Courtyard House: I Rely on Time-Space Trade to Build a Nation

September 14, 1951, 4:00 AM.

Li Changhe was awakened by a sound.

It wasn't just ordinary cannon fire. It was the kind of sound that came out in one continuous burst, indistinguishable from one another, like ten thousand drums beating at the same time.

The vibrations made people's chests go numb, their teeth chatter, and their heads buzz.

He scrambled to his feet and rushed out of the tunnel.

The southern sky was turned red. Not just a little red, but half the sky was ablaze. Shells rained down, relentlessly, one after another, the resulting bursts of fire merging into a continuous expanse, turning night into day.

"Take cover—all of you into the tunnels—"

His shouts were drowned out by the explosions. In fact, he didn't need to shout; the soldiers had already run into the tunnels.

Nobody wants to get beaten up like that on the ground.

Li Changhe squatted at the entrance of the tunnel and glanced outside.

Just one glance.

All the surface positions on Hill 597.9 are gone.

Those trenches, communication trenches, and machine gun emplacements—the place he had defended for three months—were gone in an instant.

The soil was blasted into the sky, the stones were blasted into powder, and the iron was blasted into fragments.

Nothing could be seen, only firelight and smoke.

A shell landed 20 meters from the tunnel entrance.

The shockwave rushed in, knocking Li Changhe to the ground. His ears were ringing, and he couldn't hear anything.

He got up and crawled inside.

Deep inside the tunnel, the soldiers squatted on both sides, some checking their guns, some eating dry rations, and some leaning against the rock wall with their eyes closed. No one spoke.

The staff officer crawled over, his mouth opening and closing, seemingly shouting something. Li Changhe pointed to his ear and waved his hand.

The staff officer nodded, stopped shouting, and squatted down next to him, listening together to the muffled thunderous sound of the cannons.

The sound of the cannon fire wasn't as sharp when heard inside the tunnel, but it was deeper.

Each step was like the footsteps of a giant, like someone smashing the mountain with a sledgehammer.

Li Changhe leaned against the rock wall and closed his eyes.

He thought of Tieyuan. For those fourteen days, every night was the same: heavy artillery bombardment, then they would sleep, and when they woke up, the fighting would continue.

But it's different. There were no such tunnels in Tieyuan. The fortifications in Tieyuan were bombed flat, so they had to risk their lives to rebuild them.

Those who perform the ritual may not necessarily return alive.

This place is different.

He opened his eyes and looked at the thirty-meter-deep tunnel.

The lights were on, the ventilation fans were humming, the water tanks were full, and the ammunition boxes were piled up like mountains.

Those engineers dug for three months, creating a 23-kilometer tunnel that completely hollowed out the area beneath Wusheng Mountain.

He suddenly wondered if the Third Company Commander would still be alive if Tieyuan had this thing.

The sound of gunfire continued.

He glanced at his watch. It was 4:10 a.m.

The shelling lasted for more than four hours.

At 8:20 a.m., the shelling stopped.

That silence was more terrifying than an explosion. My ears were still ringing, and I couldn't hear anything, but there was definitely no sound outside.

Li Changhe got up and felt his way towards the tunnel entrance.

The staff officer stopped him and gestured: I'll go first.

Li Changhe shook his head, pushed him aside, and peeked out first.

Outside the tunnel entrance, everything had changed.

The 597.9-meter high point has become shorter. It's not an illusion; it really has become shorter.

The entire hilltop was sheared off by more than two meters, and all those familiar landmarks were gone.

The soil was black, scorched black. The stones were broken, shattered.

The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder, making people want to cough.

But there was no one there. The US military hadn't arrived yet.

Li Changhe pulled back and shouted into the tunnel, "Attention all tunnels! Let them in and we'll fight!"

The sound echoed in the tunnel.

The soldiers began to move towards the tunnel entrance.

Type 56 assault rifle, drum magazine fully loaded.

RPG-7, four units. Heavy machine gun, two units.

Li Changhe lay behind an observation hole disguised as a rock, staring at the south.

American infantrymen came up the hillside.

A battalion of over four hundred men from the South Korean 2nd Division, forming a skirmish line, climbed up the bombed-out hillside.

The helmet gleamed in the sunlight, the gun was pointed forward, and his steps were slow but steady.

They thought there was no one left on the hilltop. After being bombed like that for four hours, what living creature could possibly be left?

Li Changhe watched them get closer and closer. Three hundred meters, two hundred meters, one hundred meters, fifty meters.

"wait."

Thirty meters. Twenty meters.

"beat!"

Flames erupted from the tunnel entrance at the same time.

Five tunnel entrances, five directions, firing simultaneously.

