That Which Can't Be Washed Away

A not-so-civil war: Xu tells the bleak horrors of war, interspersed with love and memories that cannot be washed away.

Amid a desolate landscape, Qi Jing’s Communist 9th Brigade face a near-impossible mission set to bring the Chinese Civil War to its final chapter. As the campaign splinters and fighting devolves, those stranded within the labyrinth of caves face wretched conditions and unbearable loss in an attempt to find their way out of this war.A not-so-civil war 1947, and the final bloody chapters of the Chinese Civil War unleash a tidal wave of Red across the nation. Qi Jing and his Communist 9th Brigade are given a near-impossible mission: ford the mighty Yellow River and cut a swathe south through the Nationalist-held Dabie mountains, regardless of cost. As the disciplinarian Qi leads his soldiers through wretched conditions, he comes to rely on the enigmatic Wang Keyu to shore up flagging morale through education and propaganda. Amid desolate bluffs and ridges, she proves to be a beacon to the peasant warriors, especially Cao Shui’er, the commander’s bodyguard. As the campaign splinters and the fighting devolves into a hand-to-hand struggle against reluctant countrymen. Cao and an injured Wang find themselves stranded at the entrance to an ethereal network of caves. Can they find their way back through this labyrinth? Or will the walls close in on them?