A High-Level Meeting, Yang Wenqing's Rising Status

The ninth day of the tenth month, year 100 of the Qiyuan Era.

The last full day of the two-year training period had just ended. The sky above the base seemed clearer than it had in recent days, and the wind over the sea was steady, as though even the weather were cooperating with the arrival of this day.

The observation delegation dispatched by Theater General Command had arrived at the base two days earlier. It was small but high-ranking, led by General Command's chief of staff, Wang Lu, and accompanied by several heads from the Training Office, Equipment Office, and Logistics Office, as well as veteran staff officers drawn from the various theaters.

The delegation had not come to make things difficult for Yang Wenqing. After all, the theater had rarely interfered with the base over the past two years. Aside from sending auditors to check the accounts and the flow of supplies as prescribed, it had left the training almost entirely in his hands.

The delegation stayed at the base for three days. On the first, they reviewed two years of training records, equipment maintenance logs, and battalion assessment results. On the second, they observed a joint live-fire drill between the Water Police Detachment and the Second Guard. The third day brought the grand finale: a full-scale landing exercise.

The exercise began at five in the morning. Reconnaissance flying boats from the Independent Rapid Response Brigade advanced first, conducting intensive reconnaissance around the perimeter of the simulated Redstone Archipelago to establish enemy force deployments and the coverage of their early-warning network.

Once the reconnaissance data came back, all three regiments of the First Guard took to the air simultaneously and advanced toward their designated landing zones. The First Regiment headed straight for the high ground on the main