Restarting life in Siheyuan

In the Batavia Hotel, Zhu Xuefeng was scolding Yang Zhen.

"We have to leave. The flight is tomorrow."

Yang Zhen raised his head unconvinced, "But Your Highness, you arranged for me to come here, and now these compatriots are still suffering. It was you who said that we are of the same clan and ancestors, and we are connected by blood. In order to support the liberation of the country, they have been silently donating money and materials for decades. Now they are struggling in hell, and I can't leave."

Zhu Xuefeng laughed miserably. He knew very well that this was the reason why he came here. However, in Yang Zhen's eyes, this miserable laugh was a sign of powerlessness.

"I am powerless to save them, but I can use my camera and pen to record it all. As a journalist, I want to let the whole world see the evil and ugliness here. This is genocide!"

Zhu Xuefeng looked at Yang Zhen. He was pleased that she had this awareness, but her stubbornness still annoyed Zhu Xuefeng. It was the first time that someone disobeyed orders, which would interfere with his plans.

"Ms. Yang Zhen, I want to emphasize again that you must lead the team away tomorrow morning. There are no conditions and no reasons."

Yang Zhen was stunned. His Highness always gave her the impression of being kind and easy to communicate with, but today it seemed that he had changed. Her eyes couldn't help but turn red.

Unexpectedly, just a few words would make the little girl cry, so Zhu Xuefeng had to lower his voice to explain. "The newspapers and TV in Hong Kong have already disclosed the information you provided. If nothing unexpected happens, our flight will be stopped at any time. If we don't leave now, we will not be able to leave."

"I can take photos in the hotel even if I can't leave. As long as I don't leave the hotel, there will be no danger."

Seeing His Highness explaining in a low voice, Yang Zhen regained his courage and started bargaining in a low voice again. Zhu Xuefeng was so angry that he laughed.

"You have already recorded a lot of everything here. The next step is to let the whole world see the truth and put pressure on them to save these compatriots, instead of continuing to collect evidence. Do you still want to send them to court? Don't be so naive. You must obey orders. Hong Kong has arranged an interview for you. You must use this opportunity to let Hong Kong and compatriots around the world know what is happening here. This is what you should do."

This Yang Zhen is too brave. There is chaos and turmoil outside, but she still takes her small team out every day. If it weren't for her four white bodyguards, she would have died many times over.

Seeing that Zhu Xuefeng had already arranged everything, Yang Zhen seemed to be able to play a greater role than if he stayed here, so he pouted and muttered to express his opinion.

"Ah Zhen is wrong, Your Highness, please don't be angry. We will leave early tomorrow morning, but what about you, Your Highness?"

"You don't need to worry about me. There are plenty of ways to leave. Have a good rest today and don't leave the hotel to avoid any unnecessary trouble."

Zhu Xuefeng stood with his hands behind his back, looking out the window. To the north was their largest port, Tanjong Port. Standing on a high building, he could see the dock in the distance. This was a long-famous seaport city. As early as the 14th century, it had become a port city of certain scale. Now it was also the largest city in Southeast Asia. The permanent population of the city alone was close to one-third of the population of the autonomous region, nearly six million, and the Han population far exceeded one million.

The entire city is divided into six large areas in a very regular manner, each with its own functional division and representing different classes. These are all formed historically. The population of the nearby suburbs combined exceeds the total population of the autonomous region and accounts for 30% of their total national population. This is an ancient city with a highly dense population.

The two sides were still in a standoff on the east side of the city. The battlefield was dozens of kilometers away from Coconut City. It was said that the battlefield was also continuous for more than ten kilometers. The two sides had a total of nearly 100,000 people. It was really chaotic. After getting off the plane, he was shocked on the way to the hotel. It was simply unimaginable that the damage caused by civil strife was no less than that of foreign invasion.

Yang Zhen was also hesitant as he looked at the man's back. It was already dark, and His Highness hadn't left yet. Could it be that he was going to stay in his room, and Yang Zhen was going to sleep with him? He felt a little uneasy for a moment.

"Okay, you guys go to bed early, I'm leaving."

Ignoring the woman's wild thoughts, Zhu Xuefeng left the room, leaving Yang Zhen complaining, "Your Highness, are you really angry? You left without even looking at me."

She quickly ran to the door to check, only to see His Highness disappearing from the corridor with the mysterious woman. Yang Zhen walked to the window in distress, looking towards the city. The occasional flickering lights in the east made her realize that this city was indeed unsafe.

