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

In late March, the wind outside Taiyuan City smelled strongly of coal ash.

The southeastern outer perimeter of the city is the first to enter artillery range. Behind the city walls are railway areas, armories, hospitals, and clusters of civilian houses. Troops can be hidden on every level of the map, and each level cannot be attacked using the same method.

The actual number of people involved in this phase was approximately 42,000.

Independent regiments, trained personnel, local transport and sanitation workers, and neighboring units were deployed. Chiyabao, the three counties under their control, industrial sites, and supply lines remained in place. The 42,000 men were distributed along the southeastern outer perimeter, the southern railway, the southwest highway, and the northern tethering line, not concentrated at any single city gate.

The garrison in Taiyuan numbered approximately 15,000. The initial blockade had reduced the number of vehicles and fuel supplies, but the city still retained artillery positions, warehouses, and intact streets. Zhao Weiguo did not report that the isolated city would inevitably fall; instead, he broke up the ten-day mission.

On the first to third days, capture the outer perimeter and telephone nodes.

On the fourth to sixth day, the breaches in the city gates were opened.

From the seventh to the tenth day, the districts were entered, surrendered, and taken over.

On the first day, Lao Zhou's battalion did not climb the wall directly.

There were two trenches and a brick and stone gun emplacement in front of the southeast outer perimeter. The engineers dug the communication trenches first, while the artillerymen only checked the coordinates during the day. At night, the signalmen found the telephone poles and connected the lines outside the city to the listening box.

Repeated calls were made from within the city to Qingxu and Yuci, but there was no response. Inquiries were then made regarding fuel in the railway area and ammunition at the South Gate. Eavesdropping only indicates that various points were urging each other on; it cannot be directly concluded that inventory was running low.

The next morning, the mountain guns opened fire.

The first volley of eight rounds: three to the artillery positions, two to the observation ladders, and the rest to the outer edge of the trench. Engineers approached during the ceasefire and discovered civilian doors, windows, and bed frames sandwiched within the first layer of barbed wire. The Japanese had dismantled nearby houses to use as obstacles, with fuses wrapped around the wooden planks.

The engineers didn't detonate the entire area. They first removed the fuses, then created two narrow openings. The closer the residential areas were, the more explosions there were, the harder it would be to extinguish the fire behind them.

On the third day, half of the southeastern outer perimeter was captured.

The wounded were evacuated along two ditches. The seriously wounded were taken out of the outer perimeter, the lightly wounded were left at the second medical station, and those wounded by artillery stun were to be taken on by command. A new recruit who was hard of hearing was still following the group forward. The squad leader pulled him back and showed him to mouth movements, but he didn't respond. He was then handed over to the medic.

After acquiring the outer perimeter, the city gates remained closed.

On the fourth day, the artillery began firing at the wall emplacements and the firing positions on the side of the gate. The infantry gun that had been out of service was not temporarily restored; the main fire still relied on the mountain guns and mortars. Shells were issued in short bursts, and the artillery crews reported the remaining shells after each volley.

Of the two repaired armored vehicles, only one was restored to short-range service. The other is still undergoing checks on its steering and radiator, and the third's clutch failed testing. The one that could move was stationed behind the engineers and was not responsible for ramming the gate.

On the fifth day, a breach appeared in the city wall.

Behind the breach were piles of bricks, sandbags, and a truck lying across the road. Japanese machine guns blocked the road within thirty meters. When Lao Zhou first sent two companies in, the front platoon was fired upon as soon as they passed the broken wall and had to retreat back to the trench.

The battle report clearly states: the first attempt failed, and no gap was breached.

Old Zhou didn't blame the artillery. He ordered the engineers to deepen the trenches, Duan Peng to create a disturbance from the railway area on the south side, and Youlin moved the wounded and ammunition vehicles back to avoid blocking the road again when they entered a second time.

The second entry began on the afternoon of the sixth day.

The mountain gun fired only seven rounds. One round hit the inside of the door, two hit the wall, and four hit the sandbags behind the breach. The armored vehicle parked outside the breach, keeping its machine gun positioned over the firing port, avoiding entering unchecked streets.

