Wasteland Commander-Chapter 408 - 99: Assault on the Bank Vault

Zheng Jinnan’s move not only involved contacting those foreigners, but also directly talked about it during a live TV broadcast.

Under the guise of purging disloyal subjects, Zheng Jinnan demanded that all Qin Han base cities refrain from conducting arms trade with Dawn Army.

At least during the war, such transactions are not permitted. If anyone forcibly trades with Dawn Army, they become the enemy of all national base cities.

Those foreigners staying in Jiangzhou had no choice but to cooperate with Zheng Jinnan.

Because Zheng Jinnan looked extremely formidable at this moment.

Despite the recent lull in the various battlefronts, Zheng Jinnan knew that the moment to decide Qin Han’s fate had arrived.

The winners would directly ascend to the pinnacle of Qin Han.

The losers would lose everything, even their lives.

At this time, he would show no mercy. Anyone who trades with Ye Fan is an enemy collaborator, and he would ensure they meet a grim end.

Initially, Ye Fan did not take this matter seriously.

Because his products were excellent, even offering fighter jets for sale, merely in exchange for gold and silver, most people would be tempted.

Yet, he underestimated Zheng Jinnan’s influence, especially after Su Qiao’s troops suffered a defeat and retreated to Yuanjing, leaving Dawn Army facing six major bases alone.

The assessments of this battle started to shift unfavorably against Dawn Army.

Thus, aside from Adventurer Squads being enthusiastic, the arms market remained stagnant, all base cities refrained from placing orders or discussing intentions, effectively stalling business. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Though adventurers were eager, their funds were ultimately limited.

Moreover, these aircraft and tanks couldn’t be priced too low. Most Adventurer Squads could only gaze longingly, while some wealthy buyers directly used Light Yuan for payment, leaving Ye Fan with scant jewels.

On the first day, revenue exceeded three million, then dropped to over two million, continually decreasing, by the fifth day, it was only at one hundred forty thousand.

......

"I underestimated it!"

In the parliament building, Ye Fan sat in his office chair, looking at the declining sales figures, feeling worried.

Intelligence indicated increasingly frequent activities in Jiangzhou.

Jiangzhou’s forces, from Bashu and Lingnan, were conducting joint military exercises.

Even in the North of the River, the slightly recovered Mountain River Base and Huaihai Base surprisingly organized a thirty-thousand-strong force, poised for action.

They were waiting, waiting for Zheng Jinnan’s million-strong army to deploy, ready to coordinate actions in the North of the River, either striking Ye Fan’s base there or jointly attacking Dawn Island with Zheng Jinnan.

Even the Jiangnan Base, which lost Ma Guoxing, had chosen a new leader, gathering a twenty-thousand-strong force, attempting to bypass the Central Sea Region to join Zheng Jinnan’s forces in Jiangzhou.

Their aim is clear — coordinating with Zheng Jinnan in attacking Dawn Island.

Therefore, the pressure on Dawn Island is unprecedented, with one hundred fifty thousand troops from Jiangnan and Jiangbei Regions gathered. Once they launch an attack, it would be overwhelming.

"Commander, we’ve detected significant improvements in Jiangzhou’s weaponry."

Ye Fan took the report handed by Director Shen, read it for a while, realizing the seriousness of the situation.

Now, the weaponry deployed by Zheng Jinnan is not much slower compared to his own.

Fourth-generation aircraft, Type 99 main battle tanks, rockets with a range of nearly three hundred kilometers, conventionally-powered carriers, foreign cruisers, even electronic warfare planes and vehicles were developed.

Along with some standard foreign weapons, Zheng Jinnan secured substantial global support recently, his strength significantly growing.

If military-grade weapons were currently outfitted, Ye Fan felt confident in winning; however, the situation indicated potential danger.

"Are there results from the gold mine exploration?"

"A bit, but not much, Commander, you know, collecting mining resources is slow. Our geological exploration team has been working continuously, but we only gather ten thousand units of gold daily now."

Ten thousand units, a considerable amount for the early-stage Dawn Army, is now merely token aid, hardly sufficient.

"What about the jewelry store collection?"

"Commander, collecting from jewelry stores is increasingly difficult, as most nearby towns have been exhausted. To gather more, we’d need to venture into nearby cities, and you’re aware, the zombie presence is too strong, short-term results are unlikely, it may require extensive, prolonged military engagement."

Ye Fan listened, shaking his head slightly: "A long-term approach won’t work, time is critical, jewelry stores aren’t viable either, a single store barely offers a few million gold, capturing two a day is insufficient to sustain upcoming massive expenditures, we may need larger moves."

"Commander suggests... targeting vaults?"

