The village elder explains that they were attacked by Japanese forces in the middle of a meeting and has been seriously wounded as a result.

Against superior firepower, the main Chinese army retreats while leaving local resistance militias in place to harass the enemy.

One of the soldiers complain about having "too few people and too few weapons" but Brother Gao manages to restore the confidence of his men by rallying them for an attack.

The Japanese are initially unable to find anymore villagers so they begin to look for the tunnels by digging into the ground.

In consultation with Xia Lin, he decides to go to the surface through a secret tunnel in order to draw away the Japanese.

Meanwhile, other nearby villages come to give aid by setting off fireworks which mimic the sounds of gunfire in order to intimidate the Japanese.

Collaborationist Chinese Army General Binghui suggests that the Japanese retreat and Yamada grudgingly agrees.

Over at least one winter season, the tunnels develop defensive sophistication meant to defend against flooding, poison gas and infiltrators.

The Japanese hear of this and use the opportunity to send in spies posing as the communist reinforcements in order learn more about the tunnel defenses.

Japanese troops arrive to facilitate the capture, but are swiftly repelled by the Communist's reinforcement regiment.

The ensuing engagement between 300 Japanese forces and local militia result in a total victory for the Chinese.

In the tunnels beneath the Japanese base, the Chinese militia place explosives to take out key defensive positions.

As predicted, the Japanese main force begins to retreat upon hearing of the Chinese assault and are caught directly in the ambush in the open fields.