Life hanging by a thread
After arriving in Beiping, Tan Yuanbo and Zhang Chenglin, according to the organization's arrangements, went directly to Haidian and worked with the garrison troops originally stationed in Beiping to guard the campuses of Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University, and other universities.
In order to obtain China's high-quality educational resources, the Japanese army, after entering Beiping, did not burn, kill, and loot as they had in Hebei and Shandong. Instead, they captured a large number of college students, causing unrest in all colleges and universities in Beiping, with teachers and students living in constant fear.
Peking University President Cai Zheng'an did not retreat to safety with the earlier main force, but instead joined more than a hundred patriots and young students from various universities in Beiping to defend the last vestige of Beiping's dignity.
Tan Yuanbo arranged for Zhang Chenglin to go to Tsinghua University, while he himself led a group to Peking University, which was currently in the most critical situation.
Tan Yuanbo met him on the Peking University campus, asked him a few questions about the current situation of Peking University, and then quickly made strategic arrangements.
The Japanese army moved much faster than expected. After abducting a number of college students, they still began a campaign of burning, killing, and looting in Beiping.
A tip came in saying that the Japanese army had entered the Tsinghua campus and that a small squad was heading towards Peking University.
Tan Yuanbo settled Cai Zheng'an and several Peking University students in a room in the main teaching area and arranged for someone to watch over them there.
The Japanese artillery shells came in without warning, and Tan Yuanbo thought they would have to search again.
Instead, they set up cannons outside the East Gate and bombarded the Peking University campus.
The roar of the shells startled Zhang Chenglin, who lived in the neighboring Tsinghua University campus.
Seeing that the Japanese artillery shells had already knocked down a section of the wall on the east side, Tan Yuanbo picked up his gun, ready to fight. In the blink of an eye, he saw Zhou Zhu carrying his gun and climbing to the roof of the building closest to the east gate.
Tan Yuanbo frowned as he looked at him. Before he could react, Zhou Zhu on the rooftop had already set up his gun and was ready to take aim.
Tan Yuanbo watched as he lightly pulled the trigger, and the gun fired—
"Bang--"
"boom--"
A series of unsettling explosions came from outside and lingered for a long time.
The final explosion shook even the building furthest from the east gate. Flames filled the sky, and amidst the explosions were a few unclear but heart-wrenching Japanese words: "Retreat!" "Take cover!"
What happened?
In the Tibetan's room, a young student asked a question with a mix of confusion and admiration.
"Someone fired a shot at the fuse of the cannon, which was about to burn out, causing the cannon to explode from internal combustion," the soldier in uniform holding a gun explained. "When one cannon explodes, it blows up everything around it."
The students' eyes practically overflowed with admiration. "That's so cool!"
The soldier holding the gun turned to look at the student, a slight smile in his eyes, but said nothing.
Outside, the Japanese troops, having abandoned their artillery bombardment, were advancing in a search-and-search manner with long guns and bayonets at the ready. Inside the park, Tan Yuanbo and others, who were lying in ambush in various places, held their breath and waited for the best opportunity to fire.
Through the dimly lit window, Tan Yuanbo saw Zhou Zhu, who was on the roof of the next building, give him a "3" gesture.
There are about three hundred people left.
His initial intelligence indicated that over 600 people were heading towards Peking University, and Zhou Zhu's shot had just cost the Japanese half their men.
Having just been ambushed, the Japanese soldiers would fire a few shots and throw a grenade before entering a room or building to make sure there were no ambushes.
As they approached Tan Yuanbo's ambush point, Tan Yuanbo gripped his gun tightly, waiting for the right moment.
"Bang--"
It's unclear who fired the shot, but the leader of that small encirclement team instantly fell to the ground, his brains splattering out.
Almost instinctively, all the Japanese soldiers behind them began firing into the room.
Tan Yuanbo, who had been looking out the window, suddenly ducked down and then, along with the people behind him, set up guns at the window.
There were simply too many Japanese soldiers outside, and Tan Yuanbo and the people behind him were all wounded.
After the last bullet was fired, the Japanese encirclement outside was barely broken, but the number of Japanese soldiers was still much larger than the number of men led by Tan Yuanbo.
"Bang--"
The Japanese fired another shot outside the window, and Tan Yuanbo was wounded in the right arm. The gun he was holding fell to the ground. People crawled over to look at him, only to see him pick up the dagger beside him.
"gentlemen!"
The person next to him seemed to have guessed what he was thinking, and grabbed his left arm, as if trying to persuade him not to do anything foolish with pleading looks in their eyes.
Tan Yuanbo tore off a piece of white cloth from his inner lapel and used his teeth to wrap it around the wound on his right arm. He mumbled indistinctly, "Peking University is the last pure land in the capital. What I should do is protect this pure land, wait for the Party and the people to return to Beijing, and wait for Peking University students to return to serve the motherland."
The person next to him didn't say another word. As if he had made up his mind, the moment Tan Yuanbo finished wrapping the cloth strips, he and Tan Yuanbo grabbed the dagger and rushed out.
There were still some bullets lying in ambush in the grass behind us; we prepared for the final cover.
After the fierce battle, the Japanese troops had little supplies and dismantled their bayonets, preparing for hand-to-hand combat.
Tan Yuanbo killed Japanese soldiers one by one with a single slash, enduring the pain in his right arm as he fought with bloodlust.
