The captain had held a meeting with them last night, the first sentence being that without rules, nothing can be done properly.
He had also said that they needed to choose a leader here, and from now on, whether it was a village or a town, they would select Xiang Tong as the "chief."
The companions also agreed, after all, Xiang Tong had been a responsible leader for the past few years at the Dragon City Base.
Coincidentally, taking this opportunity today, the captain was the first to voice his thoughts.
"Although our Dragon City Base is gone, our Dragon City people are still here. For us to live better, I suggest Xiang Tong continue to be our leader."
Xiang Tong hadn't expected Long Teng to take the lead in saying this. He had already planned to call for a democratic election to choose their leader here to lead everyone to live well, after Lan Tianyao and Yan Feng had led their people away.
But today, Long Teng gave him a surprise, though not exactly a pleasant one.
The people of Dragon City instinctively glanced at Xiang Tong, then at Long Teng, and then one by one, they nodded.
Xiang Tong: ...
Before Xiang Tong could speak, the captain again took the lead, "Xiang Tong, you are the most suitable person to be this leader, and we all respect you."
As soon as the captain finished speaking, someone echoed, "Yes, this leader really has to be Xiang Tong. It's not something just anyone can do."
"Of course, in the years at the Dragon City Base, if it weren't for Xiang Tong, we wouldn't have lasted until the end."
"Yes, yes."
With everyone's agreement, Xiang Tong's position as leader was unshakeable.
"I propose we still call this place Dragon City."
Someone shouted loudly, and everyone erupted, cheering in unison, "Yes, we'll still call it Dragon City."
"We are still Dragon City."
That sentence, "We are still Dragon City," completely ignited the fighting spirit of Xiang Tong, who had been brooding here, and he instantly felt fully revived.
Fu Xin Ci had remained silent, sitting quietly among her companions, listening to everyone discuss their future plans and dream of a prosperous life.
On a nearby hillside, the entire personnel of Phoenix City were also discussing their future plans.
However, their situation was far from ideal. They all wanted to benefit from the current situation and were unwilling to leave the Dragon City territory.
Even though they had caused trouble and lost face before, some of them wanted to pretend it never happened. Or they simply said, "It was those few people who offended the Dragon City people. Let them leave."
Yan Feng had not expected such shameless people in her team. Remembering Xiang Tong's advice, she made up her mind, "We'll pack our things now."
"Yan Feng?"
"Whether you go or not is up to you, but I have to leave." After speaking, Yan Feng took the lead in packing up the tents. Most people followed suit, with only a small portion looking hesitantly in the direction of the Dragon City people, contemplating for a while before joining the packing.
Everyone felt a little excited to see the Phoenix City people preparing to leave.
"If only I had firecrackers, I'd really want to set some off to ward off bad luck."
"I think so too. Ever since they arrived, Dragon City has been unsettled."
"They're just a bunch of imbeciles."
Someone even wanted to say that those people were like toads trying to eat swan meat, actually coveting Long Teng.
However, upon meeting Long Teng's half-smiling gaze, he wisely stopped speaking.
Long Teng didn't care about so many things; anyway, Xiang Tong would solve any problems.
Also, with the people of Phoenix City gone, the conflicts here would be halved.
"I'm going to lie down for a while. Don't disturb me if there's nothing important, and don't disturb me even more if there is."
After speaking, Long Teng truly lay down on the grass and closed his eyes, pretending to doze.
The crowd tactfully dispersed, and everyone quietly went about their own tasks.
Xiang Tong had to get busy again. He kept the few deputies with good reputations from before and said to them, "Let's explore this valley together and study it thoroughly. First, we'll plan where to build houses, and then we'll start cultivating the land."
"Yes, Base Chief." Zhang Feng playfully saluted.
Li Yan, Qiu Bai, and Huo Wu all had the same expressions as Zhang Feng.
"From now on, don't call me Base Chief anymore. Since we've come here, we should follow local customs." Xiang Tong remembered that Fu Xiaoniu had said that the place they were now living in was called Meng Jia Town, so he didn't say this on a whim: "From today onwards, you can also call me Town Chief."
The Base Chief, with a strong post-apocalyptic feel, suddenly became a down-to-earth Town Chief. After a burst of laughter, some people suggested,
"Why don't we just follow them and call ourselves City Lords?"
Xiang Tong, however, disagreed, insisting on being the Town Chief.
"I'll say it again, since we've come here, we must follow local customs and gradually integrate into life here. City Lord or anything like that can easily lead to misinterpretations, and if one misunderstands, it can lead to trouble. We can fight the Tatars and the Japanese pirates, but we cannot be enemies with the Ming Dynasty."
Seeing that some people's minds hadn't quite caught up, Xiang Tong patiently explained it more simply.
"To put it bluntly, what if everyone gets careless and unlucky, and ends up wiping out their own ancestors?"
"Hahaha."
Xiang Tong's words caused another burst of hearty laughter.
After laughing, everyone completely agreed with Xiang Tong's statement.
Some people even kept this matter firmly in mind, vowing not to let their ancestors be wiped out.
Three days later, when Fu Xin Ci came again, she saw Lan Tianyao also returning with a portion of the people.
He saw Xiang Tong and told him two things. "Xiang Tong, my friend, I have two things to tell you: one good news and one bad news. I'll tell you the good news first."
Lan Tianyao glanced at everyone present and said, "We've found a very good place to settle down. It's backed by mountains and with a plain below. The place is quite large, and we caught a herd of goats as soon as we got there."
"That's great." Xiang Tong was envious.
"It would have been truly great if we hadn't seen those people from Phoenix City."
"What, you encountered them?"
"Not just encountered, we'll be neighbors from now on."
Xiang Tong: ...
"We met them on that plain; we took different directions. Actually, I suspect they saw our tracks and followed us all the way, but I have no proof."
Xiang Tong wanted to say: Why don't you find another place?
But what Lan Tianyao said next sounded quite amusing to everyone.
"We originally wanted to find another place, but then we thought, why should we? We found this place first, so why should we just give it to them? They can't get enough of taking advantage, and it's not how things are done."
"So?"
"We really couldn't swallow our pride, and after discussing it, we decided to occupy the east side."