Su Qing was shocked. For the first time, she hated herself for not being a man and not being able to be a small part in the rain of bullets. The soldiers were like quicksand, but they could never build a tower, even though they were all fearless.
Su Qing now knew how rare it was to have the Ninth Company where she could act as she pleased. In the Ninth Company, she was like the commander, but in the Third Company, she was just Secretary Su.
Su Qing didn't understand military affairs, but she knew that Hu Yi was an expert, especially in this situation. No one in the independent regiment could surpass him. She just knew it without any evidence.
So she dragged Hu Yi to stay here, but she didn't expect that Hu Yi and Hao Ping couldn't get along at all. She always thought that Hu Yi and Gao Yidao had the worst relationship, and everyone thought so; the 9th and 2nd companies, which hated each other, often formed alliances openly or secretly, and she even knew about some shameful things but pretended not to know. Now it was the 3rd company's turn, but it didn't work. This confused Su Qing and she couldn't understand it.
When Su Qing found Hu Yi, the conscienceless Hu Yi and the heartless Xiao Hongying were sitting in a shabby house beside an empty street, one munching on sweet-scented osmanthus cake, the other chewing on broken watermelon, turning a blind eye to the corpses on the street and a deaf ear to the noisy sounds of fighting and shooting. They looked very happy eating, not at all artificial, as if they were in a peaceful world. She couldn't even get angry seeing them, they seemed... born to be the masters of this sad world.
Hu Yi, who was chewing a watermelon, felt a kick from Xiao Hongying on his back, and then heard her whispered warning: "The spies are coming!"
Hu Yi turned his head and saw her approaching in the sunshine. Xiao Hongying stood up, wiping her scumbag mouth and facing the newcomer without blushing or beating her heart: "We are picking up! Not taking!"
Su Qing walked up to them and stopped without saying a word, just staring at Hu Yi quietly.
Hu Yi had no choice but to wipe his mouth, throw away the dirty watermelon rind in his hand, listen to the increasingly sparse gunshots, then take out his pocket watch to check the time, then put it away: "Failed?"
"Although I'm not the commander of the third company, I want to ask you, is there any solution?"
"There's no other way. There's no time. The enemy could arrive at any moment. Take my advice and don't break out with the Third Company, okay?"
"You don't have to worry about that. Hao Ping also said that we should wait until dark. I also want to ask you, if you are in charge, how should we fight next?"
…
Injuries are also divided into different levels. It's not just the severity of the injury that matters, but also where you are when you are injured. Maybe it's just a minor injury, but because of the failure of the action, you can't return to the camp and are left on the battlefield, which is no different from being seriously injured and dying. In comparison, although you are seriously injured, you have the chance to be dragged back to the wounded area by your comrades, which is also a kind of happiness. At least you can die among the bodies of your comrades in a neat row, shoulders against shoulders as if standing in a queue, and you don't feel helpless.
After half an hour of fierce fighting, the Third Company failed to achieve its goal of breaking through one wing of the enemy and creating a gap in the fire blockade.
When they were fully staffed, they had more than 300 soldiers and nine platoons. Even if the wounded who could still fight were counted, there were still less than 200 soldiers. The second platoon of the third company, the third platoon of the third company, and the ninth platoon of the third company were completely wiped out, the seventh and eighth platoons were crippled, and the few survivors were groaning in despair in the open wilderness outside the town.
Yang Deshi was stunned. The enemy had gradually ceased firing, but the sound of machine guns was still in his mind. His glasses were covered with a layer of dirty dust and he was unaware of it. He was staring blankly at the rows of dead bodies of soldiers behind the broken wall.
Machine guns, machine guns, machine guns. Machine guns are the devil! The sun in the sky was not tilted much, and the third company was almost eaten up by the machine guns!
Hao Ping was also confused. He didn't know what to do. His mind was completely blank. He just tried to hold on because he was the company commander. He pretended to be serious and thoughtful. He didn't want his soldiers to see it. It wasn't that he didn't want to continue, but he didn't dare to continue.
"Captain Hao? Captain Hao?"
