Courtyard House: I Rely on Time-Space Trade to Build a Nation

Late October 1953, Beiping (Beijing), nautical mile.

At Prince Siha's insistence, after receiving confirmation from the Republic...

The leadership dispatched a three-person team consisting of Zhao Ping'an, Brigade Elder Xu, and Prince Siha to a conference room in the sea for another "friendly consultation".

The meeting room was small, but it was decorated solemnly. The brigade commander, Zhao Ping'an, and Lao Xu sat on one side of the long table, while the other side was empty, reserved for the upcoming guests.

Old Xu was flipping through the materials in his hand, the brigade commander was resting with his eyes closed, and Zhao Ping'an was staring blankly at the persimmon tree outside the window.

The door opened.

Prince Siha walked in. He was not tall and was followed by two attendants.

After the guests and hosts were seated and exchanged a few pleasantries, the prince got straight to the point.

"I've met with 02. He said he'd discuss the specifics with you." He looked at the three of them. "Then I'll get straight to the point."

The brigade commander nodded: "Your Highness, please speak."

The prince said, "The French are still in Cambodia."

They verbally promise to return sovereignty, but the troops won't leave, the advisors won't leave, and the colonial companies won't leave.

We have an independent title, but nothing has actually changed.

He paused.

"We need help. Military help."

The brigade commander said, "We understand. Therefore, we plan to send an reinforced regiment of 25 companies, more than 3,000 men, to assist your country in training its troops and, if necessary, participate in defense."

The prince frowned.

"Three thousand men? The French have tens of thousands of troops stationed there. I don't think three thousand men are enough..."

"Your Highness, according to our intelligence, the French only have a force of about 2500 men in Cambodia and about 2000 men in Lan Xang. Most of their troops are fighting in Annam, totaling only 11000 men. We..."

"Your Excellency, I understand the situation you mentioned, but in Cambodia alone, the French army has many supporting troops, numbering over 10,000. To be on the safe side, I think your country needs to send at least 5000 people."

The brigade commander was about to explain when Zhao Ping'an gently nudged him from the side.

"Your Highness," Zhao Ping'an began, "if you are not busy, you might as well stay in Beijing for a while longer."

The prince looked at him.

Zhao Ping'an said, "We are preparing for another matter—there is a remnant army of 3 men under Chiang Kai-shek in Shan State that has been entrenched in northeastern Shan State for many years. Shan State has formally invited us to provide assistance, and we plan to send troops to help Shan State deal with them in three months."

Zhao Pingan paused for a moment.

"The plan is also to send 3000 troops. If you are interested, you can send an observer to accompany us. Three months later, you can see for yourself what kind of troops we will use and how we will solve the problem."

The prince remained silent for a few seconds.

"You mean, you want me to watch a battle first?"

Zhao Ping'an said, "This isn't a war, it's a purge of our own ranks. We're using three thousand men to deal with sixteen thousand."

The prince's gaze lingered on his face for a moment.

"What if it doesn't work?"

Zhao Pingan smiled.

"If the results are not satisfactory, you can directly make suggestions to your supervisor."

Therefore, we have factual basis to request more troops from our superiors.

The current 3000-strong force is an instruction given after careful consideration by the leadership; the brigade commander and I cannot change it.

The prince smiled too.

"Minister Zhao, you've convinced me; you're very confident."

Zhao Ping'an replied with a smile, "Your Highness, it's not that I'm confident, but that I'm confident in our soldiers. I believe that neither Chiang Kai-shek's remnants nor the French are as good as the beautiful Chinese in the north."

The prince nodded and said nothing more.

At the end of the meeting, he extended his hand and shook hands with Zhao Ping'an.

"I will send someone."

For the next two weeks, Zhao Ping'an did not leave Beijing.

He stayed in the courtyard house for fifteen days.

The simplest task of system upgrade has been completed, raising the technological level to 2016.

Fifteen days later, Zhao Ping'an boarded a train heading south.

Mid-November 1954, Yunnan Province border.

The train travels through the mountains, with rolling forests outside the window and a few bamboo houses flashing by occasionally.

The further south they went, the warmer the weather became. Zhao Ping'an took off his coat and was left wearing only an old military uniform.

The carriage was piled high with documents, drawings, and equipment lists.

He flipped through the documents one by one, mentally planning what he needed to do over the next three months.

The technicians sitting opposite me were discussing something in hushed tones.

They were all key personnel drawn from various factories in Northeast China; some had experience in military industry, some in food processing, and some in cement production.

Zhao Ping'an brought them together for these three months.

The train stopped at a small station.

Zhao Dongliang stood on the platform.

Zhao Ping'an got out of the car, and the two brothers shook hands. Zhao Dongliang was much darker and thinner, but his eyes were brighter.

"Ping An, you've brought quite a few people with you this time."

Zhao Pingan looked back at the equipment being unloaded from the carriage.

"Brother, we need to transform this place in the next three months."

The jeep drove along the dirt road towards the camp. The road conditions were poor, and the vehicle bounced violently.

"Baoguo and Dazhu's troops have arrived and are scattered across several training camps. The training materials you provided have been distributed," he said as he drove. "The equipment has also arrived: Type 56 semi-automatic rifles, general-purpose machine guns, heavy machine guns, RPG-7s, 107mm rocket launchers, and those six 122mm howitzers are all in storage. The soldiers are familiarizing themselves with the equipment."

Zhao Ping'an nodded.

