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

By September 22nd, the stench of blood in the East River Valley had mostly dissipated.

Of the nine captured vehicles, only three were driven back. The remaining six were dismantled for parts; the usable wheel bearings were taken by Zhao Tieshan, and the unusable ones were overturned on the riverbank as cover. The three drivable vehicles were loaded with gravel, empty boxes, and helmets, with half an empty oil drum left in the truck bed, the drum opening smeared with oil, and two drops dripped into the dirt. From a distance, it looked as if the convoy was still refueling and making repairs.

As Duan Peng removed the last machine gun, he glanced back at the empty East River Valley. The shell craters on the riverbank were still there, as were the wreckage of overturned vehicles, but the people were gone. He carried the machine gun up the ridge, with an empty riverbed behind him.

The First Main Force Group is also loosening its defenses. Old Zhou reopened the southwest breach, which was originally only 300 paces wide, but now it has been expanded to 500 paces. The front line has retreated two miles, and half of the bonfires have been removed. During the day, only two fake cannons made of wood and tarpaulin are set up. The barrels of the fake cannons are made of pine wood and painted black, so they look just like real ones from a distance.

Tanaka spent the whole day watching from the top of the watchtower.

He noticed the number of campfires at the front had decreased, the southwest gate had opened, and the two cannons remained but were no longer moving. He deduced that the Communist army had withdrawn, but the cannons were still there. It was possible they had withdrawn their main force, leaving the cannons for cover, or perhaps their artillery positions had been damaged and they dared not move. Either way, the number of troops surrounding the point was decreasing.

He sent a telegram: the encircling forces have been reduced, the main force is suspected to have withdrawn westward, the first batch of reinforcements may have arrived in the East River Valley, and the loss of contact may be due to bridge damage.

Zhi Zi didn't intercept the telegram. Using the captured radio, she imitated the closing code of the first reinforcements' radio operators and sent a short message: the stone bridge is damaged, the convoy is repairing it, and the follow-up is proceeding as planned. She only sent one.

"People only believe what they want to believe," Zhao Weiguo said.

On the morning of September 23rd, the second batch of reinforcements entered the East River Valley. There were 2,500 men; the vanguard of about 800, accompanied by engineers, conducted reconnaissance, while the rearguard of 1,700 carried supplies. The vanguard stopped three captured trucks, leaving empty oil drums and gravel in the trailers, leading them to believe that the trucks were being repaired. The engineers got out to inspect the road and discovered that the tire tracks and footprints extended westward.

They followed the footprints.

Thirty kilometers. The engineers, who had made retreat tracks in shifts the night before last, reduced the number of soldiers every two li (approximately 1.5 kilometers) by one person each time. They left behind discarded shoes, broken leggings, and marks from stretchers carrying empty crates. Shell casings were only left at the bends in the slopes where stretchers had stopped. A wrecked grain cart was pushed fifteen li away, leaving only half a bag of sorghum mixed with soil. The cooking station only boiled water—no smoke was left from boiling water—but smoke was left from cooking. The last stretch of the journey was done backwards, erasing the footprints of the return trip.

The 30-kilometer-long fake trail was made to look more real than the real thing.

Another squad went to the isolated stronghold. Old Zhou ordered the first blockade line to retreat to both sides, allowing them to pass through the gap of three hundred paces. Half an hour later, it was confirmed that the southwest road was passable, the encirclement was loosening, and the Eighth Route Army was retreating due to heavy casualties in the previous ambush.

Four pieces of evidence corroborated the presence of an empty vehicle, 30 kilometers of footprints, telegrams from the stronghold, and captured radio messages. The enemy commander ordered the entire rear guard to enter the valley. At the same time, approximately 9,000 troops from the outer perimeter and local defenses began to converge on the Jinzhong war zone.

Zhao Gang wrote 2,500 and 9,000 points on two separate pieces of paper, not placing them together. Zhi Zi marked the map with two-colored flags: a red flag for the second batch of reinforcements and a blue flag for outer perimeter mobile forces.

