Taking advantage of the five days of rest in Wuming Village, Xu Rui and Jiang Nan reorganized the troops. []
The original organization of the army was completely disrupted, and the 67th Army was defeated, the temporary 79th Division veterans, the Southern Jiangsu guerrillas, and Cui Jiu's Rangers were mixed.
The Dameishan Independent Brigade was newly formed. The captain was of course Xu Rui and the instructor was Jiang Nan.
The Independent Brigade has three infantry squadrons and one machine gun team: the 1st Infantry Squadron, whose squadron commander is concurrently served by deputy battalion commander Leng Tiefeng, the 2nd Infantry Squadron, whose squadron commander is concurrently served by deputy battalion commander Wan Zhongshan, and the 3rd Infantry Squadron, Squadron leader Xiao Yanyue, machine gun team, captained by Niu Dazhuang.
The entire independent brigade has 420 officers and soldiers. In terms of equipment, it has a total of 398 Type 38 rifles, 26 crooked light machine guns, two Type 92 heavy machine guns, and an 81mm caliber light mortar. There are four cannons and more than ten short guns such as tortoise boxes and mirror boxes.
When it comes to equipment, the equipment of the independent brigade is definitely very good.
Unfortunately, there was not much ammunition left, with an average of less than five rounds of ammunition per 38-gun, and more than 20 light and heavy machine guns and four mortars were completely turned into decorations.
Of course, even without ammunition, this equipment is quite scary.
Therefore, if such a well-equipped unit entered the Damei Mountain area in a big way, it would not attract the attention of various forces in the Damei Mountain area. So Xu Rui decided to enter the mountainous area in batches, and he would personally lead the first squadron of the infantry to take the front stand. The 2nd Infantry Squadron, the 3rd Infantry Squadron and the Machine Gun Team followed.
Moreover, in order to hide as much as possible from others, the Independence Brigade changed its march from daytime to night march when it was still more than 200 miles away from Damei Mountain. The reason why Xu Rui decided to do this was firstly to not alert the various forces in Damei Mountain. , the second is to avoid being discovered by the Japanese army.
After all, Dameishan District is only more than 200 miles to less than 300 miles away from Nanjing. At present, the Japanese are busy conquering big cities and towns along the Tianjin-Puzhou Railway. For the time being, they cannot take care of remote mountainous areas like Dameishan District. But the Japanese in the sky Reconnaissance planes will fly out for patrols from time to time.
Therefore, the closer he got to Damei Mountain, the more cautious Xu Rui became.
The current independent brigade is no better than it was in Wuxi or Nantong.
At that time, although the morale of the Independence Brigade was a little low, it still needed people, guns, and ammunition. Moreover, Japan did not know how powerful they were, so they could act without restraint.
But now it is no longer possible. Now the independent brigade is not well-staffed and has a serious shortage of ammunition. What is particularly important is that now the Japanese have experienced their power and will no longer underestimate the enemy. If the Japanese are allowed to discover their whereabouts at this time, and let them If the Japanese are entangled, it will be troublesome.
Therefore, until the strength of the independent brigade has not developed enough, it has to keep a low profile.
Although it was night, the moonlight was very bright and objects could be seen within fifty meters. Xu Rui looked around and suddenly raised his right hand. The team members who followed him squatted down and stood on guard.
Xu Rui waved again and called the captain of the first team, the soldier.
In order to break up various groups, Xu Rui mixed up the independent brigade. Dabing was originally the captain of the Southern Jiangsu guerrillas, but after the mixing, he became the captain of the first team of the first infantry squadron and became directly under Leng Tiefeng. The subordinates, like Li Hai, became Wan Zhongshan's subordinates, and Hei Pi became Xiao Yanyue's subordinates.
The soldier came to Xu Rui, knelt down and asked, "Captain, did you call me?"
Xu Ruitou pointed at the dark hills ahead and asked, "Where are we?"
Dabing’s hometown is in Guan County, north of Damei Mountain. He is half a Dameishan, so he is quite familiar with the terrain of Damei Mountain. In addition, he and Cui Jiu just visited Meizhen a few days ago, so he recognized the hills in front of him at a glance. It's Shaqiao Gang.
The soldier replied: "Captain, this is Shaqiaogang. After crossing Shaqiaogang, you will reach Meizhen."
"Shaqiao Gang?" Xu Rui said in a deep voice, "Is this Shaqiao Gang, the gateway to Damei Mountain?"
The soldier hummed, and then continued: "There are two Shaqiao hills, namely Upper Shaqiao and Lower Shaqiao. Although the hills are not high, the terrain is very steep, especially the upper Shaqiao. Except for the three-meter-wide Shaqiao, Except for the passage of people and animals, there are cliffs four to five meters high on both sides, which are impossible to climb easily."
Next to him, Leng Tiefeng asked: "Besides Shaqiao Gang, is there really no other way to enter Meizhen and Damei Mountain?"
"How is that possible? There must be a way to enter Damei Mountain." Xu Rui said suddenly, "How else would the bandits from Damei Mountain go down the mountain to rob homes? They can't borrow the road from Meizhen every time, and then forget about Damei Mountain The bandits want to borrow the passage, but the security team and Huidaomen in Meizhen may not be willing to borrow it."
"There must be other ways to enter the mountain, because the bandits in Damei Mountain rarely go to Shaqiaogang when they go out to rob homes. After all, the security team in Meizhen is not a decoration." The soldier added, "But I'm afraid outsiders are very Hard to find.”
