after being disfigured by Japanese mustard gas, while in the novel he lived on to become a loyal member of the regiment. In the novel there are actually 22 survivors crossing the Nu River after the regiment's first last stand battle with the Japanese, but only 11 in the TV series (in both versions, one men was thought to be dead but later found alive in a grave condition). Meng's father, a pedantic old-fashioned scholar, was merely a docile civilian who surrendered to the Japanese in order to preserve his precious book collection, in the novel he actually went further and became a Japanese puppet (a proxy village supervisor) and was committing the treacherous act of keeping a comfort woman for the invaders. Some of the characters from the original novel was also omitted to unnamed supporting characters in the TV series. Cast Duan Yihong as Long Wenzhang Zhang Yi as Meng Fanliao Zhang Guoqiang as Zhang Milong Xing Jiadong as Yu Xiaoqing Li Chen as Zhang Lixian Wang Dazhi as Deng Bao Wang Xun as Li Sifu Inspiration Director Kang Honglei, instead of feeling joyful after the run-away success of Soldiers Sortie, became very worried that this would be his career apogee (and hence the start of downfall). He began looking for new ideas for his upcoming productions. In early 2007, Kang set his eyes on The Stilwell Papers, the compiled journal of Joseph Stilwell during the American general's time in China as the Allied commander. Kang was immediately interested in the Yunnan-Burma theatre of the struggle against Imperial Japan, as the fighting in southwestern China was often neglected in modern Chinese history textbooks. Kang, together with his friend Lan Xiaolong, travelled to Yunnan in April 2007, visiting local war museums, soldiers' cemeteries and interviewing many aged surviving veterans. They were shocked by the sheer numbers of casualties and sacrifices, and was ashamed of their own lack of knowledge in that part of history. Lan reportedly broke down in tears after returning to his hotel. Feeling owing to the unnamed fallen heroes, Kang decided that his next TV production will be focused on NRA's Yunnan battlefront. One year later, Kang led a 200-man production team to Yunnan, and spent over 6 months shooting the series. Kang insisted his team to work in the most harsh environment in order for the actors to experience the harsh reality of battlefield. Many