Chapter 1 The Great Changes in Dragon City

Time flies like water, and six years have passed since the withdrawal of troops from District One. During these six years, The Dragon City Rises held two military and political conferences, the first of which was held in the New Era year 75.

At the meeting, Li Mingsheng was elected as the first Chief of The Dragon City Rises with an overwhelming number of votes, holding the power of military and political affairs. Tan Hengqiang served as the commander-in-chief of the Dragon City People's Army, and An Zecheng served as the chief of the general staff of the People's Army. Under them, Su Tianyu was appointed as the Minister of the General Political Department and also served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Dragon City Rises.

At the same time, the People's Army established the Eastern and Southern War Zones. The commander of the Eastern War Zone was Tan Mingchao, who also served as the deputy minister of the General Political Department. The commander-in-chief of the Southern War Zone was Zhao Weihu, who also served as the deputy chief of the general staff of the People's Army.

Xin Xiaodong was assigned to the Eastern War Zone as the commander of the First Army, while Fei Pingsheng was assigned to the Southern War Zone as the commander of the First Army there.

In addition, Jin Maohui, Xing Yao, and a group of veteran generals were all promoted to major generals and lieutenant generals. Further down the line, Sun Wei and Su Tianbei were also promoted to division and brigade-level generals, with the ranks of major general or brigadier general.

Further down, Hou Guoyu was promoted to the brigade commander of the garrison brigade around Su Tianyu. Da Xiong remained in the Bureau of Violent Crimes, serving as the chief instructor and the captain of the First Brigade. Yao Doudou was promoted to the rank of colonel and became the commander of the Special Operations Brigade due to his great contributions.

On the association side, Hua Tong Society, as the largest organization, saw the former president Wu Boxin step down, with Li Mingsheng concurrently holding the position, and Su Tiannan serving as the official vice president. Other veteran figures, such as Yu Mingyuan, Gu Baishun, Zhang Taotao, Wei Xiangzuo, and Lu Feng, continued to serve as vice presidents, overseeing different functional units.

In addition, Gu Baishun was promoted to lieutenant general. In addition to his position as deputy mayor, he also served as the director-general of the Bureau of Overall Unification. Dai Quan and Qiu Ge also entered the Bureau of Overall Unification, serving as deputy directors at the same time.

On the administrative faction side, Wang Daolin, Li Yuan, and other veteran personnel all performed their respective duties, promoted to ministerial levels or important local officials.

…

Then, in the year 79, The Dragon City Rises held the second military and political conference.

At this conference, Li Mingsheng and Tan Hengqiang voluntarily announced that they would no longer participate in the election after their terms expired. Subsequently, Su Tianyu passed with a unanimous vote and became the second military and political Chief of The Dragon City Rises. This was a normal succession order that everyone had expected, and it was also a plan that Old Li had been laying out for a long time.

At the same time, Tan Mingchao served as the chief of the general staff of the People's Army Command, Xin Xiaodong served as the commander of the Eastern War Zone of the People's Army, and Fei Pingsheng served as the commander of the Southern War Zone.

This military and political conference completed the changing of the guard in The Dragon City Rises. The older generation retreated to the second line, and a new generation of young generals gradually stepped onto the stage of history.

Although Su Tianyu tried his best to persuade him to stay, Li Mingsheng still insisted on handing over the baton in his hand to him. Mayor Li, who had been busy with his ideals all his life, was now over sixty years old and indeed getting old.

When Su Tianyu tried to dissuade him for the last time, Li Mingsheng said to him meaningfully, "I'm done here. You're not in a hurry, but the people behind you are. Old guys like us should not continue to occupy the positions... This day will always come, and it's better to come sooner."

At this point, The Dragon City Rises ushered in the era of Su Tianyu.

…

During these six years, District One, The Dragon City Rises, and the Old Mo area were still in a state of military cold war, and the two sides still broke out in some small-scale military frictions.

During this period, District One also instigated some weak armed regimes around it to harass The Dragon City Rises and the Old Mo area, thoroughly implementing the policy and ideas of military encirclement and suppression.

During this period, District One elected a new commander-in-chief of the Chinese Legion, named Lin Zhentao. After taking office, he continued to heavily rely on Kang Dinghuang.

