Seven Seas Beacon Fire

In fact, the original name of this cruise ship was "Mingyan". From this name, you can tell who this luxury cruise ship originally belonged to. That's right, this ship originally belonged to Li Che's father-in-law. Even when his father-in-law was still alive, he was able to create a maritime wonder for himself during the World War II, replacing the original Royal Cruises with the world's fastest cruise ship.

Unfortunately, my father-in-law never got to experience the world's fastest cruise ship, because it wasn't even finished when the Ming Dynasty took over the project. Construction was originally planned to be abandoned. After the war, the navy initially considered converting the high-speed hull into an aircraft carrier, since the cruise ship could reach a speed of 29.5 knots, and unlike military ships, its propulsion system allowed it to maintain a cruising speed of 28.5 knots for extended periods.

There are indeed some warships in the world that are faster than this ship, but no warship can outrun this ship in a long race.

As we all know, with the signing of the naval treaty, the military naturally abandoned its plan to convert such civilian vessels into aircraft carriers. The Jiangnan Shipping Company, which had been nationalized, decided to invest in buying the ship to make money by running normal passenger routes and to undertake normal overseas missions when needed.

However, instead of choosing a single capital ship to escort the "Blue Space" during this visit, two cruisers were chosen to escort the "Blue Space," one of which was the previously used "first-class cruiser" of the Yangtze River class.

This classification is an old term used by the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy in its later period. Strictly speaking, this should be considered an early heavy cruiser, but before the signing of the naval treaty, the original 180mm guns had already been replaced with 150mm guns at the behest of the Crown Prince.

整艘船拥有两座布置在中轴线上的双联装150毫米主炮塔4座单装150毫米炮塔，8650吨的吨位也成为了目前大唐皇家海军当中吨位最大的轻巡洋舰，只不过主炮口径缩水之后让长江级轻巡洋舰的火力变得略有些配不上吨位，不过在副炮火力上倒是布置了整整6座双联装105毫米舰炮。

These 105mm naval guns are old guns salvaged from retired destroyers. After some modifications to the gun mounts, the gun elevation angle has been increased to 60 degrees. Although they can theoretically fire at air targets, they are not currently equipped with corresponding air fire control and command equipment. Therefore, these 105mm guns are mainly used to make up for the lack of firepower against ships and increase the firepower density when facing destroyers.

Of course, compared to the Yangtze-class cruisers, which still bear the imprint of the design style of the previous decade, the other brand-new cruiser that is assigned to escort missions is more eye-catching. This is the first treaty heavy cruiser of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy, the Jiangzhou-class heavy cruiser, the first ship of the Jiangzhou class.

Unlike other countries that built heavy cruisers at a leisurely pace during the treaty period, the first heavy cruiser of the Tang Dynasty was not built at a slow pace to maintain shipyard orders, as other countries did. There were two Jiangzhou-class heavy cruisers in total. The second ship, Yizhou, was built at a relatively slow pace, but the construction of Jiangzhou was incredibly fast. The main structure of the ship was completed in just 13 months, and a series of sea trials began at the end of last year.

The heavy cruiser performed well during sea trials. This time, the navy is sending this brand-new ship to participate in the escort mission. In addition to the fact that this heavy cruiser is currently the most suitable large surface warship for the navy to demonstrate national strength besides its capital ships, the navy also wants to take this opportunity to test the reliability of the new cruiser and the new power combination on long-distance ocean voyages.

Yes, the reason for rushing to build this ship is that this first heavy cruiser of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy has too many testing tasks to undertake. What experiences can be adjusted and modified during the construction of the second ship? What experiences can be absorbed in the design of future heavy cruisers? All of these need to be completed as soon as possible so that the Jiangzhou can be demonstrated in actual use.

As soon as Li Che stepped onto the deck of the Blue Space, his gaze was already deeply attracted by the beautiful design of the Jiangzhou.

"How beautiful!" Zhu Miaoyun exclaimed from the perspective of a military novice after her gaze swept over the cruisers "Jiangzhou" and "Changjiang": "The Jiangzhou looks much more advanced."

Li Che's lips curled slightly. He was quite satisfied with the design of the first generation of heavy cruisers of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy, which was finally selected by the Navy. He was even more satisfied with its appearance. As a new era cruiser designed after the war, the Jiangzhou showed "modernization" in every aspect compared with the old generation of cruisers.

