Chapter 52 Summing Up Experience, the Expeditionary Army Prepares to Move (2)

After another round of detailed calculations, the staff estimated that it would take roughly five to seven days to complete the entire operation. Afterwards, the reconnaissance battalion would continue eastward to the Wenyu River to establish a defensive line, then split along the river in both northern and southern directions. The northern force would advance into the mountainous area of Miyun, then extend defenses westward along the mountain range. The southern force would move down the Wenyu River to Liangshui River, then turn towards Xinfeng River and continue west until linking up with the Yongding River, following it until it met the mountains of Mentougou.

In this way, a natural boundary would be created along the northern and western mountains of Beijing, with rivers forming obstacles to the south and east. The main force would then clear the area along the routes secured by the reconnaissance battalion.

“In Hepingli, there are five high-rise apartment blocks, each twenty-two stories tall. At three meters per floor, they're nearly seventy meters high,” Ma Xiaoshuai reported to Li Fengyi. “We'll cross first over the Dongtu City Road Bridge, clear out the zombies, establish a defensive line, and the reconnaissance battalion will spearhead the advance. The main force will follow and secure the area.”

“What a beautiful plan—bully the weak, avoid the strong,” Li Fengyi thought to himself, though he said nothing. Before the apocalypse, everyone was well-educated and motivated enough to see the dark side of every situation.

The First Company of the reconnaissance battalion was the first to climb atop the closed corridor built above the city rail bridge to block out train noise. Li Fengyi, accompanied by his guards, followed them up. Using his Type-95 7x40 military binoculars, he looked into the distance. The cars crushed by Li Qiang’s tank unit looked like tin cans, a trail of twisted metal extending into the distance. Numerous dark stains marked the ground—human blood.

Li Fengyi wondered if the tanks had run down any people trapped inside those cars. Even if they had, there was little to be said; he understood, more deeply than ever, the irrevocability of military orders.

Parallel to the city rail bridge stood a wide pedestrian overpass. Drawn by the scent of human flesh, zombies had already begun surging up the bridge, hurling themselves toward them from across the gap.

There was a perforated stretch between the rail bridge and the overpass. The First Company held their fire, watching as the zombies toppled off the bridge to the ground below, quickly piling up. The zombies felt no fear; their only desire was human flesh.

“Block the stairways!” the company commander shouted. Crossbows were aimed at the entrances on either side of the overpass, bolts raining down like a storm. Li Fengyi nodded approvingly as the zombies fell, one after another. Once the entrances were blocked, more crossbowmen joined in to clear the remaining zombies on the overpass. Soon after, the Second Company brought up fifty-kilogram sacks of earth, stacking them atop the heap of writhing zombies filling the median. The zombies were quickly crushed. They had chosen a clever spot—on the sidewalk—so that future traffic wouldn’t be impeded.

The First Company formed a shield wall atop the city rail bridge, digging in at the stairway, taking turns to wear down the zombies’ numbers.

The Third Company descended by rope from the center of the overpass. From there, it was standard procedure: they advanced all the way to the Xiba River Bridge, blocking entrances to each residential area with cars, setting up barricades, then turning back to clear out all the zombies in the area. There were no casualties, and the whole process took less than an hour.

Thus, the reconnaissance battalion advanced all the way to the gates of the National Exhibition Center, while the Provisional First Army organized units to sweep the area clean behind them.

On the day the world ended, the International Beauty Industry Electronics Expo was being held. As a result, over three hundred foreigners were rescued. When Ye Liujun from the United Front Department learned of this, he was left scratching his head and reported the matter to the Special Committee.

For this, Li Fengyi returned to attend a Special Committee meeting. The main topic: was there a need to establish a Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

“The whole world’s in chaos,” Li Fengyi said. “We don’t even know how many countries are left. Even if they do exist, can they come and take their people back? If not, how should we treat these refugees?”

“Didn’t we always treat these people well?” Li Qiang scratched his head. “But something about this feels off… Why should we?”

“In the past, we were like poor country folk dealing with city dwellers,” General Liu began, circling around the topic. “Naturally, there was some inferiority complex, hoping for aid from more developed regions, so we had all sorts of preferential policies. There’s also some traditional thinking: as long as you don’t harm me, I’ll try not to harm you—a mix of hospitality and pragmatism.”

“We’ll treat everyone equally,” Li Fengyi felt this explanation was apt. “We can’t let them join the military, but maybe later we can form a foreign legion, like the French. We can’t always be the ones bleeding and sweating while they live in comfort.”

Now that China had risen to second in the world, surpassing the Americans in many areas, there was no need for self-abasement or for special treatment of foreigners out of self-protection.

Thus, the foreigners were dispersed and sent to quarantine camps among the survivors. At first, there were concerns about language barriers, but it quickly became clear that the Beijing survivors spoke every language imaginable. The foreigners were treated like country relatives—over the radio came news that their home countries had also fallen, and the Special Committee's territory was more stable than most.

In the end, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs was established, temporarily attached to the United Front Department, with both the minister and party secretary drawn from its ranks.

No one seemed clear on the distinction: the United Front Department is a party organization, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a government body.

That very afternoon, the reconnaissance battalion had advanced to the Sihuan Bridge. Thanks to China's dense population and general disregard for traffic laws, nearly all roads were lined with fences to prevent jaywalking, which greatly helped the clearing operation. The heavy traffic jams and numerous obstacles also aided the Provisional First Army’s follow-up forces, who were able to proceed smoothly, searching along the roads without entering residential areas. Even so, they had already rescued over ten thousand people, who were steadily sent back to the Special Committee.

“To think, when I first started, I had only a dozen men and seven or eight homemade rifles,” Li Fengyi thought to himself as he watched the long columns of evacuees, feeling secretly proud and humming a reworked Peking opera tune. “After a period of rest and retraining, these will all be good hands—only problem is, we’re running short on food. An army without grain is a riot waiting to happen…”

The Coal Hospital at Xiba River Bridge was also reclaimed. The Special Committee immediately assigned this general hospital to the Health Department. In truth, everyone was somewhat afraid of the Health Department's zombie experiments. When conditions allowed, the Special Committee planned to relocate the zombie research facility—a so-called “biochemical base” in industry parlance—to Xiaotangshan, the base where the epidemic had once been defeated years ago.