Infantry entered through the broken walls on both sides. Engineers first removed sandbags, then inspected the truck. Inside the truck bed were wooden crates and gasoline drums; the crates contained no explosives, and the drums were intact. The fire department took the gasoline, and a tow truck crew removed the stuck tires and pulled the truck out of the tunnel.

When the breach was opened, the armored car's engine coolant temperature was already too high. The driver continued to idle, and steam quickly began to escape from the radiator.

Zhao Tieshan told him to turn off the engine.

"If you keep going, the bearing will seize up."

"The city gates are open; I can still walk a little further in."

"If you go in, you'll be in trouble at the street corner; stretchers and shells will have to be placed around you."

The vehicles were marked with "Engine Overheating, Out of Service" signs and left outside the city. The infantry did not wait for a second vehicle and continued their advance according to the street map.

On the seventh day, the southeast city gate was under control.

The First Battalion entered the first block, the Third Battalion cut off the cross alley along the southern railway, the Second Battalion guarded the southwest highway, and the neighboring units held off the enemy from the north. Each side focused on its own control line, and no four teams squeezed into the same street.

The system's auxiliary interface only marks high-risk locations based on existing intelligence: armories, telephone exchange stations, hospitals, police stations, and railway warehouses. Each location is reconfirmed by reconnaissance and takeover teams. A red circle on the map does not necessarily mean there are enemy troops in the actual area.

The railway area is more difficult than the city gate.

The wagons, coal piles, and warehouses obscured the view. Japanese troops fired between the wrecked wagons, and the engineers dared not light any fires, as there were oil drums and ammunition carts nearby. Duan Peng ordered two sections of rails to be removed first to prevent the wagons from slipping, and then the wagons were searched section by section.

During the relocation of a mountain gun, its left wheel struck a rail, breaking its spokes. The gun crew removed the breech and ammunition, and the entire gun was parked outside the railway zone. The damaged wheel needed to be repaired; captured wheels could not be arbitrarily replaced.

On the eighth day, the railway's main control room took over.

Electrical wires were scattered on the floor, and duty logs and train schedules lay strewn across the table. The communications platoon first cut off outbound calls, then preserved usable lines. A soldier tried to unplug the switchboard and take it with him, but was stopped by the platoon leader.

"The city still needs telephones. Register first, don't just tear things down."

The neighboring states to the north entered the city on the ninth day. As agreed, they took over the northern warehouses and hospital. The liaison officer only handed over the regional receipts and did not gather all the department heads in the main control room for a meeting.

The hospital will admit the injured first.

Our seriously wounded, enemy wounded, and civilians from the city were divided into beds according to the severity of their injuries. Identification was listed in the second column. There weren't enough beds, so school desks were moved into the courtyard, and straw mats were laid in the classrooms. A doctor requested to operate on a wounded soldier in the abdomen first, and the guard asked if he was an enemy soldier.

"Let's check the wound first," the doctor said. "The person couldn't have run away."

The guards remained outside, ensuring the surgery was not delayed.

The doors in the residential area open even more slowly.

In the southeastern part of the district, some residents were hiding in cellars. The takeover team asked a local guide to call out to them and register each household. Some people's roof beams were cracked by the shelling, and sappers used wooden pillars to prop them up; some people were cut by broken glass, and medics set up a bandage station at the entrance of the alley.

An elderly woman emerged from the cellar unable to find her grandson and grabbed every person in military uniform, asking questions. The personnel taking over the case didn't say the child was definitely still alive, only recording his name, clothing, and last known location. That evening, the child was found in the coal cellar next door, his face covered in soot.

On the morning of the tenth day, the city walls and the four city gates completed the first round of takeover.

Gunfire did not completely cease. A garrison remained resisting on the east side of the armory, a fire broke out at the railway warehouse on the west side, and there were still unarmed wounded soldiers at the North District Hospital. The surrender team, fire brigade, medical team, and guard corps were all working simultaneously.

The fire at the railway warehouse lasted for three hours.

Ammunition wagons were right next to them, so the fire brigade couldn't rush in to pour water. The transport team first towed the adjacent wagons apart, and engineers removed two sections of rails to prevent the wagons from sliding back into the fire. Workers inside the city lined up buckets of water and only began assessing the damage after the flames subsided.

