Chapter 9: Chapter 5: The Choice of a Normal Person

An hour passed quickly. As the colors of the active vessels indicated on the LED display screen of the Beiping's multi-function hall shifted from red to green, the more than 500,000 members of the entire fleet were basically prepared to listen to the speech.

At this moment, Xia Hai'an wore a serious expression. After scanning the various levels of commanders present, he turned on the broadcast microphone and lightly tapped it twice with his left hand. After hearing the friction sound through the speakers, he cleared his throat and began his first all-fleet speech since traveling to this war-torn era.

"All branches, all levels of commanders and officers of every unit, crew members, accompanying experts and scholars, and comrade workers who are silently dedicating themselves in their various posts, hello everyone. I am the Commander of the South China Sea Fleet, Xia Hai'an. I have gathered everyone here because our fleet has encountered an important event that is closely related to your future battles and lives. We need to conduct a general vote to determine our future direction of development. Therefore, I hope everyone listens carefully to the issues I am about to elaborate on and casts a solemn vote.

First, I must explain the rules and precautions for this vote.

One: The events and the grand background I am about to explain in this vote are all real, and are results that have been repeatedly confirmed and authenticated by the Fleet's Supreme Staff Department. Therefore, no matter how unbelievable you may find it, do not doubt it.

Two: This vote will decide the life and death of all 500,000 people in our entire fleet. Therefore, I hope everyone considers carefully before voting and is not influenced by others.

Three: This vote will follow the principle of the majority deciding the future. Once the voting ends, you must obey the final result whether you accept it or not. Because once the voting is over, our entire fleet will face the future as a single entity; no one is allowed to hold the collective back. If anyone is found doing so, they will be dealt with according to military law.

Four: This vote will use the data link terminals as the unit of counting. All equipped members and merchant ship crew members will use their respective equipment as units. First, confirm internal opinions, and then cast your opinions based on the principle of the majority rule. From the start of the vote to the deadline, everyone will have half an hour.

Alright, next, I will explain the details of the event specifically.

As you may know, our fleet's First-Level Combat Readiness was only recently lifted. The reason for the activation of First-Level Combat Readiness was that we had completely lost contact with the Forward Base, the Central Military Commission, and the General Staff Headquarters, and all the satellites, compasses, and navigation equipment of our entire fleet had failed.

After investigation by the fleet's electronic and reconnaissance units, we have not been subjected to any attacks or electronic interference from any direction. Therefore, through monitoring radio signals across all frequency bands and the photos fed back by the dispatched reconnaissance units an hour ago, we have confirmed that our entire fleet encountered a spatial distortion on the night of May 15, 2016, and we have collectively traveled back to May 15, 1938."

When the words reached this point, the entire fleet did not boil over as Xia Hai'an had expected. Instead, as his voice trailed off, a sudden silence fell, and the only sounds occasionally heard from the speakers were the crackling of electrical current. Most people were unable to process his words and were instead suddenly lost in confusion. At this moment, the only people who could remain lucid, besides those present in the multi-function hall, were perhaps the pilots currently conducting reconnaissance operations over Shanghai and Yibei.

"Yes, what I just said is indeed unbelievable, but I hope everyone accepts this iron-clad fact. What I want to tell you is that we cannot go back."

As soon as he finished speaking, the communication indicator light on the speaker flashed frantically. Naturally, everyone pressed the communication button, hoping to obtain the results they desired.

"Please calm down and let me finish."

"Yes, you heard me correctly. It is now May 15, 1938. We have left our own world and entered a war era from 75 years ago. We cannot go back. Whether it is our parents, children, or lovers, we will never see them again. But do you think your current sorrow can change anything?

No, it cannot. You can only look forward. You are now living in the days before your parents were even born. Your future has no peaceful and stable life; you are about to experience the war years that your predecessors fought through, which you saw on the company's history wall when you first enlisted.

Therefore, I hope all of you listening to me set aside your sadness. You come from the 21st century. You have just completed the largest all-army comprehensive exercise since the formation of our People's Liberation Army. You have realized our PLA's transition from passive defense to active defense. You are the greatest soldiers of the Republic. Neither the wide Yizhou Strait nor the crazed Japanese invaders can stop your footsteps. Although we have lost our Republic and our homes forever, we have guns in our hands. We can completely rebuild our Republic and reconstruct our homes once again.

