A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

The smell of gunpowder, mixed with a familiar scent, rushed straight into Jiang Xia's nostrils. This smell, a blend of battlefield brutality and the warmth accumulated over time, was exactly the same as the scent emanating from the "big guy" beside him and the "old squad leader" who had single-handedly beaten up Lao Wang in front of him—a pungent smell with a hint of warmth that inexplicably brought Jiang Xia a sense of peace.

"Are you also a former squad leader?" Jiang Xia asked, looking up.

The other man grinned, his missing front tooth not diminishing his imposing presence but rather making his weathered face appear even more heroic: "The real old sergeant is here. The one in front... from now on, call him the company commander."

Before he could finish speaking, the gaunt man who had been pinning Old Wang to the ground freed himself to interject: "Call me Squad Leader Yang, and he'll be called Squad Leader Ru!" With that, he increased the pressure on his hands, pressing the struggling Old Wang back onto the snow.

"Foreign squad leader?" Squad Leader Ru, half-leaning on Jiang Xia's shoulder, laughed so hard he couldn't straighten up. "Company Commander, you killed so many bald eagles back then, your Special Merit was downgraded to a Third-Class Merit, and now you're calling him 'foreign'? Aren't you afraid those big-nosed guys will come after you at night?"

The foreign sergeant's eyes instantly turned bloodshot. Just as Old Wang had broken free, the foreign sergeant's palm flashed like a scabbard, slashing diagonally towards the foreigner's neck. Seeing this, Sergeant Ru's face changed drastically, and he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Company Commander!"

The roar startled the foreign squad leader, but the attack was already in place. He gritted his teeth and changed his move, raising his hand slightly by half an inch. Old Wang reacted extremely quickly, sliding behind the wheel of the jeep. With a muffled "bang," a shocking dent appeared on the car door.

"Damn it, if you dare to come, I'll kill you all again, just to have some fun!"

Jiang Xia stared at the dent in the car door, his jaw involuntarily agape...

As "Squad Leader Ru," who had been leaning against Jiang Xia, shouted, he rushed forward.

His hands, like iron clamps, gripped the foreign squad leader's arm tightly. As he exerted force, the muscles in his forearm throbbed and twitched as if a little mouse was scurrying around.

"Company commander, calm down, calm down!"

……

After the commotion subsided, the scene calmed down.

Four guys who dreamed of going to a dance school in Beijing to observe high art were stuffed into their training team by the "foreign class monitor".

Yes, there are no big shots swimming in the winter here, only the guards of the lake undergoing winter training.

No big shots,

No big shots,

There are no big shots.

I'll say it three times because it's important. Some of them are just ordinary soldiers. Well, the two veteran sergeants never considered themselves officers.

In particular, Company Commander Tang, who had struggled for a long time about the title, readily accepted it after Jiang Xia explained that "this 'Yang' is not that 'Yang,' but a vast ocean that nourishes all things."

"Hey, I heard your factory hired a lot of veterans? Even those missing limbs? What can they do?"

Squad Leader Ru still leaned half his body against Jiang Xia, smoking a cigarette as he asked casually.

Jiang Xia straightened up, took out a heating pack from his bag, rubbed it a bit, and stuck it on Class Monitor Ru, who was only wearing a thin shirt.

"This is it, warm enough, right? That's what you call the old squad leader's care! By the way, Squad Leader Ru, wearing so little in the dead of winter, you're really resistant to the cold!"

Is it resistant to cold?

Squad Leader Ru quietly rubbed his hands against the heating pack, thinking to himself: "Improving against the cold my ass! If you weren't here, I would have been shivering already!"

Only in this way can I suppress the anger in my heart...

"Ha, they went to your assembly line, no more riots, right?"

Fearing Jiang Xia wouldn't understand, the "foreign class monitor" even gestured: "It's like suddenly waking up in the middle of the night and then screaming, or... like I just did, losing control of your fists and feet during a sparring match."

"No... I increased the assembly line speed to three times the normal speed! They just want to go back and sleep now!"

"Ha...good idea!" the foreign squad leader laughed. "That's what we were planning to do when we ran away this time. A person can't be idle, otherwise a bunch of past troubles will come back to haunt you. We couldn't get our hands dirty in the lake, so we decided to cause some trouble in this park..."

