Apocalypse Rebirth: 3000 million won at the beginning

Chapter 2210 A generous reward will surely attract brave men!
At the entrance of the command hall.

Standing by the door, facing questions from Liu Jianwen, the Deputy Minister of the Military Department and Director of the Armaments Department, Yi Jing awkwardly forced a smile, but it looked rather unpleasant.

"Forehead"

"Minister, you guessed right. The tungsten carbide alloy bullets at fortresses No. 4 and No. 8 are almost used up, and they are requesting ammunition support."

Upon hearing this news, Liu Jianwen's anxiety finally subsided.

He rubbed his forehead, looking at Li Yu with a helpless expression:
"Commander, we just delivered 1000 million tungsten carbide alloy bullets to the oil city. Now, the headquarters base only has less than 5000 million tungsten carbide alloy bullets left. At this rate of consumption, our tungsten carbide bullet inventory will be exhausted in twenty days!"

After hearing Liu Jianwen's complaints, Li Yu felt a shadow fall over his heart.

He never imagined that they would face an ammunition shortage in the tenth year of the apocalypse.

Over the years, the forces of the Great Camphor Tree have always had a relatively abundant supply of ammunition, and the rate of consumption has not even kept up with the rate of production.

After all, the previous zombie hordes were mainly defended using smart mobile guillotines and other methods.

Bullet firing is only to be used in emergency situations.

Each time a natural disaster strikes and zombie hordes attack, they don't consume a large amount of ammunition.

However, nowadays, when faced with monstrous zombies like the King Kong Zombie, they have very few options for dealing with them.

Li Yu glanced at the Book of Changes and said:

"Old Yi, come in first."

Yi Jing quickly closed the door behind him and carefully sat down at the far end of the long table in the command hall.

There were quite a few high-ranking officials in the command center this time, dozens of people sitting there in a dense crowd.

The main leaders of the military, industry, science and technology, internal affairs, and even base operations were all present.

After taking his seat, Li Yu looked around at everyone present and said after a moment:

"Now that everyone has their own opinion, I don't want to hear about the problems anymore. There's no point in discussing the problems. Let's just talk about what solutions everyone has."

silence.

For a moment, no one in the command hall spoke.

Old Zhou, the head of the military factory who had always advocated for mining tungsten outside the region, saw that everyone was silent, so he took the initiative to speak:

"Sir, I still hold the same opinion. Given the current situation, mining is imperative. I know that going out to mine is extremely difficult now, but I can't think of any other solution without mining."

“Okay, going out to mine is one way. Regarding the current problem of the King Kong zombies, does anyone else have anything to say?” Li Yu asked.

After a moment of silence, He Bing, Vice Minister of Science and Technology, suddenly said:

"Open source and cost reduction. Old Zhou's idea was to open source and find a way to get more tungsten ore, and also to reduce costs."

"Currently, combat personnel generally use 7.62mm bullets, but against King Kong zombies, the size of the bullet doesn't really matter. As long as the bullet can penetrate their head, it can kill them."

"As far as I know, our armaments depot still has a large number of firearms with 5.8mm bullets. If we change firearms, we can save 4.5 bullet cores per 5.8mm bullet."

而且如果把5.8毫米的弹芯从 3.5克减少到2克，7.6吨的钨钢能够造 380万颗钨钢合金子弹”

Before he could finish speaking, Yi Jing couldn't contain himself any longer and raised his hand to retort:

"No, this method does save tungsten steel, but the bullet core is too thin and may not be able to penetrate the skin of the King Kong zombie, thus wasting bullets!"

"I object!"

He Bing glanced at him and said bluntly:
"I know you're in a hurry, but please be patient and let me finish what I have to say!"

"My idea is to wrap the outer layer of the missile core with ordinary steel, and only keep the core part made of tungsten steel. This way, we can save materials and ensure penetration power!"

Of course, the actual results still need to be tested, but based on my experience, I think there shouldn't be any major problems.

Old Zhou from the military factory's eyes lit up, and he nodded, saying:
"Minister He's idea is indeed good. By changing the firearms and adjusting the bullet core, at least three-quarters of the tungsten steel can be saved!"

Bai Jie, sitting at the long table, raised a question:
"But why not just use 7.62mm bullets and reduce the bullet weight to 2 grams? Wouldn't that eliminate the need to change firearms and be much more convenient?"

