Chapter 139: Rush Assault on Sanlisuo

On the night of November 27, 1950, the mountain trench south of Tokugawa was so cold it could freeze a chin; Li Ping'an, leading a newly replenished company, stood among the 113th Division's troops, stamping his feet for warmth. The Division Commander stood on an ammunition box, speaking as his breath rose in thick white vapor: "Comrades, we must outrun a car's wheels on foot! We must seize Sanlisuo before the Americans do, so we need to cover over seventy kilometers in just a dozen hours. We must learn from our predecessors, uphold the spirit of not fearing hardship or fatigue, have iron‑like will, overcome difficulties. Comrades, do you have confidence?"

Yes, yes, yes.

Recruit Wang Da Niu muttered softly: "In this ice and snow, can we outrun a car?"

Even if we can't, we must run! Li Ping'an rubbed his frozen hands, declaring that this time they'd choke the neck of the U. S. 9th Army!

When the bamboo whistle sounded, the soldiers set off with over seventy jin of gear. Their thin cotton jackets could not block the minus‑30 °C chill, so Li Ping'an handed the captured American wool socks to the recruits: "Wear them over your straw shoes; they'll give you an extra bout of warmth."

Just ten li into the march they hit a problem—ice‑slick mountain paths. A soldier fell into a ditch; Li Ping'an tied his leg bindings into a rope and hauled him up: "Hand in hand, we'll string ourselves together and go!"

The unit moved like a long dragon under the moonlit night. In the latter half of the night, Wang Da Niu panted and asked: "Company Commander, where are we now?"

Li Ping'an produced a compass: "We're only halfway; we must cross the Wulong River before dawn!"

When crossing the blockade line, the most tense moment arrived as a U. S. reconnaissance aircraft appeared overhead. Li Ping'an thought quickly: "Throw all the branches! Wave them wildly as we move!" The plane fell for it, and the pilot even flapped his wings.

Tie Zhu clicked his tongue: "Company Commander, how did you know the plane would mistake us?"

The American soldiers saw us all the same! They couldn't tell Asian faces apart and thought we were Korean 'bangzi'! Li Ping'an grinned.

Climbing the thousand‑meter mountain, many soldiers collapsed from exhaustion. Li Ping'an snatched a frail recruit's backpack and carried it himself, shouldering three packs and stumbling as he walked. A young soldier wiped his eyes: "Company Commander, I'm dragging the rear…"

He chuckled! Li Ping'an shoved a piece of candy—scraped from an American canned food—into his mouth: "Is it sweet?"

At dawn, they finally saw the silhouette of the mountain at Sanlisuo. Suddenly a vehicle engine roared ahead—the American vanguard had arrived!

The whole company charged! Li Ping'an was the first to rush down the slope. The soldiers, like tigers descending a mountain, seized the hilltop five minutes before the vehicle.

Wang Da Niu collapsed on the ground, foaming at the mouth: "Mother… running made my guts want to vomit…"

Before they could catch their breath, the American counter‑attack came. Tanks rolled forward, planes bombed, and the position instantly turned into a sea of fire. Li Ping'an spotted a trick: focus on the officers! When an officer falls, the soldiers go blind!

He led the sharpshooters to single out officers; a U. S. colonel leapt from a jeep only to meet the King of Hell. Tanks barreled like headless flies, some even crashing into each other.

When the battle reached its fiercest, Li Ping'an improvised the 337th Regiment's Three‑No tactic: "Listen up! No attacking iron turtles, no engaging close infantry, only target officers' vehicles!"

The tactic worked. The American convoy jammed together on the mountain road, becoming a live target. A recruit used a cluster grenade to blow up five cars, cheering: "Company Commander! I took down a string of candied hawthorn!"

But ammunition was running low. Li Ping'an led men down the mountain to scavenge discarded American weapons, prying open an ammo box with his bayonet. Suddenly, a soldier triggered a booby trap.

Everyone stay still! Li Ping'an lay prone, listening: the Americans had buried a mine under the box!

He carefully cleared the mines, his sweat freezing into ice beads as it fell. On the fifth one he hit a jumping mine, nearly getting hit by a steel ball. Tie Zhu broke out in cold sweat: "Company Commander, are you performing tricks right under the King of Hell's eyelid?"

On the third day, the western Longyuan Village sent another urgent call. Li Ping'an volunteered: "I'll take a platoon to reinforce!"

The fighting at Longyuan Village grew even fiercer. The Americans charged like madmen; only twenty‑plus remained on the position. Li Ping'an set up a captured heavy machine gun, letting the barrel glow red before spraying urine to cool it. A soldier ignited an incendiary round, grabbed an enemy, and rolled them down the cliff.

Brother! Li Ping'an's eyes blood‑red, the machine gun swept down a swath of Americans—revenge for you!

At the most critical moment, Cooking Squad Leader Lao Wang brandished a kitchen knife and joined the fight: "Damn it! Can't even cook, now can't even hack the Japanese Soldiers?"

When reinforcements arrived, the Sanlisuo position was piled with American corpses and wrecked cars. After tallying, the whole company had killed over two hundred enemies, destroyed fifty‑eight cars, and suffered fewer than twenty casualties.

At the debriefing meeting, the Division Commander led the applause: "You've created a miracle! But turning the point, there are still issues! Which company showed lax battlefield discipline?"

Li Ping'an stood up: "Report! Our company had a recruit who randomly grabbed loot and triggered a mine."

Which company caused a delay to the aircraft?

Our company's pursuit speed wasn't fast enough; we let a group of enemies escape.

The Division Commander nodded: "Knowing the shortcomings is good. Now to discuss casualties—" his voice lowered, "the entire army suffered over three thousand frostbite cases, and non‑combat losses are severe!"

All company commanders bowed their heads. Li Ping'an added: "Our company had soldiers whose military shoes fell apart; we suggest issuing two extra pairs next time."

After the meeting dispersed, Li Ping'an crouched in the trench carving bullet casings. When Tie Zhu arrived, he saw Li was engraving the names of fallen comrades.

"Company Commander, the headquarters said they want to commend us!"

Whether we get the merit or not, it doesn't matter. Li Ping'an buried the carved casings in the soil, telling the living brothers that as long as they all return home whole, that's enough.

At that moment, the Signalman delivered a newspaper; the front page read "Long Live the Army, Its Might Shakes Sanlisuo." Wang Da Niu stammered: "Long live the Chinese People's Volunteer Army! Long live the 38th Army!"

While the whole company cheered, Li Ping'an stared pensively toward the south. He recalled a letter from Ping Le that mentioned Beiping had its first snowfall. He wondered whether his sister had a thick cotton coat, and if she might be freezing.

"Missing home?" Lin Xueqing came over carrying a medical box. Her face still bore a black scorch from the artillery, and her eyes shone like stars.

"I miss the hot noodle soup my sister makes." Li Ping'an smiled, handed over a stethoscope made from a carved bullet casing and captured copper pieces—just a makeshift one.

When Lin Xueqing took it, she noticed delicate snowflakes etched on it. She gently pinned it to her white coat and turned to tend to the wounded.

At sunset over the western hills, Li Ping'an gathered the troops for relocation. Though weary, the soldiers' eyes gleamed. In this battle, they outran the wheels with their feet and bore steel with their will.

The unit vanished into dusk, and the mountain wind of Sanlisuo kept howling, as if narrating a tale of a straw‑shoeed army that wrote a legend in ice and snow.