Eastern (Full Three Volumes)

Author: Wei Wei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: The novel comprehensively reflects the great victory of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea through its depiction of the Korean battlefield and rural life in China. Company Commander Guo Xiang returns home to visit his mother and learns of the U.S. landing at Incheon. He and his comrade Yang Xue return to the unit early. They were childhood friends, and Guo secretly loved Yang Xue, but Captain Lu Xirong had tricked Yang into falling for him and was preparing to marry her soon. Yang was determined to go to the front lines, while Lu Xirong believed Guo was undermining their relationship. At this time, a soldier deserted the unit. It turned out to be Wang Dafu, known as the "troublesome mule," who felt the revolution was over and his hometown had been divided, so his mother no longer had to beg for food. Guo locked him up. The Party Central Committee decided to form the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, and soldiers eagerly registered. Under the education of the regiment's political commissar, Wang Dafu resolved to defeat the U.S. and not return home. Company Commander Deng Jun returned to the unit early from the hospital. The entire regiment rushed to, determined to fight a good battle abroad, but Lu Xirong ordered the troops to disperse to the sides of the highway, disrupting the battle plan. Then enemy planes came to bomb, and Guo couldn't resist using his submachine gun. Many soldiers followed suit, forcing the enemy planes to flee. Lu Xirong wanted to punish Guo, but Company Commander Deng Jun affirmed Guo and the soldiers' "positive air defense." After the battle, the Chinese Volunteer Army finally stabilized the Korean situation. The situation in the rear was also severe, with landlords and rich peasants spreading rumors and sabotaging efforts, village secretaries being lazy, and many poor and landless peasants selling the land they had been allotted, leading to severe polarization in rural areas. The upper levels promptly called for pilot agricultural cooperatives. The front-line battle intensified as MacArthur boasted that the Korean War would end by Christmas, pouring all his forces into a general offensive. The Chinese army resisted step by step and prepared for the second campaign. Deng Jun's regiment annihilated the Lihui Seventh Division and was ordered to march 140 li urgently to prevent three U.S. divisions from retreating to Pyongyang, both tasks were completed successfully, creating the U.S. "Dark December" and ending the second campaign. Lu Xirong's performance in Korea was consistently poor, causing multiple battle losses, and the regiment's party committee decided to give him a suspension of party membership. Yang Xue was deeply hurt when she realized Lu Xirong's true nature. Lu Xirong even faked a scene, injured his own leg, and was removed from the unit and sent back home. Guo Xiang was wounded heroically in battle, and the female violinist Xu Fang from the cultural troupe saved his life with a blood transfusion. After recovering, he repeatedly distinguished himself in battle. Unfortunately, Yang Xue lost her life on the battlefield to U.S. aircraft. It wasn't until July 1953 that Guo Xiang's right leg was shot off and amputated in Shenyang, finally leaving the Korean battlefield. The provincial party committee appointed him as the party secretary of his hometown, and Company Commander Deng Jun presented him with the medals of "Hero of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" and "First-Class Combat Hero of the Volunteer Army." His girlfriend Xu Fang also rushed to see him, and he eagerly greeted her.