Great Power Reclamation

Chapter 2775: Changes in the Southern Corps

The sound of the whistle penetrated the morning mist, and a container truck loaded with cotton toys slowly drove out of the 17th Division Logistics Park.

In less than a year, Wang Shilei had become the technical director of the Corps' Southern Toy Company and held the rank of deputy division commander.

He was the youngest and most senior leader of the Corps after the war. Division Commander Wang Keming often patted his shoulder with emotion but could not say anything.

As he watched the convoy disappear at the end of the Gobi Highway, Wang Shilei's cell phone suddenly vibrated, and a video conference invitation from the joint working group of the four divisions in southern northern Xinjiang flashed.

On the screen, the 17th Division's experience-sharing PPT was playing. Wang Shilei subconsciously touched the cotton bear badge on his chest - it was a medal transformed from the first "failed product" he made by hand.

"All divisions report their progress!" The voice of the commander-in-chief of the Southern Xinjiang Corps Headquarters rang out. This commander-in-chief was Liu Junken.

As the camera switched, Wang Shilei saw that the cotton sculpture base of the 17th Division was already filled with the rumbling of machines, while in the picture of the 4th Division in the south, the soldiers were still moving equipment, and a red banner with the words "Toy Processing Training Center" was vaguely visible in the dust.

"Our 18th Division has applied to send technical backbones to the 17th Division for training first!"

The commander of the 18th Division wiped his sweat in the video, with a group of soldiers holding sewing machines behind him.

"The youngest clerk in our company is only twenty years old and has never knitted before!"

In the meeting room of the 19th Division, a crooked cotton toy design sketch was posted on the wall. The division commander held up a "mechanical dinosaur" made of wire and cotton:
"We plan to develop cultural and creative products based on the characteristics of local dinosaur fossils!"

After the meeting, Wang Shilei immediately organized the technical backbones of the 17th Division to form the "South Aid Vanguard Team."

When they arrived at the 18th Division with their equipment, the scene before them was both sad and shocking - on the training ground, the soldiers were wiping sewing machines with gun cleaning cloths, and colorful balls of wool were neatly stacked in the ammunition boxes.

The big iron pot in the kitchen was converted into a dye vat. Several veterans squatted beside it, stirring the indigo dye with branches. A faint scent of tea floated in the steam.

"This is a natural dye made from boiled ramie leaves!"

The old squad leader of the 18th Division held a ball of purple cotton and said, "We thought foreigners like natural cotton!"

Wang Shilei noticed that his rough palms were covered with cracks and there was unwashed dye in the cracks between his nails. It was obvious that he had been experimenting countless times.

The most difficult problem occurred in the 19th Division. They tried to restore the three-dimensional structure of the dinosaur fossils with cotton, but it always collapsed during shaping.

Li Jianguo, a veteran of the mechanical company, spent three consecutive days in the workshop, dismantling scrapped tank tracks into thin iron wires to make dinosaur skeletons.

“This is harder than repairing a tank!”

He took off his goggles covered with cotton wool, his eyes bloodshot, "But our division was able to grow wheat on saline-alkali land back then, so why can't we deal with a few cotton dinosaurs?"

The challenge for the 20th Division came from the language barrier. They were responsible for making greeting cards with minority languages, and several Kazakh soldiers took the initiative to act as translators.

New soldier Aiguli teaches her comrades to write "peace" and "happiness" in Kyrgyz every day. Her notebook is filled with blessings in different languages, and there are cute cotton lambs drawn in the corners.

During a joint quality inspection, a batch of toys sent by the 18th Division were found to have uneven filling.

When Wang Shilei led the team to check, they found that it was Lao Zhou, the soldier in charge of filling, who secretly mixed the cotton grown in his own home into the cotton.

"I thought my own cotton would be fluffier!" Old Zhou rubbed his hands anxiously, "I didn't expect it would ruin everything."

It turned out that Lao Zhou's son was seriously ill, and he came up with this idea to save on treatment costs.

After learning about the situation, the 16th Division immediately organized a donation. Wang Shilei took the lead in donating all of his bonus and contacted medical experts to consult for Lao Zhou's son.

After this incident, each division spontaneously established a mutual aid fund to specifically help soldiers in need.

As the business got on track, the four southern divisions began to show unique creativity.

The 19th Division's "Dinosaur Army" series of toys are very popular in the European and American markets. Children can not only sleep with cotton dinosaurs, but also watch science videos through the QR codes on the toys.

The 20th Division's ethnic minority series incorporates Uyghur embroidery and Kazakh patterns into cotton toys, becoming a messenger of cultural exchange.

