Chapter 985: Yue Zhong's conditions!
Yue Zhong glanced at Lekov, and spoke sharply, "Russian Empire? You're here this time to pay damages?"
The Russian Empire had joined hands with the 4 other factions to attack China under the directive of the Kingdom of God. Had Yue Zhong not gotten back in time, his empire would have been severely undermined. He did not have a favorable impression of the Russians. If he did not have so many things to handle and worry about the possibility of a nuclear weapon in the Russian Empire, he would have brought his troops to attack them.
Hearing his sharp words, Lekov continued without skipping a beat, "I personally feel apologetic for the unhappy events between our 2 countries. However, the main cause of this misunderstanding was the Kingdom of God. Our esteemed Tsar does not wish for our countries to abandon the friendship and alliance. We hope that we can work together to deal with the Kingdom of God as well as other enemies of our human race."
Yue Zhong laughed coldly, "Alliance? Haha, what cunning. The moment we become allies, am I supposed to return the Russian captives to you without any demands?"
The moment they became allies, then the 10,000-strong Russian elites would have to be returned without any compensation.
Furthermore, the Russian Empire could then use that identity to request for aid and help. They were truly ingenious.
Lekov continued in a serene manner, "Sir Yue Zhong. Our expeditionary force was taken down by you the moment they entered China. You did not suffer many losses. If you return our forces to us, you'll gain a barrier against the zombies in the horde. Isn't that much more beneficial to you? Furthermore, to compensate you for your loss, our Russian Empire is willing to return half of Outer Mongolia, everything west of Mandalgovi, to your China, and recognize your sovereignty over the land there."
By now, the whole of Outer Mongolia had fallen to the zombies, and most factions had either fallen to the zombies or were swallowed by the Russian forces. As long as the Russian Empire agreed, China could gain half of Outer Mongolia. Land and sovereignty were extremely important to a country. Lekov believed that this condition would attract Yue Zhong.
"Sovereignty?" Yue Zhong laughed, not moved at all, as his pupils narrowed, "You want me to hand over the captives and ally with the Russian Empire, it's not impossible. I want 600,000 of the farmers from Outer Mongolia that have been captured by you guys."
While the Russian Empire was powerless against the zombie horde, they had considerable might, defeating the countless Outer Mongolian factions. They had captured over 600,000 people, and Yue Zhong had set his sights on them.
Lekov lost his calm at this time, "Impossible!! Leader Yue Zhong, those farmers are already our people. Please consider our proposition again. If you have issues with the size of the territory, we can negotiate."
In this apocalypse, human lives were like ants. Within most small and mid-sized factions, ordinary survivors were treated like trash and ants. However, to the larger factions, humans were crucial to development and expansion.
After the baptism of the apocalypse, Yue Zhong had obtained an additional 700,000 survivors from the Hebei region. In order for it to flourish and grow again, he would need even more people.
As to the land of Outer Mongolia, it was not important to Yue Zhong at all.
He had his hands full with handling China already, he had no further energy nor resources to spare for other places.
Yue Zhong maintained his stance, "No. I want those 600,000 people. If you can't make the decision, go inform your Tsar."
Lekov mulled over for a moment, "If we handed those 600,000 people to you, can you let our men bring their equipment and weapons back? We need a force that can fight urgently."
Yue Zhong replied, "Sure! Other than that, I can even support you with 5,000 rifles, 300,000 rounds of ammunition, 200 tonnes of rations. After our alliance is confirmed, I'm even willing to allow our countries to engage in trade. You can use Mutant Beast nuclei, hide, flesh to exchange weapons, ammunition, and rations."
At this time, Mongolia, Beijing, Guang Xi, Hu Nan, and Vietnam had all regained some form of vitality and were producing ammunition and advanced equipment.
Due to the stability of these regions, the development of China was advancing rapidly. Every day, a huge amount of ammunition and weapons were being manufactured. 5,000 guns and 300,000 rounds of ammunition were peanuts to Yue Zhong.
With this sort of capital, Yue Zhong could promise such aid to the Russian Empire.
