The Courtyard House: The Little Red Devil Returning from the Peninsula

The regimental headquarters at Baimaling was brightly lit after nightfall.

Two oil lamps were lit in the cave dwelling, their wicks turned to maximum, the flames flickering inside the lampshades. Zhao Gang sat at the table organizing intelligence summaries, with three sheets of paper spread out in front of him: a sketch of Ping'an County drawn by Zhao Weiguo, a record of the city's defenses dictated by Zhi Zi, and a troop strength comparison table he had written himself.

Zhao Weiguo squatted in front of the sand table.

The sand table was built by Lao Zhou and his engineering platoon using mud and stones, taking them a day and a half. The mud was yellow clay dug from a ditch, and the stones were collected from a mountain stream. The city walls, four gates, moat, regimental headquarters, prison, and ammunition depot of Ping'an County were all marked. The city walls were marked with a row of stone slabs, and the moat was encircled with broken wooden sticks. Zhao Weiguo used small wooden sticks to plant several flags on the sand table; red ones represented the Independent Regiment, and blue ones represented the garrison.

He was planting the last red flag outside the north gate. This flag represented the direction of the battalion's attack.

Old Zhou pushed open the door and came in, carrying with him the cold wind and snowflakes. He wore a sheepskin coat over his military uniform, the collar of which was covered in frost.

"The messengers from all regiments have arrived. The regimental commanders will follow shortly. Li Yunlong is the fastest; he's already at the foot of the mountain and will be up in ten minutes. Ding Wei will take another half hour. Kong Jie is the furthest away; it'll probably take him an hour."

Zhao Weiguo looked up and glanced at Lao Zhou.

"Kong Jie has been transferred to the Second New Regiment?"

"It happened last month." Old Zhou shook the snow off his hat. "The brigade headquarters put him in charge of the new Second Regiment, while the original commander was transferred to Yan'an for training. He spent more than half a year recovering from his injury; his right leg is still a little lame, but he can ride a horse now."

Zhao Weiguo twitched his chin slightly, but said nothing more.

Zhao Weiguo stood up and adjusted the position of the flags on the sand table.

"Zhao Gang, prepare some tea."

Li Yunlong was the first to arrive.

He pushed open the door and cursed.

"Damn Ping'an County, I've wanted to take it down for ages."

His voice echoed twice in the cave, even making the oil lamp flame flicker. Zhao Gang handed him a bowl of hot water, which Li Yunlong took and drank half of it in one gulp. A few drops of water ran down his beard, which he wiped with the back of his hand. The bowl slammed onto the table, spilling water onto the surface.

His eyes fell on the sand table, he stopped joking, walked over and squatted down to look at it. He ran his fingers over a stone slab of the city wall and measured the width of the moat.

"Who built this sand table? It's good. The proportions are right."

"Old Zhou led the engineers to set up the mounds."

Li Yunlong stood up and patted the mud off his hands.

"Old Zhou is capable. He didn't show his true colors when he was working under Kong Jie."

Ding Wei and Kong Jie arrived one after the other. Ding Wei entered and first looked around the cave dwellings, his eyes lingering on the sand table for a few seconds. He then walked over to Zhao Gang, took out a notebook from his pocket, turned to a blank page, and held a pencil between his fingers. Kong Jie walked a little slower; his right leg was still slightly lame. He entered the cave dwelling without speaking, nodded to Zhao Weiguo, and walked to the other side of the sand table. His eyes scanned the sand table, finally settling on the area representing the south gate.

The four people stood in a circle around the sand table.

Zhao Weiguo didn't speak first. He had Zhao Gang give a briefing on the defense situation of Ping'an County.

Zhao Gang stood up, took out his notebook, and read it aloud one by one. The cave dwelling was very quiet; you could even hear the sound of a pencil scratching across the paper.

"The city wall was eight meters high, built of gray bricks, with crenellations every twenty paces on top. There were watchtowers at the four corners, each equipped with a heavy machine gun. The north gate tower had eight firing ports, covering a 180-degree field of fire. The east gate had two barricades, a heavy machine gun, and a grenade launcher. The south gate, near the river, was the weakest point in defense, with a platoon of Japanese soldiers and a dozen or so puppet troops. The puppet troops were undisciplined, while the Japanese soldiers were stationed in bunkers."

He turned a page.