The 18th Division has developed a "Desert Adventure" themed set, in which the camel and poplar-shaped toys are equipped with miniature solar lights, which look like stars in the desert when lit at night.

In this process, the most touching thing is the transformation of the soldiers. Their hands, which were once used to carry hoes and guns, can now deftly sew exquisite dolls.

Those men who shouted their throats out on the training ground would repeatedly practice smiling and frowning in front of the mirror in order to make the expressions of their toys more vivid.

A veteran wrote in a letter to his grandson:
"My grandfather used to think that sewing was a woman's job, but now he understands that turning cotton into treasure is the mission of us military settlers, just like protecting this land."

At the celebration party three months later, the achievements of the Southern Fourth Division amazed everyone.

In the exhibition hall, there is a wide variety of specialty products from each division: the "Silk Road Camel Bell" series of the 18th Division glows with a soft luster under the light.

The dinosaur model of the 19th Division seemed to be about to jump out of the exhibition stand.

The ethnic dolls of the 20th Division are dressed in colorful costumes.

There is also the 16th Division as a benchmark, showing the transformation process from the initial "crooked melons and cracked jujubes" to the exquisite handicrafts today.

Wang Shilei stood in the center of the exhibition hall, looking at the old photos hanging on the wall - the scene of the military soldiers reclaiming farmland in the desert formed a sharp contrast with the exhibition hall in front of him which was filled with cotton toys.

He knew that these soft cottons carried the unchanging faith of the military settlers, and just like the wheat and cotton of the past, they were writing a new legend on this vast land.

"Attention, all divisions!" The notice from the Southern Xinjiang Corps Headquarters was broadcast to every corner:

"The EU has placed an additional order of three million pieces! Our frontier defenders will let the whole world feel the warmth of Chinese military settlers!"

Amid cheers, the soldiers clenched the cotton in their hands, with determination and pride flashing in their eyes.

This time, they are no longer just producers, but use their wisdom and hands to weave the Corps spirit into every work and deliver it to every corner of the world.

In the cold winter in northern Xinjiang, the howling north wind blows snow particles against the glass windows.

The temporary workshop of the 20th Division was warm and cozy. More than 30 soldiers sat around a long table, with silver needles in their hands flying through the cotton like butterflies.

Blood beads appeared on the fingertips of new recruit Zhang Xiaoyu, spreading a little red on the snow-white cotton, but she bit her lip and continued to embroider the gold thread into the Kazakh sheep horn pattern.

"The instructor said that these toys will be sent to orphanages in Europe," she said softly, "and the children must not be allowed to touch the threads."

There were bursts of laughter coming from the 18th Division next door. The technical backbones were debugging the toy filling machine transformed from a retired tank.

Old squad leader Li Tiecheng put his ear to the machine casing to listen to the operating sound. "This sound is more pleasant than the engine back then!" he said with a smile.

This equipment, which was supported and modified by the military machinery factory, has increased the cotton filling efficiency by five times, but it retains the military green shell and rivet decoration, becoming the most special "warrior" in the workshop. In the "Dinosaur Valley" studio of the 19th Division, a special teaching is going on.

Xiao Wang, a technician who graduated from the Department of Biology, held up an anatomical diagram and explained to the soldiers the direction of dinosaur muscles:

“The neck of the Tyrannosaurus Rex had to be shaped like this to reflect its explosive power.

"The same large hands that once operated an excavator now carefully use tweezers to adjust cotton fibers to create wrinkled skin for a Triceratops model.

In the corner, several soldiers were using 3D printing pens to color a dinosaur skeleton. Blue-purple light was flowing through the cotton wool, as if life from billions of years ago was reviving.

On this day, Wang Shilei received a special order.

UNICEF sent an email, hoping to customize a batch of cotton dolls with the theme of "Angel of Peace" to be distributed to children in war-torn areas around the world.

After the news spread, the entire South Xinjiang Corps was in an uproar. Each division spontaneously set up a "Peace Workshop", where soldiers completed regular orders during the day and gathered together at night to design new styles.

The Uighur soldiers of the 16th Division sewed robes for the angels out of Adras silk and embroidered olive branches on the hems of their skirts.

The Kyrgyz girls of the 20th Division weaved golden halos out of wool.

The veterans of the 18th Division melted down old military kettles into small bells and hung them around the angels' waists.

"The sound of these bells is ten thousand times more pleasant than the sound of gunfire."

An old soldier who participated in the border self-defense counterattack said as he wiped the bell.

During the production process, the most worrying thing is quality control.

