Chapter 3: Southern Expedition and Northern War Section 8: My Cup, My Utensil

  Li De walked out for a long time, without seeing the special flight attendant following him. He turned his head to look back and saw that Rudvika, Bao Er, and the co-pilot were carrying luggage bags and walking towards the distant airport barracks. He had thought she would cling to him like Ai Detian, but it seemed not every girl followed the leader.

  Lee, Bowman, the lieutenants and the guards were all herded into a big bus assigned to the airport, an old rattletrap with its front end sticking out, the outside was just peeling paint, but inside it was worse, the benches looked like they had been salvaged from wounded soldiers on the front lines, missing arms and legs, the best bench was by the door, the metal ticket seller's box, now naturally given over to the leader.

  Driver's announcement: Due to the bumpy road, the wooden stools on the bus are incomplete and some have sharp edges. To avoid getting poked in the butt, it's best for everyone to stand up. Anyway, the road isn't long.

  So except for Yuan Shou, everyone else listened to the advice and stood in the corridor of the car.

  "Comrades, take your seats, the train is about to depart." The two wing-shaped badges on the driver's collar indicated that he was a junior sergeant in the air force, so he addressed everyone as "comrade", including the guards.

  The driver's sweet talk can't solve the actual problem. The big bus spewed out poor-quality exhaust and choking black smoke, swaying as it drove onto the snow-covered inferior highway, just getting smooth when it encountered ice, suddenly slowing down, Bao Man's hat fell to the ground, just bending over to pick it up, the car suddenly accelerated, the soldier in front stumbled backward one step, not only stepping on the hat but also sitting with a thud on the head of the noble member of the Imperial Political Council.

  Bao Man fiercely pushed him, picked up the trampled hat, and kicked it onto the soldier's buttocks. The car swayed back and forth, and all the people in the carriage moved in unison, as if they had rehearsed beforehand, moving forward and backward, left and right.

  "Cup, my cup!" Li De suddenly shouted. The thermos cup of the yuan shou was rolling back and forth among Lin Li's thighs, and after this shout, it became even more lively. The same number of arms appeared from the thigh cluster as legs returned to four legs, butts colliding with each other, the car was like a pot of eight-treasure porridge cooking a mess of things, until the troublesome thermos cup was caught and brought back.

  Li De looked at the group of men and couldn't help but think of Adele, who had gone to Lufthansa Airlines for training. With her by his side, there wouldn't have been the chaos earlier; he thought of Rania, two days ago, the 4th Tank Army's military law department had called her in, saying she was assisting with something.

  "Prosecutor's office?" "Assist in the investigation?" He had been too busy these past few days, and hadn't connected the two phrases together. Now that he thought about it, a sense of foreboding arose in his heart.

  The old car suddenly stabilized, and the automobile was driving on a flat highway. On the left side of the road was the endless Lake Ladoga, with a very flat shoreline. Further ahead was white ice, and in the distance, the icy expanse gave way to the blue waters of the lake. Some warships were sailing there. Li De took out his high-powered binoculars and discovered that they were two gunboats flying the German naval flag. His heart swelled with joy: under his correct leadership, the Empire's warships had reached a place close to the Arctic Ocean.

  The old car drove into the military port, and the stone revetment around the dock had large ship docks. The water area in the port was vast, with good concealment and windproof performance. Moreover, there was a natural breakwater on the north side, making the new Lado Port seem like an inland lake.

  There was a single-track railway to the new port of Ladozhskoye, and until November 20th, grain and weapons were brought from inland to Tikhvin, via Volkhov, and then shipped on to Leningrad. On November 21st, a detachment of Red Hunters disguised as Soviet NKVD troops infiltrated the port, discovered that Soviet troops were preparing to destroy the naval base, and just as they were about to pour gasoline on flour, the fake NKVD troops rushed over, pulled out the fuse at the last second, and chased away the Soviet troops.

  On both sides of the railway, there were groups of warehouses and barracks. One of the two-story buildings was the headquarters of the 61st Division of the German army. When the old car drove into the yard, General Daniel was scolding a major communications officer.

  Li De got off the car, and Daniel continued to scold: "This is the biggest dereliction of duty. If the leader blames us, I'll assign you to the Red Hunter Special Forces."

  A voice came from upstairs: "The Red Hunters don't want him either. We need warriors, not gentlemen."

  Everyone looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a young man with black hair and glasses sitting on the second floor platform, raising his neck to take a sip from a wine bottle, glancing over here, standing up and shouting at the general: "Hey, the guest has arrived, ah, it's an honored guest."

