Chapter 155: The Scheme of Calculated Strategy

Jiang Hanzhong, who had come to work for the first day, felt he had been swindled.

During the construction of the Steel Factory, he had applied to come many times, but Liu Mu had brushed him off each time with different excuses, including one where she claimed the Steel Factory was too far and she didn't want to provide an escort.

After the Steel Factory went into production, he thought it would be even more impossible for Liu Mu to cede any benefits, yet she suddenly let him come over to serve as Factory Director.

Her exact words were: "Now that the Steel Factory has just been set up, I have been pondering that to make the workers in the factory obedient, we need an old comrade with ability and seniority to go and preside over the work. After much thought, only Comrade Jiang Hanzhong, who has often requested to work on the front lines, is the most suitable."

She even held a vote, and naturally, it passed unanimously.

Before coming, Jiang Hanzhong had also pondered whether there might be problems, but compared to the enormous benefits that the position of Steel Factory Director could bring, he, Jiang Hanzhong, could still handle taking a few risks.

But now, facing bandits brought by a dozen or so motorcycles and a pickup truck, while the Deputy Factory Director beside him told him that half of the troops stationed at the Steel Factory had been transferred away...

The middle-aged bureaucrat realized, "Liu Mu wants to get everyone killed!"

"No, it won't, it won't," the Deputy Factory Director Feng Mo was a stuttering young man, slightly chubby, with a burn mark on his left cheek, "L-L-Liu Chief said, the Militia, c-c-can..."

"Where is the Militia?" Jiang Hanzhong turned his head to look for the remaining Security Captain, but he couldn't see anyone who looked like a captain at all, "What is going on with the defensive deployment?"

"I, I," Feng Mo pointed at himself, his face flushing red, "I am the, c-c-captain, I, I, can command!"

"You? You can't even speak clearly, and Liu Mu let you be the Security Captain?" Jiang Hanzhong was even more convinced that Liu Mu was setting him up.

"Yes, I know, them, you, you don't, don't worry," Feng Mo wanted to say that he knew the gang of bandits who came today; they were one of the forces spontaneously formed by Survivors in Mei City, and the leader used to be his classmate.

But before he could express it clearly, he was interrupted by Jiang Hanzhong, "I order you, from this moment on, command is transferred to me. I'll give you five minutes to bring all the security soldiers and the Militia units over here!"

"O-okay," seeing that the new leader was not as easy to talk to as Liu Mu, Feng Mo could only temporarily give up command, thinking that after all, he was a high-ranking official from the Barrier, so maybe he was really very capable?

Thus, Feng Mo took off the Golden Badge pinned to his work uniform and handed it over with both hands, "J-Jiang Factory Director, c-command, command given!"

"This thing," Jiang Hanzhong originally wanted to push it away—this kind of low-grade trinket that looked like it was just gold-plated—but he immediately understood that this badge should represent the position of the factory's military commander, so he accepted it with great disdain, "Go execute the order!"

"D-don't, go up, j-just, listen, them!" Feng Mo had an expression of 'I'm doing this for your own good,' and his excessive eagerness forced Jiang Hanzhong to pin on that low-quality badge.

"Hurry up and go, don't delay the battle!"

"Yes!" Feng Mo looked at the badge, seemingly only then feeling the call of duty; he gave a military salute, turned, and trotted away.

"What a piece of junk, ptooey!"

Jiang Hanzhong wanted to take it off and throw it away, but the surrounding guards were all looking at him—or more precisely, they were all looking at the badge, as if that were the embodiment of power.

He had to give up the plan to throw it away, thinking he would let this low-quality trinket stay on his expensive, handmade suit for a little longer, and as soon as he drove away the group of bandits outside the gate, he would immediately replace it with a high-end one.

He rubbed his fingers, always feeling something was wrong, and when he lifted it to look... hiss, this thing was even fading?

Throw it away, he must throw it away immediately and at once after it's all over!

