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

In mid-July, the Baimaling Regiment Headquarters received an urgent order from the Brigade Headquarters.

The communications soldier ran into the cave dwelling, his brow beaded with sweat, and three chicken feathers were stuck to the envelope. It was a top-priority urgent document.

Zhao Weiguo opened it, and inside there was only one line of text:

"Take Zhao Gang, Zhi Zi, and the radio operator with you to the small meeting place at the front tomorrow morning. Don't bring too many people."

There was no signature, but he recognized the old brigade commander's handwriting.

Zhao Weiguo folded the letter and put it in his pocket.

The next day, before dawn, he set off with Zhao Gang, Zhi Zi, and a communications soldier carrying a radio, the four of them riding mules.

The forward meeting place was in a village between Baimaling and the brigade headquarters. It was a mud-brick house with the windows covered with black cloth, and two sentries stood at the door.

When Zhao Weiguo lifted the curtain and went in, the old brigade commander had already arrived.

A map lay spread out on the earthen bed. The map was large, covering the entire Zhengtai Railway. From Shijiazhuang to Taiyuan, the hundreds of kilometers of railway line were drawn as a black line on the paper, with densely packed place names and outpost symbols marked next to the line.

The old brigade commander stood by the kang (a heated brick bed), holding a rolled-up cigarette in his hand. Seeing Zhao Weiguo enter, he put the cigarette in his mouth, didn't light it, and immediately began to speak.

"It's 30 kilometers from Yangquan to Shouyang. Do you dare to pick me up?"

Zhao Weiguo walked to the front of the map and looked down at it.

Yangquan. Shouyang. The railway line between the two place names is only a short distance of thirty kilometers on paper, with eight outposts along the way.

"The work of the Independent Regiment?"

"Your job." The old brigade commander pulled the cigarette from his mouth and tapped it on the table. "Headquarters has decided on a big operation. Multiple units will simultaneously sabotage the Zhengtai Railway, cutting off the Japanese's supply lifeline in North China. Each unit will be responsible for a section. You choose the section for the 386th Brigade."

Zhao Weiguo didn't rush to agree.

He stared at the map for a long time, slowly tracing the line from Yangquan to Shouyang with his finger.

Why is this part important?

The old brigade commander lit a cigarette, took a puff, and the smoke drifted through the dimly lit cave.

"Yangquan has mines and a train station. Shouyang is the gateway to Taiyuan. If this section is cut off, the Japanese will either have to take a long detour or slowly crawl along the highway to reinforce from Taiyuan."

Zhao Weiguo's finger paused on a few stronghold symbols on the line.

"Eight strongholds. How many troops?"

"The brigade headquarters' intelligence is inadequate. A Japanese company plus puppet troops numbers roughly eight hundred to a thousand. You'll have to figure out the exact number at each point yourself."

Zhao Weiguo withdrew his hand and stood up straight.

"I accepted it."

The old brigade commander looked at him but didn't speak immediately.

"Once we accept the offer, we have to secure it. Headquarters has already made the plans. The entire operation will commence simultaneously at 4:00 AM on August 20th."

"I know."

"You don't understand," the old brigade commander stubbed out his cigarette, "The general offensive has a set time; we have to attack on time. Every minute you're late means the other units will have to hold off the Japanese reinforcements for just one more minute."

Zhao Weiguo remained silent for a few seconds.

"I need half a month."

"What?"

"Half a month of reconnaissance. We need to know the troop strength, firepower, telephone lines, supply lines, and shift change times at all eight strongholds. Otherwise, a raid would be risking lives to probe their territory."

The old brigade commander glanced at him and then nodded.

"You have two weeks. The intelligence must reach the regimental headquarters before August 18th."

On the way back to Baimaling, Zhao Weiguo rode on a mule without saying a word.

Zhao Gang followed beside him, but didn't urge him.