Wang Shilei led the quality inspection team to visit every division. In the workshop of the 20th Division, he found that the gold thread on an angel's wing was loose.

When it was found out that it was the new soldier Abdullah who was negligent in order to rush the work, the tall man was so anxious that his eyes turned red.

“I wanted to finish it early so that the kids could get it early…”

He choked up and said. Wang Shilei did not blame him, but led him to sew again, saying as he did so:

"Every stitch is connected to the smiling faces of children far away. We, the military reclamation people, only slow work can produce fine work."

As the delivery date approached, the entire Southern Xinjiang Corps entered a "wartime state."

But this time there was no sound of gunfire, only the hum of sewing machines, the rustling of cloth being cut, and the sound of discussions that came and went.

In the packaging workshop, the soldiers made small clouds with cotton scraps and stuffed them into packaging boxes.

“When children open it, it’s like receiving a floating sky.”

Clerk Xiao Liu wrote these words on the greeting card.

When the special plane carrying 100,000 "Angels of Peace" took off from the provincial capital, soldiers from various divisions spontaneously gathered in front of the TV to watch the live broadcast.

On the screen, staff members dressed in national costumes were carefully carrying packing boxes. The sunlight shone through the portholes onto the wings of the cotton dolls, casting a soft light.

Wang Shilei's phone kept vibrating. In the on-site photos sent by UNICEF, children in African refugee camps were holding angel dolls and smiling, and some buried their faces in soft cotton, as if embracing the warmth of the whole world.

"Old man, when we were cultivating the land, who would have thought that cotton could be used like this?"

In the video, an old white-haired soldier was wiping his eyes. On the wall behind him hung a cotton bear sent by his son.

"Now even my little grandson knows that the cotton grown by grandpa can turn into an angel."

This "new production movement" triggered by cotton not only changed the economic structure of the Corps, but also quietly reshaped the spiritual world of the younger generation.

In the Honor Room of the 20th Division, a new "Memory of Velvet" wall has been added, displaying all the works from the first crooked cotton bear to the exquisite angel of peace.

In the most prominent position, there is a letter of appreciation issued by UNICEF, and next to it is a letter written by the soldiers to the assisted children:
“May your world always be as soft and white as cotton.”

Late at night, Wang Shilei stood in front of the cotton sculpture training base of the 16th Division.

Under the moonlight, the outline of the newly completed "Rongjiang Museum" began to emerge. According to the design drawings, it will display agricultural tools from the early days of military reclamation to today's toy production lines, recording the process of the Corps members creating miracles with their own hands.

In the distance, the lights in the workshops of various divisions were still on, and the hum of sewing machines mixed with the singing of the soldiers echoed across the vast Gobi Desert, weaving the most beautiful chapter of the military settlers in the new era.

Looking at the annual reports compiled by each division, Liu Junken couldn't help but sigh:
"As expected of my Uncle Ye, one idea can turn decay into magic."

Ayi Jiang rarely showed a childish look and rolled her eyes at him. She grew up with Ye Yuze and treated him as her real father.

"This is the result of the joint efforts of the soldiers. He is not a god. One idea can have such great power."

Liu Junken smacked his lips and said, "Aren't we working hard enough? Without the right ideas, most of our efforts will be in vain."

Ayijiang fell silent. Liu Junken was right. As the saying goes:
"One incompetent general can lead to the death of the entire army."

If Ye Yuze had not come up with this idea and found a good sales channel, they would not have been able to engage in this industry, as they were completely unrelated.

At this time, Zhang Qianjin knocked on the door and came in. Seeing both of them there, he scratched his head:

"I can't keep my funds any longer, and they are not trustworthy and are paying back the money ahead of schedule."

Liu Junken couldn't help but scold: "Isn't it better to pay you back in advance? You are so hypocritical. I have never heard of someone who doesn't want to take back the money after lending it out?"

Zhang Qianjin glared at him and said, "Brother, I make a living on interest. If you pay off the loan so early, how can I pay my staff's wages?"

Liu Junken waved his hand generously: "I sent it to you!"

Ayijiang looked at her man and felt a little moved. Admittedly, he had made mistakes and betrayed her, but he also gave up everything for her.

Otherwise, Zhang Qianjin’s status today would not be lower than hers, and might even surpass hers.

How could Wang Shuqin not promote her most capable subordinate?
But Zhang Qianjin was willing to stay by his side and become a foil with no future.

Looking at Zhang Qianjin, Ayijiang couldn't help but say:
"Thank you……"

It's the end of the month, you know
(End of this chapter)