Nominal: Hou Liangping blocking the door? He was slapped away!

Shen Zhong suddenly jumped up from his chair.

The brass shell casing in his hand was slammed heavily onto the table, making a dull thud on the metal tabletop, and everyone in the command room shuddered.

"Several hundred workers were guarding the factory inside, while two hundred demolition teams outside were pushing up the walls with steel pipe bulldozers. Qi Tongwei even blocked the road."

Shen Zhong rested his left hand on the edge of the table, staring at the red thermal imaging spot on the big screen, speaking slowly and deliberately.

"If the workers are forced to take action, what will tomorrow's newspapers say? Violent resistance to law enforcement, rioting, they'll label it that, and the Shanshui Group will become the victim."

"These people are really shrewd."

Zhou Weiguo was still waiting for instructions on the other end of the phone; the entire communication channel was so quiet that only the static could be heard.

Shen Zhong picked up the spent cartridge case, rubbed the bottom of it with his thumb, and then stuffed it into his pocket.

"Relay my orders."

"There is a gasoline depot inside the Dafeng factory, which stores 20 tons of gasoline."

"In the event of a conflict, it could very likely trigger a major security incident."

"The provincial military command has the obligation and responsibility to maintain local stability."

"Code name 'Dawn', immediately take full control of the area surrounding Dafeng Factory."

"Tell everyone that there is only one mission tonight—to protect the lives and property of the people. Anyone who dares to obstruct us with weapons will be disarmed on the spot."

Zhou Weiguo snapped to attention, the heels of his boots hitting the ground.

"yes!"

The communication channel was switched to a military-specific band, and the encrypted signal spread at the speed of light in the night sky.

……

Not far from Dafeng Factory, there is a three-story building that has been partially demolished.

Two outpost observers in training uniforms were crouching in the second-floor window opening, with infrared binoculars mounted on the windowsill.

Three words came through the communicator.

"Dawn breaks, execution begins."

The observer took a signal flare out of his backpack and raised it into the air.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Three red signal flares, trailing long plumes of flame, shot straight into the night sky, exploding into three crimson bursts of light beneath the low-pressure clouds, illuminating an area of ​​two kilometers in radius.

Inside the walls of Dafeng Factory, the workers and the demolition team facing off simultaneously looked up.

Chang Chenghu looked at one of his underlings with a puzzled expression.

"What the hell is that thing? Go take a look."

At the armed forces headquarters ten kilometers away, the engines of three troop carriers roared to life almost simultaneously, the roar of the diesel engines echoing across the open field, shaking the leaves of several old poplar trees parked nearby to the ground.

In the middle of the convoy, an eight-wheeled infantry fighting vehicle slowly drove out of its cover, its anti-aircraft machine gun pointing forward, the dew condensing on its metal barrel gleaming coldly under the military searchlight.

Zhou Weiguo leaned half his body out from the co-driver's seat of the first troop carrier and waved to the rear.

"Everyone, move out! Take the main road!"

"Let the people of Jingzhou see who's backing them up tonight!"

The convoy drove onto the asphalt road and merged directly into the main road of Jingzhou from the training camp on the outskirts of the city.

The first formation was spearheaded by the engineer regiment's heavy demolition vehicles and roadblock clearing vehicles, with the exhaust fumes from their diesel engines forming white mist in front of their headlights.

In the middle formation, three troop carriers and the eight-wheeled infantry fighting vehicle advanced in a formation.

The third line of defense was led by Zhou Weiguo's special operations company, which brought up the rear. The soldiers wore night vision goggles and their guns were loaded with live ammunition.

The massive convoy sped through the night in Jingzhou at 60 kilometers per hour, the military flashlights on the roofs forming a blinding long line that illuminated the roadside in a blinding white light.

When the traffic police on duty at the intersection saw this scene from afar, they dropped the glow sticks in their hands.

"Command center! Command center! A large number of military vehicles are passing through the intersection, quantity unknown, including armored vehicles!"

