Hearing their nephew ask them to reveal the truth, Xu Chengfeng's uncles all fell silent. People running on the water mix in the Jianghu; what haven't they encountered? Not having murdered anyone counts as being a good person. Although Xu Chengfeng's uncles felt they were good people, it was no longer a chaotic time. When the He Rui regime unified China, it cracked down fiercely on bandits of all kinds. No matter how famous the mountain bandits or water bandits were, they were all wiped out. And the Minister of National Defense at that time was this good nephew of theirs.

Finally, the eldest uncle sighed, "Er Xiao, we are old and won't eat the rice of running on the water anymore. Just pretend we didn't say what we said before."

Hearing this, Xu Chengfeng didn't ask more and prepared to leave. Unexpectedly, the second uncle said, "Er Xiao, since you are here, eat before you go."

At the dinner table, the uncles called out all of Xu Chengfeng's cousins. Looking at Xu Chengfeng in military uniform, the cousins didn't dare to breathe loudly, all behaving very honestly. Only two cousins caught Xu Chengfeng's attention. The Fourth Cousin looked at Xu Chengfeng with bright eyes, obviously wanting to say something to him. The Seventh Cousin looked somewhat conflicted, but there was no fear in his expression.

Having seen many people over the years, even if Xu Chengfeng wasn't born good at judging people, he wouldn't be completely wrong. After dinner, Xu Chengfeng called the two cousins to his side and said, "Speak."

Since his parents asked him to come, it wouldn't be good to explain to them if he did nothing. Sure enough, the Fourth Cousin spoke first, "Brother, I want to be a soldier. I don't know if it's okay."

"Do you want to be a soldier or an officer?" Xu Chengfeng asked frankly.

"It's best to be an officer, but I heard the current government doesn't favor this. I just want to be a soldier."

Hearing the Fourth Cousin's sensible words, Xu Chengfeng asked, "Why?"

The Fourth Cousin frowned and thought for a while before explaining with some distress, "Being a soldier has imposing manner. Brother, if you ask my dad what he has done in the past years, he wouldn't dare to say. I think if I ask you, you would definitely dare to say."

Xu Chengfeng felt he could understand the Fourth Cousin's feelings. Being in the wild world is certainly different from being within the system. Within the system, especially as a soldier, one inherently has social attributes. People with a wild nature indeed view the rules within the system as shackles, but some people just like the identity within the system. As long as the Fourth Cousin had no problems and could pass the political review, Xu Chengfeng was willing to help.

Turning to the Seventh Cousin, Xu Chengfeng asked, "What do you want to do in the future?"

Hearing Xu Chengfeng ask, the Seventh Cousin hesitated for a moment before answering, "Brother, my matters are small matters."

"Say it, what do you want to do in the future!" Xu Chengfeng became a little interested.

"I want to learn to repair engines," the Seventh Cousin answered. After speaking, he added, "Brother, this is a small matter, so I won't trouble you."

"...How old are you this year?" Xu Chengfeng already had a plan when asking.

"Seventeen."

"Graduated from elementary school or junior high school?"

"Already got the elementary school diploma. Junior high school classes have reached the third year." The Seventh Cousin answered very crisply, not feeling inferior to others because he hadn't graduated from junior high school at this age.

Xu Chengfeng felt somewhat emotional. Henan was just not as good as the Northeast, or rather, with the accumulation of the past ten-plus years, the overall industrialization level of the Northeast was much stronger than inside the pass. Compulsory education was popularized early in the Northeast; more than 70% of 17-year-olds could complete junior high school. In Zhoukou, which was liberated 9 years later, even the children of local boat gang leaders couldn't graduate from junior high school.

However, the Seventh Cousin's frankness made Xu Chengfeng like him very much, so he continued to ask, "Since you are in the third year of junior high, you should have studied internal combustion engines in textbooks."

Hearing Xu Chengfeng neither criticize nor say anything empty, the Seventh Cousin felt very comfortable in his heart, and became a bit radiant with delight, saying, "Brother, I wanted to learn internal combustion engines only after studying it. I have already talked to the master repairing internal combustion engines in the city. When I graduate this year, I will follow him as an apprentice."

"Then listen to me, go to a technical school after graduating from junior high," Xu Chengfeng ordered.

The Seventh Cousin was unhappy. "Why? I can hear if there is anything wrong inside just by listening to the sound of the internal combustion engine now."

Xu Chengfeng had seen too many such people, so he smiled, "Then let me ask you, what do those labels mean on the internal combustion engines you have seen now?"

"...Brother, are you saying the words and letters on those labels have meanings?" The Seventh Cousin's eyes finally lit up like the Fourth Cousin's.

Xu Chengfeng certainly knew what those labels meant. Although it wasn't Xu Chengfeng who formulated the label symbols back then, all officers, non-commissioned officers, and even ordinary motor transport soldiers had to learn them. Seeing his cousin noticed these details but didn't know this basic common sense, Xu Chengfeng made up his mind even more, "Listen to me, go to technical school after graduating from junior high. Technical school can not only let you know this knowledge but also let you know knowledge you didn't know at all originally. As long as you want to learn, someone will teach you."