Suddenly, two figures appeared downstairs. It was Zhu Xuefeng and Qiu Hong getting into the car. He had to rush to the port overnight. According to the information he had received, a fleet of 10,000-ton ocean-going cargo ships led by Colonel Alejandro and Lieutenant Colonel Wayne would arrive at the port in the second half of the night and then seize control by force. This was not the small seaport where Zheng Xun was, but there was a military port nearby, although the warships were inconspicuous.

In order to avoid trouble, the two asked the Batavia Hotel to arrange a luxury car. With this, the journey went much more smoothly. The car quickly left the city and headed for the port. This is a port city, and the port is just a few kilometers out of the city. The two stayed directly at the Harbor Hotel.

"Husband, there are too many people fleeing to the port."

The two were looking down from the window on the sixth floor of the hotel. Because the rebels went to the east to fight, the constraints in the city were relaxed a lot. Countless people seized this rare opportunity and came to the port with their families, hoping to meet a departing ship that would take them away from this abyss.

But the port staff were not flexible at all. Even when a passenger ship left the port, those without tickets were kicked away, not to mention the cargo ships. Countless people were already stranded near the port, all hoping for a chance to escape by boarding a ship.

Many criminals were trying to take advantage of the situation, but unfortunately they were not strong enough in the face of the large number of refugees. From time to time, someone would anger the crowd and be kicked out of the team. The few patrol teams faced with the huge fleeing team wisely chose to wait and see. This situation caused the Han people in the city to flock to the port like crazy. At least here they didn't have to stay at home and worry about disaster.

“They are suffering, but we bring them hope.”

"Look, my husband, the number of people is still increasing. There should be several thousand now."

Zhu Xuefeng was also observing. In just two hours, the population density here had almost doubled. It should be close to two thousand now. If this situation continued, by dawn, it would be estimated that there would be four or five thousand people gathered here. With so many people gathered, even if they did not cause damage, the rebels would disperse them.

"Let's rest first. Normally they won't arrive until the middle of the night. We can get on board then."

Zhu Xuefeng looked out the window. Tomorrow was destined to be a difficult day, so he couldn't stay here for too long.

In the second half of the night, a huge cargo ship slowly approached the port, causing a commotion. Every arrival of a ship meant a glimmer of hope, and the two were awakened by the noise.

Zhu Xuefeng put on his clothes and walked to the window. The dark shadow in the distance should be the 10,000-ton ocean-going freighter fleet led by Colonel Alejandro and Lieutenant Colonel Wayne. Looking at the open space in front of the port, his scalp felt tingling.

In the middle of the night, the large open space was filled with densely packed heads, there must be tens of thousands of people.

"Husband, shall we set off now?"

The port has not yet been taken under control. Zhu Xuefeng hesitated for a moment, but still nodded, "Let's go now."

The arrival of the huge ship also woke up the port guards, customs and inspectors. A group of people boarded the ship to inspect it, cursing. They unexpectedly saw hundreds of armed men. Then there were no surprises. The port, which was not prepared at all, was quickly relieved of its guard.

"Master, I didn't expect you to arrive before us." Colonel Alessandro and Lieutenant Colonel Wayne unexpectedly saw the two men at the port. "We flew here, so of course we are faster than you. Hurry up and set up defenses and prepare to have people board the ship. There are too many people outside now. Let Mr. Chen's people be responsible for maintaining order, and you are responsible for safety."

"Yes, Master."

After Zhu Xuefeng briefly put forward his requirements, all that remained was for Colonel Alejandro and Lieutenant Colonel Wayne to organize people to implement them.

Upon learning that Zhu Xuefeng was coming, Chen Dong on the cargo ship rushed over and said, "Sir, you came in person."

Zhu Xuefeng held Chen Dong's hand and said, "Thank you for your hard work. You have to come. The noise is too loud and there might be a fight. Your people don't have weapons, so just stay at the port to maintain order."

Chen Dong also saw the crowds of people outside the port. "Don't worry, we will let everyone board the ship in an orderly manner."

After a while, several searchlights at the port gate lit up at the same time, and all the street lights in the port were turned on. When the crowd outside the port was surprised, a familiar language sounded on the radio, which made everyone happy and couldn't believe it.

