Chapter 128 Triangle

Time flew by, and it was already September.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, a night of the full moon. The banks of the Dragon River in The Dragon City Rises were bustling with activity. Many small vendors set up stalls, selling lanterns and mooncakes and other festive products.

Around 7:30 in the evening, a small section of the Dragon River's mid-section was cordoned off, with a large number of police officers and garrison soldiers present, prohibiting social ships and citizens from approaching.

A medium-sized yacht, adorned with lanterns and decorations, started up on the brightly lit riverbank, pushing through the water and moving slowly.

On the yacht's central deck, three people were seated: Lao Li, Tan Hengqiang, and An Zecheng, who had recently returned from Washington.

Next to the stair railing were many guards, and Tan Mingzhao, Su Tianyu, and Yu Mingyuan were also present, though they kept their distance and did not join the table.

Beside the railing.

Su Tianyu smoked, gazing at the water.

"Got a smoke?" Tan Mingzhao walked over in his military uniform, speaking casually.

Su Tianyu glanced at him and handed over a cigarette.

Tan Mingzhao stood facing the river, lowered his head to light a cigarette, and said, "This political arena is a magical place! I never dreamed that we'd all be standing on the same boat."

"Heh," Su Tianyu chuckled. "Isn't it good? Everyone's relaxed."

Tan Mingzhao turned to look at him and softly asked, "They say the triangle is the most stable shape. Hey, do you think this three-way balance in The Dragon City Rises will last?"

"Of course," Su Tianyu replied insincerely. "Mutual dependence!"

Tan Mingzhao nodded, placed the cigarette pack on the railing, and said, "Yes, mutual dependence!"

...

At the dining table on the yacht.

Tan Hengqiang took the initiative to raise his glass and said softly, "Come, Brother Li, Brother An, let's toast to the stability of our The Dragon City Rises."

The two raised their glasses, lightly clinked them against Tan Hengqiang's, and took a small sip.

"Eat, eat!" An Zecheng put down his glass and gestured.

From the moment he sat down, Li Mingsheng hadn't said much, letting An Zecheng and Tan Hengqiang set the pace. He simply ate seafood, seemingly enjoying it.

Tan Hengqiang looked at Lao Li and asked with a light smile, "Brother Li! You're in administration, with unique insight and plenty of experience. In your opinion, what's the future direction of The Dragon City Rises?"

"Heh," Li Mingsheng said, using pliers to crack a crab leg, and replied with a smile, "Commander Tan, I'm in a precarious position. To be honest, I can't even see my own future clearly, how can I worry about The Dragon City Rises? Alas, to land safely, that's the most ideal outcome."

An Zecheng picked up some greens. "Lao Li, you're not being honest. The administrative side can't do without you. Anyone else would be lost, just like the garrison can't do without Commander Tan. This kind of control and balance is given by the times and opportunities. It'll be hard to replicate in the future."

"Heh," Lao Li smiled and softly asked, "Commander Tan, you're the military head of The Dragon City Rises. Every plant and tree here relies on you and your troops for protection. In your opinion, what angle holds the future of The Dragon City Rises?"

Tan Hengqiang picked up a cigarette, lit it, and pondered for a moment before saying, "You, me, Lao An, the three of us balanced, maintaining tacit understanding. This can keep The Dragon City Rises quiet for at least twenty years. I think, as an official, being able to protect a piece of land and see it flourish for twenty years at the end of your political career is worth your official hat."

Li Mingsheng looked at him. "It doesn't count if you say it yourself. How can we talk about flourishing? Even if you, me, and him can live for another twenty years and maneuver through it, in the end, it'll all be a pile of dirt, with grass growing on our graves. Twenty years later, we're out of office, the balance is broken, and the tacit understanding is gone. Then The Dragon City Rises will still be the same as before. If things go wrong, the higher-ups will exaggerate and we might become historical sinners, warlords who hoard power, political opportunists. People might even smear our graves with dung."

"Heh, then where do you see the future?" Tan Hengqiang asked.

"True autonomy," Li Mingsheng said directly. "The result of the independence war is the pain of death. Many people did give their lives for it, but the fact proves that resistance works. Many states have achieved independence. But we're different. Our starting point is more difficult. There's no century-long process of integration. Zhou Xingli, for his own selfish reasons, fooled millions of people into coming here by boat, which makes the higher-ups wary of us and the internal affairs discriminate against us. So, to talk about flourishing, we must have our own sovereignty. How many times has the old home been liberated? We still ran here, bringing more than ten million people as laborers, as productive forces within the walls? Doing this, don't even talk about being worthy of your official hat."

"Heh, that's too radical," Tan Hengqiang said with a slight frown. "We're still relying on them to support fifty or sixty thousand guns. How can you talk about rights? When the war starts, there'll be corpses under the cannons. Is that worthy of more than ten million people?"

Lao Li looked at him. "During the independence war, we didn't resist either. When the higher-ups issued an order, didn't you go to the battlefield anyway, with corpses under the cannons anyway?!"

"That's different...!"

"Haha, Commander Tan, Lao Li has a radical leadership style," An Zecheng immediately interjected. "I think we should just drink, chat, and look at the moon by the river tonight. Let's not talk too deeply. It's meaningless."

Lao Li glanced at An Zecheng and said frankly, "You're really good at smoothing things over! Lao An!"

"I can't help it. One of you is the administrative head, and the other is the military head. I can sit in this position only because you two are giving me face," An Zecheng said with a smile. "Let's not talk about it. Let's drink!"

At that point, the three of them didn't continue the previous topic, just drank and chatted for a while.

But during this time, Lao Li didn't notice that An Zecheng had frowned when Tan Hengqiang was speaking earlier.

Around 9:00 PM, the moon-viewing event ended.

The three big shots left with their respective teams.

The next day, in the morning.

The garrison headquarters announced that they would be conducting a three-month military exercise with An Zecheng's army.

About six hours later, The Dragon City Rises's Violent Crime Squad announced that they would also be joining the garrison's exercise, citing frequent wars on the Old Mexico border and the need for The Dragon City Rises to conduct military and police drills to improve the combat quality of armed departments.

Another week passed.

Lao Li's reward for eating that meal with Tan Hengqiang came. The higher-ups officially agreed to let him expand the Violent Crime Squad, adding four more brigades, increasing the quota by five thousand people, and also upgrading the department to a state-level unit.

Why would the higher-ups do this?

Divide and conquer!

Tan Hengqiang and Li Mingsheng, An Zecheng, almost completely controlled everything in The Dragon City Rises, and the higher-ups were getting a little restless!

If the three families really joined forces to do something, the result would be irreversible.

So, giving Lao Li a sweet taste, openly acknowledging his private armed activities, might break the balance of the three-way power.

In October, Deputy Commander Xu officially resigned, and Tan Hengqiang announced that he would be running for the position of deputy commander-in-chief.

Thus, the triangle of The Dragon City Rises was temporarily formed, and the one who orchestrated the whole situation was An Zecheng.

If he had stood with Lao Li from the beginning, there would definitely be no situation today.

Tan Hengqiang would inevitably cling to the higher-ups and do everything in his power to block the combined military and political threat of Lao Li and An Zecheng...

In that case, the war would have started long ago.

(End of Volume)