Xu Chengfeng and Zheng Silang, fueled by alcohol, climbed the newly built broadcasting tower and overlooked Siping from a height of more than ten meters. Siping's night view had denser lights, like a field of stars descending on the earth.

From the mouths of some chimneys in the industrial area, splashing light could still be seen. Needless to say, those were definitely the steel plant and the power plant.

Xu Chengfeng asked his old classmate, "Silang, you actually don't want to return to the army?"

Zheng Silang didn't know how to answer because things were completely different from what Xu Chengfeng thought. After pondering for a while, Zheng Silang could only reply, "I want to stay a while longer; there is still a lot of knowledge I haven't completed."

Xu Chengfeng also felt that Zheng Silang must be working hard to do more and couldn't help being curious. "Can you tell me about it?"

Zheng Silang didn't talk about equipment but talked about military research. "I am researching the organization of motorized troops, using motorized troops to replace cavalry for rapid maneuvering."

Xu Chengfeng immediately asked, "The so-called motorized troops, what does 'motor' mean?"

Seeing Xu Chengfeng was also very interested, Zheng Silang immediately began to explain excitedly, "Motorized refers to vehicles that travel on wheels. Another type is armored troops, which rely on tracks to travel. The tanks that appeared in various countries during the European war are armored troops."

Xu Chengfeng listened to the brand-new content, both surprised and expectant, and also quite happy. Some people in the upper echelons of the army said that Zheng Silang changed the combat arrangement on his own initiative and, after being fiercely criticized by Chairman He Rui, was exiled to be a military representative. Zheng Silang, unable to bear such a blow, had withered.

Based on Xu Chengfeng's view of Zheng Silang, Xu Chengfeng didn't believe it. Hearing what Zheng Silang said now, Xu Chengfeng was completely relieved. Zheng Silang wasn't depressed at all; he was accumulating strength for a burst.

After listening for a while, Xu Chengfeng felt something wasn't quite right. After Zheng Silang finished speaking, Xu Chengfeng asked, "Silang, vehicles are so heavy; they can't compare with the agility of horses, right?"

Zheng Silang laughed. "I also asked the Chairman this question. The Chairman asked me to do a problem: does a warhorse carrying a cavalryman exert greater pressure on the ground, or does a truck or tank exert greater pressure on the ground? I'll tell you the result directly: the average pressure of a tank is the lowest, followed by a truck, and the horse's hoof is the greatest."

Xu Chengfeng's basic physics knowledge was fine, just that he hadn't considered it this way. He simply asked for the pressure formula, and taking advantage of the alcohol, he gestured with his fingers against the night sky for a while. Xu Chengfeng found the result was really so.

Zheng Silang had calculated it many times long ago, and even practiced it. He exhaled a breath smelling of alcohol and sighed, "So tanks can easily pass through relatively poor ground. Horses might not necessarily be able to. Comparing delicateness, horses are much more delicate than cars."

Xu Chengfeng thought left and right but still couldn't quite accept it. "I always feel something is wrong!"

Zheng Silang had figured out these problems long ago. Hearing Xu Chengfeng felt the same as he did initially, he laughed. "A truck carries the full set of equipment for a squad of personnel. That's 10 people, seven rifles, one light machine gun. It might also carry a 60mm mortar. Even if an infantry squad has no spare horses, it takes 12-15 horses. When considering, you can't equate one horse with one truck."

Comparing one car with 15 horses, Xu Chengfeng's thoughts immediately cleared, and he laughed. "This is quite brilliant! Hearing you say this, I immediately feel that... motorized infantry is indeed better than cavalry! It saves so much trouble!"

Seeing his work recognized, Zheng Silang was also very happy. "Exactly. If our army can become motorized, although cavalry can still undertake limited roles, they will no longer be the main force for assault operations."

After saying this, Zheng Silang felt his research still had too many deficiencies, so he turned the topic back to others. "How is Ruofan recently? With his character, having not heard him jump out to speak for so long, I'm worried if something happened to him."

Thinking of Cheng Ruofan's current appearance, Xu Chengfeng couldn't help laughing. "Ruofan! Hehe. He is now putting all his energy into how to build field fortifications without the Japanese learning the news. I really didn't expect Ruofan to be able to focus on one thing so attentively one day."

"Haha!" Zheng Silang was also amused. Thinking of Cheng Ruofan's concentrated look, Zheng Silang remembered Cheng Ruofan before school exams. Cheng Ruofan wasn't unintelligent, and his memory was certainly no problem; Cheng Ruofan could even have a photographic memory for subjects he liked. The problem was that his attention was too easily attracted by other things.

Xu Chengfeng laughed for a while, and his train of thought immediately returned to the war. "Silang, the Military Commission has formulated a war plan, but hasn't reported it to the Chairman yet. Your idea of motorized infantry is very interesting. The Japanese control the South Manchuria Railway. Once the war starts, we may not necessarily be able to seize the South Manchuria Railway immediately and run it smoothly. Moving troops in large numbers by truck is a good method. Even if the railway cannot be used immediately, we have started building roads in rural areas and can use these roads for transportation."

Zheng Silang nodded repeatedly. "I have also considered this. This requires more detailed logistical work, including the design of various depots. Chengfeng, do you feel that the land reform and grassroots government construction the Chairman did from the beginning happen to meet such requirements? We can do these tasks now without any resistance. I often think about land reform while thinking. The Chairman had already planned this war before returning to China."

Xu Chengfeng nodded repeatedly. "I have the same feeling. The Chairman said we must rely on war to create a strategic opportunity period for China. This is not the Chairman's current idea; the Chairman has always been striving to implement it!"

Hearing that his idea was not unique to himself, Zheng Silang breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I'm relieved. Since we started preparing for this war a few years ago, we just need to implement the war preparations step by step."

Although the 'old classmates' gathered happily, what they talked about was still their own jobs. Moreover, the more they talked, the happier they became. Until late at night, when the lights of the residents in Siping City went out one after another, and the entire city fell into a quiet and peaceful sleep, they came down from the broadcasting tower.

At this time, Cheng Ruofan was not asleep. He was leading the engineering team to carry out construction under the cover of night. Cheng Ruofan himself walked quietly in the night, listening to how loud the sound produced by the project was.

In the dark night, no one saw Cheng Ruofan frowning tightly. No matter how careful, the movement was very loud. Trying to deceive the Japanese with such quiet construction was basically impossible.

Cheng Ruofan slept for a while when he was tired. As soon as dawn broke, he rushed to the construction site to see the results. The efficiency of quiet construction in the dark night was very low, less than half of the work during the day.

This was already the fourth time Cheng Ruofan had tested late-night construction. Looking at the earthwork volume that hadn't been dug much all night, Cheng Ruofan denied this feasibility. Permanent fortifications must be built with great fanfare; concealed construction was not feasible.

Since taking responsibility for the construction of permanent field fortifications, Cheng Ruofan and the staff officers participating in this project had made various settings and tried them one by one. Various possibilities had been tried and denied. Then there was only one feasibility left: to mix the project of permanent field fortifications with civilian infrastructure construction for execution.

If such a method were adopted, what needed to be considered was how to maintain secrecy under such a situation.

Since there was a result, Cheng Ruofan immediately took all reports back to Shenyang, preparing to convene a staff meeting of the Engineering Command.