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

Jinling Military Academy.

In the conference room on the third floor of the gray brick teaching building, people were sitting on both sides of the long table.

The head teacher sat in the middle, holding the large list of 759 people in his hand, discussing the allocation plan for the first batch of trainees with Minister Chen of the Training Department.

"The people in this accelerated training program are all veterans, but they have a weak cultural foundation, so we need to arrange more basic theoretical courses for them."

The teacher pushed up his black-rimmed glasses and said in a calm tone, "The young people in the basic courses are quite good; we can add some military engineering content."

Minister Chen nodded in agreement, while Director Zhong of the Political Department beside him was also scribbling something rapidly in his notebook.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was both serious and warm, as this was the first official student list since the academy's preparation, and no one dared to be careless.

Just then, hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor, followed by the door being pushed open. A staff member from the administration office stood panting in the doorway, clutching a small radio: "Director! Xinhua News Agency! A broadcast from Xinhua News Agency!"

The teacher looked up, his brow furrowed slightly: "What urgent announcement is this?"

The officer didn't even bother to salute; he simply turned on the radio. After a buzzing sound, the announcer's voice flowed from the speaker, melodious and solemn: "...Our Volunteer Army's Third Corps, employing new tactics in the central basin region of Korea, annihilated the US 25th Division... killing, wounding, and capturing... and seizing two regimental flags..."

The meeting room fell silent instantly, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone stopped writing and turned their gazes to the radio.

The announcer continued reading the detailed battle report. When he read, "Comrade Zhang Renfeng, deputy commander of the Third Army Corps, personally directed the operation on the front line, flexibly employing a new tactic that combines light rocket artillery with special infiltration," the list in the instructor's hand fell onto the table with a "thud."

He took off his glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, put them back on, turned his head to look at Minister Chen, then at Director Zhong, his lips twitched as if he wanted to say something but didn't.

Minister Chen spoke first, his voice brimming with barely suppressed excitement: "Director, we annihilated an entire American division! This has never happened before in the history of our army!"

Director Zhong added, "This Zhang Renfeng... he's really something else. He's only been in Korea for a few days and he's already achieved such results."

The teacher didn't reply. He bent down to pick up the list that had fallen to the ground, unfolded it again, and looked at the ranking. He counted from top to bottom, looking at each name one by one. When he got to the tenth name, his finger stopped.

The three characters "Zhang Renfeng" were printed on the paper with clear ink. He was listed in the Advanced Accelerated Course, alongside Yang Yong, Chen Xilian, Xu Shiyou, Li... but he was very high up in the list.

He stared at the name for a few seconds, then picked up the pen on the table, uncapped it, and lightly drew a horizontal line under Zhang Renfeng's name, changing the number "759 people" to "758 people".

Minister Chen, with his sharp eyes, peeked over and looked on in surprise: "Dean, is this really necessary? Comrade Zhang Renfeng was the commander of this campaign; he should be here to receive systematic training..."

The head teacher screwed the pen cap back on, leaned back in his chair, smiled elegantly, and pushed up his glasses: "Renfeng has learned all my skills. I don't have anything else to teach him. Besides, he's going to be the dean anyway. So, will you, Minister Chen, be the one to train him, or will I? Forget it, let's just go with this list of 758 people and bring them back for training."

Minister Chen's lips twitched, and he rolled his eyes inwardly.

No, could you be any more shameless?

They're always trying to flatter you. Isn't Zhang Renfeng Old Chen's student?

When did it become yours?

Oh, if I play well, I'm your student; if I play poorly, I'm Old Chen's student?

You, I really...

The head teacher seemed oblivious to Minister Chen's expression, stood up, adjusted his glasses again, and wore the composure characteristic of an old-fashioned intellectual.

"Judging from this, some comrades are still not convinced. Fine, then let's use this battle as an example and analyze it thoroughly..."

Before he could finish speaking, Minister Chen had already stood up, his back ramrod straight, and his speech was twice as fast as usual: "Dean, how about this, I'll go and submit this list to the Central Military Commission first. There are still many aspects that need to be implemented. We can analyze them another day, okay?"

Director Zhong of the Political Department also stood up, his notebook slamming shut in a flash: "That's right, the most important thing right now is to finalize the list. I'll go back and study the political education work. Oh dear, I think many of the military-level officers have very bad tempers. I'm afraid they won't be obedient, so I need to study their files."

The deputy director next to him chimed in, "Yes, yes, this Li Yunlong and this Ding Wei both seem to have come from the 129th Division. I'll go check their files; after all, we have several instructors who were captured by them."

Several people filed out, their steps so fast it seemed as if they were being pursued.

The head teacher stood there, spreading his hands, his expression somewhat innocent, and looked at his secretary, Kan Xinglong: "Huh? They don't seem to believe me. Wasn't Zhang Renfeng my student? What does this have to do with Xiao Chen?"

Kan Xinglong, as the full-time secretary of the teacher and director of the college office, has the most say.

He glanced at the retreating figure disappearing through the doorway, then at the headmaster's innocent face. After hesitating for a moment, he finally spoke: "Director, it's like this. Back when an explosion suddenly occurred at a POW camp under Yan Xishan's jurisdiction, resulting in the burning and killing of thousands of Japanese POWs, you seemed to have suspected Zhang Renfeng, and even..."

The teacher turned around, his face turning serious: "Comrade, don't say things that are detrimental to unity."

He paused, then added, "The situation was complicated back then, Yan Xishan..."

Actually, everyone knows who did it. In the entire Shanxi province and the Suijing region, there is simply no one else who could produce that kind of high-explosive bomb, filled with various fragments, which would generate high heat and burn people alive after detonation.

But nobody actually said anything. Anyway, it was blown up, and Zhang Xiaogui had his own alibi, and there were no insiders.

At the time, Li Yunlong wasn't entirely innocent of suspicion. It even seemed that Chu Yunfei from the 358th Regiment was involved?

Hmm, maybe it's them. Otherwise, why would Zhang Renfeng still keep Li Yunlong by his side?

This is clearly a secret plot!

Thinking this through, the teacher shook his head, picked up his pen, opened the notebook in front of him, and wrote a few lines in a flourish—

[I was overjoyed to hear that my beloved disciple, Renfeng, had single-handedly annihilated a division of a powerful nation. This division was a formidable force that dominated Europe under American rule; it was truly a military marvel, shocking the world, an unprecedented and likely unparalleled feat. Upon hearing this, I was utterly stunned! From now on, anyone who dares to say that Renfeng is not my worthy disciple will be sent to the academy for three years of extra training!!!]

After finishing writing, he felt it wasn't quite right and added a few more sentences: "[Of course, Chen is an exception. He's been going around bragging that he was the matchmaker for Renfeng. Pah! It was clearly me! Shameless people are not accepted by this academy.]"