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

Eight thirty-eight.

Smoke billowed at the bottom of Tiger's Mouth Valley, the grayish-white smoke rolling along the ground like a pot of boiling water.

The remaining Japanese soldiers, with their backs to the horse carcasses and the stone wall, and their gun barrels pointing outwards, formed three firing circles.

The sergeant squatted in the middle of the circle, shouting commands in a hoarse voice like a broken gong.

The corporal lay prone at the front, his rifle propped up on a rock, firing shot after shot.

Wang Huaibao was so heavily pressed down by that crooked-handled weapon that he couldn't even lift his head.

The machine gunner changed positions, poked out from behind the rock wall to fire a short burst, and then retreated back inside.

Wang Huaibao lay in the crater, his face covered in dirt, cursing under his breath.

He peeked out from the edge of the crater, trying to see where the machine gun was, when a bullet grazed his scalp and ripped his hat off.

"Damn." He shrank back, touched his head, and found he was still there.

Staff Officer Luo lay down next to Zhao Weiguo, the tip of his pencil already worn down. He made a couple of strokes on the edge of the notebook, but couldn't write anything.

"Should we rinse it off?" he asked. His voice was very low, but Zhao Weiguo could tell he was in a hurry.

After a long while, he raised his binoculars and looked through the smoke into the valley.

The smoke was too thick to see clearly.

He lowered the binoculars, closed his eyes, and waited three seconds. A gust of wind blew in from the west, creating a small opening. He then raised the binoculars again.

I saw it.

In the middle of the valley, a large blue horse galloped. The rider wore a yellow woolen military overcoat and white gloves stained with blood. He held his sword above his head and was shouting something.

Vanguard Battalion Commander.

Zhao Weiguo stared at him, counting the guards around him. Four, two on the left and two on the right. The captain's position was slightly east of the middle bend, 160 paces from the western ridge. Twenty paces closer than in the simulation.

enough.

"Chen An," Zhao Weiguo said.

Chen An, who was lying two steps to the left, immediately turned his head.

"You stay here and relay the orders." Zhao Weiguo handed him the binoculars. "I'm going down."

Chen An paused for a moment, then took the binoculars.

Zhao Weiguo released the safety of his Mauser pistol and slid out from behind a rock. He climbed down the ridge, using both hands and feet, the rocks scraping against his knees and palms. He climbed quickly, like a cat.

Staff Officer Luo watched him slide down, the pencil hovering in mid-air.

Zhao Weiguo crawled fifty paces to the rear assault battalion's position. Liu Dashan, lying prone behind the bushes with a grenade in his hand, saw Zhao Weiguo slide down and his eyes widened.

"Battalion Commander, what are you doing down here?" he called out in a low voice.

Zhao Weiguo lay beside him, catching his breath. His palms were scratched by the stone and bleeding, and the skin on the web of his right hand was worn away.

He didn't have time to look; he wiped the pistol on his trouser leg to wipe the sweat from his palms.

"White gloves, big blue horse, slightly east of mid-section. Did you see it?"

Liu Dashan peeked out for a moment, then withdrew.

"I see them. Four guards."

"I'll take out the battalion commander, you lead your men to attack from the flank," Zhao Weiguo said. "Take out the machine gunners first, then the supervisory team. Without their supervisors, these little devils' morale will crumble."

Liu Dashan looked at him for two seconds. His face was full of wrinkles, and the wrinkles were full of dirt. He nodded.

"Divide into three groups. First group, use grenades to clear the way; second group, use rifles to block the retreat; third group, follow me."

He turned around and beckoned three men over, all veterans with expressionless faces. Liu Dashan pointed to the bottom of the valley and said a few words. The three men nodded and dispersed.

8:42.

The last eighty men of the assault battalion charged out from the flank.

The first group of six men were armed with cluster grenades. They bent over and crept along the rock face towards the valley floor. After reaching a distance of thirty paces, they threw the first bundle of grenades.

