Throughout March, the atmosphere of the World Cup became more and more intense. With the official promotion, a wave of football fever quickly set off in the society.
Yang Huaqing specially made a set of football uniforms for Big Pudding and Little Pudding. Of course, they were improved versions. Not only did they come with long sleeves and trousers, but they were also velvet and thickened to prevent the two little guys from freezing.
April 1st is a traditional festival in Western society - April Fool's Day, a festival full of pranks, and it is also the opening day of this World Cup.
Because the twins had to go to school tomorrow, Zhang Hao had to give up the idea of going to watch the opening ceremony live and instead watched the live TV broadcast at home.
In order to liven up the atmosphere, many guests came to the house tonight. In addition to Zhang Jiahui and Zhang Jiayi's family, there were also Yang Huaqing's natal family and Village Chief Fan.
Li Dajuan and Zhou's mother cooked a table full of snacks, including various braised foods, boiled edamame, boiled peanuts, and barbecue. Of course, beer was indispensable in the end.
The beer was bought at a high price.
At six o'clock in the evening, the opening ceremony officially began.
The organizer invited many celebrities and turned the opening ceremony into an all-star concert.
Even Li Dajuan and Zhou's mother, who were not interested at first, were attracted.
Seeing his favorite girl group on stage, Cao Fan couldn't help but patted his thigh: "Ouch, that's exaggerated. I wish I had known and been there."
"No wonder the ticket price is so expensive, so many celebrities were invited." Emma echoed.
Zhang Hao looked at his eldest nephew and couldn't help but joke: "You like long legs, don't you? Fortunately your girlfriend is not here, otherwise you would be more beautiful."
"Ahem, don't get it wrong, I'm just admiring it." Cao Fan grabbed the beer and took a sip.
Zhang Chongxin asked the second son-in-law beside him: "Steven, which district do you think will have the last laugh this time?"
"I think it's probably Europa. Firstly, they are the strongest. Secondly, they are the most prepared. As soon as the Football Association announced the start of the game, they sent the players over. They are obviously well prepared."
Steven said without hesitation.
"What about opportunities in East District 1?"
Zhang Chongxin continued to ask.
Steven nodded: "Of course, I heard that many big-name stars have been temporarily recruited locally. This time we will definitely have the strength to compete for the championship."
"Bring them down! What's the use of just having big-name stars? Football is a team sport, and the time for them to get along is too short, so they won't have much effect at all."
Zhang Hao couldn't help but interrupt.
"Grandpa, I think what my uncle said makes sense. From the time they formed the team to the start of the game, they only trained for more than a week, and I don't think much of them."
Cao Fan shook his head.
He himself does not agree with the recruitment of overseas players, and even feels a little disgusted with it. With a population of more than 800 million, can it be that the local population cannot choose a qualified team?
Cao Zheng saw that his father-in-law looked very bad and quickly glared at his son: "What do you know? In any case, our country has always been very stable and has little impact on the team.
I heard that many overseas teams don’t even have the players together, but we have a huge advantage. Even if we don’t win the championship this time, the top three are still guaranteed.”
"You don't need to be in the top three. If you can reach the quarterfinals, you will be considered a breakthrough." Zhang Chongxin nodded and his face became a little better.
When Village Chief Fan saw this, he recommended himself: "Since everyone has their own opinions, why not guess the score tonight, and I will be the banker. The odds are one to one, you can play whatever you want."
Tonight's opening match will pit the host nation against Central Africa, which is also the bottom team in the group.
"Then I'll bet China and Africa to win, for a thousand dollars."
Cao Fan said impatiently.
In fact, Europa has fully occupied Africa. The so-called Central African teams have many players from Europa, and their strength cannot be underestimated.
Zhang Hao followed up and said: "I will also pay 10,000 yuan for Zhongfei to win."
The local teams are really disappointing, and they have always had the curse of not winning in the first round, which is definitely not easy to break.
"Old Fan, we are betting 100,000 yuan to win locally, do you dare to take it?" Zhang Chongxin said with a arrogant temper.
Village Chief Fan chuckled and said, "What's so daring about this? Don't say 100,000 yuan, even one million, I'll take it."
Since the separation, although he has only kept a few hundred thousand in savings, as long as he is still in the position of village chief, there is no difficulty in borrowing several million.
"Okay, I'll transfer the money to you now."
Zhang Chongxin casually took out his mobile phone.
Li Dajuan did not stop her husband from acting recklessly. There were so many people at home today and she wanted to give the old man face.
Next, everyone else also placed their bets.
Except for Cao Zheng, Steven and Yang, everyone else bet on the Central African team to win, but the amount was not very large, so it could only be regarded as a small bet.
