Under the moonlight, Ma Liang, covered in sweat and dust, rushed into the regiment headquarters breathlessly.
"Report, report, report!"
When the team leader saw Ma Liang's embarrassed posture, he immediately had a bad feeling. Didn't Class 9 go to Xinghua Village? Why did they run away like this? He stood up from the bench and stared at Ma Liang who had just entered the door.
Ma Liang took a few deep breaths. "The devils, a battalion, and several hundred puppet troops, headed for Xinghua Village from the south to the north. They should have arrived by now!"
"What?" The political commissar also stood up from his seat and asked anxiously, "Has Xinghua Village been notified?"
"The squad leader went to Xinghua Village to inform them."
Bang! The regiment commander slapped his hand on the table. It was bad. He knew without thinking that a battalion with puppet troops was the main force of the Japanese invasion. Now they had run into the doorstep of the independent regiment. It was painful enough to lose Wuming Village. Dabei Village had just become popular. Are they going to let it go again? The third company might still be in Xinghua Village. If they got the news in advance, they might be able to lead the Japanese away. But all this was based on the word "maybe". It was not reliable.
The regiment commander grabbed the hat on the table, put it on hastily, and turned to the political commissar and said, "Old Ding, I will go and gather the company and rush to Xinghua Village. I will leave all the family affairs to you."
Ding Deyi understood the captain's idea. He was reluctant to leave the newly developed Dabei Village and wanted to go to Xinghua Village to attract the Japanese. Military matters were definitely decided by the captain, and Ding Deyi rarely intervened. But now that the captain wanted to go out in person, Ding Deyi still spoke up.
"Old Lu, you are the chief officer. My opinion is that you should just let the first company go, and you should stay here to take charge."
The regiment commander tightened his belt neatly, took the gun from the wall and slung it over his body, sighed: "The second company hasn't come back yet, and the situation of the third company is unclear. Even if I stay at home, I'm a commander without troops. Lao Ding, don't try to persuade me." After saying that, he led the guards out in a hurry.
Ding Deyi stood at the door, watching the commander's figure disappear under the moon, frowned deeply, "You don't want to be a commander without troops, but I have become a commander without troops."
The independent regiment is called a regiment, but it only has three companies of combatants, which together make a battalion. Now that the company has gone out again, it is completely empty. There are two cooks, and one company has more people, so there is only one. The rest are all provided by Uncle Niu's cooks, about ten people, with a pistol in Uncle Niu's hands; the medical team has five people, three men and two women, no guns; the supply department has three or four people, with a pistol in the hands of the person in charge; the newly established political work department has only one person, Su Qing, who is not here now, and it is meaningless to be here; the one hundred new recruits have not been distributed yet, and are still in the dormitory in the village. Unfortunately, they are all empty-handed. If they want to evacuate, they don't have to worry about moving things; finally, the regiment headquarters, two signalmen, two pistols, and a guard squad, a total of nine people, five pistols and four long guns, Su Qing took one away, and the regiment commander took another, leaving seven. At present, this is the total strength of Dabei Village.
Ding Deyi patted his forehead. The outer guard company had already left. Dabei Village had to be defended. Even if there were not enough people, at least they had to guard the front and give early warning. So he issued the first order to the guards in the yard: leave one person at the regiment headquarters, and the other six people should set up surveillance posts one mile away from Dabei Village. Then he issued an order to the signalman: notify all personnel in various departments to be prepared to evacuate at any time, including all villagers in Dabei Village, and pack their luggage in advance and wait for notification at any time.
Finally, Ding De turned his gaze to Ma Liang who was standing beside him. He really had no soldiers to send, so he had to pick a general from among the dwarfs. He had to use the ninth squad even if he didn't want to: "Ma Liang."
"have."
"You, squad nine, hurry up and go to the kitchen to have a meal first, then march 15 miles in the direction of Xinghua Village to monitor. Be careful to stay hidden and stay safe. Report back immediately if there is any movement."
"Yes." Ma Liang saluted neatly and ran into the moonlight.
Ding Deyi had the same idea as the regiment commander and was reluctant to give up Dabei Village rashly. If the enemy could be lured away, that would be the best. If not, it would not be too late to retreat.
The captain of the first company of the independent regiment was named Wu Yan. He was the oldest of the three captains, of medium build, with dark skin and bony bones. He was not talkative and liked to smoke. At this moment, he was leading the team and running beside the captain.
