Chapter 58: Eternal Heroism in Photography

  The original "Ying Lie Qian Qiu" is a story formed by linking four anti-Japanese war battles participated by General Zhang Zizhong.

  The four battles were:

  In 1933, the Japanese army invaded the Great Wall. Zhang Zizhong, who was then the commander of the 37th Division, launched a surprise attack on Xifengkou and annihilated a Japanese brigade, and was promoted to the commander of the 29th Army for his military merit.

  July 7, 1937, the Lugou Bridge artillery sounded, and Chiang ordered Zhang Zizhong to retreat to the Baoding line. The next day, the Japanese army suddenly attacked Nanyuan, and the deputy commander of the 29th Army, Tong Linke, and the division commander Zhao Dengyu died one after another. The troops had no choice but to withdraw southward, and Zhang Zizhong was appointed as the mayor of Beiping. Beiping fell, and Zhang Zizhong maneuvered with the Japanese in Beiping.

  At that time, people thought Zhang Zizhong had defected to the enemy and could not return home. Zhang Zizhong endured humiliation and hardship, completed his mission, and escaped from Beiping in disguise. After returning to Nanjing, Chiang appointed him as the lieutenant general commander of the 33rd Army Group, defending the area around Ezhou and Xiangfan.

  By the end of October 1938, the Japanese army occupied Wuhan and had a bloody battle with Zhang Zizhong's troops in Xiangnan.

  In the spring of 1940, the Japanese army mobilized five divisions to attack Zhang Zizhong's defense zone. After several months of bloody battles, more than half of Zhang's troops were casualties. Zhang decided to take a desperate measure to turn the tide, selecting 500 brave soldiers to cross the Han River from Laohekou and launch a surprise attack on the Japanese command center. Unfortunately, they were surrounded, and after three days of fierce fighting, none of the 500 soldiers survived. General Zhang Zizhong took his own life to follow his country.

  The original play Wang Wei has not undergone major changes, only some adjustments have been made in details, such as adding a role of ordinary people to Wang Wei. From another angle, it reflects the cruelty of war and some heinous crimes committed by the Japanese army during its invasion of China.

  For a week of filming, the scene on this side was directed by Deputy Director Ding Xuanxi, while Wang Wei brought his own photographer Chen Qingqu and three original photographers from the company, riding in a helicopter borrowed from the military through China Film Group to shoot aerial scenes of war and city. To achieve the expected effect, Wang Wei also borrowed two divisions of troops from the military through China Film Group. The military was initially unwilling to lend them because they thought it would involve too many people.

  However, when Wang Wei promised to give the army a special write-up in the film, with a special shot of the army's drill performance to showcase the G Army's military appearance, the military immediately expressed its willingness to lend troops and asked if this number of troops was too small. Since the other party is willing to lend, and the cost is borne by China Film, Wang Wei naturally agreed. In the end, through coordination between the two parties, the military agreed to lend four divisions and two brigades of troops, totaling over 40,000 people.

  With the support of the army, Wang Wei's filming was a great success.

  It was precisely because of Wang Wei's strong demands and the army's compromise that this film "The Battle at Red Cliffs" had a much larger scale in terms of battlefield scenes than the previous one, with more than ten times the number of troops deployed. Moreover, more than a dozen aircraft were mobilized to increase aerial photography, truly restoring the original war scenes, making the film's momentum even more magnificent and grandiose.

  Although in the previous life, when filming "The Legend of Miyue", troops were also used, but the number was only a few thousand. So it can't restore the scene of war at that time, and many rigid injuries appeared.

  However, the cost has increased dramatically, far exceeding the original budget of NT$10 million. Fortunately, CMPC has a government background and is financially strong, so they didn't make a fuss about it. Even so, Liu Changxi, the person in charge of CMPC, repeatedly reminded Wang Wei to cut costs. In response, Wang Wei only said one sentence, "The box office will prove that I am right."

  As for Wang Wei's words, Liu Changxi just secretly curled her lips. In her heart, she thought, fortunately, when investing in the film, I didn't think about making money, but only wanted to use your popularity from "Tangshan Brother" to promote patriotism. You know that even Shaw Brothers' martial arts films and Qiong Yao's romance films, which have a relatively large audience, have a box office of no more than 60-70 million in the island. Not to mention war movies. It seems that Wang Wei is still a bit young and arrogant, having made one successful film and already feeling complacent.

  On set, Wang Wei was scolding Lin Qingxia with a dark face.