…
At 11:30 in the evening, with the referee's whistle, the host "lived up to expectations" and lost the first game with a score of 1 to 2.
"Bang..." Zhang Chongxin almost smashed the water glass.
Cao Fan suddenly said: "Grandpa, what do I say? We have no cooperation at all. If it weren't for the referee's bias, not a single goal would be scored."
"Why are you anxious? This is the first group match. If you play hard from now on, your chances of qualifying are still very high."
Zhang Chongxin said harshly.
Village Chief Fan laughed: "Old Zhang, I won't be polite with this one hundred thousand yuan."
"Next time I come back, I won't believe it."
Zhang Chongxin gritted his teeth and said.
"Okay, the second game is in three days. I'll come back then." After Village Chief Fan finished speaking, he stood up: "It's getting late, I should go back."
Zhang Hao was about to get up to see off the guests, when the TV screen suddenly flashed and turned into a news station.
"An urgent news is being broadcast now. On April 1st, federal time, at around 10pm, federal bases in the Middle East were attacked by unknown armed forces. The two sides are still exchanging fire. The casualties are temporarily unknown..."
Kevin's eyes widened instantly: "Damn it, the TV station is so crazy! How dare you openly broadcast fake news. Although today is April Fool's Day, you can't make such a big joke, right?"
"Don't talk nonsense. This is an official news channel. How can it be a prank? This is real news."
Zhang Chongxin said with a solemn expression.
Cao Fan heard this and shouted: "The civil war has finally broken out. Are we going to witness history?"
"We can't rush to conclusions yet." Zhang Hao shook his head, "Maybe the attackers this time were just unscrupulous civilian armed forces. I remember a similar incident happened last year."
"Uncle, this time is different. Didn't you listen to what the host said? There was a fierce exchange of fire, and it hasn't stopped yet. It's not a small force at all."
Cao Fan analyzed patiently.
Zhang Chongxin could no longer care about the World Cup and couldn't help but let out a deep sigh:
"It seems that the civil war is almost inseparable. Xiaohao, your previous suspicion is correct. The Europeans won't fight sooner or later. They chose to fight at this time. Obviously they want to use the World Cup to confuse the higher ups and then launch a sneak attack.
"
Cao Zheng said worriedly: "This is terrible. I don't know if the Middle East base can hold on?"
"There are hundreds of thousands of troops in the Middle East base, so self-protection should be no problem, right?" Steven frowned.
"Second uncle, it's really hard to say. Since the Europeans have chosen to go to war, they must be fully prepared. The Middle East base may not be able to sustain it."
Cao Fan shook his head.
Zhang Hao rubbed his temples: "If the Middle East base falls, it will really break the sky."
"Xiaohao, will the outbreak of the war have a big impact on your side?" Zhang Chongxin quickly changed his attention.
"It should be okay. Haotian Group has sufficient raw materials prepared and the impact will be very small. The same is true for Minde. The only trouble now is the southeastern fishery. I am worried that the Europeans will hijack the ocean-going fleet."
"Don't you have a naval escort?"
"There are only a few small warships in total, and they can only defeat pirates. They cannot defeat the regular army at all."
Zhang Hao sighed.
Zhang Chongxin quickly comforted him: "Don't worry too much. Anyway, the fishing company's money will not fall into your hands. If it is really robbed, just treat it as a loss of money and avoid disaster."
"Oh, that's all I can think of."
Steven helped to persuade: "The sea is so big and the European navy has limited strength, so they may not be able to find it."
"Of course it's best to return safely, but compared to the ocean-going fleet, I'm more worried about the energy issue now. If as expected, the energy crisis will come soon." Zhang Hao said seriously.
"Energy crisis? Is there another blackout?"
Village Chief Fan asked quickly.
Zhang Hao nodded: "The blackout is just one of them. There will be a series of problems such as food shortages next. In short, we have to tighten our belts."
"Fortunately, our village has built a wind turbine, and it finally came in handy this time."
Village Chief Fan couldn't help but feel happy.
Zhang Hao took the opportunity to suggest: "Uncle Fan, I suggest that the village convene a village meeting as soon as possible, and then call on everyone to actively stockpile food to prepare for shortages, so that they will not be able to buy it in the future."
"That's right, I'm going to inform everyone now."
After Village Chief Fan finished speaking, he left in a hurry.
Immediately afterwards, Zhang Hao personally sent his eldest sister, second sister, and father-in-law's family back to Aoyuan Community. They encountered a huge change, and everyone had no intention of talking about it.
Back home, Li Dajuan, Zhou's mother, and Yang Huaqing were all awakened by the loudspeaker in the village. They were sitting in the living room holding a family meeting.
"Mom, wife, you are all awake."
