At eight o'clock in the morning, the road is still a road, the woods are still woods, the silence is still silence, and waiting is still waiting.
At ten o'clock in the morning, a bird occasionally flew by and a grasshopper occasionally flapped its wings. At this time, there was not even a passerby. The area was not peaceful in the past two days and the people did not dare to go far away easily.
At noon, the 9th Platoon seemed to have almost exhausted their energy. They had not eaten breakfast and had not slept since last night. Many soldiers' eyelids began to droop and they could barely concentrate. The effect of sleepiness was more obvious than hunger. Little Hongying even slept slightly not far behind Hu Yi. She fell asleep with her head resting on Wu Shitou, who was lying in the bushes.
From dawn till now, the puppet army company has not returned. Hu Yi looked back at the little face that had already started to dream, and decided not to wait any longer. He needed to rest.
Just as he was about to give the order to rest, he suddenly heard faint footsteps. He was startled and all his sleepiness disappeared. He grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it back at Xiao Hongying.
The soldiers in the ninth platoon were all alert. They grabbed their guns and hid them carefully.
But the faint footsteps did not come from the west, but from the east. Ma Liang was the only sentry in the west, so the people coming from the east did not get an early warning. As the distance got closer, the sound became clearer and clearer. It was a team jogging.
After a while, more than ten Japanese soldiers appeared in sight, running along the path to the west and passing the path in front of the ninth row; after a while, more Japanese soldiers appeared in sight, one after another, at least forty of them, running along the path and passing the gun muzzles of the ninth row; after a while, puppet soldiers appeared in sight, lined up in a long line, with more than a hundred people.
The Japanese were a small team and the puppet army was a company. It was obvious that they came from the county town. Calculating the time, the enemy who delivered the message last night should have arrived at Hekouying and then went to the county town to report the situation. Because even if the puppet army prisoners from Hekouying returned to the county town, the message should have been delivered now, and the enemy should have left the city in the evening.
Despite this, the Japanese soldiers must have known about the destruction of Hekouying, because even if they had not encountered the puppet army prisoners, they would have passed by the burned ruins of Hekouying on their way.
This time it was okay. There was no need to worry about anything. After the enemies disappeared, Hu Yi gave orders to leave sentries to continue monitoring the path. The ninth platoon retreated deep into the woods to eat and sleep, and Ma Liang was also called back.
…
"Platoon leader, platoon leader." A soldier called softly.
Hu Yi sat up suddenly, and habitually took out the Mauser pistol in his hand. He saw green everywhere. This was still a forest. The soldier in front of him took a step back in surprise. He put down the gun, lowered his head and pinched his eyebrows, then raised his head again: "What's the matter?"
"The enemies we saw at noon have just run east again." This was the sentry who was monitoring the path and came back to report the situation.
"Do you see whether there are more or fewer enemies?" Hu Yi asked as he took out his pocket watch to check the time. It was 5:15 in the afternoon.
"It should be the same ones. A small group of Japanese soldiers and a company of puppet troops. Although I couldn't count them in detail, they should be those."
"Is that company of puppet troops the same company that came here?"
"It's them. I remember the company commander coming over at noon."
Hu Yi thought about it and thought that the company of the Hekou Camp was completely left at the mountain pass of Luoye Village for defense. Anyway, they had nowhere to go now. The next step for this small group of Japanese soldiers and puppet troops would be to return to the county town or to roam around randomly to look for traces of the ninth platoon. If their goal was the latter, then there should be another enemy of similar size cooperating with them in the east.
"Okay, I get it, get busy."
The warrior turned around and disappeared into the green.
A pair of pigtails swung over and came to Hu Yi, stretched out her hand, and handed him a box of canned food: "Wake up."
He took the can, weighed it in his hand, and asked the little girl, "Have you eaten it?"
"I eat cake."
He looked at the soldiers resting around him, put the can back into the girl's hand and said, "Give one to Shicheng, one to Runny Nose, one to Maliang, and this one is yours."
The little girl tilted her head to look at Hu Yi, then turned around and walked towards the bag of canned food and divided it according to what Hu Yi said.
Shi Cheng took the can of food from the girl, licked his lips, drew out his bayonet, and glanced at the soldiers gathered around him: "Come on, brothers, let's try this new thing. Oh, by the way, Xiaoliu is on sentry duty, let's all stay alert, don't forget to leave a bite for him."
The eight people in Class 1 were originally a guerrilla group. They were basically from the same hometown and village, forming a special small circle. They were not only comrades-in-arms, but also naked kids who grew up together. Therefore, everything was distributed equally in the class, without any distinction of high or low, and without any restraint or barriers.
Liu Jianqiang took the can of food distributed by the little girl, looked up and saw that the five soldiers under him were biting their lips and staring at the cans in their hands, so he said seriously: "This should be distributed to the merits. Whoever kills the devil will get the credit." Then he handed the can to the three soldiers who killed the devil with a spear in the Hekou Camp: "You three can share it."
The other two recruits from Class 2 had nothing to say and could only look with envy at the three people who got the cans.
