Courtyard House: Home Alone

Li Yunlong and Kong Jie, who were studying the attack plan at the temporary command post, received a telegram from the North China Military Region Headquarters informing them that Lin Yifan was about to arrive to join the battle. Their eyes narrowed into slits with laughter. Li Yunlong slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "Great! Excellent! With Brother Lin here, Nanjing is practically in our pockets!"

Kong Jie chuckled, rubbing his hands together and saying, "When I take action, I never fail. With him around, we can save a lot of effort and avoid losing many brothers. You benefited from his influence back in the Northeast."

The two quickly asked the guards to prepare a clean room, waiting for Lin Yifan to arrive. In less than an hour, Lin Yifan appeared at the entrance of the temporary command post. Before the sentries could react, he had already entered the courtyard.

Hearing the commotion, Li Yunlong came out to greet them, grabbed Lin Yifan's hand, and laughed heartily, "I spoke of the devil, and he appeared! You're incredibly fast, brother! I just received the telegram and you're already here!"

Lin Yifan greeted him and Kong Jie with a smile, and after sitting down inside, he immediately asked about the defenses of Nanjing.

Li Yunlong didn't waste any time. He pulled open the military map spread out on the table, pointed to the dense markings on it, and said, "Look, the main force of the Japanese outside Nanjing has retreated to the foot of the city wall. We have basically taken down all the fortifications outside the city. It's just that the Japanese heavy artillery and bunkers on the city wall are too annoying."

We were at a disadvantage in the artillery duels with the Japanese, losing quite a few heavy artillery pieces. After all, our artillerymen are too young, and we don't have enough heavy weapons for assaults right now, which is a real problem for us.

Lin Yifan leaned over and looked for a while, then asked about the Japanese defenses in the city. He looked up and said, "This is simple. Before the general offensive tomorrow, I'll take out the Japanese artillery positions and command posts on the city wall. You can just rush in through the gaps in the wall."

Kong Jie frowned and said, "The Japanese command post is hidden in the former National Government building in the city. The building is sturdy, and there are many bunkers around it. It's not easy to attack."

Lin Yifan smiled and waved his hand: "It's okay if it's difficult to fight. I have a plan. Tonight, I'll sneak in and smash their command system first, and then I'll come from inside to support you. It will save you a lot of trouble when you attack tomorrow."

That night, Lin Yifan sneaked into Nanjing under cover of darkness. He scanned the area with his mental energy and quickly found the headquarters of the Japanese Central China Expeditionary Army. Without alerting the sentries outside, he teleported directly into the courtyard.

Within minutes, he had dealt with all the high-ranking officers, from the commander down, and collected all the ammunition stockpiled in the courtyard. Then, along the city wall fortifications, he also collected all the ammunition the Japanese had stored on the positions into his spatial storage before quietly retreating back to the temporary command post outside the city.

The next morning, after the general offensive began, the Japanese troops were leaderless and in complete chaos. The cannons on the city wall fell silent because they discovered that the shell boxes placed next to them were empty.

Lin Yifan used his mental power to stuff two grenades into each bunker. A series of explosions rang out, and the Japanese soldiers inside the bunkers met their end without even uttering a sound.

Taking advantage of the Japanese troops' complete confusion, the attacking force rushed up through the gap in the city wall and easily took control of the city gate, quickly advancing deeper into the city.

Lin Yifan followed behind the attacking troops. When they encountered stubborn Japanese strongpoints, he could easily take them out. In less than half a day, most of Nanjing fell into the hands of the North China Military Region troops.

The remaining Japanese soldiers hid in the alleys and tried to resist, but they were all wiped out by soldiers armed with automatic rifles before nightfall. More than 90,000 Japanese soldiers entrenched in Nanjing were not able to withdraw, and they paid a bloody price for their atrocities.

When the news of the recapture of Nanjing spread, the whole of China was in an uproar. This was the sixth core city that the North China Military Region had recaptured since the start of the war, and it also blocked the Japanese retreat route from Nanjing to Wuhan, indicating that the defeat of the Japanese was imminent.

Li Yunlong, carrying the whiskey he had found in the Japanese command post, pulled Lin Yifan and Kong Jie to drink. He patted Lin Yifan on the shoulder and said that the battle was exhilarating. If it weren't for Brother Lin, how could they have taken Nanjing so easily?

Lin Yifan had a couple of drinks with them, and then the three of them began to discuss their plan to wipe out the Shanghai devils.

Just as they were talking about Shanghai, a guard outside reported that a telegram from Chongqing had been forwarded from headquarters, inviting Lin Yifan, the representative of "Ghost," to immediately go to Chongqing to attend the highest military conference to discuss the final surrender arrangements.

It turns out that the island nation's emperor, seeing that the island nation's homeland could no longer hold out after the two atomic bombs exploded in succession, had secretly sent a letter of surrender to the Allied forces through Switzerland, and was to formally announce it in the next couple of days.

Lin Yifan frowned, put down his wine glass and said, "It seems I'll have to put my plan to wipe out Shanghai on hold for now. I absolutely have to go to Chongqing."

Li Yunlong slammed his fist on the table and cursed, "These guys from Chongqing are quick on their feet. The Emperor hasn't even announced the surrender yet, and they're already in a hurry to summon you. I think they're just afraid that if you take Shanghai too, they won't have anything to gain."

Kong Jie nodded in agreement: "That's right. They've already gotten restless after taking Nanjing. But you have to be careful when you go to Chongqing. Those guys are always cunning; who knows what they're up to."

Lin Yifan smiled, stood up and straightened his clothes: "It's okay. If they dare to play tricks, I'll take them on. I doubt they'll dare to do anything to me."

I'm going to Shanghai first. You all need to surround the area immediately, and at the same time send a telegram to your headquarters saying it was my order to deploy the fleet and blockade the Wusongkou. We'll discuss the rest when I return.

After arranging things here, Lin Yifan set off for Chongqing that very day. Relying on his teleportation ability, he appeared in the city of Chongqing in less than half a day, arriving more than half a day earlier than the fastest transport plane of the National Army.

By the time the bald man's attendant arrived to pick him up, Lin Yifan had already drunk half a pot of tea at the Red Party office.

The attendant dared not be negligent and hurriedly and respectfully led Lin Yifan to the bald man's residence. The bald man had been waiting at the gate with a group of military and political officials for a long time. When he saw Lin Yifan, he was extremely enthusiastic, holding his hand and calling him "Young Master Lin" repeatedly, being very affectionate.

Lin Yifan knew perfectly well that the bald man wasn't interested in him at all, but rather in the "ghost" behind him. Now that the War of Resistance was nearing its end, Chiang Kai-shek was preoccupied with how to seize territory and deal with the Red Party, so naturally he wanted to bring this elusive "ghost" to his side.

Sure enough, after a few pleasantries, the bald man steered the conversation to the main point, implying that as long as Lin Yifan was willing to stand on the side of the Nationalist government, he could choose any rank of army commander or general, and even be given a position as a member of the Central Committee.