When Xu Chengfeng woke up the next day, he felt refreshed and invigorated, lighter than he had ever felt before. But when he tried to savor the details of his conversation with He Rui from the previous day, he found his memory fragmented and incomplete. Even the parts he could recall, he couldn't string together into a natural, smooth train of thought like He Rui had done yesterday.

Xu Chengfeng hurriedly found Zhong Yifu, and the two tried to reconstruct the conversation together. Some parts they could piece together by sharing their respective recollections. Other parts, they had both forgotten. And there were even sections where, despite both having listened to He Rui at the same time, their memories were mutually contradictory. Each felt the other had remembered it wrong.

After arguing for a while, Xu Chengfeng was the first to realize the futility of it. "Let's stop arguing."

Seeing the usually earnest Xu Chengfeng back down first, Zhong Yifu was surprised. He felt he had been too pedantic himself and laughed. "You're right. There's no need for us to argue over an outsider."

Having said that, Zhong Yifu felt his stomach rumble. Seeing the sun climbing toward noon, they realized they had been debating for quite a long time. Zhong Yifu stood up. "Come on, let's go eat. This afternoon we can check if there are any recruitment letters from the capital. Chengfeng, do you think we can get into the units of the old 6th Division?"

Xu Chengfeng shook his head. "I want to follow Commander He to the Northeast."

"Huh?" Zhong Yifu stared blankly for a moment before processing this. "You... you actually want to go to *Guanwai*?"

Xu Chengfeng nodded, his delicate features showing no particular expression. Zhong Yifu was his close friend and knew that this was how Xu Chengfeng looked when he had made up his mind.

***

Meanwhile, He Rui had finished interviewing the last cadet. Beside him, Instructor Zhou Guodong stretched lazily. "Commander He, it's noon. Shall we grab lunch together?"

"I'll be a bit later. I need to finalize the personnel list first."

"Don't be too late, Commander He. The cafeteria is only open for a short window."

He Rui couldn't worry about eating right now. He took out his prepared calculation sheets and began substituting the data. Infantry, Engineering, Cavalry, Artillery—one for each branch. He factored in their exam scores and their interview ratings in various categories, applying weighted values for specific specializations...

After the initial calculation and two verifications, he finally ranked them by score. Checking his pocket watch, he saw it was already 3:00 PM. Lunch was definitely out of the question, but he still had time to find Zhou Yinshan.

Infantry: Cheng Ruofan. Engineering: Xu Jia. Cavalry: Zheng Silang. Artillery: Hu Xiushan. These four were the primary selections.

He would talk to them one more time. As long as these four made a firm decision to go to the Northeast with him, he would submit the list and prepare for departure.

He hurried to the Personnel Section. Zhou Yinshan glanced at the four names on the list. "Brother He, did you approach other students privately?"

"What do you mean by 'privately'?"

Zhou Yinshan had seen He Rui's performance in Japan. When Japanese classmates asked for his views, He Rui never hid his opinions. Although He Rui always answered calmly and unhurriedly, the Japanese students often became emotional, even flustered and exasperated, due to the intense clash of content.

They say it's easier to change a river's course than a person's nature. Although that was four years ago, He Rui likely hadn't changed. But precisely because of this, Zhou Yinshan felt He Rui probably didn't understand what "privately poaching students" meant, so he asked directly, "Brother He, what did you say to Xu Chengfeng and Zhong Yifu?"

These two names weren't on the list, yet He Rui felt he should have heard of them. He thought for a moment, then pulled out his notebook and flipped through it. "Oh. I've met them. The two of them came to find me, and we chatted for a while. Brother Zhou, please process these four first. As soon as the Personnel Section clears them, I need to find them for a final confirmation."

Hearing that He Rui was in such a rush to complete the recruitment, Zhou Yinshan put aside the matter of the two cadets for a moment and asked about the task at hand. "You've already tested them for three rounds. Why do you need to confirm again?"

"Brother Zhou, young people are impulsive. It's easy for them to make a decision in the heat of the moment. I welcome young people to join, which is exactly why I must let them know the difficulties that lie ahead. Before leaving the pass, they will inevitably have concerns. I want to clear up any issues with everyone together."

Compared to two Grade-A honor students, Zhou Yinshan didn't care much about four Grade-C students. Having worked in the Personnel Section for two years, he had seen plenty of messy situations. The army was a place where subordinates imitated their superiors. With He Rui being so shrewd and capable, and given the excellence Xu Chengfeng and Zhong Yifu had already displayed, their future was truly promising.

However, cadets from the Baoding Military Academy were usually in high demand. Others always begged the Personnel Section to help persuade students. Since when did the Personnel Section have to beg a unit to take the school's Grade-A graduates?

But thinking of those two excellent cadets, and having witnessed He Rui's capability and diligence with his own eyes, Zhou Yinshan still said, "Brother He. Those two cadets came to see me. They want to follow you."

"Is Brother Zhou trying to force people on me?"

Zhou Yinshan was so angry he laughed. He let out a cold snort. "Heh. Brother He, your temper has grown."

He Rui shook his head. "Brother Zhou misunderstands. I selected these four students through so many procedures; I cannot abandon them. The students you recommend are surely excellent in character and learning. I am willing to assess them. If they pass the interview, I'll have to ask Brother Zhou to add two more slots for me."

Before Zhou Yinshan could reply, Xu Chengfeng and Zhong Yifu, who had been in the adjacent room, couldn't help but walk out. Xu Chengfeng pleaded, "Instructor Zhou. We still have six months of internship. Please give us a chance."

Zhou Yinshan didn't say a word. Units recruiting, cadets graduating—in this kind of routine work, there were plenty of twists and turns. Giving He Rui two extra slots wasn't a particularly difficult matter.

After thinking it over, Zhou Yinshan called He Rui into a quiet room and asked in a low voice, "Brother He. We spent years in Japan and understand Japan's national strategy. You are so fully prepared; I assume you intend to do something big in the Northeast. If these children follow you, they will certainly face mortal danger. I only ask you one thing: Why must you go to the Northeast to contend with the Japanese?"

He Rui replied frankly, "Brother Zhou, Japan's ambition toward China will never extinguish on its own. Given the current situation of the Beiyang government, no one can stop Japan. But as long as I can build even the crudest industrial system in the Northeast, I can crush their ambition when Japan makes its move, letting them know that their idea of conquering Manchuria and Mongolia is nothing but wishful thinking. This will save China from immeasurable loss. If I don't go to the Northeast, I could achieve many things elsewhere, but when Japan invades, I would inevitably be too far away to help."

Zhou Yinshan's thoughts were a chaotic mix. He remained silent for a long while before finally speaking. "Your exam papers are here. There are two copies left. Test them."

Since they were honor students, He Rui didn't proctor them. He let Xu Chengfeng and Zhong Yifu take the exam themselves while he went to interview the selected candidates.

Everyone wanted excellent talent, but in He Rui's definition of excellence, "political reliability" was the primary factor. A lack of knowledge could be solved through study. But if one was politically unreliable, it would take a vast amount of bloody reality to possibly change their political stance. And the probability of that happening wasn't even high.

In the core team, having people from current powerful backgrounds—or even those who sympathized with the landlord gentry—would cause huge problems for future work. He Rui had painstakingly designed so many seemingly biased questions and conducted one-on-one interviews precisely to ensure the selected personnel were as politically reliable as possible.