Great Power Reclamation

Before negotiations even began for the fifth port, problems arose at the fourth port.

Around four in the morning that day, Ye Guigen was awakened by a burst of intense gunfire. It wasn't sporadic, but rather continuous, like someone was smashing a huge iron plate with a hammer, striking it quickly and fiercely.

He threw off the covers, walked barefoot to the window and looked out. Firelight had already appeared in the direction of the port, and bullets were leaving bright red trails in the night sky, like whips lashing out.

He grabbed his phone and saw an unread message from Tiechui, containing only three words: "Don't come out." Ye Guigen didn't listen.

He put on his coat, pushed open the door, and bumped into Yang Chenglong in the corridor. Yang Chenglong was already dressed, clutching a long, thin object he had borrowed from the Iron Hammer team.

Ye Guigen glanced at him: "What are you going to do with this?"

Yang Chenglong said, "Brother Iron Hammer said that someone had sneaked in from the outer perimeter of the port. He's holding them off in front, and we're supposed to wait inside the building. I can't wait."

His voice was very steady, completely different from his usual loud and boisterous tone.

They came out of the building and crept along the outer wall of the port office building toward the dock. The gunfire grew closer; they could hear bullets hitting metal.

Hammer's men had built a makeshift fortification using sandbags at the port entrance. Hammer, crouching behind the sandbags, a rifle in his hand, was observing ahead through his scope. Hearing footsteps, he didn't turn around.

"Didn't I tell you not to come out?"

Ye Guigen squatted down beside him: "Who's inside?"

Hammer paused for a moment: "The Colonel's men."

Ye Guigen was taken aback: "Colonel? Wasn't he cooperating with us?"

"He cooperated, but not all of his subordinates submitted."

Iron Hammer lowered his gun. "One of his adjutants led a group of men in a mutiny. Their target was the port; they wanted to seize it and then sell it to someone else."

Ye Guigen didn't speak. He lay on the ground, peering out through the gaps in the sandbags. There were more than a dozen figures moving towards the port entrance.

They seemed not to have anticipated that the port's defenses would be so tight. After the first wave of attack was repelled, the men hesitated for a moment, neither continuing to charge forward nor retreating.

They spread out, using abandoned shipping containers along the roadside as cover, as if waiting for something.

Ye Guigen saw one of the men carrying a long, thin object, not an ordinary rifle; its shape sent a chill down his spine.
"Hey Hammer Bro, what's that guy carrying?"

Hammer followed his gaze, his tone unchanged: "RPG."

Ye Guigen only had time to press his body down—

With a loud bang, an explosion rang out not far away, and the shockwave, mixed with gravel and sand, swept past his back, causing him to stumble forward.

Yang Chenglong, who was next to him, was thrown backward by the blast wave, but got up and his face was covered in dust.

Iron Hammer crouched behind the sandbag, spoke a sentence through his earpiece, and then turned to Ye Guigen and Yang Chenglong, saying:

"You two, stay behind the fortifications and don't cross this sandbag."

Yang Chenglong wiped the dust off his face: "Brother Iron Hammer, we can help."

Iron Hammer glanced at him: "Then stay where you are and help. Rushing forward will only cause trouble."

Yang Chenglong opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately remained silent. He simply squatted behind the sandbag, gripping the long, thin object, staring ahead. Ye Guigen squatted beside him, holding nothing in his hands.

The battle lasted for almost an hour. The Iron Hammers held their line, and the others were unable to cross the port entrance.

Then the sound of engines came from afar, and two armed helicopters appeared in the night sky. The roar of their rotors drowned out the gunfire, and their searchlights illuminated the entire port entrance area.

Those men began to retreat. Some were pinned down by the fire and couldn't escape, so they threw down their weapons and surrendered. The Iron Hammer men stood up from behind the sandbags; some chased after them, while others stayed behind to clear the battlefield.

Tiechui walked up to Ye Guigen and squatted down: "Mr. Ye, are you alright?"

Ye Guigen sat on the ground, his back against the sandbag, his hands still trembling. He looked down at his hands, which were shaking so badly that he couldn't stop.

He clenched his fist, then released it; it was still trembling.

He took a deep breath, his voice a little hoarse: "Brother Hammer, thank you."

Hammer didn't say much: "You'll sleep in my tent tonight. It'll be safer."

Yang Chenglong was still squatting behind the sandbag, his weapon still in his hand.

Ye Guigen walked over and sat down next to him: "It's over."

Yang Chenglong looked ahead; the retreating figures had already disappeared into the night: "It's over."

