Chapter 42: The Brightest Red!

Ye Yan'an was already accustomed to Wu Shanhe's penchant for keeping people in suspense.

She immediately looked at Wu Shanhe with a radiant smile, wearing a playful, spoiled expression as she urged, "Grandpa Wu, please tell us already! Everyone is waiting."

Wu Shanhe wore a peculiar smile. "The captured artillery pieces had our entire regiment buzzing with joy. Many soldiers swarmed around those guns, touching them and marveling at them. A few days earlier, the regiment commander was talking in his sleep, mumbling about wanting an artillery platoon, and sure enough, one actually arrived."

"At the time, the commander grinned from ear to ear, patted the barrel of a cannon, and shouted, 'Ha! Now I can even teach our brigade commander a lesson!'"

"That very day, he excitedly took the newly formed artillery platoon to show off in front of the brigade commander. But when he came back that evening, his head was drooping, and he kept smoking cigarette after cigarette. When I asked him where the artillery platoon was since they didn't come back, the commander replied that they had been 'borrowed' by the brigade commander."

"Huh?"

Sun Ting looked dazed for a moment before bursting into laughter once again.

The live chat room was instantly flooded with fiery comments.

"Hahaha... I knew it!"

"I never would have imagined that Grandpa Ye, who has always been indifferent to fame and fortune, used to be so showy when he was young."

"Duh, if a young man isn't bold and flamboyant, can he even be called a young man?"

"I just want to know, did they ever get that artillery platoon back?"

"No way! An artillery platoon? Do you know how precious that was during those times!"

After her laughter subsided, Sun Ting turned her gaze back to Ye Yuan. "Grandpa Ye, is what Grandpa Wu said true? Especially the part about the artillery platoon?"

Though Ye Yuan sat up straight and maintained a proper posture, a look of awkwardness still lingered on his face.

While he didn't answer directly, his reaction tacitly confirmed Wu Shanhe's story.

Seeing this, Sun Ting did not dwell on the matter further. Instead, she asked softly, "Grandpa Ye, I actually have one more question today, one that has puzzled me for a very long time."

"Why haven't I seen any of your other family members, aside from your granddaughter, Yan'an?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Sun Weiguo, watching the live broadcast in front of his television, felt his heart skip a beat.

He knew the truth of the matter, yet he hadn't expected Ye Yan'an to raise this question directly on the air.

"This stubborn girl!"

Sun Weiguo furrowed his brow. "Why would she ask about that! I should have reminded her beforehand not to just blurt out whatever comes to mind!"

Upon hearing this question, both Ye Yuan and Wu Shanhe experienced subtle shifts in their expressions.

Sun Ting instantly noticed the change in their moods.

She inwardly cursed herself for a fool, but the words were already out, and there was no taking them back. She had no choice but to brace herself and press on.

***

"This..."

With a solemn expression, Wu Shanhe turned his gaze toward Ye Yuan. "Commander, this..."

Ye Yuan sat motionless, like an immovable monument carved in stone.

After a few tense seconds, Ye Yuan let out a deep sigh. "I never intended to speak of these things, but since you have asked, I might as well tell you."

On the stage below, Ye Yan'an instantly tensed up, her small hands clenched into fists, her large eyes filled with complex emotions as she looked up at Ye Yuan on the platform.

Cong Gui, sitting beside Ye Yan'an, wore an identical expression.

He had once accompanied Ye Yuan and Ye Yan'an to the Ye family ancestral graves, where he had seen the grave of Ye Yuan's late wife alongside five cenotaphs.

Because of this, he was certain that the causes of death for Ye Yuan's five children were by no means ordinary.

Sun Ting looked at Ye Yuan with an apologetic gaze.

If she could, she would gladly turn back the clock to the moment before she had asked that question.

While she was deeply curious about the matter, she certainly did not wish to make Ye Yuan rip open his bloody, scar-tissue-covered wounds in front of everyone to see.

"Let me start with my eldest son,"

Ye Yuan began slowly, his eyes trembling slightly. "My eldest son was named Ye Bao. He was born in the second year after my wife and I were married."

"He always stayed by my side, experiencing countless battles since childhood. In April 1945, at Mount Xuefeng, the Japanese invaders knew their defeat was sealed, and they decided to launch a desperate, all-out counterattack in a vain attempt to reverse the tide."

"Our country threw everything we had into that battle, mobilizing a force of one hundred and ten thousand troops concentrated at Mount Xuefeng to hold the line and fend off the enemy's final desperate assault."

The entire studio was dead silent. Everyone listened with rapt attention to Ye Yuan's words.

In the chat room, lines of text scrolled past at a dizzying speed.

"The Battle of Mount Xuefeng! It was actually the Battle of Mount Xuefeng!"

"Old Hero Ye actually participated in the Battle of Mount Xuefeng back then!"

"What was the Battle of Mount Xuefeng?"

"Are you even a citizen of our country? That was the final major conventional battlefield showdown between our nation and the Japanese invaders!"

"The combined forces of both sides reached nearly two hundred thousand troops! It was the enemy's final, most frenzied desperate counterattack."

...

Ye Yuan took a deep breath, then continued in a voice as steady as he could manage:

"I led my troops to hold Tieshan and resist the enemy's advance. There was a vital mountain pass on the southeastern side of Tieshan. It wasn't suitable for an ambush, but it was a crucial strategic choke point for the enemy's reinforcing troops. We had no choice but to hold it."

***

"Everyone knew that holding that position was an immensely difficult task, and the chances of dying there were nine out of ten. Yet even so, many soldiers scrambled and fought for the chance to defend it."

"My son Ye Bao came to me voluntarily, asking to go with the troops, and I agreed."

"Ah?"

A look of utter astonishment appeared on Sun Ting's face.

Knowing full well how unimaginably perilous that place was, why would Ye Yuan send his own son there?

"Are you wondering why I let my son go?"

Ye Yuan asked softly.

Sun Ting nodded reflexively.

"He may have been my son, but first and foremost, he was a steadfast Party member."

Ye Yuan's words carried the weight of iron. "Moreover, weren't the men who volunteered to hold that position also someone else's son, someone else's husband, someone else's father? If they could go, why couldn't my son?"

These words left Sun Ting completely speechless.

"In the end, I formed a temporary regiment to guard the pass, but I had to hold the enemy's frontal charge and couldn't break away."

Ye Yuan's voice began to tremble. "During that time, the soldiers guarding the pass never sent a single plea for help to our division headquarters. They only reported the tactical situation continuously, guaranteeing they could hold out for twenty-four hours..."

"That battle was too grueling..."

Wu Shanhe took over the narrative, tears glistening in his eyes. "The enemy's charges lasted for twenty-eight hours. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, but... not a single enemy reinforcement was able to join the battlefield!"

"By the thirtieth hour, the enemy forces broke and fled in disarray. The commander personally led a troop in hot pursuit and ordered me to lead a company to reinforce the pass. When I arrived there... the place was in utter ruin, with enemy corpses piled high across the ground..."

"And... what about our men?"

Sun Ting asked instinctively.

With profound reverence in his voice, Wu Shanhe replied, "When I reached the area, the enemy's reinforcing troops had already chosen to retreat. I saw a single red flag fluttering atop a mountain peak. We charged up the mountain and discovered that the entire regiment had perished to the last man..."

"Every single one of them was riddled with countless bullet holes. Scarcely a single body was intact, but..."

"Even in death, those men were still holding fast to the flagstaff, refusing to let the red flag fall!"

"That flash of red was the most vivid red I have ever seen in my life!"