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

In early June, the 30-kilometer mountain road from Chiyabao to Baimaling was covered with small flags.

Hongqi stopped the heavy vehicle.

The yellow flag was changed to an infantry route.

White flags were used to send the wounded first.

A blue flag indicates a communication interruption; proceed with the backup command.

The general ledger for 100,700 people was not moved to this road.

The independent regiment participating in the exercise consisted of approximately 4,200 personnel, 600 representatives from neighboring countries, and 300 local transport and sanitation personnel. Each group brought its own roster, vehicles, passwords, and supply records.

Three modified armored cars, two mountain guns, two repaired infantry guns, and six mortars participated. Also included were engineers carrying bridge materials, communication lines, medical vehicles, mule carts, and repair teams.

The equipment consists of existing vehicles and artillery; tracked combat vehicles and established armored formations are not included in this exercise.

Depart at 7:00 AM heading east.

Ten minutes later to the west.

Ten minutes later for the southbound direction.

7:30, facing north.

The four traffic streams were kept separate, and no two streams were allowed to block the bridge at the same time. Each direction only knew its own mission and backup orders, and the representatives of friendly forces retained their original unit numbers. Zhao Weiguo only standardized the exercise objectives, time limits, routes, and firepower boundaries.

The system's auxiliary interface is located in a corner of the map.

Zhao Weiguo input three sets of hypothetical enemy breakthrough directions, and also entered the known bridge load-bearing capacity, road width, artillery repositioning time, telephone nodes, and the location of the health station.

The system only sorts risks.

The wooden bridge on the west side is not strong enough to support the weight.

Communication between artillery groups and infantry is slow.

The sanitary line has an excessively long detour.

It was not said that the enemy would definitely take the west side.

It also listed the missing inputs: recent rainfall, the depth of bridge pier corrosion, and the load-bearing capacity of the Xigou access road were incomplete. The operations section left blank columns next to the risk table, to be updated after reconnaissance and engineering personnel conducted supplementary measurements, and did not treat the order of missing data as a definitive conclusion.

The operations department also retains the option of manual judgment. If the enemy discovers a weakness in the western bridge, they might first call the telephone line, forcing the reserves to misjudge the situation. Both sets of risks are recorded in the exercise card.

The first problem is with the wooden bridge on the west side.

When the armored vehicle went onto the bridge, the bridge surface sank. After inspection, the engineers determined that a single vehicle could cross, but a series of heavy vehicles could not. However, the bridge material truck had the sleepers packed by length instead of by load-bearing capacity, leaving the usable timber under the vehicle.

Unload, search, and reinforce.

The bridge was completed twelve minutes later than planned.

During the twelve-minute wait, the convoy behind did not continue to push towards the bridgehead. At the second rendezvous point, the ammunition truck was first parked behind the woods, while the medical vehicle remained on the outermost edge. If the bridge did collapse, the wounded vehicle could still turn around, and the ammunition would not be piled up with the disabled vehicles.

As the first armored vehicle crossed the bridge, sixty engineers held onto the ropes on both sides, while the following vehicles maintained a safe distance. The artillery vehicle stopped three hundred meters away. Once the bridge collapsed, both the vehicle and the artillery were pushed to the riverbank.

The materials clerk signs the responsibility sheet.

"The sleepers are incorrectly classified."

The bridge's sudden collapse was just the surface issue. The real problem was that no one sorted the trucks according to their load-bearing capacity during loading.

After the convoy crossed the bridge, the communications battalion proactively cut the two telephone lines, and the radio station also went silent as required.

The backup radio station was activated to the east. Communication was relayed south via the 358th Regiment liaison point. Cavalry was dispatched westward. Messaging was carried northward using a mine railcar.

The first segment of the line recovered quickly.

The second section, however, could not be found to have a break. It turned out that when crossing the bridge, the engineers' wheels had pressed the wire into the mud, and the lineman had not been in the designated position. The communications soldier dug along the wheel tracks for more than ten steps before finding the flattened copper wire.

Both broken telephone lines are recorded in the table.

No one used the "deliberate cutting during the drill" to erase the second line.

The backup radio also experienced static. A neighboring representative's frequency was too close to that of an independent regiment's radio, resulting in two consecutive calls overlapping each other. The communications battalion made a temporary error in broadcasting at the wrong time, and the frequency table had to be rearranged after the communications were withdrawn.

