The venue in the tent was arranged exactly as for normal classes. In the center of the innermost end, there was a broken blackboard with a sketch of the area drawn on it. There was an empty space in front of the blackboard, and then there were several rows of benches, some single and some long. They were not deliberately arranged neatly, with only an aisle space in the middle leading to the inner end. The width of the tent was not very large.
There were nearly twenty participants, which was not a large number, but it was more impressive than the meetings in the regiment. Although their ranks varied, almost all of them were military experts. All except the third company were present, which was rare in the history of the independent regiment.
The seats were not assigned in order; everyone chose their own seats, with the Second Company and the Ninth Company being the main forces. Logically, they should have been divided in the middle into half each. However, when Qin You looked back, it was not the case at all. There were only Gao Yidao, Su Qing and him in the first row, with the rest of the seats empty. There were only four platoon leaders of the Second Company evenly occupying the second row, with the rest of the seats empty. There were only three deputy platoon leaders of the Second Company in the third row, and Chen Chong, Tiedan, Tian Sanqi and Li Xiang in the fourth row. The fifth row was the last row, with only a bear sitting at the very edge, with his head drooping and not awake yet. Hu Yi was still leaning beside the open door curtain, whispering to Ma Liang, and he didn't go in at all.
So Qin You frowned and shouted to the back: "Can you move forward a little? Why are you all huddled so far away? Tiedan, Chen Chong, you two, come to the end of the line!"
Hu Yi could tell that Qin You was dissatisfied with his passive company commander, so he stopped whispering with Ma Liang and motioned Ma Liang to go inside and take a seat. As a result, Ma Liang smiled, took a step sideways, stood at the side of the entrance with his legs apart and his hands behind his back. He didn't want to go in and was willing to be a guard at the gate.
At this time, Xiao Hongying slipped in, and when passing by Ma Liang, she muttered in dissatisfaction: "Why didn't you call me!" Then she glanced at the venue, bent down and went straight to the last row of Sleeping Bear to sit down, and muttered: "Why are you hiding so far away?"
The bear who was about to be drowned by the dream was so frightened that he almost fell off the bench. He saw the braid beside him and said dissatisfiedly: "I am the machine gun position!"
At this time, Gao Yidao was complaining in the front row: "What's the point of this arrangement? There's not even a chairperson seat, how is it going to start? This is bullshit!"
This meeting was instigated by Qin You and chaired by Su Qing. The layout of the venue was arranged by Su Qing. She did not want to hold a political meeting and had no experience in hosting military meetings. However, she had stood in the classroom many times and was more accustomed to the classroom format, which could relieve her nervousness and unnaturalness.
After hearing what Gao Yidao said, Su Qing looked at Gao Yidao seriously and said, "I was negligent. Then... you can host it."
There were only four senior figures present, Su Qing, Qin You, Hu Yi and Gao Yidao. This was not a discussion of politics. Gao Yidao, the arrogant guy, stared at Su Qing for a few seconds and felt that Su Qing's expression was serious and his tone was sincere, so he stood up without hesitation, walked a few steps to the blackboard, turned around, and coughed like a dragon's roar, with a momentum that could swallow mountains and rivers. The platoon leaders and deputy platoon leaders of the second company were so excited that they applauded enthusiastically.
And then... nothing happened. The whole audience stared at Gao Yidao, and Gao Yidao stared at the whole audience. The whole audience continued to stare at Gao Yidao, and Gao Yidao continued to stare at the whole audience. Time passed quickly.
The one with pigtails was young and lacked concentration after all. She was the first to recover from her stupid wait-and-see state and shouted to the front: "Gao Da Neng Neng, what kind of characters are you going to teach us to write?"
The bear, who was about to be drowned in a dream again, was startled awake by the shouting beside him and blurted out, "Can we return it after class?"
Qin You was so angry that he picked up a small piece of dirt near his feet, turned around and threw it at the two useless people in the last row: "Shut up!"
Someone was shot and fell off his horse on the spot.
At this moment, Gao Yidao was regretting so much that his intestines turned green. He should not have come up because he had no idea what to say. He hadn't figured out the purpose of this meeting yet and just wanted to stand out. But there was not even a chairman's seat and he could only stand in front of the blackboard and stare stupidly!
He tilted his stiff eyes and looked at Su Qing again, his expression was still serious, without any change. Gao Yidao realized it later and thought to himself, what a great guy! Is this considered politeness or a trick
"Captain Gao, tell me about your assessment of the enemy's movements first. By the way, I forgot to give you the chalk." Su Qing then stood up and considerately handed the chalk to Gao Yidao.
