He Daqing, do you know how I've lived these past years?

"Brother, it's getting colder and colder. You and your wife should take care to keep warm."

Chen Si took a coat and draped it over Le You's shoulders.

Speaking of this coat, it's really infuriating. I spent a whole box of Jinxing Jewelry to buy over five hundred of them.

That warship is infuriating; it should have arrived in a little over a month, but it's still wandering at sea.

The sister-in-law Chen Si mentioned was Natasha, who had attempted to assassinate Leyou multiple times recently, but was caught and whipped each time.

After a while, you get used to it. Now that Guan Ming is really big, he's staying overnight in the rest pod.

Just then, a communications soldier ran over, sweating profusely, and said in a trembling voice:

"General, send several urgent reports and await a reply."

Leyou, smoking a cigarette, grabbed the telegrams and began reading them one by one.

Beijing

"The city magistrate led a rebellion with foreign troops, causing heavy casualties to our forces. Fortunately, the troops at Dagu Fort returned and were able to suppress the rebellion. We also received a telegram requesting reinforcements to Tianjin."

Chengdu:

"Weiguo, quickly divide your troops into two routes: one to reinforce Tianjin, and the other to head south to relieve Pengcheng. Both must arrive before December to begin operations."

Commander of the 14th Army Corps of Hubei

"Wei Guo can go directly back to Red Incense Burner Port after his trip to Great Eagle Kingdom and hold his ground."

"To this day, there are no Kuomintang troops in the Kwantung region, and 47 soldiers have sacrificed their lives."

"Centered on Pengcheng, the two parties' forces have clashed, and Weiming, Baitao, and others are holding their ground."

"I have received a secret report that enemy forces in the Guandong and Xiazhong regions have begun to frequently redeploy troops, which appears to be Tianjin and Beijing. I have already dispatched troops to provide support."

广粤

"Wei Guo, I plan to go to Hong Xiang Lu Port. I hope the Kowloon soldiers will come to meet me."

Leyou rubbed his aching temples, took a deep drag on his cigarette butt, exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, and said to the communications soldier:

"Return the telegram to Beijing: Ignore the troop movement order. Begin immediately to consolidate all forces and send people to procure food."

"Returning to Hubei and Hubei, I'll go back to Sijiu after this matter is settled. I hope you take care, Uncle."

"For calls back to Guangdong, you can contact Kowloon Walled City directly."

"Call Kowloon Walled City and arrange for them to enter Guangdong ahead of schedule to meet General Wei."

Then, thinking of his previous deal with the first mate, he added:

"Let them open the Kowloon wall and allow free flow between Kowloon and Hung Heung Lo Harbour, but military defense must continue."

"He is a general."

The communications officer saluted and ran into the ship's hold.

The deal with the first mate was also a coincidence. It turned out that Leyou took out Jinxing Jewelry, which he had bought for cotton-padded clothes, from his spatial storage. The first mate recognized the craftsmanship and boasted about his father's glory.

Forty-eight years ago, his father, along with soldiers from seven other nations, attacked the capital city of Beijing. The city's inhabitants opened the gates and led them to the imperial palace.

However, the palace was too high and the walls too thick to breach, so the people led them through a dog hole and easily captured it.

The jewels inside were countless, and later they conquered the Yuanmingyuan.

Le You, too, was suppressing his anger as he listened, as if he had remembered something.

He inquired about the rebel army from the first mate.

The first mate reminisced for a moment and sighed:

"According to our elders, there was a brother of my lord in the Great Xia Kingdom. Even the Pope had to admit defeat when he came. Unfortunately, he was wiped out by your own people. The number of people killed was so great that it terrified us."

"And then there were the Boxers, who terrified my father and his men, forcing them to retreat step by step. They withstood gunfire and artillery fire, refusing to fall even after being hit by multiple bullets, and charged into the gun lines. Unfortunately, they were wiped out by your own people, who even hunted them down everywhere. Even when they fled east to try their luck in Northeast China, you assassinated them right under the noses of the Soviet Union."