His not-so-pleasant mood was seen by his Adjutant, Jiang Lin, who immediately stepped forward, "Minister, the guards just reported that there are forty-three bandits in total this time, all rabble gathered from thugs before the disaster; they are no match for our regular army at all. Shall we just drive them away?"

Jiang Hanzhong did not want to take action directly; he wanted to probe the other side's bottom line, "Why did the bandits from Mei City come now? They didn't come when the Steel Factory was being built before? Where are our people?"

After all, if someone dared to come to a factory built by the authorities to cause trouble, if they didn't have some background, it would be pure suicide.

"Our people should be about the same. This subordinate asked; these thugs came before too, wanting to steal supplies, but they didn't take action when they ran into Liu Mu's people; they were just persuaded to leave." As Jiang Hanzhong's pawn, Jiang Lin didn't need to be told; as soon as he arrived, he went to investigate the situation inside and outside the factory with the workers and guards.

And it must be said, he really did find out quite a bit of information.

"Persuaded to leave? They probably killed a few to persuade them to leave, right?" Since knowing that Yang Shuo had met with Liu Mu personally, Jiang Hanzhong had been keeping an eye on her, and later, when the family demanded he deal with this woman, he naturally wouldn't miss the slightest bit of information related to her.

Liu Mu, in the end, was just a brute who only knew how to solve problems with force; she was still too green to mix in official circles!

For such a fledgling, limelight-loving greenhorn, as long as he caught even one opportunity, he could press her to death, make her obediently hand over everything in her hands, and never let her turn things around!

"No," Jiang Lin had also felt this was strange before, but after hearing what the guards said, he understood Liu Mu's limited way of thinking, "It is said that she chatted with these people, and even gave them food and water to send them away. In the end, Liu Mu is also a coward; who knows how many supplies she gave away just to complete the factory construction."

"Hmph, colluding with the enemy. Send people to investigate and see how many benefits she siphoned off through these people." Jiang Hanzhong was certain that Liu Mu had siphoned off quite a few things from the Barrier through the factory construction, and this time he agreed to take the post because he wanted to find the problems and kick Liu Mu out of her position as Acting Chief of the Barrier.

"Yes, I will have the people we brought continue to inquire," Jiang Lin, like his leader, didn't put the people clamoring outside in his eyes at all.

The motorcycles had almost crushed the road surface in front of the factory, which had only been paved recently, into pieces; mud splashed more than a meter high, not to mention the arrogant engines and whistles, which were deafening.

"Is there anyone breathing in there? Come out and talk! Damn it, wasn't it said the Factory Director is taking office today? Hurry up and open the gate; we brought a gift for the leader!"

"That's right, there's a gift! Brothers, bring the gift up for our leader to see."

Several motorcycles separated, and the pickup truck backed up. There was something in the truck bed, covered by a rain tarp and tied with ropes; judging by the outline, it had to be over two meters tall—it was truly a 'big gift.'

Without waiting for a response from inside the factory, this group of people started getting excited themselves.

One of the motorcyclists pulled off his mud-covered headgear, revealing a yellowish buzz cut, and jumped into the truck bed.

"Come on, open it up for our new leader to take a look."

The rope was untied, *rip*, the rain tarp slid off, revealing a scorched, unrecognizable object.

"Leader, take a good look. The first-place work of the Doomsday Wasteland Art Competition—the End-of-the-World God of Wealth, presented to you."

"Wishing the leader a steady rise and great wealth!"

The loud shouting drowned out the engines; one could tell they weren't starving.

If one looked closely at the thing pieced together from several pieces of scorched waste of different sizes, and used a bit of imagination... it was still just a scorched lump, not even having a human shape.

If this could attract wealth, Jiang Hanzhong could write his name backward.

Putting away his binoculars, the newly appointed Minister Jiang ultimately did not wrong himself, "Endangering public safety, attack!"

He himself was the first to take out the Handgun hidden in his suit, and without waiting for the gate to open, he fired directly.

The guards at the sentry post and inside the perimeter wall all hesitated, looking at each other while holding their guns.

"Wait, are we really attacking?"