He didn't put down his gun. Ye Guigen didn't try to persuade him anymore. He sat down next to him, the two of them leaning against the sandbags, watching the horizon light up faintly between the explosions, like a crack just parting the night.

The next day, the Iron Hammer men cleaned up the battlefield. A crater was blasted into the road at the port entrance, and several abandoned shipping containers were deformed from the blast.

Iron Hammer stood beside the pit, watching the workers fill it with earth. Ye Guigen walked over to him:
"Brother Hammer, what did the colonel say?" Hammer said, "The colonel said he's dealt with that adjutant. No one else will be coming."

Ye Guigen asked, "Do you believe it?"

Iron Hammer thought for a moment: "I believe half of it. I don't believe the other half."

Ye Guigen looked at the crater that was being filled in and said, "Me too."

Yang Chenglong remained silent all day. He didn't speak, didn't greet anyone, and didn't eat anything. He locked himself in his room for the entire morning.

At noon, Ye Guigen knocked on his door with two meals in his hands, and it took him a while to open it.

Yang Chenglong stood at the door, his face still covered in grime from last night, his eyes dark and round: “Gui Gen, I didn’t sleep last night.”

Ye Guigen handed him a meal: "Me too."

Yang Chenglong took it, but didn't eat it. He put it on the table and said, "Gui Gen, do you think those people last night knew what they were doing?"

Ye Guigen sat down opposite him: "I know."

Yang Chenglong said, "Then why did they still come?"

Ye Guigen was silent for a moment: "Because I think I can take it away. If I can take it away, it's worth coming."

Yang Chenglong stood by the window, gazing at the bomb crater being filled in the distance, and remained silent for a long time. "I won't let them take it away."

He said, "The port was bought with my grandfather's money; we negotiated it one by one. I won't let anyone take it away."

Ye Guigen didn't reply. He stood up, walked to the window, and stood beside him. In the distance, on the sea, a cargo ship was slowly entering its berth. The morning light shone from behind them, casting long, long shadows of the two men.

After daybreak, the port returned to calm. Workers came to work as usual, cranes operated as usual, and containers were loaded and unloaded as usual.

The craters had been filled in, and the road surface had been paved with new asphalt. Without close inspection, it was impossible to tell what had happened the night before. But some traces couldn't be covered by asphalt. Yang Chenglong stood at the port entrance, looking at the newly patched road surface. His feet trod on it; it was soft and not completely dry. He knew what lay beneath—

It wasn't a shell crater, nor rubble; it was the work he hadn't finished last night. He had crouched behind sandbags all night, holding a gun, aiming and putting it down, putting it down and aiming again, but never pulling the trigger.

It's not that he doesn't want to fight, it's that he doesn't have the opportunity. Iron Hammer's men have already stabilized the battle line, and he can't get involved.

But the gap left by that missed opportunity remained a lingering unease in his heart, like a wall that hadn't been torn down yet, looming over his chest, silent, but its presence palpable.

Ye Guigen stood at the entrance of the office building, watching Yang Chenglong's back as he stood in a daze at the port entrance, but didn't call out to him. He turned and went into the building, where he encountered Tiechui in the corridor.

Hammer was eating breakfast, holding a piece of bread in one hand and a bowl of milk tea in the other. It was made by a local and tasted strange, but he was drinking it without changing his expression.

Ye Guigen sat down opposite him: "Brother Iron Hammer, I want to ask you something."

The man with the hammer put down the naan bread and asked, "Ask."

Ye Guigen asked, "Were those people last night really led by the colonel's adjutant?"

Hammer didn't answer immediately. He took another sip of milk tea and wiped his mouth. "The colonel's men, but not necessarily all of his ideas."

Ye Guigen remained silent. "There are some things the colonel can't decide. His superiors also want to see how deep the harbor is. Last night's action was both a test and a statement."

They've tried it, they know how deep the water is, so they won't come back so easily. But not coming easily doesn't mean they won't come at all.

Ye Guigen was silent for a moment: "Then next time, will it be even bigger than this time?"

Iron Hammer put down the bowl: "No. They tried it last night. Once they tried it, they'll know the price."

He didn't say "it won't happen again," he said "it won't be bigger." That's a big difference.

Yang Chenglong stood at the port entrance for nearly an hour before finally moving. He turned and walked back, his steps neither fast nor slow, each step firm and deliberate.

He walked to the front of Hammer's tent, stopped, stood at the entrance, and did not go in.
"Hey Hammer Bro, can you teach me how to use a gun?"

Hammer was sitting in a folding chair, wiping a rifle: "Didn't you already use it last night?"

Yang Chenglong said, "I did not fire a shot last night."