Firstly, the Jiangzhou was the first warship in the Royal Navy of the Tang Dynasty to have all its large and medium caliber guns "turreted". The four twin-mounted 210mm 50-caliber naval guns were arranged in four twin-mounted turrets located on the centerline of the ship. The six single-mounted 120mm secondary guns, although not true complete turret structures, could at least be considered "pseudo-turrets". These six single-mounted 120mm secondary guns were also the same type as those on destroyers, but they used the latest model.

Of course, compared to the layout of the guns, the modern feel of the entire cruiser comes more from the design style of the ship's superstructure.

For example, the Yangtze-class cruisers were originally designed with all their main guns turreted. Similarly, the Minotaur-class armored cruisers of the Victorian Empire also had all their main guns turreted, including the 9.2-inch main guns and the 7.5-inch secondary main guns. However, these cruisers do not give people that modern feeling.

After all, the layout of the previous era, with its low-profile guns, thin mainmast, and four upright funnels, gives it a design style reminiscent of the late 19th century.

The Jiangzhou-class heavy cruisers were designed from the outset to serve as flagships of cruiser fleets, and in future operations they would likely also command destroyer squadrons. As a result, their superstructures were exceptionally full, visually resembling a slightly smaller version of the bridge of the Kaohsiung-class heavy cruisers.

Even the two spots on the bridge of the Kaohsiung-class heavy cruiser that seemed perfect for mounting the front of the Aegis phased array radar were inexplicably reproduced.

Therefore, at first glance, the entire cruiser gives the impression of having undergone air defense modifications, making it the Takao-class heavy cruiser Maya, known as the "air defense fortress of the ocean." (During the air defense modifications, one twin-mounted eight-inch gun turret was removed, and two twin-mounted 127mm anti-aircraft guns were added.)

4座四联装550毫米鱼雷发射管被分别布置在舰桥后方两侧和后主桅杆两侧，总之江州号的颜值和这个时代其他目前服役的巡洋舰相比，那给人的感觉就像是一群苏27和f15当中突然冒出来了一架F22。

However, there are still many regrets about this ship. The Navy ultimately chose the eight-gun design because the power layout of the eight-gun design was less risky. Of course, the power level of this era cannot be compared with the power level of the Kaohsiung in another world when it was first built. Although the maximum speed requirement was not as outrageous as that of the Kaohsiung, the 10-gun design was ultimately abandoned by the Navy due to the length and size of the engine room. Instead, the current eight-gun design was chosen.

"This is indeed the most advanced cruiser in the world right now, bar none."

Li Che had reason to say this. The Jiangzhou-class was not the first heavy cruiser to be started in the world, but it was indeed the first newly built treaty heavy cruiser to enter service in the world.

Zhu Miaoyun looked at Li Che's gaze, which was more affectionate towards the cruiser than towards her, and said with some displeasure, "Aren't you afraid of leaks when such a cutting-edge cruiser is carrying out this kind of overseas mission?"

"Do you think those spies didn't send high-resolution photos back to China when this ship was first completed at the shipyard?" Li Che waved his hand. "This is our best cruiser to date, and also the most important sample of our trip to Europe!"

"Samples?" Zhu Miaoyun asked after a moment's thought, "Are you planning to export this ship?"

"The treaty restricts countries from building warships with a displacement of over 10,000 tons and armed with guns exceeding 210 mm in caliber for other countries. Therefore, in reality, looking at the world today, heavy cruisers with 10,000-ton displacement and armed with eight-inch guns have become the most powerful warships that other navies can currently purchase. The Jiangzhou is related to our country's future warship export orders!"

Looking at the world today, the Royal Victoria Navy's heavy cruisers are still on the slipway, while the Colombian Navy's first heavy cruiser is progressing a bit faster, but it has only just been launched. For the next year or so, the "Jiangzhou" will be the only heavy cruiser in the world that has already entered service.

Therefore, for many small navies, this is their only option for quite some time to come.

Historically, after the end of the World Wars and the signing of naval treaties, the world's major ship trade became particularly sluggish. After all, with large surface ships facing numerous restrictions, if these small countries' navies really wanted to buy a large surface ship with sufficient combat power, then the Jiangzhou was the best model.

The Jiangzhou-class heavy cruiser had 140mm of armor belts sloped at 15 degrees for the ammunition magazine section and 100mm of armor belts sloped at 15 degrees for the engine compartment section. Although the height of the main armor belt was not comparable to that of a battleship in terms of the coverage of the entire side of the cruiser, it was still quite generous compared to the belt armor of the Colombian Navy and the lack of armor on the European side.

