The Eighteen Iron-Blooded Riders

In the bitter winter of 1941, the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi intercepts top-secret Japanese intelligence about “Operation Sky Mist”: the Japanese plan to assemble an elite force and launch a surprise attack on the Chongqing Arsenal, crippling a vital link in China's wartime arms industry. The operation could decide the nation's fate. Headquarters urgently orders Long Yang, company commander of a special operations unit, to select eighteen highly skilled, powerful fighters and form the “Ironblood Escort Team.” Their mission is to deliver the intelligence secretly to the Ministry of National Defense in Chongqing. The team is ambushed by Japanese special forces as soon as they set out. Soon after fighting their way free, they encounter bandits blocking their path in the mountains. Long Yang outwits them with tactical cunning, kills their leader, and clears the way. Deep in the Qinling Mountains, they come face-to-face with the Japanese special forces pursuing them. Thanks to their superb martial skills and advantageous terrain, the team kills more than twenty enemies, but loses three of its own. Passing through northern Sichuan, they are joined by Li Lin, a local female guerrilla commander. Highly skilled in martial arts and able to fire a gun with either hand, she knows the terrain and enemy situation inside out, and repeatedly devises solutions in moments of crisis. After entering Nationalist-controlled territory, a military intelligence detachment throws up one obstacle after another in the name of “verifying their identities.” Long Yang and Li Lin deftly handle the situation, protecting the secret while avoiding conflict with friendly forces. As they cross the primeval forests of the Daba Mountains, the team is suddenly attacked by a pack of wolves. The soldiers light torches, form ranks, and fight their way out. After more than twenty days of narrowly escaping death, only twelve of the original eighteen remain. At last, they reach Chongqing. Long Yang hands the bloodstained intelligence to the Ministry of National Defense. Armed with it, the Nationalist forces prepare in advance and successfully foil Operation Sky Mist. This legendary, blood-soaked escort across a thousand miles is passed down through the mountains and rivers for years to come.