It was past midnight, and seven figures were walking hurriedly on the night road. Ma Liang was leading the way, followed by Lao Luo, and then two people pushing a small cart loaded with 200 kilograms of food that they had received from Hu Yi that morning. Behind them were two people carrying a two-meter-long "big pole". The last one walking was a young man named Shi Cheng, Lao Luo's nephew.
After listening to Ma Liang's explanation of the situation, Lao Luo did not say a word and without wasting a minute, he led a guerrilla team of six people and brought all his belongings to come.
Although he accidentally killed a comrade when he first met Team 9, Lao Luo now has a good opinion of Team 9 and regards Hu Yi as a benefactor. Since the establishment of this small guerrilla team, they have not done anything big. A benefactor is a benefactor. This time, they can catch up with a big action, and several people are secretly excited.
After seeing the secret sentry of the second company, we climbed over two more ridges. In the deep valley, we saw seven or eight bonfires. We finally arrived at the destination.
Being unfamiliar with the people in the Second Company, Lao Luo naturally followed Ma Liang to the Ninth Class, which was alone, and stayed with them after greeting them.
Squad leader Hu Yi is not here. Although a sparrow is small, it is still a bird. Logically speaking, Lao Luo is the guerrilla leader and belongs to an independent friendly force. He can take the initiative to go to the second company to meet Hu Yi and the second company commander, but Lao Luo did not do so. He felt that his people were too shabby, with few people and poor equipment. How could he dare to claim to be a leader in the Eighth Route Army? So he humbly and low-key positioned his people as a subordinate of the ninth squad.
As the saying goes, first time is stranger, second time is familiar. This was their fourth meeting and they immediately got along well. Without thinking twice, they got down to business and scooped up food and cooked.
Although it was past midnight, all the soldiers in the valley were awake, not because they didn't want to sleep, but because they couldn't. Ever since Hu Yi and Gao Yidao got together to work on the plan, Gao Yidao's voice had become louder and louder, and it was still going on until now, waking up those who were asleep.
…
The people were still the same two people, Gao Yidao and Hu Yi, the company commander and the staff officer, and the fire was still the same fire, now burning even more fiercely because Gao Yidao ordered the soldiers to come and add more firewood.
The two of them have studied it so far, and the time for the plan has been determined. The sooner the better, they will inform Li Youde tomorrow morning. Tomorrow afternoon, Li Youde's report will be delivered to the county town, and it is estimated that the Japanese who are going to collect food will set out from the county town the day after tomorrow.
The ambush location was also determined. It was chosen on the ridge on the side of the road where the Second Company and the Ninth Squad encountered each other. The road runs north-south, with a flat east side and a mountain on the west side. It is not located within Luoye Village and is far away from the county seat. The surrounding area is deserted. Even if there is a big noise, reinforcements will not be able to arrive for a while, and it is also convenient to retreat into the mountains.
The two had basically the same opinions on the issues of time and place, so they discussed and determined it in a gentle voice. However, when it came to the specific action plan, their differences arose. Gao Yidao's voice became louder and louder, and Hu Yi's brows became more and more furrowed, and gradually they became at loggerheads.
"There are more than fifty Japanese soldiers alone, and a total of 150 including the puppet troops. They are more than us. How can we compete with them in firepower?" Gao Yidao stood beside the fire, swaying back and forth, and asked Hu Yi with a red face and thick neck.
Hu Yi sat by the fire, tilting his head to look at Gao Yidao pacing back and forth: "Firepower is not necessarily determined by the number of guns. We have the advantage of opening fire first, and we must maximize the firepower of the first wave of attacks. If we can eat up half of the Japanese in the first wave of attacks, we will have a chance to continue fighting later."
"What if we can't kill half of the Japanese in the first wave? It will become a positional battle. For a squad, they must have at least three Type 99 rifles, right? They should also have grenade launchers, right? How long can we hold out? We have fewer people and guns than them, and they have the advantage in firepower. How can we fight back?"
