November 30. The Northeast Army General Headquarters ordered the establishment of the Korean Theater Frontline Command. Xu Chengfeng was appointed Commander, Cheng Ruofan as Chief of Staff, and Hu Xiushan as Deputy Commander, concurrently serving as Commander of the 2nd Group Army. On December 1, Xu Chengfeng and Cheng Ruofan arrived in Pyongyang, where the 2nd Group Army Headquarters was located.

The battlefield terrain structure had been completed on the headquarters' sand table. The three men observed it for a moment before Chief of Staff Cheng Ruofan asked Operations Staff Officer Zheng Xuhu to introduce the mission of the Eastern Front's 4th Group Army.

Zheng Xuhu, twenty-seven years old—the average age of the first batch of Northeast Army commanders—spoke in Mandarin with a Shaanxi accent. "The 4th Group Army is commanded by Major General Li Zhengqing. It has jurisdiction over four armies, totaling 160,000 troops, responsible for the defense of eastern Korea and protecting the flanks of the 2nd and 3rd Group Armies in the west."

Seeing that Hu Xiushan did not raise any questions, Xu Chengfeng asked, "Xiushan, what do you think of this arrangement?"

Hu Xiushan remained silent for a moment before replying, "I still have some concerns about whether we should retreat to the Yalu River. A few years ago, when the Chairman first proposed the plan, we all felt that holding the Yalu River would already exceed the limits of our strength. Now, it seems we might potentially hold northern Korea. Many comrades are currently facing this temptation."

Xu Chengfeng looked grim but said nothing. Cheng Ruofan, however, smiled. "It is human nature to long for Shu after obtaining Long. It is not strange for comrades to think this way, but if comrades who shouldn't be thinking this way still harbor such thoughts, it indicates they are not suitable for their positions."

Upon hearing Cheng Ruofan put it this way, Xu Chengfeng could roughly confirm Hu Xiushan's thoughts. But this matter was important, so Xu Chengfeng stared at Hu Xiushan, waiting for him to give a more explicit answer.

What Hu Xiushan was thinking was exactly what Cheng Ruofan had said. Possessing a strong offensive spirit was not a bad thing; there were some battles that simply had to be led by that type of general. However, in the current campaign arrangement, the dynamics of offense and defense had shifted. With the Northeast Army switching from the offensive to the defensive, commanders full of offensive spirit might not necessarily be suitable. This was especially true since the Northeast Army had sufficient training but lacked sufficient accumulated experience. When pressure came crashing down like a landslide, a sharp blade would often snap before an iron pillar.

Since Cheng Ruofan had already spoken to that extent, Hu Xiushan said, "I have already written a plan and want to make adjustments to the troops. Let's go over there to discuss it."

Xu Chengfeng and Cheng Ruofan followed Hu Xiushan to the adjacent office. Soon, the plan for selecting defensive troops was placed before the two of them. Inside Korea, there were now the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Group Armies. There were a total of 11 armies, 440,000 men. Adding the 250,000 logistics troops and 10,000 air force troops, the total was 700,000.

The 700,000 troops were deployed within two defensive systems. The first defensive system was mainly distributed about 60 kilometers south of Pyongyang. The second defensive system was located north of Pyongyang, right in the area of the Chosin Reservoir where the Japanese Korea Army had been annihilated, 100 kilometers from the Yalu River.

After the Northeast Army retreated to the second defense line, it would form a unified entity with the Liaodong Peninsula. This was also the maximum distance the General Staff had believed, a few years ago, that the Northeast Army could project power. With the rapid development of construction in the Northeast, the General Staff finally understood where He Rui's previous feeling of 'seemingly having other ideas' came from.

Xu Chengfeng largely agreed with Hu Xiushan's view. The current campaign plan was to inflict maximum casualties on the Japanese army on the two defense lines, then retreat the troops to the Yalu River defense line. Officers who could execute orders well would have slightly more passive elements in their personalities. If described with high emotional intelligence, they were 'more reliable.'

Having studied the plan, Xu Chengfeng looked at Chief of Staff Cheng Ruofan. Cheng Ruofan said with some hesitation, "I think the most important thing right now is that while there is no problem with the operational plan, none of us have experience in judging who can better execute the retreat plan."

Xu Chengfeng and Hu Xiushan were both stunned. What Cheng Ruofan knew, the two of them also knew. But in terms of focus, Cheng Ruofan was quite different from them. At this stage, Cheng Ruofan's perspective had a bit more grandeur.

