| Director | Feng Xiaogang |
|---|---|
| Budget | $16 million |
| Box office | ¥35 million |
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, a foot soldier and former teacher who has been jailed for cowardice.
Upon his release, Gu and his 46 surviving men are sent to defend a coal mine on the bank of the Wen River near Tai'an, Shandong. They are ordered to hold their positions 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. After fending off a wave of enemy infantry and supporting armour and subsequently destroying two enemy tanks, the 9th Company is left with only a handful of men. At this point, some soldiers claim to hear the bugle call in the distance. Gu, who has been temporarily deafened by an explosion, refuses to believe them and orders them to fight to the death. The entire 9th Company is killed except Gu, who is knocked unconscious by a tank shell.
PLA forces eventually recapture the area and find Gu, unconscious and heavily wounded, while wearing a NRA uniform he had stolen when he was trapped behind enemy lines. At a military hospital, Gu tries to explain that he is a PLA captain and that, after being knocked unconscious, he had awakened and pretended to be a NRA soldier in order to steal food nearby, and then bombed an enemy fuel depot before falling unconscious again. However, as the PLA has undergone a reorganisation while Gu was in a coma, no one remembers the existence of the 139th Regiment, whose members have apparently all perished, so Gu is unable to confirm his identity. The other patients in the hospital, thinking that he is a deserter, scorn him.
In 1950, when China enters the Korean War, Gu volunteers to fight as a foot soldier in the People's Volunteer Army (PVA). During an artillery spotting mission, in which Gu and his team disguise themselves as soldiers of the Republic of Korea Army's 6th Infantry Division, Gu risks his life to save his unit commander, Lieutenant Zhao Erdou, after the latter accidentally steps on an anti-personnel landmine. While Zhao proceeds with his assigned task, Gu, still holding down the landmine, manages to escape but loses his right eye in the ensuing blast. The two of them become close friends and Zhao supports Gu's attempts to regain recognition for the 9th Company.
After the war, Gu returns to the Wen River battlefield and tries to locate the mine where the battle was fought. He is disappointed to see that the mine has resumed operating and that the old entrance has been buried underneath piles of coal. He also encounters Wang's widow and convinces her to marry Zhao. As time passes, Zhao discovers the location of the tomb of Colonel Liu Zeshui, the 139th Regiment's commander. Gu visits the tomb and learns that the caretaker is Liu's former assistant who has survived the war but lost an arm. The caretaker confirms that the bugle call was never sounded because the 9th Company was deliberately sacrificed to buy time for the rest of the regiment. After hearing that, Gu flies into a rage and curses Liu but calms down later.
Gu starts camping at the mine and attempts to dig out his men's bodies with a shovel despite protests from the miners. A month later, a surviving former officer of the 139th Regiment, after hearing of Gu's actions, comes forward to verify the deeds of the 139th Regiment, specifically the 9th Company. The PLA then sends an official notice to the local government to honour the 9th Company. However, Gu remains inconsolable because he cannot find the remaining bodies. At this point, he experiences a flashback which reveals that, as enemy forces closed in, he and Wang had buried the bodies of the others deep inside the mine. While Gu had gone out to continue fighting, a mortally wounded Wang had blown up the entrance to prevent the enemy from capturing the bodies, killing himself in the process.
Years later, the remains of the other soldiers are found during an excavation for an irrigation project. The PLA erects a monument near the site and conducts a military funeral with full honours for the fallen men of the 9th Company. Gu finally finds peace. The ending titles say that Gu died in 1987 at the age of 71. He was abandoned by his parents when he was three months' old due to famine in his hometown and was subsequently found by a shoemaker in a millet field. He was named Gu Zidi, which literally means millet field.