Chapter 62: Sugar-Coated Cannonballs Arrived

  Li Zhen took down Shanghai half a month later, and here has once again restored its prosperity.

  The fugitive landlord returned and continued to get rich.

  As for the ordinary people and workers, they all returned to their posts one after another, everything seemed to be in order, and there was no sign of war. Ma Hui, Ai Tang and Ali, who had returned to their respective concessions, did not appear, as if they had disappeared. However, Li Zhen did not relax and continued to send people to monitor the situation inside the concession.

  During this period, Huang Shi-hai selected 1,200 soldiers from the Qing army camp and added them to the original 800 people, forming a team of 2,000 people, starting large-scale training.

  The remaining soldiers in the army were left to live a miserable life, because these people simply could not be released. Once released, they would become a scourge on society, so temporarily as logistics soldiers, responsible for logistics and other tasks. Huang Shi Hai was busy, but Zhou Xiu Ying was like a dragon that appeared only at the beginning, she didn't know where she found 300 women, really organizing a female soldier team.

  These female soldiers hold steel guns and practice rigorously, surprisingly also having a fierce and brave demeanor.

  Li Zhen also admired him secretly after knowing this.

  Zhou Xiuying's martial arts skills were outstanding, and she also had a set of methods for training soldiers.

  However, Li Zhen's mind was mainly on the soldiers of the Dagger Special Forces. Li Zhen took Yang Banhou, Huang Hu and all the soldiers out of the county town to the seaside. It was already late November, the weather was cold, the cold wind blowing on his face was like a knife scraping, even the seawater was icy and bone-piercing.

  It was such weather, but Li Zhen ordered his soldiers to march into the sea. Yang Banhou and Huang Huo received the order without any hesitation, step by step entering the water.

  The icy sea water soaked through his clothes and penetrated into his body, making him feel chilled to the bone in no time.

  "Achoo!"

  Before long, some soldiers started sneezing and felt their bodies turn cold.

  Li Zhen stood on the shore, his expression cold and unyielding. He waved his arm and shouted loudly: "You are soldiers of this country, you must fight for the country. You will encounter all kinds of difficulties and hardships in the future, so the first thing I teach you is to be fearless, obey orders. Even if there is a mountain of knives and a sea of fire in front of you, you must charge forward. War has no mercy, war only has naked slaughter. On the battlefield, the strong are king, only those with unyielding will can persist until the end."

  He paused for a moment, then Li Zhen roared: "I want you to become strong on the battlefield, overcome all difficulties, and have the spiritual will to conquer all difficulties."

  "Can you?" Li Zhen shouted loudly.

  "Right!"

  Soldiers in the water, shouting in unison.

  "Did you understand?" Li Zhen asked loudly again.

  "I understand!"

  One hundred and twenty soldiers shouted again.

  They stood in the icy sea water, enduring the biting sea wind, already chilled to the bone, but not a single person retreated. These soldiers believed that Li Zhen would not let them die and continued to endure the icy sea water. Li Zhen did not let the soldiers advance further, instead letting everyone stay in the water, enduring the cold sea water.

  At this time, a British soldier suddenly ran over from the seaside.

  This man was a guard of the Ari country, he glanced at the soldier standing in the sea water, which had already overflowed his waist, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face, but fear floated in his eyes. In such cold weather, standing in the cold water was absolutely a kind of torture. The guard looked at Li Zhen, whose expression didn't change, and felt a chill in his heart.

  At this time, a sense of fear rose in the guard's heart, and his straight waist also slightly arched.

  The guard came to Li Zhen's side and said respectfully, "Honorable General, the Consul requests your presence at a dinner party tonight. Will you be able to attend?"

  "Of course, I will be there as promised."

  The guard got his answer and turned around and ran away as fast as he could, not daring to stay here any longer.

  Li Zhen looked at the soldiers who were frozen to the point where their lips had turned purple, and he sincerely admired these soldiers for being able to persevere. Because of their perseverance, Li Zhen was able to train an elite team among elites.

  "Everyone listen up, return to camp!"

