Chapter 1 The Dragon City Rises

About three days after the garrison turmoil ended, Dragon City had returned to its former tranquility, and Su Tianyu was fully preparing for the conference.

At this critical juncture, Tan Hengqiang, who had been promoted to Deputy Commander of the Chinese Legion, boarded a plane back to Dragon City.

That afternoon, at a small airport belonging to the Dragon City garrison, a group of senior local generals were waiting for Commander Tan's return.

These senior generals were all Tan Hengqiang's core team, including his son Tan Mingchao, Chief of Staff Zhang Xunchen, and others.

The group stood in order of rank, their faces beaming with joy. While waiting, they chatted casually.

Behind Zhang Xunchen stood several army commanders, one of whom was about fifty years old, with fair skin and a stout build. His chubby face was adorned with a pair of black, round-framed glasses, giving him a comical appearance.

This man was named Jiang Yuanzhen, the commander of the First Army of the Dragon City Garrison, and was once Xin Chaojie's superior. At this moment, he stood with his hands behind his back, his face full of smiles, chatting with those around him.

An army commander next to him nudged him and chimed in, "Hey, Lao Jiang. Do you think that when the commander returns, our unit's designation will be upgraded? Will we get an extra star on our shoulders?"

Jiang Yuanzhen chuckled and said, "Isn't that a certainty? After this trip, the rank of our entire corps will be elevated. I heard there will be an expansion of the army as well."

Upon hearing this, a staff officer couldn't help but tease Jiang Yuanzhen, "That's great! Getting an extra star is enough for you to marry ten concubines!"

Jiang Yuanzhen quickly waved his hand, replying with a double entendre, "No, no, can't marry, can't marry. This gun in its holster hasn't been used for years."

"Haha!"

Everyone laughed.

Just as everyone was continuing to chat, a whistling sound cut through the air. The group looked up and saw a small plane slowly descending towards the runway in the distance, producing a deafening roar.

The officers immediately stopped their jokes, straightened their bodies, and watched the landing plane.

Soon, the small plane landed steadily on the runway and continued to taxi for a distance. Then, under guidance, it slowly approached them.

Zhang Xunchen waved his hand, and the group immediately stepped forward, forming two lines in front of the plane's cabin door.

The cabin door slowly opened, and Tan Hengqiang, in full military uniform, stepped out of the plane. The officers on both sides saluted him in unison, shouting loudly, "Greetings, Commander!"

A group of officers welcomed him, acting as if an earthly emperor had arrived, flattering him to the extreme.

Tan Hengqiang stood in front of the cabin door, looking refreshed. He waved to the people below, pointing at them as he walked down, and said, "All of you have big things to celebrate."

Hearing this, everyone's faces lit up with joy, and they couldn't help but chuckle.

Tan Mingchao was even more delighted, running up the steps to personally help his father, the commander, down.

The officers swarmed around him, and Zhang Xunchen took the lead, saying, "Commander, we have arranged a banquet tonight to welcome you back."

"The banquet is not urgent," Tan Hengqiang said calmly. "Let's all go back first. We'll have a meeting, and then we can talk about the banquet."

"Yes," Zhang Xunchen nodded.

Tan Mingchao accompanied Tan Hengqiang into the military vehicle, and the officers under him also got into the cars behind. A convoy quickly left the airport and headed towards the garrison headquarters.

...

Two hours later, at the Dragon City Garrison Headquarters.

Several core ministers, including Tan Mingchao, Zhang Xunchen, and Commander Jiang, followed Tan Hengqiang all the way back and sat down in the spacious conference room.

The joy of promotion infected everyone, and they all chatted with each other, happily discussing the future of the garrison and themselves.

Non-core members had left. Tan Hengqiang stood alone by the window, looking at the scenery outside, silently smoking a cigarette, with little joy left on his face.

The officers who were chatting gradually noticed the abnormality of the Deputy Commander and gradually stopped talking.

Tan Hengqiang finally turned around and ordered, "Distribute the documents."

"Yes!" Tan Mingchao's adjutant stood up, took a document, and handed it to a staff officer.

Tan Hengqiang pointed to the document and said to the staff officer, "This is the list of rank promotions to be announced tonight, as well as the troop expansion plan. Quickly browse it and then incorporate it into the meeting agenda for tonight."

"Yes!" The staff officer took the document, saluted Tan Hengqiang, and then sat to the side, silently flipping through the document.

Tan Hengqiang also sat back in his seat, drinking tea with a blank expression.

Everyone was a little confused. They had clearly been promoted, and the army was about to be expanded, but the commander didn't seem very happy.

The senior generals exchanged glances, and finally turned their attention to Zhang Xunchen.

Zhang Xunchen understood and turned around, tentatively asking, "Commander, what's wrong? You don't seem very happy."

Hearing this, Tan Hengqiang sighed, "Alas... damn it, yes, my rank has been raised, the corps level has also been raised, and we can decide the number of garrison expansion ourselves. But, the tighter the golden band on our heads, the tighter it gets."

The crowd realized that something was wrong and became serious. Tan Hengqiang paused for a moment, and continued, "From today onwards, the amount of military spending in our garrison will be reduced by thirty percent. There will also be strict restrictions on related war preparation resources. The higher-ups said that we should negotiate with Lao Li to solve the problem of military spending, and ask the Municipal Finance Bureau for the missing thirty percent."

In one sentence, the officers under him became a little restless.

"Thirty percent?" One army commander couldn't help but ask, "Isn't this strangling us?"

"Commander, is there no room for negotiation on this matter?" Another staff officer also hurriedly asked.

Tan Hengqiang waved his hand: "I'm already back, so what is there to negotiate?"

"Thirty percent is too exaggerated, isn't it? When divided among the various units, personnel salaries will have to be reduced. I'm afraid the brothers below will have some opinions."

"That's right. After the Chi Army and the Third Division stabilized in Sri Lanka, Su Tianyu suggested to Lao Li several times to increase military spending. Their current treatment is no worse than ours. If we cut back, then the government troops won't even earn as much as the bandits," Jiang Yuanzhen frowned and said, "Isn't this a joke?"

"Buttocks determine the head, in order to deal with this broken Dragon City, they don't even care about regional stability."

Everyone discussed, and Tan Hengqiang couldn't help but sigh, "These politicians in the First District want me to bare my teeth at Lao Li, but they don't want to give money. It seems that we will have to live a hard life for the next period of time."

The room suddenly fell silent, and everyone fell into silence. Now that they were expanding the army and cutting military spending, it was indeed a lot of pressure for the Dragon City Garrison.

Just then, Jiang Yuanzhen said again, "As long as we express our position, won't this golden band disappear?"

Tan Hengqiang smiled, looked at Jiang Yuanzhen, and asked in a soft voice, "Lao Jiang, tell me, how should we express our position?"

In one sentence, Jiang Yuanzhen and the others all fell silent.

The meaning of expressing their position was easy to understand, it was nothing more than suppressing Lao Li and currying favor with the higher-ups in the First District, so that they could remove the golden band.

But Tan Hengqiang's rhetorical question showed that he was very sensitive about the issue of expressing his position.