Zheng Minglun met Qi Rui who was leaning on the railing on the deck in the evening, and Commander Zheng also walked to Qi Rui's side easily.

Completely ignoring the military commander, Qi Rui was looking at the sunset and the red sun that was about to sink below the surface of the sea, thinking about the previous things in his heart. At this time, the sun did not have a dazzling light, and there was no discomfort at all when the eyes looked directly at the huge red sun. That pure red seems to have an inexplicable attraction, and people can't take their eyes off it.

When Qi Rui was in Nanjing, he had seen such a beautiful scenery when he and Chu Xue were playing and walking by the Yangtze River, and he could still clearly remember the aroma on Chu Xue's body at that time, because they were very close, Qi Rui could even feel the heat emanating from Chu Xue's body. It stands to reason that the temperature on human skin rarely exceeds 35 degrees. But Qi Rui could even clearly remember the feeling of the heat radiating through the clothes of the two of them onto his skin. Such vividness, such warmth.

When he left Chu Xue, Qi Rui said that he would become a colonel within a year. Although he didn't know how long the war would last, Qi Rui was sure that when the year after that separation arrived, he should be able to become a colonel, or even have a chance to become a general. With quite positive considerations for his future, Qi Rui couldn't help but wonder if Chu Xue would choose himself if he was a general instead of a lieutenant colonel at the time.

After giving birth to such a thought, Qi Rui couldn't help but feel a sense of shame. He firmly believed that Chu Xue was not a woman who would be subservient to others because of her status. However, with this thought, Qi Rui couldn't help but be a little suspicious. Whether to believe in Chu Xue or Daddy Wei Ze, Qi Rui will naturally choose the latter without hesitation. And Daddy Wei Ze confidently told Qi Rui, "You know that I have a lot of power, and I have a lot of influence. As your father, I am willing to help you. ”

His father Wei Ze has never been a person who runs trains with a mouth, and if he doesn't say it, it doesn't mean that he can't do it. Qi Rui suddenly regretted it now, he might have begged his father for help frankly. If that was the case, he would be able to see Chu Xue's face and feel the temperature on her body when he returned to Xinxiang now. Instead of standing alone on the bow of the boat like now, and then returning to the dormitory in Xinxiang alone......

"Hey! Qi Rui, I think your parents have educated you very well. Leng Buding's voice sounded in Qi Rui's ears, startling Qi Rui.

"Huh?" Turning his head to look, Qi Rui found the military commander Zheng Minglun standing beside him.

Zheng Minglun didn't care that Qi Rui didn't notice him at first, he continued: "Qi Rui, what do your parents do? ”

"Well......, my mother was a university teacher. My father is ...... He's a soldier. Qi Rui quickly replied according to the answer that had been prepared a long time ago.

"Soldiers? Did he work in the political department? Zheng Minglun has a bit of a sense of getting to the bottom of it.

"You know, they were all about the organization in their time." Qi Rui found this preparation quite interesting.

Zheng Minglun saw that Qi Rui didn't mean to boast about his family at all, and he also had some numbers in his heart. Putting down this topic, Zheng Minglun asked, "Qi Rui, are you married?" ”

This diversity of questions fully reflects the flexible and changeable tactical style of the Guangfu Army according to local conditions, and Qi Rui was almost speechless when asked by this. However, the preparation was still evident, and he replied: "My family has already found me a partner." ”

"Young people should get married sooner!" It can be seen that Zheng Minglun has his own views on this matter, "Everyone shouts that they work hard and have no time to get married." Back then, we still had to fight, and we didn't get married anyway! If we are as squeamish as the dolls we are now, where are these boys! ”

Qi Rui listened to these rather familiar words, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. No matter what kind of high level Commander Zheng Minglun has in military and even ideology, but in terms of social outlook, he is still a person of the old era. At that time, getting married was to live together, and now the standard of living in this era is not a situation where one person can't live, so everyone is more looking forward to being with the person they like. Although he didn't know how to be with the person he liked, Qi Rui laughed at himself and found that he was actually a smart person, a person who couldn't be smart enough for himself.

Fortunately, Commander Zheng knew how to control himself, complained a few words, and saw that Qi Rui was as respectful as a young man of this age, but he didn't think so at all in his heart. Commander Zheng changed the topic again, "Qi Rui, I want you to work in the military staff, do you have any plans?" ”

"Staff?" Qi Rui was stunned, this position was completely beyond Qi Rui's imagination. In Qi Rui's thoughts, he is more looking forward to being on the front line. The sense of accomplishment of personally commanding the destruction of the enemy was really exciting, and when he arrived at the staff headquarters, he had to deal with endless paperwork. The division commissar also had to deal with paperwork, but at least he could deal with paperwork on the front line.

