A courtyard house; Li Yunlong, a subordinate of the deputy director of Harbin Military Engineering I

The leaders left with joy.

Seeing that it was getting late, the corps commander gestured for someone to take two cannons with them, but Brigade Commander Chen stopped him.

"Hey, what's up? What's up?"

"This is the property of our Third Army Corps, and no one can touch it."

The corps commander laughed angrily, "Property, property! This is the property of the Volunteer Army. Taking away two gates is like taking your life. I'm taking them back to the capital to report and postpone our trip to Korea."

Commander Chen was a shrewd man. He knew that if this thing was taken back and the head of the Volunteer Army Headquarters spoke on it, then Zhang Renfeng would have to get involved in military industry.

Haha!! My brother and I are of one mind, and we play mind games with each other.

There's no way around it; someone like Zhang Renfeng, who excels in both military and political affairs, is skilled in both offensive and defensive warfare, and is also a genius at manufacturing military equipment, is simply too sought after!

If they're not under my command anymore, and have gone to someone else, they might not be as good as me at managing these beasts of burden!

After the legion commander left, Director Nie also pulled Zhang Renfeng aside for a few words.

"Renfeng, don't worry about things in Xiyue. Your belly is showing, and your mother, your sister-in-law, and Old Chen's wife, Xiao Fu, will all take care of you. Your girl, Yulin, is staying at home with her second aunt right now."

"The 19th Army Corps that went to Korea with you this time are all my old guard. Xiao Yang is my favorite general. If you need anything, just ask. I have already informed you."

"Furthermore, Commander Chen's leg ailment seems to have worsened; Commander Chen is frail and often ill..."

He glanced furtively at the location of Brigade Commander Chen, coughed lightly, and said, "Let's try to take over his command or his political work..."

After saying this, the kind father-in-law gently patted Zhang Renfeng on the shoulder and left first.

Watching them walk away, Zhang Renfeng felt incredibly satisfied!

It seems that Lao Nie really cares about me.

They kept bringing up Old Chen's frail health, and damn it... He suppressed the thought, but couldn't help feeling amused inside.

If Old Chen knew that so many big shots were collectively calling him "frail and sickly," he'd probably jump up on his cane and start cursing.

Before Zhang Renfeng could turn back, Brigade Commander Chen hurried over, put his arm around Zhang Renfeng's shoulder, and said mysteriously,

"Comrade Zhang, you're doing well! You've made your brother look impressive again."

"Whether it's the Type 56 rocket or the Type 107 rocket, it represents a leap forward in our national defense."

Zhang Renfeng smiled at Old Chen, then looked down at his leg. "Go back and rest. The army cannot be without a commander for even a day!"

Brigade Commander Chen, however, said with a grin,

"Xiao Zhang, do a good job. The positions of corps commander and political commissar will be yours sooner or later."

"Alright, don't be so serious, here you take this."

The old brigade commander took out two 50,000-yuan banknotes with a harvester design from his pocket and waved them in front of Zhang Renfeng.

This is the first generation of Renminbi. This version of Renminbi has twelve denominations and 62 different banknotes. It began circulating before the founding of the People's Republic of China. It did not have small denominations such as jiao or fen. The smallest unit was 1 yuan, and the largest denomination was 50,000 yuan. There were four versions of the 50,000 yuan denomination. Two versions were issued in 1950, one with the Xinhua Gate design and the other with a harvester design. Right now, Commander Chen gave him a harvester.

Just by looking at this burly commander Zhang Renfeng with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, you could tell that this guy was definitely up to something.

The problem is, the two of them have already settled their differences.

After the banquet, Sister Fu handed over the gift list in full, even exchanging Li Yunlong's ten cartons of cigarettes and ten bottles of Fenjiu liquor for 500,000 yuan.

This guy gave me 100,000, could it be...? He pretended not to know and asked, "Commander Chen, what's this?"

Commander Chen smiled slightly, his face full of pride, and said, "Before we came to Xingtai, we went to Li Yunlong's military headquarters. I know you're thin-skinned and principled, and you wouldn't ask your subordinates for money, so I'll put aside my pride and get his share of the money for you—a total of 100,000 yuan!!"

"Originally, I didn't need to return this money to you. Now your wife is in Lingjing Hutong, eating and drinking at my house, so that should be paid for. But after thinking about it, you're working even harder in the war, so I won't accept it. This money is yours."

"Oh, no need to thank me. I'm leaving now. I'll await your victory news."

After saying that, he ran away in a flash. You might say that there's something wrong with his leg?

That's true, but just looking at how fast he ran, it's hard to imagine that he has a leg problem; you'd think he's mentally ill.

With tears in his eyes, Zhang Renfeng accepted the 100,000 yuan in banknotes that Commander Chen had given him for a combine harvester.

Zhao Gang walked over with a puzzled look on his face and said with a smile, "Sir, why is the old brigade commander so excited today? Could it be that he took advantage of you again?"

"Oh, that's just how the old brigade commander is, don't take it to heart."

Zhang Renfeng listened to Zhao Gang's rambling without saying a word, turned and left, then said...

"The old brigade commander's father was from the Hunan Army and never lacked money. Moreover, Sister Fu has always been generous to us subordinates. Today, the old brigade commander gave me 100,000 yuan. I'll distribute it later and give some extra chicken legs to the engineers in the engineering division."

He couldn't help but curse inwardly, "That old bastard must have swindled 500,000 from Li Yunlong, given me 100,000, and kept making a fortune of 400,000 for himself, all while acting like he's been taking good care of me."

But then I thought, if Li Yunlong could scrape together 500,000, he must have emptied his pockets. With his meager allowances and spoils, he could probably pawn his underwear if he exchanged ten cartons of cigarettes and ten bottles of Fenjiu for cash.

But it's probably nothing to worry about. His wife's family is rich, and Li Yunlong's bottom line is so low now, he should know to let Tian Yu ask Tian Moxuan for money, right?

Commander Chen's move to get something for nothing was truly brilliant. Li Yunlong is probably still in the dark, thinking that his gift money has actually been delivered to Zhang Renfeng.

On the bus back to Beijing, Brigade Commander Chen deliberately rode in the same car as the Corps Commander. He overheard the Corps Commander praising the Third Army Corps extensively, and he made a big fuss about it...

Today, I accompanied Peng Dehuai and Nie Rongzhen on their inspection of the Third Army Corps' Ordnance Factory. Zhang Baopo's ideas are truly brilliant! His development of the Type 56 assault rifle has made him famous throughout North China. His production of the 107mm rocket launcher will surely amaze the world. I imagine his positions as deputy secretary, deputy director, and deputy political commissar of the Harbin Military Engineering Institute are practically guaranteed. Besides, yesterday I recovered 500,000 yuan in bribes owed by Li Yunlong. This was obtained through a clever scheme. Even if Li Yunlong racked his brains, he probably couldn't scrape together ten bottles of Fenjiu liquor in such a short time. He could only offer cash as a bribe, giving Commander Zhang 100,000 yuan as a token of apology. I made a profit of 400,000 yuan! This generous reward far surpasses Chiang Kai-shek's stock market exploits back then! When I get home, Xiao Fu will definitely praise me highly.

He closed his notebook, leaned back in his chair, a satisfied smile on his lips, as if he could already see Sister Fu bringing him a bowl of hot soup, saying, "Old Chen, you're really something."

(Should I include the war scene? I'm thinking of skipping this part; 52 years later it'll be Harbin Military Engineering Institute. I'd like to hear everyone's opinions.)