"Control of the traffic system has been forcibly taken over."

There was a full five seconds of silence on the other end of the walkie-talkie.

"Don't move, let them pass."

Without saying a word, the traffic policeman retreated behind the flower bed by the roadside, watching the long steel dragon rumble past him, not daring to even breathe loudly.

……

Provincial Public Security Department Command Center.

Qi Tongwei was sitting in a swivel chair in front of the command platform with his legs crossed, a cup of freshly brewed Longjing tea in front of him, the steam rising from the covered bowl.

Reports from the traffic police brigade came in one after another, and each call contained almost the same message—a large-scale mobilization of military vehicles was taking place on the main road, heading towards Guangming Peak at a rapid pace.

When the first call came in, Qi Tongwei simply raised an eyebrow.

The second phone call came, and the tea lid was placed on the table.

The third phone call made the person stand up from their chair.

On the screen, the GPS positioning system displayed a large area of ​​densely moving dots of light, starting from the suburbs and heading straight into the city center along the main road.

The final destination – Dafeng Factory.

Qi Tongwei had a bad feeling and grabbed the control panel in front of him.

The "outer perimeter blockade" and "drunk driving checks" that Gao Xiaoqin had so confidently promised were no different from paper in the face of this steel convoy.

The dozen or so police officers on duty in the command center were all stunned, and no one dared to ask a single question.

Qi Tongwei grabbed the landline on the table and dialed a number.

It rang six times, but no one answered.

"Damn it, answer the phone, Zhao Lichun!"

Dial again.

busy tone.

I couldn't get through to Zhao Lichun by phone.

The steam from the Longjing tea was still rising. Qi Tongwei stared at the increasingly close point of light on the screen, his shirt back already soaked with sweat.

……

Two kilometers outside the Dafeng Factory.

More than a dozen police cars were parked across the middle of the road, their blue and red lights flashing incessantly, and yellow and black police tape stretched from the lampposts on the left to the utility poles on the right.

Several plainclothes officers squatted behind the police car, smoking and playing cards, waiting for news that the demolition work was coming to an end.

The noise from afar started as a faint rumble, much like distant thunder.

But the "thunder" grew closer and louder.

The ground began to tremble.

An undercover officer took the cigarette out of his mouth and glanced at the end of the road.

At the end of the road, a row of dazzling white lights was rapidly approaching, illuminating the entire road as bright as day.

The one leading the way wasn't a truck.

It was an eight-wheeled infantry fighting vehicle. The armored vehicle, weighing more than 30 tons, rolled over the asphalt road, leaving two deep ruts.

The outline of the anti-aircraft machine gun on top was clearly visible under the lights.

The plainclothes officers dropped all their cigarettes.

"Holy crap—"

The infantry fighting vehicle did not slow down.

The military siren sounded, its low-frequency whine reverberating from the chest to the soles of the feet, making the streetlights shake.

"Run! Run!"

The plainclothes officers scrambled towards the green belts on both sides of the road. One of them was a fraction too slow; his trouser leg got caught on the police tape, and he tripped and fell face-first into a flower bed. No one remembered the extent of their ordeal—being handcuffed to a bicycle.

"boom--"

The armored front of the infantry fighting vehicle crashed into the rear of the first police car, which was no different from hitting a cardboard box.

The white Santana police car was pushed sideways and slid seven or eight meters away. The doors were deformed, and the rear bumper came off. It spun and flipped twice on the road.

The second police car was squeezed onto the curb, with its two front wheels dangling in the air and its chassis stuck on the sidewalk. The police lights were still turning weakly.

A passage was forcibly created by ramming.

The troop carriers and military trucks followed in one after another, their engines roaring as they rolled over the scattered pieces of police tape on the ground, heading straight towards Dafeng Factory.

Zhou Weiguo picked up the car communicator, and his voice boomed across the channel.

"Attention all units! Anyone who dares to carry a weapon and obstruct the movement is to be disarmed on the spot!"