Believe in my prophecy

  The days passed one by one in the hard training. The Red Army in the northwest of Jiangxi suffered heavy losses in the Nationalist army's encirclement and annihilation campaign at the beginning of the year, and the remaining forces were forced to switch to guerrilla warfare. Most of the Nationalist army concentrated on southern Jiangxi, and Zhushan Town, where the shock troops were located, was no longer disturbed. The various undertakings arranged by Luo Yi developed vigorously.

  The highway leading to the outside world has been repaired. Luo Yi used the funds obtained from the gold mine to purchase a batch of new machinery and equipment, and established several factories in Zhushan Town again, starting to sell products externally. Among them, the clothing factory's business was the best, and Luo Yi designed several casual wear that could adapt to the social customs at that time based on his own experience in later generations, and entered the Wuhan market through Zhang's recommendation. In addition, the original machinery repair plant has been expanded into a somewhat formal agricultural machinery manufacturing plant, which can produce several types of human-operated agricultural machinery. Although Luo Yi had no business experience, as a university student who grew up under market economic conditions, he was influenced by various commercial hype techniques, so it was easy to come up with some ideas that could produce good results. The products produced in Zhushan Town gradually gained some reputation in the surrounding areas, and even wholesalers came to place orders.

  Luo Yi's land reclamation movement in Zhushan Town was also successful, and this summer harvest, Zhushan Town had a bumper grain harvest. Although the income from growing grain was no longer significant for the residents of Zhushan Town, the farmers' feelings towards grain could not be replaced by anything else. During the busy season, the farmers around Zhushan Town were working hard, but each and every one of them had a smile on their face. Luo Yi arranged for the assault camp to suspend training for two weeks to help the local farmers with the harvest, which was also an experience gained from later generations. The army helping the common people with farm work is the best way to build relationships, and Luo Yi wanted to use this method to establish a solid base for the assault camp.

  After the double rush, there was a relatively idle period in the countryside. Lu Shuangyong and others took advantage of this time to hold their weddings one after another. Luo Yi brought Zeng Shan and Yuan Jing to drink wedding wine from door to door, ignoring the strange glances cast at them by others. Seeing several military officers get married, Luo Yi felt very relieved in his heart. Just a year ago, they were still mountain bandits being pursued by the National Army with no way to escape, and even survival was a problem. Now, each of them had a home, a beautiful wife, and this trip through time could be considered a good deed.

  The rural wedding customs were very lively, and Zeng Shan and Yuan Jing were both young girls who loved to join in the fun and play along. Every time they played, they had a great time. Luo Yi contributed all sorts of prank methods he learned from later generations to add to the excitement, leaving the bride and groom embarrassed time and again. However, such pranks were very popular with everyone, and many methods quickly spread out of Zhushan Town and into surrounding counties.

  "Luó Zǐ, you're really something! Just wait till your wedding day and see if we won't get our revenge!" Several officers said to Luó Yì with malice.

  "If I get married, I definitely won't have a wedding, I'll just go travel and get married."

  "What's travel marriage?"

  "Just take the bride to play around the country and come back after a month."

  "Is this okay?" the officers asked Ruo Yi with envy, and then they all told their wives about it. The wives were also very envious, and they passed on the message to Zeng Shan:

  "Shan'er, Luo Yingchang said, when you get married, he wants to take you on a honeymoon trip."

  Zeng Shan said: "Who says I want to marry Luo Zi? Beat you to death, beat you to death."

  The ladies advised: "Shan, you must grasp Luo Yingchang. A good man like him, if you let him slip away, where will you find another? You don't understand now, but later you'll regret it. I'll teach you a trick, find an opportunity to climb onto his bed and turn raw rice into cooked rice, he won't dare deny it..."

  Zeng Shan could only cover her ears and escape, for since her former female companions had become young mothers, their mouths had truly become unbridled. Zeng Shan knew that their suggestions were correct, but in that era, to let Zeng Shan use such methods to "snag a boyfriend with empty hands" was really too shocking to hear.