A grenade struck a machine gun emplacement with a loud bang, overturning the machine gun and leaving the gunner lying on the gun mount with his hand still on the trigger. Bullets swept diagonally across the mountainside, creating a row of bullet holes.

The second bundle of grenades struck another firing position and exploded. Debris flew everywhere, and smoke and dust billowed.

The second group of riflemen followed behind, their guns pointed at the bottom of the valley.

Upon discovering that their flank and rear had been breached, three Japanese soldiers immediately turned and opened fire.

A battalion assault soldier was hit in the shoulder, fell to the ground, and his gun flew away.

The soldiers next to him dragged him behind a rock and pressed a handful of dirt onto his wound.

The third group, led by Liu Dashan, rushed into the valley.

He held his pistol, fired two shots, and knocked down a sergeant.

The soldiers behind him caught up and thrust their bayonets at the Japanese soldiers crouching on the ground.

Sakata Vanguard Captain discovered that his flank and rear had been breached, so he turned his horse around, intending to send a squad back to block the attack.

He shouted in Japanese, pointing his sword in the direction the assault battalion was charging from.

A communications soldier ran out from behind the supply wagon, heading towards the valley entrance to deliver a message to Sakata's central army.

He ran three steps, was shot in the back, and collapsed to the ground. Zhou Dayong's gunner pulled back the bolt, the spent cartridge ejected, and landed on a rock with a clang.

Zhao Weiguo rushed to a position about fifty paces away and knelt on one knee. He raised his pistol, pointing the muzzle at the battalion commander. The battalion commander was still on horseback, his sword pointing in the direction of the assault battalion, his body turned sideways to Zhao Weiguo.

He pulled the trigger.

The sound of the Mauser pistol echoed through the canyon, muffled than a rifle but crisper than a machine gun.

The bullet entered the captain's left rib and exited from his right shoulder, piercing him through.

The captain paused on his horse, as if he had been pushed.

The sword flew from his hand and landed on the stone with a clang.

The captain fell headfirst from his horse, his white glove sinking into the blood and mud. His fingers were still moving, then stopped.

All the Japanese soldiers looked toward the spot where their battalion commander had fallen from his horse.

The gunfire stopped, the shouts stopped, even the horses stopped neighing.

For a split second, the entire canyon seemed to be paused.

Then, a major company commander stood up from behind the rock.

He was shouting in Japanese, his voice shrill, as if he wanted to take over command.

He had barely uttered half a sentence when a bullet flew from the western hillside and struck him in the chest.

He staggered, his sword falling to the stone with a clang.

He knelt on the ground, his hands supporting him, blood flowing from his chest and seeping into the soil.

Zhi Zi pulled the bolt, and the spent cartridge jumped out and landed on the stone with a clink.

She lay prone behind the bushes on the west side of the hill, her face expressionless.

The gun was still smoking. She blew the ash off the barrel and put the gun down.

The double decapitation strike further disrupted the already chaotic command structure.

Seeing the captain fall from his horse, Liu Dashan shouted, "Charge!"

The rear detachment of eighty assault battalion advanced along the entire front.

Bayonets were thrust at the Japanese soldiers crouching on the ground, and grenades were thrown at the remaining soldiers hiding behind rocks.

The Japanese troops went from organized resistance to individual escape routes.

Some people ran towards the valley entrance but were mowed down by Zhang Dabiao's machine gun.

Some people tried to climb up the hillside, but were shot down by Wang Huaibao's rifle.

Some people hid behind the horse carcass, too afraid to move, and were stabbed to death by the assault battalion soldiers with bayonets.

Zhang Dabiao pushed the gun down from the mouth, and the gunshots were like popping beans.

Wang Huaibao charged out from the middle section, and the machine gun was finally silenced. A soldier stabbed the machine gunner three times with his bayonet.

Zhou Dayong sealed off all communication lines, not letting a single person escape alive.