"However, Ping An, why don't we use our existing equipment? Not to mention Type 59 tanks, we don't even equip them with armored vehicles. The jeeps we're given are just American knock-offs captured from the rear battlefield. Bao Guo and Da Zhu say they're not as good as our own."

"Brother, I know, but this time we're not sending troops out in a legitimate way, it's just providing aid."

Moreover, you know this unit consists of volunteers, and they're meant to stay there, so it's inevitable that some will be missed.

I don't want our weapons to fall into the hands of Western countries so quickly.

Therefore, the soldiers will be used with second-line equipment for the time being, since the same equipment is being used on the northern battlefield anyway.

"Brother, the new equipment hasn't been fully deployed yet, and you're one of the first to know. We can't just reject it and equip it as soon as it's available, can we?"

"Okay, Ping An, you've thought it through." Zhao Dongliang had already figured it out, but naturally he was a bit more "unrestrained" with his own younger brother.

"By the way, brother, you were just promoted to commander of the Yunnan Provincial Column. How's it going?"

"I also brought a group of seniors with me, so the core members are all here."

I've started training according to the training plan and outline you provided. By the way, peace be with you.

The column command you mentioned, although it had only been established for less than a month, was really effective.

Zhao Dongliang's excitement was palpable.

Previously, due to the ongoing state of war, Zhao Ping'an was hesitant to offer advice to the troops. Now that the war is over, especially with Zhao Dongliang becoming the column commander, Zhao Ping'an naturally suggested that Zhao Dongliang establish a column command headquarters.

The purpose is simple: to emulate the military staff department after the military reforms of our army, to act as a proxy for some command authority when the commander is absent, and to handle emergencies in accordance with regulations.

Zhao Dongliang experienced the benefits in less than a month after the team was formed, and naturally praised it highly.

"By the way, bro, how's the jungle warfare training going?" Zhao Ping'an changed the subject.

Zhao Dongliang smiled.

"Your outline is incredibly detailed. It covers everything: how to navigate the jungle, how to sleep at night, what to do when it rains, what to do if you encounter a snake, how to launch an ambush, how to counter an ambush... The soldiers are practicing according to it and are making rapid progress."

Zhao Ping'an remained silent.

The car stopped on the outskirts of a county town. In front of it was a cleared-out area with several rows of temporary sheds.

Some soldiers are building houses

In the distance, tanks and armored vehicles can be vaguely seen.

Zhao Dongliang pointed to the open space.

"This is your territory. Once the equipment arrives, put it here first. The workers and technicians will also live here."

Zhao Pingan jumped out of the car and looked around.

Behind the open space are mountains, and in front flows a small river; the environment is quite pleasant. Although the sheds are simple, they are clean and tidy.

He nodded.

"Okay, let's get started."

In the days that followed, Zhao Ping'an was extremely busy.

The first thing was the military supply line.

He selected three secluded valleys behind the border, and led technicians to survey the terrain and plan the factory buildings. The equipment was unloaded from the train and then transported into the mountains by truck.

The bullet reloading production line was installed first. Experienced technicians led the locally recruited young workers, teaching them step by step how to recover spent cartridge cases, how to reload propellant, and how to inspect the quality.

The second thing is to grow mushrooms.

Yunnan Province has a hot and humid climate and dense forests, and Zhao Ping'an had his eye on this place for a long time.

He exchanged a batch of bacterial strains and technical data from the system and selected several villages near the military base as pilot sites.

The oyster mushroom spawn was sent out first.

The local people were skeptical, so Zhao Ping'an had the technicians teach them step by step: how to mix the substrate, how to bag it, how to disinfect it, and how to inoculate it. Twenty days later, the first batch of oyster mushrooms came out of the shed, white and growing beautifully.

An old woman was holding mushrooms, beaming from ear to ear.

"Commander Zhao, can this really be sold for money?"

Zhao Pingan said, "Not only can we sell them, but we can also can them and ship them to Beijing."

The supporting cannery was quickly built. There were two production lines, one for canned mushrooms and the other for canned fruit, both sourced locally.

The third thing is tea and salt.

Yunnan Province is the birthplace of tea, but traditional tea cultivation is scattered, resulting in low yields and unstable quality.

Zhao Ping'an provided modern tea garden management techniques and selected three pilot villages to promote "densely planted, fast-growing tea gardens".

At the same time, a primary tea processing factory was built to purchase and process fresh tea leaves.

The salt problem has also been solved.

Sea salt from Northeast China and well salt from Sichuan were transported here, and a repackaging plant and iodization workshop were built on the outskirts of the county town.

The fourth thing is basic industry.

Textile mills, dyeing and printing plants, cement plants, and a series of other basic factories were built at a rapid pace.

Then Zhao Ping'an began repairing the road:

Three simple roads, totaling more than 200 kilometers in length, were built from the training camp to the border.

The cement surface allows trucks to drive on it, and it won't sink during the rainy season.

Standing on the newly paved highway, Zhao Dongliang looked at the distant, rolling mountains and said, "Ping An, are you trying to turn this place into a second Northeast?"

Zhao Pingan shook his head.

"It's not the second Northeast. It's the first Yunnan Province. Also, brother, remember that road construction can't stop, and mushroom farming can't stop either. Every village needs to have access to roads, and every village needs to be able to grow mushrooms so that the people can make money. Then your border defense work will naturally be easier."

At the end of December, Zhao Ping'an received a telegram from Beijing.

Prince Siha has decided to come to Yunnan Province in person, accompanied by two observers.