Did he trick the young marshal into becoming sworn brothers and then go south to Huangpu Military Ac

Lin Qi followed the others across the threshold and into the operations room.

The attendant had already turned on the overhead lamp, which shone directly in the center of the sand table, and the dust floating in the beam of light slowly dispersed to both sides.

Lin Qi didn't rush forward. He stood in the southeast corner of the sand table for a while, his gaze sweeping from one end to the other.

It is three zhang square.

The entire sand table was meticulously crafted; the mountains were made of red clay and covered with a fine layer of moss powder, making them look like real mountains from a distance.

The river was sprinkled with blue stone powder, winding its way through the water.

The four main railway lines—Beijing-Yulin Railway, Beijing-Fengtian Railway, Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, and Tianjin-Pukou Railway—are embedded in a sand table with fine copper wires. Every inch along the wire is a small copper nail marking the station.

The town was made of small wooden blocks, with words stamped on them.

The numbered flags were planted densely.

The Fengtian clique has black backgrounds with yellow characters, the Zhili clique has white backgrounds with blue characters, the Anhui clique has green characters, the Shanxi clique has yellow characters, and there are a few scattered purple characters in the Northwest.

Lin Qi nodded silently to himself.

Before he traveled through time, he seemed to have seen a picture of this sand table in a biography.

It was found in the private belongings of a Fengtian general in later generations; it was very blurry, and the details were unclear.

Only when you stand in front of it do you realize that the photo didn't even capture a tenth of the essence of this model.

After that crushing defeat two years ago, the old coach left this sand table exactly as it was, and no one touched it for a full year and eight months!

This is not a sand table; this is the old marshal's monument of shame.

Lin Qi calmed down and looked up.

Yang Yuting stood on the north side of the sand table, the sleeves of his woolen military uniform rolled up to his elbows, the veins on his forearms bulging, gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, his eyes blazing with a murderous fire.

Seeing that Lin Qi had read it, Yang Yuting's lips twitched slightly.

"Vice Principal Lin."

He kept his voice very low and even.

"please."

Lin Qi did not respond.

I walked to the south side of the sand table and faced Yang Yuting from afar.

Zhang Hanqing walked over and stood on the east side of the sand table, just one step away from Lin Qi.

The young marshal's face turned bright red, and his eyes were filled with an inexplicable excitement, even more intense than when he first pulled the bolt of his rifle.

Tang Yulin, Jiang Dengxuan, and Sun Liechen, three veteran generals, stood scattered around the sand table.

The old general walked to the west end of the sand table, which is the location of Fengtian.

The old general didn't sit down; he stood with his hands behind his back, his walnut-shaped eyes half-closed, and no one in the entire operations room dared to utter a sound.

"Staff Officer Yang is acting on behalf of the Zhili clique."

Zhang Hanqing kept his voice steady, but the barely suppressed excitement still leaked out between the words.

"Vice Principal Lin is acting on behalf of the Party."

"Replay the battle from the year before last, using the same troop deployment, equipment quantity, terrain, and weather conditions."

"Each move is executed according to the actual timeline of a battle."

"One push per day."

"Seven days as the limit."

"Three uncles acted as referees."

As he spoke, he bowed to Tang Yulin, Jiang Dengxuan, and Sun Liechen.

"The father is the chief judge."

The old general grunted in agreement.

Yang Yuting's lips curled up again.

Based on the troop strength from the year before last, the Fengtian Army was already at a disadvantage. If they were to start over, Lin Qi was probably thinking that they hadn't lost badly enough.

Yang Yuting didn't waste any words.

He reached his right hand directly into the small flag basket on the north side of the sand table and pulled out a small flag with a white background and blue lettering.

"The Third Division of the Zhili Clique"

Yang Yuting's finger landed precisely on Changxindian.

"The division headquarters is stationed in the western suburbs of Baoding, with the vanguard positioned at Changxindian. The heavy machine gun company and mortar company are deployed according to the actual organization of the year before last."

His movements were clean and efficient, and each of his small flags plunged into the yellow sand with a "plop".

After finishing his third division move, he didn't stop and placed another piece towards Baoding.

