#80 - Chapter 80 Zong Zhengyue's Shock

"Brother Zong, guess what I brought you?" Yan Zhengping's loud voice preceded him into the room.

"Old Yan, what wind blew you in my direction? Come, sit!" Zongzhengyue stood up to greet him.

"Hmm? What's wrong? You don't look too good!" Yan Zhengping asked, noticing Zongzhengyue's expression.

"Oh, it's nothing. Is there something you needed today?" Zongzhengyue asked, avoiding the question.

"Hey! Nothing really, just wandering around. I just got my hands on two bottles of good wine and thought I'd come over and have a couple of drinks with you, Brother Zong."

"Spare me that, will you? Do you think I don't know you? You wouldn't leave your den for nothing. And you brought your own drinks?" Zongzhengyue said with disdain.

"Let's go, let's go! Find a quiet place, get a couple of appetizers, and we'll talk while we eat." Yan Zhengping urged him to get up, no longer trying to explain.

The two men sat down in a quiet room, with a few side dishes placed on the table. Yan Zhengping twisted open the bottle and filled both their glasses.

Zongzhengyue seemed absent-minded, watching the whole time without lifting a finger.

"Brother Zong, you seem off today! Come on, let's have one." Yan Zhengping said, raising his glass.

Zongzhengyue didn't say anything, raised his glass, clinked it against Yan Zhengping's, and drank it all in one gulp.

Yan Zhengping looked at him, didn't say anything, and drank his own in one gulp as well.

After a few rounds of wine and a few bites of food, Yan Zhengping finally got to the point.

"Brother Zong, I came to you today because I need your help with something," Yan Zhengping said.

"Speak!" Zongzhengyue said succinctly.

"It's like this: our Southwest Military Region is currently withdrawing its defenses from the three provinces of Nanjiang, Huguang, and Beihai, right? But there are still fifty or sixty settlements above ground, and we can't just abandon those people. So I was wondering if I could temporarily borrow your transport planes to move those people to a safe location as soon as possible," Yan Zhengping explained his purpose.

"Old Yan, do you think it's still meaningful to do these things?" Zongzhengyue asked in a low voice.

"What do you mean?" Yan Zhengping frowned.

"What is the purpose of our proposed '2055 Human Survival White Paper'?" Zongzhengyue asked.

"These are two completely different things," Yan Zhengping replied.

"They are one and the same! Old Yan, I advise you, do less of this kind of thing in the future!" Zongzhengyue was getting worked up.

"Brother Zong, what are you talking about? Protecting the territory and its people is the duty of us soldiers. Are we supposed to just stand by and watch those people die?" Yan Zhengping's temper flared up.

"Did you not attend the council's meeting, or did you not understand the articles? The documents have already been issued to each settlement. Their chance of survival needs to be earned by themselves. Why are you meddling in so many unnecessary affairs? Can you manage it all? Do you have the ability to manage it?" Zongzhengyue retorted unpleasantly.

"Zong Four-Eyes, I finally understand. Suo Tonghua from the Northeast was right; you're just a coward!" Yan Zhengping was furious.

"Who's a coward? Old Yan, I'm telling you, it's only because it's you. If anyone else said that, I'd beat the crap out of them!" Zongzhengyue stood up, pointing at Yan Zhengping.

"Then explain to me, when did the people's affairs become unnecessary affairs?" Yan Zhengping asked, suppressing his anger.

"It's because you haven't experienced it. Ten thousand excellent commanders and soldiers fell in the zombie frenzy, without even making a ripple!" Zongzhengyue said loudly, with tears faintly visible in his eyes.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Yan Zhengping calmed his anger and asked in a low voice.

"Alas! Just yesterday, the Matang Settlement in Haizhou City was surrounded by zombies, and the mayor of Haizhou City, Zuo Wenshan, asked for help. Tell me, should I send troops or not? I had the same idea as you at the time: what are we soldiers for? Isn't it to protect the people? But what was the result? All dead! All dead! All turned into zombies!" Zongzhengyue's eyes were bloodshot. He took a deep breath, took off his glasses, and advised:

"So I'm telling you, Old Yan, don't take on a task if you don't have the skills. Don't end up failing to get things done and wasting the lives of our soldiers."

"So that's how it is!" Yan Zhengping understood.

No wonder Zongzhengyue seemed so strange today.

Yan Zhengping walked to Zongzhengyue's side and pushed him back into his seat. Then he walked to the opposite side and sat down again.

He filled their glasses.

"Brother Zong, to be honest, I've felt the same way before. Last year, I issued an order strictly forbidding anyone from going out on missions. It's not that we're heartless, it's not that we don't care about the lives of the people. But managing it is worse than not managing it at all. How do you manage it? If we want to win this crisis, we can't just rely on a rush of blood to the head," Yan Zhengping said, drinking a full glass and refilling it.

"But this year is different. I'll tell you quietly, just my Zhanfeng Commando Company, do you know how many zombies they've killed in the last three months?"

"How many?" Zongzhengyue asked.

"100,000!" Yan Zhengping raised his eyes to look at him, reporting a number.

"How many casualties?" Zongzhengyue continued to ask. If casualties weren't a concern, eliminating 100,000 zombies wouldn't be anything.

"No casualties," Yan Zhengping smiled mysteriously.

"What?" Zongzhengyue stood up in surprise, staring intently at him.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible," Zongzhengyue didn't believe it at all.