Empire Conquest
Chapter 65 - 61 Deja Vu

Chapter 65: Chapter 61 Deja Vu

He Yongxing and Liu Changxun left, Zhu Shijian patted the armrest of the single-seater sofa and gestured to the chairs next to it, inviting Bai Zhizhan and Liu Xiangzhen to sit over.

Having served as Principal for over twenty years, Zhu Shijian could be said to have taught students far and wide. Nonetheless, his greatest pride was these two individuals.

Moreover, Bai Zhizhan and Liu Xiangzhen were Zhu Shijian’s last disciples. He took up the post of Imperial Navy Commander the year they graduated.

Thus, Zhu Shijian became the first, following the founder of the Imperial Navy, Sea Kun Duke Liu Zhentang, to have been both Naval Academy Principal and Commander-in-chief.

"Principal, it’s getting late, you should rest early," Liu Xiangzhen’s emotions were a bit unstable.

"It’s not late yet, and there’s no rush at this moment." Once Bai Zhizhan had seated himself, Zhu Shijian continued, "I’ve submitted my resignation to the Grand Secretary, and it has been approved. The inauguration ceremony for the new Commander-in-chief was originally scheduled for today, but it was too rushed, so it was moved to tomorrow. This is my last time talking to you as the Commander-in-chief, so whatever requests you have, bring them up and let me be of some use."

"Principal..."

Zhu Shijian glanced at Liu Xiangzhen, who was struggling to maintain his composure, before turning his gaze to Bai Zhizhan.

"Is it confirmed?"

Bai Zhizhan was also experiencing a whirlwind of emotions, but he kept them hidden.

If asked what they had learned from Zhu Shijian over the past twenty years, besides perseverance, it would be emotion management. No matter when or where, no matter what challenges they faced or whom they confronted, they should not reveal their inner thoughts.

It wasn’t scheming, rather a necessary depth of character for great achievements.

If Zhu Shijian were a man without such depth, it would be easy for others to see through him, and he likely would have been ousted from his Navy Commander’s throne long ago.

"Since there’s no path left, why look back?" After saying this, Zhu Shijian sighed deeply.

Bai Zhizhan remained silent, just bowing his head.

Twenty years ago, after deciding to push for reforms, Zhu Shijian had casually uttered this phrase. Little did he know, it would go on to become a famous saying.

After a while, when Bai Zhizhan looked up, he found that Zhu Shijian had closed his eyes and was emitting slight snores as if asleep. Liu Xiangzhen covered him with a blanket, gestured to Bai Zhizhan, and then quietly made his way to the door.

Once outside, Bai Zhizhan finally let out a long sigh of relief.

"The Principal has gotten old."

"Yes, and he still doesn’t seem quite at ease," Liu Xiangzhen revealed a bitter smile. "You just got here too, right? How about we find a place and have a couple of drinks?"

"This is the Imperial Capital."

Liu Xiangzhen paused, then scratched his head.

Despite being part of the Liu Family, and though he was the first in talent among his generation, his status in the family wasn’t that high, not even as high as Liu Xiangbin’s.

It wasn’t surprising, the big families emphasize the distinction between legitimate and concubine’s children, and Liu Xiangzhen was a concubine’s son.

Indeed, his modest origin also drove Liu Xiangzhen to strive for success.

In his words, a concubine’s son in a big family must work hard or else he would constantly suffer neglect and bullying, never even dreaming of standing tall with dignity.

"But hey, if you want to drink a few, I’ll risk life and limb to keep you company."

"Do you know where to go?"

"Of course not, but Li Yunxiang definitely does."

Upon hearing Bai Zhizhan’s comment, Liu Xiangzhen laughed. Li Yunxiang was a native of the Imperial Capital and had settled there, returning every year to stay for a while.

Without any further ado, they headed to the conference center to call Li Yunxiang out.

Truthfully, Li Yunxiang was already getting impatient.

Upon hearing the plan to go drinking, he immediately made a call, asking the hotel to send a car over.

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them snuck out through the back door and got into the car sent by the hotel. Another half an hour passed before they arrived in the downtown area.

They went to a bar specializing in serving military officers, primarily Army Officers.

This was not surprising, as Li Yunxiang was originally an Air Force officer, and as such, most of his friends were Army Officers.

The bar wasn’t very big, but it was lively.

After entering, Bai Zhizhan realized that the Army was also in action, for many of the officers had foreign accents, not the stationed forces of the Imperial Capital.

Listening to the accents, most seemed to come from the Northeast Defense Zone, from the side of the Ice Storm Peninsula.

Over the past few years, the Ice Storm Peninsula had become the Army’s top hotspot.

It took some effort, but Li Yunxiang managed to secure a table.

"Shall we get a few bottles of baijiu?" Li Yunxiang didn’t wait for Bai Zhizhan or Liu Xiangzhen to answer, and snapped his fingers at the bartender. "A bottle of 60-degree Erguotou, and three..."

"I’ll have a beer."

"I want a beer too!"

Liu Xiangzhen reacted quickly, and Bai Zhizhan soon became alert.

They were in a bar frequented by Army officers; the Army didn’t have a tradition or habit of drinking wine. Baijiu was the main drink, and at most, beer was tolerated.

In fact, before the last great war, there was only baijiu in the Army. Beer was introduced by the Tiaoman Empire.

Before the war, unable to repay the Liangxia Empire for imported arms, the Tiaoman Empire engaged in barter trade with beer. To deal with these products, which were not very popular in the market, the Imperial Authority deducted some of the Army’s hospitality budget, and substituted baijiu with beer.

Since then, beer had become a signature drink of the Army.

Li Yunxiang paused, then smiled and said, "Okay, three pitchers of beer, and put it on my tab. Don’t forget to bring over some more snacks for drinking."

Before long, the bartender brought over three pitchers of beer and two plates of snacks.

At that point, Bai Zhizhan and Liu Xiangzhen both regretted their choice.

It was indeed beer, no fake, but the glass pitcher was simply too big, visually exceeding three liters, maybe even a gallon.

Had they known, they might as well have ordered a bottle of Erguotou to share among the three of them.

"So, how is it? This is the Army for you, grand, right?" Li Yunxiang seemed quite proud; he might have long been fed up with the Navy’s prim and proper etiquette.

Just drinking such a large pitcher would leave one’s sobriety in doubt, let alone threaten to burst one’s stomach.

This wasn’t so much about drinking as it was about masochism.

"Come on, take a glass, cheers!"

Were they really going to drink an entire glass!?

Fortunately, it was just talk. Li Yunxiang only took a big sip, not really downing his drink.

Bai Zhizhan and Liu Xiangzhen didn’t fuss further and raised their glasses as well.

The beer tasted pure, with the unique aroma of hops, brewed from grains, not like the fake alcohol-blended booze from the small taverns outside.

In truth, that was the only sip they took.

"Hey, I thought I was mistaken. I didn’t expect it really to be you!"

Following the voice, an exceptionally burly Army officer came over and while greeting, gave Li Yunxiang a few hearty pats on the shoulder.

The gesture was not very friendly.

Seeing the man, Bai Zhizhan immediately frowned because there was a sense of déjà vu, just couldn’t remember where and when.

"To run into you in this godforsaken place, I must have really bad luck in spades!"

While saying this, Li Yunxiang turned around and embraced the other person.

They knew each other, and their relationship seemed quite good.

At that moment, Liu Xiangzhen nudged Bai Zhizhan with his elbow.

Bai Zhizhan had already noticed that the other person was an Army Major General, and there was another person behind him, equally familiar, someone he must have seen somewhere before.

Who exactly were they!?