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

When Duan Peng led the vanguard into the mining area, what they saw was not miners fleeing out.

It was a group of coal miners chasing someone with pickaxes.

The Yangquan Coal Mine stretched for fourteen kilometers, with the mine shaft, miners' sheds, coal storage yard, and railway junction scattered across three gullies. The main shaft stood in the center, the winch room right next to the shaft entrance, the explosives depot to the east, and the coal loading platform not far to the north. There were approximately 420 people, including mine police and Japanese soldiers. With the main bunker on the southeastern high ground collapsed, the mine's telephone lines went down, and reinforcements from the city were nowhere to be seen. The mine police captain panicked, ordering his men to transport explosives to the shaft entrance to blow up the winch, block the mine tunnels, and set the coal yard ablaze—all three actions were suicidal.

The mine tunnel map in the high ground's accounting office saved the mine in advance.

Of the forty-seven miners circled in red, thirty-two are still at the mine. They secretly conspired with eight hundred and seven others, agreeing that they would act as soon as the gunfire on the mountain ceased.

The winch room was the first to be moved.

Mining police arrived with two truckloads of explosives, and the miner guarding the winch abruptly pulled the power switch. The mine shaft came to a halt with a thud, the ore cage hung in mid-air, and the entire yard went dark for a moment. Zhang Shisuo leaped out from behind the coal pile and smashed the foreman of the mining police with a pickaxe.

"Suppress the explosives!"

A dozen or so miners overturned the mine carts and tightly secured the wooden crates containing explosives to the bottom. Gunshots rang out, and two miners fell instantly. But people continued to pour out of the work sheds, coal bunkers, and old tunnel entrances. No one ran out of the mine; some rushed to the winch room, some guarded the explosives depot, older miners crawled into the ventilation shaft to cut the fuses the Japanese had buried in the main tunnel, and young men switched the switches, lowering the mine carts loaded with coal down the slope, crashing them into the mine police barracks.

When Duan Peng's vanguard arrived, a mining cart was crashing through the wooden door of the barracks. Coal and the cart overturned into the building, pinning down the machine gun that had just been set up inside. Miners rushed in with picks and crowbars, while the Third Battalion could only circle around from the sides, first seizing higher ground.

"Check their clothes before you shoot!"

The miners and mine police all wore black cotton-padded coats, their faces covered in coal dust, making them indistinguishable by their clothes. The only way to tell them apart was by who was guarding the machine gun and who was protecting the explosives—one guarding the enemy, the other protecting their own.

Zhao Weiguo's orders arrived ten minutes earlier: seize the winch room first, then the explosives depot; do not blow up the well, and do not throw grenades into the main tunnel.

The vanguard of 1,600 men was divided into three routes. The third battalion advanced northward along the coal storage yard, while a company of the first battalion blocked the railway junction on the outskirts of the city. Engineers sneaked into the mining area through the old ventilation tunnels. Another mobile battalion of 500 men guarded the mine entrance and surrounding roads, avoiding engaging in disorganized fighting in the miners' sheds.

The underground is even more urgent than the surface.

The ore cage hung in mid-air, the main winch lost power, and the spare hand crank was missing two pins. Six winch operators lay prone beside the gears, using the mine car axle to brace against the drive wheel, struggling inch by inch. The engineers found two steel beams to secure the ore cage, and then slowly lowered it back to the bottom of the shaft.

Three hundred and fourteen night shift miners were brought to the surface in three batches.

The first group suffered from inhaling smoke and dust, collapsing as soon as they emerged from the cage. The second group carried two miners injured by falling rocks. When the last group came up, the old miner in charge of roll call clutched a wooden plaque with 314 scratches, not one missing.

More than sixty people remained in the east tunnel and had to be evacuated through the old ventilation tunnel. The tunnel was narrow, and the stretchers couldn't turn around properly, so the miners dismantled wooden doors to use as sliding boards and used ropes to drag the wounded across two collapsed sections. When the gunfire on the surface was at its most intense, people underground were still banging on the support pillars to warn others which sections of the roof should not be touched.