"I have too little experience now, and when I go to the General Staff, I will be blindly commanding." Qi Rui found a reason for refusal, which he thought was closer to the truth.

"You have less experience, who do you think has more experience? The work of the chief of staff is tedious and not liked by young people. But if you don't like it, someone has to do it. People generally think that the chief of staff needs the ability to plan, but I think the chief of staff needs the ability to lead. At the present stage, chiefs of staff have to undertake military training all the more, and this will test their leadership ability even more. If you are not determined to oppose this appointment, you should do a good job of becoming deputy chief of staff and temporarily acting chief of staff. Zheng Minglun seems to have made a decision, and he has no intention of letting Qi Rui refuse.

The chief of staff of the army is a cadre at the deputy army level, and the deputy chief of staff and the political commissar of the division with real power are considered to be at the same level. But in the long run, it is a position with more opportunities. Qi Rui also remembered another thing, if the military rank matched this position, he could be promoted to colonel. There is only one step left before the general. This prospect made Qi Rui can't help but feel a little fluttery.

"Don't your tail, work hard." Zheng Minglun said like a roundworm in Qi Rui's stomach, and without waiting for Qi Rui to answer, he turned around and left.

This personnel order did not cause much fluctuation, and the young guys in the motorized infantry unit all agreed with Qi Rui's strength and performance, and envy and a small amount of jealousy were naturally indispensable. But there will be no opposition. Qi Rui's promotion made everyone see a bright future, and the cadres of this group of motorized infantry felt that their group was valued. Before I knew it, the fatigue was reduced and the work momentum came up. On board, everyone showed considerable passion.

The troops returned to Xinxiang on 9 March. The official appointments were quickly announced, the original 24th Army and the 23rd Army were reorganized, and the 24th Army was reorganized into a motorized army. Army Commander Zheng Minglun, the deputy chief of staff of the army, who was originally very hard, was served by Qi Rui. Ma Xiaoming was the commander of the First Division, Wu Sanjia became the deputy commander of the Second Division, and Qian Duo became the chief of staff of the Third Division. Most of the officers who passed the examination who were initially willing to serve in North America were arranged to join the 24th Army, and only Li Yannian and a small number of soldiers were in charge of the training department to set up the motorized infantry department of the Xinxiang Army Academy.

Qi Rui was not happy about his promotion, he was most happy that he actually received Chu Xue's letter. The letter has been in the mailroom for more than a month. It's not that someone wants to stumble on Qi Rui, the motorized infantry has a great responsibility, and the family letters have been interrupted. The aim was to reduce the impact of letters on the mood of comrades.

Suffering from gains and losses in his heart, Qi Rui was afraid that Chu Xue would write her marriage into the letter. Looking at the familiar font on the cover, Qi Rui hesitated. After reading it for a long time, he finally opened the letter with the emotion of resigned to fate. Chu Xue didn't mention herself, but asked about Qi Rui's current situation. After the news of the war between China and the United States was broadcast in newspapers and radio, Chu Xue wrote this letter to Qi Rui. This was war after all, and Qi Rui had never boasted to Chu Xue about his participation in the war.

A smile appeared on Qi Rui's face. It can be seen that Chu Xue is very worried about Qi Rui. Qi Rui was willing to talk to Chu Xue about a lot of things, but he never mentioned war. The war brought too many negative things to Qi Rui, and when he was with Chu Xue, Qi Rui forgot about the war. He is also willing to forget about the war. All kinds of thoughts were reactionary in his mind, and Qi Rui suddenly figured out something after pondering for a long time. He picked up the pen and began to write bit by bit.

In early April, Chu Xue received a letter from Qi Rui. The cold spring has long been gone, the April in the south of the Yangtze River is warm and humid, and in the cool evening breeze, the solemn and rich voice of the announcer on the radio comes from the window, "...... The latest news is that the Liberation Army is engaged in a fierce battle with the evil American army in the Great Lakes region. Our officers and men fought bravely to kill the enemy and crushed wave after wave of enemy attacks......"

