Chapter 14: The Edge of Berlin Military Academy

In 1910, Berlin had just passed the New Year, the snow had not yet melted, and the air carried a biting chill. Li Yuxuan stood beneath the Military Academy's clock tower, watching the drifting fine snowflakes, and couldn't help sighing: "Another new year. Time flies; in the blink of an eye, I'm already twenty."

He brushed his pocket for the photo with curled corners, a portrait taken with Jiang Ruiyuan before leaving Xikou. In the picture the two wore student uniforms, smiling with a naive look. "Alas, I have no idea how the principal is doing," he muttered to himself, counting the days; Jiang Ruiyuan had been at the Japanese Army University for almost a year, and he wondered whether that fellow's temperament had changed, whether he was still being bullied by Japanese classmates.

As he was thinking, a shout from behind came from the instructor: "Li Yuxuan! Come to my office!"

Li Yuxuan felt a sudden thump in his chest, and without thinking knew it must be the results of the last tactical assessment. He forced a "Yes," trudged slowly toward the office building, cursing the instructor who set the questions a thousand times in his mind.

"Report!"

"Please come in."

He pushed the door open and saw the tactical instructor blowing his beard and glaring at a test paper; seeing him enter, he slapped the paper onto the desk with a thwack: "Ah, you foolish student! How come you failed this exam again?"

Li Yuxuan craned his neck to argue: "Teacher, it's not my fault; the questions were too tricky! Mountain offensive and defense, night raids, and we had to write the tactical report in German—finishing it would be good enough."

The instructor was amused to the point of laughing, about to say something, when a light laugh came from beside him. Li Yuxuan then noticed a young officer in a Second Lieutenant uniform standing in the office, the silver badge on his shoulder flashing, watching him with keen interest.

"Hahaha, who is this?" the young officer asked, his German accent tinged with a Berlin local tone.

"Oh, this is your senior, Heinz Wilhelm Guderian," the instructor introduced, then turned to Li Yuxuan, "and this is your junior, from Huaxia, named Li Yuxuan."

"Hello, senior," Li Yuxuan reluctantly saluted. Inside he muttered: Why does that name sound so awkward to say?

Guderian returned the salute, his eyes laced with teasing: "Li, look at your senior. You're already a Second Lieutenant; you need to step up."

Li Yuxuan hated being pressured by ranks, especially since this man had just laughed at him, and he coldly retorted: "Can a Second Lieutenant just laugh at people casually?"

Guderian raised an eyebrow, as if hearing something amusing: "What's that look? Not convinced?"

"Hahaha, teacher, it seems my junior is still not convinced," he said, turning to the instructor, his tone challenging, "How about I discuss tactics with him? That way, he can see the gap between you and him."

The instructor welcomed it, waving his hand: "Perfect, I also want to see what you've learned in the past six months in the unit. Li Yuxuan, spar with Second Lieutenant Guderian."

Li Yuxuan thought coldly: "Ha, I come from the future; am I still scared of a 1910 Second Lieutenant? If the exam hadn't been so tricky, could I have failed? It's just a petty Second Lieutenant; when the principal becomes a climate later, at least I'll be a Division Commander, far stronger than your lousy Second Lieutenant!"

He was about to speak when Guderian had already moved to the Sand Table, picked up a pointer and drew a circle: "Let's talk about the Russo-Japanese War. Why did the Russian forces' defensive line around Shenyang collapse? If you were the Russian commander, how would you adjust the deployment?"

The question struck right at Li Yuxuan's blind spot. He only knew the outcome of the Russo-Japanese War, not the tactical details. Just as he was about to blurt out a few casual thoughts, Guderian was already speaking on his own, covering the timing of cavalry maneuvers to the choice of artillery positions, analyzing the three weak points of the Russian line with crystal clarity, and finally adding: "The Japanese cavalry's maneuver, though risky, struck the Russian soft spot—that's the mobility advantage of modern warfare."

Li Yuxuan was left speechless.

For the next half hour it turned into Guderian's one-sided onslaught. From the Franco‑Prussian War to the Boer War, from ancient battlefield offense and defense to possible future mechanized warfare, his reasoning was clear, his logic meticulous, and even the instructor nodded repeatedly. Li Yuxuan tried to interject, but he was always blocked with even more professional terminology, and in the end he could only stand aside like a trainee elementary student.

"No way! Seriously?" Li Yuxuan wailed inwardly, "He's just a German Second Lieutenant, how is he so terrifying? The last time I got trounced like this was last year when I discussed cavalry tactics with Rommel!"

A terrifying thought suddenly struck him: "Are all German officers this formidable? Or am I just that worthless?"

Thinking back to Baoding School, he had relied on rote memorization to be a top student, but upon arriving in Germany he realized that the officers here were like living tactical dictionaries— not only recalling historical battles, but also drawing analogies and offering their own insights.

"So? Conceded?" Guderian set down the pointer, a smile still on his face, his eyes sharply keen.

Li Yuxuan, no matter how thick‑skinned, could only admit defeat at this point: "Senior, you're right; my insight was shallow."

The instructor finally softened his expression: "Knowing the gap is good! Second Lieutenant Guderian is a top performer in the unit; his mechanized warfare theory even draws attention from the General Staff Department. You, learn more!" After the instructor gave him a few more admonitions—"Stop always making excuses" and "Study tactics properly"—Li Yuxuan slunk out of the office. Guderian, who was also about to leave, patted his shoulder: "Don't be discouraged; your fundamentals are solid, just lacking some combat thinking. When you have time, you can go to the unit to watch exercises; it's more useful than listening in a classroom."

Li Yuxuan was stunned; he hadn't expected the senior to encourage him, and quickly nodded: "Thank you, senior, for the guidance."

Watching Guderian's retreating silhouette, Li Yuxuan suddenly felt that, though his days in Germany were stifling, they were not in vain.

"Looks like I can't rely on petty cleverness to get by any longer." He clenched his fist and headed toward the library, "Rommel, Guderian… you wait, I'm Li Yuxuan and I'm no pushover!"

Sunlight pierced the clouds and fell on the snow, reflecting a dazzling glare. Li Yuxuan's shadow stretched long, advancing step by step on the Military Academy's stone‑paved road.

Yet at this moment he didn't know that, years later, when he returned to Huaxia with the artillery tactics he learned in Germany, those German officers he once sparred with would appear on the world stage in entirely different roles, stirring up even greater turmoil.