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PS: To be honest, Wang Chuqin's performance was even more embarrassing than losing the match. Sometimes you can't blame people for looking down on you and not believing that you can shoulder the responsibility for the future of Chinese table tennis. Facing a strong opponent, you didn't even have the courage to draw your sword and instead fled in defeat. Although Kobayashi lost the match, he is far superior to you.

Chapter 374 Remnants of the Old Port

After departing from Songjiang Port, the visiting fleet headed south. The Blue Space and the two cruisers maintained a speed of 24 knots. This speed was probably only considered a jog for the Blue Space. After all, as possibly the world's best long-distance runner, the Blue Space usually maintains a speed of 28 knots during commercial voyages.

A speed of 28 knots is certainly not the most economical, but like the Concorde in another world, the fastest cruise ship is a huge commercial gimmick.

However, for cruisers, although their top speed is certainly faster than that of cruise ships, a cruising speed of 24 knots is basically the limit for long-distance continuous sailing.

After all, military cruisers, in pursuit of higher combat speeds, have high-pressure boilers installed within limited power space that are not as suitable for long-distance running as those on cruise ships. You can't expect Bolt and Kipchoge to run a marathon at the same speed, can you? Even Kipchoge's warm-up speed would probably be difficult for an athlete like Bolt to maintain.

Of course, even at the current speed of 24 knots, it cannot be maintained for a long time after leaving the territorial waters of the Tang Dynasty. The standard displacement of the "Jiangzhou" class heavy cruiser is only 10500 tons. Compared with the likes of Kaohsiung and Zara in another world, exceeding such a tonnage limit is hardly considered excessive.

The restrictions imposed by the treaty not only affected the firepower and protection of cruisers, but also had some impact on their range. The Ezu-class heavy cruisers were designed from the outset to accompany capital ships and carrier strike groups in long-range operations, so in terms of range advantage, they were already considered to be qualified or even quite excellent.

但是续航力根据油耗来推测在14节的情况下也就不到8000海里，如果把这个速度提高到18节的话，那么估计续航会跌到5500海里左右，而目前的这24节...........这续航恐怕连3000海里都不到。

Therefore, the fleet will resupply in Borneo, then pass through the Strait of Malacca to the Indian Ocean. After entering the Indian Ocean, it will resupply at Cochin Port south of Bharat, then pass through the Red Sea to enter the Suez Canal. After passing through the Suez Canal, it will first visit the Kingdom of Syracuse.

Throughout the journey, except for the first leg and the rest of the journey after reaching Europe, even during resupply in Bharat, it was impossible to maintain a cruising speed of 24 knots.

This made Li Che miss super-healer ships like the 901 or Sacramento even more. However, no navy in the world would build such a high-specification supply ship. Even the Royal Victoria Navy, with its hundreds of years of accumulated resources, would not be willing to spend so much money on it.

After all, a ship weighing tens of thousands of tons, and one that can travel at high speeds to accompany the fleet, will inevitably be expensive to build. Although a supply ship is a military auxiliary vessel, it must still be built according to military standards, and its construction cost will be higher than that of civilian ships of the same tonnage and speed.

In another world, there are actually only two countries in human history that are capable of mass-producing large, high-speed replenishment ships. Even the Red Navy at its peak only had one ship, the "Berezina," which could barely be called large but not high-speed.

These extremely expensive second-line ships are usually something most navies are unwilling to spend money to build, but they often act as force multipliers for the entire fleet during wartime.

"If only we had a Sacramento right now," Li Che thought to himself. Today they were just an outpost fleet, but if this were wartime, and this was a carrier task force belonging to the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy, then in the future, if they wanted to operate deep into the Indian Ocean, they would absolutely need such a large supply ship.

Before the war, the vassal states that the Ming Empire possessed provided the Ming Dynasty with more than just submission and tribute. At its peak, the Ming Royal Navy had a fixed outlet to the Indian Ocean—the port of Sittwe in Burma once housed a squadron of the Ming Royal Navy.

However, after this world war, the Tang Dynasty now only has one vassal state left. After the Southeast Asian region brought Luzon and Borneo under its direct control, the other vassal states, especially those around Palembang, either switched allegiance to the Victorian Empire or nervously declared neutrality while caught between the two great powers.

