Siheyuan: Uncle Fuguì, the Commander Who Broke His Nephew’s Leg

Before the full-scale war against Japan began, he transmigrated into the Yan family of Heyuan County. They were a respectable scholarly family, but his father died as soon as he arrived, leaving only a nephew who taught at a private school. There were no Communist base areas nearby back then, only warlords and bandits everywhere. His nephew was a coward who feared death. He had just gotten married and wanted nothing more than to live a quiet, stable life. In Shanxi Province, without guns in your hands, you were at the mercy of others. He gritted his teeth, went up into the mountains to become an outlaw, and built up an armed force. That year, Yan Zhennan was only fifteen. With an old, unreliable rifle on his back and a dozen starving poor men at his side, he managed to put down roots in the ravines of northwestern Shanxi. By 1939, his nephew Yan Fugui had a son. When he learned that his second uncle was a bandit chief, he feared being implicated, so he hurriedly packed up and took all the money Yan Zhennan had left in his care! That money was meant to buy guns and cannons. Because of that, the mountain stronghold lacked guns and cannons, and its firepower was too weak. The Japanese seized their chance, breached the stockade, and inflicted heavy casualties on the brothers-in-arms. After the liberation of Beiping, on the eve of the Yangtze Crossing Campaign, Yan Zhennan arrived at the courtyard house. He gave his useless nephew a brutal beating! And even…