He stayed there for a long time before realizing that someone seemed to be calling him. He turned around and saw it was Su Qing.
"There is something about intelligence that I want to talk to you about alone."
"Sure." Wiping the dirty sweat off his pale face with his shoulder, Hao Ping subconsciously repeated, "Sure."
After pulling away from the soldiers, Su Qing turned around and said solemnly: "As a political worker, I shouldn't ask about military issues. However, I would like to put forward a few ideas for your reference, okay?"
Because of the blank in his mind, Hao Ping was stunned for a moment. He didn't understand why Su Qing, who was illiterate in military affairs, suddenly said this. He was so stunned that he forgot to express his opinion or answer.
Su Qing looked at Hao Ping's sweaty face and did not wait for his answer. He continued, "I think we should abandon the periphery and retreat into the town, because we don't have much ammunition and firepower. It's still early before dark, and the Japanese may be here soon."
Hearing this, Hao Ping was like an apple suddenly being put into an empty basket. It gave his blank mind a direction indicator. Reason began to return, and he nodded subconsciously: "Well said. I have the same idea... This is what I will do next. Yes, this is what I will do. We have to... We have to clear out the enemies in the town as soon as possible, we..."
"Don't worry about the enemies in the town!" Su Qing interrupted: "First, control the water source, control the range of all water sources. The town is not big and the water source is limited. It is not difficult to do so. The range of water sources is the defense range; second, control the crossroads in the town. The central intersection must be in your hands and cannot be lost at any time, even if there are enemies among us and there are enemies among us; third, we cannot be afraid of chaos, we must be prepared for chaos, the organization must be temporarily reorganized, and the communication method cannot rely entirely on signalmen and fireworks. If it doesn't work, try to find some gongs and drums, and think of other ways; fourth..."
Every sentence and every word was like a step, pushing Hao Ping to the door of direction. The more he listened, the clearer it became, but at the same time, the more frightened he became.
This was expert advice, detailed to every possible link. Hao Ping was stunned by Su Qing's statement. Although Hao Ping looked down on Hu Yi, he was not stupid enough to not know who should say these words. Here, only one person had this experience. Hao Ping just didn't understand. From what he saw and heard, Su Qing seemed to hate Hu Yi more than he did. How could it be... He suddenly felt relieved. This was because she valued the Third Company and wanted to help the Third Company. It had nothing to do with her hating Hu Yi.
Su Qing didn't know what Hao Ping was thinking, and didn't know that her giving Hao Ping this way didn't make Hao Ping feel better about Hu Yi. Of course, she did it for the Third Company and all the soldiers in the Third Company.
…
There was a hissing sound of air brakes and the truck stopped.
Li Youcai let go of his hands that were clinging to the window of the cab and jumped off the metal pedal to the ground. He had climbed up by standing on the pedal outside the cab. With Captain Maeda there, he did not dare to show off by riding a motorcycle, as that would be an act of transcending one's rank and would be too ugly. At first, he sat on the back seat of a bicycle of the detective team. Later, the Uesugi Squadron caught up with him in a string of trucks. Li Youcai jumped onto the pedal and left the Imperial Army far behind in the envious eyes of the detective team members.
This place is located three miles north of Xinglong Town. It is the farthest outpost set up by the security forces on the road. Trucks are parked in a row and the Uesugi Squadron is getting off the trucks in a hurry. Sporadic gunshots are still heard. Li Youcai brushed off the road dust on his body, straightened up, wrinkled his nose, and felt helpless.
"It's indeed the Eighth Route Army!" he said to the Imperial Army passing by.
"A dog is a dog, he's born with a good nose!"
The sentence was not clear and the Imperial Army didn't pay any attention to it, but the dog traitor heard it clearly and couldn't help but look in the direction of the sound. There were a few sloppy security guards squatting on the side of the road and continued to pretend not to look at him.
This was the first time that Li Youcai, a member of the public security army, had dared to say such things in front of Deputy Captain Li. How could this be tolerated? He immediately bowed solemnly and said with a smile, "Hey guys, are you new here? I'm sorry for your kindness!"
…