Zhang Hao said hello.
"With such a big thing happening, where can I sleep?"
Li Dajuan said with a sad face.
Zhang Hao comforted him for a few words, then turned to look at his father: "Dad, is there any new news on TV?"
"Well, another news was just posted. It has been confirmed that the Europas launched the attack. They crossed the Red Sea, successfully landed on Ras Al Khaimah, and then sneak attacked the garrison base from behind."
Zhang Chongxin quickly replied.
"What's the situation at the base now?"
"There is no report on the news. It just says that the fighting is very fierce. The Federation has sent Jibuti's navy to reinforce it. However, the distant water cannot save the close fire. It depends on whether the base can withstand the first wave of attacks."
"Didn't the Jibuti Naval Base come under attack?"
Zhang Hao said doubtfully.
For security reasons, the Federation has a total of two military strongholds in the Middle East. One is the Dubai military base stationed by the army, which is responsible for guarding the Persian Gulf.
The other one is the Jibuti Naval Base, which is responsible for guarding the Red Sea, combating nearby pirates, and protecting the smooth routes between the east and west.
It stands to reason that the first thing the Europas should attack is the naval base. Only by taking out the naval base can they have no worries and attack the Dubai base with peace of mind.
Zhang Chongxin shook his head: "No, but the Jibuti base also suffered heavy losses."
"What's going on?" Zhang Hao asked in surprise.
"The Europas are very smart. They secretly instigated more than half of the fleet to rebel. This is much more effective than directly attacking the naval base."
"What? Are all the people in the navy just working? How could such a huge hidden danger not be discovered?"
"I can't blame them. The navy itself is a technical branch. Even if you want to find someone to replace them, it won't happen overnight. Who knew it would happen so fast."
Zhang Chongxin helped explain it above.
Zhang Hao's face was full of disdain: "They are all excuses. In the final analysis, they are still lack of courage. They knew that there was a risk of war, but they didn't take any precautions."
"Alas, we have been at peace for too long, and it is normal for us to be negligent. Besides, the Navy is not completely unprepared. They just transferred the aircraft carrier back some time ago, which can be regarded as a great blessing among misfortunes."
Zhang Chongxin sighed.
"What use can a mere aircraft carrier do? Once the Middle East is lost, it will not be easy to counterattack. This will be a protracted tug of war." Zhang Hao predicted.
The Middle East is far away from the mainland, and coupled with the special environment under the "polar night", it is not wise to conduct an expedition unless nuclear weapons are directly used.
But having said that, perhaps the Europeans have already found the remaining nuclear weapons from the ruins of the North American continent. This is not impossible.
"So pessimistic? That's not true, is it?"
"Nothing is impossible. The Europas have obviously planned this for a long time. If they are not 100% sure, they will not rush to take action. I am afraid that the Middle East base is not very optimistic."
Zhang Chong's confidence trembled, and he couldn't help but uttered a curse word: "CTMD..."
"What are you talking about?" Li Dajuan hurriedly pulled his wife's arm and persuaded loudly: "Stop talking about it. National affairs are not the sole responsibility of you and your son. Let's discuss our future plans quickly."
"Mom, don't worry, our family will definitely have enough food and we won't go hungry."
Zhang Hao immediately comforted him.
Li Dajuan waved her hand: "I'm not afraid of this, but I'm worried that the village is unsafe. Didn't you buy a house in Zhucheng? Should we move the whole family there?"
"No need for now, we haven't reached that point yet."
Zhang Hao shook his head.
"This matter cannot be taken lightly. Why don't you take Hua Qing, Big Pudding and Little Pudding to move over first." Li Dajuan paused and looked at her mother-in-law beside her: "Lao Zhou, why don't you go with us? Help them two.
I will take care of the child while Lao Zhang and I stay to look after the family."
There were a lot of vegetables grown on the manor, and a lot of livestock were raised, too, and she couldn't let them go.
Mother Zhou shook her head repeatedly: "How about I stay? I'm used to living here and don't want to leave."
"Old Zhou..." Li Dajuan wanted to persuade him again.
Zhang Hao was a little dumbfounded and quickly interrupted: "Mom, the Middle East is thousands of miles away from us. The war will not spread here, and we don't have to leave."
"Ignore the war for now. What if there is unrest in the city? It will be too late to leave by then."
Li Dajuan is not an old fool either.
"No, Huicheng is so close to the capital. Even if something goes wrong, the army will be able to rush over quickly to support and nothing will happen."
Zhang Hao patiently comforted him.
"Really?" Li Dajuan hesitated.
Zhang Chongxin immediately took over the words: "Really, Xiaohao is right. The entire Zhuwan District is integrated. As long as there is no chaos above, nothing will happen here."
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