Ma Liang tossed and turned and did not sleep well all night. His head was full of thoughts about how to attack the blockhouse. The plan was detailed enough, but he was not sure he could take the blockhouse. He was worried!
When the morning glow appeared in the eastern sky, Ma Liang went out and strolled toward the beach, wanting to see the sunrise, but he found a figure sitting on the beach, Liu Jianqiang.
I walked over to him, but didn't sit down. I stood and looked at the morning glow and asked, "So early?"
"I'm always this early." The answer was not polite.
Ma Liang smiled and said nothing.
"I think the squad leader doesn't want to attack the artillery tower at all, we are just busy doing nothing." Liu Jianqiang said.
"I think he wants to fight, otherwise why would we ask us to come up with a plan?" Ma Liang felt much better as he looked at the red morning glow.
"We already have a plan. We can't make it more detailed. We've thought of everything we can think of. What else do we need? War is inherently risky. Let alone a 10% or 20% chance of success, we have to fight for it even if there is no chance at all!" Liu Jianqiang said seriously. He couldn't help but want to wave his fist, but ultimately failed to do so.
"The squad leader has led us until now. When has he not fought for it? He still fought even when we were at a dead end! Otherwise, we would have been wiped out by now. In fact, he was fighting for it this time too. He was fighting for the greatest victory with the least loss. Think about it carefully, isn't that right?"
Liu Jianqiang didn't say anything else and sighed silently.
Ma Liang continued, "In the end, we still haven't solved the fundamental problem. The root is still the turret. If we can't take down the turret, it's useless to think about other things. I think... we have to think about the means. We can't just think about the guns and grenades in our hands. We have to find a way to safely take down the turret."
Then the two of them continued to watch the morning glow, one standing and the other sitting. After a long silence, Liu Jianqiang suddenly said, "Do you think... can Shi Cheng's homemade cannon be put to use? I think his broken thing makes quite a lot of noise!"
Ma Liang thought for a moment and said, "I have to ask him about this."
…
Shi Cheng looked at Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang who came to him, and asked in surprise: "You two want to use homemade cannons to attack the turret? It's useless. Do you know how heavy that piece of iron is? Let alone attacking it, it would be exhausting to carry it there."
"As for how to transport it, that is another matter. Just tell me whether this homemade cannon can be used to attack the artillery tower." Ma Liang asked.
"Not to mention how slow it is to reload, the range of the shotgun is only about 100 meters, and the solid bullet can barely fly to 300 meters. Unfortunately, even if it hits, the thick outer wall of the turret may only make a small hole. What's the point? Besides, there are not only machine guns in the turret, but also grenade launchers. The position of this homemade cannon will be exposed once it is launched. How can it be dodged in time with such a heavy weight?"
Ma Liang was speechless. Liu Jianqiang frowned and said, "Then why do you enjoy banging and clanging this broken thing all day long?"
Shi Cheng chuckled and said, "Because it is useless, I use it to relieve my boredom. Otherwise, I would not be willing to cause harm."
"..." The two listeners were all frowning. It seemed that Shi Cheng was not even doing training by making such a loud noise. It was pure nonsense. If that was the case, wasn't he more shameless than that lazy bear who slept all day
"Hey, why are you two looking at me like that?" Shi Cheng had no idea that Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang were looking down on him hatefully. Without thinking too much, he added, "But... although you can't use the homemade cannon, maybe you can use the gunpowder?"
Ma Liang stared at Liu Jianqiang, Liu Jianqiang stared at Ma Liang, their eyes lit up at the same time, and then they turned around and left.
…
Li Xiang put down the wooden bench he was making and asked the two squad leaders in front of him calmly: "What's the matter?"
"Gunpowder! We are here for gunpowder. You are in charge of the gunpowder, so we came to find you."
"What do you need gunpowder for?"
"Blow up the turret!"
Li Xiang looked at the two squad leaders in front of him in silence for a while, then shook his head: "It can't be blown up."
"It can't explode?" Liu Jianqiang frowned again: "We're talking about gunpowder, not flour! What do you mean it can't explode?"
