Courtyard House: From Deputy Division Commander to Civilian, Progressing All the Way

Li Yunlong's hands trembled with excitement as he accepted the medal, snapping to attention and giving a sharp salute: "Thank you, Commander Peng! That was a great battle! I didn't let our Fourth Field Army down!"

Lin Yang accepted the medal with both hands.

But he didn't excitedly boast about his achievements like Li Yunlong did.

Looking at the medal shining with golden light in his hand, Lin Yang's mind was filled with images of the rows of indomitable ice sculptures on the shores of Changjin Lake, and the young faces in the Shangganling tunnels, their lips cracked with thirst yet still fighting to the death.

Lin Yang stood at attention, his expression extremely solemn.

"President Peng, this medal is too heavy."

Lin Yang's voice was deep, conveying a profound sense of tragedy and reverence that struck straight to the soul.

"It doesn't belong to me, Lin Yang, alone. It belongs to the Ice Sculpture Company that stood firm against the wind and snow on the shores of Changjin Lake, and to the heroes in the tunnels of Shangganling who shed their last drop of blood for even an inch of ground!"

"It was they who, with their flesh and blood, built an indestructible Great Wall of Steel for the new China!"

"This credit belongs to the countless volunteer soldiers who sacrificed their lives in foreign lands!"

Lin Yang held the medal in both hands, faced the direction of his motherland in the east, and bowed deeply.

Upon hearing these words, General Peng could no longer hold back his tears.

He took off his military cap, faced east, and bowed deeply.

Li Yunlong also abandoned his arrogance, his eyes reddening, and solemnly saluted.

Inside the command post, all the staff officers and clerks stood at attention and paid their respects.

The wind blows from the other side of the Yalu River, carrying the fragrance of the motherland's soil.

They won this war that founded their nation.

And Lin Yang's name,

And it will surely be accompanied by these immortal battle songs,

It will forever be engraved on the most glorious monument of the Republic!

The smoke of the Battle of Shangganling had just cleared when the situation on the entire peninsula entered a strange stalemate.

At this point, the game had moved to the negotiating table.

Inside the negotiation tent at Panmunjom, representatives from both sides engaged in heated debate. However, the American representatives displayed unusual arrogance, attempting to leverage their powerful industrial capabilities to gain what they could not obtain on the battlefield.

The US has not only made unreasonable demands repeatedly, but has also secretly deployed troops in an attempt to unilaterally tear up the armistice agreement and launch another large-scale surprise attack in order to salvage the face they lost at Shangganling.

In an effort to boost the morale of the U.S. military, which had plummeted to rock bottom, a high-ranking figure secretly flew to the front lines on the peninsula.

He was none other than General Douglas MacArthur, the former Commander-in-Chief of the United Nations Command and a five-star general with unparalleled prestige in the U.S. military!

In this parallel universe, this arrogant general, though suffering domestic criticism for his previous defeats, never yielded to his pride. He secretly came to the front lines as a "special inspector" to boost the morale of the American troops and plan a top-secret counterattack codenamed "Thunder."

However, MacArthur never dreamed that his supposedly secret inspection would lead him straight into the arms of death.

Early spring of 1953.

The central part of the peninsula is a rolling hilly area north of the Han River.

The snow began to melt, and the roads became muddy.

Lin Yang was leading an elite assault battalion from the Special Mountain Independent Division, lying in ambush in a dense pine forest. Their mission was to penetrate 30 kilometers behind enemy lines and ascertain the latest troop movements of the U.S. Eighth Army.

On another hilltop less than two kilometers from Lin Yang, Li Yunlong was holding binoculars, leading one of his main regiments, responsible for providing outer cover and support for Lin Yang's assault battalion.

"Commander, look over there!"

He Yuzhu, who was lying next to Lin Yang, suddenly lowered his voice and pointed to the winding dirt road below.

Two years of war have tempered He Yuzhu; he is no longer the cook who only knew how to toss a ladle and show off his bravery in the courtyard. Now, his eyes are as sharp as blades, and he exudes a cold, murderous aura that seems to have crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. He is not only Lin Yang's bodyguard, but also the most outstanding squad leader of the elite assault team in the assault battalion.

Lin Yang immediately raised the Zeiss binoculars on his chest and looked in the direction He Yuzhu pointed.

A convoy of vehicles slowly drove up the muddy road.

The convoy was small, with only two armored vehicles leading the way at the front and rear, and three American Willys Jeeps protecting the middle.

However, the defense level of this convoy is frighteningly high!

The heavy machine gunner on the armored vehicle scanned the surroundings intently, and there were even more than a dozen fully armed U.S. military police officers wearing sunglasses riding motorcycles to protect the jeep.

Lin Yang's gaze instantly locked onto the jeep in the middle.

The car window was half open.

An elderly foreign man, wearing a distinctive peaked military cap, black sunglasses, and a huge corncob pipe dangling from his mouth, was leaning back in the back seat, arrogantly surveying the terrain outside the window.

The five shining stars on his shoulders were particularly dazzling in the early spring sunlight.

Lin Yang's breathing suddenly stopped, and his pupils contracted sharply.

Five-star general! Corncob pipe! Sunglasses!

There is only one person in the world with this unique attire and this military rank!

"MacArthur?!"

A huge wave surged through Lin Yang's heart, but it was quickly replaced by a fervent fighting spirit.

This is a real big fish! It's a spiritual symbol of the entire U.S. military!

If we could capture this arrogant five-star general alive at this critical juncture, it would be a devastating blow to the morale of the US military! The stalemate at the negotiating table would be broken instantly!

Without any hesitation, Lin Yang grabbed the walkie-talkie next to him.

"Old Li! Old Li! Answer me if you hear me! This is Lin Yang!"

Li Yunlong's gruff voice quickly came through the walkie-talkie: "Yangzi, I heard you perfectly clearly. What's the situation on your end? Have you encountered a large enemy force?"

"Old Li, it's not a large enemy force, it's a big fish! A big fish that can shock the world!"

Lin Yang's voice suppressed excitement: "MacArthur! That five-star general with the pipe is right under my nose! He's traveling along Highway 3 with a military police escort!"

"What?!"

On the other end of the walkie-talkie, Li Yunlong's voice instantly rose eight octaves, causing a piercing electrical hum to come from the loudspeaker.

"Are you fucking sure you're not seeing things? A five-star general? MacArthur?!" Li Yunlong was so excited he was incoherent. "Didn't that old bastard go back to America a long time ago? How did he end up in this backwater valley?!"

"It's absolutely true! Old Li, are you in or not?" Lin Yang stared intently at the convoy below.

"Do it! We have to do it! Damn it, I've fought my whole life and never even captured a Japanese general alive. If I can kidnap an American five-star general today, I'll die happy!"

Li Yunlong roared frantically into the walkie-talkie, "Yangzi, give the order! How do we fight?!"