After an unknown amount of time, Tan Yuanbo felt that the sounds of fighting in the park had subsided by half. A Japanese soldier pulled out a grenade, which was far away in front of him.
Right there in front of Tan Yuanbo, he watched as the buckle was pulled open and forcefully thrown towards the most crowded area in the park...
The sounds of fighting outside gradually subsided, and after more than ten minutes, everything returned to calm.
When Cai Zheng'an and the others, who had been hidden in the safe zone by Tan Yuanbo with a narrow escape, came out, all they could see were corpses scattered all over the ground, and blue and yellow-green cloths were covered with patches of red.
Cai Zheng'an found Tan Yuanbo's body in the plaza outside the main building. He had been injured by a grenade at close range, and his body was completely disfigured, with not a single patch of intact skin.
"They... are all heroes of Peking University and should be engraved on a monument so that future generations of students will remember them for thousands of years."
Cai Zheng'an spoke to the young students standing behind him, his tone filled with an undeniable sorrow.
Tan Yuanbo, Zhang Chenglin, and others arrived in time and, in coordination with the garrison in Beiping, managed to hold Haidian within a week.
Zhang Chenglin and the garrison troops originally stationed in Beiping parted ways at the Haidian District border, advancing towards Fengtai District and Chaoyang District respectively.
Because of obstruction by the Japanese army and Yi Boyan, the reinforcements that were supposed to arrive on September 21st have not yet arrived in Beiping. Food and medicine cannot be supplied, and the soldiers deep in the heart of Beiping have reached the extreme of their physical endurance.
On the evening of September 25, after failing to make contact with the organization for the 17th time, Zhang Chenglin conceived the idea of bombing the Japanese enemy camp to seize their grain.
Xin Jie followed behind him, and as soon as he heard what he said, he smiled and said, "Given the current situation, this may not be the best solution."
"Besides, I'm familiar with this matter, I'll lead people to bomb it."
Xin Jie's original intention was that he would lead his men to bomb the enemy's warehouse and steal grain, while Zhang Chenglin would stay at the main camp to command the battle.
To everyone's surprise, Zhang Chenglin immediately agreed: "Okay, you take some men to plant explosives and blow up the warehouse, and I'll take some men in to steal the grain."
"No..." Xin Jie opened his mouth to refuse, but before he could speak, Zhang Chenglin interrupted him: "That's how it's arranged. You can choose the person you want yourself."
Military orders are absolute, and no matter how unreasonable it was, Xin Jie dared not argue with him anymore, and could only silently agree: "Okay."
Around 10:30 p.m. that night, while the Japanese soldiers were changing shifts at the warehouse, Xin Jie secretly led his men to stuff explosives into all the sandbags around the warehouse.
As he led his men back into the woods to the west, Xin Jie was still filled with unease. He didn't know why, but he felt uneasy, as if something had been overlooked.
But he still had to cover up, and his mind was in complete turmoil. He never imagined that they were planting the explosives too smoothly, and that there was something fishy going on.
More than two hours later, after midnight, seeing that the Japanese soldiers guarding the warehouse were starting to doze off, Zhang Chenglin led a small team that had been arranged in advance to secretly and silently kill the patrolling Japanese soldiers.
But the moment he pushed open the warehouse door, he froze on the spot—
Inside the warehouse were more than two hundred Japanese soldiers lined up in neat rows. The moment they saw them push open the door, they all pulled the triggers and opened fire.
"Retreat! Retreat now!! Take cover!" Zhang Chenglin's command was heart-wrenching.
Upon hearing the gunshot, Xin Jie, who was lying in ambush in the woods in the distance, suddenly realized that they had been ambushed!
Half of Zhang Chenglin's twenty men had already fallen. Xin Jie and his men rushed out recklessly, braving the hail of bullets, to drag Zhang Chenglin, who was riddled with bullets, out of the way.
Xin Jie dragged Zhang Chenglin along as fast as he could, but before they disappeared into the grove, he turned around and saw Yi Boyan walking leisurely out of the warehouse...
With no food or medicine at headquarters, the medic dared not remove the ammunition rashly and could only stop Zhang Chenglin's bleeding first, while instructing Xin Jie to find medicine as soon as possible.
"We have to be quick!" The army doctor's face was covered in beads of sweat. "If he can survive for five hours like this, he'll be lucky to be alive."
Xin Jie's heart skipped a beat. He turned to run outside, but someone came to report, "There is a lady outside who says her surname is Dai and she wants to see Mr. Zhang."
Wear?
Xin Jie's mind went blank for a moment, then, as if he had finally grasped a lifeline, he went out himself to welcome the person in.
Dai Zining frowned as she looked at Zhang Chenglin, who was lying on the bed with a pale face: "How did you get injured like this?"
Xin Jie quickly explained Zhang Chenglin's situation to Dai Zining. Dai Zining spoke almost without hesitation: "Bring him to my house. The Japanese could find him here at any time, and he could be killed at any moment."
"Miss," the military doctor said hesitantly after hearing Dai Zining's words, "If he's moved around any further in his current state, he'll probably die even more..."
"Enough with the nonsense!" Dai Zining's tone was unquestionable: "He'll only have a chance of survival if we take him to my house."
The military doctor was about to say something when he turned around and saw that Xin Jie had already had a stretcher brought over, ready to move the person.
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