"Return to the Legend of the Lüliang Heroes"

Author: Ma Feng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: From the founding of the People's Republic of China to 1966, it was a peak period for the creation and publication of long novels in China. Over a decade, a large number of works were produced, among which dozens had a widespread impact and reached the height of their time. These works adhered to the principles of socialist realism, using heartfelt enthusiasm and simple expressions to celebrate the arduous struggles and vibrant spirit of the Chinese people during different historical periods, including the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation, and the construction of socialism. They represented the highest achievements of long novel creation during that period and hold an extremely important position in the history of contemporary Chinese literature. With their unique charm, they have influenced generations of readers, enduring the test of time and. To present a more complete picture of the development of contemporary long novels and the state of long novel creation during that period, we have specially compiled and published the "Collected Works of Contemporary Chinese Long Novels" series.
I. The series is based on the "Selected Works of Long Novels" published by our press in the 1950s and 1960s, and the "Red Classics" series published in the 1990s, striving to include as many outstanding works as possible.
II. The publication dates of the works in the series are mostly between 1949 and 1965. Some multi-volume works have longer publication processes that extend beyond this period.
III. Due to various reasons, some works have had multiple revised editions. For this publication, we have selected the superior versions and conducted proofreading by referring to other editions.
On July 7, 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out, and Japanese imperialists launched an invasion against China. Due to the Kuomintang government's consistent surrender to Japan and the signing of numerous traitorous treaties, which solely oppressed and slaughtered the people while offering no resistance to Japan's, within less than three months, the Japanese invaders broke through the Great Wall, advancing along the Ping-Sui Railway and the Tongpu Railway into Inner Mongolia and Shanxi. At that time, the hundreds of thousands of Jin-Sui army merely put up a brief resistance before fleeing in panic; government officials, generals, and their wives, carrying the gold, silver, and jewelry they had accumulated through extortion, boarded trains and cars, rushing to the rear areas such as Xi'an and Chongqing. This only made the enemy even more ferocious, as they went on a killing spree, as if there was no one in sight. Large parts of Shanxi and Inner Mongolia fell into enemy hands, and millions of compatriots suffered under the enemy's iron hooves. Fortunately, the Communist Party-led Eighth Route Army advanced to the rear areas to fight the war of resistance. Among them was General He Long, who led the 120th Division in a grand march to Jin-Northwest. At that time, it was the depths of winter, with biting north winds and flying snow. The soldiers of the 120th Division fought fiercely with the enemy in the ice and snow, delivering a heavy blow to the frenzied Japanese invaders.
In the spring of 1938, they successively recaptured seven counties: Ningwu, Wuzhai, Shenchi, Kelan, Pianquan, Hequ, and Baode, and advanced into the rear areas of Inner Mongolia, establishing the Daqing Mountains. In the spring of 1940, under the leadership of the Communist Party, the people of Jin-Sui, various anti-Japanese organizations, and anti-Japanese forces established a democratic government. From then on, the military and civilians worked together more closely to fight the enemy, sacrificing blood and life to attack the invaders everywhere. They liberated over twenty counties, shattered the enemy's countless "sweeps," and persisted in the eight-year War of Resistance, consolidating and expanding the Jin-Sui liberated area.
Under the leadership of the Communist Party and the anti-Japanese democratic government, many patriotic young men in the Jin-Sui liberated area joined the Eighth Route Army and guerrilla units. Those who stayed at home joined the militia. The militia engaged in production in peacetime and trained in combat in their spare time. During wartime, they took up rifles, fire guns, landmines, and hand grenades, fought the enemy, protected the people, and struck the enemy day and night, coordinating with the main forces. Especially since implementing Chairman Mao's principle of "squeezing the enemy," the military and civilians created various tactics—both open and secret, soft and hard—to organize "work-exchange explosions," practice "combining labor and martial arts," and shatter the enemy's "policy of encroachment," "policy of leniency," "three-all policy," and several "strengthened public order campaigns." They squeezed the enemy's control area, gradually shrinking it from a broad area to a line, and then to isolated strongholds, defending the Jin-Sui liberated area like a fortress made of copper walls and iron battlements.
During these eight years of struggle, the people wrote many moving stories with blood and tears, giving rise to countless militia heroes. At the Jin-Sui Border Region Hero Conference in 1944, there were as many as one hundred and twenty-four outstanding militia heroes. Among them, some were "explosion kings," some were "sharpshooters," some were "heroic saboteurs," some were "model anti-spies," some were "brave and wise leaders," and some were "genius commanders," each with their own strengths and skills. It was truly a scene of a hundred flowers blooming, each one vibrant red. Like the heroic struggles of many militia heroes that shook the heavens and earth, and battles such as the sieges of Puguosai, Loufan, Sanjiao, and Chakou, which were unprecedented models in history—describing them all would take years. Now, we will tell only one story, though it concerns only a small village, but it can still reveal the outline of the arduous struggles of the people in the Jin-Sui liberated area during the eight-year War of Resistance. These idle words are just like the opening fanfare!