These sonorous words did not resonate much among the participants. The generals were either smoking cigarettes or drinking tea slowly. Even the lieutenant general, who wanted to open his mouth to refute before, completely shut his mouth, sat on the chair with a straight face, and said nothing.

"According to the plan we had drawn up long before the war, the entire civilian population was to be vassals outside the system of war. But now the situation has changed, and more and more civilians are fighting against mutated creatures, especially mercenaries and hunters, who have killed a fair share of the monsters compared to the results of their armies. This is an enormous force that we should keep under control and not let them wander out of sight. ”

Before Zhao Zhikai finished speaking, an elderly general had already spoken out to express his opposition: "With all due respect, your statement is a bit alarmist. We are all well aware that the essence of war is attrition. Since the outbreak of the virus, almost half of humanity has become monsters. There are billions of them. So far, we have not seen any signs of mass reproduction of mutant organisms. This means that for every one killed, there will be one less number of monsters. Of course, they have evolved distinctly male and female sexes. However, it takes a long time from mating to birth to adulthood. We have the advantage of augmenting potions, and as long as there is no large-scale bio-frenzy in the area of war, we can ensure a stable and orderly sustained killing effect. I admit that civilians do have a strong sense of hatred for mutated creatures, and their desire to fight is stronger than that of our military. However, they are not soldiers after all, and we do not have enough boosters to meet the needs of all civilians. There are just too many of them. Without the elixir, ordinary people are no match for mutated creatures at all. ”

With the first opponent, the silent lieutenant general also opened his mouth again: "Your Excellency, I do not mean to question your proposal. We are all well aware that the present and the civilian population and the civilian of the past are fundamentally two different concepts. The environment has changed their logical ideas. At present, the materials produced by each base city are completely self-sufficient. There is no obstacle to the circulation of blue coins and military vouchers. Of course, bartering is extremely inefficient and there is no financial aspect at all. But this is a time of special war, and we cannot look at things through the eyes of peacetime. Well, even if your proposal passes, everyone in the room agrees that civilians should be given preferential treatment. But what can we give them? What can they bring us? ”

There was no trace of a smile on Zhao Zhikai's tense face. He glanced at the lieutenant general with a puzzled face, and said slowly: "A ration order should be issued to distribute food and water to civilians throughout the border on schedule. ”

As soon as the words came out, everyone present was shocked, and their faces invariably showed a look of surprise and shock

"Match ...... Ration? ”

The elderly general wondered if he had misheard, and directly looked at Zhao Zhikai with an inquiring gaze, solemnly accentuated his tone, and asked: "Although the outbreak of the virus has caused large-scale deaths among civilians, according to the comprehensive statistical report for two consecutive years, the number of refugees wandering outside the various base cities is still as high as several hundred million. Once it was decided to ration them, the amount of supplies consumed on a daily basis alone was enormous. Are you sure you're not kidding? ”

"I've never joked about this kind of thing."

Zhao Zhikai sat quietly, his eyes rolling with unquestionable determination: "We need the help of civilians and need their support." The so-called plan to abandon civilians was a mistake from the start. ”

The lieutenant general's brows were still furrowed: "Even if this is the case, is it too much to implement rationing?" We simply don't have that much food to meet the daily needs of civilians. If all the supplies produced are given to them, what will happen to the troops? What do the officers and soldiers at the front eat for? ”

"It is certainly impossible to be completely satisfied. But at least they could be given a minimum daily ration. ”

Zhao Zhikai said casually: "Without strenuous activities, the energy required by adults is 18UU calories per day. Cut this standard in half, or a third, and give them the corresponding food. This level of rationing can be achieved by any base city. In addition, the military commanders in each region were ordered to increase the progress of the construction of underground farms. At the current rate, rations will be at the threshold by this time next year. For refugees who have no means of livelihood outside the city, this is enough to rally hearts and minds and gain their support. ”

Zhao Zhikai's statement is not false. If 900 calories of energy are converted into food, it is only a few tens of grams of rice or bread. If the type of food distributed is changed to meat, then it occupies a smaller share. Of course, a small piece of meat the size of a thumb is certainly not enough to be a good stomach, and it is not even enough to stuff between the teeth. But they are capable of covering at least half of the daily energy consumption of civilians. Coupled with the wild vegetables, roots, and all sorts of messy food that the refugees found outside the city, at least they wouldn't starve to death.

Su Hao's approach in the new Guiyang area also gave Zhao Zhikai a lot of inspiration. The research department of Beijing No. 1 Base collected more than 30,000 fragment samples of mutant organisms and found that the protein content was extremely high, which could be used as a substitute for traditional livestock meat products. As for the potential danger that is most likely to lead to genetic mutations in those who eat them, it has been diluted to an extent that it can be ignored with the multi-level mutations of different pathways and directions such as zombies, blood corpses, and humanoids.

"We have to have a stable rear. Civilians must not be seen as a burden, they may well be the backbone on which we have to rely on. We don't know what the final result of the evolution of things is. But let us not forget that we are human beings, and they are human beings. ”

Looking at the generals who were slowly falling into thought, a faint smile flashed in the depths of Zhao Zhikai's eyes.

