A figure crept down the wall stealthily and slipped into the house.
"Team, Captain, they have reunited and seem to be leaving."
Huh—a large group of people in the room let out a sound of relief at the same time.
"Want to leave? Damn it, why haven't the reinforcements arrived yet?" the captain complained.
"Now, what should we do?"
"Nonsense, then we have to go out and fight"
When the captain said this, there was another gasp in the room.
"But, but there are more than a dozen of them?"
The captain raised his hand and gave a big thumbs-up to the person who was speaking in the dark: "We have more than 30 of them."
The beaten subordinate said angrily: "But they... are the Eighth Route Army, I see... they even have machine guns."
"Stop talking nonsense and just go out and beat him up first. Get up, everyone, and get ready to fight, hurry up." The captain urged everyone in the house to go out, kicking people around him here and there.
The original plan was to wait and catch a few underground elements, but now, a dozen armed Eighth Route Army soldiers entered the village. Isn't this a life-threatening move? The captain drove the thirty or so detectives out of the house in fear and they piled up in the yard under the moonlight. No one dared to go out the door or climb the wall. They just relied on each other and stayed in the yard without taking any action.
As the saying goes, the brave die of overeating and the timid die of starvation. Heroes are everywhere. Finally, one of the team members raised his Mauser pistol and fired at the moon. The silence was instantly broken. The sudden shot scared the detectives in the yard and made them all lie down. Then they heard the shooter mutter: "It was an accidental discharge, an accidental discharge."
At the same time, the group of people in the ninth row, who had just walked out of the gate and were about to leave the village, all lay down. The gunshots came from a yard not far away across the street.
At this moment, a thought flashed through Su Qing's mind: Sure enough, one of them is a traitor
At that moment, a thought flashed through Hu Yi's mind: It's bad, no matter how many people are on the other side, we can't fight this place. From here to the north, there is a river, and the 9th squad once ran by that river; to the west, it must be the direction where the enemy reinforcements are coming; to the south, there is the highway outside the east gate of the county town, which is full of patrol teams; to the east, the situation is not very clear, I only know that there is a small forest, where the courier who covered Zhou Wanping died, I don't know how far it is.
"Machine guns, fire." Hu Yi shouted to Luo Fugui without hesitation, then waved to the people nearby: "To the east."
Ma Liang jumped up first, and everyone else got up and followed him, running eastward.
Luo Fugui, who was lying on the wall, pulled the trigger towards the yard where the gunshot came from. Tongues of flame began to flash on the spot, illuminating the surrounding area in an instant.
Da da da da da... The bullets hit the courtyard wall not far away one after another, penetrated the soil, shattered the bricks, continued to fly into the yard, then hit the wall of the house, flew in the window, and broke into debris, making a continuous and creepy sound.
There was only one unlucky person, the only one standing in the yard, who claimed that his gun went off accidentally. A stray bullet hit his leg, and then there was no one left standing in the yard.
One magazine was empty, so he pulled it out and prepared to replace it with a second one. Then he heard Hu Yi's order from the other side of the wall: "Enough. Retreat." So he picked up his machine gun, hunched over, turned around and chased the team.
Hu Yi also stood up, looked back at Luo Fugui who disappeared in the darkness, pulled out a grenade, slowly removed the back cover, grabbed the fuse, raised his head and looked quietly at the yard not far away. After about ten seconds, he pulled the fuse of the grenade, swung his hand, let the grenade fly over, then turned around and ran away.
The detective team lying in the yard was stunned. This was too scary. They felt bullets flying over their heads and backs, almost taking their souls away. The captain said he wanted to fire another round. The firepower of the Eighth Route Army was not enough to be stopped by the thin wall. What the hell was he going to do
The burst of gunfire stopped, and the man who had misfired was lying in the yard, holding his thigh and screaming. No one dared to get up for a long time. The captain who was lying at the door of the house shouted angrily: "He has already run away, why don't you get up quickly? Get up, chase him!"
One by one, they began to helplessly climb up with their heads raised and buttocks sticking out. Suddenly, they heard a clanging sound in the yard. Someone asked in surprise: "What fell?" Another heard the words and took a closer look: "Oh my God..."
boom-
The moon was setting in the west, and a dozen figures were running along the misty path, heading east.