"Oh, and there's that White Lotus, who also caused many casualties to my fathers' generation. After their saintess died, she was taken back to the Great Eagle Kingdom, and I heard she's going to be preserved and displayed."

Leyou squinted as he heard this and said:

"I wonder if the first mate could help get the body out?"

The first mate shook his head and said:

"That's not part of our family collection, there's nothing we can do about it."

Leyou tapped the table and said:

"I'm willing to secretly give you a box of jewelry to buy cotton-padded clothes, and another box for the family that collects them."

The first mate hesitated for a moment, then went out halfway through. An hour later, he happily walked in and said:

"General Yue, congratulations. However, the price needs to be changed. My family needs two boxes, which I can bring directly to the dock for you. The family that collects the items needs three boxes, and they also need your Kowloon Walled City to demolish its walls so that Kowloon and Hung Heung Lo Port can communicate with each other."

Leyou hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement, and immediately had the first mate lead him to the rest cabin.

He quickened his pace, retrieved five large boxes of jewelry from his spatial storage, and looked at the suddenly empty space with a sense of helplessness.

There are still three boxes left. The baby is suffering, but the baby doesn't say anything.

……

Time flies at sea, and the warship carrying Leyou arrived in the Great Eagle Kingdom. The saintess's remains were also brought in shortly.

Afterwards, with a reluctant farewell, I typed a "happy goodbye" to Natasha. She mentioned receiving an invitation from the United States and learning that the training camp she had attended in the Kingdom of Su Xiong was no longer there.

Le You sighed and said to Chen Si behind him:

"Xiao Si, go find the first mate and ask him to send more beef, vegetables, and other food. Also, save some for the brothers to take turns on duty. There shouldn't be any changes for the next few days, so we can celebrate the New Year here early. Otherwise, we'll have to spend the New Year at sea on the first day of the Lunar New Year."

Chen Si nodded and left. Looking at the bustling dock and the densely packed warships, Le You murmured to himself:

"Celebrating the Lunar New Year on the first day of the first lunar month has been a tradition for over thirty years, passed down through many ups and downs."

He shook his head, walked to the rest pod, and sighed as he looked at the body inside.

However, Leyou suddenly noticed that the originally blood-red, internally flowing nine-ringed broadsword had turned the color of autumn frost.

A storm raged within me.

It also suddenly reminded me of what that angelic woman had said back then.

"Ah, you say that Heaven and Earth are ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs, but am I not now an ant in your eyes?"

"My natal sword, huh?"

What a perfect example of "a knife breaking and a person dying."

Leyou drew his sword and slashed at the warehouse door, splitting it in two as easily as a strand of hair.

The blade gleamed with a cold light.

At that moment, a tall, long-haired foreigner walked through the broken warehouse door.

"You're impressive; you spotted me as soon as I walked over. But you're still going to die today."

Leyou was also stunned. "I was just in a bad mood and testing my knife. Who knew you were going to kill me? But the one who wants me dead hasn't been born yet."

He quickly drew his knife and slashed at the foreigner.

"squeak"

A spark flew as the foreigner raised his arm to block the attack and then kicked at Leyou.

Leyou also drew his sword and retreated, glanced at the corpse beside him, then released his defense and charged forward.

The back-and-forth banter was quite lively.

The iron wall was either cut open with knives or dented by the fists of foreigners.

Soon, the iron wall of the warehouse door shattered from the impact of the kicked-over Leyou.

The foreigner's arm was missing a forearm.

The soldiers, hearing the commotion, gathered around. The foreigner picked up his hand from the ground, raised his bloodied face, and said:

"My name is Winter Soldier, and I will come back to find you."

With that, he jumped over the broken iron wall on the other side.

"thump"

Leyou wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, also quite surprised.

This guy called Winter Soldier was only slightly weaker than me physically, but his arms were harder than steel.

Hmph, it must have been that Great Eagle Kingdom general from Red Incense Burner Port who sent them. Otherwise, how could the docks have been attacked so quickly?

……