Empire Conquest
Chapter 218 - 214: Miserable

Chapter 218: Chapter 214: Miserable

New Calendar Year 100, January 5th, Bai Zhizhan arrived at Puzhou Shipyard for the third day.

Busy for two days, it wasn’t until last night that he had nailed down the most important task, which was the repair of the "Heng River" vessel.

Because Mast Harbor was closer to Puzhou, and the Domestic Fleet had made arrangements, the floating dock could arrive early, so the "Heng River" could enter the floating dock on the day of its arrival. As for when it could be repaired, that would depend on the extent of the damage and whether the repairs warrant additional remodeling projects.

In short, the shipyard would do everything in its power to repair the "Heng River" as soon as possible.

Furthermore, the shipyard’s engineers estimated based on the initial inspection report from the Southern Fleet that the repair time could be kept within a month. There was no certainty because a comprehensive inspection of the "Heng River"’s main structure had not been conducted, so it was unclear if load-bearing components like the keel suffered damage in battle that could be easily repaired, or if it would require disassembling and redoing from scratch.

The shipyard had arranged an office space for Bai Zhizhan right next to the Ship Design Institute.

According to Liu Changxun’s arrangement, all personnel from the First Aviation Mixed Fleet Headquarters would accompany the "Heng River", so Bai Zhizhan did not have the shipyard arrange for management staff, only a few cleaning workers responsible for sanitation and essential security personnel.

Having taken care of urgent matters, Bai Zhizhan then slept in.

To avoid waking up too early, he even found a hotel worker to exchange for a very thick set of curtains.

Before the arrival of the "Heng River", the only thing to do was to conduct a routine inspection when the floating dock arrived on January 8th.

Bai Zhizhan didn’t have any relatives in Puzhou, so he thought he might as well take the opportunity during these free days to pay Zhao Yu a visit and catch a meal with the taste of home. As for He Pengfei, Bai Zhizhan really hadn’t thought about seeing anything special since the quadruple-engined heavy bombers were the Army’s concern.

Moreover, by slipping out of the Imperial Capital this time, he had already offended the He Family.

Even though He Pengfei was different from other members of the He Family, his close relationship with He Yongxing made it inevitable that some tensions would arise. Keep in mind, with Bai Zhizhan’s departure, He Yongxing was as if he had lost an arm, making it even more difficult to compete against Liu Changxun.

Once the storm blew over, he would find an opportunity to chat with He Pengfei.

Bai Zhizhan didn’t get up until noon.

After having lunch at the restaurant, he took a car to the office space.

To facilitate Bai Zhizhan’s movements, the shipyard had specifically arranged a sedan and a driver for him and even had the driver stay in the hotel, on call 24 hours a day.

It must be admitted, the shipyard was doing an excellent job in public relations.

It wasn’t far from the hotel to the Ship Design Institute, just over a ten-minute walk, and the office space arranged by the shipyard for Bai Zhizhan was right next to the Ship Design Institute.

Of course, with access to a car, there was no need to walk, especially now in winter.

Even though Puzhou is located in Jiangnan and by the Xu Sea, it’s very cold in the winter, and January is the coldest time of the year.

The key thing was that the South lacked the concept of "heating".

Because of this, many people from the North found it hard to adapt when they moved to the South.

However, Bai Zhizhan was from the South, and the winters in Yuzhou were no warmer than those in Puzhou; accustomed since childhood to needing to wear cotton coats even inside the house.

When Bai Zhizhan arrived outside the building, without getting out of the car, he noticed an officer in a navy autumn uniform wrapped in a green military coat debating with the security guard at the gate. The security guard looked visibly agitated, as if they were arguing, and the officer’s hands were moving quite emphatically.

What’s going on?

"I’m not insisting on entering, just help me make a call, that’s all. If you cause a significant delay, you can’t afford the responsibility of delaying military affairs!"

"I’ve told you, we don’t have a phone here, and I don’t know where to make the call. If you keep bothering me, I’ll have to call someone."

The security guard was a middle-aged uncle, obviously feeling a bit uneasy in front of the officer.

"You..."

Bai Zhizhan had reached the gate, and upon hearing the footsteps, the young man immediately turned around.

His expression was a bit frantic, as if startled by the security guard’s words.

After recognizing him, Bai Zhizhan immediately furrowed his brows.

At first, he had recognized that it was Zhou Yongtao’s voice, but it seemed unlikely, mainly because of the attire—it didn’t resemble that of a Navy officer at all.

Which Navy officer would wear an Army "prairie green" coat?

The Navy also had coats, but they were sky blue and more finely made, with even the buttons plated in gold, not as rustic as the Army’s.

However, Bai Zhizhan hadn’t mistaken the person; this pitiable-looking fellow was indeed Zhou Yongtao.

Upon seeing Bai Zhizhan, Zhou Yongtao too was startled. As Bai Zhizhan sized him up, Zhou Yongtao managed only a forced smile, offering no explanation.

"How did you get here?"

"General Bai, it’s a long story, this place..."

"Let’s go inside and talk. You haven’t had lunch yet, have you?"

"I haven’t even had breakfast."

Seeing that Bai Zhizhan knew this young officer and seemed to have a pretty good relationship with him, the security uncle didn’t dare to delay and immediately opened the gate.

On the way to the office, Bai Zhizhan instructed his driver to go back to the hotel and get a meal set, and to make sure there was an extra helping of food.

Zhou Yongtao had come back, seemingly having traveled to Puzhou overnight, which certainly meant something very important.

The so-called office was actually a room partitioned off with wooden boards inside a factory building, lacking a ceiling, which also meant it couldn’t be soundproofed.

This place was intended to be a temporary workspace, so the conditions were very basic.

Fortunately, aside from Bai Zhizhan and Zhou Yongtao, the nearest person was the security guard outside the gate.

"Have some water."

"General Bai..."

"No rush, take your time," Bai Zhizhan said as he handed Zhou Yongtao a cup of water, and then pulled over a stool to sit across from him.

After drinking a few sips of water, Zhou Yongtao began to recount his journey to Puzhou.

In fact, after returning to Mast Harbor, he first took a plane to the Imperial Capital. It was only upon reaching the Navy headquarter that he learned from Li Yunxiang that Bai Zhizhan had left the Imperial Capital for Puzhou Shipyard. Since Li Yunxiang didn’t know Bai Zhizhan’s current situation, he just told Zhou Yongtao that Bai Zhizhan was in charge of repairing the "Heng River" and that after arriving at the shipyard, he should first go to the Ship Design Institute to find Zhao Yu.

Furthermore, Li Yunxiang had arranged for him a flight to Puzhou, urging him to leave overnight.

Who would have thought that Zhao Yu was not at work today.

However, the security at the design institute informed him that the personnel working on the "Heng River" repair were in the next building.

That’s why he ended up standing outside the building, even getting into a dispute with security.

In truth, security hadn’t done anything wrong; after all, their job was merely to guard the gate, let alone contacting Bai Zhizhan—whom they had only seen a few times.

They knew Bai Zhizhan, but he didn’t know them.

Besides, this office location would not be put into use until after the "Heng River" arrived; for now, it was just an empty building.

As for that military green coat, Zhou Yongtao had obtained it from a worker at the airport upon his arrival in the Imperial Capital.

On the "Imperial Capital," there was no need for a coat, and in his hasty departure from the "Imperial Capital," Zhou Yongtao hadn’t brought much luggage.

Without that coat, he would have frozen to death last night.