In 1948, during the Huaihai Campaign of the Chinese Civil War, Captain Gu Zidi leads the 9th Company of the 139th Regiment of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to capture a town controlled by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA), during which they sustain heavy casualties from intense enemy firepower. Angered by the death of his political commissar, Gu attempts to execute the NRA soldiers who surrendered. As a result, he is thrown in jail for three days by his superior, Colonel Liu Zeshui. In jail, he befriends Wang Jincun, an enlisted man and former schoolteacher who has been jailed for cowardice. Upon being released, Gu and his 46 surviving men are sent to defend a coal mine on the bank of the Wen River, which is near Tai'an, Shandong. They are ordered not to retreat until they hear a bugle call for assembly. With Liu's permission, Wang, being the most educated man in the company, becomes the 9th Company's new political commissar. Almost immediately after fortifying their position, the 9th Company comes under heavy attack by NRA forces. Having fended off a wave of enemy infantry and supporting armour and subsequently destroying two enemy tanks, only a handful of PLA soldiers are still alive. At this point, some of the soldiers claim to hear the supposed bugle call in the distance. Gu, who was temporarily deafened by an explosion, is reluctant to believe them and commands that they fight to the death. The entire 9th Company is killed except Gu, who is knocked unconscious by an NRA tank shell. (fonte: Wikipedia)