Zhang Xiaoqiang frowned when he heard Zhang Huai'an's words. They had brought nearly 1,100 vehicles, half of which were filled with supplies, while the other half were filled with women and the injured. The only solution was to let the women get off the vehicles and walk. However, this would greatly slow down their already slow speed.
"I see that most of the civilians on the road are wearing tattered clothes. They are not even as good as the poor people searching for supplies. How about this, let them change their clothes in town. Also, let them throw away all their luggage and use the supplies here as compensation. Of course, they can keep their personal belongings, but it cannot exceed 500g..."
Zhang Xiaoqiang's solution was to let the civilians share the burden of these supplies. It would be a waste to leave them here. It would be better to let the people use them first. As for the food, they would naturally think of a way to take it away. After all, it was human lives.
Zhang Huai'an nodded when he heard this, but the gloominess on his face did not dissipate. He looked at the supplies and said, "Also, Wang Le found a factory.
"Also, Wang Le found a factory and found a set of old military equipment. With this equipment, we can reload ammunition. We also found a lot of mercury fulminate and other ingredients. With these, we can make our own primer and gunpowder. If we reload them with food, we won't be able to transport them."
Zhang Xiaoqiang's eyes lit up when he heard this. If these machines were really useful, Zhang Xiaoqiang was willing to give up on the food and transport it away. China's military factories were usually located in deep regions or in industrialized cities with heavy industries. It was extremely difficult to find a military factory in the hinterland. With the things that Wang Le found, Zhang Xiaoqiang would be able to continuously produce ammunition to replenish their consumption. This way, their combat ability would at least double.
"Move them away. Prioritize moving all these machines to the missile base. We will build our own military factory there. With the logistics support, we will be able to clear the HB zombies one day."
Zhang Xiaoqiang decided to prioritize the military equipment. Although food was important, in Zhang Xiaoqiang's eyes, the military equipment was more valuable than human lives.
"Zhang Xiaoqiang, I'm afraid it's not enough. If we were to transport this batch of equipment, I'm afraid we'd have to free up a lot of cars …"
Zhang Xiaoqiang sucked in a breath of cold air when he heard this. Then, he was overjoyed. The more equipment he had, the stronger the reassembly ability would be in the future. He might even be able to make a rifle.
Using bullets to kill zombies would always be the first choice to deal with ordinary zombies. Only when there was no other choice would they use melee combat. If 100 million zombies died, China still had 1 billion zombies. If a human died, China's current population would decrease by one. Otherwise, why would Zhang Xiaoqiang imitate Liu Bei and bring a bunch of burdens with him on the road?
However, Zhang Xiaoqiang knew that he couldn't really do that. After all, they had not reached the final step yet. They didn't have enough transport capacity. He would rather let the women get off the car and bring the food. If it really didn't work, he would first take over the armory and replenish the ammunition to stop the sea of zombies.
Thinking of the armory, Zhang Xiaoqiang suddenly remembered that there were a lot of abandoned cars on the road to the armory. Most of them still had gasoline in them. The armory was an old national highway, so there were a lot of gas stations on it. When Zhang Xiaoqiang came here, he was afraid of attracting the mutant beasts. When he returned, he just needed to kill the Great Blackbird. Then, they would have enough fuel to start the cars.
"Go, call Wang Le and Huang Quan over …"
A team of military vehicles drove on the mountain road to the armory road. This time, Zhang Xiaoqiang personally led the team, operating the 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun to guard the sky. Behind him, ten military vehicles were filled with all kinds of maintenance tools and spare parts. Forty car maintenance technicians and 120 drivers were the targets of Zhang Xiaoqiang's protection.
Compared to the cars full of spare parts and drivers, Zhang Xiaoqiang's first target of protection was not them, but the forty maintenance technicians. For Zhang Xiaoqiang, the value of the forty maintenance technicians was far greater than the combat power of a squadron. With them, there would be countless cars in the future.
Both sides of the road were still quiet. The withered trees and weeds on both sides became the main color. In the distance, the residential houses were spread out along the road. It seemed that the residential houses could extend as far as the road was long.
The road had not been used for a long time, and some of the small cracks had become larger. It was believed that in another year or two, the road would be completely abandoned. Sitting in the military vehicle, Zhang Xiaoqiang watched the mountains and roadbed pass by on both sides, but in his mind, he was thinking about Wang Le's idea.
Zhang Xiaoqiang was determined to get the armory, but the Great Blackbird was the first obstacle on their way home. Zhang Xiaoqiang originally wanted to use the human wave tactic to delay the Great Blackbird, but he did not expect Wang Le to come up with an idea. Large crossbows were ready-made with all kinds of ready-made machines, and they could be processed with electricity. The team did not lack raw materials, and it would only take them half a day to make hundreds of large crossbows that could be fired.
