Chapter 247: 247, Qing Zhen seizes power

Qing Yun looked at Qing Zhen: "I hope you understand one thing—I am the one in command here. You may offer suggestions, but don't think that the entire command staff consists of only you as the smart one."

Qing Zhen paused, then looked back at Qing Yun: "I never said only I am the smart one. Luo Lan is quite capable too."

At that moment, Luo Lan was awakened by the voices, his sleepy eyes asking: "What? What did you say?"

Qing Zhen smiled: "I said, in this command tent, except for me and Luo Lan, everyone else is foolish."

Luo Lan suddenly sat up straight: "Qing Zhen is right!"

Qing Yun's face turned extremely ugly: "Self-proclaimed smart, yet still a prisoner beneath the steps?"

But as soon as he finished speaking, Qing Zhen smiled at him: "If you continue to serve as the commander here, the Qing family will be finished. From now on, I will take over all frontline operations. Secretary Zhou, go back and tell the old men to wait until the war is over to discuss anything."

As the words fell, the officer beside Qing Yun suddenly drew his sidearm and aimed it at Qing Yun's head, pulling the trigger.

The gunshot was jarringly loud within the tent. The surrounding officers tried to cry out, but their voices died in their throats.

Qing Yun's trusted aide immediately reached for his weapon to retaliate, but they discovered that within the entire camp, four or five others had also drawn their guns, pointing them at their targets!

For a moment, everyone in the tent fell silent, like cicadas in winter. In that instant, they all remembered what Qing Zhen had done before!

This was the maddest person in the Qing family!

Qing Yun carefully arranged each card on the table, hoping to gain the appreciation of the chairmanship.

But he did not expect Qing Zhen to flip the table entirely.

The Qing family's Silent Tiger—now it seemed he had returned the tiger to the mountain.

Secretary Zhou was terrified: "Qing Zhen! You dare plot against the operational commander! You dare plant your people around Qing Yun!"

Qing Zhen grinned: "Secretary Zhou, there might be my people around you too."

Secretary Zhou was so frightened he fled the command center, leaping into a car without even daring to bring a driver, speeding away in an off-road vehicle.

"This is finally peaceful," Luo Lan stretched lazily and laughed heartily: "How do we fight this war?"

"First, we need to reorganize our internal affairs," Qing Zhen said, glancing at the sand table: "Contract the defensive line. Don't spread our forces to Daping Mountain. The reconnaissance units must continue to engage in battle to prevent being ambushed by the Li and Yang families. Heavy weapons are hard to utilize in the mountains, and their roads aren't as good as ours. But both families' nano-soldiers require caution."

Qing Zhen continued: "Though we have yet to see what the nano-soldiers look like, among the three families at war, we are the only ones without them. We might become the weak point, the soft target. If we show any flaws first, this war could become... interesting. So what we must do now is not invade others, but avoid mistakes."

The chessboard is too vast. Only those who make fewer errors can play the game to the end.

As he spoke, Qing Zhen looked at Luo Lan: "Tomorrow, you go to the Yang family and negotiate terms. We'll deal with the Li family first."

Luo Lan agreed, but heard Qing Zhen address another person: "You go to the Li family. Negotiate terms with them. We can help them remove the Yang family's Pingshan defensive line. Depart now. If you succeed, I will record a great merit for you."

This man was Qing Yun's trusted aide, yet Qing Zhen did not kill him but entrusted him with this critical task.

After this man left, Luo Lan lowered his voice and asked curiously: "Why didn't you send me to the Li family?"

"The Li family has already gone mad," Qing Zhen whispered: "And there's a real lunatic there. You'd die if you went."

Only then did Luo Lan understand. Qing Zhen had never believed they could ally with the Li family. Sending Qing Yun's trusted aide to the Li family was sending him to his death.

Qing Zhen said: "Moreover, he's probably terrified to his core now. The operational units he took away must be his most trusted men. Those are likely Qing Yun's direct descendants. Let them perish on the Li family's territory."

Luo Lan's eyes lit up: "Brilliant!"

Qing Zhen suddenly sighed: "I misspoke earlier."

Luo Lan was stunned: "What did you say wrong? Which part?"

Qing Zhen looked at Luo Lan: "Actually, the only smart person in this tent is me. You don't count..."

Luo Lan: "???"

At that moment, Qing Zhen addressed the other officers: "Get to work on contracting the defensive line. I want to see the new deployment sand table by dawn tomorrow."

One officer hesitated and said: "A contingent of elite forces has already been dispatched to the Li family's territory. Qing Yun's plan was to intercept their Divine Machine Battalion based on intelligence. That Divine Machine Battalion has been acting alone, not coordinating with other units, so Qing Yun believed this was an opportunity to eliminate the threat at its inception."

Qing Zhen paused: "When were they sent? Where to?"

"They left a week ago, heading to Fengyi Mountain and Shuanglong Mountain," the officer replied.

Qing Zhen asked: "Recall them. There's no need for this unnecessary move at this time."

The officer hesitated: "It might be too late."

...

Ren Xiaosu and his team trekked through the wilderness. Due to the low temperature, the snow in the mountains had not melted, making their journey arduous. To make matters worse, it began to snow again.

Li Qingzheng sniffled and said: "To think we've come to this—if only I had stayed hidden. I thought joining a private army would improve my life, but it's worse than before... I miss the days at the outpost. Life was like heaven then!"

Another soldier from the operational squad asked curiously: "Was life at the outpost comfortable? Why is ours so miserable?"

Li Qingzheng immediately fell silent. How could he tell them that their outpost had wolf packs delivering prey?

The snow grew heavier. Ren Xiaosu looked up at the sky: "In the wilderness, once such heavy snow falls, it'll last at least a week. We can't go any further—we might get lost."

The officer leading the Divine Machine Battalion turned back: "What's there to fear? We have GPS. We won't get lost! You must listen to us and keep moving!"

After being beaten by Liu Taifu, the company commander of Tie Er Camp first fell into a coma, then developed a high fever.

The entire Tie Er Camp had no one to reason with, so they could only follow the Divine Machine Battalion's orders and continue forward.

Ren Xiaosu's identity was unique, but the Divine Machine Battalion had already spoken to him. If they made a mistake, no one would be spared. Now, even the Special Intelligence Division couldn't defy military orders.

At that moment, Ren Xiaosu wanted to say that he had already taken over the Smuggling Inspection Division's duties, and now taking charge of the Divine Machine Battalion didn't seem like a problem...

But it wasn't the time yet.

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