A courtyard house; Li Yunlong, a subordinate of the deputy director of Harbin Military Engineering I

In the blink of an eye, it was February 1951, and the Third Army Corps was fully established, with its headquarters located in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province.

February 10th, No. 43 Lingjing Hutong, just returned from the hospital with Zhang Xiyue.

Looking at the certificate issued by the hospital, I confirmed that I was pregnant.

Zhang Renfeng flipped through the inspection report stamped with the red seal twice, unable to suppress the smile on his face. He muttered to himself, "It seems that hard work never goes unrewarded!"

Zhang Xiyue was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), tidying up medical records. When she heard this, she looked up, her cheeks puffed out slightly, and her eyes held a mixture of reproach and amusement.

She was about to say, "Not working for nothing? You..."

But the second half of the sentence lingered on his tongue; he dared not utter a single word about artillery fire or the destruction of positions.

Although she is straightforward, there are some things she has to swallow, afraid that saying them would frighten the baby in her belly.

Zhang Renfeng carefully folded the examination report, put it in his inner jacket pocket, patted the pocket, and then said as if he had just remembered something:

"Alright, let's go and report the good news to Lao Nie first. The troops' departure time is approaching, and we probably won't have as much time to travel back and forth later."

Zhang Xiyue was actually reluctant to part with it.

Although she was tormented every night during her marriage to Zhang Renfeng, she lived a comfortable and peaceful life.

Now that her husband is about to go to war, she feels as if something is tugging at her heart.

But she also understood that for someone like Zhang Renfeng, letting him stay in the rear enjoying a life of ease was more painful than killing him.

She has experienced hardship, but relatively little of it. Yet, she fully understands this most basic principle.

Her husband's decision to go to war had been made long ago, and she had never truly tried to stop him.

Since getting married, I've been working day and night, isn't it all to leave Renfeng an heir?

Having a child in your belly at least gives you something to look forward to, so you don't have to worry about it every day.

"Let's go together." Zhang Xiyue stood up and straightened his clothes.

Just as the couple reached the door, Brigade Commander Chen, leaning on his cane, stood there with a serious expression.

Don't let his usual carefree and humorous demeanor fool you; when something really happens, he's more anxious than anyone else.

He stood at the entrance of courtyard number 43, his coat collar turned up, his cane in front of him, his expression unusually serious.

Zhang Renfeng could guess seven or eight parts of the story just by looking at him. This old guy must have received some news and came here to block the door on purpose.

The two have been partners for so many years that they can understand each other with just a glance.

Zhang Renfeng spoke first: "I'm going to Chief of Staff Nie's house, are you coming?"

"Go ahead."

Commander Chen turned around with his cane, his movements unhurried but his steps precise.

Zhang Xiyue followed behind, gently calling out "Brother Chen." The three of them got into the car one after the other, and remained silent the whole way.

After arriving at the Nie family's residence, Zhang Xiyue went to the bedroom with Zhang's eldest sister, where the two women had a private conversation.

Xiao Li leaned against the door frame, winked at Zhang Renfeng, and called out "Brother-in-law," before being pulled into the house by her sister.

Inside the reception room, Director Nie was holding a telegram. When he saw Brigade Commander Chen and Zhang Renfeng arrive, he grunted and gestured for them to sit down before handing the telegram to Brigade Commander Chen.

He tapped his fingers twice on the table, his tone crisp and decisive: "Take a look, everyone. This is a telegram from the headquarters. The fourth campaign went well, and the front lines urgently need new forces. Commander Peng has asked us about it several times."

"Now, I suppose your Third Army Corps is ready?"

Brigade Commander Chen took the telegram, glanced at it, and handed it to Zhang Renfeng. Then he gestured to Director Nie with his chin and said, "Deputy Commander Zhang, come and report to Director Nie."

Zhang Renfeng took the telegram, quickly read it through, and got a general idea of ​​what was going on.

He placed the telegram on the table and said solemnly, "The 12th Army is in Xingtai, the 15th Army is in Handan, and the closest is Li Yunlong's army in Baoding. Currently, training and ideological mobilization... the soldiers' combat readiness is good. As for supplies..."

"Don't worry about supplies!"

Director Nie waved his hand, interrupting him, then glanced at the clock beside him, his tone slightly teasing, "I see, you two are old acquaintances. I heard that back in the Eighth Route Army's General Logistics Department, you, Zhang, led a whole regiment to rob someone's cotton-padded clothing factory, right?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Renfeng blushed, a rare occurrence for him.

He remembered this clearly. Back then, in the winter in the Taihang Mountains, there was a shortage of cotton-padded clothes, and the troops were shivering from the cold. Brigade Commander Chen instigated him to take an engineering regiment to the clothing factory of the General Logistics Department to "borrow" a batch of cotton-padded clothes. It was said to be a loan, but it was never returned.

He was young and impetuous at the time, and led a group of people to scale the wall and move things in. Zhang Wanhe chased after him and cursed him for three blocks.

Looking back now, it certainly had some bandit-like behavior.

Upon hearing this, Brigade Commander Chen became embarrassed. He touched his nose and coughed twice, his expression clearly saying, "...That was my idea, but don't betray me!"

Just then, the door to the reception room was pushed open, and two figures walked in.

They burst into laughter when they saw Brigade Commander Chen and Zhang Renfeng.

One was Minister Yang of the General Logistics Department of the Central Military Commission, and the other was Minister Zhang Wanhe of the Logistics Department's Supplies Department.

They are all veterans who worked in logistics during the Eighth Route Army period.

Minister Yang was a burly man with an old scar on his square face that stretched from his left eyebrow to his cheekbone. When he smiled, the scar would move along with him, which looked a bit creepy, but his eyes were full of warmth.

His health has been poor for years, suffering from liver disease, but he still has a lot of energy.

Later, if it weren't for illness forcing him to leave early, he wouldn't have been one of the tenth generals, but the eleventh. This man was truly the top logistics manager of our army!