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

Upon hearing this, Li Yunlong's eyes lit up, and he slapped his hands together, making a crisp cracking sound.

"That's right, the old brigade commander is frail and sickly. If you ask me, it's impossible for him to go to Korea. Put his military overcoat on Commander Zhang!"

Liang Daya and Kong Jie were momentarily stunned. After all, they had just returned to their unit and were not yet familiar with the rules and regulations within the Third Army Corps.

Kong Jie, pipe in mouth, blinked through the smoke: "What's going on? Wasn't Commander Zhang promoted back in May? Didn't the higher-ups already issue orders that Commander Chen be reassigned as political commissar and Commander Zhang become commander and deputy political commissar?"

At this moment, Qin Jiwei stepped forward with a smile, patted Kong Jie on the shoulder, and lowered his voice so that everyone could hear him:

"Old Kong, you don't understand, do you? In the Third Army Corps, or even the former Fourth Army Corps, they recognized Zhang but not Chen, but the old army commander firmly believed that the leader of this army corps had to be Chen."

Even after receiving orders from above, he remained the same. What's that called? Humility! Do you know what "three refusals and three concessions" means?

This is the old commander being modest, afraid of hurting Old Chen's feelings. What a good leader, how could he remain subordinate to someone else for long?

Li Yunlong nodded repeatedly, unable to suppress the smile on his face.

"Ah, right, right, right! Only by donning that coat that symbolizes Old Chen's power can the transfer of power be considered a true succession. Now, what is Commander Chen?"

That's the political commissar! Not the commander. If the Third Army Corps came, even I, Old Li, would dare call him Old Chen, you believe me?

Blind Cheng was displeased upon hearing this. He straightened his back and pointed in Li Yunlong's direction with his finger:

"No, Lao Li, what do you mean? According to you, I, the political commissar of the 12th Army, am not as good as you, the army commander? What do you mean that Commander Chen is a political commissar but not a commander? A political commissar isn't a leader? I'll write a report to Commander Chen about this and tell him to keep an eye on you!"

Li Yunlong's face hardened, about to retort, when Liang Daya chuckled beside him, a smirk tinged with a hint of schadenfreude: "Think of my Wan Jun..."

"Hey, Lao Liang, you'd better not mention it!"

Li Yunlong quickly interrupted him, straightening his back.

"My Anti-American Independence Army is no less formidable! That's a title personally written by the higher-ups, who are you to flaunt it?"

"I, Old Li, am not afraid to brag to you, Commander Zhang really praised me, Old Li. From now on, whenever the two sides are in a standoff, if my old Li's red banner with yellow characters proclaiming the Anti-American Independence Army waves on the hilltop, it will be enough to disgust those Japanese devils to death!!"

As soon as he said that, the people at the door laughed.

Only Kong Jie couldn't smile—Li Yunlong had the title of "Anti-American Independence Army," Liang Daya had the title of "Long Live Army," but Kong Jie, with the 42nd Army, had nothing.

What the hell is the right of them?

The more he thought about it, the more he felt he was losing out, and he even stopped smoking his pipe.

At this moment, Zhao Gang became anxious. He took two steps to the door, lowering his voice but conveying an undeniable urgency:

"Why are you all dawdling like that? Hurry up and put this overcoat on the Commander! Now that he's in his yellow robes, our Third Army Corps will follow Commander Zhang's lead without question!!"

Upon hearing this, Li Yunlong and Kong Jie were the most enthusiastic.

Li Yunlong was thinking that he and Zhang Renfeng had a deep and unbreakable friendship, having traveled from the Taihang Mountains to the Central Plains and then to Korea. If he didn't show his loyalty now, when would he? Besides, with Old Chen not around, whoever put on this coat would be the first to demonstrate their loyalty.

Kong Jie was even more impatient.

He had long wanted to return to his old unit. Back in the Jin-Sui region, his new regiment was separated from the 386th Brigade, so in essence, he was from the 129th Division.

Over the years, he has been running around and led a large army, but in terms of reputation, it is not as good as the 38th Army or the Independent Army. Who knows what the result will be when the ranks are awarded?

If we could also have a title for an army, wouldn't I, Old Kong, be a cut above Ding Wei?

Li Yunlong is now all-powerful, it's fucking infuriating!

Don't wait until the conferment of ranks and find that Li Yunlong has two stars while you only have one. Wouldn't that be a huge loss?

Why can't this supposedly perfect trio progress together?

Three people, three roles. Even if Ding Wei is made the younger brother, I, Lao Kong, would have to catch up with Li Yunlong first, right?

Now that Lao Zhang's power base is so strong, he can decide the outcome of the battle in one fell swoop. He's even put me, Lao Kong, in the center position. If I serve my boss well, he might just put me, Lao Kong, in a starting position in the next battle. Wouldn't that be like winning without lifting a finger?

Therefore, he was the most proactive. If he put it on at this time, it would be a great achievement.

Then Kong Jie, that simpleton, actually rushed in.

He strode quickly and boldly, almost knocking Pei Shiqiang off his feet as he passed him. He took three steps at a time and walked to the coat in the corner, then reached out and took it off.

That officer's wool coat was quite heavy, made of thick wool. Although I hadn't worn it for over a year, the imposing aura it exuded hadn't diminished at all.

Kong Jie held the coat, turned around and walked behind Zhang Renfeng, gently draping the coat over his shoulders.

The people around held their breath, staring intently.

Li Yunlong clenched his fists and muttered under his breath, "Put it on, put it on..."

Zhao Gang stood at the door, his expression a mix of nervousness and amusement. He shuffled one foot back and forth in front of the threshold, looking ready to go in and smooth things over at any moment.

The moment the coat landed on Zhang Renfeng's shoulders, his eyelids twitched.

Then it suddenly opened its eyes.

Zhang Renfeng had actually woken up when Li Yunlong said, "The old brigade commander is frail and sickly."

He had fought for over twenty years, and his body had long since developed conditioned reflexes to know what noises allowed him to sleep and what noises prevented him from sleeping.

The group of people were chattering at the door, talking about "being dressed in a yellow robe" and "following Commander Zhang's lead," and he heard every word clearly.

He just didn't want to open his eyes.

He wanted to see just how far these people could go with their acting.

I thought it would be Li Yunlong who made the suggestion, but surprisingly it was Zhao Gang, a top student from Yanda University with thick eyebrows and big eyes, who made the suggestion. That's quite interesting.

This shows that a strong leader can change a subordinate's bottom line...

What was even more unexpected was that Kong Jie actually dared to rush in and put on his coat.

Kong Jie, who is usually cautious and steady, is going all out this time... It seems this group is eager to make a name for themselves!

Zhang Renfeng slowly turned his head, his gaze falling on Kong Jie's face, which was both ingratiating and a little guilty. He then looked down at the familiar officer's overcoat on his shoulder, before slowly raising his eyes and scanning the group of people standing at the door.

Turning my head, I saw this bunch of cowards. It's been months, why are they only putting this on me now?

"He's got absolutely no brains! Are all soldiers this emotionally inept?" He abruptly stood up and angrily rebuked them.

"Who the hell is this... draping their coat over my shoulders??"