Chapter 341 -Chinese Association’s Conclave Meeting!
Translated by: Kun
Edited by: Ulamog, Dedition
[Book 3: The South]
The moment Ming Jiajia drank the Snake Birth Fruit juice, she started to run a fever, and fainted yet again.
Yue Zhong left White Bones to stand guard over Ming Jiajia, before striding out of the room.
At this time, Li Guangguo and Zheng Minghe were training their subordinates, all the Chinese survivors and the Vietnamese survivors were following the strict training regime diligently.
Yue Zhong was Chinese, and in this foreign land where ethnicity was important, he could only find it in himself to trust his fellow Chinese. Therefore, every single one of the 700+ survivors, regardless of their gender, were drafted into his army, and were undergoing the strict training. These Chinese survivors had undergone so much torment and humiliation, everyone of them having braved the worst. They had no complaints with regards to Yue Zhong’s training.
The women did not put on any dainty airs like the ladies of before the apocalypse, many choosing to go through the same tough training as the men. Those who did not go through the training, it was not that they did not want to, instead, their body constitution did not allow them to withstand that kind of rigorous regime.
Yue Zhong observed every single soldier who was standing under the hot sun and going through the training with a resolute look on their face, and he nodded with satisfaction. These women had all been on the receiving end of cruel torment, not only did they not eat their fill, they had to endure rape. Now that they possessed the chance to gain their dignity and strength, everyone grasped at that chance with a fervor, some even more outstanding than the male soldiers of before the apocalypse.
Yue Zhong was a bit of a male chauvinist, and believed that waging war was a man’s job, and disliked pulling the women into it. However, in these parts of the world where the Chinese were the minority, he had no choice but to train them up and equip them as well. Otherwise, he would land himself in an awkward situation with insufficient troops.
Yue Zhong’s establishment had a small number of Vietnamese survivors as well, however, these Vietnamese that he used were all people with families and loved ones. This way, he could lower their desire to betray him. Even then, he did not dare use too many Vietnamese, otherwise, if they all revolted, he would have a problem in his hands.
Yue Zhong looked at those Chinese survivors training diligently under the hot sun and he frowned slightly, and thought to himself in regret: “What a pity! If only there was a Type 2 Mutant Beast carcass!”
If there was sufficient Type 2 Mutant Beast Meat, then those survivors could swiftly regain their vitality, and could engage in tougher and more rigorous training, enhancing their battle potential.
At the same time when Yue Zhong was overseeing the training of the Chinese survivors, the upper brass of the Chinese Association was currently engaged in a conclave meeting.
Shu Wenyan lightly sighed: “He only disappeared for a few days, and suddenly amassed a group of over a thousand people. He sure has some ability!”
Yue Zhong had borrowed a 100 Chinese Association members, but came back with more citizens than the current Chinese Association, and at the same time, he gained a battalion and a company’s worth of equipment. The upper brass of the Chinese Association were all dumbfounded.
Chen San humphed with a little discontentment: “Hmph!! That group that Yue Zhong brought back is at most a gathering of some random trash, how can they compete with the elites of our Chinese Association!! He may have a thousand or more people, but we just need 200 to completely overwhelm him!!”
The troops that Yue Zhong had recently integrated were in fact a mob of untrained people, not only were they lacking in military training, they had no battle experience as well. They definitely could not match against the warriors of the Chinese Association.
Feng Qingtian had an imposing look as he retorted: “That may be true, but they had obtained plenty of equipment and weapons, and are currently undergoing training by Yue Zhong that monster. With just 2 to 3 months of training, they will become a formidable force.”
Liu Niujin had a relaxed look: “Isn’t that fine for us! They are also of one mind, and want to exterminate that Wuyan Hong. If they become stronger, and are our allies, the pressure on us would be greatly diminished.”
Wuyan Hong was after all the greatest enemy of the Chinese Association. In Vietnam where there were Vietnamese survivors everywhere, even if the Chinese Association tried their best to expand, they would not be able to match Wuyan Hong. With enough time, provided that nothing goes wrong within Wuyan Hong’s forces, they would only grow bigger and stronger, yet the Chinese Association would only become smaller and weaker.
Luo Mingyin had a deadpan face as he spoke grimly: “However, this Yue Zhong may not be some saint himself. The moment he saw Peng Lingbo, he killed him mercilessly and subjugated his forces. Once he fully established himself, what if he does the same to us as well?”
Hearing this, everyone fell silent. The moment Yue Zhong met Peng Lingbo, he had executed him, and forcefully conquered his subordinates, and even gave the kill order for those Vietnamese survivors who had surrendered. All these proved that he was definitely a ruthless and decisive person, which led the upper brass of the Chinese Association to be nervous. It was true that Yue Zhong was Wuyan Hong’s enemy, but who could guarantee that he would be the Chinese Association’s friend for long?
Luo Yi’s eyes flashed, and he proposed an extremely vicious idea: “Why not kill him now. Then swallow his people, how about that? Like that, our Chinese Association would have 4 battalion’s worth of equipment and 3,000 some people. Even if that Wuyan Hong sent another 3 battalions to attack us, we would be able to defend and retreat.”