"Uh... Yes, that's what I mean!" Gao Yidao, who took the chalk, gave Su Qing a very impolite look in return. He turned around to look at the sketch on the blackboard and began to draw circles: "Part of the enemy is temporarily stopped near Baishitan. I don't think they will go downstream again. They should return west to join the main force after daybreak. It's summer now, and the main force of the Japanese will not be easily separated. After a long raid, they must rest. They should still be in Dabei Village, followed by Xinghua Village, and then Shuxia Village. After that... there are three possibilities. One is to continue to expand the search range to the northwest, the second is to go south to Wuming Village, and the third is to turn east and head to Qingshan Village."
Gao Yidao was very satisfied with the direction of his strokes. He looked at the blackboard and started to weigh the chalk. Su Qing asked again: "What do you think we should do next?"
"The Japs are like mad dogs now. It's useless to think about anything if we can't determine their specific movements! We can only follow them and look for opportunities, or provide support and containment when they find the crowd."
Su Qing suddenly turned to the side and said, "Hu Yi, do you agree with Captain Gao's plan?"
"disagree."
Gao Yidao twisted his mouth and said: "You'd better never agree to it in your whole life!"
Su Qing motioned Hu Yi to come on stage, and at the same time said to Gao Yidao: "This is a discussion, and we must let the opposing opinions finish."
Hu Yi stood in front of the blackboard and took the chalk from Gao Yidao without hesitation: "Following the Japanese is too risky. For example, if the Japanese pursue the regiment, our support and containment will turn into a bloody battle. The Second Company saved the First Company by chance, not by necessity."
Then he raised his hand and drew a circle at the ruins of Qingshan Village: "This is Li Yong's company and a half. They dare not advance westward, and are unwilling to retreat eastward. It is hard to tell whether the remnants of Baishitan will follow the devils westward or eastward after daybreak. I think we should pick on the weak and completely cripple Li Youde now!"
"So, if we attack Li Youde's troops, is it possible to lure the Japanese over here?" Su Qing stared at the sketch on the blackboard intently. What she was concerned about was whether she could reduce the overall losses or shorten the time the Japanese had to struggle in the mountains.
Without waiting for Hu Yi to answer, Gao Yidao continued, "Impossible! The Japs are in a hurry to kill people, not save people. He beat Li Youde purely out of personal grudge, which is the same as the Japs' purpose of entering the mountains this time! Fear of loss... At least I can take the overall situation into consideration, his awareness is far worse than mine!"
"You are concerned about the short term! I am considering the long term!" Hu Yichao responded sharply to Gao Yidao.
"Then let's all move out of Meixian! Why are we still struggling here!" Gao Yidao raised his eyebrows: "You're taking revenge and you're trying to get yourself into trouble!"
"That's a good idea. Where do you think we should move to?"
"You still want to talk nonsense in front of so many people?"
"That's the opposite, isn't it?"
The two masters in front of the blackboard were about to leave the conversation. Qin You said to Su Qing with a dark face, "See? You can still argue with so many people watching. Are you... Hey? Secretary Su, say something?"
Su Qing was staring at the blackboard, thinking, his eyes focused on the map instead of the two people who were about to start arguing. He only reacted after being interrupted by Qin You beside him, and answered the question irrelevantly: "I suddenly feel that... this map is too small." Then he raised his voice: "Pause, I have a question to ask."
The place fell silent, and all eyes were focused on Su Qing.
"What would happen if we brought in another thousand soldiers?"
Bringing a thousand soldiers? Gao Yidao squinted his eyes: "Divine soldiers descending from the sky?"
Bringing a thousand soldiers? Hu Yi was very upset, but he still asked politely: "Excuse me... where are they from?"
"North. Friendly corps. Are the Japs not coordinating this time?"
Gao Yidao thought to himself that this woman who didn't understand military affairs dared to say such nonsense, and replied: "Do you know how far it is? Do you know how long it will take to mobilize? By the time they receive the request and come here, the opportunity will be gone!"
This time, Hu Yi did not express any objection, but nodded towards Su Qing, indicating that although Gao Yidao's words were harsh, they were true.
"We know, but the devils may not know!" Su Qing stood up, thought for a moment and said, "I don't mean to find reinforcements, but to imagine... using intelligence to make the devils think that the friendly army is here, or that they are on their way."
Everyone was confused and continued to stare.
"I can write a fake communication order and try to get it intercepted by the enemy, understand? Let them think that a friendly army is coming. Can this help you? Can it scare the Japanese away?"
There was a gasp of sudden realization, but Gao Yidao was still stunned. It was not that he didn't understand, but he was a little impressed. A thousand soldiers suddenly appeared in his red mouth. What a ghost!
Qin You was so surprised that he asked quickly: "Are you scared and retreating? Speak up, both of you!"
Hu Yi shook his head: "The Japs are two squadrons, it's impossible to scare them away." After a sigh of regret: "But... these fake soldiers can be used, at least they can scare the Japs into an ambush! The key to the problem is... will the Japs believe it?"
Will the devils believe it? Everyone followed Hu Yi and asked Su Qing, but Su Qing stared at Hu Yi without saying anything. After a long time, he slowly shook his head and said, "I don't know."