Once everything was ready, Feng Jun led over a thousand people on a grand expedition to Yanqing Industrial Park.
Most of the soldiers were equipped with the latest mass-produced Hunter-class mechanical exoskeletons, and two hundred soldiers in Power Armor surrounded various light armored vehicles.
This scale was considered a powerful lineup even in Huai City, and it was enough to sweep away a large number of small and medium-sized forces in the wasteland.
Li Lu originally wanted to go with Feng Jun, but Feng Jun did not intend to take her this time.
So he told Li Lu that the Giant Snail's mucus could be used for beauty, and after hearing about this, Li Lu immediately abandoned the idea of going on the expedition with Feng Jun and instead went to find the Giant Snail to research how to use it for beauty.
Many of the equipment used in this expedition were new, all produced from production lines provided by the Blackwater Merchant Guild and the Zhu Hong Business Association.
Among them, what interested Feng Jun most was a small armored vehicle called the Crab General, which was 5 meters long, and 2.5 meters wide and high.
The vehicle body was a very compact hemispherical shape, but it had two modes of movement: it could speed like a wheeled armored vehicle with eight pairs of tires, or it could switch to a multi-legged mechanical mode, where after simple mechanical transformation, eight pairs of mechanical legs would extend from under the eight pairs of tires.
Moreover, even after switching to the mechanical leg state, it could still run at a speed of one hundred kilometers per hour.
Its main weapon was a 75mm rapid-fire laser cannon mounted at the front of the vehicle, capable of firing 60 high-energy lasers per minute, or switching to Dawn mode for continuous laser output.
The rear of the vehicle had two 42-round small missile launchers, capable of firing 60mm small missiles.
However, the thickest armor on the vehicle was only 30mm thick, which might not even be as good as some heavy Power Armor.
But considering it was a light armored vehicle, this armor thickness was acceptable.
Upon seeing the Crab General, Feng Jun immediately became interested, abandoning the armored command vehicle he was originally supposed to ride in, and pulled Song Zhan with him into a Crab General.
He sat in the driver's seat and started driving.
Fortunately, various vehicles in the Doomsday had auxiliary driving systems, and Feng Jun was able to drive proficiently after Song Zhan taught him a few times.
After switching to the leg mode, Feng Jun had a blast playing with it.
The Crab General's leg mode was very similar to the Soviet Union's Armored Sickle Mech in Red Alert 3 in the current world, and it was highly playable.
Feng Jun quickly mastered various tricks, constantly switching between wheeled mode and leg mode, which only made Song Zhan, who was in the same vehicle as him, miserable, almost throwing up his breakfast.
According to the marching speed and route, Feng Jun's large contingent would be able to reach the target location, Yanqing Industrial Park, before 6 PM today.
However, in the Doomsday, the sky darkens earlier due to a thick layer of radioactive dust clouds, which meant he definitely couldn't attack the industrial park under the cover of night, as zombies' movement speed increases after nightfall.
In that case, his large group would only be able to camp outside the park for the night.
After weighing the pros and cons, Feng Jun decided to lead the Imperial Guard himself, driving five Crab Generals ahead, with Song Zhan following later with the main force.
Although as the supreme Commander, Feng Jun should have stayed behind with the main force and let Song Zhan complete the vanguard mission, Feng Jun did not like the feeling of staying behind the scenes.
In the Doomsday, even with his own forces, it was still good to take some risks.
Speaking of his Imperial Guard, Feng Jun hadn't paid much attention to them for a long time.
He had a lot of time in the Doomsday, but he was basically always running around outside.
He didn't take them with him on his last deep dive into the ruins with Li Lu, and normally these well-equipped guys could only do some guard duty for him or accompany him on patrols in Longmen Town.
“I feel like a feudal lord,” Feng Jun thought to himself.
A Crab General could carry six soldiers wearing mechanical exoskeletons, while soldiers wearing Power Armor could only be externally mounted.
However, to travel faster, Feng Jun only brought 29 soldiers wearing mechanical exoskeletons.
Traveling on roads in the Doomsday was extremely difficult, as the widespread use of nuclear weapons had caused chain earthquakes in many places.
The distance from Longmen Town to Yanqing Industrial Park was only over four hundred kilometers, but the roads were very difficult to pass, with some sections even having cracks several meters wide and abandoned vehicles piled on the road.
However, none of this stumped the Crab General with its eight pairs of mechanical legs.
By striding with its three-meter-long mechanical legs, it could cross most obstacles, and the Crab General, like the Sickle Mech, also had excellent jumping ability.
Although the road was very bumpy, Feng Jun was still able to far outpace the main force due to the Crab General's excellent mobility.
After driving for a while, Feng Jun felt a bit tired of it.
The Crab General's driving position was not designed for human comfort.
To fit more soldiers into the limited vehicle space, the designers fully utilized every inch of interior space, and the driver almost had to hunch over and lie on the driver's seat to drive.
After the initial novelty wore off, Feng Jun began to feel fatigued.
“Boss, let me drive.
This thing is particularly torturous to drive,” Zhong Chen, who was sitting in the co-driver's seat, said.