Li Xiang threw down the wood saw in his hand and clapped his hands: "The quantity is not enough, we can't blow up the artillery tower."
"What? Didn't the girl clearly leave a large box behind? How could it be not enough? Could it be that Shi Cheng had taken all of it?"
"Shi Cheng took all the loose ones and set them off. Half of the box was taken away by the Second Company a few days ago, so there is only half a box left now. Moreover... the gunpowder was probably made by the bandits themselves. The proportion is wrong and the effect is not good. It is not as powerful as you think. Although the fireworks are big, they are not explosive enough. If they are blown up outside, they will not hurt the turret at all. If they are put inside to blow up, I can't say what the effect will be, but... it is not much better than a few grenades tied together, so why bother to move such a large thing inside?"
Li Xiang is the authority in this regard. He said that the quantity was not enough and the quality of the gunpowder was not good enough, so it must be bad. Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang were unwilling to accept it but did not doubt it.
The hope that had just been ignited was shattered again. There was nothing they could do with the artillery tower that could not be moved. After all, it was because of poverty. The problem that could be easily solved by a mountain cannon completely stumped the two pillars of the Nine Rows.
Liu Jianqiang was helpless and was about to turn around and leave. Ma Liang didn't move, staring at Li Xiang for a while, and suddenly said: "Li Xiang, you must know how to fry explosives, right?"
Hearing Ma Liang's question, Liu Jianqiang, who was about to leave, stopped and stared at Li Xiang with Ma Liang.
Li Xiang didn't say anything. Instead, he picked up the wood saw on the ground and continued making the bench.
"Just fry some explosives, enough to blow up the blockhouse." Ma Liang said again.
Li Xiang still said nothing and continued to saw the wood diligently.
Liu Jianqiang also spoke up at this time: "This is about the whole platoon, the whole regiment. Why can't you have a sense of collectivism? I'm confused, why can't there be a good person in the ninth squad! Are you still the Eighth Route Army? Why don't you say something?"
The wood saw stopped. Li Xiang lowered his head and was silent for a while. Then he put down his work and walked towards Hu Yi's residence.
"Where are you going?" Ma Liang was puzzled.
"Find the platoon leader and transfer him out of the 9th platoon, or... retire."
Ma Liang glared at Liu Jianqiang fiercely, then ran a few steps and grabbed Li Xiang: "Forget it, forget it, just ignore me. I just asked casually, and you can go back to your bench."
Li Xiang stopped with an expressionless face. Ma Liang quickly waved at Liu Jianqiang, whose face was full of frowns, and left in silence.
…
Some soldiers sat by the woods to enjoy the cool air, a few veterans were talking eloquently, and a few new recruits were chatting nearby.
"Looking at this situation, the platoon leader must want to attack the artillery tower."
"Maybe not. The plans of the second and third squad leaders were so detailed yesterday evening, but they still got kicked in the face."
"What do you know? There are only two most capable squad leaders in our ninth platoon, one is Runny Nose and the other is Ma Liang. At the meeting, they were asked to work together to come up with a plan. Does the platoon leader have nothing else to do?"
"Oh, now that you mention it... it seems to make sense?"
A new soldier muttered, "So the second and third squad leaders are the strongest? We now have five squad leaders in our platoon. If we rank them by ability, who do you think will be at the top and who will be at the bottom?"
The soldiers immediately started to chatter, some thought Liu Jianqiang was first, some thought Ma Liang was first; some thought the newcomer Chen Chong was last, some thought the unscrupulous ninth squad leader Luo Fugui was last. After arguing for a long time, there was no answer as to who was first between Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang, but there was a consensus that Luo Fugui was last.
Xu Xiao was also nearby, listening the entire time, but he didn't say anything. But when he heard the end, he felt very upset, because Luo Fugui was his squad leader, and the soldiers were laughing at him.
