In 1935, Gao Yue crossed the Songpan Grasslands with the Red Army and reached the revolutionary base in Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia.
In 1937, the flames of war against Japan spread across the country. Gao Yue was assigned to southeastern Shanxi, where he began as a guerrilla squad leader and grew through the baptism of gunfire.
After being promoted to battalion commander, he joined the regular army, serving as a platoon leader in the 129th Division's Independent Regiment under Li Yunlong.
After enduring trials of blood and fire, he ultimately became commander of the division's reconnaissance regiment.
During the War of Liberation, he went from the Fourth Field Army to the Second Field Army, leading his troops through countless seemingly impossible missions and helping pave the way for New China with his distinguished service.
In the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he defended the country; in the self-defense war against Vietnam, he guarded the border.
The gunfire of the "Four Wars to Defend the Nation" echoed throughout his prime years.
He later devoted himself to modernizing national defense, becoming one of the founders of a century of defense development.
From a "Red Little Devil" who came out of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base area, to a general of the Republic, and then a builder of modern national defense, this was his life's course and a portrait of countless people of that era.
All for one belief: "May the people live forever, after the wheat has ripened five thousand times for the first time..."
This could have been a good anti-war novel. The writing is exquisite and the plot is first-rate. I enjoyed reading it. I haven't seen such a beautiful novel in many years!