"The garrison numbers about three thousand men. The regimental headquarters is located in the old county government office in the west of the city, with two rows of sentry posts and three antenna masts at the entrance. The ammunition depot is in the granary in the east of the city, with two trucks parked at the entrance. Japanese patrols occur every half hour, with four men and a wolfhound in each group. In addition, Yang Xiuqin, the captain of the Independent Regiment's medical team, was captured outside the city three days ago and is being held in the southwest prison."

Zhao Gang closed his notebook.

After listening, Li Yunlong squatted down and used his finger to measure the width of the city wall on the sand table.

"An eight-meter-high city wall can't be breached without cannons. And there aren't enough shells to blast open even one section. Little Zhao, where did you get those cannons?"

"A captured Type 92 infantry gun."

Zhao Weiguo then spoke.

"There's a way. We still have over thirty rounds of ammunition left from the captured Type 92 infantry guns. Concentrate our fire on one point at the north gate; that should be enough to blast a breach in the city wall."

"This is on the premise that the Japanese army is unaware that our main attack direction is from the North Gate."

He looked at Li Yunlong.

"Old Li, the east gate is yours. The louder the fighting, the better, so the people inside will think you're going to launch a direct assault from the east gate."

Li Yunlong grinned.

"A feint attack? Fine. My new regiment has been the main force several times already, a feint attack it is. Don't worry, even a feint attack will make it look like a main force attack. Those two barricades at the east gate, I'll blow them up with explosives."

Zhao Weiguo looked at him.

"The purpose of the feint attack is to force the Japanese to move their reserves to the east gate. The fiercer your attack, the more empty the north gate will become."

Li Yunlong patted the edge of the sand table.

"Understood. We want the noise, not the results."

Ding Wei stood on the other side of the sand table, pointing to a road west of Ping'an County. The road was marked on the sand table with a white line, stretching from the west gate of the county town all the way to the edge of the sand table.

What about reinforcements from the Taiyuan direction?

The room fell silent for a moment. Ping'an County was more than a hundred miles from Taiyuan, and Japanese trucks could reach it in four hours. The road on the sand table was so straight it was blinding; everyone understood that if the siege dragged on, the troops outside might be surrounded once reinforcements from Taiyuan arrived.

Zhao Weiguo drew three lines on the sand table.

"Three lines of defense. The first is at Shiqiao, fifteen li west of Ping'an County; blowing up the bridge could buy us two hours. The second is at Yangshuling, thirty li away; the terrain is favorable, and it could buy us another two hours. The third is at Kong Jie's New Second Regiment's position; the mountain ridges on both sides of the road could hold out for at least six hours."

He looked at Kong Jie.

"Old Kong, six hours, are there any problems on your end?"

Kong Jie thought for a moment. Although his right leg was still slightly lame, his mind was sharp. He measured the distance from Taiyuan to Ping'an County on the sand table and drew a line on the road with his fingernail.

"The new Second Regiment is fully staffed and has enough ammunition. I've inspected the ridges on both sides of Yangshuling; the highway runs through the middle, but the slopes on both sides are too steep for vehicles to climb."

"If we occupy both mountain ridges, six hours should be enough. How do we retreat after we're done?"

Zhao Weiguo said something, his tone very flat.

"We won't retreat after the battle. Ping'an County is ours once it's captured."

A few seconds of silence fell over the cave dwelling. The flame of the oil lamp flickered, casting the shadows of the four people onto the wall.

Li Yunlong chuckled first.

"You little brat, you've got even more guts than your brother."

Ding Wei didn't laugh. He used his fingers to measure the distance from Baimaling to Ping'an County on the sand table, and then measured the distance from Taiyuan to Ping'an County. He did some calculations in his notebook and wrote down a few numbers.

"Six hours is the limit. From the start of the battle to capturing the county seat, it cannot exceed eight hours. If it does, reinforcements will arrive."

"Another point is that if the Japanese troops in Taiyuan receive advance notice, four hours could become three. Our communications are insecure; the Japanese can intercept telegrams."

Zhao Weiguo nodded.

"Therefore, operational orders were not transmitted by telegram. Messengers from each regiment relayed the orders orally on horseback, leaving no written records. The Japanese could not intercept them."

Ding Wei raised an eyebrow.

"Verbal communication? The coordination plan for all four regiments is entirely relayed verbally?"

"That's enough. There are only so many plans; it's safer for each commander to keep them in mind than to write them down."

Zhao Weiguo used a small wooden stick to gesture on the sand table.

