The New Recruits Arrive

After Xiao Fan opened the parcel Ma Xiaoting gave him, he converted all the gold and silver jewelry inside into system funds.

"Congratulations Commander, you have obtained 3264 gold!"

Hearing Anni's system prompt, Xiao Fan couldn't help but brighten his eyes.

This was the biggest sum of funds he had obtained so far.

Even if he had gotten it from an armored cash transport vehicle, it would have been no more than 3000 gold.

Plus Xiao Fan had over 100 left previously, he now had 3400 gold in his hands.

This amount of money was enough for him to produce an APC, but Xiao Fan thought about it and didn't do so.

Next he was going to Chishui County to save his sister Xiao Tian, but he couldn't go right away.

After all, Chishui was a county seat, and a county seat had at least several million people. If Xiao Fan went with just over a dozen people, that would definitely be suicidal.

So before going to Chishui, he had to make some preparations. At least the troops in his hands should reach the level of a fully staffed platoon.

Also, when Feng Zhenxiang was dying, he had notified his cousin about the situation here. According to what Ma Xiaoting said, his cousin was called Chen Fudong, the boss of Yanyun City Prison Base, with many people under him and formidable strength. One could not rule out that he would come to avenge his cousin.

Therefore, at Jiangnan Chun Restaurant, Xiao Fan also had to leave a certain amount of troops to deal with contingencies.

All of this needed a lot of financial support. The funds Ma Xiaoting sent were just right for Xiao Fan to make a small troop increase first.

With troops, he could eliminate the zombies in Yanshan Town and collect resources along the way.

Having made up his mind, Xiao Fan immediately started a new round of troop production.

He currently had 14 soldiers under him, seven riflemen, five infantrymen, one scout, and one sniper.

Xiao Fan decided to produce another 12 soldiers, including seven infantrymen and five riflemen.

This way, Xiao Fan would have 12 infantrymen and 12 riflemen, 24 people in total, just enough to form three combat squads.

He planned for each squad to have four infantrymen and four riflemen, as this was the most reasonable firepower allocation and could maximize combat effectiveness. Pure light machine guns or pure eighty-ones would not maximize firepower.

Seven infantrymen cost 1400 gold, five riflemen 500 gold, totaling 1900 gold.

After spending this money, Xiao Fan produced three more war dogs.

War dogs did not take up force slots. Xiao Fan only had one war dog Xiao Tian under him, which was a bit underpowered, so adding more would not hurt.

Another 600 gold was spent, leaving Xiao Fan with 800 gold.

Xiao Fan did not produce more combat units with the 800 funds, but chose to produce an engineer instead.

Engineers were extremely important units in Command & Conquer. Xiao Fan had not seen what they were like in real life yet. Now he produced one preemptively to see the effect.

One engineer cost 800 gold, just enough to spend all the money in his hands. Xiao Fan ordered Anni that after all the units were produced, to go farther away, get two cars, and then come to the front door of the restaurant together without being discovered by others.

After giving the order, Xiao Fan left the second floor of the restaurant and came downstairs.

The situation at the restaurant had now completely reversed. All of Feng Zhenxiang's men had been disarmed and were here for labor reform.

They were contracted to do all the dirty and tiring work, and they didn't dare complain at all, instead working with more enthusiasm.

Firstly they didn't dare resist, and secondly they felt they had done wrong and that not being locked up was already a bargain, so where would they dare make trouble.

After coming downstairs, Xiao Fan saw his father Xiao Zhenyuan being fawned upon and surrounded.

"Old Xiao, don't push this stone mill, grinding tofu is too tiring for you. Let this brother do it, brother is still young."

"Brother Xiao, you've finally made it through the hard times. Your son became an officer, from now on you can just enjoy blessings!"

"Old Uncle Xiao, did you see it? Just now two girls even prettier than movie stars went up, they were both looking for Xiao Fan. Don't you think it won't be long before you become a father-in-law, and then you'll have a daughter-in-law being filial to you? Who knows, maybe even two daughters-in-law!"

"Li Laosan don't talk nonsense, our country practices monogamy, how could there possibly be two daughters-in-law?"

"Hey, that's just the obsolete old ways. Who knows what things will be like in the future!"

"That makes sense too. Old Xiao, we've been old neighbors for decades. Now that your son has made something of himself, don't forget about us...."

People babbled on and on, flattering and fawning over the usually honest and simple-minded Xiao Zhenyuan, who didn't know how to respond.

But there were also dissatisfied onlookers. A man named Wang Dajiang who used to be a minor official in town said sourly, "Don't make random speculations. Xiao Fan is so young, what big official could he be? Did you see he only has a dozen or so men under him? He's probably just a squad leader or something."

Hearing this, the others also felt it made sense and their enthusiasm towards Xiao Zhenyuan dampened a bit.

Just as people were about to disperse, they saw Xiao Fan standing behind them and hurriedly revealed smiling faces again.

Xiao Fan didn't pay attention to these people and went up to his father. "Dad, stop grinding tofu. From now on just stay on the second floor."

"Ah, how can that be? Everyone's working, how can I not work? Besides, grinding tofu means more for everyone to eat. Food is hard to come by now, just do what we can."

"If you insist on working, then let others take over the stone mill. You can do something less tiring." Xiao Fan also knew the old man couldn't stay idle and didn't try to persuade him too much.

"Alright then, I have a good son, so I won't have to tire myself out."

Xiao Fan casually assigned two young men to be handymen for his father.

"Also, some of my comrades will come to find me later. When they arrive, go upstairs and call me."

Hearing Xiao Fan say this, the people present all had their eyes light up.

Although Xiao Fan had brought over a dozen people, in the eyes of these survivors, that number was still small. They didn't know anything about one-star and two-star fighters. To ordinary people, the more people the safer.

That Wang Dajiang immediately said, "Xiao Fan, are your superiors coming?"

Xiao Fan glanced at him. "I am the superior."

"Oh." The man didn't say anything more, but thought to himself that Xiao Fan was boasting too much. He was just a squad leader, yet pretending to be a superior.

Xiao Fan didn't explain further either. He turned around and went back upstairs.

After about half an hour, the sound of car engines came from outside.

Three SUVs pulled up in front of the restaurant and stopped. The repetitive sound of doors opening and closing made everyone stop their work and crane their necks to look outside.

They saw over a dozen fully armed and live ammunition soldiers filing out of the cars, accompanied by three huge military dogs.

And in front of the squad, a man in camo uniform with a yellow vest over it, holding a briefcase, walked out.

He was a man in his thirties who, compared to the ordinary soldiers, had a more refined air about him that let people know at a glance he was a knowledgeable person.

Wang Dajiang was after all a town official. His eyes were quite discerning. He could tell at first sight this man was different from the others.

He had never thought highly of Xiao Fan and Xiao Zhenyuan to begin with. Sensing an opportunity, Wang Dajiang immediately thought this was his chance to hug a thick thigh.