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

On August 15, 1945, just as dawn broke in Beiping, a medicine truck was already blocking the surrender site.

The driver had taken the wrong pass, and the sentry refused to let him go. The artillery representative behind him complained that he was blocking the way, and the medic wouldn't allow the medicine cart to back into the pothole. The three groups argued for a few moments at the gate, and finally the control team re-verified the seal, allowing the medicine cart to go through the side gate first.

The total number of people registered at the surrender site was 11,864.

This number already includes representatives, guards, artillery, engineers, medical personnel, and takeover personnel, totaling approximately 12,000. The total deployable force in the war zone is approximately 121,000, with the remaining 100,000-plus personnel still stationed in Beiping, Tianjin, Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Zhangjiakou, along railway lines, military stations, and local defense lines.

The first piece of paper Zhao Gang delivered early in the morning was not the list of names for the ceremony.

Baoding Hospital received 376 wounded soldiers, with 127 Japanese wounded listed separately. A batch of unlisted mortar shells was discovered in the eastern part of Beiping (Beijing), and engineers have isolated the area. In Zhangjiakou, some soldiers who refused to surrender retreated towards the mountain pass.

After reading it, Zhao Weiguo simply said, "The surrender will proceed as usual, and the takeover of all areas will proceed as usual."

Eighteen-year-old Zhao Weiguo sat in the main seat at the surrender ceremony, but three treatment forms—one for the hospital, one for the artillery depot, and one for the troops refusing to surrender—were pressed against the corner of the table. Today the flag could be raised, but the wounds on the front lines, the shortages in the warehouses, and the gunfire at the mountain pass would not stop.

When Okamura was brought in, he had a prisoner-of-war number hanging around his neck.

His right back injury hadn't healed, his low-grade fever persisted, and he walked slowly. His four attendants stood a dozen paces away, each guarded by sentries. No one asked him for permission, and he had no authority to issue orders to any unit.

Before the broadcast began, the surrender site suddenly fell silent.

An old soldier gripped his rifle sling tightly. When the news of the surrender came over the loudspeaker, he didn't cheer; instead, he pulled a yellowed photograph from his sleeve. The photograph showed two men in old uniforms; one of them had never returned. He rubbed the corner of the photograph with his thumb, but couldn't remove the dark stain, so he tucked the photograph back into his sleeve.

A new recruit next to him asked, "Squad leader, is that your brother?"

The veteran said, "Don't ask too many questions."

His voice was hoarse.

After the broadcast ended, Zhao Weiguo ordered the surrender to begin.

The Japanese representatives handed over a roster of personnel, unit numbers, garrison locations, and weapons. The artillerymen checked the numbers according to the guns, the engineers retrieved minefield maps, and the medical team separated the wounded who could be moved from those who couldn't. At the registration table, someone wrote down a broken gun in the usable column, which was immediately returned by the artillerymen for re-filling.

Weapons weren't simply handed over and that was the end of it. Rifles were bundled in groups of ten according to their serial numbers; machine guns were first disassembled; artillery was tested after being removed from its position; and vehicle fuel and mileage were recorded separately. Warehouse keys were placed in cloth bags, and the key tags had to match the door numbers. If a key opened two doors, the takeover team would seal both locations until the original guard, translator, and quartermaster arrived.

A Japanese officer wanted to write down the missing part of an artillery piece as damaged during transport. Old Zhou had the gunners scrape out half a month's worth of dust from the seams of the gun carriage and then found the serial number of the missing breechblock. The missing part occurred before the surrender, so it couldn't be attributed to the transport crew. As the officer filled out the form again, no one around him cursed him; only the sound of paper turning and abacus beads clinking could be heard.

A list of fallen soldiers was displayed on the sidelines. Those whose names could be verified were registered one by one, while those with only unit numbers were left blank. A communications soldier searched three times before finally finding the name of a fellow townsman in the supplementary report from the Tianjin direction. He stopped his finger on that line, neither crying nor tearing the list out, but simply asking the recorder to correct the typo in the place of origin.

Okamura was eventually led to the signing table.

There were only three documents on the table: confirmation of prisoner-of-war status, termination of command over North China, and transfer of files. The recorder placed the pen to his right without urging him to leave. Okamura looked at the signature board, raised his right hand once, touched the wound on his side, and then put it back on his knee.

Everyone around was waiting.

Some people stared at his hands, others at the clock on the wall. Old Zhou stood in front of the artillery team; his right knee, though worn out, was still strong enough to support him, though he was a little slow when switching feet. He didn't push forward, still clutching a list of artillery pieces awaiting repair.