"The fighting will begin in three days. Three days is enough time for all regiments to be in position, ammunition to be distributed, and communication lines to be set up. Once the fighting begins, infantry artillery will concentrate its fire on the north gate; after thirty rounds, an opening must be created. The 1st Battalion of the Independent Regiment will break through the north gate, with a sniper platoon thrusting into the southwest prison to rescue prisoners. The 2nd Battalion will attack the regimental headquarters. The 1st New Regiment will launch a feint attack at the east gate to draw attention away from the enemy, while the 3rd New Regiment will block the retreat route to the west. The 2nd New Regiment will provide cover on the outer lines."

He rearranged the flags on the sand table one last time. The red flag surrounded the blue flag, leaving only one opening in one direction—the west, the direction from which Ding Wei's New Third Regiment was sealing off.

Zhao Gang stood beside him and wrote down the ammunition requirements for each regiment. Thirty rounds of infantry gun ammunition, mortar shells to be distributed to each regiment, and hand grenades to be issued per person. He calculated the numbers twice and marked them with asterisks on the paper, indicating that Zhao Tieshan's arsenal needed to work overtime to produce them.

The former brigade commander arrived near the end of the meeting.

He arrived on a mule, wrapped in a gray cotton overcoat, his hat covered in snow, and his eyebrows dusted with white. A communications soldier led the mule behind him, white breath coming from its nostrils, its hooves leaving deep ruts in the snow. When the old brigade commander dismounted, his leg paused slightly, and the communications soldier reached out to steady him, but he brushed him aside.

The old brigade commander entered the cave dwelling, and a cold wind rushed in, causing the flame of the oil lamp to flicker. He glanced at the deployment on the sand table, then at the four regimental commanders, but didn't speak immediately. Instead, he went to the charcoal fire to warm his hands and brushed the snow off his hat.

The old brigade commander listened as Zhao Weiguo explained the entire plan again. As Zhao Weiguo spoke, he pointed with a small wooden stick on the sand table, pushing the corresponding red flag forward each time he mentioned the deployment of a regiment. The old brigade commander's eyes followed the stick, not missing a single detail. After listening, he remained silent for more than ten seconds.

"This is the first time our brigade has conducted a joint operation involving four regiments. If we do well, Ping'an County will be a thorn in the side of the Japanese army in the Taihang Mountains. If we don't, all four regiments will be punished."

No one spoke. The charcoal fire crackled softly, and sparks rose a few inches before going out. The wind outside the cave blew the curtain against the wall, then pulled it down with a rustling sound.

The old brigade commander looked at Zhao Weiguo.

How confident are you?

Zhao Weiguo thought for a moment.

"Seventy percent. The remaining thirty percent depends on the situation on the day."

The old brigade commander nodded. He didn't ask what the 30% was.

"Okay. We'll proceed according to your plan."

Zhao Gang brought over a pot of sweet potato liquor from the cookhouse; steam was still rising, and the aroma of the liquor filled the cave dwelling. Five enamel mugs were lined up, each containing more than half a bowl of liquor. Zhao Gang brought over the last mug; the liquor in it was still scalding hot.

The old brigade commander picked up the jar, and the four men followed suit.

Five people stood inside the cave dwelling, clinking their enamel mugs together. The mugs clattered softly in the cave. The smell of roasted sweet potatoes filled the air, mingling with the dryness of the charcoal fire and the sweat from the cave.

The old brigade commander took a sip and smacked his lips.

"Good wine. Zhao Gang, where did you get it?"

"Made by Old Hu from the cookhouse. Dried sweet potatoes."

"Old Hu is capable. After the war, let him brew another batch."

After drinking the warm wine, everyone's face flushed red. The snow was still falling outside the cave dwelling, and the wind made the door curtains billow.

Zhao Weiguo put down the jar and looked at the red flags on the sand table. A few seconds of silence followed in the cave dwelling. The oil lamp's flame steadied, casting the flag shadows from the sand table onto the mud wall, the red and blue colors blending together.

Li Yunlong finished the wine in the jar and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Alright. Disperse and go back to prepare."

Ding Wei closed his notebook. Kong Jie stood up, bracing himself with his right leg to steady himself. The old brigade commander handed the jar to Zhao Gang and walked to the door.

The four people emerged from the cave dwelling one after another. The snow outside had stopped, leaving a thin layer of white on the ground, which crunched softly underfoot. The sound of horses' hooves came from afar; the horses from various regiments were waiting for their masters.

Zhao Weiguo stood at the entrance of the cave dwelling, watching the four figures disappear into the night. He held an empty jar; the sweet potato liquor in it was all gone, leaving only a lingering spiciness on his tongue.

"I'll be waiting for you on the north gate tower of Ping'an County before dark tomorrow."