"Join the army? Chen Zhuo, you want to join the army?" Song Xiaowen asked again, somewhat incredulously.
In this day and age, if you join the army today, you could be on the battlefield tomorrow! There's no such thing as training or giving you time to recover!
"Mom, you heard me right. I've been thinking about this decision for a long time."
"How... how could you have thought this through so much? We... we didn't see it coming at all," Song Xiaowen said, becoming increasingly flustered and incoherent.
Zhou Shanhuai patted her back reassuringly, "Don't worry, this child was just brought up. Let's discuss it. It's not like we have to go right away. Don't rush, don't rush."
After finishing his sentence, Zhou Shanhuai looked at Chen Zhuo and said, "Chen Zhuo, can you tell us why you want to join the army? Is it because of something you heard or saw at school recently?" He thought that Chen Zhuo was influenced by the Beiping Movement some time ago and wanted to take up arms to defend his country.
Chen Ke never expected that Chen Zhuo would eventually follow the same path as in his previous life, and he wondered if the trauma he had experienced before was too great.
"This is my own idea, and I haven't been influenced by anyone else. I've already made up my mind. I'm not saying this to ask for your opinions. Whether you agree or not, I will go."
Upon hearing Chen Zhuo's words, Chen Ke didn't look at Chen Zhuo immediately, but instead looked at Song Xiaowen.
Sure enough, Song Xiaowen was stunned when he heard the news.
"Chen Zhuo, have you ever thought that if you join the army now, you might never see us again?" Song Xiaowen asked, each word trembling.
The look of fear on his face suggested that he could already see Chen Zhuo carrying a gun and heading to the battlefield.
“Nowhere is safe now. Take us, for example. Our business went bankrupt overnight. If I join the army, maybe one day I can earn some military merits and find a way out. Otherwise, we can only rely on the government, which is too busy to take care of itself. When the war spreads, there will be nowhere to run.”
"Earn some military merits? Do you think military merits are so easy to earn? Millions of poor people who can't survive would have the same thoughts as you, and they are even more willing to risk their lives. They are risking their lives. Do you want to go and fight them too?"
Song Xiaowen clearly could not accept Chen Zhuo's statement. The usually gentle person was so angry that her voice rose considerably, and the maternal love that had just been in her eyes had completely disappeared.
"Chen Zhuo, your mother is right. Think about it again. No matter which army you join now, the ones you kill on the battlefield are all our compatriots."
Zhou Shanhuai's tone was very heavy when he said this, but that was the truth. The foreign powers burned, killed, and looted on our land, while the warlords in various places were busy fighting with their own people for their own small plot of land.
Chen Zhuo fell silent. In his view, as long as he could earn military merits and become powerful and influential so that Chen Ke would look up to him, it didn't matter whether he killed Chinese or foreigners.
Seeing Chen Zhuo's determined look, Song Xiaowen felt a tightness in his chest and shortness of breath. Unable to exhale, he felt a sudden darkness before his eyes and almost couldn't sit up.
"Xiao Wen!" Zhou Shanhuai, who was standing nearby, quickly helped Song Xiao Wen up.
"mom!"
"mom!"
Chen Ke and Chen Zhuo also suddenly stood up.
"Xiaowen, Xiaowen, wake up!" Zhou Shanhuai held Song Xiaowen and patted her cheeks gently. After patting her several times, Song Xiaowen slowly woke up.
"Mom, are you alright?"
"Mom, where does it hurt? I'll go call a car, or maybe we should go to the hospital to get it checked out."
"I'm fine, I just had a bit of a breathless moment, I'll be fine after lying down and resting for a while," Song Xiaowen said weakly, her face pale.
“Then I’ll take your mother upstairs to rest for a bit. Chen Ke, you should talk to your brother properly.” After Zhou Shanhuai finished speaking, he said to Chen Zhuo, “Chen Zhuo, you, you should think about it carefully. We’ll sit down and talk again tomorrow after your mother has rested.”
"Hmm." Chen Zhuo responded softly, his face expressionless, but his eyes showed some worry for Song Xiaowen.
Chen Ke helped Zhou Shanhuai up to help Song Xiaowen up. "Dad, I'll take care of this. You take Mom upstairs to rest first."
"good."
After Zhou Shanhuai left with Song Xiaowen, Chen Ke turned his attention to Chen Zhuo.
"What are you going to say? Are you going to say that I'm selfish and made Mom faint, or that I'm being presumptuous and delusional by joining the army?"
"Do you want to join the Beiyang warlords?"
"Otherwise, although the president is dead, he has not had much influence on the Beiyang warlords. They are still the most powerful."
"But do you know that the successor president has no connection with the Beiyang warlords? The real power of the Beiyang warlords is now entirely in the hands of General Duan. The actual leader and the nominal leader are not the same person, which could easily lead to chaos in the north of the warlords and cause them to start to decline. Moreover, General Duan advocates for friendly relations with Japan."
Chen Zhuo frowned. "I've considered everything you've said, but the current Beiyang warlords are my best option. But... what does it matter if General Duan is on good terms with the Japanese?"
Chen Ke thought for a moment. He knew he couldn't say directly that Japan would be an irreconcilable enemy of them in a dozen years, but he could subtly mention it.
"I received secret information that the Japanese are active in various parts of our country, and they have always envied our vast territory, abundant resources, and long-standing culture. This envy may have turned into covetousness after they have tasted the benefits, and they are plotting an even bigger conspiracy."
"You mean... Japan is plotting to invade China? Hah, impossible! How big is their territory? How many people? How dare this tiny country covet our great nation? Even if we seem weak now, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. If they dare to come, we'll make sure they never return!" Although Chen Zhuo didn't care whether he killed foreigners or Chinese, he would certainly prefer to kill foreigners than Chinese!
"Clap clap clap!" Chen Ke applauded Chen Zhuo several times. "Well said. All passionate young people might think that way, but what's the truth? The truth is, all you can do is get angry because of the government's cowardice in diplomacy, you can only petition, strike, and march, but will that have the slightest effect on those great powers? They'll still cede territory and pay reparations—"
"That's just government incompetence, what does it have to do with us? We'd be ready to charge with guns at the first command!"
"But the order just won't come!" Chen Ke also lost his patience. Chen Zhuo hadn't experienced that painful history, so no matter how much he was told now, Chen Zhuo probably wouldn't understand.
Chen Zhuo was also stunned. This was the first time Chen Ke had shown his emotions in front of him since he returned.
He yelled at him, and Chen Zhuo felt he should yell back even louder in anger, but he inexplicably felt a strange, uncontrollable... joy...
“Chen Zhuo, I won’t stop you from joining the army, but the Beiyang warlords are not a good choice. Five years, wait another five years, and you will have a better option.”
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