Chapter 91: Base Integration (6)

Xu Zibiao received the notice late on the night of July 29. The pressure on him was immense. He had never done this kind of work before. A military parade had to look imposing and civilized, while also satisfying Li Fengyi’s little scheme: it had to showcase the Special Committee’s achievements and cleverly contrast them with the mountainous regions of Mentougou and Huairou.

Before the apocalypse, his only experience in organizing group events had been as a bit player in the Spring Festival Gala, where he had been cursed within an inch of his life.

Everyone in the Propaganda Department was roused. They spent the night watching parade documentaries from past years and each person summarized the parts they thought were best. On the morning of July 30, the exhausted staff held a meeting and announced to the world that China would hold a grand military parade on August 1, 2015.

More than one hundred thousand troops took part in this parade. Li Fengyi and Commander Liu sat in the rear, listening to the plan and deployment, making decisions on the spot whenever approval was needed.

The mountain forces of Mentougou and Huairou agreed to each dispatch an armored unit. Together they fielded 1,000 men, 100 latest-model tanks, 50 latest-model rocket artillery vehicles, 50 self-propelled guns, 20 tactical surface-to-surface missile launchers, and 20 air-defense missile launchers. They knew perfectly well that their total numbers together were still not even a fraction of the Special Committee’s, so they resolved to send out their main battle equipment instead, highlighting their own strengths and making themselves look magnificent in the process.

Whether it was the army, the government, or the survivors, everyone could see that the Special Committee was taking this opportunity to display its accomplishments and seize the initiative. But there was nothing anyone could do about it. The rationale was far too righteous to object to; it was naked strategy, yet impossible to refute.

This parade had been thrown together in extreme haste. The Special Committee’s field troops had all been sent out along the roads and rail lines to conduct clearing operations, and two divisions had to be recalled overnight. The other eight divisions were drawn from the city garrison forces. In addition, an armored division that was still undergoing training at military academy was also sent out. They were equipped with a variety of obsolete hardware, and in the short time they had been trained, their greatest improvement was simply learning how to start the machines. The Special Committee had also prepared a secret performance.

The Propaganda Department pestered the Industry Department into repairing the television broadcast equipment. From then on, they intended to film every major event and send video signals around the world, though the number of viewers was destined to be pitifully small.

At dawn on August 1, 2015, the parade for the anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army began.

Many members of the democratic parties were seated on the viewing stand. Minister Ou of the Health Ministry sat in the first seat. The others were rescued survivors affiliated with the democratic parties, along with many figures from the Apocalypse Human Heroes List.

First from the Gate Tower came the ceremonial guards. They wore full chain mail, carried oversized butcher-style sabers on their backs, had one-and-a-half-meter steel pipes at their waists, and marched in step while holding the national flag and the August First military flag. In truth, it was only roughly a goose-step. The survivor-soldiers of the Special Committee spent their days drilling with steel pipes and machetes just to stay alive, so they had no time to practice the finer points of parade marching. Still, they had all gone through school military training, so they broadly knew what proper marching was.

Every few meters, one ceremonial guard stopped and took position, filling the entire length of Chang’an Avenue in front of the Gate Tower.

Then came the flag-raising ceremony. The honor guard formed by the Special Committee, dressed in full chain mail with butcher-style sabers on their backs and steel pipes of one and a half meters at their waists, marched in formation to the flag platform in the Square. The stirring national anthem rose up:

Arise, you who refuse to be slaves!
With our flesh and blood, let us build our new Great Wall.
The Chinese nation has reached its most perilous moment;
everyone is forced to let out their final roar.

Arise! Arise! Arise!
With our millions of hearts as one, let us brave the enemy’s gunfire!
Let us brave the enemy’s gunfire!
Advance! Advance! Advance!

As the anthem played, the national flag was raised. Everyone present stood at attention and watched solemnly, while the soldiers saluted.

The anthem was broadcast by radio and television. China had not perished!
China would continue to struggle against the fangs and claws of the zombies. The survivors who heard it all straightened their backs. The courage in their hearts to fight the zombies was powerfully awakened.

After the flag-raising ceremony, the Propaganda Department enthusiastically introduced the guest participants, announcing one congratulatory base after another by name. Those who had once threatened to wipe out the Special Committee were ignored. The United Front Department was thrilled, and Ye Liusun’s notebook kept rustling as he recorded everything.

By the time the Propaganda Department had finished reading the long list, an hour had already passed. It was now nine o’clock in the morning.

The parade officially began.

Li Fengyi sat on the parade vehicle. They had found the Hongqi HEQ parade command vehicle used in the 2009 National Day parade. As it moved past the troops under review, it stopped in front of Commander Liu’s command vehicle. Li Fengyi reported in a loud voice, “Comrade General, the parade formations are ready. Please inspect them. Parade Commander-in-Chief Li Fengyi reporting!”

Li Fengyi was not arrogant enough to presume to inspect the troops himself. The mountain forces would not acknowledge some late-blooming novice who had been in the business for only a few months and knew nothing beyond waving steel pipes and machetes.

Commander Liu gave a broad sweep of his hand, just as he had once done when leading a suicide squad to the front lines. “Begin!”

Li Fengyi shouted back, “Yes, sir!”

The stirring music of the People’s Liberation Army anthem rang out. Commander Liu drove past the formations, and Li Fengyi followed closely behind.

Every so often, Commander Liu called out, “Hello, comrades! You have worked hard!”

The troops under review answered in thunderous unison, “Hello, sir! We serve the people!”

After the inspection came the parade formations.

Li Fengyi and Commander Liu, together with the military leaders of the Mentougou and Huairou mountain forces, stepped onto the Gate Tower and began reviewing the march-past.

The Propaganda Department’s announcers shouted into their microphones with all their might from scripts drafted overnight. The commentary prepared by the male and female broadcasters would be transmitted worldwide through radio and television signals. For that reason, two third-year students from the China University of Media and Communications were overjoyed. Who said it was hard for college graduates to find work? We haven’t even graduated yet and we already have decent jobs! Three snow-white steamed buns a day, too!

“Now passing the Gate Tower is the First Temporary Company of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.”

In fact, this First Company was the company Li Fengyi had belonged to before he met Commander Liu. Aside from those who had died or been wounded, its former members were now scattered among leadership positions from the regiment level upward in various units, but the designation had been preserved.

“This company is wearing ordinary clothes and has no protective gear. The bed boards in their hands were pried off from civilian beds. The steel pipes they carry were ripped from water mains and heating pipes.”

Li Fengyi noticed that one of the bed boards still had a huge Pleasant Goat sticker on it. He had not expected the Propaganda Department to have gone to such great lengths, even finding the very first bed board they had used. That had been his son Li Zeyu’s.

That bed board was later displayed in the National Museum.

“This company, from the very day the apocalypse began, has kept striving to improve itself, always remembering the mission of the soldier. They rose by tearing up bed boards, took up steel pipes as weapons, and rescued the people from the zombies. They have killed no fewer than five thousand zombies and saved no fewer than eighty survivors...”