Ma Liang took the can from the little girl, turned it over in his hands, looked at it carefully, and then placed it in the middle of the five drooling men: "You guys take turns to eat it, one bite each."
"Squad leader, what about you?" a soldier from the third squad asked, looking up.
"I've eaten this thing, and I don't think it's much more delicious than steamed buns!" Ma Liang replied.
Hu Yi saw all of this. The three squad leaders under him all looked like veterans. The runny tears, Ma Liang's conceit, Shi Cheng's inferiority complex, were all things that happened in the spring, not far away, but now they seemed like years. War seemed to make people grow up quickly.
"Hey? Classes one, two and three have all been divided, so does our class nine need one too? We have to treat everyone equally, right? Huh?" Luo Fugui yelled.
"Of course I'll give one. Fool, Li Xiang, Xu Xiao, come here, this can is for the three of you to eat." The little girl stuffed the can into Wu Shitou's hands while speaking.
"Hey? Hey, hey? You little bastard, where did you assign me, the deputy class leader, to?"
"You shameless bastard! I will only count you in if you can spit out the box you stole!" The little girl answered Luo Fugui's question.
Hu Yi looked at the bear not far away in silence, and finally decided to overturn his previous idea. War may not necessarily make people grow quickly. It depends on who the person is!
Finally, the little girl brought another box of canned food to Hu Yi and sat down casually: "Fox, let's share a box."
Hu Yi smiled.
…
Night falls again.
Hu Yi appeared again on the river bank south of Lushuipu.
Li Youcai went to the appointment again.
Two figures stood in the darkness by the river, one tall and straight, the other casual.
"Commander Hu, you really think highly of me, and you're still here? According to the storytellers, this should be considered the 'Longzhong Plan', but... I'm a fool and I can't come up with anything."
"If I ask you to bring one person across the mountain pass, you can always do it, right?" Hu Yi wanted to send someone into the mountains to contact the independent regiment and draft a new plan for bringing supplies into the mountains.
"It worked yesterday, but it's useless today. Do you know how much trouble you've caused? Now, let alone leading people, even I can't get through it. The imperial army came this afternoon and assigned me the task of finding clues about you. You're inside, so why am I sending people into the mountains to investigate?"
"Are you sure there's no chance?"
"There's really no chance. Unless we catch you all, or make sure you all run away."
Hu Yi sighed, was silent for a while, and then asked: "What do the devils think? Do you know?"
"I don't know the details, but I know the general idea. Two teams and two companies came out of the county town. They split into two routes, one heading east along Hekouying, and the other heading west. I don't know the situation of the eastern route, but the western route... I guess they will be stationed in the middle of the villages in the north. Once they get any clues, they will attack at any time. The specific location... If you draw a circle connecting Luoye Village, Lushuipu, Hekouying and the two villages in the east, the point in the middle should be almost accurate."
I was a little disappointed that I couldn't send anyone into the mountains to make contact, but the information Li Youcai provided at the end was very valuable, so it was worth it to look for him.
Soon after, the two turned around and were about to part ways. Hu Yi, who had already walked a few steps, suddenly stopped and said, "Wait."
Li Youcai stopped and looked back.
"Why did Li Youde attack the Hekou Camp?"
"What?" Li Youcai was surprised and didn't understand for a moment.
"Destroying the Bayou Camp was a deal I made with your brother. Do you know why he did it?"
Li Youde was a man of great depth. The purpose of the deal to attack Hekouying was hard to understand. The political commissar couldn't guess it, and neither could Hu Yi. I don't know if his weird brother Li Youcai could have the answer. At the last moment of his departure, Hu Yi raised the question with a try-it-out attitude.
Li Youcai stopped talking, he was thinking.
After a few minutes of silence, he began to take a few steps closer to Hu Yi again: "He really found a good thug."
Hu Yi felt that Li Youcai should have the answer, so he didn't say anything and just stood in the dark waiting for the answer.
"After the blockade of the mountain pass is completed, the Li family militia will no longer have any meaning to exist. If they continue to hold the guns, the imperial army will be unhappy, but I, as their brother, can't bear to let go. After the Hekou Camp is destroyed, Luoye Village and Lushuipu will lose their support. The imperial army will definitely have to rebuild, and the reinforcement team will also have to be reorganized. Then, isn't the Li family militia a ready-made force? I guess... a new military station will be built near Luoye Village! As the chairman of the maintenance association, he may also become a company commander or battalion commander at the same time."
Finally I understand, what a profound handwriting, trees can be planted in the cracks of rocks. Hu Yi is not interested in such calculations. Li Youde is gradually becoming bigger. It is unclear whether it is a good thing for the independent regiment. Let the political commissar judge in the future.
Li Youcai suddenly sighed: "I will always be a useless waste. He is the one who can do great things. He is the big tree of the Li family. Haha..."
I couldn't see Li Youcai's face clearly, I could only hear his bitter smile.
"But I am more optimistic about you!" After saying this last sentence, Hu Yi turned around and disappeared into the night.
…