But none of the three could solve this problem. Retreat was inherently the most difficult part of tactics, and large-scale retreat especially so. Saying too much would turn into complaining. After all, before the campaign, the headquarters had not been that optimistic about the large-scale use of trucks. As the rapid movement of army-level scales became a reality, a sense of dependence on trucks had unconsciously emerged.

Cheng Ruofan suppressed the restlessness that had popped up in his heart from time to time these days, analyzing with the calmest mood possible, "Since none of us know how to fight this battle well, I agree with Xiushan's view. Let's settle for the second best option. Once the parameters in the campaign execution are reached, we begin the next step. What does everyone think about not taking the battlefield situation as the most important reference standard?"

Xu Chengfeng was the first to express agreement with this view. Watching Hu Xiushan still thinking, Xu Chengfeng could understand Hu Xiushan's unwillingness, because Xu Chengfeng was also very unwilling. Over the past seven years, Xu Chengfeng was very clear about the massive progress the Northeast Army and he himself had made in military affairs. It was on the basis of such massive progress that Xu Chengfeng could truly see what a huge gap existed between himself and the Northeast Army and the top level in the military field. This self-awareness was both an incentive and a source of huge frustration. Cheng Ruofan's ability to frankly admit that the Northeast Army did not possess the ability to retreat hundreds of thousands of troops was a magnanimity worthy of admiration.

Finally, Hu Xiushan spoke. " regarding coastal defense and the arrangement of frontline support troops, choose commanders with strong initiative. The operational goals they must bear are very clear, and they must complete the objectives."

The three men didn't need to say anything more; they all began to bend over their desks to write their views on the characteristics of these two types of commanders. After finishing, the three exchanged ideas first. Only then did they invite the person in charge of personnel in to consult. A total of six people discussed and reached a rough conclusion, then sent it to the relevant departments for assessment.

Such judgment was based on the matter, not the person. The relevant departments within the army conducted a comparative analysis based on combat reports. After picking through large stacks of forms, they handed a box of reports to the Korean Theater Frontline Command on the third day.

Behind every list was a record of relevant combat reports. These people's military service resumes and their performance in the wars they had participated in were all recorded. Although some units had not yet been thrown into war and had no record of actual combat experience, based on the headquarters' impression, they basically conformed to the content required by the overall arrangement.

After participating in the discussion of the last list, Xu Chengfeng stood up wearily. "Let's leave it at this. Send it to the General Headquarters."

As the Commander-in-Chief of the Northeast Army, He Rui was not at the headquarters at this time. Over these years, as the Northeast Government's industrial sector began to accumulate technical experience from scratch, the problem of technological iteration naturally appeared. When an existing technology had been applied for a long time and thoroughly understood from principle to practice, some engineers would feel that the existing technology was not smart enough, not dexterous enough, not effective enough. And they proposed new ideas.

At this time, if technology in other related fields achieved breakthroughs that could satisfy the technological prerequisites required by these ideas, new technology might appear, thereby replacing old technology. Xu Chengfeng and the others actually hadn't thought about it, so they hadn't consciously realized that everyone's dissatisfaction with war practice was precisely the result of military technology iteration. Moreover, the Northeast Army was also attempting to complete a new technological iteration through this war practice.

In the technical field, this technological iteration actually appeared with old Mr. Tesla. The Northeast Government had invited this mysterious old gentleman, originally with a bit of the intention of 'buying horse bones for a thousand gold' (seeking talent with great sincerity). In reality, it was also the case; not many of the technologies provided by Mr. Tesla could be used immediately. Many ideas were directly rejected by He Rui and the high-level officials of the power system in terms of direction. Because those ideas were already fantasies, not reality.

However, the old gentleman had mixed in the United States for so long after all, and still had some connections. Through these connections, the sputtering deposition technology research that had been forced upon the Northeast Institute of Electronics, after receiving equipment R&D support from American partners, and combined with the magnetron technology developed by the Northeast Institute of Electromagnetics, could actually produce products with a 10% pass rate.

This matter forced He Rui to devote time to this aspect, holding a series of meetings with young practitioners in various related fields regarding its application areas and related technology iteration fields.

After the meeting, the excited young people surrounded him to ask questions. He Rui could only break away from everyone and go back to handle official business first. After reading the documents from the headquarters earlier, He Rui felt much more at ease.

Xu Chengfeng and the others felt they hadn't mastered the ability to retreat effectively, and He Rui also didn't possess the ability to command the battlefield retreat of hundreds of thousands of people. However, with technological iteration, once the information age arrived, an army of hundreds of thousands could respond to various war situations at any time and implement retreat in an orderly manner. At this stage, everyone could only rely on their own comprehension and battle-hardened battlefield intuition.

