Restarting life in Siheyuan

The whole street is similar to the small towns in the mainland, with the same wooden buildings and the same brick courtyards. The only difference is that it is full of storefronts and densely packed signs and banners. Many breakfasts are also served at a few small tables at the door. From time to time, people sit down and loudly place orders to the boss in the back room.

The breakfast here is quite rich, many of which even Zhu Xuefeng has never seen. They may have disappeared in the long river of history.

Liang Yan was even more curious, "Brother Tao, the fried yellow ones are quite interesting and fragrant. Why don't we try them?" After a dazzled selection, the two of them set up a small table. There were not many of each item, and they wanted to try them all. The boss said they were all delicious, so they had to try them.

It's fried until golden yellow and tastes really good. It's just sweet potato, fried twice to become like this. The fried bird eggs taste good too. The pan-fried buns are very similar to the Shengjianbao in Shanghai.

“This place is quite interesting, and it can be sold like this.”

Liang Yan was worried that she would not be able to get used to the food, so she specially ordered dumplings, only to find that the dumplings here were sold by the piece, and there was a dish called "large intestine wrapped in small intestine". Zhu Xuefeng did not pick up his chopsticks.

"Boss, do you have any more Seven-Li Fragrance? Give me four."

The customers outside were ordering loudly, and the boss in the back room was busy as hell.

"I'm coming."

"Brother Tao, what is Seven-Li Fragrant Osmanthus fragrans? It has such a nice name, it must be delicious. Shall we have one to try?"

"I don't know either. Just order if you want to try it."

I saw the two people sitting next to me ordered four "Seven-Li Xiang" and were eating them with gusto. Not far away, many people seemed to be eating "Seven-Li Xiang" as well. Liang Yan also ordered one, but she couldn't guess what it was. But after she came up, she found out that the Seven-Li Xiang was actually chicken butt.

"You eat it. I can't eat this." Liang Yan gave up and pushed the plate in front of Zhu Xuefeng.

"This is what you asked for. I can't get used to this stuff either."

Zhu Xuefeng smiled and put the seven-mile fragrance aside, but he didn't expect that a middle-aged man at the next table would take the initiative to strike up a conversation with him.

"You two have just arrived here, right? If you don't mind, how about giving me this seven-mile incense as a gift?"

Zhu Xuefeng looked at the other person with surprise. Liang Yan took a bite of this thing.

"It's okay. Good things should not be wasted. Their Qilixiang is delicious. If you come too late, you won't be able to buy it."

Zhu Xuefeng had no choice but to hand over the plate, "It's OK as long as you don't mind."

The other party took it generously, without a trace of awkwardness, and said, "We locals love to eat this. You may not be used to it, but it's actually really delicious."

Zhu Xuefeng only knew that Jay Chou had a song called Seven Miles of Fragrance, but he didn't know if it had anything to do with this. Seeing his neighbor eating heartily and finishing the food quickly, as if he was still not satisfied, the two of them had no choice but to flee.

An advertising column not far away attracted Zhu Xuefeng's attention.

"Let's go over and have a look."

There were a lot of promotional messages next to the advertising column. Zhu Xuefeng read them carefully and took the confused Liang Yan to the newsstand to buy various newspapers, even buying a copy of the ones that had not been sold out a few days ago.

The two returned to the hotel, "You rest first, I have to find some information."

Zhu Xuefeng buried his head in reading the newspaper. After a long time, he hurried out and came back when it was almost dark.

The news about the three traitors was easy to find out, as they were publicized everywhere. However, the sniping method that had been planned long ago was no longer feasible. The lecture tours and parades were over, and the three had been promoted to officers and entered the barracks.

"Brother, how is the situation? Is it difficult?"

Seeing that Zhu Xuefeng had been thinking hard since he came back, Liang Yan couldn't help but ask.

"Well, now that we are here, there are some things I need to tell you. Be prepared."

Zhu Xuefeng whispered about the mission. "The situation has changed. It is difficult to kill and evacuate. The seashore is blocked. We need to slowly gather a lot of intelligence. Fortunately, these three people are well-known. We should be able to find them..."

Zhu Xuefeng was not worried about not being able to get close to these three people. He thought more that killing the traitor was not the best option. It would be better to bring him back for trial. The other colleague who was lost was the trouble, and it was not known whether he had been transferred yet.

