practically paradise!
If we could stay here, why fear zombies?
He was dumbfounded, and the man with the eagle hook nose was also stunned for quite a while.
Finally, he turned around to look at Wang Dashan.
"Dashan, why do I feel like this Dawn Army seems like a regular army?"
Wang Dashan picked up the binoculars from the car and looked for a long time, suddenly pointing at the big flag on the city gate: "Eagle, look at that flag, I haven’t seen it before, it should not be the regular army."
The man with the eagle hook nose was called Eagle, and after a careful look through the binoculars, he relaxed quite a bit: "Oh, it’s good that they’re not a regular army, scared me to death."
Eagle patted his chest, then hesitated and said, "So should we go over?"
Wang Dashan’s facial muscles twitched twice: "Let me think about it some more."
After thinking for a while, he felt it was still necessary to go.
At first, he thought the Dawn Army was just a small force he could manipulate at will, but it now seemed not so simple.
With such a large city, clearly, the Dawn Army already had the strength to rival the Burning Corps.
Now he couldn’t mention anything about the Survivor Alliance Tax Officer anymore; he also knew that his identity was an unwelcome one, and if he angered the Dawn Army, that could easily spell trouble.
Now, the missing supplies were a minor issue; finding out the details and weaknesses of the Dawn Army was more important.
As long as he could discover some clues about this matter, he would have a way to explain when he returned.
He held the binoculars, carefully observing the Dawn Army’s camp.
Soon, he discovered the first weakness.
"Eagle, from now on, record what I say."
"Okay, you say it."
"The Dawn Army’s camp is tightly secured, but there are weaknesses to exploit; first and foremost, their water gate defense is a fatal weakness, it might be possible to pass underwater."
Eagle picked up a pen and diligently recorded it.
"Anything else?"
"It’s hard to say now, you’ll wait here with the radio, I’m going to pretend to be a survivor and test over there, listen carefully when I’m communicating, if I cough, that’s significant information."
After saying that, they both turned on the radio, with Wang Dashan keeping it in his arms, while Eagle listened attentively at all times.
Wang Dashan took a deep breath and got out of the car, feeling like he was going to make amends, with a sense of facing danger for a just cause.
The Dawn Army Camp might be a dragon’s lair, but he had to venture in to observe.
He made his clothes extremely tattered, smeared some dirt on his face to blend in like a refugee, and slowly walked toward the Dawn Army Camp.
As he approached the gate, the guards in front noticed him.
Four guards, one of whom had a lieutenant’s insignia on his shoulder, like the leader of the squad.
"Stand still, what do you want?"
Wang Dashan panted: "Little brother, I’m a survivor from Huatan with nowhere else to go, do you accept people here?"
The squad leader looked him up and down: "The Dawn Army Camp doesn’t take people in for free."
"Oh! Then what do you need? I have neither food nor weapons."
"Do you have any gold? The Dawn Army is now circulating gold internally, and anyone who pays 500 grams of gold, or equivalent jewels, is eligible to enter the city."
Wang Dashan coughed, and Eagle immediately recorded it.
Discovered the second weakness of the Dawn Army, pay attention to collecting gold and jewelry, maybe large armies could infiltrate.
Wang Dashan continued: "What’s your family name, little brother? Could I ask who our leader is? Maybe he’s from my hometown."
The squad leader snorted: "My last name is Shen, don’t probe into anything else, you can’t know the leader’s name."
"Is it a man or a woman?"
"A man!" Squad Leader Shen said with some impatience.
"How old?"
"In his early twenties."
"Oh! That’s really impressive; I wonder if he’s married? Otherwise, I could introduce someone to your leader."
Squad Leader Shen suddenly chuckled.
"Uncle, save it, our leader isn’t interested in women at all; a few beauties by his side don’t move him. Anyone trying to make a move in this aspect is just daydreaming."
Wang Dashan fixed his gaze on Squad Leader Shen; he believed he had some ability to read people.
At least he could distinguish between truth and lies quite well.
When Squad Leader Shen said this, it was definitely from the heart.
Although he couldn’t quite believe that in this world there’d be a cat that doesn’t stray, he couldn’t help but believe it at this moment.
"I never expected there’d still be a Liu Xia Hui in this world."
He coughed again, and Eagle immediately recorded it.
"Important information, the Dawn Army leader isn’t interested in women, don’t attempt to exploit this point."