Wooden plaques were arranged in two rows at the mine entrance, and those who came up first squatted beside them to wait. Someone noticed his brother's plaque hadn't been turned over yet and reached out to count a third time, but the winch operator wouldn't let him touch it, simply pressing the plaque down on his knee. Only after the last batch of ore cages surfaced were the wooden plaques turned over in order. Once everyone had come out of the mine, someone in the winch room finally let out a curse that had been pent up for so long.

Zhang Shisuo met Zhao Weiguo at the entrance of the winch room.

He was around forty years old, with an old scar from coal slag under his left eye, his cuffs worn smooth, and his pickaxe stained with blood. Behind him were more than twenty miners, the youngest looking only fifteen or sixteen.

Zhi Zi spoke first. "Zhang Shisuo in the ledger?"

"Yes."

"Did you draw that map of the secret rendezvous point?"

"The one who drew the map was Old Qin; he was shot dead by the military police three months ago." Zhang Shisuo slammed his pickaxe into the ground. "So I hid the map in the accounting office."

"Why wait until today to take action?"

Zhang Shisuo glanced towards the southeast highlands.

"In the past, if we took action, the mine shaft would be sealed off, and the entire mine would be wiped out. Today, the pillbox is gone, and no soldiers can come out of the city." He paused, then added, "Besides, if you had arrived two days later, the explosives would have been delivered to the mine shaft. By then, the mine police would have filled the shaft in themselves without the Japanese even lifting a finger."

Zhao Weiguo asked how many people were still trapped underground and how many were trapped in the explosives depot. After Zhang Shisuo reported the numbers, Zhao Weiguo simply gave a list of their order.

"Rescue those down the well first. As for the fighting, listen to Duan Peng. Those who understand electricity and winches should go with the engineers; those familiar with explosives should step forward independently."

More than a hundred people took a step forward.

"It's not about enlisting in the army," Zhao Weiguo said. "Our priority is protecting the mine."

No one is backing out.

Zhang Shisuo stuck his pickaxe into the coal pile.

"The mine is our life. Even if you don't tell us to guard it, we have to."

Duan Peng chuckled. "Old Zhang, the way you're saying it, it's like you wouldn't have stayed if we hadn't come."

Zhang Shisuo glanced at him.

"If you don't come, we'll defend with pickaxes. If you come, we'll defend with pickaxes and rifles. The difference is a few fewer deaths."

Duan Peng stopped laughing.

The gunfire in Donggou suddenly intensified.

The Japanese army occupied the explosives depot, with two light machine guns mounted behind a stone wall. The depot contained over forty boxes of mining explosives; artillery and grenades could not be used from the front. Engineers crept along the drainage ditch to the back wall and discovered that the fuse had been inserted into a wooden box, and an additional copper wire for electric detonation had been added.

Old Ren was a blaster at the mine. He waded through the mud and water, feeling for the wires, first cutting the wires, then clamping the fuse with wooden wedges, and finally cutting it piece by piece. The coal dust on his hands turned into black water from his sweat, dripping onto the explosives box.

The 3rd Battalion opened fire from the front, while the engineers broke down the back door. More than twenty Japanese soldiers guarding the warehouse were killed, and the rest retreated to the mine police barracks. All forty-odd boxes of explosives were saved, not a single one missing.

The mine police tried to escape back to Yangquan in an empty mine car, but the switch had already been locked by the miners. The locomotive crashed into the abandoned railway line and plunged headfirst into a pile of coal slag. The Japanese platoon had just disembarked when they ran into a blockade company of the 1st Battalion.

The battle was not brought into the workers' shed.

At dusk, the remaining troops retreated to the north ditch. Zhang Shisuo led more than 300 miners around from the old tunnel to the front, sealing the entrance with mine carts and sleepers. The front was full of coal miners, and the rear was the Third Battalion. First, the mine police threw their guns into the ditch.

A Japanese sergeant shot and killed two men who were about to surrender, forcing the rest to continue charging.

The miners pushed three empty wagons down the slope. Sparks flew as the wheels hit the rails, scattering the formation. The First and Third Battalions pressed down from both sides, and the gunfire quickly subsided.

The Independent Regiment suffered 22 dead and 58 wounded. Seventeen miners died and sixty-four were wounded. The enemy suffered 236 dead, 151 captured, and 33 escaped to the outskirts of Yangquan. Four hundred and twenty remained, and the camp was closed.

