Chapter 1 The Dragon City in an Emergency

Inside a safe house in Dragon City.

Zhang Xunchen had secretly moved here under the pretense of returning to the city to deploy defenses.

The safe house was fully equipped, with a complete set of communication devices, allowing him to command operations unhindered.

Besides Zhang Xunchen, several of his personal guards were also in the house to ensure his safety.

At this moment, Zhang Xunchen held his phone and said to Kang Dinghuang, "Tan Hengqiang trusts no one these days. His family has been secretly sent away without even notifying me. This shows he is wary of me. Under these circumstances, I have no chance to set up a trap to kill him at headquarters, because no one is willing to die!"

Kang Dinghuang thought for a moment and said, "Then don't consider assassination. Your current task is to help the Wang family stabilize the battlefield in the Anhe district! In at most an hour, we will be able to defeat Wang Dacheng's First Army of the People's Army and complete the rendezvous with you!"

Zhang Xunchen nodded, "Okay."

After the two hung up, Zhang Xunchen used his phone to contact others.

As early as when the merchants started making trouble, the National Unification Bureau had already discovered that some members of the garrison's logistics support regiment were involved.

Therefore, Gu Baisun had been paying attention to the garrison, suspecting there might be internal problems, and had reminded An Ze City several times.

The garrison also showed that they took the matter seriously and specially sent someone to take away the problematic members of the logistics support regiment for internal interrogation and investigation.

The person responsible for taking them away was Zhang Xunchen!

Gu Baisun had no suspicion about Zhang Xunchen taking the men away at the time. He felt that as the chief of staff of the garrison and Tan Hengqiang's most trusted aide, Zhang Xunchen should be very reliable!

But no one could have imagined that Zhang Xunchen had also defected! Looking back now, those things done by the logistics support regiment must have been at his instruction.

After contacting everyone he needed to, Zhang Xunchen leaned back on the sofa, lit a cigarette, and fell into thought.

Kang Dinghuang had started sending people to contact him long ago, but Zhang Xunchen hadn't even considered going down that road at the time.

In fact, when Dragon City first broke with District One, Zhang Xunchen had firmly stood on Tan Hengqiang's side. But as events unfolded, and Dragon City's situation became increasingly unfavorable, especially when the Lao Li faction, the An faction, and the Hua district, even the Lao Mo government army faction alliance, unanimously decided to make the Lao Mo region the main battlefield, Chief of Staff Zhang's thoughts began to waver.

In Zhang Xunchen's view, making Lao Mo the main battlefield meant that their garrison would become cannon fodder defending Dragon City, responsible for withstanding the heavy pressure from District One!

Zhang Xunchen had advised Tan Hengqiang on this matter, but he didn't expect that he still wouldn't listen to his ideas. In addition, over the years, Lao Tan had been too stubborn on some matters, which had caused him to accumulate a lot of resentment that he dared not express.

Under many factors, plus the conditions offered by District One were too generous, his position became even more shaky!

Therefore, Zhang Xunchen secretly benefited the logistics support regiment and participated in the merchants' various actions. But these were just a cold stove he casually heated up to protect himself.

It wasn't until today, just a few hours ago, that Zhang Xunchen officially decided to rebel! Because he could no longer see hope for Dragon City and didn't want to continue to sink with the Tan family's ship.

And rebelling at this time was the most valuable to District One!

So, Zhang Xunchen made his choice at this critical juncture and completely took sides. He was a patient man, and especially at such an important moment, his mentality was changing almost every moment.

In other words, if Dragon City had been able to fight more advantageously in today's battle, he would not have made the decision to completely rebel.

...

Meanwhile, at the Dragon City front-line headquarters.

Tan Hengqiang, with his hands on the sand table, went blank after learning of Zhang Xunchen's betrayal.

The other generals were also silent, equally shocked. It could be said that the defection of the chief of staff had caused more or less of a change in many people's minds.

After a long while, Tan Hengqiang's emotions slowly calmed down. He pondered for a moment, turned his head, looked at An Ze City, and said with a solemn expression, "I don't think we can hold Dragon City..."

Hearing this, An Ze City didn't say anything, just frowned and looked at him.

Tan Hengqiang slowly stood up and said, "Although Zhang Xunchen has been the chief of staff for many years, he doesn't have strong control over the troops. The real military power has always been in my hands. So, his relationship with the lower-level generals is not that close, so not many people will follow him in rebellion, otherwise he wouldn't have returned to the city first before doing these things. I conservatively estimate that he can command about six or seven thousand people now. But even five or six thousand people are enough to change the current battlefield situation."

As he spoke, Tan Hengqiang thought for a moment, pointed to the sand table in front of him, and said, "Look, there are only two troops in the Anhe district right now. One is Su Tianbei's independent regiment, and the other is Xin Xiaodong's Second Division. Now, in the southern defense zone, only Wang Dacheng's division headquarters of the First Army of the People's Army is stationed. Relying solely on his troops, he can't stop the First Corps' suppression. Once this area is breached, the enemy's force of fifty or sixty thousand can drive straight in, enter the interior of Dragon City, and join up with the Wang family and Zhang Xunchen's troops. At that time, the two troops in the city won't be able to withstand their encirclement. Moreover, once they break in, our defense line will be attacked from both sides. Combining all these factors, I don't think Dragon City can be defended. Our only way is to abandon Dragon City, withdraw all our main forces, transfer them to the Lao Mo region, quickly help the Lao Mo government army resolve the internal strife, and then combine our forces to counterattack Dragon City!"

Hearing this, An Ze City refused without even thinking, "No!"

Tan Hengqiang frowned and immediately said, "You know my strategy is the most stable and rational! We have already supported the Lao Mo battlefield twice, and a total of one or two thousand people have been transferred away! Our current hand is laid out here, the external pressure is so great, and there are so many turncoats inside helping District One... Lao An, think carefully, how can our sixty or seventy thousand people defend a city with a population of ten million? Contact Lao Li now and prepare for evacuation as soon as possible!"

"I don't agree!" An Ze City's attitude was still firm, and he said with a stern face, "Even if we die, we will die in Dragon City!"

Tan Hengqiang said speechlessly, "Lao An, you are being stubborn!"

An Ze City stared at him and said forcefully, "You are the one being stubborn!! When we fought, you shouted to the people that this war was for the sovereignty of tens of millions of overseas Chinese!! Now that we are at a disadvantage and can't fight anymore, you're turning around and running away?!!! Are you kidding me?! Where is the correctness of your war?!"

The shouts echoed around, and many people lowered their heads, their hearts filled with complex emotions.

...

Meanwhile, in the Hua district, Nanhu City.

A military vehicle stopped at the entrance of a building. Su Tianyu opened the door and got out of the car, walking into the building alone.

The hall was very empty, surrounded by many white mourning couplets. At the end of the hall, two black and white portraits hung on the wall.

Guards stood outside the door, and in the entire hall, only Qin Yu was sitting alone next to the portraits, looking somewhat lonely.