novelaction Chapter 1413 Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
Chapter 1413 Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
With all the participating leaders present, Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Vietnamese Political Party, cleared his throat, breaking the silence.
"Now that everyone is here, let's have Minister of National Defense Fan Wencha introduce the situation of the 2nd Division on the northern border!"
Upon hearing this, Defense Minister Pham Van Tra nodded to Nguyen Phu Trong, then picked up the newly printed materials in front of him and said in a serious tone:
"Comrades, we have just received an urgent telegram forwarded by the First Military Region. It was sent from the headquarters of the 2nd Division."
The 2nd Division? It's that same unit again?
Upon hearing this familiar name, the expressions of the Vietnamese high-ranking officials present changed, and some even showed signs of impatience.
Didn't we already have a meeting and make a decision before? Why are we bringing it up again?
Could it be that Zhou Bang would really invade the Yue Kingdom?
Isn't this funny?
Given the population density of Zhou Bang, it would be a miracle if they could control the domestic situation at this moment. Where would they have the extra energy and resources to launch a war against their own country?
These local troops are utterly useless! They were terrified just by seeing Zhou Bang's army appear on the border!!
For such a trivial matter, they actually sent two telegrams to the Central Committee in just two days. In such a situation, is the Central Committee just keeping them around for nothing?
In addition, some of the high-ranking officials present also speculated about the North-South conflict, especially the Southern faction, who wondered if the Northern faction was unwilling to lose control of the 3rd Military Region and was deliberately creating a pretext to deploy troops into the Hanoi area.
(ps: The 3rd Military Region is mainly responsible for the defense of the capital region of Vietnam. Its status is equivalent to that of the Zhou Bang Shenjing Military Region. For the sake of political balance, the position of commander is usually held by a neutral military leader who is recognized by both factions.)
Defense Minister Pham Van Chat seemed oblivious to the strange atmosphere, his eyes fixed solely on the telegram before him:
"The 2nd Division Headquarters sends its message to the 1st Military Region Headquarters and requests that it be forwarded to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Ministry of National Defense:"
Early this morning, Li Guangzhong, a reconnaissance staff officer of our unit, returned from Pingxiang.
According to its report, Zhou Bang's army has amassed more heavy equipment than expected in the Pingxiang area, including various types of tanks, armored vehicles, large-caliber artillery, and long-range rocket artillery.
The other side has made a request to us for 'reorganization' through Li Guangzhong, and has shown us precise reconnaissance intelligence on all our positions, camps and warehouses.
The opposing side claimed to have deployed over 400 artillery pieces covering the entirety of our defense zone, including 380mm long-range rocket launchers. They threatened to launch a devastating attack immediately if our unit refused to reorganize.
Our unit currently has only enough ammunition to sustain high-intensity combat for three days, and food reserves for no more than a week. The morale of officers and soldiers... has been severely impacted.
Given the vast disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves, and the fact that the enemy has already grasped all of our deployments, continuing to hold the border is no longer of any practical significance.
Our unit requests permission to conduct a tactical retreat to the south, relying on the mountainous terrain to resist step by step, in order to buy time and space. At the same time, we request the Central Committee to send reinforcements or coordinate with the Third Military Region to provide support.
Please provide instructions immediately.
2nd Division Commander Nguyen Van Hung
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
After the telegram was read, a brief silence fell over the meeting room, but this silence lasted for less than three seconds.
"400 artillery pieces? 380mm rocket launchers?"
Zhang Guangping, the director of the government office who belonged to the Southern faction, was the first to speak. When he mentioned the data in the telegram, his tone was not serious at all, but rather full of amusement.
"Comrade Fan Wencha, I don't know much about military matters. I just want to ask one question: According to your Ministry of National Defense's intelligence, was there really such a large-scale artillery deployment in the Pingxiang border area before the end of Zhou Bang's reign?"
"Wow—over a hundred 380mm rocket launchers!"
Zhang Guangping, the director of the government office from the Southern faction, made a statement that sounded like an exclamation, but was actually full of mocking sarcasm.
They're practically saying, "If you're going to make this up, at least make it believable!"
Upon hearing this, Defense Minister Pham Van Cha, a neutral party member, pretended not to understand the implied meaning in the other person's words and simply answered the question:
"No, for the sake of regional stability, before the apocalypse, the deployment of border troops between us and Zhou Bang was semi-public."
“Especially in the last ten years or so, we have had no border friction with Zhou Bang. In addition, economic exchanges have deepened year by year. Zhou Bang has no need or reason to go to great lengths to secretly deploy so many cannons in Pingxiang.”
With the endorsement of Defense Minister Fan Wencha, Zhang Guangping, the Southern faction's Director of the Government Office, became even more arrogant, and immediately made a conclusion that everyone found utterly absurd:
"So, can I understand that these cannons were transported here after the fall of the Zhou Dynasty?"
Deploying 400 artillery pieces in the apocalypse?
Do you know how large a scale 400 artillery pieces is?
Based on the firepower configuration of their Vietnamese troops, it would take about three armies to assemble 400 artillery pieces!
Even if they were all replaced with professional artillery units, that would still be at least 14 artillery regiments!
Even if Zhou Bang's firepower was much stronger than Vietnam's, it would still be at least the size of two armies or four artillery brigades.
Are you saying that in the end times, Zhou Bang ignored domestic affairs and mobilized the main force of the entire Southern Theater Command, overcoming numerous dangers and difficulties, to come to Pingxiang on the frontier, just to fight his own 2nd Division of the 1st Military Region?!
Even if Zhang Guangping, the director of the government office from the Southern faction, was completely ignorant of military affairs, he would never utter such a stupid statement.
Therefore, his conclusion was actually a case of the 2nd Division of the 1st Military Region of Yin and Yang, or rather, the leaders of the Northern faction present, treating everyone present as fools!
Seeing the meeting room fall silent again, Zhang Guangping, the director of the government office from the southern faction, did not stop but continued to press the issue.
However, instead of confronting Nguyen Phu Trong, the leader of the Northern Faction and General Secretary, he looked directly at Le Van Dung, the Chief of the General Staff of the Northern Faction, who was sitting right across from him.
Soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals, and pairing up at the same level is a battle without breaking apart, but challenging someone of a higher level means completely tearing off all pretenses.
"Chief of General Staff Li Wenyong, comrades, please allow me to speak frankly."
At this point, Zhang Guangping, the Southern faction's government office director, filled with aggressive ambition, stood up, walked to the map on the wall, and pointed to the location of Pingxiang:
"Within the Zhou Kingdom, since the outbreak of the apocalypse, the death toll is conservatively estimated to be over 15 billion, or even more!"
"Given their pre-apocalyptic population density and numerous megacities, the impact on their government, military, and logistical systems would have been far greater than on ours!"
"It took us two whole years to barely restore order to some parts of the suburbs of Hanoi, while most of the country is still in complete chaos!"
"Zhou Bang? How could Zhou Bang not only control the domestic disasters within two years, but also assemble a force of 'more than 400 cannons' and 'nearly 100 380mm rocket launchers' to invade us?"