Especially after Burma declared its acceptance of the Victorian Empire's protection, coupled with the loss of the Old Port Pacification Commission by the Ming Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty not only lost the Strait of Malacca, but also completely lost the ability to project power west of the Strait of Malacca.

However, thanks to the naval treaty, the large-scale comprehensive supply ship that Li Che is now longing for is actually beginning to take shape on the shipyard. Of the eight Longyuan-class battleships that were originally planned to be built, apart from the first four which were built and commissioned in two batches, the hulls of the remaining four were originally intended to be scrapped directly.

However, Li Che found a loophole in the naval treaty at this time—although the treaty stipulated that these ships should be dismantled, no one stipulated that they could not be reincarnated.

Therefore, the Royal Navy of the Tang Dynasty simply dismantled some of the remaining four unfinished hulls and then announced that it had sold the "scrap iron" to a shipping company that had now been restructured into a state-owned joint venture. The shipping company then placed an order with Jiangnan Shipyard, indicating that it wanted to order four "high-speed transport ships".

These so-called high-speed transport ships are actually built by using the boilers already ordered by the Navy's unfinished main warships on these four hulls with relatively low completion levels, and constructing them as four high-speed supply ships.

The specifications of these four high-speed replenishment lines are extremely exaggerated, with standard displacements all exceeding 30,000 tons and full-load displacements reaching nearly 50,000 tons. Thanks to the main engines and boilers originally supplied to battlecruisers, although each replenishment ship only uses half the power of a battlecruiser, it can still enable the four replenishment ships to reach a maximum speed of 26 knots at a displacement of 40,000 tons.

It can be said that this is almost a Sacramento, except that it lacks a helicopter landing deck compared to Sacramento, making it slightly inferior in terms of dry cargo resupply capabilities, but its fuel resupply capabilities are even stronger than Sacramento's.

However, just as Li Che was envisioning how the future Royal Navy of the Tang Dynasty, composed of aircraft carriers, fast capital ships, cruisers, and high-speed replenishment ships, would launch a "Tang Dynasty shock" against Victoria or Columbia, an unexpected little incident occurred.

On a day when they were about to enter the Strait of Malacca, Li Che had just finished lunch and was about to return to his cabin for a short rest when, to his surprise, an officer on the ship ran over and told him that an unidentified vessel was approaching their fleet, and it was possible that it had encountered pirates near the Strait of Malacca.

???

"Are you sure they're pirates? Where are we now?"

"We're about to pass through the Strait of Malacca. This place has been a hotbed of piracy since ancient times, with some pirates even remaining active for a while after the outbreak of the World Wars," the officer replied. "The Strait of Malacca has always been a haven for pirates, and now that shipping has flourished after the war, these pirates are likely to become active again."

"Are you sure you're pirates?"

"It's highly likely that there would be no one on the deck of a fishing boat."

Upon hearing the officer's words, Zhu Miaoyun, who was standing nearby, excitedly expressed her desire to go up to the deck to take a look.

For Zhu Miaoyun, apart from the squid pirates who blockaded Gaza in the waters off Gaza in her previous life, she had never seen a real pirate in her two lifetimes.

Our Crown Prince's Consort is definitely going to observe this novelty.

Li Che also became interested. Although he thought it was unlikely to be pirates, what if there really were some fools? He really wanted to see if there were any pirates in the world who were stupid enough to rob two cruisers right in front of them.

Upon reaching the deck, Li Che discovered that the situation was somewhat different from what he had expected. Although there were no weapons on the Blue Space, the few crew members and sailors on the deck did not seem to be facing pirates.

This is not to say that the crew and sailors looked scared. In fact, if they were really pirates, Li Che believed that the crew and sailors would be laughing uncontrollably right now.

More importantly, on the heavy cruiser Jiangzhou, which was not far from the Blue Space, the officers and soldiers on the cruiser did not aim their cannons at the ship. The sailors seemed to be curiously observing the unidentified vessel that had approached. So he also turned his gaze to a black shadow in the distance, which looked like a large ocean-going fishing vessel.

Although it's described as large, it's actually only about seven or eight hundred tons. The entire hull is painted black, but with a high-powered telescope, you can see that the paint color is purely to cover up the mottled appearance of this old ship.

This is a steel-ribbed wooden-hulled boat. Although wooden boats have not completely disappeared from the sea these days, they are indeed becoming increasingly rare. Even boats like fishing boats are increasingly being made of steel.