Su Qing ran while handing a rope to No. 3 and No. 21 beside him, and said coldly: "Each of you tie one of your hands, and you two are not allowed to separate, not at any time."
"Why... is this?" Number Three was puzzled.
"Ask yourself, or ask the other party. I don't have time to watch you." Then Su Qing slowed down and waited until Liu Jianqiang passed by. He whispered to Liu Jianqiang, "You are responsible for keeping an eye on them. Don't let up for a moment. Whoever tries to escape will be shot on the spot. This is the order given to you by the Political Work Department. Do you remember it?"
Liu Jianqiang was a little surprised. Su Yushi could be as cold-blooded as the squad leader. But he didn't ask any nonsense and answered with a single word: "Yes." Then he strode forward to catch up.
There is a high possibility that one of the two is a traitor. The current situation is special and there is no time to deal with this matter. In order to prevent accidents, the simplest way is to let them supervise each other. The one who is not a traitor is the best candidate for surveillance. Adding another soldier to watch can ensure that there will be no mistakes. Liu Jianqiang is the most suitable candidate. He is a soldier born to stand guard. He will not relax or waver. He only recognizes orders and not personal relationships. Now Su Qing can breathe a sigh of relief and run with the team at ease.
At this time, No. 3 and No. 21, who had tied the rope ends to their wrists, were connected by a rope several feet long. They were no longer running one after the other, but unconsciously began to run side by side. No. 3 suddenly asked, "Are you a traitor?"
Number 21 replied coldly: "What do you want to say? Are you saying this to me?"
Then the two stopped talking and ran silently in the team.
Hu Yi was at the end of the team, holding a rifle. Although the visibility was limited under the moonlight, he still looked back from time to time to see the road ahead and occasionally stopped to listen carefully. There were two women and a maid in the team, so they couldn't keep moving fast for a long time and would slow down sooner or later. The sound of a revolver in the village meant that the other side was most likely a plainclothes detective team. This place was too close to the county town and they couldn't fight. Once they were stuck, they would be doomed. They had been hiding in the village for so long without making any noise, so they must have called for reinforcements. Now, they were probably chasing behind them, and they shouldn't be far away.
The grove had already been passed, and the surroundings were becoming more and more empty. Hu Yi stopped again and looked up at the crescent moon in the west. The watch case jumped with a click, and the faint moonlight reflected a layer of hazy crystal on the dial. It was 3:15 in the morning, and time was running out. He had to speed up to have a chance to get rid of it completely.
He closed the pocket watch and put it in his pocket, then turned around, only to find that the team had stopped at a slightly higher position not far ahead.
"Why did you stop?" Hu Yi growled in dissatisfaction as he strode past the team parked on the side of the road.
In the vast night sky directly ahead, in the distance, a bright beam of light was swaying slowly. It was a searchlight on top of a high-rise artillery tower. Judging from the light, it might be three or four miles away.
"Brother, we can only go around. Do you think we should go north or south?"
"If you go south, you'll be close to the highway. The patrols are a problem. Go north and go around the river."
Snap—
As soon as Hu Yi finished speaking, a clear gunshot was heard from the back of the team, and then Shi Cheng shouted: "They are chasing us!"
Then there were several gunshots and faint noise coming from the road behind. It turned out that the detective team was a dog-skin plaster that had been sticking to them.
At the same time, the sound of gunfire spread across the plain and reached the gun tower three or four miles away. The beam of searchlight immediately followed the sound and swayed around randomly. At such a long distance, even with the searchlight shining, the gun tower could not see the situation. However, the heavy machine gun in the gun tower started to fire and began to sweep aimlessly in the direction of the gunfire.
Occasionally, the sound of bullets whizzing past nearby was heard; those were all heavy machine guns firing blindly. On the small road behind, there were the banging sounds of Mauser pistols; the fearful detective team stayed far behind and fired randomly, not caring at all whether their bullets could reach us or not.
"Go north. Ignore the group of dogs behind you." Hu Yi took off his rifle and held it in his hand, waiting for the team to hurriedly pass by him and then rejoined the team.
Ma Liang was running hurriedly with a rifle slung over his shoulder and a box gun in his hand. Faintly, he saw a dark line in front of him. It was the woods and the riverside.
