As the cavalry captain thought, Hu Yi did not choose to flee eastward, although that seemed to be the safest option and was suggested by Captain Meng. However, the deeper he went, the slimmer his chances of returning home, which was equivalent to a slow death.
Hu Yi did not choose to take the risk of heading west. Although Gao Yidao believed that this was the only direction to solve the problem once and for all, Hu Yi did not fully accept his idea. Instead, he chose to head southwest and head straight for Xinglong Town.
Hu Yi judged that Xinglong Town was at the far end of the dense enemy blockade. The 9th and 2nd Companies and the Qiufeng Guerrillas had not slept for almost two days and two nights. Their physical strength and energy had reached their limits. If they used normal thinking, no matter how they measured the map, they would not be able to reach Xinglong Town before dawn. Betting that the enemy would think so, Hu Yi used the same old trick again, and did not hesitate to exhaust all his remaining strength to run out of the dark. Xinglong Town was not only at the far end, but the Xinglong Town garrison would also definitely participate in the mobilization. What other place could be safer than the "temporary concentration camp" where Hu Yi and Luo Fugui had lived before
Originally they just wanted to hide in the woods near the military camp, but Ma Liang rarely took the initiative to ask for orders to take people to quietly take over the military camp, so the scene before dawn took place.
Several sentries were fooled by Mancang and fell into the gunpoint. Soon after, eighteen puppet soldiers were frightened and gathered together at gunpoint. They were still not fully conscious and watched stupidly as the subsequent Eighth Route Army entered the gate.
Some naive recruits of the puppet army thought that the Eighth Route Army should look... as majestic as the Imperial Army, or at least full of murderous aura, otherwise how could they have been so far? But the scene before them... overturned their naive ideas.
The Eighth Route Army soldiers passing by the torches could not even walk straight, let alone in formation. They were covered in dust and panting in disarray. They said nothing. Apart from their guns and bullets, they looked like refugees fleeing famine. From time to time, sounds of people falling down due to exhaustion could be heard in the darkness. An Eighth Route Army soldier staggered to the front of these puppet soldiers. His face could not be seen due to the poor light, but one could only feel that he was extremely exhausted. He actually said shyly, "I'm really... sorry. Who... can lend me a cigarette?"
Many of them reached into their pockets and desperately handed the money to him, as if they were eager to buy amulets!
Mancang appeared under the torch, also hesitant. In fact, he really wanted to stand straight like a soldier, but he didn't think he was still a soldier.
Back in Xinglong Town, he refused to turn against his colleague and shot him in the back, causing Hu Yi to let him go. But today, he helped Hu Yi a huge favor. Faced with his embarrassment, Hu Yi suddenly raised his foot and lightly kicked Mancang on the outside of his thigh: "Do you want to wait for the commander to say thank you to you?"
After being hit, Mancang stood up straight instinctively. He felt as if he had been in a trance in the "Rotting Army". He wanted to smile shyly, but felt so bitter that he wanted to cry.
…
Hu Yi woke up amidst the thunderous snoring, not because of the snoring, but because of the sense of insecurity that forced him to wake up. Although the big bunk bed in the puppet army dormitory was very comfortable to sleep on and he was still tired, this was not a bar after all, so he had to open his eyes even if he couldn't. He opened the silver pocket watch he hadn't seen for a long time, and it was half past nine. So he reluctantly got up and opened the door gently without wanting to disturb the sleeping soldiers.
It was drizzling outside the gate and the ground was completely wet. It probably started this morning. There were soldiers on duty in the sentry tower of the military camp, looking out with guns. To avoid accidents, the sentries and gate guards had to change into pseudo-military uniforms.
Walking along the long bungalow, I heard snoring in the kitchen when I passed by the door. I stopped and pushed the door open. There were three people sleeping in the dirty kitchen: Yi Er on the ground, Luo Fugui under the stove, Tang Da Gou on the grain bag, and Xu Xiao, who was sitting on the inside of the door, rubbing his sleepy face. He was too full to stand up immediately. He raised his head with steamed bread crumbs in the corners of his mouth: "Company commander? We... the squad leader said..."
Hu Yi did not raise his voice, but interrupted Xu Xiao's incoherent speech in a low voice: "Go find Wang Xiaosan and ask him to do the work."
Leaving the kitchen door and continuing to walk, there is a separate small window room under the wooden wall in front. On both sides of the door under the eaves, there are two people sitting and sleeping. On one side is Wu Shitou, and on the other side is Xiaojia from the second company. They are all sleeping like dead dogs, not even noticing that their leggings have been wet by the rain. There is a thick iron lock leaf on the door, but it is not locked, so Hu Yi gently pushed it open. As expected, there are piles of ammunition boxes in the room.
