With Ridgway's "awakening", John has a new understanding of the Bradley family party in the evening.

MacArthur's "exit from the mountain" this time certainly could not be unconditional. He inevitably wanted to use this "lion's mouth" to ask Washington for troops, generals, weapons, and supplies. Transferring Middleton and Ridgway to the Philippines should be one of the prices offered by MacArthur.

The so-called "asking for a sky-high price and paying back the money on the spot" is naturally impossible for Washington to fully agree to MacArthur's demands. Of course, personnel and materials must be given, but what to give and how much to give is debatable, and some bargaining is inevitable. This also created room for Middleton and Ridgway, senior officers who were included in the "call-up" list by Mark Arthur.

John thought about it from Middleton's point of view. As an officer who grew up at the same time as Marshall and MacArthur, Middleton has rich experience in overseas combat command and theoretical skills. After returning to the Army, he had a lot of room to play, and naturally he would not be willing to let himself fall into the quagmire of the Far East in order to hug MacArthur's thigh. Moreover, with MacArthur's personality, he was not a good "boss".

But if he wanted not to be sent to the Far East, Middleton would have to "draw a line" with MacArthur in front of the outside world, especially Marshall. When this matter is operated, it is very difficult to grasp. It is necessary to make Marshall understand that he is not a hardcore supporter of MacArthur, but also not to offend MacArthur too much, so that the commander of the Far Eastern Military District, who is extremely face-saving and trusting, is dissatisfied.

At this time, Middleton's indirect relationship with John, with the Vanderbilt family, and thus with Minister Stimson became the best shield. Middleton's special trip to Alexandria and John's stay was actually a clear signal to Marshall.

John was almost certain that Bradley's invitation tonight was Marshall's response to that signal. First, he said that he had received the message from Middleton, and second, he also further confirmed Middleton's "position". As long as Middleton showed up at Bradley's house tonight, and without saying anything, Marshall would naturally remove him from the dispatch list.

Sure enough, that evening, when John arrived at Bradley's house from the division, Middleton and Mary were already talking and laughing on the sofa in the living room, one holding little Ella and the other holding little Eric.

"Daddy!" Seeing John and Bradley enter, little Ella immediately jumped out of Mary's arms and threw herself at John with a handkerchief in her hand. "Aunt Mary made it for me, isn't it pretty?" The little one can't wait to show off his gifts.

John glanced at the little swan embroidered on the handkerchief, and said to Mary with a smile: "Mary, I didn't expect you to have such a good craft." Adele is okay at drawing, but she is far worse than you with needle and thread. ”

"I haven't done it for years, and I made all the clothes when Elizabeth was a kid." Mary had a proud smile on her face, "I also made Omar's civilian clothes for him. ”

John looked at the pair of childhood sweethearts who came out of the slum with some envy. Although Adele has also been educated in this area since childhood, she is not proficient. After so many years of marriage, he has never worn any clothes made by Adele.

"Daddy, Daddy, and my brother also have a piece, it's a lion cub, but it's wet from his mouth again." After showing off her gifts, little Ella began to "sue" her brother again.

Ever since the small baby teeth popped out of his mouth, little Eric had to nibble on anything he caught, and Ella's dolls were often stained with his saliva. In order to prevent little Eric from putting something unclean in his mouth, Adele gave Ella the responsibility of supervising her brother. Since then, Ella has been "reporting and exposing" her disobedient brother to them.

"Alright, Ella, get off Daddy." Adele came over with the baby food that had just been hot, "Eric is going to eat, can you feed him today?" ”

"Okay, Mom." Little Ella immediately jumped off John and went to feed her brother in a hurry. For her, her fleshy brother is simply a big toy that is 10,000 times more fun than a doll. Feeding her brother, singing nursery rhymes, telling him stories, changing clothes, etc., are Ella's favorite games.

"Getting rid of" little Ella's "entanglement", John finally got out of it proudly and joined Bradley and Middleton's communication.

Speaking of which, Bradley and Middleton are not strangers either. Although Bradley was transferred to Fort Benning's infantry school as an instructor and head of the weapons department, Middleton had already gone to the U.S. Army Military Academy, but they were all people in the Army's military academy system (Fort Benning's Infantry School, Fort Leavenworth Military Academy, and Army Military Academy were the places where junior, intermediate, and senior officers of the U.S. Army studied respectively), and naturally there was some contact. It's just that after Middleton retired, the two sides never met again.

John thought that when the two met, they would inevitably talk about the past of the Benningburg Infantry School. Unexpectedly, Bradley and Middleton were discussing their daughter's dowry.

Middleton was only five years older than Bradley, but he married early, and all three of his daughters were married. Bradley has only one daughter, who is still in college. But John had heard Mary nag that their daughter, Elizabeth, had recently been in a relationship with a cadet at West Point.

"Omar, Elizabeth has at least three years to graduate, so you're in such a hurry to marry her off." John laughed and joked about Bradley. In his eyes, Bradley was a good commander when he was in the army, and he was an out-and-out "daughter control" at home.

I think that when Bradley was teaching at West Point, because of the low salary (only a captain), in order to make his daughter's life better, he could even put down his body and use the summer vacation to work as a "migrant worker" on the construction site. is simply a good father of "twenty-four filial piety".

"It's not early. Omar's daughters are all 19 years old, and it's time to get ready. Bradley hadn't responded yet, and the experienced Middleton helped him first. In the current situation, I don't know how many years this battle will be fought. It's better to prepare early to avoid getting scramble. ”

"Don't talk about me. Little Ella is only a few years old, I don't think you have prepared a lot of dowry for her. Because of Mary, Bradley knew a lot about John's family. John's degree of "daughter control" is not at all less than Bradley's. As soon as little Ella was born, John began to draw all kinds of goodies into her dowry list.

As John expected, the topic of Elizabeth's dowry continued to the dinner table. It also set the tone for the evening's gathering. Even after dinner, when John and the three big men went to smoke and chat, none of them mentioned anything related to the Philippines or MacArthur. The only discussion that had anything to do with the military throughout the night was when John made a point of mentioning the Motorola walkie-talkie.

But when John's family and Middleton got up to say goodbye, it was clear that all three of them understood what the other was trying to say. looked at each other and smiled, indicating that they had quietly reached a tacit understanding.