The transaction between Ye Fan and Guo Zhun lasted about three days.

During these three days, Dawn City cumulatively delivered 300 Rakshasa tanks, 200 armored vehicles, 100 cannons, 50 Katyusha rocket launchers, 10 helicopters, 6 fighter jets, and various ammunition to Ice City.

In return, Ice City delivered jewelry worth 300 million Light Yuan to the Dawn Army, allowing Ye Fan to gain 30 million in funds.

Ice City didn't keep those Light Yuan either but used them all to purchase arms.

Such a massive transaction was quite sensational within Divine Dragon Province.

Upon seeing Ice City arming itself on such a large scale, even Li Yuntian from Oil City was eager to place a weapon order with Dawn City.

However, he was not as financially strong as Guo Zhun and collecting tens of millions was already his limit, and now this matter was still brewing.

To others, it seemed like Ye Fan was playing with fire.

Knowing well that the Liberation Army was their biggest enemy, he still dared to sell weapons to them. With the manpower of the Liberation Army, once they received the weapons, they could raise a massive force in days.

When the Liberation Army besieged the city, Ye Fan might end up without a tear to shed.

Ye Fan, of course, was aware of this point, but he was also making war preparations on his side.

When the weapons were sent out, Ye Fan began deploying troops at the border.

If Guo Zhun came to attack, naturally, the defenses of Dawn City were better, but Ye Fan knew that in combat with humans, it's best not to fight at the doorstep.

Otherwise, when the cannons roar, a saturation strike comes, anti-air defense won't intercept it, and the survivors will be the ones suffering.

The walls of Dawn City were mainly used to defend against zombies, not to prevent cannons.

So once the war breaks out, it's better to start in the border region.

To prepare for the impending war, Ye Fan even extended the railway line to the border.

The railway extended out from the East District of Dawn City, taking a turn halfway and continuing all the way to the southern border checkpoint.

Heading west, it could connect to the railway lines of those abandoned cities.

Following these railways, armored trains could travel directly from Dawn City to the Empire's previous railway network, reaching any domestic city.

The armored train was ready to head to the front lines, and the armored units, artillery units, and two field regiments from Dawn City also successively moved to the border line.

If the Liberation Army wanted to attack, the most convenient way was along this route. If they detoured, they'd easily be attacked from both sides, so this was basically the main battlefield.

The Dawn Army's mine-laying vehicles also set out, starting to lay minefields away from the border highways.

The engineer troops were also dispatched, building trenches, fortifications, etc., ready to respond to a possible outbreak of war.

Located 100 kilometers from Dawn City, fighter jets could also arrive quickly, indicating that the Dawn Army was already prepared.

Guo Zhun was well aware of the actions of the Dawn Army.

He had no more choices; after purchasing weapons, the Liberation Army immediately began equipping its troops.

In the past few days, Ice City's population surged again, exceeding the five million mark.

With adequate manpower, the Liberation Army once again embarked on expansion.

The Liberation Army originally had an 80,000-strong force, but this time expanded directly to 150,000.

The 150,000 troops constituted an entire army, comprising five combat divisions and three independent brigades.

Additionally, there were the air force, armored units, artillery units, and even a naval unit.

The naval unit had a strength of 4,000 men, including a modified battleship.

The battlefield Ye Fan anticipated was near the Songjiang River basin, and Guo Zhun was determined that when war broke out, his naval unit would also participate.

However, the conditions were not yet ripe; although temperatures had risen recently, it was still around minus 15 degrees, with night temperatures reaching minus 20 degrees, and the surface of the Songjiang River had not yet thawed.

Therefore, his battleship could only remain anchored in the Songjiang, waiting for the river to melt before deploying.

This process would take roughly ten days to half a month, but Guo Zhun was actively preparing for battle.

Apart from emergency military preparations, on the day the transaction was completed, Ice City Television began vehemently attacking the Dawn Army, creating momentum for war.

In several consecutive Ice City news broadcasts, they neither reported on internal affairs of Ice City nor on how busy the new Imperial Count Guo Zhun was, but instead began enumerating the crimes of Ye Fan.

The Ice City Television host was quite eloquent, harshly criticizing Ye Fan on the TV program.

"Ye Fan has always been a war profiteer. For his gain, he can easily initiate wars. According to our investigations, he first orchestrated several bloodbaths in his hometown, killing Jiang Shilong, who saved many people, including his parents."

"Jiang Shilong's relatives, including the first leader of the Daqing Mountain Prison Base, Xinghai, wanted justice from Ye Fan but were also killed by him at a trading conference."

"At the transaction conference that time, Ye Fan nearly killed all the leaders, plundered a large amount of goods, and then came to Kao Mountain Farm to establish Dawn City."

"After establishing Dawn City, Ye Fan intensified his actions, openly opposing the Huacheng Survivor Alliance that had been there for a long time, and ultimately defeating them. During this time, the leader of the Wangbei Army and the second leader of the Daqing Mountain Prison Base, Hu Yuan, both died at his hands."

"The intelligentsia in the Huacheng region could no longer endure his bullying, and attempted to assassinate him, only to fall into his trap and get many Level 2 Mutants caught all at once."