The moment those words came out from Luo Yi, many of the officials felt their hearts shudder. If they could successfully pull it off, and swallow his subordinates, then the overall strength of the Chinese Association would increase by a huge margin. In this post apocalyptic world, other than one’s own strength, everything else was superficial. Attacking other factions, swallowing other troops, it was not like the Chinese Association had not engaged in such acts before.
Shu Wenyan’s brows lifted, as he sternly reprimanded: “No way! Luo Yi, we’re Yue Zhong’s allies. He had saved our skin once, we can’t do something so immoral. Don’t ever mention this again. The next time you do, you’ll be subjected to punishment.”
Hearing Shu Wenyan’s words, there were a few of the officials present who broke into a relieved smile, some even let out a breath of relief. Not everyone had treacherous thoughts after all.
“Yes!! President!!” Luo Yi had a look of embarrassment as he replied, before keeping silent.
Niu Wei, who was in charge of logistics and supply, asked: “President! Yue Zhong has just sent men to reclaim the 2 infantry battalions’ worth of equipment. Do we give them up or not?”
Shu Wenyan laughed lightly: “Of course, those equipment were left by him here, under our care. Now that he’s here to take it back, we have to return it. We can’t offend our ally.”
Niu Wei nodded a little reluctantly: “Yes!”
It was after all 2 battalions’ worth of equipment. This represented a huge strength for any faction, Niu Wei was naturally unwilling to return those to Yue Zhong.
After the wrapping up of discussion on a few more matters, the rest of the upper brass dismissed themselves one by one, leaving only the 2 vice-presidents with Shu Wenyan.
“Wenyan! Why didn’t you agree with Luo Yi’s proposition! I want to know the truth!” Wang Xingchun looked at Shu Wenyan and asked in a low voice. He knew that the Shu Wenyan in front of him wasn’t some upright virtuous and honorable man. Those kinds of characters could not possibly survive in this harsh world, let alone build up a power in an antagonistic country.
After Wang Xingchun heard Luo Yi’s suggestion, he was extremely tempted, and wanted to get rid of Yue Zhong as well, and swallow his subordinates and equipment.
Wen Shuyan reached out to lift his cup of tea, as he gracefully took a sip, then replied mildly: “Xingchun! Let me ask you, if you want to kill Yue Zhong, how confident are you of accomplishing it?”
Wang Xingchun frowned, as he contemplated silently for quite a while, before replying: “Based on the reports from Zheng Qiang and the rest, if we were to attempt an assassination, 3 of us would have a 70% chance of defeating him. However, if he were to still be hiding more tricks up his sleeves, then it would be hard to kill him. Instead, we might accidentally alert him to our intentions. If it were a frontal confrontation, if we want to kill him, we don’t stand a chance.”
“Precisely! Defeating him may be easy! But killing him would definitely be extremely difficult. If we’re unable to kill him successfully, then he would become our Chinese Association’s strongest enemy. Right now, we share a common enemy Wuyan Hong, killing between ourselves will only benefit that Vietnamese beast. Yue Zhong’s troops are still weak, if he want to deal with Wuyan Hong, he also requires working hand in hand with us. Within the near future, he definitely would not do anything to us. Unless we’re weak like the Freemasons and not willing to fight against Wuyan Hong. Therefore, at least until Wuyan Hong is wiped out, our allied relationship would definitely be sturdy.” Shu Wenyan’s eyes flashed with a strange glint, as he presented his conjecture on Yue Zhong’s thinking.
In fact, Yue Zhong had not any designs on the Chinese Association, simply because the pressure of Wuyan Hong’s forces was too huge. He needed a strong ally who could fight to attract the attention of Wuyan Hong. Peng Lingbo and his Freemasons was practically a joke, there was no use for them in the bigger picture, therefore he had casually exterminated them, and swallowed their forces.
Tiger Chu suddenly asked: “What if Wuyan Hong is truly wiped out by Yue Zhong?”
Shu Wenyan smiled dumbly: “If he could really exterminate Wuyan Hong, then our Chinese Association can just rely on him. This is Vietnam we’re talking about, if Yue Zhong wants to take command of this place, he would need to rely on us Chinese. When we first established the Chinese Association, it was to fight for us Chinese to retain our dignity and livelihood. If he can do it better than us, then there’s nothing wrong with throwing in with him.”
Tiger Chu and Wang Xingchun pondered silently before nodding in agreement. If Yue Zhong could really exterminate Wuyan Hong, continuing to fight against Yue Zhong would be like a mantis trying to stop a car. Furthermore, Yue Zhong was Chinese, having another Chinese person as a leader, there was nothing wrong with that. Of course, this was all based on the assumption that Yue Zhong did have the capabilities to take Wuyan Hong down. If not, they would not rely on a useless character as well.
After the meeting of the upper brass of the Chinese Association, they returned the items to Yue Zhong without much ado. Even the 300 tonnes of rations were sent to Yue Zhong quickly. With such handling, Yue Zhong felt a little taken aback, he had thought that there would be delays, even to the point of having to exercise some force to get them back.
After an entire day, Ming Jiajia was finally starting to stir from her coma.
“How’s your condition now?” Yue Zhong sat at the window in Ming Jiajia’s room. He looked at her who had just woken up, asking in a concerned tone.