Upon reaching the entrance of the regimental headquarters, Zhao Weiguo dismounted, entered the cave dwelling, and lifted the curtain to the side. The map spread out on the table was the same one covering the area around Baimaling. He glanced at it, then lifted it up and pulled out a larger one from the cabinet: a complete map of the Zhengtai Railway.

He spread the map on the table.

Yangquan. Shouyang. Eight strongholds.

He looked at it for a while, then looked up.

"Call Gardenia over."

When Zhi Zi arrived, Zhao Weiguo was marking points on a map with a pencil. He marked them one by one, and after marking all eight strongholds, the pencil tip became dull.

He put down the pencil.

"The brigade headquarters just gave us the assignment. The Zhengtai Railway, Yangquan to Shouyang section, 30 kilometers. The Independent Regiment is responsible for this section."

Gardenia stood in front of the table, looking at the eight circles.

"Thirty kilometers, eight strongholds. We can't fight without knowing their locations."

Gardenia didn't reply, she waited.

Zhao Weiguo turned the pencil in a different direction.

How many people are in the Special Agent Company?

"sixty."

Is that enough?

Gardenia thought for a moment.

"enough."

"How do I install it?"

Gardenia walked to the front of the map and pointed to a few place names.

"Sixty people divided into eight groups. Merchants carried cloth and needles and thread, entering the city unnoticed. Farmers carried hoes and dry rations, able to squat by the railway all day. Refugee groups could easily fit two women and children, making it easier for the Japanese and puppet troops to check. Peddler's peddler was the most useful; the puppet troops were gamblers, so they could overhear everything they said by squatting by the card table."

After listening, Zhao Weiguo remained silent for a few seconds.

"Add one more."

"you say."

"It's not just about reporting the number of troops," Zhao Weiguo said. "We also need to report the commander's personality, where the machine guns are positioned, whether the artillery positions are within reach of my mortars, the locations of the wells and granaries, and the attitude of the nearby people towards this stronghold."

Gardenia kept these things in her heart.

When are we leaving?

"We'll go in batches. Tomorrow morning."

Zhi Zi nodded and turned to leave. Zhao Weiguo called her back again.

"Wait a moment."

Gardenia turns back.

Zhao Weiguo took out eight blank sheets of Xuan paper from the drawer, rolled them into a tube, tied them with hemp thread, and handed them to Zhizi.

"One sheet per group. When you return, the paper must show the route."

Gardenia took the bamboo tube and tied it to her back.

"have."

On the morning of July 24, the special agent company members left Baimaling in batches.

The first group consisted of two people led by Shuanzi. Shuanzi disguised himself as a cloth seller and pushed a mule cart piled with several bolts of blue and gray cloth, with a scale and a pair of scissors hidden among them.

All three were wearing gray cloth short jackets with their trousers rolled up to their knees, looking like peddlers going from village to village.

They took the main road eastward, their destination: Hankou Railway Station.

Hankou was small, but strategically important. There was a small railway station there, with a brick barracks next to the platform and telephone lines running outside. Coal and sleepers were piled on the platform, and a few puppet soldiers were smoking against the wall.

Shuanzi pushed the cart outside the platform and tied the mule to a post by the well. He squatted down, pretending to give the mule water, while his eyes swept around.

The barracks were on the north side, brick buildings with south-facing windows and a light machine gun at the entrance. There were three machine gun positions on the north side of the platform: two on the ground and one in a sandbag fortification on the platform roof.

A Japanese corporal walked over.

He was wearing a yellow military uniform, a bayonet hanging at his waist, and his face was expressionless. He glanced at the cloth on the mule cart and reached out to turn it over.

"What kind of work?"

Shuanzi put on a smiling face.

"Selling cloth. Goods from Taiyuan, delivered to the villages."

Do you have proof?

Shuanzi pulled out a few sheets of paper from his pocket and handed them over. The papers were stamped with the town government's seal. He found them on the map and had them engraved by the village accountant he met along the way.

The Japanese soldier glanced at it, handed the paper back to him, asked no further questions, and turned to leave.