He didn't say anything about it.

He knew that everyone had seen the picture of the riots in the city sent back from the AWACS aircraft about the base city of Xinchengdu.

Some people may have noticed Wang Jingjing's leading role in this chaos. It may also be that no one realizes the root cause of the problem. But no matter what, Zhao Zhikai will never say it. He just uses his power to push things in a direction that is good for himself and good for biological warfare.

"I'm in favor of this bill. We should indeed change our attitude towards civilians. ”

Suddenly, Sun Zhan, who was sitting on the left side of the conference table, raised his right hand, and the reality affirmed Zhao Zhikai's previous arguments, and then changed the conversation, pulling the core of the problem back to the just-concluded defense battle of New Chengdu.

"As you can see, the tall and heavy walls are no longer effective. Mutated organisms are evolving much faster than we expected. Even if the height of the walls of each base city was doubled on the existing basis, it would not be able to stop their frantic attack. The key to winning a war is still the size of the army. Especially in base defense warfare, the number of guards is insufficient, and it is easy to cause a breakthrough by a cluster of mutated creatures at a certain point. I propose that the existing mode of combat ratio should be changed and the number of combat units stationed within the base city should be increased. ”

As he spoke, Sun Zhan casually pulled out an electronic map, pointed to the various base cities represented by red light dots on it, and talked eloquently.

"After the Battle of Hefei, the entire New Nanyang area has been completely occupied by mutant creatures. There is an uncontrollable partition space. New Chengdu, Xi'an, and Xinlanzhou, as well as the northwest and southeast theaters have all been cut off, and it is extremely dangerous to continue like this, and it is not conducive to the offensive deployment of the overall strategy. I suggest that it is best to organize a large-scale campaign in the near future, concentrate superior forces, and completely eliminate the security risks caused by this partition zone. ”

No one responded to Sun Zhan's suggestion. Even the few people who were closest to him fell silent with their heads bowed.

Although Sun Zhan's qualifications are old, he is an out-and-out civilian general. Leaving aside for the time being whether the suggestion and assumption he just mentioned were correct, a civilian general asked the military department to draw up a campaign plan for a certain area...... This kind of thing is really funny and out of line.

Yuan Zhicheng looked at Sun Zhan coldly, and the corners of his mouth showed a hint of sarcasm.

This is no mockery. With his understanding of this old fox, Sun Zhan's move was just a move to suppress first and then to rise. In other words, Sun Zhan waited for someone to veto it before he could put forward his true purpose.

After a few seconds of coldness, a major general really interjected: "General Sun, your suggestion is a bit unrealistic. We do not have enough troops to attack that area at the moment. Both the Eastern and Northern Fronts were strained and could not draw more spare troops. What's more, the most critical task now is to strengthen the defense of each base city. Once they are breached, it will be too late to talk about anything. ”

"If so, then I have one more piece of advice."

Sun Zhan laughed slowly. Pointing to the triangle between the abandoned cities of Chengdu, Xichang and Chongqing on the digital map, he said: "This area is the most densely populated core area in the southwest region. Surveillance data shows that there are still a large number of civilians who have not left. Except for New Chengdu, there are no large base cities nearby where you can take refuge. The defense area of the 71 Army was large and already exceeded the normal range. Xu Renjie is under a lot of pressure, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to form effective protection and control in the surrounding area. He should be given an additional part of the army, and even one more division would be good. ”

The major general continued to ask questions following Sun Zhan's words: "There are no extra troops in the surrounding area. Is it necessary to add new divisions and regiments to the 71st Army? Doesn't that seem like a good idea? ”

"Of course, it is impossible to add new staff."

Sun Zhan continued to maintain a devilish smile on his face: "However, we can transfer troops from the New Guiyang area to make up for the gap in the defense strength of the New Chengdu side. Everyone has also seen the video just now, General Su Hao is a very responsible person. If he hadn't led the guard troops to reinforce overnight and put into battle at the most critical time, the Xincheng base would have fallen long ago. Moreover, he also sent several second-line supplementary divisions to disperse and train on the periphery...... There is no doubt that this shows that Su Hao is very sure of the situation in New Guiyang, and he is not afraid of the mutated creatures in the abandoned city of Guiyang to pose a threat to the base. The 505 Group Army has 10 newly formed divisions and regiments under its jurisdiction, and it is entirely possible to transfer some of them to supplement them to the adjacent theaters to help those base cities that urgently need reinforcements to assist in their defense. ”

In this way, Sun Zhan pointed at the map and drew a vast area on the screen. Among them, it includes six base cities of different sizes, including Xincheng, as well as more than 30 regiment-level tactical protection areas. According to his suggestion, the entire 505 Group Army will be dispersed and organized into nearly 100 combat units at the regimental and brigade levels. Most of the personnel and equipment were dispatched to different protection zones under the guise of "reinforcements". As for the new Guiyang base, there is only one infantry division left that is not in the formation.

