Chapter 145: Bloody Battle at Wild Wolf Ravine

"Drip-drop, drip-drop, drip-drop-drop..."

Amidst the billowing smoke and haze that made the sky barely visible, a young soldier clutched a battered brass bugle and blew into it with all his might. His cheeks bulged completely, and the sound pouring from the bugle seemed imbued with magic, inspiring everyone to press forward!

"Ah, ah!"
"Charge!"

Soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, wielding broadswords, surged out of the trenches and lunged straight at the enemy positions!

"Tusjikiki!..."

With a wave of his combat saber, the Japanese junior officer led a swarm of little devils charging forward as well!

With a chaotic rush, the two sides collided. Broadswords flashed, bayonets thrust wildly, and the battle was...

One-sided. The little devils were beaten back before long. This was simply the plot from the first episode; once this segment finished, they needed to shoot some small-scale skirmishes to fill in the gaps, just like they did during the production of *Emperor Wu of Han*.

After that, there was no need to overthink it; everyone could take a break since the mortar scene had already been filmed earlier.

As for the outcome of the earlier finger-guessing game, it actually didn't matter much. The people on both sides just wanted a fair solution. Once the result was decided, the victor—the infantry battalion commander Liu Gang—very magnanimously let his own troops play the part of the Japanese soldiers.

This was carrying forward the fine tradition of modesty. As a result, the cavalry battalion commander over there wasn't happy: "I want to play the little devils too!"

Very well, they almost started arguing again over who got to play the Japanese soldiers. Sometimes our revolutionary soldiers were just that interesting and utterly adorable.

Wu Xiang mulled it over: *Screw it, how it was divided earlier is how we'll play it now. Everyone stop bickering, what’s the point of all this fuss!*

Indeed, returning to the starting point might sound like a pointless toss-up, but in reality, it was a very good experience. Everyone cleared the air in their hearts and could now focus on filming properly.

Today was the third day of filming, and Wu Xiang had prepared two sequences. The battle scene from the first episode had already been filmed, leaving only the second sequence. This scene did not exist in the original version of *Drawing Sword*: the hand-to-hand combat at Wild Wolf Ravine!

This was a battle that appeared in the third chapter of the novel. Lacking sufficient weapons, ammunition, uniforms, and food, Li Yunlong devised this ambush.

In the novel, this bayonet fight was an independent event, but the television adaptation hadn't done it that way. In reality, it was adapted and used in various places—for instance, when the Independent Regiment was forced to retreat during the Japanese army's massive sweeping operations, a part of it was used here, though on a smaller scale. There was also the incident involving the Japanese observer delegation, which was, of course, based on historical reality.

Wu Xiang wanted to thoroughly develop this scene because he felt that taking it out on its own would make for fantastic viewing: the scale was grand, the tragedy was palpable, and it perfectly highlighted the heroic image!

Furthermore, it made a point: the Eighth Route Army of that era was truly impoverished, possessing practically nothing.

What did this align with? It aligned with the transformation of a penniless nobody into a high-status hero—the captivating theme of "development." Although the scene was tragic, it possessed profound educational significance.

Regardless of anything else, shooting this segment was essential. But why hadn't the original version filmed it?

It was very simple: the old version was essentially a low-cost anti-Japanese war drama.

Shooting a sequence like this wasn't easy; it required spending a lot of money!

It was winter at the time, and the troops had to lie in ambush on both sides of the road. Back then, the ground was covered in snow, and you had to manufacture that snow!

Why not just wait until winter to film, so you wouldn't have to manufacture snow?

That was true, but they couldn't wait until winter and couldn't do live-action filming because human endurance had its limits!

In the dead of winter, even if you were wearing a thick down jacket, try lying in a snowdrift in ambush for an entire night—think about it, could you handle that?

Of course, shooting a scene didn't take that long, but it was still freezing cold. If one take didn't work, wouldn't you have to shoot another? How could every single take go smoothly on the first try? What would happen to the subsequent shooting schedule if someone got frostbite? If you made someone sick, wouldn't you be responsible?

Therefore, for a scene like this, manufacturing snow was mandatory; they had no other choice!

