Road, weeds, loess, shrubs. The lazy sun moved out of the sky, basking in the warmth all around. Unconsciously, even the wind suddenly stopped. Perhaps, even it could see that something was going to happen in this place, so it hid early.
A narrow sandy road, with only two strips of sand compacted by wheel tracks, and weeds growing everywhere else. To the west is a loess ridge over 100 meters long, with the top of the ridge parallel to the road. If you look down from the air, you will find a ditch on the east side of the road that blends into the environment, nearly 50 meters away from the roadside, also parallel to the road. Three lines drawn down form the Chinese character "川".
Although Hu Yi and Gao Yidao were at odds with each other and both emphasized their own ideas, one wanted to use firepower and the other wanted to fight in close combat, they had one thing in common, which was to "play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses", which led to this incongruous ambush.
Hu Yi divided his men into several groups.
Xiao Hongying and Wu Shitou were in a group. They were arranged at the southernmost end of the ridge, more than 200 meters away from the crossfire. Although Xiao Hongying was a popular target, Hu Yi still hoped that she would try her best to stay away from danger and not let her be a target. He arranged her and Wu Shitou to be so far away to reduce her chance of getting hurt. Hu Yi gave her his Type 38 rifle and rifle ammunition, and his requirement for her was one sentence: If you can hide, you shoot, if you can't hide, you must hide, in case of any unexpected situation, Wu Shitou is your hand and your leg.
Lao Luo's guerrillas were arranged in groups of six, and were positioned in the center of the blocking section. At the same time, Hu Yi emphasized to them that their group's main output was the big lifting pole. Even if the reloading speed was slow, they had to focus on the attack of the big lifting pole. When the big lifting pole was extended, the old sleeve and the bird gun went up to cover it. When the big lifting pole was withdrawn for reloading, the others withdrew with it and were not allowed to show their heads again. In addition, Hu Yi temporarily gave Lao Luo and his two Mauser pistols. The purpose of these two guns was to strengthen the first wave of firepower, so there was only one box of bullets in the gun.
The second company transferred a crooked handle machine gun, with a machine gunner and an assistant gunner, to form a team. They were located at the north end of the ridge, about 70 to 80 meters away from Lao Luo and his men in the middle. Hu Yi did not have many requirements for these two people, but emphasized that they should be alert and not stay in the same position for too long except for the first wave of sudden attacks. They could only fire 30 rounds at most and then change positions. Anyway, the more frequently they changed positions, the better. Their mission was to distract the enemy and share the pressure. They could not distract the dead.
Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang are a group of two. There is no fixed position for them. They find and fight wherever it is convenient or go wherever there is a shortage of people. They provide guerrilla support, which is equivalent to a reserve force that is not idle.
In the end, only Hu Yi and Luo Fugui were left. They formed a group. Hu Yi was the machine gunner and Luo Fugui was the assistant shooter and ammunition handler. They were positioned between Lao Luo and his group and Xiao Hongying, about seventy or eighty meters away from Lao Luo in the middle.
At this moment, except for Xiao Hongying and Wu Shitou who had already hidden in their own positions in advance, the others did not immediately go to the required task positions. They all lined up in the middle near Lao Luo and others, secretly monitoring the road down the slope. Hu Yi's order was to concentrate fire in the first wave of attacks, and then retreat to the back and enter their respective positions after the shooting was completed.
The two squads blocking the road on the north and south sides have withdrawn and entered the hidden position of the second company. Fortunately, no one came on the road when everyone was preparing for the battlefield, which saved them a lot of worry.
The second company did a good job of concealment. If they hadn't walked into the open area, they wouldn't have been discovered. Now they were all hiding in the pit, some with sweaty palms and dry lips, some with their eyes closed pretending to be indifferent, and some silently prayed for the Buddha's blessing in their hearts.
The dozen or so veterans from the second company were in relatively better condition, and under such circumstances, they still had the mind to gossip quietly.
