World War: Battleship Arms Dealers

"Tell them," Litt told the Marine Corps commander, "that the next batch of ships will arrive in a month at most. Tell them to hold on. Lanfang will not abandon any of its compatriots."

After the news spread, applause and cheers erupted at the dock.

At 7 p.m., the order to set sail was given.

"Unmoor! Prepare to depart!"

The mooring lines were untied, and the engines roared. The two giant ships slowly left the dock and headed towards the channel. On the dock, tens of thousands of laborers and hundreds of Lanfang Marines waved goodbye.

The "Huaihe" and "Zhujiang" ships sailed out of the port and into the English Channel. Behind them, the lights of Calais Port gradually faded into the distance.

On the bridge, Li Te looked at his pocket watch. It was 7:30 PM. The inscription on the inside of the watch cover was clearly visible in the afterglow of the setting sun:

Time will tell where justice lies.

Today, time has proven one thing: when a nation is willing to stand up for its people, even the British Empire and the French Republic must yield.

But this is only the beginning.

There are two thousand people on board, but hundreds of thousands more are waiting for rescue in Europe.

The 12,000 nautical miles of the return journey have only just begun.

Li Te looked eastward, towards Dubai.

"Commander-in-Chief," he said in a low voice, "we've brought back the first batch. But the war may have only just begun."

As night deepened, the warship pierced the darkness and headed home.

Behind them, the European continent is still burning.

But in that burning flame, there was a glimmer of light—the light of hope, the light of returning home.

For the two thousand Chinese laborers, the nightmare was over.

July 18th, 6:00 AM, Port Dubai.

All berths in the port area have been cleared, and the wharf has been temporarily divided into six zones, each corresponding to one of the cargo ships about to arrive. Thousands of staff are on standby: medical teams, registration clerks, translators, logistics personnel, as well as police and soldiers maintaining order.

At the port entrance, a huge banner has been hung up, with red background and white lettering, written in Chinese, Arabic, and English:

"Welcome home, fellow countrymen"

Chen Feng stood on the top floor of the port control tower, observing the sea with binoculars. Standing beside him were Wang Wenwu, Zhou Tieshan, and Huang Mingda, the newly established director of the "Overseas Chinese Resettlement Committee".

"They're here!" the lookout shouted.

On the horizon, the first thing to appear was the towering bridge and main gun turret of the "Huaihe". Next came the "Zhujiang", followed by the massive hulls of six cargo ships. The eight ships, lined up in neat columns, slowly entered the main channel.

The port erupted in cheers. People waiting on the dock began to cheer, and the military band played the national anthem of the Lanfang Republic. Many journalists who had arrived early raised their cameras, and flashbulbs went off incessantly.

"It's truly spectacular," Huang Mingda exclaimed. "Eight ships, twenty thousand people... This is probably the largest maritime evacuation in history."

"But this is only the first batch." Chen Feng put down his binoculars. "There are still 130,000 people waiting in Europe."

Wang Wenwu continued, "The French government has formally notified us that it agrees to the workers' voluntary departure, but requires us to pay 'relocation compensation.' One hundred francs per person, so for 150,000 people, that's fifteen million francs."

"Give it to them." Chen Feng said without hesitation. "Money can be earned again, but people are gone once they die. Besides, we can earn this money back from other places—for example, by selling rubber and oil that the French desperately need, at a 'appropriate' higher price."

This is typical of Chen Feng's thinking—using business methods to solve political problems while also making money.

Zhou Tieshan asked, "What about the British? What's their attitude?"

"It's very subtle," Wang Wenwu said. "Publicly, they expressed 'respect for humanitarian principles.' Privately, they expressed 'serious concern' through diplomatic channels, believing that we had undermined the seriousness of international labor contracts. But that's all; no further action was taken."

"Because they dare not," Chen Feng said. "The Battle of the Somme on the Western Front is at its most brutal stage, with the British suffering tens of thousands of casualties every day. They cannot afford to clash with us in the Far East at this time."

The fleet began to dock. The "Taishan" was the first to dock. As the gangway was lowered and the first worker stepped off the ship, thunderous applause erupted on the dock.

He was an elderly man in his sixties, leaning on a cane, with an injury on his leg. When he saw the welcoming crowd and the banner, he suddenly knelt down and burst into tears facing the dock.

Two staff members quickly stepped forward to help him up: "Grandpa, don't do this, we're home now, we're safe."

"Home...I'm home..." the old man murmured repeatedly, tears streaming down his face.

More people began to disembark. Some kissed the ground as soon as they stepped off, some wept bitterly, some looked around blankly, and others shouted excitedly, "We're back! We're back alive!"

The medical team acted swiftly. They set up a temporary treatment area at the dock, with seriously injured patients being directly transferred to ambulances and transported to hospitals, while those with minor injuries received on-site treatment. The registrar began recording each person's basic information: name, age, place of origin, special skills, wishes…

The entire dock operates like a sophisticated machine, running smoothly and methodically.

Chen Feng walked down from the control tower and arrived at the dock. He wasn't wearing a formal suit, just a white shirt and dark trousers, looking like an ordinary staff member.

"Commander-in-Chief, you should return to the command tower," the chief guard said worriedly. "There are too many people here; it's not safe."

"My compatriots have returned home, how can I hide up there and watch?" Chen Feng waved his hand and continued walking forward.

He walked to the registration area and saw a young man registering. The registrar asked, "What are your special skills?"

"I...I carried artillery shells in France, is that considered a special skill?" the young man asked timidly.

"That's fine," the registrar smiled. "Having strength is a special skill. So, where do you want to go? What kind of work do you want to do?"

The young man hesitated for a moment: "I...I want to farm. My family in Shandong are farmers, but there was a disaster back home, and we couldn't survive, so we went to France. I've heard that Borneo has a lot of land to cultivate, is that true?"

"Really." The registrar pulled out a booklet. "Look, this is an introduction to the Borneo Settlement Program. Each adult male can be allocated twenty acres of land. The government provides seeds, farming tools, and a three-year interest-free loan, with the first three years tax-free. If you'd like to go, you can register now."

The young man's eyes lit up: "I'll sign up! I'll sign up!"

Chen Feng watched from the sidelines, a complex mix of emotions welling up inside him. These people, these ordinary Chinese farmers, all they wanted was a piece of land to cultivate, a home to live in. But they couldn't get it in their own country, so they had to cross oceans and risk their lives under the gunfire of Europe to obtain it.

Now, Lanfang has given them this choice.

"President," Huang Mingda walked over, "According to the current registration data, about 60% of people are willing to go to Borneo to farm, 30% want to find work in Dubai or Singapore, and another 10% want to save money to return to their hometown in China."

"We'll meet all your needs," Chen Feng said. "For those who want to go to Borneo, we'll arrange boats and guides, and they'll depart in batches. For those who want to work locally, we'll contact factories and construction sites to ensure everyone has work. For those who want to go back to their hometowns, we'll provide travel expenses, but we don't recommend going back now—China is too chaotic right now."