Ye Fan nodded gently: "Exactly, county banks lack gold reserves, only city-level banks hold them. We’ve refrained from targeting city areas till now due to timing issues. Now, we must seek avenues to secure several city bank vaults, to possibly manage this crisis."

"Where does the Commander plan to start?"

Ye Fan glanced at the map: "I still prefer acting around Dawn Island. The Divine Dragon Province isn’t economically prosperous, city-level bank gold reserves would be limited. Loose Province is better, but our major forces are stationed at Dawn Island, reallocating forces elsewhere isn’t feasible."

The surrounding officers listened and looked at the city area around Dawn Island.

To the south is the massive Zhonghai City, where the gold reserves are certainly the largest.

Because it was once the economic center during the Qin Han era, many international banks have branches there, and there must be significant gold reserves.

However, Zhonghai is too difficult to conquer, with a scale of over five hundred million zombies. Even if the Dawn Army were to go all out now, the battle would likely last over three months.

So although Zhonghai has abundant gold, it can only be watched.

Jiangnan is unreachable, so the only feasible location is Nantong City in the Jiangbei Region.

Nantong also has a population of over one billion, although it’s still challenging to fight, compared to Zhonghai’s hellish difficulty, this is at most a difficult level.

"Commander, should we mobilize the main forces to attack Nantong?"

Ye Fan shook his head: "Mobilizing the main forces is likely impossible. Meanwhile, Jiangzhou is closely monitoring us. As soon as our main forces leave Dawn Island, they will immediately attack us, catching us off guard. Besides, Nantong can’t be conquered in just a few days."

"What should we do then?"

Ye Fan thought for a moment: "Let’s organize an action squad and see if there’s an opportunity to discreetly take over the city’s bank vaults."

Ye Fan didn’t have a better solution; using mushroom bombs was impossible. Once the city is destroyed, searching for hidden gold among the ruins would be very difficult, and conventional methods must be used.

Ye Fan issued the order, and the action squad was quickly organized.

The Army’s Fiery Flame Special Forces, Land Air Force Group, and War Eagle Team cooperated, with Ye Fan personally leading the team.

Initially, the officers didn’t want Ye Fan to go, but Ye Fan now had the Commander’s satchel, which he could use to hide and save his life in critical moments. Hence, going would not be dangerous and would even be helpful.

Twenty helicopters, protected by ten thousand War Eagle units, carried a thousand personnel and set off.

The helicopters quickly flew over the Celestial River, entering the northern bank of the Celestial River.

Beyond the Celestial River is Nantong City, but this side is suburban, and the bank vaults are in the city.

Upon reaching the vicinity of the suburbs, the helicopters slowed down, and the War Eagle Team led the way.

According to long-time observations of zombies, without control from a Corpse King, zombies behave unconsciously, and this holds true for mutant birds and mutant beasts as well. Large-scale bird flocks rarely move together.

Of course, there are exceptions; if a king appears within a mutant beast group, it becomes dangerous.

The War Eagle Team clearing the way is effective against regular mutant birds.

Gradually, the troops penetrated the Nantong city area.

Ye Fan looked down from the helicopter, feeling a chill in his heart.

Since the apocalypse began, this was his first time flying above a city.

Compared to the start of the apocalypse, zombies hadn’t decreased much, and their sizes had become particularly large.

Mutated zombies have become prevalent, their numbers not much less than regular zombies.

Furthermore, they are dense and endless, making it uncertain how long ground forces would have to fight if they entered the city.

Ye Fan’s first target was the Imperial Bank in Nantong City.

The underground vault here surely contains hidden gold, which is also his objective this time.

As the distance closed, the War Eagle Team began to get busy.

Unlike pre-apocalyptic birds, which preferred living in trees, post-apocalyptic mutant birds prefer perching on high-rise buildings.

Due to their ever-growing bodies, living on tree branches is no longer suitable for them.

The financial district where the Imperial Bank is located, filled with skyscrapers, is a paradise for mutant birds.

Seeing the War Eagles invade, mutant birds clambered from all directions, attacking the Dawn Army’s War Eagles.

The War Eagles retaliated continuously; whenever one got injured, it withdrew, allowing another to take its place.

Despite this, the War Eagles gradually began to suffer casualties.

Particularly when the helicopters approached, their rotor sounds echoed, and from the tall buildings emerged swarms of mutant birds, flapping noisily and emitting harsh screeches, attacking the War Eagles.

"Commander, we must maintain our War Eagle numbers; only they can resist the mutant birds’ offensives, allowing us to safely attack the bank."

Zhuge Yunxue reminded, Ye Fan nodded and immediately selected another ten thousand War Eagles.

At five hundred Gold per War Eagle, ten thousand amounts to five million.

Ye Fan currently had just over ten million in hand, and he was going all out for this bank vault.