Walking along the narrow aisle around the ammunition area, there were some guns on the other side. There were various models, most of which were old or damaged, piled up randomly or scattered in open gun boxes. But a large object in the corner caught Hu Yi's attention. It was a Type 24 water-cooled heavy machine gun. He could no longer look away and involuntarily moved closer.
Reaching out to brush away the dust on the metal cooling cylinder, a conspicuous shrapnel scratch was revealed. Hu Yi used it to cover the third company's breakout from Xinglong Town!
It feels cold to the touch, with a few traces of rust and oil, making this water-cooled heavy machine gun look like an old soldier sleeping in a trench, with its dusty and sad muzzle tilted sideways.
Xiao Hongying, who was sleeping in the gap of the ammunition box, finally woke up. She crept out like a lizard, peeked out from a low position, and saw Hu Yi's dazed back. She put away her extremely unhappy sleepy expression, stood up, stretched hard, and walked to Hu Yi's side: "Is it broken?"
Hu Yi didn't look back, but just stared at the heavy machine gun: "The bolt is broken."
"Can you fix it?"
He shook his head slightly, "It can't be repaired. Unless there are spare parts."
"Then let's look for it here together!"
"If it could be found here, it wouldn't be here."
Then Hu Yi reached out his hand again and continued to wipe the dust off the metal cooling cylinder, as if he was sweeping the grave of his comrades, not minding getting his hands dirty at all. Seeing this, Xiao Hongying also began to accompany him quietly, because she was also in the smoke at that time.
The not-so-bright light slanted in through the ventilation window, dimming him, her, and it. The drizzle outside the window was rustling.
…
Hu Yi was not the only one who woke up early. Gao Yidao also couldn't sleep well. He got up early with red eyes due to lack of rest, patrolled all the sentry posts, and reminded them to shorten the time for changing posts. It is better to change posts frequently than to be absent-minded at the sentry post.
He felt relieved after doing all this. He did not go back to sleep, but came to the battalion office and rummaged through the drawers and cabinets. As a result, there was nothing that interested him except some paper and accounts. In the end, he could only sit behind the desk and stare blankly at the phone on the table.
He really wanted to know what kind of high-tech phone was, but Hu Yi had said solemnly that no one was allowed to touch this thing, whether it rang or not! If someone else had said this, it wouldn't have had much of an impact on Gao Yidao, a madman. But although Gao Yidao looked down on Hu Yi, he knew that Hu Yi was a cautious person with a lot of experience, so even though he was curious, he really didn't dare to touch the phone, as it involved more than 200 lives!
Just as he was lost in curiosity, the office door was pushed open and Hu Yi, with his hat and shoulders wet, walked in: "Have you been on patrol?"
"I'm the battalion commander now, why am I patrolling? By the way, why is your pocket watch in the hands of the traitor Li Youcai? Did he pick it up? Did you give it to him? The pocket watch is not yours at all? You are such a liar! Do you believe me or not, I will report you to the political commissar?"
After staring at Gao Yidao for a few seconds, Hu Yi turned around and closed the door. He walked to the desk, reached out and pulled the phone to his side, and started shaking the phone handle without saying a word, making Gao Yidao sway: "Didn't you say... this phone call you can... hey you..."
Hu Yi ignored Gao Yidao's panic and put the receiver to his ear: "Hello. Can you hear me? Connect me to the County Detective Brigade. Yes. I mean the County Detective Brigade."
Gao Yidao stared at Hu Yi in a daze. After waiting for more than ten seconds, he heard Hu Yi say, "Detective Squadron? I'm looking for Li Youcai. Is he here? Please ask him to answer the phone."
Then Hu Yi began to wait in silence again, but Gao Yidao could no longer sit still. He hurriedly left his seat, walked around the desk, put his ear to the telephone receiver and stared.
About half a minute later, a voice actually rustled from the receiver of this magical telephone: "I'm Li Youcai, who is this?"
"I have recovered the pocket watch, but I have also released the man."
There was silence for a while, and then a voice came out: "You... Oh my God! You actually called? Just to talk about this?"
"Of course not for this. I want to ask, what exactly is the deployment today? How much do you know?"
"You again? My dear brother-in-law! Don't tell me it's you again this time!"
"Do you know?"
"Um... I'm going to hang up now. I'll call you back another time. Where are you?"
"A new military camp in Xinglong Town. How long will it take?"
"You're awesome! Just do it! I'm going to the police station, you calculate the time yourself, hang up!"
Bang! The telephone receiver fell into place. Hu Yi's high-tech finishing move shook Gao Yidao so much that his jaw, which was about to hit the ground, finally closed.
"Did you write this time?"
Although he was not a boastful person, Hu Yi's expression at that moment was extremely hateful in Gao Yidao's eyes! Gao Yidao was speechless for a moment, and after twisting his neck for a long time, he finally fought back with a lack of confidence: "You actually married the traitor's sister! I will still go to the political commissar to report you!"
…