Bai Jie's question shows she's not an expert.

It's important to know that different types of bullets are compatible with different firearms.

A 7.62mm bullet weighs nearly 8 grams.

If the core of the warhead is reduced to 2.5 grams, there will be big problems.

Old Zhou quickly explained:
"Minister Bai, this won't work. 5.8mm bullets are already small, and reducing them to 2 grams is the limit. If we use bullets of the same specification as 7.62mm and reduce them to 2 grams, there will be big problems."

Moreover, although the 5.8mm bullet is not as lethal as the 7.62mm bullet, it has less recoil because it is a smaller caliber bullet, allowing combat personnel to fire at a faster rate and increase the hit rate.

Improving the hit rate against these Vajra zombies indirectly reduces the consumption of tungsten steel.

After hearing this, Bai Jie awkwardly shut her mouth.

Although she is the Minister of Science and Technology, she doesn't know much about military factories. Her major is biochemistry, so it's normal that she doesn't understand the military industry.

To ease Bai Jie's embarrassment, Li Yu took over the conversation, saying:
"That's right. The method He Bing just proposed can reduce tungsten steel consumption by three-quarters. Besides that, does anyone have any other ideas?"

Liu Jianwen coughed, looked at Li Yu, then at He Bing, and said:
"The thirty mechs that we deployed this morning performed quite well in the battle against the zombies. If we can produce more of these mechs, we will be able to turn the tables and take the initiative to go out and deal with the King Kong zombies."

"In addition, the mech's main offensive weapon is a laser cannon, as well as a heavy-duty machine gun. The laser cannon can also take down the King Kong zombie. The laser cannon mainly consumes electricity, which our base can easily afford!"

Liu Jianwen became more and more excited as he spoke, and his eyes shone brighter and brighter.

"By the way, we can also mass-produce laser cannons. If we can use laser cannons to take down the King Kong zombies, why use conventional tungsten carbide alloy bullets?"

Upon hearing his statement, everyone in the conference room became excited.

Yes, laser cannons!

Previously, this type of combat equipment was rarely used because the technology was not yet mature.

The laser cannon was created by finding equipment and machinery from some pre-apocalyptic military factories during a large-scale search operation, and by gathering a group of weapons experts.

“Minister Liu is right. Minister He, can laser cannons be widely used?” asked Lao Bi, the helicopter squadron leader.

He Bing and Lao Zhou next to him exchanged a glance and smiled wryly.

He Bing explained:
"Let me first give you some background knowledge. To generate a laser beam powerful enough to destroy a target, a huge amount of instantaneous energy is required."

This results in laser weapon systems typically being large and heavy, placing extremely high demands on the power supply and heat dissipation capabilities of the mounting platform, making miniaturization and mobile deployment difficult.

Moreover, laser cannons are limited by energy attenuation and atmospheric effects, and the range of currently practical laser weapons is generally within 200 meters, mainly used for short-range defense.

Our mechs are as tall as two stories, reaching 5.4 meters. Their massive size allows them to carry laser weapons, but making them handheld laser weapons is not feasible at this stage.

Moreover, it is not easy to assemble it onto armored vehicles. Armored vehicles themselves need to be covered with thick armor, and they are already heavy. If laser weapons are installed, the vehicle's load will be too great.

Furthermore, due to its relatively short range, it is only suitable for close-range defense, making it unsuitable for use in scenarios other than those involving mechs.

After hearing this, the excitement that had just begun to rise among the crowd was immediately dampened.

Li Yu, however, grasped the practical application of the mecha. He looked at Liu Jianwen and asked:
"Do you have any video recordings of the battle between the mechs and the Kongo zombies this morning?"

"some."

"Play it."

Liu Jianwen quickly copied the data from the computer and then projected it onto the screen in the command center.

on the screen.

The King Kong zombie looked like a monkey, extremely small, in front of the 5.4-meter-tall mech.

Even when facing more than a dozen King Kong zombies at the same time, the mech still handles the situation with ease.

Moreover, the King Kong zombies could not break through the mech's defenses, making the mech's practical application on the battlefield quite effective.

The five-minute video of a battle between a King Kong zombie and a mech has ended.

Everyone was shocked by the mech's actual combat power.

"This mech is pretty powerful; it has the King Kong zombie completely under its control."

"Yes, this mech has such strong defense, and it's much more agile than an armored vehicle. It's just a bit slow, but that's not a big problem."