The mine was saved, but construction could not begin immediately.

Two sections of the winch cable were damaged, seven support pillars collapsed in the east alley, and the door frame of the explosives depot was also broken. Zhao Tieshan decided to halt production for three days: first, rescue people, ventilate, check the gas levels, then test the winch, and only then would people be allowed to go down the mine.

Before retreating, the mine police burned down two rows of workers' sheds, leaving 63 households with nothing but bedding, food coupons, and tools. Zhao Gang first sealed off the mine police barracks, clearing out the habitable rooms. The mining area had enough grain for seven days, so they distributed three days' worth based on the number of people. All unpaid wages, grain requisition records, and lists of deserters' families were sealed off, and no one was allowed to tear up the old records during the change of ownership.

The ration table was set up at the entrance of the mess hall. Each of the sixty-three households received a temporary ration ticket, which only listed the number of people, the date, and the weight of the rations received. Zhao Gang ordered that the prisoners' rations be recorded in a separate column, and even if only a ladle of water was added to the pot, it could not be taken from the bowls of those whose bedding had been burned. When someone brought a ration ticket that hadn't been completely burned, the registrar flattened the scorched edge and recorded it in the register anyway.

The list of "families of deserters" even included the addresses of the elderly and children. Someone spotted their own address and reached out to tear that page off. Zhao Gang stopped them.

"Keep it. We'll use it to track who arrested someone, who received a reward, and which family is short of grain."

Eight hundred and seven miners did not line up to receive their guns.

Yang Xiuqin first screened the candidates based on their injuries, pneumoconiosis, age, and physical strength. In the end, 162 people were admitted to the reserve training team, not counting those who were officially enrolled; 214 blasting, support, and surveying workers were sent to the mining area's engineering and production teams; 83 fitters, electricians, drivers, and winch operators were registered by Zhao Tieshan and prepared to be transferred to the military and transportation sectors; the remaining 348 people stayed at the mine to resume production, receive medical treatment, and settle their families.

The screening point was set up in the miners' canteen. Those coughing up blood, experiencing chest tightness, or suffering from chronic shortness of breath were listed in a separate column. A young miner refused to go, insisting that he could carry a mine cart. Yang Xiuqin told him to run twenty steps along the canteen. He bent over after the twelfth step, coughing up phlegm that was tinged with dark red.

"If you go down the mine, will you be another laborer or another stretcher?"

The young man lowered his head and finally went to the treatment section.

Some people even tried to sneak fifteen- or sixteen-year-olds into the reserve training team. Zhang Shisuo identified each person by face and found out three who had lied about their ages, making them move their bedding with the family resettlement team first.

"You're only fifteen, what are you doing carrying a gun?" Zhang Shisuo grabbed a boy's ear. "Move your bedding first. I'll give you the gun when I think you're qualified."

The boy, neck stiff, said, "Uncle Zhang, I can handle it."

"You can't carry anything." Zhang Shisuo shoved him towards the family corps, "Go away. Your mother's still waiting in the shed."

Three days later, the first mine car was brought to the surface, but it was only half-loaded with coal.

No one applauded at the wellhead. The winch operator first touched the steel cable, then had the wheels shimmed, and waited for the axle to cool down before checking for new wear marks. Zhang Shisuo sifted through the two layers of the half-cart of coal, and only after confirming that there were no wooden wedges or gravel mixed in did he press his fingerprint on the test log.

The test log is left in the winch room and needs to be signed again before the second shift takes over.

Zhao Tieshan checked the coal quality first, Zhang Shisuo inspected the steel cables, and Yang Xiuqin checked the list of people going down the mine at the wellhead. No one wrote that half a truckload of coal meant full resumption of production, nor did anyone write that eight hundred coal miners were eight hundred regular soldiers who appeared overnight.

The mine cart came to a stop, and Zhang Shisuo reached out and touched the wheel. The axle was still warm, and there was a fresh wear mark on the steel cable. He didn't let the second cart go down the mine immediately; instead, he told the winch operator to re-oil it.

We can afford to wait for half a truckload of coal. But the people underground can't risk their lives testing the machines anymore.

There are still about nine hundred soldiers left in Yangquan City.

They were left with only a lone city. The mines were lost, the outer outposts were lost, and reinforcements were not coming.