The Seventh Cousin looked happy at first, then hesitated again, "Brother, how many years does technical school take?"

"Three years."

"I'll be 20 when I finish." The Seventh Cousin was reluctant.

"The further you go, the more you will know. But you will also find there is more you don't know. The more you don't know, the slower you learn, and finally you won't be able to learn. You study for 3 years now, coming out at 20. But if you take the wild path now, when you want to learn more at 27, you still have to go to school. At that time, you will be 30 when you come out."

The Seventh Cousin wanted to speak but stopped several times, and finally made up his mind, "Brother, I know. You have to help me."

"No problem," Xu Chengfeng agreed readily. After speaking, wanting to encourage the Seventh Cousin, he said, "How big are the marine engines you see now? In the future, our country will build bigger ships, more than 260 meters long, 30 meters wide, and 30 meters high. How big do you think the internal combustion engines used on those ships will be?"

"Good heavens! Are there really such big ships?" The Seventh Cousin's eyes widened, his face full of envy.

Xu Chengfeng didn't say more, because it would be inappropriate to say more. The Washington Naval Treaty stipulated that each signatory country could build two aircraft carriers not exceeding the standard of 33,000 tons (33,528 metric tons) without exceeding the total aircraft carrier tonnage level stipulated by the treaty.

China didn't care at all whether it was a standard aircraft carrier. But in the future, China would inevitably join the Washington Naval Treaty to some extent. So He Rui provided the design idea for future aircraft carriers, which was a 33,000-ton aircraft carrier. Including an angled and straight two-segment deck that can take off and land simultaneously, and a 12-degree angled take-off deck. It can carry 105 fighters and bombers for combat. The aircraft carrier has radar and electronic computers, a future naval warfare platform with extremely high combat efficiency.

However, such a design can only exist on paper at this stage because the shipyard capable of manufacturing such a scale in China is under construction. Moreover, the number of shipyards at this stage is far from enough to mass-produce various military and civilian ships.

Although it is no longer wartime now, in the eyes of soldiers, especially soldiers of Xu Chengfeng's level, they will never think that war ends here. While the last war ended, it meant the next war was approaching. The Great War in Europe proved one thing: future wars will only have higher requirements for a country's industrial strength. Before the next war breaks out, China must do its utmost to increase production capacity, improve technology, and formulate combat plans.

Therefore, the more industrial population China has, the better. According to He Rui, if China wants to win inevitably, China's industrialized population must reach 80% of China's population. Xu Chengfeng naturally hoped his uncle's family could also become a member of the vast industrial population.

After chatting with the two cousins he cared about, Xu Chengfeng said to his uncles, "Uncles, if you want your cousins to still run boats, let the brothers who haven't run boats do this line of work. Other cousins, especially female cousins, should still go to school."

Looking at the somewhat perfunctory smiles on his uncles' purple faces, Xu Chengfeng urged, "Except for Fourth Cousin and Seventh Cousin. Send other female cousins to the capital; I will pay for their education. If male cousins are unwilling to study, at least send me one from each family who is willing to study; I will pay for their schooling."

Leaving his uncle's house, Xu Chengfeng went back and told his parents what he had done. After listening, his parents just sighed, "Er Xiao, this is fine; the rest is their own fate."

Father Xu directed the family to move out a heavy box with two locks. "The court wanted to exchange gold and silver, so our family exchanged all gold and silver; inside here are banknotes. There are also a few gold bars, which are the family's nest egg. Er Xiao, this is all our family's belongings. We will take this with you to the capital."

Xu Chengfeng really didn't expect his father to be straightforward to this extent; this was abandoning all family property. Just as he didn't know what to say, he saw his father looking gloomy, "Er Xiao, the world has changed. If our family didn't have you, someone would have come to arrest us for public criticism (struggle session) long ago. Even with you, even if our family distributed the land, the people in the countryside still curse our family as not good things, only knowing how to bully people. We can't stay in the countryside anymore; let's go to the capital. We don't want furniture or anything; we'll buy new ones in the capital!"

Although Xu Chengfeng didn't go so far as to hope his parents would be dragged out for struggle sessions, he wouldn't be surprised if they were really struggled against. The landlord class relied on land rent and usury exploitation; it was fine in the old society, but there was no living space for landlords in New China.

Xu Chengfeng genuinely felt it was very good that his father could make up his mind to escape the countryside. being able to completely cut ties with the past was really a good thing. But Xu Chengfeng was still worried that his father still had lingering affection and wouldn't give up, so he probed, "What about the furniture?"

"Don't want it. I've already told the cadres in town. As soon as we leave, they can haul the furniture away and dispose of it however they like," Father Xu replied somewhat angrily.

Seeing his father was really quite decisive, Xu Chengfeng laughed, "Father, when we get to the capital, I'll pay for buying furniture."