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

The day Zhao Pingan left Paris was a sunny day.

He leaned back in his seat, reflecting on his trip to France.

The deal to bring in cattle has been finalized. The first batch will consist of 8,000 head, the second year will see over 10,000, and for the next five years, the number will increase by 5,000 to 10,000 head annually.

The French were even more proactive than him. One reason was that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Trade each took a cut; more importantly, they subsequently probed and ascertained Zhao Ping'an's level of support for them in Africa.

The French are still holding out in Africa. North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa—a vast expanse of colonies.

Algeria is at war, Cameroon is in turmoil, and the French are in a state of chaos, but they still have to hold on. Their interests in Afrikaans are too great to afford to lose.

This makes Zhao Ping'an's large order, which is also a ten-year-long order, all the more like a timely help.

Zhao Ping'an didn't have much affection for the land of Afrika Korla.

What I like about that place are its minerals, land, and animals. As for the black men, think about the spades of later generations? They are comparable to, or even surpass, steaks in quality!

Therefore, Zhao Ping'an always felt that the people on that land were basically beyond redemption.

Of course, Rwanda is an exception; it was the only African country he considered acceptable before his transmigration. As for the others, well, let's not even mention them.

But now, rather than creating a power vacuum in Afrikaans, it's better to let France continue to govern.

At least the French can temporarily hold off the British and Americans.

Big Brother and the United States are the real enemies. Everyone else is just a trading partner.

The plane continued eastward.

However, some images flashed through Zhao Ping'an's mind—images that weren't from the present, but rather images he had seen on his phone before he transmigrated.

2025. Rwanda, a small country.

The people there adopted the Republic's experience wholesale, from military construction to social governance, copying it exactly. Military orders were issued in Chinese, Chinese signs hung on the streets, and shops sold goods from the Republic.

The army went to the streets to help the people sweep the ground. After occupying parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, they delivered food to the countryside without taking a single needle or thread from the people.

When Zhao Ping'an first saw those videos, he doubted that he was seeing things—were these soldiers of the People's Liberation Army tanned?

The streets, shops, and Chinese signs made him feel as if he had been transported back to Northeast China in the 90s. Except for the absence of a hazy sky, the presence of some dilapidated buildings, and the small shops along the roadside with signs written in Chinese.

It looks so much like it, so incredibly similar. That sense of familiarity washed over him, making him for a moment think he was scrolling through street scenes from his hometown.

What shocked him most was not how well they learned, but that they only learned the "form".

Learning its essence involves a master-disciple relationship. After being led into the door, the practice depends on the individual. Like in Vietnam, some end up trying to imitate a tiger but ending up with a dog instead, becoming more and more distorted and ultimately producing a hodgepodge.

But learning its form is something that can be seen and that the people can truly experience—this system of the Republic can indeed make people live better lives.

It's true that he swept the floor, delivered grain, and didn't take a single needle or thread from the people.

Those black men, dressed in Republic-style military uniforms, shouting Republic-style commands, and performing Republic-style good deeds, didn't lie about the smiles on the faces of the local people in the video.

Zhao Pingan felt proud when he watched those videos.

And those battles.

The units in Afrika Korps that can achieve combined arms operations without crushing their own men are almost entirely products of the Shijiazhuang Infantry Institute.

Tanzania, known as the "East African Liberation Army," essentially copied Uganda's tactics and training commands. In the 1978 Ugandan-Tanzanian War, Tanzania decisively defeated Uganda and also dealt with Gaddafi's reinforcements. That battle was brilliantly fought; the combined arms tactics of infantry and tanks, infiltration and encirclement, turned a regional tyrant into a laughingstock.

The Second Sudanese Civil War, between North Sudan and South Sudan, was jokingly referred to as a "combat debate" between the military academies of the two republics. The North Sudanese side was staffed by graduates of the National Defense University, while the South Sudanese side was trained by the Shijiazhuang Army Command. Both sides used republican equipment and tactics, engaging in a republican-style red-blue force-on-force war behind the backs of their officers.

Eritrea versus Ethiopia, Nanjing versus Shijiazhuang.

The Shijiazhuang faction dominated Africa, while the Nanjing faction was often the one getting beaten up.

Those internet memes all became reality in 2025.

There were all sorts of memes circulating online, such as "The Shijiazhuang Army Command Academy Alumni Association in Afrikaans," "The Iron Fist of the East African Liberation Army," and "The Afrikaans Model of Combined Arms and Tanks." Netizens were having a blast making these jokes, but Zhao Ping'an knew they were all true.

But Zhao Ping'an was thinking about something else now: the Shijiazhuang Armored Infantry Academy, which he had personally established. He was currently holding the title of honorary principal.

The teachers and instructors in that department, including many key personnel—except for the principal, who was appointed separately by the Central Military Commission—were basically all from the independent armored brigade back then.

From platoon leader to regimental commander, those who fought alongside him all the way are now instructors, department heads, and research directors there. They fought the Americans in the Korean War, trained new recruits on the training grounds, and studied tactics in front of blueprints. Now, they pass on their experience to batch after batch of students.

Some of those students will be sent to Afrikaans in the future, and the school will also enroll some Afrikaans in the future.

Zhao Ping'an suddenly felt like he was in a dream.

Will I become the strictest grandfather in the Department of Defense of Afrikaans in the future?

The thought flashed through my mind and I laughed at myself.

But I couldn't bring myself to laugh.

Because of the commands shouted by those black men in those videos, the tactical maneuvers, and the details of infantry-tank coordination...

If one day, a general from some country in Africa were to visit the Republic and say he wanted to pay a visit to "Principal Zhao Ping'an," the scene would be...

Zhao Pingan shook his head, dismissing the thought.

But suddenly I felt

I need to go and see that place in Afrikaans someday.

It wasn't for those black men, but for the mines and fertile farmland of that land.

Gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt, and uranium.

The French hold onto those things now, but one day they will lose them.

Who will go then?

It definitely can't be the UK or the US.

By then, the Republic's navy should have already ventured into the deep blue sea, right?