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

Mid-October. Three hundred and twelve names were laid out on the table.

The youngest was eighteen, the oldest forty-one. His belongings were listed next to the list: an unmailed letter, a broken wooden comb, worn-out leggings, an old train ticket from Jingxing Station, and a tobacco pouch sewn by his father. The tobacco pouch had rough stitches and the opening was crooked. Zhao Weiguo folded the list into four sections and put it in his left breast pocket.

Three hundred and twelve black thumbtacks were stuck into the wall. One area was along the forty-kilometer main battlefield, another along the twenty-kilometer clearing line, another at the bridgehead, another at Yangshuling, and another along the route for evacuating the wounded. Each thumbtack represented a person.

The compensation forms have been verified. They will be delivered in seven routes, according to county, district, and village. Receipt will be signed by the family member, village official, and delivery personnel. Cases where family members cannot be located will be recorded separately. Belongings will be sent with the compensation, not through messengers.

The first question Zhao Weiguo asked at the debriefing meeting was: "Who could have survived?"

Old Zhou reported the northern front first. Of the initial twelve casualties, five died before the phone call could be connected. The observation post was too late; the backup line didn't reach the second trench, and those on the main and backup lines walked into the same ditch. A shell severed both lines. The five men were hit by artillery fire while waiting for orders.

Rectification: The main and backup lines are separated by 300 paces, one openly laid and the other concealed in a ditch. A separate communication route is set up for the second trench. Observation posts are changed to two-person shifts. The communications battalion will conduct a line-breaking drill again at three old positions within ten days.

The southwest gap contained a tent with nineteen men. When the gate was being closed, a battalion saw the enemy retreating and crossed the designated line without authorization. These nineteen men were exposed in the trench directly in front of the machine guns of the stronghold; there was no need to seize it at that time. The battalion commander involved was stripped of his temporary operational command qualification and sent back to the training unit to relearn artillery-infantry coordination. His official position was temporarily retained, and he will be re-examined in three months. The punishment was stated as overstepping authority and misjudgment; the nineteen men were not categorized as "heroic in their charge."

Duan Peng reported from the southern front. After the first batch of reinforcements ambushed the enemy, their cavalry crossed the pursuit line, and eleven men were killed. When the gate was closed, the telephone lines of both battalions were cut off, and they simultaneously moved towards the source of the gunfire, crowding together in the middle of the valley.

Rectification: The pursuit line should be marked on the ground with white stones, strips of cloth, and engraved marks. Crossing the line requires approval from the main force commander. No matter how urgent the situation, cavalry should maintain a third-degree guard post and not pursue stragglers who have lost their weapons or broken formation. The contingency plan for a broken line should be written down to the battalion level: whoever remains in place and whoever detours around the flank. "The level at which the line is broken is responsible."

Artillery firing schedule. Of the twelve mountain guns used in the entire campaign, two were moved for more than half an hour, and one stopped firing due to the road conditions caused by the gun wheels. Three infantry units requested artillery fire, only reporting "earth mound ahead." The artillery binoculars could see three earth mounds. Zhao Tieshan displayed a deformed gun wheel bearing for everyone to see.

Five rectification measures were implemented: standardizing coordinates before combat, training gunners at the battalion level for firing correction, requiring empty vehicles to pre-walk artillery position relocation routes, including gun wheel traction ropes and jacks in the operational spare parts list, and mandating that firing requests include reporting the coordinates of the target and its nearest friendly position. Firing correction personnel must undergo at least three months of training.

On the medical front, of the 846 wounded, 60 contracted infections within seven days of the battle, suffered worsening bone injuries, or developed high fevers during long-distance transport. None of the 60 died, but 23 of them might be unable to return to combat duty for a long time. Zhao Gang forbade doctors to simply write "discharged" first, specifying their capabilities: what they could and could not do. Repairing weapons, wiring, training new recruits—all depended on the individual's and the doctor's opinion. A machine gunner with a right-hand injury buttoned his coat with his left hand; the doctor wrote "follow-up examination in three months" on the form.

