Holding the original shares, they fought all the way to the Korean War!

Zhou Tianyang picked up the paper on the table and handed it to Zhao Wenlong, who was sitting at the front.

"Here are the arrangements for the group after I leave. Take these."

Zhao Wenlong took the paper and looked down at it.

After a while.

After reading it, Zhao Wenlong looked up, his eyes filled with a complex expression.

He handed the paper to Tian Chengjun next to him, who took it, glanced at it, and then handed it to Sun Shengli.

After all three of them finished reading, the room was quiet for a while.

Zhao Wenlong spoke first, his voice a few decibels lower than usual.

"Commander, how long will your trip take?"

"It can take anywhere from ten days to half a month, or even a month."

"It's hard to say the exact time; it depends on the situation."

Zhao Wenlong remained silent for a moment, then nodded and did not ask any further questions.

He had followed Zhou Tianyang for so many years and knew the commander's temperament.

The leader will naturally tell them what he can.

It's something that can't be said, and you can't get the answer by asking.

"Commander, don't worry."

Zhao Wenlong's tone was much more serious than usual.

"No problems will arise in the new Second Regiment while you are away."

Tian Chengjun also spoke, his voice still steady.

"Commander, you don't need to worry about defense."

"I personally lead the patrols every day."

Sun Shengli made his final statement, his voice louder than the previous two.

"Commander, when you return, I guarantee they'll all be ready to fight!"

Zhou Tianyang looked at the three people and the corners of his mouth curved slightly.

He didn't say much, he just nodded.

"Alright, everyone get back to work."

The three men stood up, saluted, and strode out.

The sound of footsteps gradually faded away in the courtyard, disappearing around the corner of the alley.

That evening.

Lijia Yu.

Old Ma from the cookhouse prepared a dish of peanuts and a dish of pickled vegetables.

We opened two more cans of the seized beef and chopped two cucumbers.

Zhou Tianyang poured himself a bowl of sweet potato soup and then poured a bowl for the brigade commander.

Commander Chen first picked up a peanut and put it in his mouth, chewing it slowly.

The night was quiet, with only the occasional sound of soldiers patrolling in the distance.

"Tianyang".

Commander Chen put down his chopsticks, picked up the bowl of wine, but didn't drink it right away.

Let me tell you a story!

Zhou Tianyang had also picked up his bowl, but upon hearing this, he put it down again and looked at the brigade commander with serious eyes.

He knew the brigade commander wasn't the type to gossip about the past, so it was unusual for him to bring these things up.

There must be something on your mind that you want to say.

Commander Chen took a sip of wine, put down his bowl, and gazed through the night as if he were looking into a very distant place.

"In the autumn of 1925, I joined the army to participate in the Eastern Expedition and fight against Chen Jiongming."

"At that time, I was a soldier in the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army, just a common soldier."

"The troops set off from Guangzhou, fought their way to Huizhou, and then pursued eastward."

Zhou Tianyang listened quietly.

He didn't interrupt the brigade commander, but he already had a vague idea in his mind.

He had read about the Eastern Expedition in 1925 in historical records from his previous life.

Brigade Commander Chen put down his bowl, his tone lower than before.

"In October, the troops fought a tough battle against Chen Jiongming's troops outside Huizhou City."

That afternoon, the command post was attacked by a group of fleeing soldiers, and shells landed near the command post.

"I was squatting at the entrance of the command center when I heard someone shout from inside."

"When I rushed in, the man was leaning on the table, trying to walk out. He had a cut on his leg from shrapnel, and it was covered in blood."

He picked up the bowl and took a sip of wine; the rim of the bowl gleamed faintly in the moonlight.

"I was young at the time and didn't know who he was, but I saw that he was wearing a military uniform."

Without saying a word, I rushed over, picked him up, and ran outside.

"I didn't know the way, I just knew to run towards the place where the gunshots were far away. I ran for almost two miles in one breath and hid in a bamboo forest before I put him down."

Commander Chen lowered his gaze slightly, his tone as calm as if he were talking about someone else's affairs.

"I remember it very clearly, he said one sentence at the time."

"Good lad, you've got guts."

The courtyard was quiet for a moment.

Zhou Tianyang stopped holding the wine bowl. Of course, he knew who that person was.

The man who was carried out of danger by a young soldier during the Eastern Expedition in 1925 after being ambushed by fleeing soldiers was none other than the Chairman.

This anecdote has been widely circulated in later generations.

But when spoken by the brigade commander, those familiar words transformed into vivid, lifelike images.

Commander Chen took another sip of wine, picked up a peanut and put it in his mouth to chew, as if waiting for Zhou Tianyang to digest his words.

After a long while, he finally spoke again.

There was an indescribable meaning in his tone.

"Later, our positions were completely different; he was on that side, and I was on this side."

"But every time I think of those two miles, I feel that sometimes life is just a few steps, and as you walk, you end up in a completely different direction."

Zhou Tianyang remained silent for a while.

Then he raised the bowl to toast the brigade commander and took a sip himself.

"brigadier."

Zhou Tianyang put down his bowl.

"In those days, no one knew which path they would end up on."

Commander Chen glanced at him, nodded, picked up the bowl, and took a sip.

"you're right."

"At that time, I didn't even know that I would become a brigade commander in the Eighth Route Army, let alone that one day I would be sitting in this mountain valley."

"Drinking with a twenty-year-old like you and talking about these old stories."

He smiled, a smile that carried a sense of composure born from a profound understanding of the world.

"But then again, if I hadn't carried him for those two miles that day, he might have died outside Huizhou City."

"Nobody knows what will happen next."

"Whether the Northern Expedition will be so successful, and whether the situation on the other side will be stabilized so quickly during the War of Resistance, these are things that are hard to say."

"But one thing I'm sure of."

"The stretch of road I carried him on my back that day later saved many lives, but also took many lives."

"That's how strange things are in life; the same action can look completely different depending on when viewed at different times."

Brigade Commander Chen paused here.

He picked up the bowl and drank the rest of the wine in one gulp, then put the bowl on the table and wiped his mouth with his thumb.

He was silent for a few seconds, then looked at Zhou Tianyang with a serious expression.

"Tianyang, you're going to Shanghai this time to escort someone."

"When I carried that Chairman on my back during the Eastern Expedition, I didn't think about anything else but one thing: to get him out alive."

"You're the same; you have to bring back the same number of people you take with you."

"The mission can fail, but the people cannot be lost."

"As long as the person is still alive, everything is negotiable."

"With the person gone, everything is gone."

Zhou Tianyang looked into the brigade commander's eyes, remained silent for a few seconds, and then nodded solemnly.

"Brigade Commander, I've got it."

Brigade Commander Chen didn't say anything more, but simply picked up his bowl and clinked it against Zhou Tianyang's bowl.

The two of them slowly finished the rest of the wine while eating the plate of peanuts and the two bowls of canned food.

As night deepened, the village fell completely silent.

The outline of the Taihang Mountains in the distance was faintly visible under the moonlight.

Like a silent barrier, it protects this land that has suffered so much.

Brigade Commander Chen put down his bowl, stood up, and didn't say anything more.

He simply patted Zhou Tianyang on the shoulder, then turned and walked towards the neighboring courtyard.

Zhou Tianyang sat on the stone bench, watching the brigade commander's figure disappear at the courtyard gate.

I sat for a while longer.

Looking at the mountain shadows in the distance under the night sky, I let out a long breath.