"Don't you think that the Hu guy is overestimating his own abilities? Apart from catching the first wave of enemies off guard, how can they fight back? Can they suppress them? They will all be singled out!"
"That's the style of the Kuomintang. They got accustomed to it because of bullets."
"Haha, they've even made that big lifting pole thing. It's annoying just looking at it. Are they going to fight the Japanese or celebrate the New Year?"
"Shut up, everyone!" Gao Yidao's low shout came from not far away, and everyone fell silent.
Gao Yidao looked through the gaps in the weeds, quietly observing the road ahead and the ridge to the west, his brows furrowed.
Originally, they could barely throw two rounds of grenades, but after receiving the IOU, they had dozens more. The Second Company could throw out three rounds of grenades before charging, which greatly increased the success rate. Therefore, Gao Yidao made changes to the Second Company's charge. The first round of grenades were thrown on the spot to form a smoke screen. After the whole company rushed out in a horizontal line for more than ten meters, they threw two more rounds and then continued to charge.
…
The grain transport team appeared, with one cart after another, moving heavily on the road. This time the carts were not empty. Except for the cart drivers, the Japanese and puppet troops were scattered on both sides of the carts, moving in a staggered manner.
A few dozen meters ahead of the convoy, a puppet soldier was walking alone to lead the way. The road became flatter and flatter, the roadside became cleaner, and the potholes on the roadside were filled with freshly turned soil. All signs indicated that this place was different from when they passed by in the morning.
However, these signs were not noticed because the puppet soldier who was leading the way had his head full of stories about brothels and was eager to return to the county town as soon as possible. It was not until a ditch appeared on the road ahead that he stopped and blinked.
"Who is this wicked person? He came here to dig a ditch. Is it for flood prevention? Or is he just bored?"
"What's going on?" someone called him from behind.
"Captain, there is work to do, fill the hole." The sentry leading the way answered without thinking.
The team slowly walked to the front of the ditch about ten meters away before stopping. A few lazy puppet soldiers began to go to the car to get tools, but the Japanese second lieutenant who led the team looked unhappy. Seeing the team suddenly stop, he came to the front himself, took a look at the ditch blocking the road, and looked around, and immediately realized that something was wrong.
…
The first attack is the most critical, and the target that poses the greatest threat to one's side must be taken care of first. Everyone thinks to attack the officers and machine guns first, but Hu Yi doesn't think so. He is an expert in machine guns, so he doesn't think machine guns are that scary. No matter how fierce they are, they are in a straight line, and if you can't hit them, you can dodge. The grenade launcher that shoots in a curve is the biggest threat in Hu Yi's eyes.
Hu Yi, who was hiding on the mountain ridge, carefully determined the stopping positions of the three grenade launchers and quietly ordered those around him: "Use the Type 99 rifle to shoot the grenade launcher at the northernmost one, Shi Cheng, you shoot the one in the middle, and I'll take the one at the southern end. We must kill these three in the first wave, and we can't wait for them to hide!" Then he gently raised the butt of the machine gun and pointed it at the target.
The two soldiers from the second company were in charge of operating the Type 99 light machine guns. On the one hand, they looked down on Hu Yi and the ninth squad, and on the other hand, they were not professional machine gunners. They only operated them after the weapons were seized from the artillery tower. They had not even trained with a few rounds of live ammunition, but now they were on the battlefield.
After hearing Hu Yi say that they should shoot at the grenade launcher in the north, the Type 99 machine gunner looked at the target. The two grenadiers had stopped because the team had stopped, so they walked to the side of the road alone and were lighting cigarettes. The first burst took advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness. It was obviously the time when they could kill the most people, but they only cared about these two people? Wasn't it unfair? Was this still a machine gun
So, the crosshairs of the Type 99 rifle were readjusted, aiming at the densely packed crowd and the Japanese officers who were preparing to fill the pit in front...