Iron and Blood, Forging Souls in the Flames of Resistance Against Japan

The Lin family of Cangzhou was steeped in books and martial arts.

Fifth Young Master Lin Xuan had won ten silver dollars playing cricket at the foot of a wall. He came home with mud on his trouser legs. His grandfather slapped a newspaper onto the table. The words "North China in Peril" stood out starkly. He said that the things in those books Lin Xuan could never get himself to read had become reality.

A cannon roared at the Marco Polo Bridge. His grandfather sent him south to Huangpu, stuffing the secrets of Tongbi Fist into his bundle. The Lin family's fists had never been meant to bully anyone.

On the first night of the Battle of Shanghai, only when shells came raining down did he learn that textbooks never taught you how to tremble. At the bloody mill of Luodian, Qiulan held out her arm and said, "Take mine." Outside Baoshan, all six hundred men of Yao Ziqing's battalion died for their country. When the flag fell from the city wall, he bit through one of his teeth.

His eldest brother spent the family's entire fortune to buy German weapons. His second brother worked the corridors of power to secure supplies. His third brother became a traitor in Tianjin. His fourth sister infiltrated the military intelligence service, living by the knife's edge. His sixth sister wrote slogans in a Yan'an cave dwelling. The seven members of the family gradually went their separate ways. Some stood beneath the same flag, while others were divided by a line no one could see clearly.

On the night Nanjing fell, Zhuzi came running back with an iron box, covered in blood. He handed it over. "Young Master, this can get us justice." A woodcutter's cleaver engraved with the character "Shi" was stuck in the muddy ground, its handle covered in blood.

Eight years of war tempered a piece of iron into a blade. Wanjialing, Shanggao, Changde, Mount Xuefeng. He fought his last battle, then sat alone until dawn, without cheering.

Later, he refused the handwritten letter of recruitment and went to Hong Kong. Qiulan stood beside him. The wind blew from the north. Gazing in that direction, he said, "One day, I will go back."