Iron Hammer looked up at him and asked, "Then why don't you drive?"

Yang Chenglong said, "There was no chance."

Iron Hammer lowered his head and continued cleaning his gun: "Then let's wait for the opportunity. When it comes, we'll fire. If it doesn't, we won't fire. That's better than those who fire randomly when they don't have the chance."

That afternoon, Tiechui took Yang Chenglong and Ye Guigen to an open area outside the port and taught them how to use a gun.

It's not about teaching them how to pull the trigger, but about teaching them how to hold a gun, how to aim, how to breathe, and how to judge whether they should pull the trigger before doing so.

The two studied very diligently, repeating what Hammer said. After emptying a magazine, he put down his gun, his palms sweaty. Hammer stood beside him.
"It's normal for my hands to shake when shooting at a live target for the first time."

Yang Chenglong looked at the withered tree in the distance, whose bark he had pierced in several places: "It's not a live target."

Hammer said, "It counts. It moves too. The wind blows it, so it moves. All the targets are moving. You have to learn to move with the wind."

Yang Chenglong did not answer, but picked up his gun and fired another shot. This time the bullet struck the trunk of the dead tree and embedded itself deeply in the wood.

Ye Guigen stood at a distance, not approaching. He stood under a tree, watching them. The wind blew from the sea, carrying a salty, fishy smell, and ruffled his clothes.

He watched for a while, then turned and walked towards the port. Yang Chenglong was learning to use a gun; he had other things to attend to.

The port has just been attacked, and some customers are starting to worry about its stability and the safety of their cargo ships.

They need reassurance, reassurance, and a reason to continue cooperating.

Ye Guigen returned to his office, turned on his computer, and began writing an email.

The recipients were all shipping companies that did business with this port. The message was short, but it boiled down to one sentence: the incident last night has been resolved, the port is operating normally, safety measures have been upgraded, and berthing is now permitted.

Within an hour of sending the email, several clients replied. Their responses were largely the same: "Understood, we trust you."

Ye Guigen looked at the replies, still uneasy. Their responses were too short and too formulaic. Trust is a consumable; each use diminishes its value.

If another incident occurs at the port, these brief responses will turn into postponements, wait-and-see attitudes, and order cancellations. What he needs to reinforce is not the port's security, but their trust.

He picked up the phone and dialed Iron Hammer's number: "Uncle Iron Hammer, teach me a few things. How to determine if an armed force has designs on the port, and how to dissuade them from that idea."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone: "Why do you want to learn these things?"

Ye Guigen said, "Because I don't want you to come to my rescue every time something goes wrong. I want to learn to see things for myself, to anticipate problems, and to avoid them in advance."

Hammer said, "Okay. I'll tell you tonight."

That evening, Tiechui sat in Ye Guigen's office, a map spread out in front of him. He drew several circles on the map with a red pen:

"The colonel's sphere of influence is here. His men are here. Their supply lines are along this coastline. The port is yours, but your port is within their sphere of influence, and they feel insecure."

"What you need to do is not to make them believe that you are harmless, but to make them believe that the cost of taking action against you is higher than the benefit of not taking action against you."

Ye Guigen looked at the red circles on the map: "How do we convince them?"

Hammer put down his pen: "Let them see that you have the ability to fight back. You don't necessarily have to use it, but you have to have it. If you do, they won't dare to move."

The next day, Ye Guigen had Tiechui erect a sign at the port entrance with a few words written in both English and the local official language—

Port security is handled by Bayonet Security. The sign is small, made of gray sheet metal with white lettering. Ye Guigen didn't place the sign in the most conspicuous spot, but rather in a place where everyone entering the port could see it.

That evening, after the sign was erected, the colonel's office called to say that unidentified people were gathering nearby. Iron Hammer hung up, took two men to check it out, and upon returning, only said one thing:
"They're gone. There won't be a second wave anytime soon."

Ye Guigen stood at the port entrance, watching the gray iron sign gleam faintly in the twilight, like a silent warning.

Yang Chenglong walked over from where the hammer was, still carrying a faint smell of gunpowder:

"Ultimately, Hammer Bro said he'd teach me how to use a different kind of gun tomorrow."

Ye Guigen didn't turn his head: "Study hard."

He paused, then added, "I've learned it. Next time I won't have to crouch behind the sandbag."

Yang Chenglong didn't say anything, he just dusted off his hands and turned to walk back.

After taking a few steps, he turned back and said, "Ultimately, I won't let what happened last night happen again."

Ye Guigen turned around, looking at his retreating figure, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, it was hard to tell if it was a smile or something else. (End of Chapter)