Type 56 assault rifles sprayed bullets at a rate of 600 rounds per minute, heavy machine guns blocked retreat routes, and RPG-7s bombarded the densest part of the crowd.

South Korean soldiers fell like wheat being harvested. Some were riddled with bullets before they even had a chance to react.

Some people lay on the ground looking for cover, but where could they find cover on the bare hillside?

Some people turned to run, but were spotted by heavy machine gun fire and rolled down the hillside.

Thirty minutes.

The hillside was littered with corpses and wounded.

Those who were alive desperately climbed down the mountain, much faster than when they came up.

Li Changhe stood up from behind the observation hole.

On the hillside, the only ones still moving were the wounded soldiers who couldn't climb any further, crying out in pain.

He pressed the intercom.

"Report the numbers from each tunnel."

"No casualties in the first company."

"Two lightly wounded in the second company."

"Three companies, no casualties."

"The machine gun company suffered no casualties."

Li Changhe was stunned for a moment.

After fighting for thirty minutes, they killed or wounded more than a hundred enemies, while their own side only had two minor injuries.

He looked at the tunnel entrance and at the soldiers squatting inside smoking.

This battle seems achievable.

At 10:00 AM, the US military's retaliation arrived.

The artillery fire resumed. This time, it wasn't a full-scale attack, but rather aimed directly at the tunnel entrances. One shot at a time, carefully targeted.

Li Changhe crouched in the tunnel, listening to the explosions outside.

A shell landed near the tunnel entrance, and the shockwave rushed in, causing the soil overhead to fall in a flurry.

Another shot, even closer. Another shot, seemingly right at the cave entrance.

The staff officer turned pale.

"Commander, they've found our cave entrance!"

Li Changhe didn't move.

"Let them fire. The entrance is reinforced concrete, 1.5 meters thick. Their cannons can't penetrate it."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a shell struck the entrance to the tunnel. With a deafening roar, the entire tunnel shook.

The smoke and dust rushed in, making people cough.

After the smoke and dust cleared, Li Changhe climbed to the cave entrance to take a look.

The hole is still there. A layer of concrete was blown away, exposing the reinforcing steel, but it hasn't collapsed.

He glanced back at the staff officer.

"What did I say again?"

The staff officer grinned, revealing a set of white teeth.

In the afternoon, the US military changed its tactics.

Instead of large-scale assaults, they used small groups of three to five to sneak up and try to find blind spots at the tunnel entrances.

However, every tunnel entrance was under crossfire.

If you touch from the left, someone will hit you from the right. If you touch from the right, someone will hit you from the left.

If you lie still on the ground, the heavy machine gun will riddle you with bullets.

After an afternoon of fighting, the US military left behind dozens more bodies.

In the evening, Li Changhe squatted at the entrance of the tunnel, watching the sun set in the south.

The staff officer climbed over and handed him a statistic.

"Commander, today, the US and South Korean troops came up a total of six times. The last time was at 4:30 pm."

"How many were killed in total?"

"I roughly counted, over three hundred. That South Korean battalion is probably decimated."

Li Changhe nodded.

"What about us?"

The staff officer glanced down at his notebook.

"Three dead and seventeen wounded. Two of them were injured by shrapnel when the entrance to the bunker was bombed."

Li Changhe remained silent.

Three dead. Seventeen wounded.

He thought of Tieyuan. On the first day, forty-seven were killed and one hundred and twenty were wounded. That was the best day of fighting.

Here, three were killed and seventeen were wounded.

He folded the paper and put it in his pocket.

In the distance, towards the US military positions, searchlights began to sweep back and forth.

He squatted there, looking at the beam of light.

"This battle," he said, "is one we'll fight."

Nighttime, deep within the tunnel.

The lights were on, and the ventilation fan was humming.

The soldiers leaned against the rock wall; some were smoking, some were writing letters, and some were sleeping.

Li Changhe sat on the ammunition box, writing in his diary by the light of the lamp.

I wrote a few lines, then stopped.

He thought of the Third Company Commander. He thought of those days in Tieyuan.

I think of those bomb craters, those corpses, those people who will never come back.

If there had been such a tunnel back then, would the third company commander still be alive?

he does not know

He closed the notebook, stood up, and walked deeper into the tunnel.

He paused as he passed the medical clinic.

The medic was changing the dressing of a wounded soldier, who gritted his teeth and remained silent.

He continued walking forward.

At the end of the path is a ventilation shaft.

Fresh air rushed in from outside, carrying the smell of gunpowder and the coolness of the night.

He stood there, listening to the faint sounds of artillery fire outside.

It's very far. I don't know where they're calling.

Li Changhe stood there for a long time.

Then he turned around and walked back.

We have to play again tomorrow.