In the fiery red era of the heavens, refrigerators are refreshed daily.

From late December 1948 to early January 1949, in just over a month, the atmosphere in Beiping (Beijing) was extremely tense.

Outside the city, the People's Liberation Army's encirclement tightened like an iron hoop, and the sound of artillery fire drew ever closer; inside the city, desperate enemy agents, like trapped beasts, began their final frenzy.

As an important platform for public opinion, radio stations naturally became a top target for sabotage on the enemy's intelligence network.

Gao Tianlin and Yang Guangming had anticipated this, and the armed patrols and tight defenses of the guard section were precisely to deal with the impending storm.

Fortunately, the military and enemy agents are two separate systems. Without the support of the military, the enemy agents would not be able to organize any particularly large-scale operations.

The first act of sabotage occurred late at night on December 28, 1948.

It was a night with howling north winds and no stars or moon.

Following the new plan devised by Yang Guangming, the security department divided the six-man armed patrol team into two groups, patrolling key areas in a staggered manner. Jiao Da and Jiao Er each led one group, Zhao Zhenwu commanded from the duty room, and Yang Guangming randomly inspected key points inside the radio station.

Around 2 a.m., an extremely faint rustling sound came from outside the backyard wall. It would be almost impossible to detect unless one was specially trained and fully focused.

Jiao Er, who was patrolling near the wall, immediately became alert and gave a hand signal. Wang Tiezhu and Li Shitou, who were in the same group, quickly hid in the shadows.

The moonlight was obscured by clouds, with only the frost on the barbed wire fence reflecting a faint glow.

Three dark figures silently scaled the wall like ghosts, their movements swift and professional, landing almost without a sound.

They were dressed in dark bodysuits, their faces covered with black cloth, and they held short knives and pistols in their hands, making a clear groping towards the launch room.

"Stop!" Jiao Er shouted, his voice like a thunderclap from a clear sky.

Almost at the same time, he, Wang Tiezhu, and Li Shitou jumped out from their hiding places, their pistols already raised.

The three figures were clearly taken aback by the guards' alertness and swift reaction. They hesitated for a moment, then raised their guns and fired.

"Bang bang bang!"

Gunshots suddenly rang out in the silent night sky, exceptionally piercing.

Jiao Er was no longer the naive young man who relied solely on brute force. Through the systematic shooting and tactical training of the Sunshine Psychological Center, his movements were clean and efficient. The instant his opponent raised his gun, he had already performed a side roll behind a pile of discarded wood, simultaneously pulling the trigger.

"Bang!" A gunshot rang out, and the dark figure at the forefront fell to the ground, the gun in his hand falling to the ground.

Wang Tiezhu and Li Shitou also opened fire. Although their marksmanship was not as good as Jiao Er's, they were at close range and outnumbered each other, so they quickly suppressed the other two.

An alarm blared on the radio. Yang Guangming, Zhao Zhenwu, and the other guards quickly assembled at the sound of gunfire.

The remaining two enemy agents, seeing that the situation was not good, tried to escape by climbing over the wall, but Jiao Er had already surrounded them with his men.

"Put down your weapons! Surrender and you will not be killed!" Jiao Er shouted sternly.

The two men exchanged a glance, their eyes flashing with a desperate glint of ferocity. Instead of surrendering, they raised their guns and fired wildly at Jiao Er and the others.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

A fierce gunfight unfolded in the narrow backyard. The armed and trained guards, no longer panicked, took cover and calmly returned fire.

When Yang Guangming arrived, the battle was nearing its end. Thanks to Jiao Er's precise shooting and the combined efforts of Wang Tiezhu and Li Shitou, one enemy agent was shot in the thigh and fell to the ground, while another was killed by Li Shitou from the side.

The entire firefight lasted less than three minutes. Of the three enemy agents, one was killed and two were wounded; none escaped. On the guard section's side, only Wang Tiezhu sustained a minor graze to his arm from a stray bullet.

This was the first real-world operation since the establishment of the guard section, and also the first time that the radio station was successfully protected using the weapons at hand.

When Jiao Er and his men had tied up the wounded enemy agent, and looked at the corpse and the scattered weapons on the ground, all the guards who participated in the operation felt a strong sense of pride and responsibility.

Weapons can truly change one's destiny!

Training really can save lives!

Upon hearing the news, Gao Tianlin rushed over. Seeing the subdued enemy agents and the intact radio equipment, he tightly grasped Yang Guangming and Jiao Er's hands and repeatedly said, "Good! Well done! You have done a great job!"

After an overnight interrogation, the wounded enemy agents confessed that they were peripheral members of the Kuomintang's Beiping Station action group, ordered to sabotage radio transmission equipment and create chaos.

This was just the first tentative move.