"Brother, no, Brother Tao, since the news has not been blocked, let's slowly find out. I'm not in a hurry to go back."

"It's the only way. Let's do this..."

Not to mention that the change in the situation on Zhu Xuefeng's side made the task difficult, in the office in Beijing, the two leaders were also troubled by the current situation.

The cooperation intention with Saudi Arabia was finally reached secretly. The country sent professional exploration personnel to help the royal family continue to look for oil mines and cooperate in mining. The country could purchase oil at the international price on a priority basis, which directly solved the energy crisis in the following period.

This was originally excellent news, but the intelligence just reported was very worrying. The bald eagle was making trouble behind the scenes in Malacca, and the merchant ships coming from the South China Sea were greatly affected, which tightly blocked the throat of foreign trade.

"This place is very important. They are blocking our foreign trade here in order to strangle us. Without this trade, our lives will be very difficult."

Agriculture has suffered severely in recent years, and the problem of hunger has been solved only by foreign trade. If there is a problem here, both exports and imports will be greatly affected.

Looking at the map, the thin figure stood up and said, "I have an idea. See if it works."

"Any good ideas?"

The thin finger pointed on the map, "Can we open a road here so that we don't have to consider the Strait of Malacca at all? They have a great influence in the Malacca area now. If we go through this, we will inevitably be at their mercy."

The tall figure clapped his hands and walked to the map.

"Your idea coincides with mine. We should indeed open up a new trade route here in Mengkala Bay to completely get rid of Malacca. It would be best if we could land here and connect with the railway. This would not only get rid of Malacca, but also greatly shorten the sailing distance of cargo ships."

He then pointed to the location of Guoming Autonomous Region on the map.

"The location of this strange autonomous region is very important. If we cooperate with them and succeed, we can ignore the island chain blockade and jump out of the encirclement in one fell swoop. There is a lot we can do."

The thin figure was very pleased to see that his ideas coincided with the other party's.

"The key is still this autonomous region. They have long proposed that we help build a railway, which coincides with our idea. However, they are short of funds, the construction is very difficult, and they have not fully digested this area."

"That's not a problem. Aren't they cooperating well with us now? We can be more proactive and help them build the bridge directly to the seaside. This will benefit everyone. We can go with the flow and achieve win-win cooperation."

The tall and majestic figure tapped the map and let out a hearty laugh.

"If we break out of the encirclement, the game will be alive. We can also land crude oil here in the future. Currently, oil fields are concentrated in the north and northwest. The south lacks oil fields. Landing crude oil here can greatly reduce the pressure on us to move oil from the north to the south. Come on, look here. If we build an oil refinery here, can we revitalize a large area..."

An emergency meeting was held in secret, and soon the Guoming Office received a notice inviting the autonomous region to Beijing to discuss cooperation matters.

"Cooperation? Isn't cooperation good now? We haven't raised any new cooperation requirements."

Song Yan, who received the notice, asked in surprise. Li Xiaojun and Yang Maosheng were beside him. The one who was commanding the attack in Mandele was Zhou Xingguo, and Zhou Laoba was leading the team to open up the last section to the west.

"We have not proposed any new cooperation projects." Yang Maosheng was familiar with all the projects and answered with certainty.

"That means the family wants to cooperate with us. This matter still needs you to do it, Lao Yang."

Yang Maosheng was a little embarrassed. "Your Highness is not here, so I can't make a decision. You all know the news from the office. Your Highness is out and can't be contacted now."

Li Xiaojun slapped his thigh and said, "Why hesitate? As long as it is needed by the family, His Highness will definitely agree. Just talk along this line of thought. There will be absolutely no problem."

Li Xiaojun and Song Yan knew clearly what Zhu Xuefeng was thinking. He was definitely doing it to protect the family's interests. He would do many things even if it meant losing money. Now that the family was in need, according to Zhu Xuefeng's idea, they would definitely agree.

But Yang Maosheng didn't think so. The exchange of weapons at that time left him with a very bad feeling, and he felt that the exchange was too disadvantageous. If His Highness had not given him clear instructions in advance, he would definitely not agree to the one-for-three exchange, not to mention the one-for-two exchange and the purchase price of the Type 62 gunboat, which felt very disadvantageous.