The brigade's guard company filled the gap in the slope that had been blocked by fire. Li Shouye stood on the slope and fired his pistol in quick succession, knocking down three Japanese soldiers who were trying to escape by climbing over the slope.

Five troops surrounded them.

Nine o'clock sharp.

The Japanese vanguard was cut off from the front and rear, and their middle section was suppressed. The remaining soldiers went from organized resistance to frantically trying to escape. Zhao Weiguo stood on a rock at the bottom of the valley, his pistol still smoking. His clothes were stained with blood, he didn't know if it was his own or someone else's. He glanced down at his pocket watch, 9:03.

"Each company shall clear the battlefield in its designated area. Assemble in fifteen minutes and withdraw completely from the battlefield. No one is allowed to linger, even if some are missed. Violators will be dealt with according to military law."

He shouted something during a lull in the gunfire. Soldiers from each company began clearing their assigned areas.

Some people used rifle butts to smash the heads of wounded soldiers pretending to be dead, while others used bayonets to stab the remaining soldiers hiding in shell craters.

Someone found the Japanese army's ammunition box, pried open the lid, and found it filled with bright yellow bullets.

9:15.

The gunfire gradually subsided.

At the bottom of Tiger's Mouth Valley, only the neighing of horses, the groans of wounded soldiers, and the sporadic sounds of finishing blows could be heard.

A mule, dragging half a rein, circled at the bottom of the valley, its hooves splashing red water as it waded through the blood.

A wounded Japanese soldier lay on the ground, his hand outstretched, trying to reach the water bottle that had fallen to the ground.

A commando soldier walked over and shot him in the back of the head.

Staff Officer Luo squatted at the bottom of the valley, writing rapidly in his notebook with a pencil. His hand was trembling, but the handwriting was still legible.

"The main force of the vanguard battalion was annihilated." He read out the numbers, "About 800 were killed, and 47 seriously wounded soldiers were captured. Another 300 or so were scattered during the battle and fled towards the central army. We captured over 600 rifles, 12 light machine guns, 3 heavy machine guns, 2 mountain guns (one was destroyed, and the breechblock of the other was broken), and over 30 mules and horses."

He paused for a moment and looked up at Zhao Weiguo.

"Eleven of our men have been killed in action, and twenty-three are seriously wounded."

Zhao Weiguo paused, pencil in hand. He stood at the bottom of the valley, looking at the corpses on the ground. Some were Japanese soldiers, others were his own.

A soldier from the assault battalion lay on the ground with a bullet hole in his back, his cotton-padded coat stained red with blood.

Zhao Weiguo walked over, squatted down, and turned the soldier over.

He was a new recruit, with a young face, his mouth open, and his eyes wide open.

Zhao Weiguo closed his eyes.

Liu Dashan walked over, holding a piece of paper in his hand.

The paper was found in the pocket of the Japanese battalion commander; it was folded into four sections and had Japanese writing on it.

"I don't understand it. But it has a date on it, and it's today."

Zhao Weiguo took it and unfolded it.

There was a simple map on the paper, with a place name marked on it: Xinghualing. Next to it was written the time: Tonight, encampment. The map also showed a road running eastward from Xinghualing, leading to the marching route of the Sakata Central Army.

The Sakata Joint Force headquarters is stationed at Xinghualing tonight.

He turned to look at Chen An.

"Summon Staff Officer Luo. We're launching a surprise attack on Xinghualing tonight."

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

While I did consider bringing Zhao Weiguo up as quickly as possible to advance the plot when conceiving this storyline, it wasn't entirely fabricated. People might find the plot far-fetched, but it's based on a real event: the "Shentouling Ambush." ​​The 386th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army ambushed a reinforced infantry battalion of the 38th Brigade of the 16th Division of the Japanese Army at Shentouling, Shanxi. The battle lasted from 9:30 AM to 11:13 AM, lasting only about 1 hour and 40 minutes, during which the enemy was essentially annihilated. This demonstrates the old brigade commander's skill and the greatness of our army!