Chapter 86: Scattered

Jinling's summer always carried a sticky, humid heat. In the auditorium of the Fifth Army's temporary garrison, the ceiling fan spun feebly, stirring the smell of sweat and printer's ink together. When the Adjutant shouted, "All rise, Chairman Li has arrived," the officers in the hall snapped to their feet with a "shua," the sharp clack of boot heels making the windowpanes buzz.

Li Yuxuan wore a crisp general's uniform, the gold stars on his epaulets especially striking under the fluorescent lights. As he entered the auditorium, his gaze slowly swept across the audience—Du Yuming's cap was worn with meticulous precision, Song Xilian's cuffs still bore traces of machine oil, Huang Wei's notebook lay open to the latest page. Those familiar faces had all fought alongside him in the smoke of Jinan.

"Greetings, Officer Li!" the crowd shouted in unison, their voices carrying a barely concealed sob.

"Good, good, good. Everyone, sit, sit." Li Yuxuan raised his hand in a gesture, then sat down first in the center of the rostrum. "The Fifth Army's new appointments have already come down. I believe you've all heard by now."

The hall instantly fell into dead silence, broken only by the "whirring" of the ceiling fan. The officers lowered their heads; some unconsciously picked at the table with their fingers, others secretly wiped the corners of their eyes—they all knew what this appointment meant.

Li Yuxuan looked at the silent scene, then suddenly laughed: "Why isn't anyone talking? Our Fifth Army—when a Division Commander becomes an Army Commander, a Regiment Commander becomes a Division Commander, a Deputy Regiment Commander becomes a Regiment Commander—what a great occasion this is." He pointed at Du Yuming. "Guangting is now the Army Commander of the 20th Army. Isn't that more glorious than being a Division Commander in the Fifth Army?"

Du Yuming jerked his head up, his eyes red-rimmed: "Director, we don't care about rank." His voice trembled. "We can't bear to part with you."

These words were like a stone thrown into a lake, instantly stirring ripples. "That's right, we've been used to fighting under the Director for so long." "Scattered to various units, what kind of Fifth Army will that be?" "If it weren't for the Director in that battle at Jinan, we would have..."

The murmuring grew louder, finally converging into a stifled sob. Li Yuxuan listened quietly, his fingers tapping lightly on his knees, suddenly recalling the day he graduated from the Huangpu Military Academy, when his classmates hugged each other and cried in a huddle.

"Hahaha, all feasts must end." He stood up, his voice cutting through the noise. "Back when we graduated from Huangpu, didn't we all go our separate ways? And now, haven't we reunited on the Northern Expedition battlefield?" He walked to the front of the stage, his gaze sweeping over everyone. "By the way, now that our Fifth Army has been broken up, how many regiments has it been divided into?"

Du Yuming quickly stood up: "Reporting to the Chairman, according to the General Staff Headquarters' order, the original 30 regiments of the Fifth Army have been incorporated into the First, Second, and Third Army Groups respectively. Adding the newly expanded regiments, there are probably over eighty or ninety now."

"You see." Li Yuxuan clapped his hands with a smile. "Originally, the Fifth Army only had 30 regiments. Now that it's dispersed, it's nearly a hundred regiments. This is a good thing." He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote ten characters on the blackboard: "Gathered, we are a ball of fire; scattered, we are stars filling the sky."

The sound of chalk scraping across the blackboard was especially clear, every stroke penetrating the paper. "The blood we shed in Jinan, the hardships we endured in Xuzhou—they weren't to preserve the name 'Fifth Army,' but to allow this army's soul to spread to more places." He pointed at the young regiment commanders in the audience. "When you go to your new units, teach the brothers armored tactics. Make the infantry-tank coordination the German Advisor taught us take root and sprout in every regiment."

"One day in the future, when the entire nation's army has learned our tactics and has the Fifth Army's fighting spirit, that will be true victory." His voice suddenly dropped. "For a man to serve his Sect is truly a blessing. To have fought these battles with you—my whole life has been worth it."

