Five people, scurrying between the tiles, Hu Yi and Liu Jianqiang in front, Ma Liang and Luo Fugui in the back, a standard two plus two tactical team, but there was one more person, Wu Shitou, sometimes following in front, sometimes mixing in the back. Hu Yi added Wu Shitou, not expecting him to be a free man, but to do odd jobs, pick up leaks, provide support, search for corpses and ammunition, or take over when someone is injured, or let him carry the wounded.
The five people sometimes ran in a line, sometimes stopped in two groups, and sometimes took turns to cover each other and pass through the alleys, climb over walls and overcome obstacles, along the outside of the puppet army's encirclement, and quietly went to the northern area of the village, behind the puppet army.
The puppet army was not the devils, and without a commander, they would become a group of headless flies. They entered the village from the north, and Hu Yi guessed that the puppet army commander was not that diligent, and there was a high probability that he would command in this direction.
A group of scattered residential houses were connected together by a not-too-long north-south alley. From time to time, the sound of shooting could be heard from the large courtyard in the village.
"If we don't want to cross the yard, we'll just go this alley. Mule, you two stay on the right side, and we'll take turns and go forward slowly."
The five people were divided into two groups of two or three, each standing close to the wall of the house or courtyard on the side of the road, crouching down and starting to move forward cautiously.
Before they had advanced far, Ma Liang on the right raised his rifle and aimed at the roof of a house on the left side of the alley, where a puppet soldier was lying on the roof, looking into the village.
There was a series of clattering sounds from the roof tiles, and with a plop, the body rolled off the eaves and fell into the yard.
"What's going on?" Someone in the yard asked in panic.
Liu Jianqiang stopped on the left, pulled out a grenade, pulled the fuse and threw it into the wall next to him.
Boom! Dust flew over the wall, choking the heads of the five people in the alley.
Hu Yi shook his hat and peered into the yard from the gate beside him. There were three bodies. He didn't know if there was anyone in the house, but he was too lazy to go in and find trouble. He waved his hand, indicating that they should continue to move forward alternately, and quickly passed the gate with his back bent.
Before they walked more than ten meters, five or six puppet soldiers suddenly rushed out from the side gate not far in front. They heard the gunshots and grenade explosions behind them and ran out to see what was going on. The moment they walked out of the gate, everyone's eyes widened. Not far away in the alley, under the left wall, a broad-browed and narrow-eyed Eighth Route Army soldier was half-crouching with his gun raised. Behind him, there seemed to be two figures following the wall, and further away, under the right wall, there were two people lying down, one of whom... was holding a machine gun.
Da da da da da... Before he could raise his gun, the machine gun started firing, then the rifle. Then a stupid guy stood up from behind the Eighth Route Army soldier with broad eyebrows and narrow eyes, and threw a grenade. The grenade drew a beautiful arc in the sunlight and landed in the yard where people had just run out.
boom-
The puppet troops in the surrounding areas finally realized that something was wrong, but they could not figure out the specific situation. They just heard that there were Eighth Route Army soldiers in the village and that they were approaching.
A head suddenly popped up from a rooftop on the right side of the alley, eyes widened, and he shouted, "The Eighth Route Army... are in the alley."
Hu Yi raised his gun and fired. Bang! The bullet shattered a tile on the roof of the house. The puppet soldier who had just stuck his head out was frightened and shrank back in panic. In a panic, his body began to slide along the tile to the yard behind.
Wu Shitou threw the grenade in his hand against the wall behind him and fired it. He glanced at the probe on the roof to the right, and let the grenade fly in a high arc. After landing on the roof, the clanging sound indicated that it began to roll down along the inclined tiles.
The puppet soldier on the roof was sliding down uncontrollably. When he was about to fall to the eaves, he saw a round iron lump appear in front of him, jumping happily between the tiles, and rolling down with him...
Ah—thump—the puppet soldier fell off the roof and into the yard. The screams stopped the moment he touched the ground. He was stunned.
The four or five people in the yard turned their heads to look at him at the same time: "Are the Eighth Route Army soldiers behind the house? What the hell are you talking about?" The person who asked the question was the company commander of the puppet army.
But half a second later, the courtyard suddenly became cold, because the audience finally discovered that a grenade was rolling slowly in the courtyard, on the hard ground, in the sun, it was particularly clear, particularly slow, and made time slow down as well. It seemed that it still had a long way to go, until the audience felt the wind blowing on their faces, and then they knew that this was the end.
The northern part of the compound was in chaos, with gunfire ringing everywhere, and occasional explosions of hand grenades and hand grenades, followed by the sound of machine guns from the puppet army.
"Brother, we can't go through the aisle ahead. It's blocked by machine guns." The corner of the wall next to Ma Liang was shattered into pieces, and he shrank back and shouted to the other side.
Hu Yi held his rifle and fired steadily at a roof again and again until the magazine was empty, then he retreated. Liu Jianqiang next to him immediately opened fire and continued to suppress the rooftop where the puppet soldiers occasionally tried to peek and shoot.
While quickly loading bullets, Hu Yi shouted to those nearby: "Abandon the alley and go to the yard. Machine guns go first." Then with a clatter, bullets were loaded and a new round of suppression began.