In fact, in Xu Xiao's heart, his favorite person is Luo Fugui! The reason why he likes Luo Fugui is extremely simple, so simple that it is even ridiculous, because the squad leader is strong and tall, the tallest in the whole platoon! The tallest in the whole regiment! Taller than Gao Yidao, no one is taller than the squad leader!
Maybe it was because Xu Xiao was the thinnest, so Luo Fugui's tall and strong bear-like body made him yearn for it, or maybe it was for other reasons, who knows, the thing about liking is very strange and has nothing to do with logic.
"My squad leader is number one." Xu Xiao couldn't help but say seriously.
The scene suddenly became silent, and all eyes instantly turned to Xu Xiao's face covered with snot. After a moment of silence, everyone suddenly burst into laughter. Is this a story about an unscrupulous bear and a skinny chicken
After the audience had laughed enough, Xu Xiao repeated it seriously: "My squad leader is really number one."
"We admit that he is the best, but he is also a boaster. We admit that he is the biggest, but he is also shameless. In general, your squad leader has three strengths: eating, sleeping, and wasting bullets."
After someone said this, everyone burst into laughter again.
Xu Xiao was ridiculed until his face turned red. He was born with a sense of inferiority and was not good at arguing, so he had to wait until everyone had laughed enough before he said, "When we attacked the Hekou Camp, the squad leader gave us advice; when we attacked the Shankou construction site, the squad leader also gave us advice. My squad leader is number one."
"Come on, it's just a coincidence. If he really has that ability, why didn't the platoon leader let him come up with a plan? You little brat are trying to whitewash him. I say, kid, can we stop making trouble? Is it hard to say something that's in your conscience?"
"I... my squad leader is first." Xu Xiaoyu was awkward, but continued to speak seriously with a red face, and was soon drowned out by the laughter of everyone.
Suddenly there was a thud, and a smiling soldier was kicked to the ground by a big foot from behind.
The soldiers turned around suddenly and found a giant bear standing behind them, lazily blinking its ugly bear eyes and scanning the silent scene.
The fallen soldier turned over in a panic, and when he saw the bear, he grinned in surprise. Shouldn't he be sleeping at this time? He forgot that the platoon leader had returned.
"Damn it, you look like a runny-nosed coward! How dare you make up stories about me? Today I'll show you how big my face is!"
The soldiers looked at each other askance. Oh no, could the bear have heard everything? We would be fools to stay here any longer!
"Uh... Squad Leader Luo, I have to go change shifts." A soldier got up and ran away.
"I'm going to change shifts too." Everyone said almost in unison, and there was a commotion and everyone ran away.
Luo Fugui was not far from here and heard everything from beginning to end. He didn't care about being at the bottom of the ranking or wasting bullets on eating and sleeping. What's the use of face? Can it be eaten or spent as money? He was naturally immune to those ridicules and didn't feel anything at all.
"Squad leader." Xu Xiao stood there in a daze.
"What's wrong with me being the 'worst squad leader'? Why are you arguing with those brainless guys? Huh? The one who sticks out gets rotten first, do you understand? You haven't learned your lesson after dying once? Do you think there will always be someone to carry you, the unlucky one, back home every time?" Luo Fugui seemed to be blaming Xu Xiao, but there was no trace of anger in his tone.
"But I think you are the first." Xu Xiao lowered his head in silence and said in a low voice.
Luo Fugui looked down at the thin body in front of him, was silent for a while, and suddenly laughed: "Of course I am the first!"
Hearing this, Xu Xiao raised his head and stared at the tall giant bear in a daze.
“As long as I want, I can always ride on Runny Nose and Ma Liang’s heads. If I’m not number one, who will be? Hehehe… The squad leader is happy today, so… I’ll earn you the first place for fun?”
Xu Xiao became even more confused.
Luo Fugui proudly put his hands behind his back and looked at the beach. Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang were still thinking hard in front of the sand table. He couldn't help but let out a sly smile and said to Xu Xiao: "Go tell those two idiots, don't mess around, I already have a plan to attack the artillery tower, let them find a cool place to rest! This guy is making such a big fuss, the regiment commander and the political commissar are not as busy as them!"
…