Artillery-infantry coordination was carried out on the northern slope of Baimaling.

Two mountain guns, two infantry guns, and six mortars were divided into three groups. The gun positions were not concentrated, and the ammunition trucks were not attached to the breech of the guns. The observation posts first reported the approximate coordinates using flag signals, and then corrected them after the telephone connection was established.

The first marker missile landed 70 meters to the left of the hypothetical target.

The artillery corrected its firing arc and then began suppressing the enemy for the predetermined duration. The infantry, however, were a beat too late. The artillery fire had already shifted, and the forward company was still waiting for a repeated confirmation phone call.

Old Zhou stopped the timer.

"The artillery has stopped, but the troops haven't arrived. If a real battle breaks out, the enemy will have already regrouped."

The infantry battalion commander explained that the phone had just been restored and he was worried that the coordinates might be incorrect.

"I'm not wrong. But the backup order says to proceed only after flag signal confirmation. And you're waiting for a phone call, which means you need two sets of orders."

The debriefing table notes: The artillery and infantry transition was half a beat too slow.

The next round will extend the suppression by two minutes, while clarifying that either flag signals or telephone calls are sufficient to enter the predetermined line. Infantry cannot be allowed to chase artillery fire, nor can artillery be allowed to endlessly expend ammunition waiting for others.

The second coordination exercise did not involve firing a full set of artillery shells again; instead, it relied on flag signals, blank firing, and timed verification. Infantry arrived at the starting line ahead of time, and artillery received confirmation before shifting fire, shortening the transition time. While the modifications were effective, they still need to be verified again in the next live-fire exercise.

Three armored vehicles entered the gravel road.

After the first vehicle rounded the bend, the clutch malfunctioned again. The driver attempted to force a gear shift, but the repair team immediately stopped him. The vehicle stopped in the middle of the road, preventing other vehicles from passing.

The battalion commander did not keep the whole team waiting.

The engineers cleared the shoulder first, then the second vehicle towed the broken-down car to the side of the slope. The third vehicle escorted the infantry as they continued forward. The repair team stayed behind to check the clutch, while the remaining vehicles took the backup line.

The detour adds eleven kilometers.

The truck carrying wounded soldiers and the truck carrying grain arrived forty minutes late.

There was a narrow slope on the detour route; armored vehicles could cross it, but artillery vehicles needed to unload their ammunition and reduce their load. The convoy therefore split up again. The fuel consumption, mule and horse load, and personnel walking distance added to the transport schedule had to be recalculated; simply recording "rerouting successful" was insufficient.

The temporary northward operational group detached some engineers and transport troops to provide support. Representatives from neighboring units only received common objectives and were not redeployed to receive troop rotations within the independent regiment. Artillery positions were not entirely reassigned due to the breakdown of one vehicle.

The scenario assumes the wounded will appear in the afternoon.

The injuries were categorized into four groups: those who can walk, those with fractures, those with chest or abdominal injuries, and those who have lost blood. Seriously injured patients were transported first, while those with minor injuries were transported by mule cart. The medical station meticulously registered the stretchers, medications, and vehicles, and even those who were not actually injured were recorded according to the proper procedures.

A simulated severe injury stretcher was 17 minutes late.

It's not that it's being lifted too slowly.

A broken-down car and piles of bridge materials blocked the sidewalk, so the sanitation dispatcher directed the stretcher bearers to take a detour via a second route. The stretcher bearers took an unnecessary detour, but the responsibility cannot be entirely placed on them.

Zhao Gang wrote on the debriefing form: "The health station made a scheduling error and failed to leave a passage for the wounded when the vehicle broke down."

The health station immediately moved the white flag passage from the bridge to the inside of the uphill slope and assigned a dedicated guide. The next simulated injured person took the new route, saving nine minutes, but still arriving later than planned. Improving the situation does not mean the problem is solved.

The drill continued until the nighttime withdrawal.

There were no combat casualties.

A car's clutch is malfunctioning.

Two sections of the telephone line broke.

The bridge deck reinforcement was delayed by twelve minutes.

The artillery steps were half a beat too slow in transition.

The simulated serious injury resulted in a delay of seventeen minutes in transporting the injured person.