While District One was constantly exerting military and political pressure on The Dragon City Rises, Kang Dinghuang also played his role. He used the relationship network of the Qingyi Bureau and the power of the chief of the general staff of the Chinese Legion to win over many small regimes around The Dragon City Rises, and also provided financial assistance to some war-torn areas.

However, during these six years, their methods had little effect because, with the help of the China region, The Dragon City Rises and the Old Mo area adopted extremely effective countermeasures.

First of all, the China region opened up preferential policies for Haipai laborers, encouraging companies and people in the coastal areas to go to peaceful areas overseas and areas with good relations with the China region for assistance and trade.

The government provided a lot of subsidies for this, including housing, medical care, bonuses, and even children's education for the people. For companies, there were benefits such as tax cuts and trade preferences.

Under these various preferential policies, the China region immediately set off a wave of assistance. The first batch of laborers who volunteered to go overseas numbered as many as 600,000, and the second batch was even more than 800,000.

This move greatly promoted the development and construction of the barren southern region and also allowed many scattered regimes around it to obtain a lot of dividends.

At the same time, The Dragon City Rises, the Old Mo area, and Panama City opened up the southern coastal trade routes, provided generous trade policies, greatly promoted the trade circulation in the southern region, and allowed many people in the barren areas to have the opportunity to do business in peaceful areas where there was no war, thereby increasing the economic volume of various regions.

Under such circumstances, the political game between District One, the China region, and The Dragon City Rises rose and fell.

After several rounds of overt and covert confrontations, the power of District One was gradually weakening, and the population was becoming increasingly scarce. It was impossible for them to imitate the China region and send laborers to assist in the construction of bases because the people would scoff at such a government order.

The people there liked freedom and were unwilling to do their own work, or they wanted to do it for high salaries. How could they be willing to go to barren areas to do any assistance work?

Their political thinking was actually better at taking the route of strong alliances, such as cooperating with super-regions like District Two and District Three, but they were not good at interacting with weak regimes. For such regimes, they were often better at oppression and control.

In the long political game of six years, District One spent a lot of money and consumed countless resources, but still had no effect. Although they still verbally criticized the People's Army of The Dragon City Rises as a rebellious armed force and a war regime that undermined peace, they could not change the existing situation in The Dragon City Rises.

Over time, things finally took a turn for the better. The new election for the Chief of District One was about to begin.

In the previous election, because District One was in a state of war, the Chief enjoyed the regional system and was automatically re-elected during wartime. But now that the war was gradually subsiding, the Chief, who was nominated by the Republican Party, was facing such a mess and was unable to change anything.

Therefore, this election, in the eyes of the outside world, was also a turning point for the ice-breaking between The Dragon City Rises and District One.

Sure enough, a month before the election began, the Regional Council of District One submitted its first application to negotiate with The Dragon City Rises. To show their importance, they also specially sent the Chief of the Military and Political Council of District One and Kang Dinghuang, the chief of the general staff of the Chinese Legion, to attend the meeting.

The two sides negotiated on the Dragon River bank in The Dragon City Rises—the former site of the Bureau of Overall Unification. Su Tianyu, Xin Xiaodong, Gu Baishun, and others attended the negotiation meeting.

Although there was a willingness to negotiate, the two sides had differences on more than forty clauses, including territorial disputes and political compromises, in the initial exchange. The meeting ended unhappily.

However, The Dragon City Rises, as the host, still conducted a normal diplomatic reception and arranged a regular banquet.

However, Su Tianyu only showed his face at the banquet and was too lazy to say anything, so he prepared to leave directly. As a result, when the guards escorted him out, he met a familiar figure.

Kang Dinghuang stood in front of the door, looking at the rebuilt scene of The Dragon City Rises, smoking a cigarette with some loneliness. Hearing the movement behind him, he turned his head and saw Su Tianyu, and could not help but nodded slightly.

The two looked at each other.

Su Tianyu looked at this opponent who had fought with him for nearly ten years, slowed down slightly, and carefully looked at the other party.

At this time, Kang Dinghuang was over forty years old, but his temples were already gray, and his body was very thin, as if he had been drained of his energy.

After a long silence, Kang Dinghuang suddenly said slowly, "This is a negotiation that is destined to fail..."