He Rui didn't want to put pressure on his comrades, so he could only note: "The General Headquarters agrees with the Frontline Command's plan."

After finishing this matter, He Rui saw an interesting piece of news in the next document. The President of the White Russian Provisional Government in London, Denikin, had made a request to the Northeast side, demanding that the Northeast Government hand over the 16 tons of gold stored in the Northeast Bank to the 'Russian Provisional Government.' Because this money should belong to the Russian Provisional Government.

He Rui immediately felt that this must be the British wanting to stir up trouble. At this stage, Britain recognized Denikin's Russian government-in-exile, and France recognized Kolchak's Russian government-in-exile. The Beiyang side did not recognize these Russian exiles, nor did it recognize the Soviet government.

The gold stored in the Northeast Bank had been taken from the old Tsarist Russian treasury in Kazan by the Kolchak government-in-exile, and most of it had been used to purchase weapons, equipment, and supplies provided by the Northeast Government.

From every angle, the government-in-exile represented by Denikin had the least reason to demand this gold from the Northeast Government. He Rui invited Zhao Tianlin over. When Zhao Tianlin arrived, it was already dark. In the cafeteria, Zhao Tianlin asked while eating, "Chairman, legally speaking, this is an inheritance case. Are there any difficulties?"

He Rui smiled. "This case has no difficulty. But Britain, that shit-stirring stick, never acts lightly. Once it acts, there will be follow-up moves. So, Director Zhao, please guide this case. Please be sure to use this case to prove the Northeast Government's legal capabilities."

As a legal expert, Zhao Tianlin did not boast. He simply replied, "I will organize people to analyze and study this case."

In the following days, every department in the Northeast continued its work. Zhao Tianlin first sent a formal official document to Denikin, held a press conference, and through connections, published announcements and news in major British and French newspapers such as *The Times* and *Le Figaro*.

'According to the principle of territoriality in international law, Mr. Denikin's request to the Northeast Government is incorrect. The correct method is to file a petition with the Northeast Court for trial. Mr. Denikin is requested to contact the Northeast Court within 30 days of receiving the formal document.'

This immediately caused a huge sensation in Europe and America. For the average onlooker, 16 tons of gold was an unimaginably huge wealth. This wealth also originated from the Russian Tsar.

Royalty, death, women, wealth. No matter which one, they were the most exciting content elements in novels and newly emerging film works.

Such things had been seen so much in books and movies, but now that it was really being staged in reality, for a time, even the war between the Northeast and Japan no longer attracted the attention of the European and American public.

Although Zhao Tianlin knew there was such a possibility, he didn't expect things to really reach this step. Moreover, He Rui's prediction was correct. The British Minister to China, who had long plotted this, immediately took out the full power of attorney from the Denikin government-in-exile and handed the case over to a British law firm in China.

Two days later, several diplomats from the Beiyang Government came to visit Zhao Tianlin, led by Lu Zhengxiang. Upon seeing Zhao Tianlin, Lu Zhengxiang first expressed his congratulations to Zhao Tianlin. "Director Zhao's response to the gold inheritance case this time fully conforms to judicial norms, preventing Britain from making a fuss. It can be called a model in both judiciary and diplomacy. Therefore, I personally came to congratulate you."

Zhao Tianlin exchanged a few pleasantries and then replied, "Mr. Lu is a senior who has participated in so many international conferences. Since Mr. Lu has come personally, I wonder what advice you have for me?"

Lu Zhengxiang immediately answered, "Since Britain's move has been frustrated, they will inevitably use other means. France supports the Kolchak government-in-exile. I presume Director Zhao is already prepared for how to deal with French intervention."

Zhao Tianlin actually hadn't considered it completely, so he smiled and said, "I still need to ask Mr. Lu for advice on this matter."

Lu Zhengxiang and the others had come to cooperate, so they didn't put on airs and directly took out a prepared analysis. Zhao Tianlin invited the cadres of the Justice Department, and everyone discussed it together.

Sure enough, as Lu Zhengxiang had expected, the next day, France also took out the full power of attorney from the Kolchak provisional government, stating that this gold should belong to the Kolchak provisional government. What was originally a seemingly nonsensical and funny event turned into an international incident in the blink of an eye.

The Northeast Government was facing both Britain and France at the same time. Zhao Tianlin remembered He Rui's understated arrangement, and a determination to successfully resolve this matter was born in his heart again.

Preparedness averts peril. The Northeast Government had not underestimated this matter from the beginning, and with the cooperation of so many experts, this matter could surely be resolved smoothly.