Hearing Yue Zhong's words, Lekov's eyes brightened up. What he was interested was not the aid promised, but the opening of trade. That way, they could exchange for plenty of weapons and ammunition.
The Russian Empire lacked a stable base right now, and their ammunition was about to be depleted, and there seemed to be no way to replenish it. If they could maintain this diplomatic relationship with China, trading for resources, they could continue their operations.
Lekov then replied, "The matter is important, please allow me to go and convey your words to my Tsar, and I'll get back to you with his reply."
Yue Zhong replied indifferently, "Sure!"
Lekov then saluted, before turning around to leave.
When he returned to his room, he quickly used a satellite phone to relay the message to Tsar Andre in Russia, conveying Yue Zhong's words.
When Andre heard Yue Zhong's proposed conditions, his face turned dark. He had originally intended to utilize the 600,000 farmers from Outer Mongolia.
Currently, there were only about a million Russians left in their empire. Without the 600,000 Outer Mongolians as manual labor, to build structures and be put to work, it would be harder for them to expand and develop in the future.
As he mulled over with a sunken expression, he finally gritted his teeth and replied, "Promise him. However, in exchange, there must be an agreement between our countries, no invasions. Get him to provide 10,000 rifles, a million rounds of ammo and 500 tonnes of rations."
After he finished, he seemed to have turned older by a few years, his heart bitter. He was full of regret over his decision to attack Yue Zhong initially.
This was 600,000 people! Furthermore, China had become one of the top 4 powers in the world right now under Yue Zhong's rule. They had factories and research and were developing steadily. Once they obtained the 600,000 people, it would be like giving wings to a tiger. In contrast, the Russian Empire would not be able to develop as smoothly without those 600,000 survivors.
He was full of regret, as he cursed madly, "Damned Germans, damned Yue Zhong!!"
Although he was reluctant, he had no choice but to accept this. This was because it was not so easy to groom those 10,000 Russian elite soldiers. If they could be returned, their value was higher than 600,000 farmers.
Furthermore, the 10,000 Russian forces were all Russian soldiers, thus they were more important to Andre than the 600,000 Outer Mongolians. If he sacrificed those 10,000 soldiers for 600,000 foreigners, and his people knew, they would lose faith in him. Under such considerations, he had to agree to Yue Zhong's conditions.
Once Andre made the decision, Lekov quickly passed on the message, and both sides drafted out and signed the agreement of their alliance. The counter-offer from Andre was not an issue to Yue Zhong, with the help of his production facilities, it was definitely manageable.
After the signing, both sides began to get to addressing their side of things.
Russian soldiers hoisted their weapons and equipment as they made their way home, while the 600,000 Outer Mongolians were escorted by Russian troops towards China. They cried as they left their homeland.
Yue Zhong had paid attention to the state of railroads as he recovered the various regions, thus, within his territories, transportation was not a hassle.
The moment the 600,000 Outer Mongolians entered China, they were then sent to the various parts of his territory, made to work on reparation and construction projects.
With the addition of manpower, China's development advanced quickly as a result.
After recovering Hebei, Yue Zhong allowed his forces to rest and recuperate, while the various areas in Hunan and Guang Xi stopped all expansion and recovery of territory, instead, focusing on training and rest.
The human forces were not zombies, after all, no matter how elite they were, being in combat for so long will wear them out. They had to rest, or else they would start to fall apart physically and mentally.
This time, Yue Zhong's wide-scale deployment had wiped out over 6 million zombies, at the same time, through Jiang Sheng and Gui Can, they gained over 10 million zombies. The entire Hebei region was in his control, and thus, his faction had expanded a whole lot more.
As they stopped for a while, Yue Zhong continued to practice, while waiting for the new weapons and technology to be produced. He had already obtained research from the 3rd World, handing it to his research department. The moment they received it, they began their studies and the manufacturing process.
A month later, in front of England's capital, London.
A huge horde of zombies was surging towards the armed forces of England. The soldiers were armed to the teeth, with countless heavy tanks, light tanks, IFVs, machine gun-mounted vehicles, assault helicopters, as both sides engaged in a merciless clash.