Crossbows might not be as powerful as heavy machine guns, but Wang Le had put his focus on the chains. Each crossbow arrow dragged a chain or rope and was fired at the Great Blackbird in the sky. As long as they could entangle the Great Blackbird, they could restrict its movements. As long as they could get the Great Blackbird down to the ground, they believed that when the time came, whether it was steamed or braised, they would have the final say.
As for Wang Le's idea, Zhang Xiaoqiang had to admit that it was a good idea. In the past, the armed police had taken down the Great Blackbird because it was chained. As long as a few chains really entangled the Great Blackbird, Zhang Xiaoqiang had ways to deal with them. Most importantly, firing the crossbows did not require elite soldiers. The hundreds of casualties at the gathering point finally made Zhang Xiaoqiang understand himself. He was not God, and he could not achieve zero casualties. As long as he could use limited casualties in exchange for the greatest benefits, he would be a successful commander.
With a plan, he had confidence. Before that, they had to find enough vehicles. The more than four hundred vehicles abandoned by Liu Zhenghua's transport team were a big fat piece of meat in his eyes.
When they arrived at the place where Liu Zhenghua's convoy had first encountered danger, more than ten wreckages of vehicles were lying crooked on the side of the road, like black steel coffins. Most of these vehicles had been burned into empty shells, while some had been smashed into pieces.
These vehicles were worthless, and Zhang Xiaoqiang's goal was the vehicles in front of them. Therefore, the small convoy passed by in a flash, and no one gave it a second glance.
Zhang Xiaoqiang's hands were tightly gripping the trigger of the anti-aircraft machine gun, turning the muzzle from time to time. He was completely focused on the sky, and the corner of his eyes swept over the blackened ditch not far from the side of the road. No one knew that there were hundreds of undead wailing in it.
For some reason, the Great Blackbird did not appear, as if it had given up the right to patrol the sky. However, Zhang Xiaoqiang did not let down his guard, and led the small convoy cautiously to the next location.
When the roadblock formed by countless vehicles appeared in front of Zhang Xiaoqiang's eyes, he let out a sigh of relief. Compared to the huge convoy next to the armory, there were not many vehicles here, and almost half of them were small cars that were too low in the ground. However, for a convoy that lacked transportation, not to mention small cars, they would even be willing to use a scooter or a tricycle.
The vehicles stopped one by one, and the maintenance workers and drivers got out of the vehicles. As soon as everyone got out, they were stunned by what they saw. More than a hundred vehicles were squeezed together in the middle of the road, and among them, twenty to thirty had been burned into empty shells. The ground was covered in a thick layer of oil, and there was a huge gap in the road's fence. Looking through the gap, at least a hundred vehicles were squeezed together.
The people began to get busy, and the burned vehicles were dragged aside as unrepairable garbage. The crashed vehicles were roughly inspected, and the gasoline was drained. Then, they were towed by other vehicles and piled up together with the burned vehicles.
When the road was cleared, they found more than sixty vehicles that could be used after emergency repair. The other vehicles were either completely damaged, or needed too much time to repair.
There were more than two hundred vehicles here, and most of them were small cars that had been abandoned because of their low chassis. There were more than sixty large vehicles that could be used, and there were 120 drivers and 40 maintenance technicians. Everyone could drive, and Zhang Xiaoqiang did not want to waste them. After some effort, they got close to eighty small vehicles.
Once the vehicles were in their hands, Zhang Xiaoqiang immediately ordered the drivers to drive back, and he stayed at the back to defend. The movement of more than a hundred vehicles was not small, and Zhang Xiaoqiang did not want to turn a comedy into a tragedy.
There was strength in numbers. Not long after, the carts turned around and went back the way they came. As the carts left, the piles of bones on the roadside were exposed. The ground was also cleared. Other than the thick layer of oil, there were also dark brown dried blood stains. When Zhang Xiao Qiang left, there were only a few skeletons left on the road, waiting to be turned into ashes by time.
Going back was different from when they came. Other than the joy of the harvest, there was more of a peace of mind. Zhang Xiaoqiang was sure that the Great Blackbird would not come out. He had not seen it for three to four hours, and it was getting dark, so it was even more unlikely that it would come out.
The harvested vehicles could carry most of the supplies, and at the same time, it gave Zhang Xiaoqiang a pleasant surprise. They also found a large amount of ammunition and military supplies. In total, there were close to a hundred thousand 7.62mm bullets and hundreds of boxes of hardtacks. These were all left behind by Liu Zhenghua's team.
The hardtacks were nothing in Zhang Xiaoqiang's eyes, but the hundred thousand bullets were timely rain. It was enough for the three platoons to fight a small scale battle.
As soon as they returned to the town, Zhang Xiaoqiang's happiness was extinguished by Huang Quan. When Huang Quan saw Zhang Xiaoqiang, he immediately ran over and whispered, "Zhang Xiaoqiang, the zombies have started filling up the river …"