Courtyard House: I Rely on Time-Space Trade to Build a Nation

At the subsequent debriefing meeting, Zhao Ping'an explained his thought process and decision-making process to all commanders at the company level and above in detail. He didn't just spout grand theories; instead, he clearly laid out the price, performance comparison, tactical roles, and final trade-offs of the BTR-80, BTR-86, and Type 59 tanks before everyone, as if calculating a battle account.

The result was unexpected. Instead of causing complaints, it sparked deeper reflection and heated discussion among the commanders.

"Now that you've calculated it, I understand! We can't just look at how useful a tool is; we also need to see if it's worth the price and what we need most!"

"Yes, we're not very wealthy yet, so we need to use our resources wisely. Tanks are much more effective at breaking down tough obstacles than armored vehicles of the same price!"

"From now on, when we're figuring out tactics, we also need to learn to consider both the 'economic cost' and the 'combat effectiveness'!"

Zhao Ping'an's unintentional cost-effectiveness analysis seemed to open a new window for these commanders who were used to thinking about problems from a purely military perspective.

They began to realize that war is not only a contest of courage and tactics, but also a delicate management of resources and efficiency.

How to make the optimal configuration under limited conditions is itself a high-level command issue.

The emergence of this way of thinking had a profound impact.

Many young commanders who were deeply inspired by this summary meeting continued to maintain this pragmatic style of focusing on practicality, careful calculation, and weighing input and output when they later took off their military uniforms and transferred to local leadership positions.

They are often able to manage the local economy, plan construction projects, and allocate administrative resources more effectively.

This also led to the First Armored Division, which Zhao Ping'an later led, becoming one of the units in the entire army with the most outstanding performance of demobilized cadres in local positions and the largest number of cadres serving as "parent officials".

Of course, these are all for later.

At the end of December, outside Tianjin, the Dongye quietly completed its encirclement.

The intention of the overall commander of the campaign, Commander 103, was very clear: to shatter any unrealistic fantasies of the deputy commander with a decisive and swift attack right under his nose.

At the operational meeting, Zhao Ping'an received orders: the 1st Armored Division would be responsible for the main attack on the eastern front.

The mission path was clear but arduous—the troops launched a rapid assault from east to west, with the primary objective being to sever the connection between the north and south of the enemy forces defending Tianjin.

After achieving this goal, without pausing for a moment, they immediately made a 90-degree detour to the south, aiming directly at the Kuomintang Tianjin Garrison Command and destroying its command center.

After the meeting, Zhao Ping'an immediately ordered the division's reconnaissance battalion to be mobilized to the maximum extent possible.

Those advanced vehicle-mounted radars, thermal imagers, and high-magnification observation mirrors were quietly deployed to the forefront.

Invisible radio waves and infrared signals scanned every detail of the eastern city wall, bunker complex, and firing positions day and night.

At the same time, the detailed map of the city's defenses, which was delivered at the risk of their lives by underground party comrades, was also placed on 103's desk.

With these two pieces of evidence corroborating and complementing each other, an extremely precise and almost transparent map of the enemy's defensive posture gradually takes shape on the war sand table.

However, just as Zhao Ping'an was busily arranging the assault routes and fire coordination plans for each brigade based on this almost "clairvoyant" intelligence,

A message that left him both amused and exasperated came through friendly communication channels:

A reconnaissance company commander from an artillery unit, leading a crack team, has once again infiltrated Tianjin.

It is said that this is to conduct "final target identification and verification before the war".

Zhao Ping'an was stunned. He held the pencil and struggled to mark a spot on the map for a long time.

He turned to look at Old Xu and several brigade commanders beside him, his face full of confusion:

"No... We've scanned it with radar, done the thermal imaging, and checked the maps that our underground comrades risked their lives for. We can even count the seams between the bricks in the city wall."

Why...why are they sending people in for a 'secondary verification'? Do they not trust our equipment, or do they not trust the intelligence our comrades obtained with their blood?"

There was a moment of silence in the command center. Everyone felt that this matter was a bit hard to understand, and even somewhat unnecessary and risky.

However, since the friendly forces were operating independently, they couldn't say much.

Just as he was feeling slightly confused, the long-lost, emotionless mechanical voice in Zhao Ping'an's mind suddenly rang out without warning:

[Ding! System experience points have reached 1000. System upgraded to level 2.]

[Technology unlock cap increased to: 2006 AD.]

The system storage space has been increased to 300 cubic meters.

[Experience points required for the next level: 4000. Two system tasks must be completed simultaneously.]

[Discover the current world side quest: Endgame Rescue.]

Mission objective: Rescue as many of our characters from the film as possible.

For each person successfully rescued, that person can be added to the "Courtyard" system, becoming equivalent to a courtyard resident and providing corresponding experience points.

Zhao Ping'an suddenly realized! This was not only the world of "Siheyuan" but also a fusion of other worlds.

Is the system using this opportunity to "distribute" "NPCs" to him to speed up his experience collection?

Immediately afterwards, a stream of information forcefully flooded into his mind; it was a movie called "Final Rescue".

After quickly "browsing" the screen, Zhao Ping'an's expression went from surprise to astonishment, and finally he almost wanted to curse.

"You really can't trust war movies directed by Hong Kong directors!" he muttered, rubbing his temples.

"This film looks like a gangster street brawl! The logic is completely broken!"

Zhao Pingan quickly shared the "plot" in his mind:

Cai Xingfu, nicknamed "Brother Extra Money," who didn't do his job properly and ran around aimlessly after entering the city, was nominally the commander of an artillery reconnaissance company.

In reality, once inside, he searches for his son, rescues his wife, protects women, bombs the factory, rescues hostages, and fights off city officials...

Aside from not doing his job of properly marking artillery targets, he meddled in almost everything.

Then, aside from the plot-driven deaths, he accomplished almost nothing. He couldn't find his son, he tried to save his wife but she died, and he blew up the factory. Are you out of your mind? Blowing up the factory!

In Zhao Ping'an's view, Cai Xingfu's actions should be dealt with directly by the warlords, and he should be executed!

Meanwhile, the Kuomintang officers defending the city led their troops around like headless flies, completely disorganized and without any strategy.

The key point is that Zhao Ping'an looked at an area on the sand table—the large arms factory where they had their final melee and standoff—which was located on the flank of his main attack direction, not far away. "Can't I just seize it and use it to manufacture equipment for my army?"

Thinking of this, Zhao Ping'an made a quick decision and spoke to Old Xu:

"Old Xu, we can't let him do anything reckless!"