  Yuan Jing couldn't hear these words, and even among the girls in Quzhu Mountain Town, she was the most cultured, which made everyone dare not to talk about gossip with her. Her mind was not on these gossipy things either, as she had now fully participated in the intelligence work of the assault camp, managing various intelligence stations with Wang Dacheng and being responsible for analyzing all sorts of information from newspapers and other channels.

  "What's the situation in Southern Jiangxi?" Luo Yi walked into the Intelligence Department and asked Yuan Jing, who was clipping information from a newspaper.

  "The situation is not good." Yuan Jing replied with a depressed tone.

  "How far have the government troops advanced?"

  "From the newspaper, it can be seen that both the northern and eastern lines of the Central Soviet Area have been defeated. The Nationalist army is now launching a fierce attack on Yunmen Ridge, which is the only barrier left to the south of Ruijin. If Yunmen Ridge falls, Ruijin will be in danger." Compared with her time in the Red Army, Yuan Jing's vision had broadened greatly, and she began to understand the larger situation. Previously, Luo Yi had analyzed the gains and losses of the Red Army's fifth counter-encirclement campaign for her, but at that time, she did not accept it. However, as she grasped more information, she knew that what Luo Yi said was indeed true.

  Lu Yi looked at the map, calculating the time with his fingers. It was already September 1934, and in history, a month later, the Central Red Army would abandon the Soviet area and start the Long March. In the following two months, the Red Army would cross four blockade lines and suffer the defeat of Xiangjiang River. He didn't know how Yuan Jing would react if she heard this news.

  "Brother Luo, what the enemy's newspaper says, is it true? Are they just boasting?" Yuan Jing asked Luo Yi, clinging to him like a lifeline. She now believed in Luo Yi's words and hoped to get some good news about the Red Army from his mouth.

  "Xiao Jing, from what I understand, the reports in the newspapers are basically true. This time, the enemy's encirclement campaign is on a large scale, and the Red Army has made serious strategic mistakes. Therefore, in the next few months, the Red Army may suffer even greater losses than before. However, you must believe that after this setback, the Red Army will certainly elect new leaders for itself and gradually turn defeat into victory."

  Luo Yi made a vague prediction of what would happen in the future to Yuan Jing, wanting her to have some mental preparation. Given Yuan Jing's loyalty to the Red Army, she might not be able to accept the fact that the Red Army abandoned the Soviet area all at once.

  Yuan Jing looked at Luo Yi with a complex gaze: "Luo Zige, what you said sounds like something a fortune teller would say."

  "Have I ever made mistakes in what I've said over the past year?"

  Yuan Jing thought for a moment and said, "It seems like there's no big difference in major things."

  "That's right, believe in my prophecy, it won't be wrong."

  "Alas, watching the Central Red Army fight against the enemy, I'm stuck here unable to lend a hand, it's infuriating. I really want to fly to the Central Soviet Area and go to the front line as a soldier."

  Luoyi said: "Xiao Jing, now with your strength, even if you go to the front line, what effect can you have? Now, we need to accumulate our strength and wait for the opportunity to play a role."

  "What can I do now?"

  "Get ready, we're going on a long trip together soon."

  "Where are you going?"

  Shanghai.

  "Go to Shanghai?" Yuan Jing asked in surprise, "What are we going there for?"

  "The Storming Brigade will continue to expand its strength in the future, we can't always stay in Tongzhou, we must go out and take a risk. I want to use this period of time to go to Shanghai and see if we can establish a liaison point there. In addition, our equipment is not enough, using Zhang's wife relationship, we can only get limited equipment, it's hard to get more. I thought of going to Shanghai to see if we can find new channels, especially whether we can get some of the latest foreign equipment."

  "What am I going to do?"

  "Shanghai is a central city nationwide, with information highly concentrated. I hope you can go there to set up a central intelligence station and provide us with the situation across the country and even around the world."

  "Then is Zeng Shan going too?" Yuan Jing thought of an important question.

  "Go on, let's go together. Otherwise, she will be jealous."

  Yuan Jing's face turned red: "Nonsense, what vinegar. I mean she likes to have fun, Shanghai is such a big city, let her go and have some fun too."