We have walked along the west bank before, but there is no place to cross the river. There may be a bridge if we go east along the river. If we can cross the river to the north, everything will be easy. Ma Liang thought so and ran into the woods on the bank. He immediately turned right and led the team east along the river.
After a while, the team stopped again and hid in the woods by the river.
There really is a bridge. Looking eastward from the river, the outline of a small stone bridge can be vaguely seen on the water. However, there are bunkers and outposts set up by puppet troops at the bridgehead.
Hu Yi tried to exhale all the foul air in his chest and fell silent. If it was just a checkpoint, it would not be difficult to force his way through, but that bunker... would turn the bridgehead into a dead end. It was a dead end, and he could not go east anymore. He had been stumped by this inconspicuous river once, and now he was stumped by it for the second time.
Hu Yi regretted that he had forgotten the pain after his wound healed and forgot to teach them how to swim. If they knew how to swim, the river would not be an obstacle but an obstacle to the pursuers. He was negligent.
"Everyone turn around. Ma Liang, idiot, follow me and form an attack team in the front. Mule's left wing, suppress the front once after the encounter, and then take charge of the woods outside the south. The first squad cooperates with the machine guns and waits for the detour order. Li Xiang goes to the back and sets up a sentry to observe after the battle begins. The rest of you keep a safe distance from the offensive line. Let's go"
Crossing the bridge would kill everyone, and the open road to the south would not allow them to escape, so they could only turn back and walk through the pack of chasing dogs. They knew that every time a gun was fired, the enemy reinforcements from all directions would follow the sound and get closer to this area, making the chance of escape smaller, but they had to fight.
Hu Yi, who was marching in the front of the woods, drew out his bayonet and hung it on the muzzle, parallel to him for a few meters. Ma Liang was crouching forward with a Mauser pistol in his hand. Ten meters behind the two men, Wu Shitou was following slowly with a grenade in his hand. At the southern edge of the woods, a dozen people were walking together in a scattered manner, with Luo Fugui holding a machine gun and carefully following behind the leader Shi Cheng with his arms around his waist. Su Qing, Xiao Hongying, Liu Jianqiang, plus No. 3 and No. 21, kept a proper distance from the attacking group in front and the squad in front, and followed closely, with Li Xiang as the rear guard.
The detective team was wounded by a machine gun in Xiaojiao Village, and a belated grenade killed and wounded five or six more people. The remaining twenty or so people were in pursuit all the way under the command of the captain. After reaching the woods by the river, they lost the trace of the Eighth Route Army and did not know which direction to choose. Fortunately, the detective captain was a wise leader and threw a branch on the spot. Listening to God, the branch fell to the east, so they decisively followed the river to the east.
The ninth row, which was returning westward, had not gone a mile when they heard various unusual noises coming from the front.
The entire ninth platoon, which had basically maintained its formation, immediately stopped where they were and hid on the spot to prepare for the exchange of fire.
When the first blurry figure was spotted, Luo Fugui's machine gun fired. Boss Hu's order was to suppress the enemy once, not to kill anyone. Xiong, who was at the edge of the woods, did not dare to forget Boss Hu's order and ignored the first target. Instead, he made the trajectory of the first bullet overlap with the edge of the woods, then slowly moved to the right, creating a fan-shaped sweep area that slowly expanded toward the river.
It was pitch black in the woods, and basically nothing could be seen. He had to hold down the jumping machine gun, so as not to shoot too high, and not too low, so as not to eat the ground, just at knee height, Luo Fugui thought. Practice makes perfect, Luo Fugui had wasted a lot of bullets, and with the guidance of Hu Yi, an expert, he could now shoot the machine gun properly.
A fan-shaped barrage of bullets broke the branches, penetrated the leaves, and cut through the tree trunks, harvesting everything it passed by.
The detective team ran in a mess, never expecting the person in front to turn around. They heard the roar of machine guns before seeing anything, and were thrown into chaos. Luo Fugui didn't know how lucky he was this time. Twenty bullets actually penetrated eight legs. The detective team in the woods was in chaos.
Along with the machine gun fire, Squad One also fired a row of shots into the darkness.
As soon as the machine gun stopped, three grenades flew over, and the three explosions hurt my eardrums.