Was what was written in the novel just made up, with no historical basis?

No, it was real! It was an authentic tactical case study of the 386th Brigade back in the day: they ambushed the Japanese for an entire night in the snow and pulled off a successful strike. And the clothes worn by the Eighth Route Army back then were certainly not thick down jackets!

Much of the novel drew upon historical battle cases, all of which had real prototypes. For example, the Yamazaki Battalion—which should actually be called the Okazaki Battalion—was the legendary and fiercely bloody Battle of Guanjiawan.

Now, if we wanted to faithfully restore the scenes from the original work and highlight the hardships faced by the Eighth Route Army at the time, there was only one path: manufacture snow!

Did they use snow-making machines?

Goodness, how expensive was that equipment? Besides, that stuff was freezing cold and would melt away. We had a better method: chemical fertilizer!

The color of urea was very similar to snow, and its texture was even closer. It was a commonly used material for creating winter scenery. As long as it was spread on the ground, ordinary people couldn't tell the difference, and if the temperature was low, it could last for several days.

Thus, after finishing the previously filmed one-sided battle sequence, they began scattering fertilizer all over the mountains and plains. Of course, when they said "all over the mountains and plains," they were just shooting a specific section to keep costs under control, even though urea wasn't terribly expensive.

Finally, there were the people, and this aspect required some attention.

"Those who aren't allergic, come over here! Make sure to cover your ears, mouths, and noses properly!" After all, urea wasn't exactly a pleasant substance; handling too much of it was uncomfortable, and swallowing it supposedly caused diarrhea—though, naturally, nobody would willingly eat the stuff.

Filming began immediately, capturing the process of the soldiers concealing themselves. It didn't require too many people, but afterwards, they needed a wide shot, for which Wu Xiang estimated around two hundred people should be enough.

"I'll do it!"
"I can do this! I've filmed this kind of thing before!"

Everyone vied for the roles. Just like when they were displaying modesty earlier, everyone wanted to play the Eighth Route Army soldiers. Fortunately, this time was different from the previous dispute; two hundred people wouldn't do, so strictly following the novel's text, four hundred people were deployed.

Along the side of a dirt road, everyone got busy, covering themselves with dried grass and then scattering urea over their bodies.

The two cameras were set up: one for wide shots, one for close-ups. The wide shot only needed to run for a few dozen seconds; the focus was on the close-ups.

Once concealment was complete, before long, Wu Xiang's loud shout echoed out:

"Charge!"

With a chaotic rush, the soldiers who had just been lying prone in the piles of urea all leaped up and surged forward. Shaking off the hay and glistening urea particles from their bodies, they formed a highly realistic visual composition. Brandishing their weapons—primarily broadswords and spears—they charged toward the dirt road!

"Cut!" This part went smoothly. Once the entire sequence was broken down into shots, it was just a matter of charging. They were making a movie, after all; they didn't actually need to wait out an entire night. Back in the editing room, it would be fine.

"Old... Old Zhao... Look... look at yourself... the way you look... good grief... you look just like... like a blue-faced beast..."

"You... damn it... you still have the nerve... to talk about me... you... your appearance... isn't... any better than mine... looking like... damn it... a giant winter melon... covered... covered in frost..."

Needless to say, this was naturally the entrance of Teacher He Zhengjun playing Zhao Gang. This scene featured the two of them ambushed in the snow, bantering back and forth.

In this weather, it wasn't particularly cold, nor was it hot; either way, you had to act. Not bad. Teacher He was quite experienced, and this first time acting alongside each other went quite smoothly.

The filming up to this point had no major difficulties, and the scale wasn't particularly massive. Wu Xiang was already a bigshot who had directed battles involving tens of thousands of troops; what were a few hundred men? A mere piece of cake.

However, the focal point of this scene actually lay in the close-ups—highlighting the combat actions of specific characters, the first of which was naturally Li Yunlong.

"Ah!" With a fierce roar, the broadsword in Li Yunlong's hands slashed from bottom to top, followed instantly by a swift, diagonal downward chop toward the head!

"Cut!" Wu Xiang shouted, but in reality...