Yuan Zhicheng didn't say a word.

He had already gained insight into Sun Zhan's plans. The whole plan is actually set up for Su Hao. Although it was ostensibly a reinforcement, it was actually a dismemberment of the entire 505 Army. Even fools know that the army can only exert its strong combat effectiveness if it is concentrated. Scattering into a group-sized battle group is tantamount to weakening one's own strength. This kind of drizzling "reinforcement" will not have any effect at all, and it will also cause mass casualties in Su Hao's troops in the battle.

The generals here are very shrewd. It wasn't just Yuan Zhicheng who saw through Sun Zhan's purpose. However, no one objected to this, and no one raised objections. Although the expressions on everyone's faces were very complicated, they only maintained the subtle atmosphere of the venue in silence.

Su Hao's rise is too fast. In less than three years, he has changed from a civilian to a major general, with hundreds of thousands of troops under his command and a well-equipped base city.

Power and wealth always invite envy. This rule applies not only in times of peace, but also in times of war. Although people are well aware of the contradictions and disputes between Sun Zhan and Su Hao, no one wants to meddle at this time. What's more, compared to Su Hao, a nouveau riche who suddenly rose up, he is still closer to Sun Zhan, who has worked with him for many years.

Zhao Zhikai instinctively wanted to veto this proposal. But in the end, he did not speak, but thought carefully for a few minutes, and asked the participants to raise their hands to vote as usual.

Although he understood that Sun Zhan's proposal was simply to kill people with a knife, Zhao Zhikai still did not intend to oppose it.

He couldn't control Su Hao. A general who does not obey his orders naturally has no value in existence. Anyway, the main force to deal with Su Hao is Sun Zhan, and he is just watching the drama from the side.

A few arms slowly lifted in the conference room. These people who expressed their approval were all allies of Zhao Zhikai. Yuan Zhicheng is satisfied with the current situation, because he sees that without making a decision, those who have thrown in with him have not expressed their approval or opposition. This means that they are still subservient to themselves, and not bothered by Sun Zhan or Zhao Zhikai's words.

Yuan Zhicheng was of course in favor of dealing with Su Hao. The new divisions of the 505 Group were originally their own private army. No one expected that all the people sent by Sun Zhan would be killed, and Su Hao's actions to seize power were not in line with the rules. That damn kid apparently didn't know what the rules were. In that case, then unite everyone's strength and send him to hell once and for all.

Just as Yuan Zhicheng was about to raise his right arm, he suddenly heard a clear electronic sound from the communicator he was carrying. He lowered his head and casually pressed the switch on the microcontrol screen, and a short line of text immediately appeared on the microscopic screen that was only ten centimeters long.

Yuan Zhicheng just glanced at it casually at first, but his casual gaze became sharp in an instant. His face changed slightly, his eyebrows gradually rose upside down, and even the corners of his eyes twitched slightly unconsciously.

He turned off the communicator and looked up, his expression quickly flattening again.

From beginning to end, Yuan Zhicheng did not raise his right hand. And those members of the military department who took him as a benchmark, although they were very surprised, did not change their fixed camp position, and remained silent with him to show their opposition.

The number of people in favor was not more than half, and Sun Zhan's proposal was not adopted.

Zhao Zhikai and Sun Zhan set their sights on Yuan Zhicheng almost at the same time. The former is full of doubts, the latter is full of anger. Although the purpose and meaning are the same, Zhao Zhikai is very strange that Yuan Zhicheng suddenly objected? Sun Zhan showed naked hatred for this kind of behavior.

Under normal circumstances, Yuan Zhicheng would never object to this proposal.

But he did just that.

It's really puzzling.

Leaving the conference room of the military headquarters, Yuan Zhicheng kept a straight face, and hurriedly went to the base city airport under the escort of Yiyu's entourage, boarded a special plane, and returned to Xinlanzhou as quickly as possible.

A few hours later, he had already appeared in the commander's office at the Xinlanzhou base. In the empty room, in addition to Yuan Zhicheng, the owner, there was also Sibo, who had just walked in after receiving the order.

Yuan Zhicheng stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window with his hands behind his back, squinting slightly, watching the sunset slowly sinking on the horizon in the distance. The golden afterglow illuminates his face, reflecting the wrinkles with a metallic luster, and the whole person shows an incomparably thick, sculpture-like special temperament.

"The 505th Army was originally in my pocket. That's a whole ten new divisions, not a random patchwork of ten militia divisions. Regular combat forces and reserves are two different concepts. The most core weapons and equipment, enhanced potions of the third order or above, and the latest model of combat suits...... These things can only be produced at the Beijing No. 1 base and the Xi'an base. They are firmly in the hands of the army logistics headquarters. Even if I wanted to get it, I had to go the normal way. ”

"I don't understand, why did you send a message like that all of a sudden?"

Yuan Zhicheng turned around and stared at Sibo with a cold gaze: "What are you asking me to oppose Sun Zhan's proposal for the decomposition of the 505 Group Army at the military headquarters meeting?" ”