Absolutely Blocked

Three months ago, Jin Yiwei dragged Li Yan, Zhangzhou Anti-Japanese Thousand Chief, from under his bed. No one knows why he came out alive. After being released from prison, he was thrown into Xiangtang Fort, the most shabby frontier fortress in the northwest. The number of soldiers was less than three hundred, the food supply could not last more than three months, and the usable knives in the armory dropped iron slag at the touch of it. The last general led the troops on a patrol, but none of the 800 people came back. Everyone said: The imperial court no longer wanted this castle. But Li Yan squatted on the city wall, pinched a handful of dirt, and said, "I want to live." There were no soldiers, so he recruited them from deserters in Liaodong. When there was no food, he went to grab it from the Tatars. He didn't have a crossbow, so he dug mines by himself. If the court wouldn't give it to him, he would take it himself. One night he sat on the top of the city and counted the stars, and said to his soldiers: "I learned one thing in prison - a person only needs one thought to live." The soldier asked: "What are your thoughts?" He said: "Turn this castle into a place that can stand." Later, people on the grassland called him "the iron nail of Xiangtang Fort". Azuma said he was "blocking the road." The memorial in the court said, "This person cannot be retained." And he was just waiting for someone. Wait for the person who said to him outside the prison gate, "You can still live", to tell him the truth.