The mountains are high, the moon is small, and the wind is cold.
Hao Ping felt a chill on his back. On the one hand, it was because his clothes were soaked with sweat from the journey here. On the other hand, it was because in the valley below the slope, the cold light of the bayonets reflected on the moon was like a sparkling cold river, winding endlessly.
Among the three company commanders of the independent regiment, Hao Ping had the least combat experience, but he had fought some battles with the Japanese and did not think he was much worse than the others. He especially looked down on Gao Yidao, who regarded himself as the best general of the independent regiment and looked down on everyone. In Hao Ping's eyes, Gao Yidao was just a reckless man.
Hao Ping had never seen so many devils before. At this moment, Hao Ping felt a little admiration for Gao Yidao. He was indeed a reckless man. How brave was he to lead the Second Company to fight such an opponent in Wuming Village
Hao Ping lay stiffly on the hillside, trying to control his breathing, forcing himself to appear calm and composed, pretending to be calm on his face, because he noticed that the soldiers around him were shivering, and that was definitely not caused by the cold wind. He was the company commander, the reassurance of the entire company, and if he showed panic, the team might collapse.
"Don't panic, the enemy is far away. When they get closer, pay attention to my command. Each of you fire two bullets, and then retreat to the west. It's dark and windy, and they can't hurt us!"
The company commander's words were whispered into the soldiers' ears, and the oppressive atmosphere was immediately relieved. Yes, they were not blocking them, they would run away after firing two shots. No matter how many Japanese soldiers there were, they didn't have three legs.
Under the cold moonlight, the Japanese vanguard approached the bottom of the slope in the shadows, estimated to be three or four hundred meters away. If they wanted to escape unscathed, they could not wait any longer. Hao Ping hesitated for a moment, and finally shouted, "Fight!"
Suddenly, gunshots rang out, tearing the silence of the valley apart and echoing in one voice. The Japanese soldiers in the front were caught off guard and were knocked down by a hail of gunfire from the top of the hill. They hurriedly scattered and hid. The second hail of bullets arrived, with the sound of breaking wind, making crackling noises everywhere, but no one was injured. The major in the team was startled at first, and then a trace of excitement crept onto his face. He had been looking for him everywhere but couldn't find him. Now he finally showed up. He was about to command his left and right and let the troops behind him deploy, but the gunshots stopped.
The Japanese were confused. The officers wanted to lead the team to pursue them, but the major kept staring at the hillside with a sullen face and didn't say anything, so they didn't take any action and just waited quietly.
The major was full of doubts. What was going on? They ran away after two long shots? Judging from the size, there should be more than a hundred people, a company. In order to avoid the enemy's attack, the Eighth Route Army was relatively scattered. In the eyes of the major, a company of soldiers could be regarded as the main force of the Eighth Route Army, at least part of the main force. But why did they run away after just one contact
An encounter? Impossible. If they were encountering, why didn't they hide but opened fire first? An ambush? Impossible. If they wanted to ambush, they could just ambush here. Why do they need to lead them somewhere else? Even if all the Eighth Route Army troops near Meixian were gathered together, there would only be one or two regiments. How could they dare to ambush one of my battalions? Then there was only one possibility. The purpose of this group of Eighth Route Army troops should be to attract and involve them. They were about to reach Xinghua Village, but they suddenly appeared. This further strengthened the major's idea: there must be something in Xinghua Village, maybe the main force of the Eighth Route Army, maybe the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, maybe the grain stored by the Eighth Route Army, all kinds of possibilities are possible. I'm going to Xinghua Village today!
Chasing the Eighth Route Army in the dark and windy mountains was not a good opportunity, but with the idea of killing the enemy by mistake rather than missing the enemy, the major finally gave the order. A squadron of Japanese soldiers and a company of puppet soldiers were to chase them in the direction of the western hillside. If they could catch them, they would chase them. If they couldn't catch them, it didn't matter. The main force accelerated the march and continued to advance towards Xinghua Village.
Nearly a hundred villagers from Shuxia Village were crowded together in an open space in the middle of the village, too frightened to make a sound. There were several torches around, held by the puppet soldiers, fluttering in the night wind. A dozen Japanese soldiers stood guard with bayonets in their hands. The puppet platoon leader stood next to the Japanese sergeant and gave the villagers a routine speech in a hoarse voice: "Fellow villagers, don't be nervous. We come here with no ill intentions. We only come for two things. First, to collect some food; second, to find out the whereabouts of the Eighth Route Army. Anyone who has any clues, please report it, and you will be rewarded immediately..."
There were noises everywhere in the village. More than 30 puppet soldiers were rummaging through boxes and cabinets in every house, catching chickens and beating dogs. Su Qing, who was hiding behind the pile of firewood, could hear the shouting in the middle of the village clearly, but she didn't want to pay attention to the nonsense now, because a puppet soldier was wandering in the yard in front of her, rummaging around in every corner, and finally wandering towards the pile of firewood, one step, two steps, three steps, getting closer and closer, making Su Qing feel numb.
The other puppet soldier was still rummaging around in the house. He searched the yard thoroughly but didn't find a single chicken feather, which discouraged the puppet soldier. The poor people in the mountains had the habit of hiding food, so the puppet soldier finally focused his attention on the dark pile of firewood in the corner. He approached with a rifle and began to use the muzzle of the rifle to randomly move the firewood to both sides, making a rustling sound, and then he was suddenly stunned.
In the dark corner, two blurry figures were squatting, one of them seemed to be holding something in his hand. At the moment when the puppet soldier instinctively opened his mouth and shouted, bang - a ball of fire suddenly flashed in his eyes, a loud noise came from his ears, and he felt as if his body was pushed. He took a few steps back and fell to the ground.
The sound of the gunshot cut through the night sky, and stunned the puppet soldiers who were making noises in the village, the puppet platoon leader who was shouting and the devils around him, and the villagers who had gathered together. Su Qing was still squatting in the corner, and before he put down his hands that instinctively covered his ears, another puppet soldier rushed out of the house with a gun.
Bang bang—the revolver in the guard's hand fired again, shocking Su Qing who was close at hand and covering her ears again and closing her eyes. Plop—she still heard the sound of the puppet soldiers falling to the ground at the door, but then another gunshot rang out in the yard, bang—
Su Qing opened his eyes and stared in amazement at the puppet soldier who was the first to be knocked down lying in the yard. At this moment, he dropped the rifle in his hand and took his last breath, with smoke still lingering from the muzzle.
The Mauser pistol was not powerful enough to kill the puppet soldier who was searching the pile of firewood on the spot. He lay on the ground and fired a shot at the guard before dying.
Plop—the guard fell directly into the dark corner of the wall, without a sound.
Four consecutive gunshots panicked the puppet army platoon leader who had just spoken. He shouted, "There are Eighth Route Army soldiers!" Then he pulled out his pistol and led the puppet soldiers who were panicking and running towards the location of the gunshots.
The Japanese sergeant also reacted. He turned his head to look at the villagers who were still huddled together in a daze, and decisively waved his hand at the dozen or so Japanese soldiers around him. Bang, bang, bang... The sound of gunfire, crying, screaming, and panicked running finally mixed together, continuously, resounding through the night sky of Shuxia Village...