  The superior officer turned his head, shuddered all over, and dropped the lieutenant who was being scolded. He ran over to shout "My leader!", then looked around before whispering: "Leader, how did you get here?"

  Li De said in a low and angry tone: "How did you come? You came in this car that was started from the scrap collection station."

  The instructor ran to continue spraying dog blood on the lieutenant colonel: "See, the leader has blamed you. Roll away after the handover ceremony tomorrow." Then he ran to the front of the leader again and respectfully let the leader into the house.

  "What's going on?" Li De asked. The instructor didn't say anything, but the bespectacled man who had rushed down from the second floor spoke up: "He received a call from the airport, and they secretly told him that the leader was coming, asking the instructor to go and greet him. But what did this guy say? He said that in such terrible weather, the leader would definitely not come here unless he was out of his mind."

  Li De ignored their internal affairs and walked straight into the room. The curtain was lifted by someone ahead of him, and a wave of heat rushed towards his face. Li De turned around and walked out again, rubbing his hands together as he said to his entourage: "You all rub your hands and stomp your feet, it's so hot inside, if you go in now your blood vessels will explode."

  Everyone was laughing and jumping around in the courtyard, when a lieutenant colonel came over to plead with the leader. After a while, the leader said to him: "Remember, you can say whatever you want about me, but saying that the German leader is mentally ill is clearly something you haven't thought through."

  The lieutenant had a tearful face, and anyone who saw that face would have no doubt that tears were about to burst out. The superior officer looked like he regretted not being able to mold him into shape, raised his palm: "I'd love to slap you."

  Li De hinted that everyone could enter the house, and comforted the one who was still about to burst into tears: "Alright, take this as a lesson, I forgive you, now it's up to your superiors."

  The lieutenant colonel begged the superior officer again, and the superior officer had just answered the phone and came out, kicking him: "Go, take this second-class soldier to the airport for a run." Then he went back to the house and said to the leader: "Your special plane attendant is coming here, I'll send someone to pick him up."

  Li De's heart moved, this Rudvika, just now so firmly wanting to stay in the airport reception station, will regret it later, has moved my heart, after all can't resist worldly temptation. If I had known earlier, why bother pretending? Only later did they find out that it was the airport side that drove them here, and the airport was unwilling to open the heating for the entire building for the three of them.

  The soldiers receiving the consolation stood on the dock, with an infantry company of a certain department of the 61st Division on the left and naval personnel, a squad of port professionals and some sailors from a gunboat on the right.

  The movie camera creaked, the biting wind from the north blew over the icy lake and chilled to the bone, cutting like a knife on the face. Someone raised the collar of his coat for the leader, who thanked him: "Thank you, Rudolf." But inadvertently glancing aside, he found her far away behind the crane avoiding the wind, while Schmundt stood behind him.

  "My soldiers, you are all heroes. For more than a month, you have been fighting bloody battles with the Bolsheviks, shedding hot blood and suffering sacrifices... The Party and the people will certainly remember your great achievements... Ah-choo!"

  A gust of cold wind blew into the mouth that was singing a high-pitched tune, and a sneeze landed on the face of the soldier standing in front, but the soldier remained standing upright, eyes wide open listening to the leader's teachings.

  Li De decided to stop boasting and avoid being blown away by the wind. He walked up to the soldier in front of him, patting his frozen red face: "How old are you, Sergeant?"

  "I'm 18 in virtual age." The soldier replied, staring ahead.

  "Are you afraid when fighting?" Li De asked warmly.

  "Reporting to the commander, no battle has been fought." The soldier still did not look up.

  The head of state was shocked, and the instructor explained: Lake Ladoga was occupied by the 8th Armored Division, and the 61st Division, as a reserve force for the army group, only replaced it here.

  "That glasses-wearing guy chimed in: 'Reporting to the German leader, occupying New Ladoga Lake was not their achievement at all. It's my Red Hunter Strike Team that deserves the credit.'"

  Lee nodded: "Yes, I know. Your Red Hunter was the first to rush here, and there were other Russian Allied volunteers, such as the Kalmyk Shock Troops."

  "The Kalmyks have been captured, Mr. German Fuehrer," said Glasses suddenly. Li Dezheng was shaking hands with the naval officer, and upon hearing this, he was stunned. The naval lieutenant was introducing: "We captured the Russian Ladoga Lake Fleet's gunboat 'Bira River', we are the crew of that ship." But the Fuehrer didn't hear a single word of his.