As a person who had been in charge of trade for the Yang family for many years, he was still brooding over the last negotiation and always believed that it was because he failed to argue his case that the interests of the autonomous region and His Highness were damaged.

"No, no, no, Deputy Commander Li, I cannot agree with you. I am in charge of the autonomous region now. We have a cooperative relationship with the motherland. We have no reason to sacrifice the interests of the autonomous region to meet the needs of the motherland. We are so small. For them, a small demand may not be met by us even if we sell everything we have. I have to be responsible for your highness's career and the 700,000 people in the autonomous region. I cannot agree to their request unconditionally."

Yang Maosheng firmly rejected Li Xiaojun's proposal. Song Yan and Li Xiaojun looked at each other. There was nothing wrong with what Yang Maosheng said.

"How about this, you lead the team first. Maybe it will be beneficial to both sides. Isn't it about cooperation? It's not about needing support. I think it should be beneficial to both of us. You go and talk first. Even if there are some disagreements, you can take it slowly. By then, the leader should be back and everything will be decided by the leader."

Song Yan was the first person in charge designated by Zhu Xuefeng. Yang Maosheng would certainly not object to his opinions. Moreover, Song Yan made it very clear that if there were any real disagreements, they would be transferred according to Zhu Xuefeng's will.

"I'll make arrangements right away. I've taken care of all the needs on the front line, don't worry. However, Deputy Commander Li will have to take care of Xiangxi's affairs. His Highness requested that such a large project be built on the seashore, and also requested that the completion information be reported to him as soon as possible. This is definitely a very important matter and cannot be delayed because of my departure."

"Don't worry, leave it to me. We will definitely open the road before the Spring Festival. After that, we will select a site and start construction. As for these people in North Korea, as long as we feed them, they will be very useful."

"Old Yang, go early and come back early. Let's try to spend the New Year in Mandele this time."

"I hope so too. You have also read the proposals of the business representatives inside. You must treat them well. This is related to the development of the autonomous region next year."

Yang Maosheng was still a little worried about these soldiers. He took great pains to secretly contact them through the Yang family, and the other party also promised to join the construction of the autonomous region. All this is extremely important for the accelerated development of the autonomous region next year.

However, Mandele was in dire straits at the moment. Song Yan's trick of deceiving the world and secretly luring away the reinforcements, and in the process of eliminating a small group of saboteurs, he was ambushed again and lost hundreds of people.

Several times the troops that went out of the city to scout disappeared mysteriously. Another team of 300 people was sent out to search outside the city, but they only heard a burst of gunfire. As long as they left the city, they would be ambushed. The strongholds outside the city disappeared at a rate of one every day. All this made the team, which had long lost the will to fight, like a frightened bird.

In order to maintain their strength, the remaining 9,000 soldiers all retreated into the city of Mandele and gave up all the strongholds outside the city. There was no other way; if they didn't give up, they would be wiped out one by one.

Thousands of people who fled here were detained, waiting to be escorted back to the south. There were also tens of thousands of people who were not detained. Combined with the city’s original population and the soldiers who escaped back, the city was already overcrowded.

We can't leave now. According to the scouts' report, the city has been surrounded. A large number of Northern Army camps have been spotted in several directions. They are not afraid of a surprise attack from the city's defenders and are stationed on the main road in a swaggering manner.

"Can anyone tell me how these monkeys in the north can create so many soldiers?"

The trapped General Long Angmule was very angry. Everything had been planned out. Escorting the defector back would be a great achievement, but he did not expect to be trapped in this ancient city for unknown reasons. He had tried to explore the way several times but failed, and now he was surrounded by a large army.

But until now, the military government still insists that it was the main force of the Northern Army that blocked their support. Together with the defenders of Jiesha, the number is far more than 6,000. You must know that according to their intelligence, even if the newly recruited soldiers are included, the number of the Northern Army will not exceed 8,000.

Moreover, it was only the first encounter, and their more than 4,000 people were directly defeated. They were definitely the main force. Otherwise, even if their side also recruited new soldiers urgently, how could a team of more than 4,000 people be defeated by 2,000 people? There was only one possibility, that the military government encountered the main force, a main force of 6,000 people. Although this side urgently recruited more than 20,000 soldiers, the military government had no confidence that it could withstand the 6,000 main forces.