"The 16th Division of the Zhili Army, Cao Kun's direct subordinate, stationed in Baoding."

"The First Army of the Zhili-Shandong Allied Army was stationed in Dezhou."

"The 24th Mixed Brigade of the Direct Reserve Force is stationed in Cangzhou."

Yang Yuting displayed seven small white flags with blue lettering, each representing the exact location of the direct line in the battle two years ago.

Yang Yuting knew this intimately. The direct deployment on this sand table back then was calculated by his own intelligence department. No one else could be wrong, but he couldn't be wrong.

After arranging them, he looked up and gave a dismissive glance.

"Vice Principal Lin."

"Fengxi, you cloth."

Lin Qi didn't rush to reach out.

He first lowered his head, then swept the entire sand table from north to south.

Tang Yulin glanced sideways at the sand table from the east side, thinking to himself, "If this kid can't even arrange his troop deployment properly, then today's battle is a joke."

Jiang Dengxuan had the same idea.

Sun Liechen's eyelids drooped slightly, and he remained silent.

Lin Qi raised his hand and grabbed a handful of small flags with black backgrounds and yellow characters from the small flag basket on the south side of the sand table.

The first one was from the 27th Division of the Fengtian Clique.

Based on the actual situation two years ago, the 27th Division was the most capable division in the Fengtian Army, with its vanguard positioned at the Shanhaiguan line.

Lin Qi didn't place the small flag at Shanhaiguan; instead, he moved it back.

They retreated to Lianshan Fort, located 30 li (approximately 15 kilometers) from Shanhaiguan, on the flank and rear of Shanhaiguan.

Tang Yulin exclaimed "Eh?"

Jiang Dengxuan's lips twitched downwards slightly.

Yang Yuting's hand, which had just reached out to touch the second flag, stopped in mid-air.

Lin Qi didn't explain and continued arranging the items.

The 10th Division, according to the actual deployment the year before last, should have been positioned at the forefront of the Beijing-Yulin Railway. However, Lin Qi withdrew it from the front line and moved it north of Luanzhou.

The 16th Brigade was originally stationed outside the Great Wall, but Lin Qi transferred it from Fengtian and placed it in front of Shanhaiguan.

Just one brigade, stationed at Shanhaiguan.

Yang Yuting burst out laughing.

"Vice Principal Lin."

"How are you going to fight?"

He pointed to the location of Shanhaiguan.

"The 27th Division was stationed at the front line of Shanhaiguan the year before last to withstand the frontal assault of Wu Ziyu's 3rd Division and buy time for rear deployment. You've withdrawn the main force 30 miles back, leaving only one brigade at the front."

"Aren't you just handing over Shanhaiguan Pass?!"

Tang Yulin nodded in agreement.

"This is Vice Principal Lin."

Tang Yulin grinned.

"You've done the opposite. Once Shanhaiguan is breached, Wu Xiaogui will push straight through and reach Jinzhou in just three days."

Jiang Dengxuan snorted.

"I think they didn't understand the situation of the battle two years ago; they're just talking theory on paper."

Sun Liechen finally raised his eyes, but he didn't say anything, just stared at Lin Qi's hand.

Lin Qi didn't rush to reply. He gently tapped the small flag of the Fengtian clique that he was holding in his left hand against the edge of the sand table.

"Staff Officer Yang."

"Do you know where you went wrong in that battle two years ago?"

Yang Yuting sneered.

"The mistake was that the 16th Division wavered in the face of battle."

Lin Qi shook his head.

"The mistake was a shortage of supplies on the Beijing-Yulin Railway."

Yang Yuting continued.

Lin Qi shook his head again.

Yang Yuting frowned.

"Vice Principal Lin, where did you go wrong?"

Lin Qi raised his hand and gently tapped the location of Changxindian on the sand table with his index finger. This was the location of the Third Direct Division that Yang Yuting had just landed on.

Lin Qi's finger stopped there.

"The mistake lies in..."

Lin Qi spoke each word very slowly.

"Take the 27th Division."

"With Wu Ziyu's Third Division."

"A head-on collision."

The entire operations room fell silent instantly; no one understood what Lin Qi meant!