Judging from the model of this boat, it is at least 10 years old. However, it seems that the owner cherishes the boat and has maintained it very well.

Because this boat can even reach a speed of 12 knots. Although this is a slow speed compared to a warship, it is definitely fast for a fishing boat that is more than ten years old.

If it hadn't been able to reach such a speed, this ship wouldn't have been able to keep up with the Blue Space fleet, which had slowed down even as it prepared to pass through the Strait of Malacca.

Meanwhile, some figures had appeared on the deck of the fishing boat, and signal flags had been hoisted on the main mast. Through the binoculars, an old man with a white beard could be seen sending signals using flags.

Without needing an officer to translate, Li Che was already able to understand naval flag signals. The old man's flag signals showed he was not very proficient, but the message he conveyed was very accurate. The ship indicated that they were the "Spring Breeze," which was indeed a fishing boat.

"Looks like these aren't pirates," Zhu Miaoyun muttered beside her. Then the officer who had come to report first said, "The pirates near the Strait of Malacca are both civilians and bandits. A fishing boat that was casting its nets one day might become a pirate robbing a ship the next. The reason why it's so difficult to spot pirates in the Strait of Malacca is because these pirates are hard to distinguish from ordinary ships. When they see a warship, they often disguise themselves as civilian ships."

“This ship shouldn’t be pirates.” Li Che shook his head and put down his binoculars. “The crew is mostly older sailors who are not physically fit to be pirates. If they were pirates, they would have been able to spot the two cruisers that were escorting us from a distance. Usually, pirates would either stay away or, if they were good at disguising themselves, would come up on deck and pretend to be fishermen. But no one came out of the cabin at first.”

The one who spoke was another colonel who had been on deck all along. He was Chen Houfu, who had accompanied Li Che on this trip to Europe as a military attaché. He was also a member of the Zangpo Society. He turned to Li Che and said, “Your Highness, I think these are just ordinary fishermen. Since this place is close to the old port, it is probably that the local Chinese fishermen initially mistook us for the Victoria Navy. They only came out of the cabin after seeing the dragon flag.”

"They mistook us for the Victoria Navy... and then hid in the cabins, too scared to come out?" Li Che's face was somewhat gloomy. Just then, a gunboat flying the Victoria Royal Navy flag appeared in their field of vision on the other side of the sea.

"It seems the Victorian Empire is quite considerate of the Chinese still living in Old Port..."

Li Che was able to guess the whole story almost immediately. After the Victorian Empire seized the Old Port Pacification Commission from the Ming Empire, many Chinese who had lived around Old Port chose to return to China after the war, but many others had spent their entire lives and careers here. Not everyone could just abandon the place where they had lived for half their lives and leave with their bags.

Those Chinese who were forced to live under the rule of the Victorian Empire must have received a lot of "care" from the Victorian Empire in the past. Before they realized that it was a warship from the Tang Dynasty, they all hid in the cabin.

Li Che's gaze was fixed on the signal hoisted by the fishing boat. Several officers beside him also saw the flag signal, and some of them even lowered their heads in shame, while others had tears in their eyes and their fists clenched until they turned white.

At that moment, everyone understood why Xiang Yu was unwilling to cross the river back then.

Because what I fear most is seeing a scene like this before my eyes.

Will the royal army return?

Chapter 375 Zhu Miaoyun? Lin Mingmei!

Li Che felt a lump in his throat.

Perhaps because his consciousness could travel between two worlds from a young age, he would unconsciously view these two worlds with a detached perspective.

This might sound a bit pretentious, but to put it simply... it's roughly similar to the perspective of a Hearts of Iron player?

Therefore, he had always treated the recent world war with an overly calm, even somewhat cold-blooded, attitude.

He knew that this war was not over. The victories and defeats achieved by various countries were just a halftime break. Although the newly established Tang Dynasty had almost lost most of its vassal states compared to the heyday of the Ming Dynasty, the tributary system in the East was on the verge of collapse. Even a vital place like the Old Port Pacification Commissioner's Office had fallen into enemy hands.

However, in Li Che's view, none of these things could actually affect the future national strength of the Tang Dynasty. He had full confidence in assisting his grandfather and father to create an "Industrial Cthulhu" of this world, and he was absolutely certain that in the next world war, the Tang Dynasty could crush the Victorian Empire's stronghold in the East with overwhelming force at the beginning of the war, raise the Tang Dynasty's flag back on Old Port, restore the administrative institutions of the Old Port Pacification Commissioner's Office, and comfort the Chinese compatriots around Old Port.

