Hu Yi was indeed scared. In broad daylight, how could two legs outrun a four-legged Japanese horse? Even though Tian Sanqi fought quickly, even though he realized his mistake on the spot and issued the order to retreat decisively, even though it would take some time for the Japanese cavalry to rush from the north and south of Shili Dang to the scene of the incident and then turn west to chase, this vast green wasteland seemed boundless, but in fact it was a cage, a cage under the horse's hooves.
Faintly, a whistle sounded.
Looking back unwillingly, he saw a flare with white smoke rising high on the blue skyline in the southeast direction. The feeling of flying in the distance was beautiful. After reaching the highest point, it drew an extremely beautiful arc in the blue and began to fall slowly. Hu Yi, with his face covered in sweat, stopped his tired steps, gasped, looked at him helplessly, and licked his lips subconsciously.
Finally caught up.
The Japanese cavalry nearby began to turn here, and in the distance, new flares flew up, providing direction information to the cavalry search team farther away. The Japanese cavalry who were running and scattered in a large area horizontally began to gather in the same direction. Four horses became eight, and eight horses became sixteen. They gathered more and more, like quicksand.
"Why do we have to stop?" Qin You looked anxious and hurried to the end of the team to ask Hu Yi.
"We've been caught. Now we need to rest."
Along the way, Hu Yi had an anxious look on his face, but now his tone suddenly became so calm that Qin You's heart sank to the bottom. Looking behind him, there was a wisp of signal smoke floating on the skyline that was dissipating irregularly. Nothing else could be seen. Qin You was unwilling and didn't believe it.
"Maybe we can run another ten miles! As long as we grit our teeth a little longer, maybe we can get away! Victory may be just ten miles away from us!"
These words gave the soldiers some strength again. They stopped unloading their equipment and turned back to look at the company commander.
Hu Yi remained unmoved and just glanced at the surrounding environment. The team's current stopping position happened to be relatively high. Although the undulations were very gentle, not even as high as a hill, at least the view was still good.
"We can't run anymore. If we keep running, we will lose the chance to fight. We must rest! We still have some time before the Japanese cavalry gathers, so let's build a position here."
Everyone's instinct was to keep running. After all, they couldn't see the enemy yet. But Hu Yi knew that the 9th Company was now locked in the telescope lens of the Japanese cavalry. It would be useless to run any further. Running further would only waste their energy, which would be exactly what the Japanese cavalry wanted.
The helmets and armors were crooked and tilted. The company commander's final statement caused the entire Ninth Company to fall. Everyone gasped and looked up at the dazzling sunlight. It was a hateful noon, this was a hateful plain. I don't understand why everyone said that the plains were the richest. They were so rich that there were few trees, only locusts everywhere. They could only hope for dark again.
…
In this county town east of Meixian, the Japanese army was indeed not very strong, and the majority was the security army. Because of the appearance of the Autumn Wind Guerrilla Brigade, a cavalry squadron was transferred from somewhere, and the security results were immediate. The remaining part of the Autumn Wind Guerrilla was driven into Shili Dang. No one was willing to attack the swamp, waiting for the guerrillas to starve to death in it, but a group of Eighth Route Army fell from the sky! They devoured a platoon of unprepared puppet troops at lightning speed, and they could not save them in time, and could only watch helplessly.
The puppet troops were terrified, but the devils' eyes lit up. The entire cavalry squadron was deployed on the spot, and half of the puppet troops surrounding Shili Dang were separated and chased westward. The cavalry captain served as the commander-in-chief. The purpose of not mobilizing all the puppet troops was to eat both sides. He expected that the guerrillas surrounded in Shili Dang would not dare to break out during the day, and this day was enough for him to eat this unknown group of Eighth Route Army and return.
After a gentle slope, more than a hundred war horses had gathered. The cavalry captain who had just arrived dismounted from his saddle, handed the reins to the oncoming guard, followed the direction pointed by his subordinate, pulled out the telescope and ran quickly up the gentle slope to the west, and asked: "Are they still running?"
"It stopped there half an hour ago, and it seems that it intends to defend on the spot."