Feng Jun then noticed the person sitting next to him, and after a glance, immediately remembered that this was the Imperial Guard captain he had promoted after killing Sawtooth last time.
However, since then, Feng Jun hadn't spoken to him much, and he wondered if he had been too neglectful of the other party.
It was naturally best that his subordinates were willing to work for him, so Feng Jun did not decline and directly swapped places with Zhong Chen.
Zhong Chen naturally wanted to perform well in front of his boss.
Although he was the Imperial Guard captain, his boss was not easy to meet.
However, his driving skills were indeed much better than Feng Jun's, and he could drive steadily even in leg mode, which was much better than Feng Jun's wobbly and erratic driving.
Feng Jun felt much better sitting in the co-driver's seat; at least the co-driver's position was a bit more spacious, though he still had to keep his head down.
“Boss, the hatch above your head can be opened.
It will be much better if you stick your head out,” Zhong Chen said.
“Oh! Is that so?” Under Zhong Chen's reminder, Feng Jun fumbled for a switch, and with a push, opened the hatch above his head, allowing him to stick out his entire shoulder, which made him feel much better.
“Zhong Chen is your name, I didn't get that wrong, did I?
How old are you?
Are you married?” Feng Jun stretched his neck and started chatting idly with Zhong Chen.
After all, he was his Imperial Guard captain, and occasional communication was very necessary, but he couldn't think of any good topics, so he started asking about his personal details.
“Boss, I just turned 20 after the New Year.
After the New Year, I bought a wife at the slave market, and we had a simple wedding a few days ago, and drank with my brothers.” Zhong Chen also opened the hatch of the driver's seat, but his hatch was smaller and could only reveal half of his head.
“20 years old, so young!” Feng Jun said, but he was more surprised by the way Zhong Chen got his wife; he could just buy one from the slave market.
“How many helium crystal points did your wife cost?”
Zhong Chen said, “I wanted a beautiful one, and it cost me two hundred helium crystal points to buy her.
The slave trader said she was from a Refuge coffin, and before the war, she was the daughter of a high-ranking official.
But it's worth it.
People from the Refuge before the war all went to school and were more educated.
When we have children later, she can teach them to read, so they won't be like me, fighting all day long.”
“You think quite far ahead,” Feng Jun said.
However, he was still a bit shocked.
He remembered that when he went to Huai City to buy slaves, the price of an adult male was only between 20-30 helium crystal points, yet this woman was as high as two hundred helium crystal points.
This was almost comparable to a full-spec mechanical exoskeleton.
Could there be inflation in Longmen Town?
After all, Feng Jun had earned a lot of helium crystal since he arrived, and he was always generous with his subordinates, basically giving whatever he could.
However, this also reminded Feng Jun that he should pay attention to the trade balance in Longmen Town.
Zhong Chen continued, “This is all thanks to the Boss.
If it weren't for you, I might just be an ordinary slave in the slave market.
If you hadn't established Longmen Town, most people wouldn't have survived this winter, let alone have enough surplus food like me to marry a wife.”
“Yes, we should all thank the Boss.”
“Right~”
The Crab General's troop compartment and cockpit were connected, and the soldiers in the back also echoed.
“Haha, keep up the good work.
After this mission is completed and we return, I will personally host a banquet and treat you all to a good drink.” Feng Jun immediately responded to the soldiers.
Afterward, Feng Jun leaned out to admire the scenery of the Doomsday, chatting idly with Zhong Chen.
Around them, there were four other Crab Generals guarding, and UAVs were on alert in the sky.
Feng Jun could take this opportunity to properly enjoy the scenery of the wasteland in the Doomsday.
The southern part of Shangqing City originally had many rural houses.
The future cities became exceptionally developed, but the countryside did not change much.
Here, there was an architectural style similar to that of northern rural areas in the current world.
Although the earthquakes caused by the war led to topographical changes, Feng Jun could still see many rural ruins standing in the wasteland.
Innumerable ravines crisscrossed the land, some cracks even spanning over ten kilometers; the war had almost changed the topography here.
Such destructive power naturally could not be caused by ordinary nuclear strikes.
The 【Orbital Kinetic Nuclear Weapon System】 has another name in the current world: 【Rod of God】.
The difference between the former and the latter is that the latter is a high-density metal rod deployed in space, achieving high-precision strikes on ground targets through satellite guidance and small rocket propulsion.
The former, on the other hand, is an enhanced practical version of the latter, completed by orbital ground-strike ships, which launch tungsten steel metal rods loaded with nuclear warheads from low-Earth orbit.
After the tungsten steel penetrates the ground, the nuclear warhead inside is detonated, causing large-scale underground collapse and triggering chain crustal movements.
During the later stages of the Shangqing City battle, the United States of America intended to directly deploy nuclear tungsten steel rods in the center of Shangqing City.
However, the ground-strike ship performing this mission was successfully boarded by the Ming Empire's space assault troops.
The launched tungsten steel rods fell on the ground south of Shangqing City, which caused the scene Feng Jun saw today.
Some areas of the ground were highly uplifted, some places were deeply sunken, and countless ravines crisscrossed the ground, the entire land looking as if it had been plowed by a giant rake.