Courtyard House: From Deputy Division Commander to Civilian, Progressing All the Way

The Great Northwest, Base 211.

When the urgent top-secret telegram was delivered to Lin Yang, the air in the entire command post seemed to freeze instantly.

As Lin Yang looked at the words "Lin Fan dismissed and investigated" on the telegram, a terrifying killing intent that could freeze the soul instantly erupted in his deep eyes.

"Chen Feng!"

"Here!" Secretary Chen Feng trembled and immediately stood at attention.

"Get me connected to the Fujian frontline command! Find Li Yunlong!"

Five minutes later, the red secure phone line was connected.

"Yangzi! What's wrong in the middle of the night?" Li Yunlong's voice was still loud on the other end of the phone.

"Old Li, someone in Beijing has arrested my brother." Lin Yang's voice was completely flat, but the calmer it was, the more violent the storm was brewing.

There was an instant silence on the other end of the phone.

Immediately following was a roar that shattered eardrums!

"I curse their ancestors for eighteen generations! Which blind fool had a death wish?!"

Li Yunlong flipped the table over on the phone: "Yangzi! You can't leave the Northwest right now! Leave this to me! I just got back to Beiping for a Military Commission meeting, I just arrived at the Jingxi Hotel!"

"I'll see which bastard dares to touch the families of our Independent Division today! I'll lead my troops to wipe him out!"

After hanging up the phone, Lin Yang walked to the window.

The yellow sand outside was still flying everywhere.

He knew that his elder brother's arrest might not necessarily be a bad thing. In today's society, which is caught in a frenzy of exaggeration, Lin Fan's stubborn personality would inevitably lead him into an even bigger political vortex if he continued to sit in the factory director's position.

Being dismissed from office now is actually a form of protection.

But protection is one thing, and the person must be brought out completely safe and sound. Anyone who harms Lin Yang's family must pay the price.

……

The temporary detention point of the Municipal Police Brigade in Sijiu City.

Ma Yue was sitting behind his desk, sipping tea with a smug look on his face. Winning the position of director of the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill was a major achievement on his resume.

"Bang!"

Without warning, the large iron gate of the detention center was smashed open by a military jeep!

The loud roar startled the patrol officers in the yard, who all drew their batons.

But when they saw the group of people jumping out of the car, everyone was stunned.

Li Yunlong, dressed in an officer's overcoat and carrying a riding crop, stormed in like a black bear descending a mountain. Behind him followed a fully armed guard platoon, armed with submachine guns!

"Who is Ma Yue! Get your ass out here!"

Li Yunlong's loud shout shook the entire courtyard.

Hearing the commotion, Ma Yue steeled himself and came out of his office, about to put on his official airs: "Sir, this is the local military police brigade. Your army has no right to interfere..."

"Snapped!"

Without wasting a word, Li Yunlong swung his riding whip and lashed it hard across Ma Yue's face.

Ma Yue let out a scream, a bloody gash instantly appeared on his face, and he was slapped and fell to the ground.

"Stop trying to pull this nonsense! When I was fighting the war, you were still wearing diapers!"

Li Yunlong stepped on Ma Yue's chest, drew his Browning pistol from his waist, and pressed the dark muzzle directly against Ma Yue's forehead.

"Where is Lin Fan? If you don't hand him over in three seconds, I'll consider you an enemy agent and execute you on the spot! One! Two!"

"In the backyard! In the solitary confinement cell in the backyard!" Ma Yue was terrified, his crotch instantly soaked, and he screamed frantically.

A few minutes later, Lin Fan, who had been locked up overnight, was helped out by the guards. Apart from looking a little haggard, he was not seriously injured.

Li Yunlong put away his gun, looked at Ma Yue on the ground, and sneered.

"Listen to me carefully. Lin Fan is the elder brother of Lin Yang, a special-class hero of the Korean War! You dare to investigate him? I'll have the military security bureau investigate your ancestors for eighteen generations when I get back!"

Li Yunlong protected Lin Fan and swaggered out of the police station.

Under the combined pressure from Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang, Commander Liu, and other high-ranking military officials, the local authorities dared not pursue any further issues concerning Lin Fan.

The final outcome was that Lin Fan was officially dismissed from his position as director of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill and demoted to a regular logistics administrator due to "work style issues".

Lin Yang expressed his approval of the result over the phone.

In this special historical period, stepping back from the limelight and becoming an inconspicuous warehouse manager can actually help one avoid the political storm that follows to the greatest extent possible.

……

Time relentlessly marched into 1959.

The disastrous consequences of the Great Leap Forward and the nationwide steelmaking campaign finally erupted in this year with their most brutal full-blown consequences.

With a large number of rural laborers being diverted to steelmaking, the autumn harvest went unharvested, compounded by widespread natural disasters across the country. An unprecedented famine, like a silent tsunami, swept across the land.

Among them, Henan Province, the granary of the Central Plains, suffered the most severe damage.

Although the news was strictly blocked, panic had already spread along the railway line to Beijing.

Grain rations began to plummet.

The monthly ration for each person was reduced from 30 jin to 21 jin, and finally even to 15 jin! Moreover, the majority of these 15 jin consisted of cornmeal, sweet potato flour, and even elm bark powder.

Meat coupons and oil coupons became completely worthless, and the counters of the supply and marketing cooperatives were cleaner than faces.

No. 95, Nanluoguxiang.

The lively scene of the past, filled with the warmth of everyday life and people chatting loudly in the courtyard, has completely disappeared.

Instead, there was only deathly silence.

The chimneys of every household no longer emitted the aroma of cooked food, but rather the bitter smell of boiled cabbage roots and wild vegetables.

The front yard, the Yan family's house.

Yan Bugui was so thin he was skin and bones, and his black-rimmed glasses looked particularly comical on his sunken eye sockets.

He was holding a small knife, precisely cutting a palm-sized sweet potato into eight equal parts.

"Jiecheng, this is yours. Jiefang, this is yours."

Yan Bugui's hands were trembling slightly, and each cut was incredibly difficult.

The old woman was so hungry that her whole body was swollen, a result of malnutrition caused by severe protein deficiency. She leaned weakly against the door frame, looking at the meager rations on the table, tears streaming down her face.

"Old man, when will this ever end? Yesterday, Jie Kuang was so hungry that he was gnawing on tree bark in the yard, and his mouth was sore from all the chewing."

Yan Bugui swallowed hard, carefully put his small piece of sweet potato into his mouth, and swallowed it whole, skin and all.

"Just bear with it. The whole of Beijing is starving. Whoever has food in their hands right now is the King of Hell."

Intermediate People's Court.

Liu Haizhong's home.

The level seven blacksmith who used to be as fat as a pig now had all the fat on his belly collapsed, turning into a loose layer of skin hanging on his waistband.

He sat at the table with a bowl of thin, watery cornmeal porridge in front of him.

The two brothers, Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu, were so hungry that their eyes were green with hunger, and they stared intently at the bowl in their father's hand.

"What are you looking at! I'm the pillar of this family. If I don't have enough to eat, how can I go to the factory to work as a blacksmith!" Liu Haizhong fiercely protected his rice bowl, gulping down the porridge in a few mouthfuls, even licking the bottom of the bowl clean with his tongue.