Four Hundred Men Held the Rear, and for 14 Years, No Order to Retreat Came

Dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Red Army's victory in the Long March, and to the brave souls who risked everything in the people's war. You laid down your lives to pave the road to a brighter future. With a devotion that will never fade, we honor every undying spirit of loyalty.

I believe the opening chapters will draw huge traffic, because the story is even more explosive.

[War of Resistance Espionage · History · Spy Thriller · Special Forces · No Female Lead · Power Struggle · No Harem]

1935, the most perilous moment of the Red Army's Long March. Four hundred elite soldiers are selected to form the Southern Sichuan Guerrilla Column. Their commander personally briefs them: tie down enemy forces and cover the main force as it crosses the river. The mission is accomplished, but the order to withdraw never comes. They lose all contact with the organization.

An even more devastating blow comes from within. Wang Yitao, the person in charge, defects to the enemy, taking the codebook and all the tactical intelligence with him. Political commissar Xu Ce is gravely wounded in a fierce battle at Changguansi and dies heroically while covering his comrades' retreat. Yu Zehong takes command and leads the remnants through more than twenty counties across Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou.

For the next fourteen years, enemy forces from the three provinces repeatedly encircle and suppress them. One leader after another falls, and generations of soldiers are trapped in the mountains, surviving thanks to villagers who risk their lives to bring them supplies. They don't know the War of Resistance has been won, that the War of Liberation has begun, or that the outside world has been utterly transformed. From one generation to the next, they pass along just three words: “Wait for orders.”

In 1949, the People's Liberation Army marches south. Several ragged “farmers” stop the vanguard of the Second Field Army and ask in trembling voices, “Is the commander still alive?” The news is passed up the chain of command. The commander falls silent for a long while, then breaks down in tears. The withdrawal order, fourteen years late, finally arrives.

Of the original four hundred, only 137 remain.

This is a true story. The names are fictional.