Shuanzi led the mule to the well. Beside the well, a puppet soldier was squatting and washing his face.

Shuanzi took out a cigarette and offered one to him.

"Hey bro, wanna have one?"

The puppet soldier looked up at him and took the cigarette.

Shuanzi squatted down and lit one for himself.

"How many people are at this station? They look quite busy."

"What are we busy with?" The puppet soldier took a drag of his cigarette. "Just a few Japanese soldiers, plus us, fifty or sixty men. Guarding this little station, in the middle of nowhere."

Shuanzi smiled and flicked the cigarette ash onto the ground.

"What's that on that platform?"

"A light machine gun," the puppet soldier said. "It's the Japanese's. They won't let anyone touch it."

Shuanzi nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

He squatted down to finish his cigarette, then stood up, led the mule away.

He remembered it.

The Japanese soldiers and their puppet troops changed shifts twice a day, once at 10 p.m. and once at 2 a.m.

There were three machine gun positions on the north side of the platform, and one hidden behind sandbag fortifications. All the windows of the barracks faced south, and there wasn't even a door in the back wall.

On August 1st, intelligence gradually returned to Little Willow Village.

Eight groups of people. Eight sets of maps. Zhi Zi stayed up all night, compiling the oral accounts, sketches, and idle chatter from the puppet soldiers into a "Reconnaissance Report for the Yangquan-Shouyang Section".

On the morning of August 3rd, Zhi Zi returned to Bai Ma Ling with eight pieces of Xuan paper maps pieced together.

She spread the map on Zhao Weiguo's table.

Eight sheets of paper were pieced together, covering the entire railway line from Yangquan to Shouyang. The terrain, forks, wells, bridges, and artillery positions were all marked. It was far more detailed than the brigade headquarters' military map. The brigade headquarters' map only marked outposts and estimated troop strength, while Zhi Zi's map even depicted the toilets at the outpost entrances and the bamboo poles used by the puppet troops to dry their clothes.

Zhao Weiguo spent over an hour studying the map.

After reading it, he stood up straight.

"speak."

Gardenia opened the notebook.

"Eight strongholds, with a total strength of approximately 880 men. Hankou: 50; Weijiazhuang: 60; Xiaojingshan: 200; Changjiagou: 55; Zhangjiawan: 65; Sanglin Town: 110; Zhaozhuang: 60; Shouyang South Station: 300."

Zhao Weiguo circled several strongholds on the map.

"Six soft spots, two hard spots."

"Hankou, Weijiazhuang, Changjiagou, Zhangjiawan, Sanglin Town, Zhaozhuang. Easy to attack. Attack quickly and retreat quickly."

Gardenia waited a moment.

What about Xiaojingshan and Shouyang South Station?

Zhao Weiguo tapped the picture twice with his finger.

"Two hundred men at Xiaojingshan, with artillery and strong fortifications. Three hundred men at Shouyang South Station, the key point in this section. We can't attack these two quickly; we have to encircle them, wear them down, and then cut off their reinforcements."

Gardenia thought for a moment.

Where was the first shot fired?

Zhao Weiguo removed his finger from the map.

"After conquering Hankou, push all the way towards Shouyang. Use the softer areas first, then the harder ones; clear out the surrounding area first, isolate the harder points."

Gardenia put away her notebook.

"Train schedule. Four trains daily: one in the morning, one at noon, one in the evening, and one at night. The night train often carries ammunition and coal."

Zhao Weiguo glanced at the calendar.

Early morning of August 20th.

He rolled up the map and handed it to Zhao Gang.

"Have Zhao Tieshan make a copy. Keep the original safe."

Then he looked at Gardenia.

"You did a thorough half-month reconnaissance."

Gardenia didn't speak, she just stood there.

Zhao Weiguo turned around, his gaze falling on the map of North China on the wall. The black line from Yangquan to Shouyang looked like an unhealed scar.

"Cut it off on August 20th."