Hearing about the war, Chu Xue felt a wave of unease. She didn't expect that a war would break out after Qi Rui went to North America, but when she thought of Qi Rui these days, she had to suspect that Qi Rui had long known that war would break out. Chu Xue never thought that Qi Rui was a person who was greedy for life and afraid of death, and there would always be deaths in wars, and people who were eager for promotion like Qi Rui were probably brave enough to kill the enemy on the front line. Every time she thought of this, Chu Xue always felt uneasy.

When I opened the letter, it was Qi Rui's familiar font. "Chu Xue, I'm fine. In war, I don't talk about safe nonsense, I want to tell you that I'm all right. Recently, I have been a colonel, and I have not bragged about you, and I suddenly felt very relieved when I wrote the letter. ”

Seeing the words full of Qi Rui's style, Chu Xue couldn't help but smile bitterly. This person is like this, even if he is full of fame, he has never distorted human nature because of fame. Even showing off is not the kind of boasting, if you have to say it, it is more like a child who wants to use grades to expel the feeling of unconfidence.

"I often think of you when I'm relaxed after the battle. You're having a birthday recently, and I don't know the exact date when the letter will reach you. Here, I congratulate you on your happy birthday. I've been thinking about it lately, and I'm sure I'm in love with you. I'm a little different now, and I'm happy to bask in the warmth of loving you. Now I feel that in addition to this love, I am beginning to want to live with you. The things about living together are exactly what I never thought about. ”

Seeing this, Chu Xue closed her big beautiful eyes and sighed faintly. After a while, probably when the turmoil in her heart subsided, she continued to open her eyes and continue to watch.

"It may be a little late to talk about this, but I still want to say what I think to you. If you can respond to my expectations, please let me know directly. If it's late, please keep in touch with me as well. If we never see each other, that's something more painful and unacceptable to me than not being able to be together. I wish you well. ”

After this decent farewell speech, Chu Xue saw Qi Rui and wrote another paragraph, "If you have already started a family, please be sure not to talk about it when you write a letter. The only person I care about is you. If I talk about that person, I feel bad. ”

Chu Xue couldn't help but laugh helplessly. This is the Qi Rui in front of Chu Xue, the very childish Qi Rui. is also as simple as a child's Qi Rui. The wind blew in through the window, blowing a corner of the red Double Happiness sticker in the room, but it didn't make a sound.

Qi Rui didn't know how Chu Xue would react when he saw his letter, after the letter was written and sent, he put it all on the shelf and hid it deep in his heart. The whole person threw himself into the war with the United States.

When Chu Xue read the letter, it was about seven o'clock in the evening in Nanjing, and there was a time difference of about 12 hours with the Great Lakes region of North America. The smell of gunpowder smoke was already in the morning air, and the Chinese and American armies had been fighting fiercely in the Great Lakes region for two days. The attack of the Yankees' army was held back before the battle line.

Qi Rui, who had only slept for four hours under the rumbling cannonballs, and a group of staff officers were waiting for the final information. Li Shaokang strode into the room and took out a large stack of photos from his briefcase.

The staff officers hurriedly sorted the photos and pasted them on different blackboards. In the past two days, the aerial photos taken by Li Shaokang's air force unit have been lined up in six rows. Because the classification is accurate, you can clearly see the changes in the ground after comparing the photos.

Qi Rui looked at the blackboard one by one, and then returned to the sand table model. The staff officers adjusted the position of the small flag in the Great Lakes theater according to the photo. Considerable forces were assembled on the fronts of both sides.

"The depth of the U.S. campaign was only about 20 kilometers, and there was a gap of about 20 kilometers across the lake. Looks like it's going to break if you poke it. Qi Rui said slowly. Such a voice made the staff officers feel a great boost of confidence.

But Qi Rui's heart is not as leisurely as his tone, which he has practiced in his work. He himself found that whenever he spoke like this, it always made everyone feel much better.

"Shaokang, can the Air Force guarantee to provide the troops with information about this gap at any time?" Qi Rui asked Li Shaokang.

"As long as it's daylight." Li Shaokang, captain of the Air Force Reconnaissance Flight Group, replied.

"Good. Keep a close watch today. We'll try to get in from here tomorrow. Qi Rui said as he slashed at the gap with his hand knife. From the point of view of the layout of the army, that gap is not fatal at all. The U.S. military was well positioned to engage China, and the gap was just a gap between the two offensive echelons. If there is no such echelon configuration, it is not normal.

However, this is for the previous mode of warfare, and now this gap is very fatal. Once the Chinese army was able to transport troops through the lake to reach the gap, and penetrate all the way. At least 300,000 U.S. Army troops will be surrounded, and the entire form of the campaign will change radically.