If the western reserve forces are positioned too far forward and are attacked by enemy artillery, they may be damaged along with the front lines.

The system's auxiliary interface reordered the risks, placing bridges, communications, and sanitation at the top three.

Zhao Weiguo did not accept everything.

"It's arranged according to today's data. If the enemy makes the phone call first, communications should be prioritized. Both should be kept."

The system remains in auxiliary mode, only listing the input conditions and sorting criteria, without selecting a solution for the consultant.

The nighttime withdrawal was carried out in four dispersed directions.

The wounded were taken first. Shells and bridge materials followed in the second wave. Personnel were taken last. Representatives from neighboring units returned to their own garrisons, not joining the Independent Regiment in the same camp.

Of the three armored vehicles, one towed a disabled vehicle, the second was used to transport wounded soldiers, and the third remained behind. The mud was cleared from the wheels of the two mountain guns, and the ammunition boxes were inventoried according to three categories: unused, opened, and damp.

Not all the bridge materials were transported back.

The usable timber should be numbered and left to the local bridge construction team. Transport trucks shouldn't drive thirty kilometers for a few sleepers, nor should they include bridge materials brought by neighboring companies in the Independent Regiment's inventory.

During the withdrawal, the wheels got stuck in a muddy ditch again.

The stretcher behind stopped three times. No one shouted for the vehicle in front to push through; the communications soldier and the driver got out and placed stones on the ground. When the vehicles finally came out, they were twenty minutes later than planned.

Zhao Weiguo waited at the finish line for the last receipt.

All four thousand two hundred members of the Independent Regiment, six hundred representatives of neighboring countries, and three hundred local transportation and medical personnel reported back. Not a single one was missing, and there were no incidents of accidental injury from live ammunition. Vehicles, artillery, medicines, and bridge materials were all returned to their original locations.

Representatives from neighboring units took away copies of their fault reports and consumables. The 358th Regiment's communications group recorded the frequency conflict, and the local bridge-building team retrieved the list of timber left at the site. After the joint exercise concluded, each unit returned to its original designation to resolve the issues; the independent regiment did not close the case for all units.

The battalion commander looked at the problem list.

"The skeletons of 100,000 people have so many problems on their first display."

"It's cheaper to see now than to see after the war starts," Zhao Gang said.

The debriefing did not end within the regimental headquarters the following day.

The engineering clerk explained the classification of railway sleepers, the communications platoon explained the absence of line guards, the medical station explained the rerouting of stretchers, and the artillery and infantry re-examined flag signals and standby orders. Responsibilities were clearly stated at each post, with no excuses for poor coordination.

The clutch malfunction was sent to the emergency repair team separately. Similar malfunctions had occurred before, and this recurrence indicates it's not solely a driver error. The vehicle must be inspected for parts wear, lubrication, and load; it cannot be classified as fully usable until these issues are fully addressed.

Two hundred bridge timbers are missing from Chiyabao.

Zhao Gang allocated 100 yuan according to the warehouse receipt, and supplemented it with another 100 yuan from the local lumberyard. The neighboring inventory was not included in the calculation.

In the afternoon, a communications soldier delivered a top-secret telegram from the direction of Wuhan.

The seal has three tags.

The telegram only stated that Okamura had been granted expanded authority to deploy and coordinate troops in North China, with Jinzhong listed as a key area. The exact number of troops that could be deployed and the arrival time were still to be verified.

Zhao Weiguo placed the exercise question sheet next to the telegram.

Both sheets of paper need to be checked again.

Not a single one can be omitted.

On one side are broken bridges, broken lines, broken vehicles, and delayed stretchers exposed within a 30-kilometer radius.

On one hand, the enemy might send in even more troops.

He first asked the communications department to provide the source of the nuclear message.

Only then did the operations department lay out the map of the outer perimeter of Chiya Fortress.

Zhao Gang folded the top-secret telegram and tucked it into the innermost part of the drawer. The three seals on the envelope remained intact.

"This telegram," he told Zhao Weiguo, "is more important than that thirty-kilometer drill."

Zhao Weiguo didn't reply. He circled the first bridge on the map of Chiyabao's outer perimeter, and paused on the bridge's name with the tip of his pencil.

The 30-kilometer problem can be fixed gradually. The number mentioned in the telegram won't wait until they finish repairing it.