"Our Liberation Army's Count Guo Zhun, had originally made contact with the Empire. However, he insisted on supporting Yan Zhihuan, the third leader of Daqing Mountain, against the Count. If Yan Zhihuan hadn't switched sides in time, the civil war within Divine Dragon Province would have already begun."

"Because our Count and Leader Rikov of the Hai Shan Wei were on good terms, Ye Fan disregarded international law and the usual practices of amicable relations, and brazenly launched an attack on Hai Shan Wei, causing its collapse, countless deaths and injuries, and hundreds of thousands being displaced."

"Now the Count, issuing currency in his official capacity within the Empire, was obstructed by Ye Fan, who issued the Light Yuan. He even has troops stationed at the border, his ambitions blatantly apparent."

"This person is cruel and ruthless, paranoid to the point of being nearly deranged. Among the civilians of Dawn City, almost everyone knows he doesn't even have a girlfriend. It's not that no one wants to be with him, but he simply doesn't need one. Can a person like this possibly have a sunny disposition?"

"As the Empire's sole official representative in Divine Dragon Province, the Count states, we absolutely cannot let this situation continue to develop. The Liberation Army is ready to launch a thunderous strike against the Dawn Army, to unify the great mountains and rivers of Divine Dragon Province, and to rid the survivors of the Dawn Army, this cancer! To restore a bright world to the survivors!"

The narrative was indeed convincing, with at least a factual basis for many things.

To express the pinnacle of falsehood, it is to weave one part lie within nine parts truth, making it hard to discern.

Not only were there facts, but also personal attacks, labeling Ye Fan as a psychopath.

In the end, there was the threat of war, which essentially equates to unfurling the banner of civil war in Divine Dragon Province.

Meanwhile, Guo Zhun also used the threat of the Dawn Army as a reason to urgently transfer a newly formed thirty-thousand-strong new army, plus thirty thousand elite Liberation Army, totaling sixty thousand troops, to the Daqing Mountain Prison Base.

If a war were to break out with the Dawn Army, the Daqing Mountain Prison Base would be the Liberation Army's rear.

As the sixty thousand troops mobilized, and when the Ice City host delivered these remarks, it happened to be April 1st, thus it was also called the April Fool's Declaration.

With the Liberation Army's movement to the frontline, the atmosphere within Dawn City instantly grew tense.

Some denounced Guo Zhun, citing this era overrun by zombies, criticizing him for not considering exterminating more zombies, and instead vying for power and profit.

Perhaps Ice City has never suffered a zombie siege and does not know the pain of flesh and blood.

The survivors of Dawn City have witnessed the ferocity of zombies, and in their view, the most pressing issue is to fight zombies, and other matters can wait.

Furthermore, some began worrying that their newly stabilized lives would be shattered, fearing that going to war at this time is almost self-destructive.

Others noted the frequent reports on Ice City's military reorganization and started fearing that the Dawn Army might lose.

After all, fighting zombies and waging war are two different things. Those cannons and bombs are not to be underestimated, and hiding within the city is futile.

Some even proposed negotiating with the Liberation Army, willing to pay a price to avoid war.

Ye Fan happened to be in the radar station of the Dawn Army when he heard about Ice City's declaration of war.

Soldiers at the radar station had detected some strange phenomena within the detection range of the spy satellite recently, so Ye Fan came to take a look.

Once Ye Fan arrived at the radar station, a soldier immediately guided him to the screen.

"Sir, look, this is the Jiangnan District of Ice City."

Ye Fan glanced at the screen, his brows immediately furrowed.

"Why are the red dots so dense near the riverbank? When did this happen?"

"It was discovered three days ago, but there weren't as many then, and the on-duty personnel didn't pay much attention. But over the past few days, they gradually realized that the number of zombies along the Jiangnan District coastline was increasing rapidly, with hundreds of thousands of zombies swarming to the riverside every day. Moreover, these zombies hardly move in areas near the riverbank, which is why it caught our attention. Today, we found that the number of zombies near the riverside has exceeded three million, which is why we called you over, sir."

Ye Fan nodded lightly, no doubt, there was a problem.

The siege of three million zombies during the New Year is still vivid in memory, which was the greatest crisis for Dawn City.

Now with the zombies gathering on Ice City's side, with numbers even exceeding three million, there must be a Corpse King involved.

Could it be that the Little One, who escaped earlier, fled to Ice City?

But Little One's control capacity should be at most three million, this seems to exceed Little One's control capacity.

But regardless of who the Corpse King is over there, Ice City is in danger.

This Corpse King is very cunning, placing large numbers of zombies one block away from the riverbank. Thus, the Ice City guards, relying only on binocular detection, surely wouldn't notice the unusual movement there.

And now the Great River hasn't thawed. If these zombies suddenly launch an attack on Jiangbei, with the speed of the Agile Zombies, they could be at the outskirts of Jiangbei District in at most half an hour.

"Not good! Ice City's in danger!"

Ye Fan doesn't pity Guo Zhun, but the over five million survivors in Ice City are innocent.

If the zombies truly break through, it would be the greatest calamity since the apocalypse!

He directly instructed the communicator: "Contact Guo Zhun in Ice City, saying I have something important to discuss."

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