But when he actually came into contact with these flesh-and-blood people, he truly felt what the strategically correct "temporary abandonment" meant for the local people.

He thought of an advertisement he had seen in another world. Yes, it was an advertisement that left a very deep impression on him. In his eyes, the core message and the emotions conveyed in this ten-minute advertisement were far superior to more than 99% of the period dramas he had seen in that other world.

The advertisement, titled "The Last Transfer in the Northern Desert of the Tang Dynasty," was officially funded and published by China UnionPay and quickly attracted widespread attention online.

In that short film, veterans of the Anxi Army, who were responsible for transporting military supplies, encountered a group of merchants in the Western Regions. The merchants offered the veterans water and food. At this time, the merchants had probably started to dress as Hu people for safety and to integrate into the local life. They asked with a tone of endless nostalgia and strong expectation whether the army was about to return.

How similar is the scene in that short film to the present?

However, in that short film, the white-haired veterans of the Anxi army were unable to reply to the merchants, because the veterans themselves did not know whether the Central Plains army could return to Anxi.

"Do we need to reply to them?" Zhu Miaoyun had already learned the meaning of the flag signals sent by the other side from the officer next to her. Her eyes were also slightly red. As a transmigrator herself, Zhu Miaoyun knew that as long as nothing unexpected happened, the Victorian Empire's strongholds and colonies in Southeast Asia would be swept away like fallen leaves in autumn.

Therefore, Zhu Miaoyun really wanted to reply directly to the inquiries from these fishermen, hoping that they would go back and tell the Chinese people to endure the humiliation for the time being, and that the motherland's army would definitely return.

The only thing Li Che was grateful for now was that, compared to the veteran of the Anxi army in that short advertisement, he was certain that the Tang army could return to Old Port. However, he also couldn't tell the fishermen on the fishing boat next to him who were hoping for a return.

The Victorian Empire's patrol ships in the Strait of Malacca were on the other side. For the Tang Dynasty, this was an era that required patience. Whether it was simply because of his trip to Europe, or considering the relationship between the two countries throughout the future treaty period, or to arouse more vigilance from the Victorian Empire in advance, he could not tell the fishermen directly that the Tang army would definitely be able to return within 20 years.

Faced with Zhu Miaoyun's eager gaze, Li Che slowly shook his head. There was not much point in saying these things now. If the Victorian Empire became more vigilant and invested more resources in building fortresses and strengthening military equipment in the East, then the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty would have to make more sacrifices in the future.

Since the decision to make sacrifices for the greater good was made in the first place, now all we can do is apologize to these fishermen in our hearts.

"Azhi, can we not tell them directly?" Seeing Li Che shake his head, Zhu Miaoyun could more or less guess why Li Che was unwilling to respond to these fishermen.

It wasn't just because there was a British patrol boat there; what was more worrying was that if a definite answer was given, the fishermen would return and spread the word excitedly, stirring up a huge uproar around the old port. That would be the worst possible outcome for both the Victorian Empire and the Tang Dynasty, neither of which was prepared.

"Why are you so insistent on responding to those fishermen?" Li Che asked.

Zhu Miaoyun didn't answer directly. At this moment, Li Che seemed to genuinely see a compassionate light in Zhu Miaoyun's eyes. Zhu Miaoyun appeared hesitant to speak, so Li Che waved his hand, signaling those around them to step aside, creating enough private space for the two of them to whisper. Only then did Zhu Miaoyun speak:

“Ah Zhi, you know, on my side, many martyrs died without ever seeing the news of victory. Some of them sacrificed their lives in the darkest times, for example…”

"I know, the Anti-Japanese United Army's path here is one of endless sacrifice... When I first learned about the history of your world, I was deeply moved by this, to see such an army resisting under those circumstances." Li Che took a deep breath: "In that desperate situation, some defectors were once brave resisters, they too endured hardships that ordinary people could hardly bear, but compared to the physical pain they suffered, the spiritual despair ultimately led them astray..."

"Yes, sometimes I've thought that if some of them knew we would eventually win... no, even if they only knew there was a sliver of hope for victory, perhaps some of them wouldn't have surrendered and betrayed us."