The armory requires three keys to open. One is held by the person in charge, the guard, and the logistics personnel; all three must be present before entry is permitted. Rifles, machine guns, shells, explosives, and fuel are inventoried separately. There are over seven hundred shell boxes, but their usability still needs to be determined by disassembly and inspection; nineteen barrels of oil are mixed with water and cannot be included in the usable inventory.

The surrendered personnel were also divided into zones.

Ordinary soldiers, officers, communications personnel, artillerymen, and the wounded were registered separately. Prisoners and those who voluntarily surrendered should indicate their origin in the statistics column; the process cannot be omitted by using "all surrendered."

The guns captured from within the city were first de-bolted. The guns, bolts, ammunition, and owner records were packed separately into boxes. One takeover team, finding the procedures too slow, piled up more than twenty guns at the alley entrance. Zhao Gang discovered this and ordered them to renumber them all.

"We've already paid, how can we charge less?" the team leader asked.

"Less one gun means one more shot in the future."

During the recount, a pistol was indeed missing. It was eventually found under the blanket on a wounded soldier's stretcher. The wounded soldier said someone had slipped it there; his statement was recorded first, and the gun was sealed separately. From then on, the takeover team stopped urging the registrar to hurry up with the entries.

The 1,550 who fled did not all go in one direction. Some left the city from the north, some infiltrated the railway workers' ranks, and some hid in cellars. The local guard received the clothing, weapons, and escape routes, and only blocked the roads, without using the pretext of arresting deserters to search for food from house to house.

Missing civilians and missing soldiers were placed at the same inquiry window, with separate ledgers. Residents reported their names, house numbers, and the last place they were seen, while soldiers reported their unit numbers, missions, and injuries. Both sides had designated personnel verify the information at various hospitals, prisoner-of-war camps, and burial registration offices.

The results of the ten-day battle were sent to the central command.

The enemy has been confirmed dead at approximately 3,650, captured or surrendered at approximately 9,800, and fled at approximately 1,550. The total is approximately 15,000, which is consistent with the pre-battle estimate of the defending forces. Further verification of identities may still result in minor adjustments.

Our side suffered 286 dead and 803 wounded.

The casualties among friendly neighbors are listed separately.

An armored vehicle's engine overheated and stopped working.

One of the mountain guns had its cannon wheel broken.

There were still unidentified bodies, missing persons, unexploded bombs, and scattered fires within the city. Zhao Gang wrote "First round of takeover completed" on the battle report, without specifying that the entire city was now under control.

The list of 286 dead was copied in three copies. The list of 803 wounded was verified by hospital, forward evacuation point, and original unit. The casualties of friendly units were counted by each unit themselves, and the liaison officer only submitted the coordination figures to the headquarters, without including them in the Independent Regiment's roster.

After the armored car with its overheated engine was towed to the railway repair shed, water was drained and the oil pan was removed. The mechanics found metal shavings in the engine oil, and the vehicle remained out of service. The broken gun wheel of the mountain gun was not replaced with a civilian wheel from the warehouse; the size, axle bore, and load-bearing capacity were all incompatible.

No matter how much is seized, it cannot make the fault disappear automatically on paper.

The first receipts were returned that evening from the six areas under takeover. Armory, railway, warehouses, hospitals, prisoner-of-war camps, and residential areas were managed separately. Nighttime lighting was limited, unexploded ordnance was to be disarmed first, the wounded were to be treated first, and the seals on grain warehouses were to be jointly signed by local representatives.

Zhao Weiguo stood in the former railway main control room and saw people carrying wounded soldiers, dragging water pipes, and running past with registration books outside the door. No one stopped to wait for him to announce a victory.

Taiyuan has completed the first round of takeover.

New telegrams from Beiping also arrived at this time.

Zhao Gang handed over the telegram, sealed with an urgent red stamp. Zhao Weiguo opened it, glanced at it, and looked up towards Beiping outside the city.

The smoke of battle had not yet cleared from the walls of Taiyuan when a new road was already being paved underfoot.