Some people began to secretly wipe away tears, others straightened their backs. The sobbing gradually turned into heavy breathing. Li Yuxuan looked at them, suddenly recalling the confusion and helplessness he had felt when he first transmigrated here, facing this scarred land.

"Actually, I've always been a weak person," he said softly, as if talking to himself. "I couldn't adapt to this era of great upheaval, always thinking about living a stable life. But seeing you, seeing those brothers who sacrificed in Jinan, I understood—some burdens, even if you don't want to carry them, you have to."

He pulled a cloth bundle from his pocket and opened it layer by layer. Inside was a polished, gleaming Northern Expedition medal—the same model he had sent to the families of every soldier who died in the Jinan campaign. "This medal, I'm keeping it." He tied the cloth bundle up again. "When the whole country is at peace in the future, I'll take it and go back to that mountain in Jinan, to tell the brothers that their blood wasn't shed in vain."

The auditorium was so quiet you could hear heartbeats. The officers stared at the medal in the Chairman's hand, and suddenly felt that what was in their eyes wasn't tears, but fire.

That day's meeting lasted a long time, from noon until dusk. They discussed the tactical details of the Jinan campaign, the new combat methods taught by the German Advisor, and the matters to be mindful of in their various units. No one mentioned "can't bear to part" anymore, but when they said goodbye, they all shook hands firmly.

When Du Yuming left, he placed a thick copy of "Armored Forces Drill Manual" on Li Yuxuan's desk: "Director, these are my compiled notes. Keep them." Song Xilian shoved a sword into his hands: "Director, this is a Japanese officer's sword captured at Jinan. Keep it for self-defense." Huang Wei was the most direct; he hugged him and said, "Director, in future battles, I'll still follow you," then turned and left without daring to look back.

Li Yuxuan stood at the auditorium entrance, watching their figures disappear into the twilight. He suddenly felt that the general's uniform on his shoulders had become much lighter, yet his heart felt empty. The wind blew through the parasol trees in the courtyard, the leaves rustling as if saying goodbye for him.

"It seems you haven't managed to save up any foundation for me again." A crisp voice came from behind him.

Li Yuxuan turned around and saw Li Nian'an wearing a small Western-style suit, holding a food box in her hand, standing under the eaves and smiling.

"What foundation?" He smiled as he walked over and took the food box. "Gold, silver, and jewels? Or fertile fields and fine houses?"

"At the very least, you should have kept a military post." Li Nian'an walked into the auditorium and looked at the ten characters on the blackboard. "'Gathered, we are a ball of fire; scattered, we are stars filling the sky'—sounds nice, but you've become a general without an army yourself."

Li Yuxuan opened the food box. Inside were freshly made Osmanthus Cakes, still steaming. "Being able to watch them carry the Fifth Army's soul out is better than any military post." He picked up a piece of Osmanthus Cake and stuffed it into his mouth; the sweet fragrance instantly dispelled the bitterness in his heart. "Besides, I'm not a general without an army. The Chairman has still asked me to stay by his side as a staff officer."

"Staff officer?" Li Nian'an raised an eyebrow. "That place where you read documents all day—can it trap you? And how is your official position getting smaller and smaller?"

Li Yuxuan looked out the window at the deepening night. The National Government building in the distance was lit up with lights. "Whether it can trap me or not, I have to try." There was a barely perceptible firmness in his voice. "At least now, unification is imminent, isn't it?"

Li Nian'an looked at the smile at the corner of his mouth and suddenly understood that this man who always said he was "weak" had bones harder than anyone else hidden in his heart. Those scattered regiments, those brothers scattered everywhere, would eventually, like seeds, grow new hope on this land.

The night wind passed through the auditorium, stirring the chalk dust on the blackboard, but it could not blow away the imprint of those ten characters.