Okamura finally picked up his pen.

The first stroke was heavy, leaving a dent in the paper. The pen paused for a moment as he wrote the last word. The recorder waited for the ink to dry, took the document, and then stamped the transfer box.

No one announced the news for him.

After those three papers were removed from the table, he no longer held command of North China.

The four staff members then checked each file box one by one. Who had kept which key, who had handled which batch of telegrams, was written next to the box number. If someone answered that they couldn't remember, the archives team left the question on the handover form; no one was allowed to leave it blank. Okamura sat inside the cordon, watching as those who had previously surrounded him pressed their fingerprints one by one, but he remained silent.

Zhao Gang reviewed the three documents, confirming that the POW numbers, signatures, dates, and witnesses were all complete, before handing them over to the archivist for boxing. Two seals were affixed to the box; one was placed in the surrender archives, and the other was given to the POWs. Anyone wishing to access the documents in the future would have to record the date and purpose.

The surrender procedure continues.

The Independent Regiment remained an Independent Regiment, while its neighboring units retained their original designations and affiliations. Zhao Weiguo only standardized the surrender deadlines, railways, armories, prisoners of war, and supply order, without converting the five city troops into his own directly subordinate divisions and brigades.

A train carrying out the takeover has departed from the direction of Shijiazhuang.

The truck carried no celebratory liquor, but rather sealed containers, registers, engineering equipment, medicines, and parts awaiting verification. Zhao Tieshan called, instructing that the machine tool, measuring instruments, and related production chain in Taiyuan remain in place, and no equipment may be loaded onto the truck without the joint signatures of the technical team and the supply team.

After Zhao Weiguo gave his approval, he reached inside the left collar insignia.

The stitches were removed, and the small copper star fell into the palm of the hand.

It was here when he left Beiping at the age of twelve. Now that Beiping has changed flags, far fewer people have returned with him. Zhao Weiguo did not raise it on the platform, but simply put the bronze star into his breast pocket, separated from the surrender record of that day by a layer of cloth.

After noon, calls came in from five different directions in quick succession.

The batch of mortar shells in the eastern part of Beiping had no records, and the engineers requested that the entire warehouse be shut down; the quartermaster department was unwilling, fearing a shortage of ammunition for city defense. Zhao Weiguo ordered that those with records be issued first, and those without records be isolated until numbering was completed.

Two sleepers on a Tianjin railway bridge broke, and it was expected to be repaired in three days. The engineers requested the bridge be closed, but the transport team said the wounded vehicles couldn't wait three days. Ultimately, both sides laid a temporary wooden bridge, allowing only stretchers and light vehicles to cross; heavy vehicles had to detour.

Outside the Baoding POW camp, about two hundred family members of puppet troops were waiting to register. The guards wanted to drive them all away, but the local officials in charge refused, saying there were elderly people and children inside. Zhao Gang ordered his men to divide them into three groups: family members, wounded soldiers, and those without identification. They were given water first and forbidden from entering the POW camp.

A batch of lathe drawings in Shijiazhuang did not match the equipment nameplates. The escorting officer had urged them twice, but the technician still refused to sign off. Zhao Weiguo told the train to wait, and refused to load the machines until the drawings matched.

About 300 people who refused to surrender in Zhangjiakou retreated into the mountain pass. Local allies sealed off the exit first and did not withdraw troops from the surrender site.

The five cities submit a summary every four hours. On the phone, some reports are of errors, while others try to shift blame. Zhao Gang returned a report that was unclear about the location, requesting that the bridge name, warehouse number, and recipient be rewritten.

During the first round of data compilation, three different statistical methods were used for the five tables. Some reported based on the quantity seized, some on the quantity available, and others included equipment awaiting repair in the results. Zhao Gang instructed all lines to uniformly divide the data into four columns: available, awaiting repair, missing parts, and pending verification. The numbers did not increase as a result; in fact, they decreased. After reviewing the data, Zhao Weiguo did not inquire why the numbers were missing, but only asked which warehouse the missing items were currently stored in.

When the second round of reports arrived, Baoding Hospital crossed out a wounded soldier who had been registered twice, and Tianjin sent in seven more boxes of unopened medicine. Gunfire echoed from Zhangjiakou Pass, but the garrison troops continued to operate according to their original formation. Nearly 12,000 people stood at the surrender site, but the summary sheet on Zhao Gang's desk had been revised five times; if any item was missing—the address, quantity, or name of the person handling the matter—it had to be returned.