Soon after leaving Dabizhuang, they met the signalman of the Third Company who came from Xinghua Village. Upon learning that the Third Company had taken action to lead the Japanese to the west, the regiment commander felt relieved. However, he did not slow down his march and continued to move towards Xinghua Village, going against the villagers of Xinghua Village who were fleeing to Dabizhuang. Even if the Third Company could lead all the Japanese away, the regiment commander would have to go to Xinghua Village in person and stay there for at least a few days before he could feel at ease.
An hour later, under the dim moonlight, a company of soldiers crouched on the top of a mountain north of Xinghua Village. In the village below the mountain, there were crowds of people and bright torches. Some were searching the house, and some were making fires and cooking. It was clear that they were going to camp in Xinghua Village tonight.
On the dim mountaintop, the regiment commander snapped the branch he was holding in his hand and said, "How did Hao Ping lead me here? If we hadn't come, the Japanese might have taken over Dabei Village tomorrow morning! Wu Yan, you must deploy the first company and give them a good beating. We must pull out all the Japanese!"
Wu Yan lay beside the regiment commander, staring at the village not far below the mountain. The shadowy figures coming and going in the firelight made Wu Yan frown. There were too many enemies, and this battle would be difficult. If you fight too hard, you might be stuck by the enemy, resulting in heavy casualties; if you fight too loosely, not only will you waste bullets, but the enemy may not be able to pull out.
Wu Yan hesitated for a moment, and whispered to the regiment commander beside him: "Commander, we are here to lure out the devils anyway, so before we fight, can I lure him out first?"
Wu Yan usually doesn't talk much and rarely expresses his opinions. In this situation, there is no need to rush. If there is a way to reduce casualties and achieve the purpose of attracting people, the leader will be happy. He immediately hit Wu Yan on the shoulder and said, "Hurry up."
Wu Yan said nothing more, and climbed forward for more than ten meters until he stopped in front of a steep slope covered with gravel. He took off his water bottle, unscrewed the lid, emptied the water in his hand, and waited quietly. After a while, the patrol sentry arranged by the Japanese outside the village passed by the foot of the mountain, and Wu Yan threw the empty water bottle down the hillside.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding... The empty kettle rolled and jumped happily along the steep slope, hitting the gravel, and headed straight for the foot of the mountain.
The patrolling Japanese soldiers were startled by the sound. They immediately turned off their flashlights, scattered and hid, aiming their guns at the dark and quiet mountain top, and fired loudly.
The major was pacing in a house in the village with a frown on his face. There were slogans on the wall and propaganda calligraphy and paintings everywhere, which showed that his judgment was correct. There were no Eighth Route Army, no food, and even no villagers. The whole village was empty. He was one step late. There was not much time from the brief exchange of fire with the Eighth Route Army in the valley to now. They must still be nearby. In addition to the south, there are only three directions: east, west and north. If it was daytime, he could search in these three directions, but at night, this was not realistic. He had no choice but to temporarily camp in the village and hope that the day would light up early. However, one night was enough for the Eighth Route Army and the villagers to escape.
Suddenly, gunshots were heard from outside the village in the north, interrupting the major's melancholy thoughts. He grabbed his saber, rushed out of the room and followed the sound.
A Japanese officer hurried over to the major standing by the fire and handed him an empty kettle. "It rolled down from the mountain to the north. The patrol fired the gun, but found nothing unusual."
The major took it, looked at it carefully in the firelight for a while, then raised his head and looked at Beishan in the darkness and gave the search order.
A small group of Japanese soldiers, under the dim moonlight, holding several flashlights, quickly searched towards the top of the northern mountain.
Seeing the Japs coming up, Wu Yan also issued an order to the soldiers of the first company: "No one is allowed to shoot! When the Japs come up, shoot while retreating, and shoot in a scattered manner. The first row will shoot first, and the second and third rows will wait for my order to shoot. After everyone has opened fire, the machine guns can then fire."
The major stared at Beishan steadily. After a while, a few sparse gunshots were heard, and then gradually more gunshots joined in, becoming more and more frequent, and finally becoming a porridge, and at the same time moving away.
The opportunity could not be missed, and the major finally made up his mind to gamble on this vote. Except for the wounded and sick, the entire army was divided into three routes. The central route pursued at full speed, and the left and right routes pursued in parallel for five miles to the northwest and northeast respectively.
The regiment commander led the company and finally achieved his wish, successfully pulling the main force of the Japanese away from Dabei Village and starting their escape. The Japanese lieutenant colonel actually also achieved his wish, successfully biting the main force of the independent regiment, and even the commander of the independent regiment, and fiercely pushed forward to the north.
If we ignore the future results of this battle, both sides actually won and there is no loser.