I don't know if everyone still remembers the oath made when boarding the war machine: 'Complete the mission; never stop fighting without orders.' Yes, up until the moment of the crossing, I have not received any order to cease fighting from the Central Committee. Therefore, our battle continues. What we face will not be a display of our military strength, but the recovery of Beiping, the recovery of Shanghai, the recovery of our former homes, and the recovery of the 4 million square kilometers of territory we once lost. We will continue to fight in this era until we fight our way into a bright, clear sky for our Republic once again. Do you have confidence?"

At this moment, a roar echoed across the sky above the fleet.

"Yes!"

"My comrades, before your eyes is a much vaster era. This era is the era of us soldiers; it is an era of blood and fire. You are no longer soldiers who just train all day and occasionally conduct exercises; you will be soldiers who pilot steel behemoths to wage war across thousands of miles. Your glory and brilliance will shine in this era. You will no longer be the 'silly big soldiers' spoken of by those foolish, ignorant people; you will be the saviors of this nation. You will have the opportunity to fight alongside the creators of your heroic collective. You will experience their lives and create new history with them. Therefore, I hope everyone casts aside their sorrow and fights for our new future.

So, I want you to listen carefully to my next choice. We are the great Chinese People's Liberation Army. We are the backbone of the Republic. Therefore, in this heroic era, we will still uphold our faith. We will use our own abilities to quickly recover the territory currently occupied by foreign invaders and, together with the creators of this force, rebuild our Republic. Therefore, in the name of the People's Liberation Army South China Sea Task Force, we will join the armed sequence of the Chinese Communist Party and join the great tide of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Thus, I hope all members of the fleet consider carefully and cast your glorious vote. If more than half of you agree, we will issue a joint telegram in the name of the Fleet Party Branch and the Fleet Headquarters to announce our arrival to the whole world. If more than half of you disagree, the Fleet Staff Department will make other arrangements for our fleet's destination. Now, please vote. The voting deadline is 30 minutes; those who do not vote by then will be considered abstaining.

Thank you all."

As Xia Hai'an's speech ended, the atmosphere inside the command cabin of the Long March 5, which was cruising over 40 nautical miles northeast of the formation for reconnaissance, was oppressive. The crew members present looked at each other, unable to come up with an answer. The political officer looked around before turning to the captain. "Old Wang, what do you think?"

"What opinion could I have? Should we follow that old turtle Chiang Kai-shek? Without Chairman Mao Zedong, how could our nuclear submarine force exist? Everyone on this boat knows how we were born. If you ask me, what is there to hesitate about?"

Although the captain's words were crude, they were reasonable. Think of the navy during Chiang Kai-shek's era, and think of the Hailong that led them the other way a few days ago. Every crew member's face showed a look of contempt. Indeed, without New China, there would be no massive Chinese Navy as it is today.

"Communicator, connect to the Very Low Frequency communicator. I request an all-fleet speech."

"Yes!"

It did not take long for the fleet's communications control to approve the Long March 5's request. The communication status turned green, and Captain Wang took the microphone from the communicator.

"I am Captain Wang Fengshan of the Long March 5. On behalf of all members of the Long March 5, I agree with the decision of the Fleet Headquarters." As he spoke, his right hand pressed the 'Agree' button on the data link terminal screen of the console.

"I want to say a few words here. I won't talk about what the current Chinese Navy looks like, nor will I discuss whether the Communist Party or the Kuomintang is better. I will simply say that we are people of the Republic. What is the duty of a soldier? I don't need to remind everyone how our Republic came to be; I am sure everyone is aware. So, does this issue of right and wrong even need discussion?

Think about it with your own conscience and you will naturally understand. As for who we should actually join and who can help us, I think anyone thinking about that is being over-smart. I think anyone with intelligence knows that Baldy Chiang is unreliable, and everyone understands how much the Central Committee's current assets are. Since that is the case, what is there to be conflicted about? With our strength, we can simply fight for the tomorrow of the Republic; there is no need to 'join' anyone. I am finished."

As his voice fell, the voting counters on the LED display screens began to jump. The number of terminals that chose 'Agree' was significantly higher. The entire conversation spread throughout the fleet via the open microphone. For many, especially the merchant ship crew, this was actually the answer they wanted to know most. They were very satisfied with this result, so the voting process accelerated. The numbers on the counter grew rapidly, steadily exceeding half and continuously approaching the maximum number.

Looking at the voting results, Xia Hai'an also breathed a deep sigh of relief. The morale of the troops was usable. It seemed that the live-fire exercises from dozens of days ago had not allowed the youngsters to become slack at all. Almost no enemy combat had allowed them to release the fighting spirit mentioned in the pre-battle mobilization. It seemed this "evil fire" would have to be vented on the Japanese instead.