Yang Guangming and Zhao Zhenwu judged that the enemy agents would not give up easily and would definitely launch a larger-scale operation. They strengthened their defenses, readjusted their deployment, and conducted a more covert investigation within the radio station.

Sure enough, the second sabotage operation took place on the evening of January 7th.

This time, the enemy agents changed their tactics and tried to attack from within.

That afternoon at five o'clock, near the end of the workday, the radio station staff began to leave one after another.

Chen Wenbin, deputy head of the technical department—one of the internal suspects that Gao Tianlin had previously suspected—stayed alone in the launch room under the pretext of inspecting the equipment.

He moved swiftly, taking a small timed explosive device from his toolbox and skillfully setting the timer—to detonate in thirty minutes, enough to destroy the core launch equipment. Then, he cleverly concealed the device at the bottom of the massive launch cabinet.

Having finished all this, Chen Wenbin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and was about to leave nonchalantly when he noticed someone standing at the entrance of the launch room.

It is sunny.

He leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, looking calmly at Chen Wenbin, as if he had been watching him for a long time.

Chen Wenbin's heart skipped a beat, but he forced himself to remain calm: "Section Chief Yang? What are you doing here? I... I just finished a routine check."

"Deputy Section Chief Chen is truly dedicated; he's still checking the equipment after get off work." Yang Guangming said calmly as he walked into the server room, his gaze sweeping over the server racks. "Did you find any problems?"

"No, no, everything is normal," Chen Wenbin said, his feet unconsciously moving towards the door.

Sunlight blocked his way, so he crouched down and casually looked at the bottom of the server rack.

Chen Wenbin's face turned deathly pale instantly.

"What is this?" Yang Guangming pulled out the timer that was still ticking from the bottom of the cabinet and held it up in front of Chen Wenbin. "Deputy Section Chief Chen, can you explain this?"

"I...I don't know! This isn't mine!" Chen Wenbin vehemently denied, his voice shrill. "Someone must be framing me!"

"Framed you? I saw you put it in with my own eyes, are you still going to deny it?" Yang Guangming stood up and dusted off his hands. Chen Wenbin was struck dumb, his body swayed, and he leaned against the cold server rack, unable to say another word.

It turned out that, based on the list provided by Gao Tianlin and Zhao Zhenwu's observations, Yang Guangming had already identified several key suspects, including Chen Wenbin, Sun Dehai, and Bai Yulan.

He arranged for Jiao Da and Jiao Er to secretly monitor the movements of these people, while he himself would "accidentally" appear near them from time to time.

Chen Wenbin's unusual decision to enter the transmitter room alone after get off work today immediately caught Jiao Da's attention. Jiao Da then notified Yang Guangming, who was patrolling nearby, via the internal security department phone.

When Yang Guangming arrived, he happened to see Chen Wenbin placing the explosive device through a small window in the machine room door. He didn't alert Chen immediately, but waited until everything was finished, catching him red-handed.

"Take them away," Yang Guangming said to Jiao Da and Zhao Zhenwu, who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion.

When Chen Wenbin was taken away, his face was ashen. He knew what awaited him.

The timing device was carefully removed by Yang Guangming. Inspection revealed it to be powerful enough to destroy core equipment and cause a fire. If successful, the radio station would be paralyzed for an extended period.

This time, the enemy's plot to sabotage from within was nipped in the bud thanks to Sunshine's close surveillance and timely, decisive action.

After hearing the report, Gao Tianlin broke out in a cold sweat.

He immediately ordered Chen Wenbin to be transferred to an external channel controlled by the underground party on the grounds of "suspected involvement with the Communist Party." At the same time, surveillance and control were strengthened on the other two people on the list—Sun Dehai and Bai Yulan—restricting their freedom of movement.

Despite two consecutive failures, the enemy agents did not give up. Like gamblers who had lost everything, they placed even bigger bets.

The third, and most dangerous, act of sabotage occurred on the night of January 15th.

This time, enemy agents organized a ten-person armed squad to storm the radio station and carry out devastating damage.

They carried explosives, gasoline, and weapons, planning to attack simultaneously from the front and back doors to create chaos before storming into the building to plant the explosives.

That evening, all members of the radio station's security team were on duty. Based on his experience from the previous two incidents and the increasingly tense atmosphere in the city, Yang Guangming sensed that the enemy might be planning something big and had already made targeted deployments.

He divided the fifteen guards into four groups: a three-man front gate group led by Jiao Da; a three-man back gate group led by Jiao Er; a four-man mobile group led by Zhao Zhenwu, responsible for patrolling and providing support inside the building; and a five-man reserve group, including himself and four other guards with good marksmanship, who were stationed in the guard section's duty room, ready to deal with any emergencies.