"But they insist that they encountered a main force of more than 6,000 people. Are there only fake troops near our city? They can't have so many combatants, and even weapons can't just appear out of thin air. We have counted their several captures, and they can only arm less than 8,000 people at most. There should still be defenders in Mogok and Jiesha..."

General Long Angmule was a little skeptical. "You mean, the hundreds of people I sent to explore the way and eliminate the small groups of saboteurs were wiped out by the suspicious soldiers?"

"Yes, General, this is my judgment. They are good at small-scale raids. There has not been a large-scale war here, but there has been an encounter in the west. This cannot be faked. I believe the military government will not deceive us."

General Long Angmule was a little unsure. If that was true, he was willing to give up Mandele. He was really exhausted by the invisible battle and wanted to lead the team back to the south. It was too unsafe here. The previous commander was actually sniped. Damn it, no one told him in advance.

"Let me think about it. If this is a false alarm, we can retreat to Midin or Nemi smoothly. But if it is an ambush, we will have no chance to return to Manderley City."

His cautious nature saved him again. The defenders in the city were divided into four parts. One part continued to defend the city, and the other three parts retreated southwards out of the city at intervals. After the scouts confirmed that the enemy troops on the road to the south had miraculously disappeared, the first part set off cautiously.

Two hours later, the general decided to move in with the second combat unit, but just a few kilometers out of the city, fierce artillery fire was heard in the distance.

"It's over. It's not a decoy, it's an ambush. Send the order back to Mandele and defend it strictly."

The second combat unit moved forward decisively, greatly disappointing the other ambush team hiding in the woods on the hilltop. However, they still launched a pursuit without giving up. At this time, the first combat unit, which was more than ten kilometers away, had been completely wiped out. The ambush team received the order and was rushing to Mandle City to cooperate with other ambush teams, preparing to directly attack the city.

In fact, a riot had already broken out in the city at this time. The third team was preparing to set off. The remaining defenders realized that they were abandoned, and the defectors who saw the opportunity also began to sabotage. For a time, the city was in chaos.

Zhou Xingguo, who was in command, changed the battle plan in time and launched a full-scale attack. Unfortunately, the Second Combat Team rushed back to the city in time and the riots were suppressed. When the Fourth Combat Team saw that the general was still in the city, everything calmed down.

"Damn, it's too late. The city is calm now. What a great opportunity."

Zhou Xingguo was very disappointed and smashed the stone beside him hard.

"Go report to the commander-in-chief. The first phase plan has failed. Should we launch a general attack?"

"This is what you mean by a decoy. I almost couldn't come back, and I almost lost the city."

General Long Angmule was furious, and the dog-headed military advisor was so ashamed that he dared not say a word.

"Hurry up and think of a way to escape from this dead city!"

The dense torches and loud shouts outside the city made General Long Angmule understand what kind of suspected troops were here. Although he didn't know how the Northern Army could produce so many fighters and where so many weapons came from, all this was not important. What was important was how to escape. With only a few thousand people in the city, he had no confidence in defending it. The soldiers, like him, had lost their fighting spirit.

"If the airport was still there, we could request a plane..."

The dog-headed military advisor's suggestion was rudely interrupted. "What nonsense! The airport is outside the city and it's not destroyed. How can I get out?"

The dog-headed military advisor, feeling ashamed of being scolded, tried to contribute his wisdom again.

"This place is not far from the Huaguo border..."

"I can't even get out of the city, how can I escape? It's all nonsense."

General Long Angmule could no longer bear it and interrupted the brainless suggestion again. Why did they find such a stupid military advisor who didn't know how to judge people?

"I mean, can we ask Huaguo for support, just like we did the year before last..."

The general finally stopped cursing this time. "They do have powerful light infantry, but this time is different. They have always claimed that they will not interfere in other countries' internal affairs. What we are experiencing is at best a civil war..."

"There is a way after all. Let everyone hold out for a few days. Now send a message to the military government and ask them to send reinforcements. Otherwise, ask Huaguo to intervene and provide support..." (End of this chapter)