Hearing the sound, Luo Fugui picked up his machine gun and ran, rushing towards the nearest gate, passing by Hu Yi and Liu Jianqiang, and suddenly heard a crashing sound and felt something hit his back. He turned his head and saw that the small window on the wall beside him had been broken, and a grenade was spinning at his feet, smoking.
In an instant, his body was no longer under his control: "Your grandma..." He fell heavily with a thump, his pupils dilated infinitely, staring at the grenade absentmindedly. In his peripheral vision, Boss Hu was still concentrating on shooting, a shell was very slowly jumping out of the gun chamber, slowly rolling in the air, turning somersaults; Runny Nose was desperately loading bullets, the clip that had not yet been pressed into the magazine was shining with a metallic luster under the sunlight; the grenade was behind the two of them, in front of his eyes, rolling slowly, smoking...
Suddenly a hand appeared, grabbed the grenade on the ground accurately and quickly, and threw it directly up, making it fly back to the broken window.
Boom! There was a sudden tremor nearby. The tiles of the house next door jumped up. Ashes and debris instantly gushed out of the window. The alley was filled with smoke.
Wu Shitou was knocked to the ground by the shock wave. He shook his head and got up again woodenly, still staggering a little.
After reloading, Liu Jianqiang glanced back numbly, then raised his gun and continued to shoot at Hu Yi's squad: "Squad leader, that guy has the most people, their company commander must be there. Let the mule hold him down, I'll go"
At this time, Ma Liang's shouting was heard from the other side again: "Someone is attacking from the left, someone is attacking from the left." Then Ma Liang's gunshots began to sound.
After pushing a row of bullets into the magazine and pulling the bolt to load the gun, Hu Yi looked back at Luo Fugui who was picking up the machine gun, and Wu Shitou who was rubbing his head. He didn't bother to ask what happened, and said in a cold voice: "Hurry up, get the machine gun into the yard and find a position to suppress it. Let's get out of this place."
Hu Yi didn't know that the puppet army commander was dead. He had the same idea as Liu Jianqiang, thinking that the courtyard with the most people on the opposite side was likely the target. But Hu Yi didn't plan to continue fighting here. Time had dragged on for a long time, and the suddenness was gone. If he continued to delay, there would be no good results. He had to leave first.
In fact, the puppet soldiers didn't know that their company commander was dead. The houses and courtyards were in chaos, and no one could see each other, so how could they know what the company commander was doing? The platoon leader of the courtyard with many people was in charge, and the puppet soldiers scattered around were fighting on their own.
He reached out and pulled Liu Jianqiang, "Go into the yard, go through the house, and get out the window. Move quickly." Then he raised his gun and started the last suppressive cover shooting.
There is continuous gunfire from the north, but it is relatively quiet here in the compound.
Shi Cheng shouted at the top of his lungs, ran back and forth, was smoked, and was covered in sweat. He had to constantly observe the situation outside the wall, constantly arrange for the people in the shooting position to move around to take care of the key directions, and constantly pay attention to the progress of the defense work commanded by Li Xiang.
The battle in the north was fought by the platoon leader and the ninth squad. The gunshots showed how fierce and risky it was. Unfortunately, the battle was launched in the rear of the north, and the compound could not see it at all, so there was nothing we could do to help. Shi Cheng did not expect that he would have to bear such great pressure just after becoming a squad leader of the Eighth Route Army. He had no confidence at all, and was panicking. On the surface, he had to pretend to be calm, which made him sweat continuously.
Unintentionally discovering Su Qing sitting quietly on a grain bag in the middle of the yard, Shi Cheng trotted over and said, "Su Yushi, you'd better not stay here. Go to the granary. Li Xiang said it's safe there."
Su Qing looked at Shi Cheng, who was blackened by the smoke, and asked, "Can you see the situation in the north?"
"I can't see it. But with the platoon leader knocking on the back, I don't think the enemy will make any big moves for a while. This yard is not safe, you should go...
"It's okay, don't worry. Go and get busy." Su Qing's expression was no longer as cold as usual, only calmness remained.
After turning around and walking a few steps, Shi Cheng stopped again and turned back hesitantly: "Su Yushi, I... have something to say..."
"you say."
"The Ninth Platoon is in this state because of that traitor. We have no chance to get out, so... I hope you don't think about bringing them back to the group. If it's inconvenient for you... just leave them to me."
Su Qing tilted her head and looked at Shi Cheng quietly. She knew what Shi Cheng meant and could understand his feelings. Hu Yi, the scum deserter, had already called No. 3 and No. 21 comrades. Based on her understanding of him, if she was not there to calm him down, the beast would not hesitate to use his bayonet to deal with the problem.
After a long silence, Su Qing said, "Give me a gun."
Su Qing didn't bring a gun with her. Her Zhongzheng rifle was hanging in the office in Dabei Village. Shi Cheng didn't know what Su Qing was thinking. She didn't answer the question, but asked for a gun. Can a gun be used for torture? Or maybe she just wanted to participate in the final battle.
When we were at the river, we got more than a dozen Mauser pistols, all in the hands of the first squad, so we didn't need this. Shi Cheng took out his gun on the spot, handed it to Su Qing, and turned away without asking any more questions.
Su Qing fiddled with the gun in his hand, continued to remain silent, and sat quietly in the middle of the courtyard...