The 30,000-strong battle force was deployed, with approximately 18,000 men prepared for the main encirclement: 7,000 from Zhou's northern front, 6,500 from Duan Peng's southern front, 2,500 from Heshang's position at the valley end, and 2,000 artillerymen providing mobile support. An additional 12,000 were not yet deployed to guard supply depots, protect transport, guard the first batch of prisoners, maintain outer perimeter security, and operate the second decoy line. The officially deployed force remained at 15,500, not a single man more.

The monk, guarding the valley's edge, confirmed the prisoners' routes: prisoners would go through the western passage, the wounded through the northern side, those who surrendered their weapons would be searched and registered separately, and the radio and ammunition trucks would not be near the prisoners. He squatted on a rock at the valley's edge, looking at the map, and clearly marked the four routes with a pencil.

On the afternoon of September 23rd, reconnaissance was conducted on the outer perimeter. On the north side of the highway, Li Yunlong's unit damaged the lead vehicle, retreating while fighting, dragging the enemy away from the main road. On the railway branch line, Ding Wei and other enemy engineers only opened fire halfway through laying the sleepers, waiting until they finished before interrupting them; this was more troublesome for the enemy than blocking them from the beginning. Kong Jie twice repelled the enemy's advance through the mountain pass at Yangshuling. The three missions tied down approximately three thousand men, preventing them from being encircled and devoured. Casualties of friendly and neighboring units were recorded separately.

On the evening of September 24th, the remnants of the stronghold attempted to leave the city from the southwest to provide support. Old Zhou and Duan Peng only moved the front lines, luring the enemy to pursue for two miles before they ran into a pre-positioned machine gun line. The machine guns fired in short bursts of three rounds at a time, changing positions after each burst. The enemy, thinking they had encountered a retreating rearguard, chased for half a mile before being pushed back.

The fighting continued until nightfall. The enemy's second wave of reinforcements and the breakout team from the stronghold suffered approximately 300 casualties. The second wave of reinforcements numbered approximately 2,200, and the remnants of the stronghold numbered approximately 870. Our army suffered 28 dead and 69 wounded.

A soldier guarding the fake cannon turned back to cut the tow rope of the real cannon wheel. Next to the fake cannon was a real cannon wheel used as a prop. When enemy shells came, the tow rope of the real cannon wheel was broken by shrapnel. Fearing the real wheel would roll down and expose the fake cannon, he turned back to cut the rope. Halfway through cutting it, another shell fell, and he didn't get up.

Old Zhou ordered the fake cannons to be destroyed, but not the real cannons' losses. He insisted on writing down the full names, including the incident of cutting the rope.

Reporting for duty late at night on September 24th. The communications battalion conducted its final line disconnection drill before midnight. The northern line reconnected to the backup line in two and a half minutes, but the southern line failed to connect. The cavalry relayed the order in twenty-seven minutes, with Guwei being the slowest. The monk remembered the command incorrectly and rode back to the starting line, which took an extra twelve minutes.

Zhou's 7,000 troops on the northern line, Duan Peng's 6,500 troops on the southern line, and He Shang Guwei's 2,500 troops were in position. Artillery engineers were on standby, numbering 6,000 in four positions, ready to reinforce any main line within four hours. The actual deployment for the main encirclement reached approximately 22,000 to 18,000, with 4,000 advancing from the rear. Another 8,000 guarded the outer ring of the rear prisoner transport line. Zhao Gang revised the troop strength map, marking the old 18,000/12,000 deployment next to it as the line-laying phase configuration.

Contingency plan for line disruption: If contact is lost on the northern line, Lao Zhou will regroup as scheduled; if contact is lost on the southern line, Duan Peng will only blow up the first bridge; if contact is lost at the valley end, He Shang will guard the pass for four hours until the cavalry relays the order. A 40-kilometer encirclement front and a 30-kilometer decoy depth will be established.

Gardenia's eavesdropping report: The base radio station isn't running tonight. Tanaka is waiting for reinforcements, unaware that they've already entered the area.

Old Zhou's hand rested on the door latch. There were still two hours until midnight.

All the fish got into the net. The bolt was bolted. The net was tightened. The fish, trapped in the net, didn't know they were fish.