"That's someone else." Xu Rui said happily, "If I want to find the secret path of these bandits, isn't it a piece of cake? Even if there is no way into the mountain, I can still find one!"
The soldier advised: "Captain, even if we can find the bandit's secret passage, I don't recommend leaving, because these bandits have been entrenched in Damei Mountain for many years and have already managed the secret passages to the letter. It is completely conceivable that the secret passages on the secret passages will be hidden." It must be full of traps..."
"Traps?" Xu Rui interrupted the soldier and said with a smile, "The thing I'm not afraid of the most is traps."
"Old Xu, why don't you go directly to Meizhen?" Leng Tiefeng asked puzzledly, "Although we are Communists, it is the second time for the Kuomintang and the Communist Party to cooperate. I understand that Huang Shixun would not dare not to allow us to garrison troops. Isn't Meizhen better than being stationed in Damei Mountain? What's more, Meizhen also has a gateway like Shaqiao Gang that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. How good is it?"
Leng Tiefeng really felt that the independent brigade should be stationed in Meizhen.
Although the Independence Brigade has become a force of the Kuomintang, but now that the Kuomintang and the Communist Party are cooperating for the second time, Huang Shixun, as the mayor, can't find any legitimate reason not to allow the Independence Brigade to garrison in the town, whether it is the Kuomintang's troops or the Kuomintang's troops. , they are all the Chinese National Defense Forces. Who dares to prevent the National Defense Forces from entering Meizhen to protect the country and the people
As for the benefits of garrisoning in Meizhen, it goes without saying. First, it is easy to raise supplies.
Furthermore, Meizhen has a large population and it is easy to recruit soldiers. However, once you enter Damei Mountain, it is not easy to go down the mountain to collect supplies. It is even more difficult to recruit soldiers to expand the army.
"Garrison in Meizhen?" Xu Rui said with an evil smile on his lips, "Our Dameishan Independent Brigade will garrison in Meizhen sooner or later, but it's not the time yet."
"Isn't it time yet?" The soldier asked in confusion, "Why is this?"
Xu Rui smiled and said: "Because there is still too little oil and water in Damei Mountain now."
"There is still too little oil and water in Damei Mountain now?" Ding Bing was still confused, but Leng Tiefeng understood Xu Rui's intention and said, "So this is what you had in mind, Old Xu."
"Isn't it good?" Xu Rui said in amusement, "At present, the quality of the soldiers in our independent brigade is still mixed, especially the former guerrilla members. Their ideological consciousness and fighting spirit are not there, but their technical and tactical qualities are extremely poor. Also, the defeated troops of the 69th Army are demoralized and lack fighting spirit, so we should take advantage of this period to train our troops."
Leng Tiefeng said: "Yes."
Obviously, Leng Tiefeng has been convinced.
At that moment, Xu Rui shouted: "Let's go around Shaqiao Gang."
(Dividing line)
As mentioned before, the entire Damei Mountain District is like a big crab crawling on the north bank of the Yangtze River. The two mountains protruding from the left and right are like a pair of big crab's claws, surrounding the Meishan Basin, and Meizhen is located in it. The intersection of the pair of tongs can be said to be the front entrance to Damei Mountain.
The two mountains surrounding the Meishan Basin are Qingfeng Ridge on the right and Qingniu Ridge on the left. Qingniu Ridge stretches for more than 20 miles from northwest to southeast and has eighteen large peaks, the highest and most dangerous peak. It's called Qingniuping, and Qingniuping Village is built on the hillside of Qingniuping.
In the Juyi Hall of Qingniuzhai, Nan Batian was drinking with several bandit leaders including the Sky Monkey.
Sai Hongfu from Qingfeng Village is so fat that he can't get enough of it. Can you, Nan Batian, be in a good mood
You know, this is not dozens or hundreds of rice noodles, but nearly two thousand rice noodles. If Sai Hongfu is not allowed to snatch this batch of rice noodles, Qingniu Village will not have to worry about having no food to eat in the next three to five years. .
The Flying Monkey stared at the ground under his feet, spinning around for a while, as if he was thinking about some important matter. After a long time, he said: "Take the lead, or let's leave too."
Upon hearing this, the other bandit leaders immediately became energetic.
"Yes, brother, we can't afford to offend Sai Hongfu, but we should be able to hide him, right?"
"That's right, if that good man doesn't fight with women, we won't stay in Damei Mountain anymore."
"You're right, the second master, this Damei Mountain is simply a barren land, and we won't stay here any longer."
The opinions of the more than a dozen bandit leaders present here were surprisingly unified, and they all advocated leaving Damei Mountain.
Nan Batian's one eye glanced over the faces of more than a dozen old brothers one by one, and he was furious at first. A group of big men, but let a group of women drive them out of Damei Mountain. If this spread, he would still have the nerve to call himself Nan Batian. Tyrant
But the next moment, Nan Batian was immediately discouraged.
It's hard not to be discouraged. She's really no better than Sai Hongfu's mother-in-law.
Sai Hongfu's mother-in-law may be the reincarnation of the Hongfu girl among the Three Heroes of the Tang Dynasty. She is not only very skilled, but also very resourceful. The Eighteenth Route Hero in Damei Mountain, in just three years, was defeated by this Niangpi annexed the Ninth Route and drove away the Eighth Route, leaving Qingniu Village as the only remaining route.
But now, his Qingniu Village really can't hold on any longer.
"That's alright." Nan Batian sighed and said sadly, "Then let's go!"
However, just as Nan Batian finished speaking, a disdainful voice suddenly sounded outside the Juyi Hall: "It's really embarrassing for a group of old men to scare a girl like this."