Courtyard House: From Deputy Division Commander to Civilian, Progressing All the Way

The vice minister held Lin Yang's hand tightly, his eyes full of admiration.

Lin Yang stood tall and straight, accepted the banner with both hands, and addressed the tens of thousands of workers below the stage, whose eyes were filled with tears, in a loud and clear voice.

"This banner doesn't belong to me, Lin Yang, alone! It belongs to every worker here who sweats by the furnace and toils through the night at the lathe!"

"It is your hands that have upheld the steel backbone of the Republic!"

"As long as we are united, there is no difficulty we cannot overcome! The future of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill will surely be even more glorious!"

"good!"

"Long live Secretary Lin!"

Long live the working class!

The cheers that erupted in the square were deafening. Countless workers threw their hats into the air and embraced each other, weeping with excitement.

They finally realized that they were no longer exploited laborers in the old society, but the true masters of the new China!

……

Time flies, and the year draws to a close.

In the blink of an eye, another month has passed.

In the early spring of 1950, although the ice and snow had not completely melted, a few tender green buds could already be seen in the courtyard of Yuquan Mountain.

It was a weekend morning.

Lin Yang was sitting in his living room on the first floor of his house, making dumplings with Tian Yu.

The kettle on the stove hissed, and classic revolutionary songs played on the radio, creating a warm and peaceful atmosphere in the room.

"Bang bang bang!"

Suddenly, the villa's gate was pounded on with a deafening roar.

"Yangzi! Open the door! I know you're home!"

Hearing that familiar loud voice, Lin Yang almost broke the dumpling wrapper in his hand. He shook his head helplessly, put down the flour, and went to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, a gust of cold wind carrying a strong smell of tobacco rushed out.

Li Yunlong, dressed in an officer's overcoat, strode in. Behind him were none other than Zhao Gang, Ding Wei, and Kong Jie!

The Northwest Iron Triangle and the political commissar of the Independent Regiment—these four big shots all showed up at the door!

Moreover, Lin Yang keenly noticed that the expressions of these four people today were completely different from their usual relaxed demeanor when they came to freeload drinks.

A chilling aura emanated from their brows—the kind of steely killing intent that only appears before a large-scale battle!

"Old Li, Old Zhao, Old Ding, Old Kong. What's going on here..." Lin Yang's smile faded, and he stepped aside to let the group into the house.

"Sister-in-law, make a few more dumplings, we'll eat here today!" Li Yunlong shouted to Tian Yu in the kitchen, then sat down on the sofa without any ceremony, grabbed the teapot on the table and took a big gulp.

Tian Yu wiped her hands and came out. Seeing the solemn expressions of the leaders, her heart skipped a beat for no reason.

"Commander Li, please have a seat. I'll go cook some dumplings." Tian Yu was a smart woman. Knowing that they must have important military matters to discuss, she tactfully retreated to the kitchen and closed the sliding door behind her.

The living room fell silent.

Zhao Gang pushed up his glasses, took out a top-secret document and a huge military map from his briefcase, and slowly spread them out on the coffee table.

Lin Yang's gaze fell on the map, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

That's not the north, nor is it a peninsula; it's a topographical map of the great southwest!

"Yangzi, how's the factory situation going?" Li Yunlong cut to the chase without mincing words, his bull-like eyes fixed on Lin Yang.

"It's all on track. Zhou Zhenhua is perfectly capable of handling things, and with my brother keeping the security department in check, there won't be any problems," Lin Yang replied in a deep voice. "Old Li, what exactly happened? Why did you bring out a map of the Southwest?"

Ding Wei snorted coldly, slapped his hand on the map, and pointed to the locations of western Hunan and the Ten Thousand Mountains.

"Something terrible has happened!"

Ding Wei's eyes were as sharp as a hawk's: "That old scoundrel Chiang Kai-shek, although he retreated to the island, he hasn't given up! He left behind hundreds of thousands of remnants of his army, Kuomintang agents, and even colluded with local bandits, tyrants, and reactionary chieftains in the mountains of the southwest!"

Kong Jie took a puff of his pipe and continued, his tone heavy: "These bastards, taking advantage of the complex terrain of the Southwest, with its high mountains and dense forests, are wreaking havoc! They've murdered our cadres who went to the countryside for land reform, robbed the people of their grain, and even attacked our regular army transport convoys!"

"In the past month, hundreds of local cadres and soldiers in the southwest have fallen victim to these bandits! Even one of our main anti-bandit regiments got lost in the mountains and was ambushed by the enemy, suffering heavy casualties!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Yang's brows furrowed tightly.

Having a deep understanding of history, he certainly knew how brutal and arduous the suppression of bandits in the southwest during the early years of the People's Republic of China was. Those bandits were not only familiar with the terrain, but also ruthless, using the deep mountains and forests and miasma to cause great trouble for the People's Liberation Army.

"So, the higher-ups have decided to get serious?" Lin Yang asked.

"right!"

Li Yunlong suddenly stood up, his bones cracking and popping, and a violent fighting spirit rose from his body.

"The Central Military Commission has issued a strict order! All banditry in Southwest China must be completely eradicated this year! We absolutely cannot allow these malignant tumors to continue to plague our people!"

Li Yunlong walked up to Lin Yang, placed his hands on Lin Yang's shoulders, and his eyes shone brightly.

"These past few months, I've been in meetings every day in the military compound; my bones are practically rusting! Yesterday, I personally went to Commander Liu's office, slammed my fist on the table, and made a solemn pledge! I managed to snatch the vanguard and main force mission for this bandit suppression operation in the Southwest!"

Zhao Gang smiled wryly to himself, "Old Li almost got into a fight with several other army commanders in the conference room over who would be the main attacker."

"Stop talking nonsense! When have I ever backed down in a war!"

Li Yunlong glared at Zhao Gang, then turned his gaze back to Lin Yang.

"Yangzi! I'm here to tell you just one thing!"

Li Yunlong took a deep breath, his tone becoming more solemn than ever before.

"The terrain in the southwest is too complex; large troops can't deploy effectively. Those bandits have broken up into smaller groups and are hiding in caves, waging guerrilla warfare against us. Conventional tactics simply won't work!"

"We need the sharpest knife! We need a special forces commando team that can move like ghosts through the mountains and strike right at the bandits' lair!"

Li Yunlong pointed at Lin Yang's nose and roared, "Looking at the entire Fourth Field Army, even the whole army! When it comes to small-unit infiltration operations and decapitation strikes, if you, Lin Yang, admit you're second, nobody dares to admit you're first! In the battle of Ping'an County, you led a platoon and managed to tear apart Yamamoto's special forces' defenses!"

"I applied to Commander Liu yesterday, and he granted you special permission to temporarily suspend your work at the steel mill, put on your uniform again, and resume your duties!"

"Yangzi, come with me to the southwest! Let's have another good fight, brothers! Let's wipe out those bandits who are harming the people!"