“Fellow compatriots, we are here to take you away from this sinful abyss. Please do not crowd and follow the instructions to queue up to enter the port. We guarantee that everyone can leave smoothly. Please queue up to enter and receive food and fresh water. I repeat, please queue up in an orderly manner…”

The port's shutdown broadcast continued in Chinese. After a deathly silence among the tens of thousands of people, a tsunami of cheers broke out as the broadcast stopped. In the darkness, pairs of red eyes shed tears of excitement.

"We are saved, we are saved, Daddy, we have food and water." The little boy shouted excitedly.

"Yes, that's right. It must be our ancestors who sent people to pick us up. They haven't forgotten us. Child, kowtow in that direction."

For a moment, countless people outside the port knelt down crying and shouting...

"Sir, this is a great deed for you, a great deed." Chen Dong stood on a high place in the port, and tears welled up in his eyes when he saw this shocking scene.

"Our compatriots are really simple and honest. Let's start releasing them." Zhu Xuefeng couldn't stand this anymore and went downstairs silently, not noticing that Qiu Hong's eyes were full of light behind him.

"Let the radio station at the port release a message. We will take away those who are willing to leave. Send a message to the fleet at sea and ask them to come closer and prepare for support." Seeing that the sky was already getting light and more than half of the team boarding the ship had been reduced, Zhu Xuefeng continued to issue orders.

"Sir, will this attract attention from all sides?" Chen Dong was a little hesitant.

Zhu Xuefeng smiled and said, "Just tell me directly that it will attract rebels and naval vessels."

Chen Dong blushed, "After all, we only have 200 armed men, and we don't have any big weapons. If the rebels surround us..."

Zhu Xuefeng waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about it. Our fleet can carry tens of thousands of people. We have only carried a few thousand. If we don't send a notice, who would know that we are here to pick them up? We can't just wait indefinitely. If we do, the next one coming won't be a small group of rebels."

At daybreak, two broken jeeps rushed into the port. Several soldiers got off, followed by two officers. However, when they saw that the men with guns in front of them were white people, they were obviously dazed and put away their arrogant looks.

Looking around, it seems that these militants are basically white, with occasionally a few big black guys. What is going on?

But as the temporary representative of the rebels, the leading major still tried to remain calm and asked questions righteously.

"Who are you? Why are you occupying our port? I need an explanation."

Colonel Alejandro and Lieutenant Colonel Wayne smiled at each other, and the colonel shrugged, "Hey, man, he asked who we are. He needs an explanation. You tell him."

Lt. Col. Wayne smiled and replied, "Yes, my colonel."

The conversation between the two men made the interrogating officer feel very depressed. He hadn't noticed before that the combat uniform looked familiar. He was a colonel, with a higher rank than himself.

"Oh, dear Major, we are from the great United States. We found that there are some problems in your territory and countless lambs of God are suffering. Following God's will, we came to this port just to show the poor lambs a bright path, a humanitarian escape route. You should not deny it, right?"

The major was a little confused. The broadcast was clearly in Chinese, so why was the port occupied by a bald eagle? However, it was his duty, so he protested indignantly.

"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, we strongly protest against your disrespectful behavior! This is our territory. You are invading and it will seriously affect the relationship between our two countries. I solemnly remind you that if you leave now, we can pretend that nothing happened."

"Colonel Alejandro, they told us to get out!" Lieutenant Colonel Wayne seemed helpless in replying to the colonel.

"Go back and tell your master that we will leave soon, but not now. We will take these poor lambs away. By the way, you have to ensure their safety. If their lives and property are threatened, I think we may take further humanitarian measures."

The major blushed and protested loudly, "This is our domestic matter. You have no right to interfere. I protest."

Lieutenant Colonel Wayne smiled and pinched his nose. "My superiors have made it very clear. I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation. By the way, all the port staff are here. Major, please take them away. You see, they are all in good health. We are merciful, aren't we? But remember, God has not only mercy, but also wrath, my friend."

Seeing the major leave dejectedly, the two officers put away their smiles and walked into the small building.

"Master, they have all been sent away, but we don't think they will be willing to accept this."

Zhu Xuefeng was drinking tea with Chen Dong. There was leftover breakfast on the table. Qiu Hong was still standing behind the man.

"It doesn't matter. They can't gather too many people in a short period of time. The main force is fighting in the east. This is an opportunity. Let's hurry up and get on board. Also, keep broadcasting on the radio. Repeat it every hour."

(End of this chapter)