After The Vicious Cannon Fodder Was Reborn Pt 1

THE VETERAN DOES NOT DIE

Of course. Other than Shen Yu's fans who were always the exception.

While his fans and Shen Yu's fans were caught in a new round of smack talk, Tao Mu also took the members of the "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" production team and other actors to various places to interview the veterans who were still alive after the Anti-Japanese War.

".....To kill one Japanese enemy, we had to sacrifice four soldiers. Our equipment was of poor quality, so we had to just rely on luck and determination to survive.....There was no ammunition, so we could only charge forward with gritted teeth. Throwing ourselves at the Japanese.....taking them down with us....."

"I was only sixteen years old when I joined the army, and I didn't understand anything, I was completely illiterate. I knew that we had been bullied by the Japanese and had no way to survive. We will die if we fight, we will die if we don't fight.....At that time, the commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army said 'Fight to the end, remain unswerving. So long as the enemy army will not leave the country, then the Sichuan army will not return to home.".....In my village, a total of five fellow villagers including myself joined the army together. After one battle, four died.....I dared not think about whether I would survive to see tomorrow or not. You simply can't even see the enemy on the battlefield at all, and end up likely being hit....."

"Too many people have died. A comrade who shared a smoke with you in the trench during the day may be gone by night....."

"Faced with tens of thousands of Japanese troops, our troops fought for three days and three nights, until even the last surviving one was gone, no one surrendered, no one retreated. Even the division commander died for the country. I was dug out from a pile of corpses by the army that passed by later....."

When we look at military-related historical materials, there has always been a saying that "if there was no Sichuan, there would be no army." This sentence actually originated from the Anti-Japanese War. After the Lugou Bridge Incident, the Sichuan Army, who had been far away from the warring area, took the initiative to join and fight against the enemy. The seven army factions of the Sichuan Army, totaling more than 400,000 people, went to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War to fight and shed blood. Since then, a large number of young adults have been sent to the front line every year. In the eight years of the Anti-Japanese War, a total of more than 3 million troops were provided. Which accounted for more than one-fifth of the country's total military resources.

That was to say, among the troops participating in the Anti-Japanese War at that time, almost every five soldiers there was a Sichuanese. That was why there was a saying that "if there was no Sichuan, there would be no army". And the most worth mentioning was that after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Sichuan Army took the initiative to propose to leave their homeland of Sichuan and offer their part in the Anti-Japanese War. Back then, the official party army believed that the Sichuan Army was the worst local army, with inferior equipment, lax military discipline, and poor quality of soldiers. The commander-in-chief of the first theater of operations at that time even said bluntly, "I don't want this kind of rotten troops."

However, during the entire Anti-Japanese War, this local army with the worst quality in the eyes of the troops of the same period never regretted fighting to the death and never surrendered.

In the Battle of Songhu, there were more than 4,000 people in the 26th Division of the Sichuan Army. When they were evacuated from the battlefield, there were less than 600 people left, and the casualties exceeded 85%. In the Battle of Nanjing, the Sichuan Army ran out of ammunition and supplies, the military commander chose to die in the service of the country. In the Taierzhuang military campaign, Battle of Teng County, almost all the Sichuan troops defending it were killed and none were captured as prisoners of war.....

The historical background of the TV series "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" was that during the Battle of Songhu, the male protagonist was an officer in Sichuan Province who graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy. Therefore, when Tao Mu led the members of the production team of "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" on this interview of veterans, the first stop was in the Sichuan area.

The veterans who survived the Anti-Japanese War were basically in their nineties now. With wrinkled skin, white hair and gummy teeth, as well as age spots on the face and hands, they were barely even able to speak clearly.

However, when they talked about the past events during the Anti-Japanese War and those comrades who died on the battlefield, the past events accompanied by blood and fighting were still vivid in their minds. One of the veterans even confessed tearfully that he remembered where every comrade was buried.

Some people also showed Tao Mu and the production team the old photos taken at that time and various medals awarded during the war.

The old black-and-white photos have turned slightly yellow with the passage of time, and the edges and corners were worn and curled. A total of five teenagers were standing side by side. They were all fifteen or sixteen years old. In this era, they were all at the age where one had just entered high school. Every day, their days were filled with trivial troubles such as finishing their homework, skipping classes to go play at Internet cafes, and keeping their puppy love secret from their parents. However, a few decades ago, in the era when the country was invaded by foreign enemies, they had to carry inferior equipment and charge onto the battlefield to fight against the invaders.

The old man said, "This was a picture taken when the five of us from our village first joined the army." However, after the war, he was the only one who could return to his hometown alive. But the old man didn't come back completely intact either. One of his arms was lost during the war.

"When I recovered, my superiors said they would assign me to a local police station. I didn't agree. I said that I lost an arm, so how could I help the common people catch bad guys. If I can't catch bad guys, how could I be a policeman?"

"I am already more fortunate than my comrades who died in the war. I was able to survive and return to my hometown to be reunited with my family. I didn't want to be a burden to the country. Our country had yet to become strong and needed more useful people in more important positions."

"The motherland needed to be stronger. Only when it is stronger will it not be bullied by other countries." And his comrades-in-arms would not have died in vain.

"The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" was a typical Anti-Japanese War drama, in other words, a drama with a main male cast. There were not many roles for female characters, even the scenes of the heroine and the second female lead added together did not take up much of the plot.

Therefore, most of the people who followed Tao Mu to interview the veterans were men. For example, the male protagonist Zhan Bin, who was in his late forties, and several other veteran actors who were also in their 30s and 40s.

However, even these firm and steely men couldn't help but tear up when they heard the veterans recall those experiences. Not to mention the few women, using up two to three packs of tissues in a matter of moments.

In addition to Sichuan, Tao Mu went to Hunan, Yunnan and Guangxi provinces to interview the veterans of the Hunan, Yunnan and Guangxi troops who survived the Anti-Japanese War.

They interviewed many veterans of the Anti-Japanese War, and took many precious pictures of the old photos the veterans kept, as well as various shiny medals that have been shined and well-maintained all this time. They also went to the local Anti-Japanese War Museum and the Martyrs Cemetery. When they finally returned to Beijing, Director Zhou Hong said to Tao Mu with redden eyes: "I am very fortunate that I filmed such a TV series with all my heart. We used the best artitude, the most sincere acting, to complete such a work. I hope our efforts will not dishonour them."

"I hope our efforts have lived up to that history."

There was no inserting of dramatic plot point, no jokingly uglifying or weakening the enemy invaders, and no putting too much concern for the so-called market demand and audience tastes, but upholding a serious and professional attitude by doing everything possible to restore the genuine history of that era.

Allowing more people to know that every inch of mountains and rivers signifies every drop of blood shed, the glory of the veterans does not die, and the war of resistance was not easy.