  "We've shot this more than 20 times, how can you still not get into the state? You have to know that if you're always not in the state, first of all, it's a waste of film, and secondly, everyone has to accompany you here, going through it again and again. If we can't finish now, let's just pack up and go home." Wang Wei said with an iron face.

  The scene was shot by Lin Qingxia playing a Shandong girl, who followed her lover from the neighboring village, played by Wang Wei, back to their village, only to find that everyone in the village had been massacred by the Japanese. The girl returned to see the corpses scattered all over the ground and the village still smoking, overcome with grief. She cried until she fainted.

  As a result, Lin Qingxia couldn't cry to meet Wang Wei's requirements every time, so she could only start over again and again.

  At this time, even if Wang Wei didn't scold Lin Qingxia, Lin Qingxia was still very sad. They had been filming for a whole morning, and the entire crew had been accompanying her in continuous retakes. This was also a severe blow to Lin Qingxia's confidence. It is worth noting that Lin Qingxia was an excellent student at school, often praised by teachers. Unexpectedly, she came to the set less than half a month ago and was scolded by Wang Wei dozens of times. Almost every day, Lin Qingxia would be reprimanded by Wang Wei for a few sentences. This made Lin Qingxia wonder if her previous kindness was fake.

  At this time, when Lin Qingxia heard Wang Wei scolding her and telling her to pack up and go home, Lin Qingxia finally couldn't bear it anymore. The grievances of over a dozen days burst out in an instant. With a thud, she sat on the ground and cried sadly.

  But what he didn't know was that Wang Wei had already instructed the cameraman to start filming as soon as Lin Qingxia began crying.

  Lin Qingxia sat on the ground and cried for a long time, but no one came to comfort her, and she became more and more heartbroken. Just then, suddenly heard Wang Wei shouting loudly "Ka...over."

  Lin Qingxia hadn't even reacted yet when she suddenly felt a warmth on her back, and then saw that annoying face with its familiar smile leaning in to stare at her from less than a foot away.

  "Who's been messing with our Lin family's beauty? Crying so sadly!" Wang Wei spoke as he stretched out his legs, not caring about the mess on the ground, and plopped down beside Lin Qingxia.

  Lin Qingxia listened to Wang Wei's words, looked at Wang Wei's innocent face, as if the person who scolded just now was not him. Lin Qingxia suddenly felt a surge of anger in her heart, grabbed Wang Wei's hand and bit down fiercely.

  Wang Wei saw Lin Qingxia biting his arm and didn't stop her, instead using his other hand to hold her in his arms.

  As a result of Lin Qingxia's resentment over the past few days and being enraged by Wang Wei's behavior just now, she didn't think much at that moment. It wasn't until Lin Qingxia suddenly felt a bloody taste in her mouth that she snapped back to reality. Lifting her head to look, she found that several deep tooth marks had been left on Wang Wei's arm, and fresh blood was constantly seeping out from the tooth marks.

  "A Wei, why are you so stupid? Why didn't you dodge just now? A Wei, you know kung fu, why didn't you push me away?" Lin Qingxia said with tears streaming down her face as she looked at the consequences of her actions.

  "It's nothing, this little injury is nothing, you know I've practiced martial arts." "You look fine, it's...". Wang Wei was about to show off his muscles to Lin Qingxia, but as soon as he exerted himself, he pulled on the wound and grimaced in pain.

  "A Wei, are you okay? I...I didn't mean to earlier, I was also confused by you." Lin Qingxia said, holding Wang Wei's bitten arm with both hands.

  "It's okay, it'll be fine in a few days. As long as you feel comfortable in your heart." Wang Wei wiped away the tears on Lin Qingxia's face with his hand.

  "Ah Wei...... wu...... wu......" Seeing that the kind-hearted Wang Wei had returned, Lin Qingxia couldn't help but rush into his arms and burst into tears again.

  "Alright... Once this play is finished, it'll be fine. Nothing will happen with me around." Wang Wei was afraid that the blood from Lin Qingxia's bitten hand would stain her clothes, so he used one hand to hold Lin Qingxia and patted her back to comfort her, saying "It's alright now."

  After crying for a while, Lin Qingxia suddenly remembered that Wang Wei's hand was still bleeding and quickly got up from Wang Wei's arms to call the doctor on set to bandage his wound.

  PS: Seeking Sanjiang recommendation votes, seeking recommendation votes, seeking clicks, seeking member clicks. All kinds of seeking.