At 3 p.m., as a handover flag reached the top of the pole, the rope got stuck. Two soldiers climbed halfway up to re-tie the rope, while those below looked up and waited. There was no order to applaud, nor was anyone urging them to hurry. After the flag was unfurled, some people took off their hats, while others continued to guard their guns. The registrar turned to the next page and read out the number of the next box of ammunition.

In the afternoon, Zhao Weiguo went to the prisoner-of-war registration point.

Okamura was detained separately from his four entourage members. His right lumbar injury required a new dressing change, and he still had a low-grade fever; therefore, long-distance transport was not arranged. The archives team sealed his maps, watch, military badges, and signed documents in separate boxes.

The registration point was set up in an old school. Arithmetic problems, not yet completely erased, remained on the blackboard, and the list of prisoners of war covered the teacher's desk. A recorder had written down Okamura's number incorrectly and was called back by the group leader to rewrite it. No matter how high one's status, once inside, one had to queue according to their number.

Outside the school gate, an old man waited for a long time, holding an old piece of cloth.

The cloth was originally a door curtain, and it had faded from washing. When the old man saw Zhao Weiguo come out, he first called him "Sir," but then realized it was inappropriate and changed his address to "Comrade."

"Has the flag really been changed in the city?"

"It's been changed."

The old man clutched the old cloth in his hand.

"My child hasn't come back. Before he left, he told me to change the door curtain to red when the flag is changed. But I don't know if they'll come back this time."

Someone nearby wanted to answer for Zhao Weiguo, but Zhao Gang raised his hand to stop them.

Zhao Weiguo glanced at the police tape at the school gate.

"We'll take over the railways, warehouses, city gates, and guns, one by one. Anyone who wants to fight back will have to take these places first."

After listening, the old man asked again, "Do I need to register my two bags of grain too?"

"You don't need to hand over your own grain. If you're worried about the mutinous soldiers, write down your address clearly. There are people patrolling the takeover station at night."

"You think you'll actually come just because you wrote it?"

Zhao Weiguo didn't make promises for everyone. He simply asked a guard to bring a patrol slip and wrote down the street name, house number, and nearest sentry post in front of the old man. The old man couldn't read, so he had the water vendor nearby read it aloud. Only after confirming that the house number was correct did he roll up the old door curtain tightly and hug it to his arms.

Before leaving, he touched the piece of cloth and asked where he could get the new flag. The cadre in charge said that the cloth hadn't all been distributed yet, but he could register first. The old man nodded, took a few steps, then came back and gave his child's name, saying that if the child was on the list of the dead, he shouldn't write the surname wrong.

The old man lowered his head and straightened the old cloth, neither saying he believed nor disbelieved. He asked where the takeover station was, saying that he still had two bags of grain at home and was afraid that the soldiers would come and rob them at night.

Zhao Gang asked someone to take him to register.

At night, some of the flag ropes were removed from the surrender site, but the radio stations in the five cities continued to report every four hours. The warehouse lights were on, and the engineers were still checking for unexploded ordnance along the railway. The medical team took the last batch of wounded soldiers to the wards.

Zhao Weiguo signed the last order of the day.

Prisoners of war were transferred according to their assigned numbers, and equipment was sealed up according to its original number. Those who refused to surrender were dealt with further. Any military equipment could not be loaded onto a vehicle if either the technical team or the supply team was missing a signature.

An urgent telegram from Yan'an is being relayed.

The surrender in Beiping was completed, but the takeover of the five cities was not yet finished.

Zhao Weiguo took the small bronze star out again and examined it under the lamp for a while. The bronze piece was worn dark, and loose threads remained at the stitching points.

He didn't pin it back on his collar insignia, but put it in his breast pocket, along with the unopened Yan'an secret letter.

------------------------Author's Note----------------------------------

As of the end of this chapter, all chapters of Volume 2 have been completed, and Volume 3 will be updated in the future.

Volume 3: Sweeping Through the Armies, the Iron-Blooded General

I'm so grateful to everyone who's made it this far; I know it's not very well written.

The entire book is currently being restructured. You can see the details at the beginning of Chapter 1. Because I've been quite busy lately, the restructuring has been stalled. However, I will definitely resume work before mid-September because I really love this story and really, really want to write it well. However, subsequent updates will still be the old version. Once the new version is released, it will cover everything from Chapter 1 onwards. Thank you again.

2026.8.21