Ma Liang, this kid, not only has long legs, but also has good comprehension and a lively mind. After these days of getting to know Hu Yi and listening to him talk about all sorts of things with Xiao Hongying, in his eyes, Hu Yi is definitely not an embroidered pillow with nothing to say, so he believes Hu Yi's words.
But unlike Xiao Hongying's blind faith, Ma Liang's trust was justified. He was in the regiment all day and often heard news about the battlefields in North China and Songhu. The fighting was terrible. He knew that Hu Yi was escorting Su Qing from Songhu. Even if Hu Yi was a deserter, he had seen big scenes. At least he was a veteran who had climbed over piles of dead bodies. Ma Liang felt that when it came to matters of life and death on the battlefield, it was right to listen to the veterans.
Besides, it is better to believe that the Japanese are coming than not to believe that. Even if Hu Yi was dazzled and saw it wrong, the worst that could happen is that everyone would just work a little harder and get nothing done. But if it is true, it would be a disaster. Ma Liang understood this principle as soon as he thought about it.
Seeing that the second company commander Gao Yidao left without making a decision, leaving Hu Yi, Xiao Hongying and himself here, Ma Liang was really anxious. He couldn't help but regard Hu Yi as the backbone and subconsciously grabbed Hu Yi's sleeve: "Brother, look at him, this, this. Can you come up with a decision?"
"I've said everything that needs to be said. I'm not the one in charge, so what can I do?" What Hu Yi is thinking now is that his Second Company's failure has nothing to do with me. The task given to me by the regiment commander and the political commissar is to take care of the children, and I don't care about other things. Should I take the little girl and leave the village now
Ma Liang knew clearly that Hu Yi and the Second Company were enemies, but he didn't believe that Hu Yi was a man without ideas. "Brother, let's not worry about the Second Company. Now I, Ma Liang, listen to you. You have to give me some advice, right?"
Hu Yi looked at Ma Liang. He liked this guy when he first met him. He couldn't let everyone down just because he didn't like Gao Yidao. Acting on his own and commanding beyond his authority, both of them are serious violations of discipline, right? Never mind for now. After all, more debts are better than less. After making up his mind, he said to Ma Liang, "You are from the regiment, and everyone believes your words. Now go and notify all the villagers to evacuate. It's urgent, so don't pack anything. Just bring food. Tell everyone to go over the West Mountain, run west, and spread out into the mountains. The farther the better. Then go back to the regiment, burn everything with words on it, and then meet me at the top of the East Mountain. Be quick!"
"Yes!" Ma Liang instinctively saluted Hu Yi, but suddenly thought that this was not right. How could he salute him? He felt a little embarrassed, his face turned red, and he turned around and ran away.
Xiao Hongying didn't notice these details. After listening to Hu Yi's arrangement for Ma Liang, she stared at Hu Yi with wide eyes and asked, "Fox, you said we should go to Dongshan? Why don't we follow the villagers and go west?"
Hu Yi's judgment was that Wuming Village was a north-south valley, and the Japanese were likely to block both ends. The villagers were asked to run westward, on the one hand because the west mountain was relatively gentle and easy to climb, and on the other hand because the Japanese were likely to come from the east. If not to run west, where else could they run? Besides, the east mountain was steep, and how many of the old, weak, and disabled people in the village could run over
Why didn't Hu Yi go west with the villagers? Hu Yi had his own selfish motives. First of all, Hu Yi didn't know how many Japanese soldiers were coming, nor did he know what combat measures the Second Company would take. If there were many Japanese soldiers and the Second Company collapsed quickly, the Japanese soldiers would chase westward, and it was estimated that they would not be able to escape much.
Secondly, if the Second Company can hold out for a while and give the villagers more time to evacuate, the villagers' evacuation plans will inevitably be exposed after the Japanese enter the village, and they will still pursue them westward. This is better than the previous situation, but they will still be pursued. Whether they can run far, whether they can hide, and how many people can survive depends on their luck.
The above two judgment results are not the best for Hu Yi himself and Xiao Hongying, so Hu Yi wants to strive for a once-and-for-all choice. Since the Japanese are coming from the east, then he should head east. It is easy for two or three people to hide. As long as they can use the terrain of the mountain to sneak out of the Japanese's attack line, they will have no worries. Then they can find a way to turn north to find the troops, so Hu Yi decided to go to Dongshan.
Of course, there was no way to explain this reason to Xiao Hongying, so Hu Yi replied to Xiao Hongying in an imperative tone: "Why so many whys? Just follow me."
No matter what, Xiao Hongying was still a child. She knew that the Japanese were coming and that Hu Yi was going to take her away. She had no idea what else was going on and stopped asking questions. She blinked her big eyes and said, "Well, Fox, wait here for a while. I'll be back soon." After she finished speaking, she ran away without waiting for Hu Yi to say anything.
Hu Yi was stunned. What a troublesome thing. It was already so late. What was she doing? He wanted to stop her, but she was already far away. So he had to wait for her.
Ma Liang threw away his long legs and ran like the wind, holding a broken gong and beating it all the way, shouting all over the village, mobilizing everyone to evacuate. Young and old left their homes one after another, pulling each other and running towards the West Mountain, and the village was in chaos. Seeing that the notification was completed, Ma Liang threw away the broken gong, turned around and ran towards the regiment headquarters, and met Liu Jianqiang head-on.