Zhao Gang reorganized the original four-tiered medical evacuation system into a four-tiered system: hemostasis and fixation at forward control points, wound cleaning, assessment, and transport at battalion-level aid stations, short-term observation after surgery at main force medical stations, and long-term treatment at rear field hospitals. Ammunition forward evacuation, wounded evacuation, and prisoner evacuation routes were to be separated as much as possible. Empty return vehicles were required to pick up wounded soldiers.

Zhao Weiguo went to the rear hospital to check the registration book. A soldier wounded in the left leg had been mistakenly listed as wounded in the right leg, and someone wanted to cover it up with ink. Zhao Gang stopped him, keeping the original text and writing the correction date and the person who handled it next to it. The new form added a diagram of the injury location, the date of the first treatment, the complete family address, the transfer route, and signatures from both parties for each transfer.

"Don't tear up the incorrect account."

The fourth route for the relief effort encountered trouble. Over two hundred miles away, the father of a martyr refused to sign for the receipt. He only asked one question: Where did his son die? The delivery personnel replied, "He died while besieging a point to attack reinforcements," but couldn't specify the exact location or who was with him. The old man refused to sign. He could only return with the relief and his belongings.

Zhao Gang refused to allow a change of personnel or fingerprints. He found a map, a certificate of the unit to which the person belonged, and details of the sacrifice, and filled in the missing items such as the location of the bridge, the comrades who identified the person, and the belongings, so that the original two people could go back again.

"My family only recognizes one son. I can't just give them a four-word answer."

The second delivery took six days. A hand-drawn map with red dots marking the bridge crossing was brought. A battalion certificate confirmed the soldier was transporting ammunition when he died. Among his belongings was a tobacco pouch made by his father. The old man first looked at the map, then felt the crooked line at the opening of the tobacco pouch. He asked, "Who else was with him?" He heard the names of two fellow soldiers and checked their fingerprints for confirmation. Then he drew a crooked cross. The village official noted this as evidence.

The compensation form will now include a section for "the circumstances of the sacrifice". "Heroic sacrifice" can be written, but it must be followed by the location, the task, and the person who confirmed it.

The final item in the debriefing came from the ordnance workshop. Zhao Tieshan brought three protective inserts as samples. The lightest weighed about six pounds and could stop pistol bullets at a limited distance, but rifle bullets could still penetrate it at close range. When worn in a vest, it restricted bending and climbing. The second one was heavier and could stop rifle bullets at a distance, but it was not enough to cross two trenches consecutively. The third one was thinner and had a suitable weight, but the bullets passed through the edge.

Three samples were labeled with information including distance, bullet type, hit location, penetration test result, and the tester's reaction. None of them were marked "qualified".

"Every ounce of iron must be useful," Zhao Tieshan said. Those guarding the bridge couldn't retreat first and were most vulnerable to stray bullets. The captured machine tools weren't repaired, so only a small number could be used for prototypes; mass production hadn't been announced.

The debriefing meeting has ended. Dual-line communication, artillery-infantry coordinates, pursuit boundaries, level four evacuation, independent guard duty for prisoners, and household-level compensation will be written into the next phase of the system. The black thumbtack on the wall hasn't been removed.

Zhao Weiguo pressed the list in his left breast pocket and unfolded a blank chart. The next step was to send 30,000 people back to every line, every vehicle, and every stretcher.

Zhao Gang rewrapped the tobacco pouch to return it. "Including that crooked stitch. His father sewed it, no matter what, it was his father who sewed it."

The clerk asked, "Will anyone remember these 312 names in the future?"

Zhao Gang replied, "It's in the register, it's on the pension list, it's on the memorial tablets at home. As long as someone sends pensions, someone remembers them; as long as someone remembers them, their deaths weren't in vain."

He wrote five words on the first line of the diagram: "First, add the skeleton." Then he added four more words: "The skeleton is a person."