Everyone discussed the mecha, praising it enthusiastically.

He Bing coughed and addressed the crowd:

"In actual use, the mechs have also revealed some problems."

If the mech can operate for more than 18 hours in a low-energy, non-combat apocalyptic environment.

However, once battle mode is activated, the power consumption increases significantly, reducing the time to only 5 hours.

Generally speaking, it needs to be charged after 5 hours of use.

Therefore, mechs cannot sustain prolonged combat.

Li Yu took a sip of tea and asked:

"How is the mech production? Five hours is not a short time. If we can produce mechs on a large scale, they should be able to play a significant role."

Hearing Li Yu ask about production volume, he knew this was a crucial question.

He Bing replied:
"The output is not large. The total output is 110 mechs so far. Only 35 of them are at the headquarters base. The rest of the mechs have been sent to other branch bases and orbital stations for use."

Currently, the daily production of mechs is 4-5 units, mainly limited by two factors: 1. A lack of skilled assembly workers and the need to optimize the production process, but these problems can be solved. The second problem is more difficult to resolve.
The mecha is made of carbon fiber composite materials, hardened leather extracted from the outer skin of the King Kong zombie, and a nickel-molybdenum alloy. This nickel-molybdenum alloy has extremely high strength and is used to make the mecha's skeleton and key parts.

"Nickel and molybdenum are relatively rare non-ferrous metals. They are frequently used in some high-end weapons in military factories, so the reserves are running low. Based on the current reserves, they can only support the production of 50 more mechs at most before they are exhausted."

As soon as He Bing finished speaking, Lao Zhou added:
"So we come back to the original question: we have to send teams out to mine."

Whether it's to obtain tungsten ore or nickel-molybdenum ore, it's necessary to go out and mine.

Our base is located in southern Jiangxi, an area rich in non-ferrous metal deposits, including silicon, nickel, molybdenum, rare earth elements, and tungsten.

Li Yu tapped the table.
"The proposed solutions are: 1. Go out to mine; 2. Change the main firearms currently in use to 5.8mm tungsten carbide alloy bullets."

"Any better suggestions?"

Li Yu looked at everyone, scanning them one by one.

Those whose eyes swept over him all lowered their heads.

Everyone had suggested some ideas before, but they were all rejected.

Such as the large-scale use of white phosphorus bombs.

It has been tested, but the side effects of using white phosphorus bombs are too great, seriously affecting the health of the base residents.

There have also been proposals to use incendiary bombs on a large scale, but the effectiveness of incendiary bombs has been very limited.

If the incendiary bomb doesn't burn the King Kong zombie's head, ordinary bullets won't kill it at all.

Moreover, the heat generated by the incendiary bomb does not last long after it is used.

There are also oil fields like those of the past, where oil is laid out on a large scale and burned to create a sea of ​​fire around the base.

but
The current headquarters base in Dazhangshu covers an area of ​​100,000 mu (approximately 6,667 hectares), not just a few thousand mu (approximately 1,667 hectares) as before.

The King Kong zombie is agile and will avoid high temperatures.
The zombie-attracting agent had almost no effect on these King Kong zombies, so it was impossible to gather them together and kill them all at once.

If the oil fields were to cover 100,000 mu of surrounding land, the amount of oil consumed would be astronomical. With the current oil reserves in Dazhangshu, it would probably not last even two days.

Moreover, this method is too wasteful!
The people in the command hall remained silent for a full minute.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Li Yu spoke up:
"Since no one has a better solution, let's follow the two solutions that Minister He and Factory Director Zhou mentioned."

"Let me explain the next steps."

"Minister He and Factory Director Zhou, you two will conduct an experiment today. Adjust the core of the 5.8mm bullet as you just described to ensure that this bullet can kill the King Kong zombie."

"Second, expand recruitment in the mecha department of the military factory to accelerate the production of mecha."

The two of them stood up at the same time.

"Yes, sir, I guarantee I will complete the mission."

Li Yu waved his hand, and the two sat down.

Then Li Yu looked at Liu Jianwen and said:

"Minister Liu, quickly assemble a mining team. I'm giving the military three days. They'll go out to mine ore after three days."

Liu Jianwen frowned slightly.

Although Li Yu was his nephew, this was in front of many high-ranking officials in the Big Camphor Tree, where there was a clear distinction between high and low positions and between public and private matters.

