He Wen Bin stood up and interrupted Zhang Xiaoqiang's words. "Zhang Xiaoqiang, aren't you a little too anxious? Why don't we make more preparations? Since you brought back a few hundred men this time, we can recruit another 100 men. When you go to WH City, you can bring 200 men with you. That way, we can be at ease …"
Zhang Huai An and Wang Le were scheming. The Lieutenant Colonel and Major, who had just arrived, found it difficult to speak. In the end, it was the Lieutenant Colonel who braced himself and said, "Zhang Xiaoqiang, in this world, having guns and cannons is the absolute truth. I believe that with your skills, there won't be any problems on the road, but what about when you reach WH City?
Right now, no one knows what the situation is like over there. If you get disarmed the moment you go, wouldn't that be a huge loss?
If you bring 20 men, others will definitely make a move. If you bring 200 men, others will definitely not dare to make a move. If you bring 500 men, others will definitely be afraid of you making a move. Don't you guys think so? "
In order to cover up his embarrassment, Zhang Xiaoqiang pinned all the blame onto He Wen Bin. He Wen Bin was immediately confused by Zhang Xiaoqiang's words. He hurriedly apologized and gave Old Frank a look. Luckily, Old Frank had always been well-prepared. He lowered his head and opened his briefcase.
After that, the few people who stayed behind to guard the base reported their work to Zhang Xiaoqiang. When it was Fat Chef's turn to report, he stood up and looked around proudly. He then nodded to Zhang Xiaoqiang and said, "I've already brought people to build more than 10 mu of greenhouse vegetable fields. At this rate, the people in the base will be able to eat vegetables once every 3 days. Furthermore, our breeding industry is already on the right track. The big rats are basically mature, and the female rats have already started to conceive. Although the rats have grown in size, their reproductive cycle hasn't changed. If we allow them to give birth, it will be amazing …"
"Wait … What's with the underground tunnel that you mentioned?"
Hearing He Wen Bin's words, Zhang Xiao Qiang thought about it. At that time, he seemed to have made a huge mistake, and threw the problem to He Wen Bin, running away. Could it be that He Wen Bin had really thought of a solution?
"En, do as you see fit. Don't have a high population of rats. As long as they reach adulthood, kill them and preserve their meat. Also, pay attention to the hygiene of the rats and disinfect them daily. If a plague breaks out, none of you will be able to escape."
After a good night's sleep, Zhang Xiaoqiang sat in the meeting room feeling refreshed. In the meeting room, the few main officers of the base had already taken their positions. Lieutenant Colonel Feng Yong and that unimpressive major had also joined the management team of the base. After a day of understanding, they had also gained some understanding of the foundation of the base. When they knew that the hundreds of thousands of zombies around the base had basically been eliminated, they had completely calmed down. Now, they were working hard to integrate themselves into the base.
"En, there is such a thing. What do you intend to do? I want details, details. You must know that the current situation is very tense, and the environment we are in is very disadvantageous. There are more than a billion zombies in the whole of China. If we wait for them to make a big migration, we will be the first to bear the brunt. So we need to pay attention to the details, the details are the key."
"Oh, it's like this. Previously, didn't Zhang Xiaoqiang say that we cannot destroy the Bewitching Array outside? Didn't I ask Zhang Xiaoqiang about the issue of vehicles entering and exiting?"
As per usual, Old Frank took a stack of documents and reported to Zhang Xiaoqiang on the construction of the base. When he talked about the underground tunnel, Zhang Xiaoqiang was a little gloomy. He remembered that he did not give the order to build the underground tunnel.
The usually honest Old Frank expressed his stance, and the others all nodded their heads. On the other hand, Zhang Huai An and Wang Le did not say anything. They lowered their heads and thought about something. Zhang Huai An had made a mistake that day and caused huge trouble. After that, Zhang Xiaoqiang stripped him of his position as team leader and chased him back. Now that he was able to sit here, it could be considered as him being suspended from duty.
After waiting for everyone to finish their reports, Zhang Xiaoqiang then spoke of the main objective of the day.
"Originally, we wanted to dig a tunnel out of the Bewitching Array, but after considering that if we were to be surrounded by zombies again, not only would our exit be blocked, we would not be able to escape as well. No one knows how long we would be able to defend, so after thinking about it, we might as well build a cross with four tunnels. When the time comes, there should be one that can be used."
"Peng …." Old Frank slammed the table and stood up, shouting at Zhang Xiaoqiang: "No, we need to bring at least a hundred of them. Not a single heavy weapon can be missing, even the anti-aircraft cannons have to be brought. The more the better, if not we will not be able to feel at ease. You must know that you are not alone, you have a few thousand of our base's lives on you. If anything were to happen to you, we might not be able to survive the next crisis."
When Zhang Xiaoqiang heard that, he frowned. Female Rodents matured in 3 months, and after 21 days, they could get pregnant.
The first litter was 5-6, and after that, it would increase by one every time, until the litter reached 15-16. After that, it would decrease by one every time, until the litter produced 5-6, then it would stop reproducing.
A single Rodent would get pregnant 8 times a year. As the saying goes: One male and one female, a year and a half.
Following Zhang Xiaoqiang's barrage of questions, Fat Chef was a little dumbfounded. He stammered: "Do Rodents need to eat rations?
I just used hogwash and added some rice bran and leaves to feed them. It seems like these Rodents eat anything, even rotten wood. We still have quite a bit of rations left. With over 2000 people, we should be able to eat for at least 2 years …. "
After the Lieutenant Colonel finished speaking, everyone except for Zhang Xiaoqiang nodded their heads. Zhang Xiaoqiang also hesitated. In his opinion, a large gathering place with over a hundred thousand people should have some sort of order. His target was only the docks, and there shouldn't be any conflicts with the guards. However, if someone were to take a fancy to his weapons and wanted to use them, what should he do?
"No, we can still recruit members. It would be best if we can recruit a maximum of 500 members. This time, I did not intend to bring many people to WH City. I think 20 should be enough. You must know that when we started, we did not even have 20 members …."
When Zhang Xiaoqiang heard that, he was relieved. As long as the Rodents did not consume the rations, everything would be fine. The rations stored in the hot spring base and the missile base could last for 7 to 8 years. At that time, they could bring a few ships out to sea, and there wouldn't be any food crisis for at least 5 years.
"How much rations do the Rodents eat in a day? How long can the rations in the base last?"
Zhang Xiaoqiang was not afraid that the Rodents would give birth to more. Since there was a shortage of meat, they could eat it all. However, the Rodents would need to eat rations, and 1 jin of rations would definitely not be able to exchange for 2 taels of meat. In order to eat meat, the base might fall into a food crisis. Zhang Xiaoqiang was not afraid of any crisis, but he was afraid of a food crisis. If the civilians and combat members did not have food to eat, they would definitely create a ruckus, and the hearts of the people would not be stable.
When Old Frank heard Zhang Xiaoqiang's question, he was stunned for a moment and turned to look at He Wen Bin.
"I'm preparing to leave for WH City in 3 days. I'm going to make some arrangements now …."
When he heard that, Zhang Xiaoqiang nodded his head. Although the amount of work and materials required to build 4 tunnels was several times more than building a single tunnel, the safety factor would increase exponentially. Furthermore, those people would be idling around, so why not find something for them to do?