"So in the first wave of attacks, we must focus on the enemy's machine guns and grenade launchers."
"Even if you succeed in the first wave, will we be able to gain an advantage in the subsequent shootouts? You know there are only a dozen veterans in my Second Company. If we fight against the Japanese, those rookies will get their heads shot sooner or later!"
Hu Yi felt a headache from being choked by Gao Yidao, but Gao Yidao's words did make sense, so he couldn't help but raise one hand to pinch his forehead.
Seeing that Hu Yi was silent, Gao Yidao stopped pacing, crossed his arms, and said, "I think we should still follow my original idea. Since we don't have enough people and guns, we have to fight close and hard. We should hide at a distance of 50 meters, use a row of guns, two rounds of grenades, and then charge with bayonets. No matter how good his marksmanship is, it will be useless, and his grenade launcher will also be useless. As long as we kill all the devils, I don't believe those puppet soldiers will have the courage!"
Hu Yi sighed. Gao Yidao was full of desire to fight desperately and wanted to swing his three axes everywhere. Although Hu Yi was not as good as Gao Yidao in bayonet fighting, he also understood bayonet tactics. So he asked Gao Yidao: "Don't forget, this is not an ordinary battlefield. Twenty carts loaded with food are parked on the road. From the moment you charge, the enemy must be behind the carts. Calculate how much discount you will get for this charge? Besides, if it turns into a hand-to-hand fight, even if we win in the end, how many people will be left? How are we going to pull all the food back?"
This time it was Gao Yidao's turn to remain silent. A bayonet charge on the battlefield is about momentum, with skill being secondary. Charge straight ahead with bayonet in hand, using the momentum of running to give a swift blow to the enemy in front of you. If you miss, you cannot stop and fight. You must use the momentum to continue forward and rush to the next enemy, leaving the enemy behind to other comrades who are rushing over. Only such a bayonet charge is powerful. The most taboo is to stop and fight. Those who stop will die first.
Hu Yi was right. Once a charge was launched, the enemy would hide behind the carts and no one would jump out to stand in front of the bayonet. In this case, the momentum of the charge would be offset and it would eventually turn into a big fight behind the carts, a competition of who has more people and more swords, and who has better skills. There is no need to imagine the consequences. The Japs' bayonet skills are excellent, and the puppet army is large in number and there are gunshots everywhere. It's a dicey situation!
A good cook cannot cook without rice. With insufficient troops, it felt like nothing was going right no matter how they fought. At this moment, the evil star Hu Yi had lost his evil spirit, only frowning, and the arrogant Gao Yidao had lost his arrogance, only sighing. The two men, one sitting and the other standing, were silent, staring at the blazing campfire, staring blankly.
For a moment, the valley was completely quiet, but the soldiers of the second company were even more sleepless. The conversation between the company commander Gao Yidao and the staff officer Hu Yi was not deliberately lowered, so everyone could hear it. At first, everyone was excited about the upcoming food robbery, then everyone was entangled because they did not have a proper plan, and now, everyone, like the two people by the campfire, fell into a dull silence, and no one knew what they were thinking.
The only ones who were not affected were Class 9 and the newcomer Lao Luo and his team. Class 9 had autonomy and was decided solely by the class monitor Hu Yi, so no one paid attention to any plans. Anyway, the class monitor would not lead Class 9 into a fire pit, so they could fight as they pleased and no one could afford to worry about it.
The bonfire burned more and more vigorously, and the Japanese military lunch boxes on the fire began to gurgle, and the aroma of rice filled the air. Luo Fugui squinted his eyes and smelled it intoxicatedly, Ma Liang and Lao Luo talked in a low voice, and Liu Jianqiang, in the light of the fire, curiously studied the "big lifting pole" that Lao Luo and his friends had brought.
A small hand suddenly fell on Hu Yi's shoulder, waking Hu Yi from his sorrow beside the campfire. He turned around and saw a pair of pigtails behind him.
The little girl blinked her eyes with a smile: "Fox, go home for dinner."
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