He frowned not because Li Yu had assigned him a task, but because time was too tight.

Three days.

First, we need an action plan.

They also need to prepare people to go out mining, as well as a guard team.

With such heavy sea fog, no one at the base would want to go out mining.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he said:

"Sir, I'm afraid the workers will object to us going out to mine at this time."

"After all, it's too risky to run away now. If we force them to go, it might provoke their resistance."

People are always afraid of death, and in safe circumstances, everyone speaks politely and obediently.

But if you send them to their deaths, people will forget all loyalty and principles when faced with death.

Li Yu spoke in a serious tone, tapping the table as he said:

"A generous reward will surely attract brave men. We will first recruit from the current mining workforce. Those who are willing to go will be promoted one level and their daily wage will be increased tenfold."

If there's still a worker shortage, then recruit all the mining workers from the entire base, offering the same conditions!

Upon hearing this, Liu Jianwen was somewhat shocked.

That's a big investment.

Ten times the salary, and a promotion to the next level.

Such opportunities are rare and precious for low-level miners.

Currently, most mining workers are at level five or six. Level four workers are generally in core technical positions, while level three workers are in charge of a mine.

just
"Who should be responsible for the security of the mining team?" Liu Jianwen asked.

In a corner of the command hall, Xiao Jun, who had been silent all along, stood up and spoke calmly.

"I'll take responsibility!"

He was devastated by Ma Yingxue's death and later left the Fifth Combat Brigade.

Later, Li Yu assigned him to join the reconnaissance team, where he worked with Judge and others to investigate the sea fog.

More than a month ago, after returning from the sea, he stayed at the headquarters base.

Li Yu had not assigned him any tasks.

At this moment, Xiao Jun stepped forward, which surprised even Li Yu.

This is an operation where one could potentially die outside, and the responsibility is extremely heavy.

However, given the immense power of the camphor tree, there are few who can shoulder this heavy responsibility.

Xiao Jun's prestige within the military department and his personal command abilities are all outstanding.

Li Yu looked at Xiao Jun with admiration; he had indeed lived up to his expectations.

"Good! You're brave enough to take on such a heavy responsibility! Xiao Jun, I appoint you as the commander-in-chief of this operation. In case of any special circumstances, you can make decisions directly without reporting!"

Someone started clapping, I don't know who it was.

Soon after, enthusiastic applause rang out in the command hall.

After the applause, Xiao Jun spoke:
"I have two or three requests."

"Go ahead," Li Yu said, looking at Xiao Jun.

Xiao Jun said:

"First, I need my original members from the Fifth Battalion to come with me."

"can!"

"Secondly, I need Xiao Hu, Zuo Ruxue, Guifei, Zhu Xiao from the original transportation department, as well as the core members of their first and second transportation teams. They have been running transportation for many years and often encounter various problems. They have experience in road transportation under extreme conditions."

Li Yu remained silent for a moment, then said with a troubled expression:

"I'll try my best to meet your needs. The transportation department's staff have all been reorganized and dispersed throughout the rail transit system. I'll try to find a solution. What's your third request?"

Xiao Jun continued:

"When I lead the team out, in addition to the regular armored vehicles, explosion-proof vehicles, and armored personnel carriers."

I need twenty more mechs! Prepare 3000 rain-inducing shells, 5000 artillery shells of various calibers, 300 million tungsten carbide alloy bullets, as well as a behemoth and two missile launchers.

hiss~
Everyone gasped.

They really dare to ask for such an exorbitant amount!

What is the Jumbo? It is currently the most powerful mobile combat vehicle in the Dazhangshu fleet.

After so many years of upgrades, it is now equipped with close-in weapon systems, laser cannons, multiple heavy machine guns, and 155mm heavy artillery, making its firepower fully charged.

Moreover, its defensive capabilities are abnormally strong.

It's practically a mobile fortress.

Most importantly, the newly upgraded vehicle uses the latest solid-state battery, plus a zombie generator, making it a super behemoth that can run indefinitely.

The same goes for missile vehicles; each missile vehicle is equipped with two heavy cannons, and the power of these cannons is enormous.

One shell can cover an area roughly the size of a small football field.

The entire camphor tree force, across its five bases, has fewer than 20 missile vehicles in total.

Xiao Jun immediately asked to leave two tables.