Longcheng, Mayor's Office.
Li Mingsheng sat behind his desk, listening to Ouyang Zhen's questions without saying a word. He just lowered his head and drank tea without any anxiety.
Ouyang Zhen looked at him, put his hands on his hips and shouted, "Speak up! Why aren't you talking? Are you mute?!"
Li Mingsheng looked up at him, stretched out his hand and said, "Don't shout, sit down first, let's talk slowly, the current situation..."
Ouyang Zhen looked at Li Mingsheng and interrupted him with a wave of his hand: "Don't try to trick me! I just want to ask you one question, can you ask Su Tianyu to withdraw his troops?!"
Lao Li slowly put down the teacup, frowned at Ouyang Zhen and asked: "Do you think I can control the current situation? Can Su Tianyu control it? The situation has already formed. How many people's interests are at stake? Even if you don't want to fight now, Gustav may not stop!"
What Lao Li said was not an excuse, but the truth.
As for the current situation, it is the result of joint efforts of multiple parties. It is not possible for any one force or group of people to completely control the situation.
The warlords want to make money from the war, and the Chinese district will never accept the result that the Chinese workers will be divided. Su Tianyu will not compromise with Huo Dongsheng's team. There are many people in the Chi army, Bana city, and An faction who advocate war.
How easy is it to withdraw now
Ouyang Zhen also understood the current situation, but he couldn't help but point at Lao Li's nose and curse: "Fuck, if you can't control the situation, then what are you doing sitting in this position?!"
These words were a bit exaggerated and seemed to be without political sophistication, but they were a true reflection of Ouyang Zhen's inner feelings, and an outbreak of conflicts in his friendship and working relationship with Lao Li.
If it were a normal period, Lao Li would have been furious when hearing this, or at least would have started to scold the other party, but now he behaved very gently, not getting angry about what was said, and not even having the intention to refute.
Ouyang Zhen was so angry that he was shaking. He slapped Li Mingsheng's desk and questioned angrily, "Last time you attacked Bana City, and this time you are going to attack San Paolo City. If you take San Paolo City, will you attack Washington DC in a few days? When will you attack District 1? What do you want me to do? What do you want those people who support you to do?!"
Li Mingsheng was silent.
Ouyang Zhen's voice trembled, his face pale as he shouted, "How can I explain to the people above me now? That my repeated insistence only resulted in raising an ungrateful person? This is an extremely stupid decision for a team, or even a party! It is destined to be nailed to the pillar of shame in District 1 and will be remembered forever! Because you are now openly calling for independence, and my previous arguments in various meetings were secretly providing you with resources for rebellion, right?"
Li Mingsheng looked at Ouyang Zhen, his heart filled with guilt, because the other party had indeed helped him a lot, and it could even be said that he had saved him many times at critical moments.
"Speak up! Don't you always have a lot of excuses? Why are you silent now?" Ouyang Zhen asked angrily.
"well!"
Li Mingsheng sighed, stood up slowly and responded: "For the Erdang faction, from the moment I entered Longcheng, I was positioned as just a puppet responsible for fighting for power. My personal honor and disgrace, life and safety, are insignificant compared to this goal. Of course, the upper echelons did give me a lot of support and protected me when I was surrounded by enemies. But over the years, the political rewards that Longcheng has given to the Erdang faction are also quite generous. The politicians on your head, holding reports on the sharp increase in Longcheng's economic tax revenue, are putting on a show every day; holding the rise of Chinese social groups and various under-the-table confrontations, they have sufficient reasons to criticize the stupidity of the Yidang faction. In the past five or six years, how many of Longcheng's minerals, real estate, light and heavy industries have been replaced by the capital of the Erdang faction? Old Ou, let me tell you, what I gave is not much?"
"These are two different things!" Ouyang Zhen angrily emphasized: "You can't...!"
"To me, Erdang Sect is the boss and I am just an employee. We cannot talk about faith, but cooperation is fair." Li Mingsheng looked at him and said, "I am not corrupt, I don't love money, and I don't mess with women. I am willing to devote my energy and even my life to Longcheng, so what do I want?!"
Ouyang Zhen was stunned when he heard this.
"Old Ou, I am grateful to you, and even feel guilty." Li Mingsheng sighed: "Alas, but if I have to do it again, I will still take this path."
"What do you mean?" Ouyang Zhen stared at him blankly, clenching his fists and asking, "You are determined..."
"Yes, I am determined to do it." Lao Li looked at him straight and replied straightforwardly: "The fire has been started, and everyone will have their own choices. Lao Ou, you have to leave something behind after living a lifetime. Instead of running errands for those damn politicians of the Erdang faction and using the people's livelihood and suffering of my Chinese main city as bargaining chips and arguments for political games, it is better to go out and do something big on our own!"
"????"
Ouyang Zhen was stunned, and he cursed through gritted teeth: "Li Mingsheng, Li Mingsheng, not only are you going to rebel yourself, you're also going to instigate me to rebel?!"
Lao Li looked at him and didn't answer.
Ouyang Zhen was silent for a long time, and then he said in a hoarse voice: "Have you ever thought about this? You are standing on a cliff thousands of feet high. If you fail, the result will not only be your own death. You have to take a group of people and jump off the cliff...!"
As Lao Li poured tea, he said calmly, "It's nothing but death... Didn't I die once many years ago?"
…
Santa Fe City, south of the border.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, a dense swarm of drones was rapidly passing over the southern front. Soon, the intelligence was delivered to the headquarters of the Third Division stationed here.
Xin Xiaodong stood in the makeshift tent, looking at the intelligence delivered to him.
Based on the reconnaissance of drones, Gustav sent two divisions to station on both sides of the southern line and had already built defensive positions.
Xin Xiaodong took a look at the array of troops on both sides on the map, thought for a moment, and said to the officers in front of him, "We have fought against the rebels in Mexico and the mercenaries in Bana City, but we have never fought against this side. We don't know how strong their defense is. How about this, at eight o'clock tonight, we will launch a night battle to test the intensity first."
After making up his mind, Xin Xiaodong mobilized two mechanized infantry regiments and deployed them to the front line.
At eight o'clock, the Blackwater Corps' helicopters and artillery units immediately began to bombard the enemy's garrison areas with artillery fire.
Rows of rockets lit up the night sky, sweeping across the enemy's garrison area with the force of thunder.
“Boom…!”
Violent explosions resounded one after another, and the ground was shaking. The artillery fire lasted for a full twenty minutes. At this time, a sea of fire had risen on the enemy's position, and broken debris was everywhere.
Looking at the sea of fire in front of him, Xin Xiaodong put down the telescope and immediately ordered: "Start the war, attack!"
At the command, groups of armored vehicles and light pickup trucks rushed through the sea of fire and launched an attack on the enemy positions.