Are the two "veteran squad leaders" in such a serious situation? Jiang Xia frowned: "Veteran squad leaders, how long do you plan to train them?"

"What, you can't bear to do it? In their current state, they're severely lacking in alertness! My idea is to let them not join our platoon and let us train them properly, humph! It's a disgrace to those who received first-class merit awards!"

The foreign squad leader watched as Old Wang, who was fighting his soldiers on the ice, went toe-to-toe with them, and exhaled another puff of white smoke from his nostrils.

"No, please do as you please. I just came out to relax, it doesn't matter what I do. But since we're going to be training for so long..."

Jiang Xia chuckled, turned around and took the stove off the jeep, then rummaged through the floor in the back seat for a small pot and a few packets of substandard instant noodles.

"Old squad leader, shall I treat you to something to eat? You can tell me about what's happening on the northern battlefield."

"To my shame, I had no idea about your achievements just by hearing your names!"

"Hahaha, someone who almost got punished, what merits could they possibly have!"

The two men didn't hesitate; they moved a few stones over and sat down on them.

Squad Leader Ru beckoned to the group on the lake, and immediately a young man with a buzz cut, a bit older than Jiang Xia, ran over carrying his cotton coat.

"If we're talking about achievements, Tong Mao is the most impressive. Let him tell you about them," the foreign squad leader said, pointing to the young man who had run over.

"he?"

"Yeah, that kid was originally from the 130th Regiment. When they were digging the big water tunnel, he got separated from the group and ended up here. Do you know what he did?"

"Uh, you blew up the enemy command post?"

"Not only that, in ancient times there was Zhao Yun who went in and out seven times, and now there is Tong Mao who went in and out five times, blowing up five bunkers, destroying a battalion-level command post of a Bald Eagle, killing 37 big-nosed men and capturing 7 others."

"More importantly, this guy saved 34 of our wounded comrades!"

"A battle?"

"Hmm, five days and nights. This kid, he came back but didn't go to the military academy to report. He just submitted a report asking to be discharged and go home to farm."

"If my guard platoon weren't short-handed, this kid wouldn't have wanted to come!"

Wow, this... This... I bet you readers won't believe it if I wrote this out!

Even those ridiculous anti-Japanese war dramas wouldn't dare to film like this.

As they were talking, Tong Mao ran up to them.

"Let me introduce you! This is Engineer Jiang Xia from the machinery factory. Engineer Jiang Xia, like you, is someone who has contributed to the country. Since you're about the same age, why don't you have a good chat? Tell me about your experiences on the battlefield, and let Engineer Jiang have a good laugh..."

Squad Leader Ru took the cotton coat and put it on, then pointed to Jiang Xia, who was moving ice blocks into the pot to boil.

"Tsk, platoon leader, what's there to say? It's just the same old thing..." Comrade Tong Mao scratched his head and glanced at Jiang Xia.

After looking around again, the young man from Tongmao pulled the sergeant, who was still getting dressed, a few steps away.

"Platoon leader, can I retire and go home for the New Year? There's not much to do in this guard platoon, I might as well go home and farm."

"What!"

Upon hearing what the young man from Tongmao said, before the sergeant could react, the foreign sergeant stood up and took two steps toward them. As he walked, his eyes began to redden again.

"Listen to what you're saying! When I called you here, didn't I make it clear that you were going to defend Beijing? Defend...!"

"It hasn't been that long, and you've already changed your mind!"

"Platoon leader! I haven't changed my mind!"

"Then tell me what happened!"

"I~~I~~~"

“I saw the elderly people eating only soupy food, and they even gave us their own rations… I felt so bad! We just stood there all day doing nothing, why should the elderly do this for us…”

As he spoke, the young man from Tongmao blew his nose, his voice trembling with emotion: "I told you I wanted to go back to farming, but you insisted we had to protect them. But is that how we protect them? Isn't that just adding to their burden?"

"I was thinking of going back to farm properly, and when the crops are ripe, I'll bring some over for the elders! After the harvest, I'll continue to help them stand guard!"

"you……"

"Eh……"