"Hey, Ma Liang, didn't Captain Gao say that we had to wait for reconnaissance to confirm the news? Why are you yelling at everyone to run away now? Aren't you lying about military intelligence?" Liu Jianqiang asked, carrying a Hanyang rifle with only one bullet left.
Ma Liang panted heavily, his voice a little hoarse: "Brother Hu is watching the Japanese on the East Mountain. The sooner you run, the better chance you have of escaping. Besides, Captain Gao didn't say that we can't notify them in advance."
Liu Jianqiang's face turned serious: "Ma Liang, don't quibble. Don't think I don't know. You spend all day with the Kuomintang. Can you believe what they say? Didn't you see how many of his comrades he injured when he went crazy? Are you really stupid or just pretending to be stupid? Tell me, is it him..."
When Ma Liang saw Liu Jianqiang's attitude, he thought to himself, you runny nose guy are really stubborn, you are the reincarnation of a mourning ghost, you can confuse the regiment commander and the political commissar, so I can't afford to offend you. He quickly waved his hand to interrupt him: "Okay, okay, squad leader Liu, company commander Liu, you go ahead, I have something urgent to do and I'll leave first." After saying that, he spread his long legs and ran towards the regiment headquarters, disappearing at the speed as if he was avoiding the god of plague.
Hu Yi put his hands in his pockets and paced at the edge of the playground. Xiao Hongying didn't wait, but Liu Jianqiang came to him. Hu Yi couldn't help but frown. What do you mean by "a distinguished visit"? This is a distinguished visit. The melancholy man who lived with the sun all day long, and couldn't be seen for eight hundred years, came at the critical moment. Just looking at his donkey face made him upset.
"Hu Yi, did you instruct Ma Liang to let the people run away?"
"Yeah. It's me. What's going on."
"I expected it to be you. You lied about military intelligence and ignored the law. I think your next step is to go back to your old ways and become a deserter, right?"
"Yes. That's right. Go on."
"What else is there to say? I'm going to put you in solitary confinement now and wait for your superiors to deal with you."
Haha, Hu Yi was amused: "It's about me? Why do you think you can do that?"
"Because I'm the monitor of Class Nine."
Hu Yi walked up to Liu Jianqiang, so close that his nose was almost touching his nose: "I asked you why, not whether you are a squad leader or a company commander!"
Looking at the chest in front of him that was wider than his own, looking at the shoulders in front of him that were thicker than his own, looking at the narrow eyes that were so close that they seemed to be revealing a dangerous light, Liu Jianqiang suddenly remembered the fate of his comrades in the second company, and he was frightened and finally came to his senses. How could he be trying to reason with me? He was mocking me for having no one to rely on. He hurriedly stepped back to create some distance: "Hu, you ungrateful person, you are going to rebel! You are going to betray and surrender to the enemy! Believe it or not, I will shoot you on behalf of my superiors!" As he spoke, Liu Jianqiang took off the gun on his shoulder and held it up.
Hu Yi was furious when he saw Liu Jianqiang's behavior. What kind of person is this? He is a new soldier who can do nothing but make trouble. If he doesn't teach him a lesson, he will really be ignorant of the Lord of Horses. He raised his foot and kicked Liu Jianqiang, who hadn't even pulled the bolt yet. "Runny Nose, today I will let you know what an ungrateful person is."
Xiao Hongying ran into the small house in the backyard of the regiment headquarters. This was her residence. She went straight to the corner after entering the house, picked up a square brick on the ground, and took out a small canvas bag from the pit below. She weighed it and it made a rattling sound. She found a thin rope to tighten the bag to make it smaller and no longer make a sound, and then stuffed it into the canvas shoulder bag behind her, which was bulging. She clapped her hands and glanced around. There was nothing she needed to take with her, so she turned around and went out to find Hu Yi.
After turning the corner in a hurry, Xiao Hongying was stunned. Hu Yi stood by the ditch beside the playground with his hands in his trouser pockets, kicking something into the ditch, muttering: "Oh, you are really stubborn. I didn't expect you to be so stubborn. You still dare to say it? I asked you to say it..."
There were bursts of wailing coming from the ditch: "Ah... Ouch... You ungrateful bastard... You ungrateful bastard... I represent the organization... Ah..."
"Fox, what are you doing?"
Hu Yi turned around and saw Xiao Hongying standing in the corner with a bulging bag. He quickly retracted his foot. The little girl felt bad about this, so she ran over, pulled Xiao Hongying up and left: "It's okay, you're finally back, let's go."
Although Gao Yidao was skeptical of Hu Yi's words, he did not dare to be careless. He led a platoon to the sentry post in the south and ordered them to prepare fortifications on the spot just in case. He was busy running up and down to give orders when he suddenly heard the clanging of gongs in the village, and then saw some villagers began to run towards the west mountain in a mess. I haven't told them to evacuate yet, what's going on? Who gave the order? He wanted to go back to the village to see what was going on, but the soldier next to him suddenly said, "Company commander, the reconnaissance squad is back!"
So fast? Didn't I tell them to advance five miles? How long has it taken? Looking back to the south, I saw more than a dozen members of the reconnaissance squad, panting and crawling, approaching. They started shouting from a distance: "Devils! The devils are coming! Company commander, there are devils everywhere..."