  At this time, Li Zhen led his soldiers back to camp.

  After returning to the camp, all the soldiers changed their clothes, took a hot bath, drank ginger soup to warm themselves up, and put on clean and comfortable clothes. They sat around the fire, drinking wine and eating meat, chatting and laughing, extremely happy, without any tense atmosphere at all. As they walked out of the water, they felt a sense of accomplishment in their hearts.

  Li Zhen returned home and made some preparations, thinking about tonight's events.

  Ali Guo and Li Zhen had a falling out, losing face and money, so he definitely won't let him off. Therefore, Li Zhen felt that Ali Guo inviting him over was a trap, definitely with ulterior motives.

  ……

  Consulate, where Ali lives.

  In a spacious hall, Ariya sat beside a round table, eating pastries.

  Across from Ah Lai Guo were Ma Hui and Ai Tang, both of whom were also eating pastries. The guard who had gone to inform Li Zhen returned and told Ah Lai Guo about Li Zhen's agreement to attend the banquet, then went on to describe what he had seen of Li Zhen training his soldiers. After listening, Ah Lai Guo dismissed the guard and frowned, saying: "Li Zhen is truly cruel, treating his soldiers so brutally."

  Ai Tang also said: "Unbelievable!"

  Ma Hui's expression turned solemn, and he said: "Li Zhen is a god of war, and his soldiers are a group of fearless people. Such a person is cunning and not afraid to die, making him the most difficult to deal with. Li Zhen has been stationed in Shanghai for a long time, which is worrying. I think our strategy towards Li Zhen must be cautious, with winning him over as the main goal, and try to avoid becoming enemies."

  Ai Tang stared at Ma Hui and said: "Mr. Ma Hui, when the US withdrew its troops, did you think Li Zhen would win?"

  Ma Hui shook his head and said, "No, I just don't want America to get involved in the war."

  Ariya said seriously: "Two of you, I have lived in China for many years and know China very well. Many Chinese people are proud and confident, with strong spirits that cannot be conquered. Look at Lin Zexu and Guan Tianpei, these people are absolutely loyal to the dynasty and cannot be conquered."

  He paused for a moment, and then Ali Khan laughed again, saying: "Unfortunately, the emperor is incompetent, Lin Zexu and Guan Tianpei failed. After summarizing, I think that to deal with Li Zhen, we should not confront him, but force Jiangsu Governor Xu Naiji to take action."

  Ma Hui smiled and said: "Mr. A Li Guo, Yang Nengge and Li Zhenzuo have disappeared silently, and Xu Naizhao in Jiangsu may not be effective either. I think we should still take the lead in winning them over."

  "Tonight, I'll try out the effect of flattery," said Ariya.

  "AiTang asked: 'Old friend, what did you agree on?'"

  Ah Li Guo smiled slyly and said, "Heroes love beauties, I have prepared two stunning beauties for Li Zhen. With beauties by his side, he will be trapped in their midst, and with the temptation of benefits, we can definitely win him over."

  The three men reached an agreement and then prepared for a banquet in the evening.

  In the evening, Ali Guo's residence was decorated with luxury. A lamp was lit, and the light was dim and hazy, showing a strong atmosphere. When Li Zhen arrived, Ali Guo, Ai Tang, and Ma Hui came out together to greet him and led him into the hall.

  At this moment, the hall is filled with men and women, bustling with unprecedented excitement.

  Among them, there were mature blonde beauties, tall and slender beauties, as well as elegant and refined women... These women were walking around the hall, looking extremely excited.

  "General Li," Ah Lai Guo laughed and said, "How's the banquet I've prepared?"

  "Awesome!"

  Li Zhen's eyes swept across the men and women in the hall, nodding in praise.

  In fact, those who can attend here are the celebrities of Shanghai, they are people with a good reputation. However, most of them are British, French and American residents living in concessions, only a few are Chinese.

  "Hello, can you dance?"

  When Li Zhen and Ali entered the hall, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty came forward.

  PS: The third update is complete, sugar-coated cannonballs are coming, give it a boost!