The cavalry captain was a little surprised. In front of the cavalry, the targets usually struggled to the last moment. It was rare to see a target giving up hope so early. It was either because the target was too fragile or because the target was calm enough.
Approaching the top of the slope, the cavalry captain lowered his posture, then crawled, and came near the cavalry scout who was observing secretly with a telescope, and also raised the telescope in his hand.
Amidst the slightly undulating green terrain, there was a blurry grey figure on a gentle slope, constructing a temporary position. Judging from some conspicuous movements, it actually looked like he was waving an engineering shovel!
He couldn't help but put down the telescope and turned back to ask, "How long will it take for the security forces to arrive?"
"I've already contacted you. Maybe... it will take half an hour."
The captain was silent, calculating the time. He realized that the security forces would not be able to start fighting immediately after arriving, so he frowned and said, "Send a small team forward. Conduct a tentative attack. I don't want to see the enemy resting so comfortably!"
Not long after, a sound of birdsong was heard from behind the slope. More than thirty Japanese soldiers who were twisting and turning in the bushes stood up, took off the steel helmets hanging on the sides of their horses, put them on their heads, lowered their carbines horizontally under their shoulders, skillfully formed a formation, and officially began to walk over the slope.
…
The 9th Company is building a position, and some soldiers are indeed wielding engineering shovels. Although the soil here is not as hard as in the mountains and the position has not been fully formed, everyone is still digging their own pit.
Hu Yi did not distinguish between east, south, west and north, and the position was simply arranged at three points. If one looked down, the distribution of the soldiers in the first row, the second row and Chen Chong's platoon looked like three centripetal L-shaped combination patterns. The small area in the middle of these three L-shaped patterns was where the three rows were digging foxholes.
The third row was the fastest, with Luo Fugui who cherished his life and Wu Shitou who was born with the gene of digging holes, the dirt was flying everywhere, and that was not even counting Lao Qin's ability. Ma Liang held the telescope and kept looking east and south; Xiao Hongying also held the telescope and kept looking west and north.
No one spoke on the battlefield. They were just sweating under the scorching sun, digging with shovel after shovel, and digging with bayonet after bayonet. They felt so depressed that they felt like they were digging their own graves.
Qin You, panting, stuck the engineer shovel into the soil at his feet, straightened up and looked at the solemn surroundings. He wanted to say something to boost morale, but he couldn't think of any words. And Hu Yi, the incompetent company commander, did not do any work. In such a hot midday sun, he was still lying in the grass with his hat covering his face to bask in the sun!
"Can't you just say something?" Qin You scolded Hu Yi with sweat on his face.
Hu Yi didn't move, but answered: "You, Old Qin, know that you are angry, so there is nothing to say."
"you… "
Chirp—
This sudden faint sound seemed like the chirping of a baby bird nearby, but unfortunately, the instructor Qin, who was from the crowd, could tell at the first glance that the sound was more like a chick! Looking back, there was only Luo Fugui's bag, and Luo Fugui next to him had also stopped shoveling and was blinking innocently.
Without saying a word, he walked over, picked up Luo Fugui's bag and rummaged through it. A chicken cage made of thin wooden sticks appeared in Qin You's hand: "This... it... you..." Suddenly he turned his face to Xiong and said, "Where did it come from!"
The bear was stunned and said: "When I passed by the home of the chairman of Xiangmo Village... I also... thought it was so pitiful!"
"You're such a jerk! You're making me so mad..."
He was so tired and irritated that he finally got a pain in his chest because of the bear. Unfortunately, there was nothing nearby that could be used as a cane. Qin You was so angry that he could only pick up the engineer shovel beside his feet, compared it twice, and then put it down helplessly. As an instructor, he couldn't just hit him with this, right
The bear also saw that Lao Qin was really anxious this time, and sat crookedly in the pit with his toad eyes squinting, determined to play the innocent game to the end: "It insists on joining the Eighth Route Army, what can I do?"
Suddenly, the first laugh that couldn't be held back appeared on this battlefield, followed by the second and the third, and soon everyone was laughing. Only Qin You was still staring blankly.
Unfortunately, just as the laughter spread, Ma Liang shouted: "The devils have appeared! Southeast!"
…