"Aiya, I'm exhausted! This broadsword is way too heavy!" Teacher Li Youbin's hands were actually trembling.

This broadsword was the real deal, not some lightweight prop, and he had already swung it seven or eight times just now. Swinging a broadsword looked majestic and awe-inspiring, but in reality, without genuine physical strength, how could it be that easy?

With a heavy blade, the center of gravity wasn't at the hilt; it was out front, at the tip of the blade. The moment you swung the blade outward, you were effectively committing your own center of gravity to the momentum. It looked simple, but it was exceptionally difficult.

There was no help for it; they were using digital high-definition cameras, so the props couldn't look too fake. Although they couldn't get the actual weapons that had hacked down Japanese soldiers back then, they could replicate them. What kind of country did they have, right? This sort of thing was easy!

In terms of weight, size, and shape, no flaws could be found, but Teacher Li was the one suffering.

The choreography designed according to the original text featured the moves of General Song Zheyuan's 29th Army Sword Unit. Wu Xiang's action director, Wu Yue, had replicated the moves to perfection. However, Teacher Li wasn't actually Li Yunlong; he hadn't played with this sort of weapon before. As a result, he was a bit too aggressive at the start and tweaked his waist right off the bat!

What could be done? Film it in segments, shooting piece by piece. Finally, it was finished, but the "little devil" standing right in front of Teacher Li was breaking out in cold sweat from sheer fright.

There were actual Japanese nationals on set, and the cries they made sounded authentic. This time, they were just coming over to make cameo appearances, so were they actually going to get hacked?

Of course not. The blade was still some distance away from Tanaka Chiyuki, who was playing the Japanese soldier. Even so, it was terrifying; that broadsword looked as though it could come down on his head at any moment, and it was the real deal. It was a miracle he hadn't peed his pants.

Filming was, naturally, fake. The sword techniques were broken down into segments, so the initial stance was filmed from the feet up, the middle segment involved knocking away the Japanese soldier's Arisaka rifle, and the final diagonal chop was filmed targeting the Japanese soldier's back.

With that bit of distance, it wouldn't show on camera. The subsequent shot was extremely simple: a simulated wound was marked diagonally, the actor fell backward, and afterwards, cutting these pieces together created a seamless, perfect killing shot.

These action sequences were all designed by Wu Yue. He actually had experience, having filmed several projects prior to *Emperor Wu of Han* and worked as a martial arts stuntman. Most people trained in martial arts usually picked up odd jobs in film and television.

Next was Zhang Dahai, played by Zhan Weihua, who had a terribly unlucky start—getting hit squarely on the head by a steel helmet sent flying by an explosion. Even worse, he was clipped by the helmet's brim, covered head to toe in blood.

To stay faithful to the original book, they found someone to throw a steel helmet up into the air and filmed a shot. Then, placing the camera in front of Zhan Weihua, someone dropped a steel helmet from not far above him—naturally, without using the sharp brim, as even at close range that could cause actual bleeding.

Following that, much like Li Yunlong, he chopped down a Japanese soldier, weapon and all.

These parts were manageable, but what Wu Xiang hadn't expected was that someone decided to play for real.

"Baka!"
"Yata!"
"You can't fight like this!"

The Japanese actors playing the little devils stopped speaking Japanese altogether toward the end, bursting out in fluent Beijing dialect instead.

They saw that young warrior wielding a staff as tall as his brow, unleashing a flurry of wild strikes upon several little devils, beating them until they cried for their mothers.

"Stop, stop, stop! Baoqiang, what on earth are you doing?" Wu Xiang couldn't keep filming; the 'little devils' were making utter fools of themselves, and this wasn't the proper state an army should portray.

Indeed, that young warrior was none other than Wang Baoqiang, and he had his own reasoning.

"Brother, didn't you say to hit hard? To make it realistic? I'm just being realistic here, how realistic is that!"

"Sigh—" Wu Xiang smacked his own forehead; Baoqiang was simply too earnest nowadays!

"Fortunately, this kid had some self-awareness and didn't use the red-tasseled spear from the novel. If he'd used that thing and actually skewered a few guys, my crew would have a real mess on their hands." (.)