At 1 a.m., the enemy agents began their operation.

Violent explosions came from the front and back doors almost simultaneously—enemy agents had used explosives to blast open the door latches and parts of the door panels.

"Enemy attack! Prepare for battle!" The alarm and shouts blared simultaneously on the radio.

At the front gate, Jiao Da's team, relying on the gatehouse and sandbag fortifications, engaged in a fierce firefight with five enemy agents attempting to break in. The enemy agents were heavily armed, using American-made Thompson submachine guns, with bullets raining down.

Jiao Da calmly directed the attack, using the fortifications for cover and launching precise counterattacks. When the enemy agents thought they had suppressed the firepower and attempted to swarm in, Jiao Da fired a short burst, and the two enemy agents at the front fell to the ground.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jiao Da led his group forward, using his familiarity with the terrain to maneuver against the enemy agents in the open space in front of the gate.

At the back door, the fighting intensified. Jiao Er's team encountered four enemy agents, two of whom were carrying explosives.

Jiao Er decisively ordered: "Shoot the one with the explosives first!"

He and his team concentrated their fire and killed the two enemy agents carrying explosives in the first instance. The explosive charge fell to the ground but fortunately did not detonate.

The remaining two enemy agents fired wildly, attempting to break through the defenses. Jiao Er suppressed the enemy's firepower, and then, in coordination with Wang Tiezhu and Li Shitou, killed the two men.

The gunfire and explosions from the front and back doors alerted the entire neighborhood. Following their mutual defense agreement, several nearby factory security teams began sounding alarms with gongs, and some personnel rushed towards the radio station to provide support.

Inside the building, Zhao Zhenwu led the mobile team to quickly block the passages leading to key areas and sent people up to the third floor to protect the broadcasting studio and recording studio.

Hearing the explosions and gunfire erupting almost simultaneously from the front and back doors while on duty, Yang Guangming immediately deduced that it was an organized assault. He left two guards to protect the communication equipment and, along with two other guards with the best marksmanship—Zhang Jianjun and Liu Dali—quickly headed towards the front door to provide reinforcements.

When he arrived at the front yard, Jiao Da's team had already killed three enemy agents and wounded one. The remaining enemy agent had retreated to the street corner and was stubbornly resisting against the wall.

"Brother Jiao, how are you?" Yang Guangming crawled over to Jiao Da's side.

"Two brothers were wounded, but not seriously." Jiao Da's face showed traces of gunpowder, and his eyes were sharp. "There's one left, a good shot, hiding in the corner."

Yang Guangming surveyed the terrain and gestured to Zhang Jianjun and Liu Dali to flank them. The two understood and silently approached from the side.

Just then, more footsteps could be heard in the distance—support teams from several nearby factory security teams had arrived.

Seeing that all was lost, the remaining enemy soldier, in despair, raised his gun and pointed it at his own temple.

"boom!"

After the gunshots, the body fell to the ground.

The battle at both the front and back gates ended in less than twenty minutes. Of the ten enemy agents who attacked, nine were killed, one was wounded, and none escaped.

Regarding the security detail, three people sustained minor injuries, with no fatalities. Aside from damage to the front and back doors, the radio station building and equipment remained intact in key areas.

When Gao Tianlin saw from the third-floor window that the battle was over and that several factory protection teams had arrived with torches, sticks, knives, and guns, he breathed a long sigh of relief, only then realizing that his back was soaked with cold sweat.

He looked at the calm and composed young figure in the courtyard who was directing the clearing of the battlefield and comforting the wounded, and felt a surge of relief.

Without Yang Guangming, the weapons and professional training he brought, and his meticulous planning and decisive command, the radio station would likely have been engulfed in flames and reduced to ruins tonight.

Three sabotage operations, three clean and decisive victories.

The radio station security section has grown rapidly through trials of blood and fire, becoming a truly capable and trustworthy security force.

Yang Guangming's prestige reached its peak in Corey, and the Jiao brothers became heroes admired by everyone.

When the news reached Zhu Mingxuan, he was overjoyed. The organization highly praised Yang Guangming's work.

On the enemy's side, three consecutive defeats resulted in the loss of a large number of key personnel, severely weakening their strength. With the situation outside the city largely settled and morale inside the city in turmoil, they were no longer able to organize effective sabotage operations.

The Beiping Radio Station remained steadfast, like a reef in a raging storm.

Time, amidst tension and anticipation, quietly arrived at this historic moment.

On January 21, 1949, a message, like a clap of thunder in spring, quietly exploded in the deathly silent city of Beiping, then spread with incredible speed through the streets and alleys, seeping into every tightly closed door and window, igniting the hope hidden deep within countless pairs of eyes that had long been numb. (End of Chapter)