A lot of people knew that after the reappearance of the future commander at Stronghold 144 in the Northwest, a secret meeting was held in a small courtyard house on Anning East Road with him as the core figure of the group.
Although everyone knew about this meeting, not many people were qualified to attend it.
Someone said that anyone who appeared at this meeting was a trusted aide of the future commander.
All of Stronghold 144’s reforms started taking shape during this meeting.
At the dining tables of the middle-aged men who enjoyed discussing current affairs and politics, this meeting became even more mysterious than it really was. The small house where the future commander lived also gained a much more legendary status through their discussions.
They said that only the true big shots of the Northwest could enter that residence now, and most people should not even think about going inside.
The revolutionary decrees that were going to be issued from there would determine the fate of the Northwest.
Sometimes, when a pedestrian passed by Anning East Road, they would subconsciously peer into the residences’ yards in the old military neighborhood. Their companions would then ask, “What are you looking at?”
The person peeking into the future commander’s residence would reply, “Do you see that brightly lit house? That’s where the future commander lives.”
The companion asking the question would curiously ask, “It’s so late. Why are the lights still on?”
The person explaining would say, “What do you think? There’s a lot of people working in that house right now. They’re working for the future of the Northwest.”
Although it sounded quite awe-inspiring, it was actually just Zhang Xiaoman and the others reporting about their work at the end of the day and refusing to leave until they had scrounged enough food off of Ren Xiaosu.
All of a sudden, a new upstart became known throughout the stronghold: Wang Yuexi.
The more Ren Xiaosu worked with Wang Yuexi, the more he realized his middle-aged neighbor was more than met the eye. According to Mrs. Hu, he used to idle at home for many years and was just as lazy as Ren Xiaosu back in those days.
Later, when the Zong Consortium was wiped out by the Northwest, Wang Yuexi applied for a civil official job with the Northwest and was placed in charge of the Policy Research Office at Stronghold 144.
Although it sounded like the research office did not have any real authority, it still wielded great power. Otherwise, Wang Yuexi could not have arranged a job for Ren Xiaosu so easily.
Ren Xiaosu carefully supervised him. Wang Yuexi was very clear-headed and organized in his work. He had just instructed them to draw up the new labor act and supporting publicity work, and by the next day, Wang Yuexi led the people from the Policy Research Office to work through the night before submitting a very satisfactory plan to Ren Xiaosu.
Some people said Wang Yuexi was lucky that he happened to live next door to the future commander. However, Ren Xiaosu knew full well this was a result of Wang Yuexi’s skills. If Wang Yuexi were a useless person, there would be no need for Ren Xiaosu to choose to work with him.
The starting point of their cooperation began with the administrative center. While it might not look too outstanding from a political point of view since the administrative center did not make much of an impact on their financial income, but from the words “make things convenient for the residents” that Wang Yuexi had uttered, it was enough to show the ambition that he had. Furthermore, being able to integrate all the departments and making the staff get out of their comfort zones to serve the residents willingly, this in itself was enough to reflect his capability.
At this moment, no matter how the rest of the world speculated about what went on within this house and the people going in and out of it, there was one thing that everyone was right about. The people in this house were indeed fighting for the future of Stronghold 144.
Wang Yun had not returned to the stronghold for seven days. Based on the order he received, he would have to finish drawing the map demarcations of the vicinity of Stronghold 144 within half a month, which was not much time at all.
The 1st Infantry Regiment of the 6th Combat Brigade had been working alongside Wang Yun all this while. For the past seven days, they had traveled to almost every hill and valley in the vicinity of Stronghold 144.
Everyone was very tired, but after the Battle of Mt. Zuoyun, there was a marked change in their willpower as compared to others. When Wang Yun asked if they were tired, everyone would laugh and say this was nothing compared to the time on Mt. Zuoyun.
This was a sense of honor the unit had. Even if P5092 had kicked off the plans for a military expansion, the veterans would continue instilling this sense of honor to the newbies who enlisted.
Only when a unit had a sense of honor would they feel the esprit de corps.
For the past seven days, Wang Yun and his men remained out in the wilderness without returning to the military base at the stronghold.
They brought along a large number of surveying equipment to measure every inch of terrain.
However, Wang Yun had a huge advantage in being in charge of the mapping mission. As long as he used the surveying equipment to confirm the data, he could immediately draw on the map without any errors in the details.
However, some of the officers were puzzled. The regimental infantry commander asked Wang Yun curiously, “Sir, I’m a little puzzled. Logically speaking, we don’t have much time to complete our mission. But you’re not only demarcating the wastelands, you’re even measuring the altitude of the mountain ranges and other details. Why do so? Didn’t you say that our mission was to identify which areas are suitable for farming? Why are you doing the extra work?”
Everyone knew there was no way to grow crops in the mountains.
However, Wang Yun insisted on detailing all of the mountain ranges and the course it ran. He even marked out their elevation contours on the map. If he only wanted to identify where crops could be grown and where the land was fertile or barren, there was no need to include those details.
However, Wang Yun explained with a smile, “This is called going a step further while you’re at work. Although we’re only thinking about which places are suitable for planting crops right now, you all have also heard from P5092 that we might have to fight a war with the Wang Consortium someday. At that time, he’ll need a very detailed military map. There’s still many mistakes in the map the 6th Combat Brigade drew previously. I’m not saying you all can’t plot a proper map, but it’s just that normal people really can’t draw them with enough detail. The other map’s good enough for the average commander and would serve its purpose.”
“But P5092 is different. He can make use of every detail on the battlefield to the extreme. In that case, of course I’ll have to provide him with the conditions to do so.” Wang Yun said with a laugh, “When we bring this map back, he’ll definitely be very surprised.”
“Alright, we’ll do as you say, sir,” the commander of the 1st Infantry Regiment said.
Wang Yun, P5092, and the others had not been given any appointments in the Northwest yet. This was as good as saying that they held no official posts.
If Wang Yun were to command the other troops, his words would definitely not be as effective.
But it was different for the 6th Combat Brigade. They had fought the Battle of Mt. Zuoyun together, so everyone knew exactly what they were capable of. All of the soldiers knew Wang Yun and P5092 would get promoted sooner or later and trusted them, so they treated them as their superiors.
On the contrary, Zhang Xiaoman had more spare time. He basically just followed Ren Xiaosu around to handle some miscellaneous errands.
Zhang Xiaoman also knew what his role entailed. He only sought to serve everyone well.
Wang Yun smiled and said to everyone, “Let’s finish demarcating the map today. We’ll work hard for another seven days after that and then return triumphantly. At that time, we can all rest well!”
The soldiers responded in unison, “Yes, sir! Let’s get to work!”
