Lan Xiaolong's new novel "Winter and the Lion" tells the story of the Battle of Chosin Lake in the "Seventh Company of Steel"

"Winter and the Lion" book cover Courtesy of the People's Literature Publishing House

Beijing, 13 Oct (China News Service) -- The famous writer Lan Xiaolong's latest novel, "Winter and the Lion," was recently published by the People's Literature Publishing House, telling the story of the "Seventh Company of Steel" fighting in the Battle of Chosin Lake in the Korean War.

Wu Qianli, Wu Wanli, Mei Sheng, Tan Ziwei, Lei Gong, Yu Congrong, Pinghe... "Winter and the Lion" shows the cruelty and greatness of the Battle of Chosin Lake with the character group portraits, interpreting the brotherhood, comradeship, and family conditions of the birth and death, in order to pay tribute to the most lovely people.

"Understanding" and "Proof" of the Battle of Chosin Lake

The main setting of the story of Winter and the Lion is the Battle of Chosin Lake on the Eastern Front of the Second Battle of the Korean War. At the turn of the autumn and winter of 1950, the Ninth Corps, where the Seventh Penetration Company was originally stationed in East China, was urgently requisitioned to the Chosin Lake Battlefield in Korea. Because there was uninterrupted air reconnaissance by the US army during the day, in order to avoid exposure, the soldiers of the Ninth Corps traveled for three weeks in the extreme cold of nearly minus 40 degrees Celsius, covertly engaging the enemy, and completing the division and encirclement of the US army. Before the 100,000 volunteer soldiers launched a general offensive, the American army was unaware... In the end, our volunteer army relied on great sacrifice spirit and war wisdom to defeat the Ace Unit of the US Army, the First Marine Division.

"Winter and the Lion" leads the reader to feel the greatness and indomitability of the volunteer soldiers in this war through the description of the seventh interspersed connection.

In the novel, Wu Qianli, the commander of the Seventh Company, is a character of the backbone of the nation, with both the courage of a hero, the wisdom of a commanding officer, and a moving responsibility. He fought with his eldest brother so that his younger brother's generation could not have to fight. Mei Sheng, the instructor of the Seventh Company, has a deep attachment to his wife and daughter, and he may be the person who is most eager to "go home" in the Seventh Company, so when the Seventh Company reaches one-fifth of the time, the instructor will also roar, "We just want to go home with the broken ship!" Every single one! Every one! However, in the most dangerous times, he would also use his beloved bicycle to drag explosives into the smoke.

Lei Gong, the commander of the artillery platoon, was the 17th soldier of the Seventh Company and was also recognized by the whole company as a father-like "Lei Dad". The severe cold of Chosin Lake made the only heavy weapon mortar of the Seventh Company freeze to the chest, the shells could not be loaded, and the battle situation was extremely tight, Lei Gong roared angrily, "Can't shoot out the shells, Lao Tzu himself is the shells", grabbed the shovel and went to block the bullets for his comrades, shouted the battle slogan of the Seventh Company, "Kill from me", and pushed to zero distance with his flesh...

"Lions don't belong to winter, but lions in winter are still lions." This group of warriors of the Seventh Company is the lion who guards the gate of the country with his flesh. In the chosin lake battlefield, they relied on the "three-eight big cover" to resist the aircraft and tanks of the US army, and fought against the cold of minus forty degrees with thin cotton uniforms, "almost frozen to death, but still in pursuit"... Such a war needs to be understood, such a sacrifice needs to be proved, and "Winter and the Lion" is such a "understanding" and "proof".

In the preface to the book, Lan Xiaolong reveals that his father had participated in the Korean War as a military doctor, but he had always lacked a deep understanding of the true meaning of the Korean War. By chance, Lan Xiaolong saw a photo of an eighteen-year-old warrior, "he held an orange (maybe a pastry), holding on to the music, a little ignorant, full of life, a little jumpy", and then was poked, resulting in a strong desire to create. Lan Xiaolong sighed, "He's really young. They're so young."

The book portrays the growth of such an eighteen-year-old warrior Wu Wanli: as a teenager, he is a little naughty, a little ignorant, and joins the army with his second brother Wu Qianli for "longer out of breath". On the military column rushing to Korea, on the battlefield of Chosin Lake, Wanli's sense of responsibility for his homeland was awakened little by little, and he also understood more and more where the passion flowing on the second brother and his comrades-in-arms came from...

Young beings like Wu Wanli guarded the world behind them for the sake of their homeland.

A prequel to "Soldier Assault", which tells the story of the "Seventh Company of Steel" entering the Dprk

Fifteen years ago, Lan Xiaolong's screenwriting work "Soldier Assault" was launched, and the image of the "Seventh Company of Steel" Xu Sanduo, Shi Jin, Gao Cheng, Wu Liuyi and other soldiers created in the play, as well as the battle song of "Seven Companies of Steel", "A thunderbolt and a sword, a group of fierce tigers and seven companies of steel; the will of steel, iron blood to defend the country and protect the homeland...", has touched countless audiences and touched people deeply.

At the ceremony of joining the company in many places, Wu Liuyi once introduced the history of the "Seventh Company of Steel": "During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, almost all of the Seventh Company of Steel was killed and cancelled, but the three soldiers who were covered by all the company people returned with nine deaths. They brought back the will of one hundred and seven martyrs to rebuild the Seven Companies of Steel on these three young men with an average age of seventeen! Since then, the Seventh Company of Steel has lived with their martyrs forever! ”

And "Winter and the Lion" writes the bloody history of the "Seventh Company of Steel" in the Korean battlefield: wu qianli, the 162nd soldier of the seventh company, Wu Wanli, the 677th soldier, Mei Sheng, the 135th soldier, the 17th soldier Lei Gong, the 305th soldier Yu Congrong, the 623rd soldier Pinghe, and the close comrade-in-arms tanziwei encountered by the seventh company in the battle, will all appear one by one, and the battle song of the "Seventh Company of Steel" will sound on the battlefield of Chosin Lake in Korea, and the theme of "I will take you home" will continue again.

It is reported that "Winter and the Lion" also accompanies the book with an excerpt from Lan Xiaolong's upcoming new work "War and Worship". "Winter and the Lion" depicts the Battle of Chosin Lake, while "War and Worship" depicts the tenacity and forbearance, indomitability and resistance of the Chinese people on many fronts during the Korean War, from military to diplomatic, reproducing the twists and turns of international politics in the 1950s. (End)

Source: China News Network