148: Meeting

With a massive sum of 24 million in his hands, Li Xiao was ready to start making moves.

First, he directly invested 4 million to build the Mo Jing Laboratory; this was the most expensive building he had ever constructed to date, costing more than upgrading his base from level one to level ten.

Then, Li Xiao spent 5 million Star Coins to purchase 100 sets of man-portable air-defense missiles from Nangong Yan.

These things were expensive; Nangong Yan said that buying the missiles came with the launch systems included. Each of these man-portable missiles, designed specifically to target low-altitude, low-speed targets, cost 30,000.

Only then did he realize why Chang Zhan was only willing to give him 40 missiles when he went to Weixing City to snipe that Major General; the price was so high.

He had been firing missiles like crazy at the canyon base, but those weren't just missiles being launched; they were essentially handfuls of Star Coins.

However, considering that Li Xiao was a strategic partner, Nangong Yan gave him 180 Red Sword man-portable air-defense missiles for 5 million, which worked out to a price of around 27,000 to 28,000 each.

The performance of the Red Sword man-portable missiles was on par with the Stinger; both featured infrared thermal tracking seekers and strong maneuverability, with the only difference being the launch mechanism.

Li Xiao distributed the 100 sets of man-portable air-defense missile systems, giving 30 sets each to Zhaoming and Hengshui, and 40 sets to Xi City.

As for the missiles, Xi City kept 80, while Zhaoming and Hengshui each received 50.

These missiles were distributed to Cheng Mo, Tang Wu, and Liu Nian to allocate as they saw fit, ensuring they could effectively defend against the harassment of the Black Hawk Empire's Griffin Armed Helicopter for at least two weeks.

Of course, just sparring with the Black Hawk Empire like this wasn't a long-term solution. Trying to compete with the Empire's financial resources was like a mayfly trying to topple a tree. As long as Weixing City remained in their hands, the Black Hawk Empire's military factories around the world would continuously supply them with equipment.

Li Xiao had no intention of using a piecemeal strategy; building up his strength and taking Weixing City in one fell swoop was his goal.

Facing the massive armored forces and support fire of the Weixing City 129th Group Army, relying solely on meat shields wasn't realistic. His current plan was to arm his entire battle team with his own power.

First, he needed to keep his armor numbers at least balanced with Weixing City, and second, he needed to use ink crystal equipment to boost his troops' output capability.

To achieve these two points, Li Xiao estimated he needed at least another month.

As for the remaining 15 million, Li Xiao used it all to purchase infantry fighting vehicles.

This time, he purchased the brand-new tracked infantry fighting vehicle from Nangong's company: the Lynx.

The Lynx IFV was the second tracked IFV Li Xiao had encountered. Its ammunition capacity and movement speed were inferior to the blade ifv, but in addition to two anti-tank missile launchers, it also had a single 25mm rapid-fire autocannon.

However, the Lynx IFV had a unique trick up its sleeve! Other IFVs usually had a coaxial heavy machine gun for close-range cover, but its turret was equipped with a dual-purpose anti-aircraft and anti-ground heavy machine gun!

This type of anti-aircraft machine gun had a high rate of fire, fierce firepower, and plenty of ammunition, making it a standard weapon for dealing with low-altitude targets like armed helicopters.

It used an extended ammunition box, capable of firing 500 rounds of 14.5mm armor-piercing machine gun ammunition at once, with a single shot dealing 70 damage to aerial vehicles.

With this kind of lethality, it would take less than one ammunition box's worth of bullets to shoot down a Black Hawk Empire Griffin Armed Helicopter.

But if it underwent modifications at Mavis's Mo Jing Laboratory... it would become Li Xiao's most cost-effective and powerful low-altitude defense weapon.

Of course, the price of the Lynx was slightly higher at 300,000 Star Coins. Li Xiao purchased 50 units at once, and Nangong threw in five base loads of ammunition per unit.

Wang Si was responsible for transporting these 50 Lynx IFVs. He planned to give 10 to each city to consolidate their air defense capabilities, while keeping 20 for himself to add to the First and Second Armored Companies.

Both tracked and wheeled IFVs required a three-person crew: a driver, a gunner, and a machine gunner who doubled as a loader.

Therefore, he planned to equip one armored company with a full 30 IFVs, and later add three tanks to complete the formation.

Actually, Li Xiao had originally intended to form another armored company, but he couldn't find a suitable company commander at the moment.

Moreover, after carefully calculating, excluding logistics, medical, communications, Shadow Special Forces, reconnaissance platoons, and other personnel, he couldn't scrape together enough troops for another company.

Especially with the logistics troops specializing in gathering, like Ye Ming and Jiang Lang, who now numbered over 60; they were fine for repairing vehicles during battle, as there was strength in numbers.

But when mobilizing troops in peacetime, he felt there were too many Engineers.

Two days later, Li Xiao held a meeting in the Xi City conference room, and basically all the high-level commanders of the battle team were present.

Everyone sat in the conference room, the atmosphere lively as they discussed some of the things that had happened during the two peaceful weeks.

As soon as Li Xiao walked in, everyone fell silent.

Li Xiao walked to the podium and said to everyone with a smile, "Everyone, I've made a little fortune recently and gained quite a lot. However, considering that you have all been exhausted from dealing with the Black Hawk Empire's patrol forces recently, I've decided to bring it out for everyone to use."

"What kind of fortune did you make, Lao Xiao?" Liu Nian asked, looking expectant; in his mind, Li Xiao always had new ideas.

"Stop keeping us in suspense, everyone is waiting!" Qin Luming said with a laugh. "Could it be that you're giving each of us a girl?"

"Qin Luming, watch your language! There are women here!"

Yun Dongliu said sternly, subconsciously glancing at Yun Ying and Xuan Yu.

Upon hearing this, Qin Luming stuck out his tongue.

Li Xiao didn't waste any time and said directly, "Later, the three commanders—Cheng Mo from Zhaoming, Tang Wu from Hengshui, and Liu Nian from Xi City—take your subordinates to the north of the city."

"I've prepared 10 tracked IFVs and 30 sets of Red Sword man-portable air-defense missiles for each of you there!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire conference room was stunned into silence; it took everyone a while to react.

"Holy sh*t!"

"Holy sh*t!"

"Holy sh*t!"

...

Everyone was stunned when they heard this. Liu Nian said with excitement, "Lao Xiao, you call this a 'little fortune'? You're basically an upstart! Tell us, where did you get so many armored vehicles!"

"That's right, tell us! With so many of us, we can do big things and create new glories!"

Li Xiao waved his hand and indicated, "Everyone, don't get excited. This is just the first batch; there will be more in the future."

"There's more!"

Cheng Mo, Tang Wu, and the others were also too surprised to speak. Was this the handiwork of the King of War?

"After you receive the IFVs and the man-portable anti-aircraft missiles, get familiar with them as soon as possible. Besides defending against the Black Hawk Empire's patrol forces, you must also prepare for a major battle!"

"A major battle?" Liu Nian asked. "Where are you going to attack? Everyone is at peace right now; it's better not to cause conflict. Infighting is currently the target of public criticism."

"I think it must be Weixing City, right?"

Yun Dongliu suddenly said at this moment.