Hu Yi crouched with his bayonet and began to move forward. Ma Liang followed him in parallel, holding his revolver level and ready to call the roll at any time. Wu Shitou took out his second grenade and followed behind him.
Luo Fugui replaced the second magazine and pointed the machine gun at the open area outside the woods. Shi Cheng's squad also stopped shooting because they could not see the position of the attacking team and could no longer fire blindly into the woods.
This was a battle without suspense, completely one-sided, not only because of the difference in firepower, but most importantly the difference in fighting will. When the machine gun sounded, the detective team had already collapsed, and when the grenade exploded, they were already desperately turning around and running, including their captain.
Therefore, Luo Fugui, who was monitoring the flank, died. The detective team had no intention of making a detour. They didn't even dare to run out. They knew that they would become machine gun targets if they left the woods. The squad responsible for preparing for the detour also died because the enemy did not resist at all, so they naturally could not hear Hu Yi's order to encircle them.
Hu Yi held a bayonet and slowly crouched forward, using one tree after another. Every time he approached a target who was lying on the ground groaning or struggling, he could hear the sound of the bayonet entering flesh.
Sip—sip—
Ma Liang was shooting intermittently. None of the shadows that appeared in his sight could stand up and run, because those who could run had already run away. He was shooting at the shadows on the ground, regardless of whether they were dead bodies or injured people. Wu Shitou, who was in the back, was bored and took out his hand grenade and his submachine gun. He looked at the squad leader and Ma Liang in front of him, looked around, and then put the submachine gun back into the holster, crouched down and trotted a few steps, followed the squad leader, and the detective team left more than a dozen bodies.
"Squad one, come here and clean up the battlefield quickly. Those behind, follow up and keep moving forward." Hu Yi's voice was finally heard from the woods. Upon hearing the voice, Shi Cheng and the others started running forward.
"Li Xiang, let's go." Li Xiang, who was in charge of the rear guard, heard Liu Jianqiang calling him and was about to get up and leave his position when he suddenly heard a noise coming from behind and someone faintly heard someone say, "Hurry up, it's just ahead."
Needless to say, it must be the enemy guarding the bridge who heard the noise and came along the river. Li Xiang was a little confused for a moment, and couldn't help shouting to Liu Jianqiang: "Behind... the enemy is coming."
"You are in charge of the back, it's not me, Su Yushi, so hurry up...you two, hurry up." Liu Jianqiang's voice was fading away in the darkness.
He was so panicked that he stood up and ran back, trying to catch up with the team. After running a few steps, Li Xiang stopped again, looked back at the darkness behind him, gritted his teeth, and squatted back.
He hurriedly took off the grenade launcher he was carrying, lowered the hoe to the ground, stepped on half of it with one foot, and tried to dig out the grenade. He couldn't see clearly in the dark, and his fingers were shaking and uncontrollable. The grenade was so slippery that he couldn't pull it out. In a panic, he tore it apart with force, and with a "swish", the two grenades fell at his feet.
Sweating profusely, he didn't care about the angle or chamber pressure. He pulled the trigger, grabbed the grenade, pulled the safety pin with his teeth, and stuffed it into the grenade launcher.
Bang! The grenade went out of the chamber, and a few seconds later, the second grenade also flew into the sky.
boom-
A grenade exploded in the water, and the water column rose high and splashed all over the nearby river bank.
boom-
The second grenade landed in the woods, shaking off a large number of leaves in the darkness.
Li Xiang put away the grenade launcher and ran after the team in a panic. Both grenades hit the target, not to mention how far away from the enemy, the difference between the two landing points was huge. However, the puppet army squad that was chasing them never dared to move forward again.
Hu Yi ran to the edge of the woods on the river bank. Looking back, he could already see the dawn in the east. It was almost dawn.
He stopped and watched the team run past him one by one, and waited until Li Xiang, who was at the end, came over and asked, "Are they showing any signs of catching up?"
"I have no idea."
"Do you need me to cover your retreat?"
"I can."
Hu Yi handed a revolver to Li Xiang: "Wipe the blood off it yourself. The magazine is full."
Li Xiang took the revolver in silence and opened his mouth to say something when suddenly a gunshot was heard from the front of the team.
Slurp
That must be Ma Liang. Hu Yi's face changed instantly.
…