Chapter 973 The Possibility of Alliance

"Commander, what do you find 'interesting'?"

Gu Chengyuan's meaningful sigh immediately caught the attention of Wu Bin, the chief of staff of the theater. He put down the report in his hand and looked at Gu Chengyuan sitting opposite him with an inquiring look.

"I'm talking about Gao Zhikai, the commander of the 76th Corps."

Gu Chengyuan's fingers tapped lightly on the resume document about Gao Zhikai spread out on the table, with an elusive smile on the corner of his mouth: "This person is quite interesting."

"Indeed." Chief of Staff Wu Bin nodded slightly, his tone maintaining his usual calmness, but his words were cautious: "He is a ruthless hawkish general."

His stance has always been impartial and peaceful, and he has always had reservations about Gao Zhikai's style of doing things, especially the record in his resume of causing real casualties in order to achieve victory in exercises. In his eyes, this has exceeded the necessary limits.

Exercises are exercises after all, and the cruel choices in actual combat can be understood as "choosing the lesser of two evils", but such disregard for life in a simulated confrontation can only mean that this person's competitive spirit is so intense that it is almost paranoid, and he will do anything to achieve his goals.

Therefore, in response to the leader's ambiguous sentiment, Wu Bin rarely agreed, but only responded with an objective description without making any biased comments.

However, Gu Chengyuan didn't seem to expect the Chief of Staff to comment too much on Gao Zhikai personally. He suddenly changed the subject, cast a sharp gaze at Wu Bin, and raised the core question:

"Chief of Staff, what do you think of the strategic situation in the entire Western Theater? In other words, what strategy do you think our Central Plains Theater should adopt to deal with the Western Theater?"

No matter how "interesting" Gao Zhikai is, he is ultimately just a legion commander. In Gu Chengyuan's eyes, his personality traits are just the characteristics of a chess piece in the grand chess game, and are far from enough to shake the strategic chessboard of the Zhongzhou War Zone based on absolute strength.

In the face of overwhelming land and air currents, those who follow the flow survive, while those who go against it perish. Individual characteristics are completely insignificant.

Gu Chengyuan specifically mentioned the limit of what Gao Zhikai can do at the moment.

Hearing the commander's question, Chief of Staff Wu Bin's expression froze. He leaned forward slightly, quickly sorting out his thoughts. After a moment, he reported in a steady and clear tone:

"Report, Commander! Based on current intelligence analysis, I personally believe that the Western Theater Command bears a high degree of similarity to the Southern Theater Command we previously encountered, and both possess immense value and potential for united front work!"

He analyzed the core basis in detail:

"First, there is a significant generational gap in military strength, and we hold absolute strategic initiative."

"This has been fully confirmed by this aerial reconnaissance operation and the 'Western Theater Joint Target Reconnaissance Reorganization Report'."

"Both its main air force equipment and its army's mechanization level are two generations or more behind ours."

"The one-way battlefield transparency and strike effectiveness advantages brought about by the technological gap give us an unquestionable and overwhelming advantage at the military level, sufficient to firmly grasp the strategic initiative."

"Second, the core lifeline is exposed: the military-industrial system is collapsing, and logistical support is on the verge of collapse."

"This is a fatal strategic weakness shared by both the Western and Southern Theaters!" Wu Bin emphasized the key point:

"By systematically combing through the pre-apocalyptic industrial base and production capacity distribution of each province within its jurisdiction, and combining this aerial reconnaissance with the high-value target confirmation results."

“The conclusion is clear: the Western theater of war has failed to rebuild or maintain an effective military-industrial chain after the apocalypse.”

At this point, Chief of Staff Wu Bin pointed to the clear aerial photography illustrations in the report:

"In core army garrison hubs such as Xining, Golmud, and Delingha, our J-16 fleet conducted high-precision imaging reconnaissance and found no large-scale modern military factories with economies of scale and sustained production capabilities."

"At the same time, their garrisons are seriously disconnected from their military production facilities. This is an extremely abnormal and dangerous signal in the apocalyptic war environment!"

"This profoundly explains why the Western Theater, which enjoyed a relatively relaxed external environment, was forced to launch a campaign for Lan City, a major industrial city in the northwest, more than half a year after the apocalypse."

"The only explanation is that they are extremely lacking in self-sustaining capabilities and desperately need to seize existing industrial bases to survive!"

"Because of this," Wu Bin made a key inference, "the Western Theater, like the Southern Theater, will inevitably and passively form a deeply dependent and complementary relationship with us in terms of industry, especially the supply of high-end military products and key components!"

"This may become the biggest strategic fulcrum for our united front work!"

As Chief of Staff Wu Bin finished speaking, Gu Chengyuan nodded in agreement.

Just as Chief of Staff Wu Bin said, Gu Chengyuan also thought so in his heart.

He is not a super hero whose mentality becomes inflated and distorted after he possesses the system. How could he casually resort to violence against his compatriots?

In his view, resorting to force is a completely inferior option. A peaceful united front is undoubtedly the best option, and in retrospect, it is also the most historically justifiable...

Otherwise, even if brothers seem to be right now, they will easily become a reason for future generations to attack them. This has been the case throughout history.

People like to find bright spots in villains and dark spots in heroes. Otherwise, how can they stand out from the "masses" and prove their "independence" in thinking and looking at problems?

'Niche' is actually a very 'popular' thing, and ordinary people dislike 'ordinary' the most.

The essential purpose of whitewashing and smearing is mostly just to highlight oneself. The so-called anti-authority and anti-mainstream are actually against one's own "mediocrity".

Therefore, precisely because he understood these things, Gu Chengyuan never expected to be remembered for what he did after his death.

Perhaps after several years have passed since the end of the apocalypse, when the despair and bloodshed of the apocalypse have gradually been forgotten, when people have grown accustomed to and come to believe that life should be peaceful and stable...

By that time, it would be the beginning of Gu Chengyuan's career success, but also the beginning of his being questioned...

He will most likely become a target for many people to prove themselves, just like the leaders and sages of the past.

Using a magnifying glass, they meticulously examine his life, his decisions, his family, and both official and unofficial history to prove he was nothing special: his brother had three wives, his family ruled the country, his military dictatorship and authoritarian politics...

By that time, he wouldn't ask for much, just to avoid being labeled an ambitious or conspirator because of what he's doing now...

After all, no one can bring into the mood of the times. If the apocalypse could really be ended, future generations would only remember this sentence for exams: the period when mankind was closest to extinction...

Just like the saying: 'There was a great famine, people ate each other, and bones were scattered for thousands of miles.'

Because the distance is so great, most modern people find it difficult to empathize even if they exhaust their imagination.

It only makes many people yearn for it after they have eaten their fill, and feel disgusted with the dullness of their own lives, so that they imagine themselves experiencing a magnificent life in that era and achieving unprecedented achievements...

...