"Report to the leader." Liang Yixiao jumped over and saluted Xu Rui in a serious manner, "Liang Yixiao, a student of the second phase of the Youth Training, is here to report to you and ask for your instructions."
"Take a break." Xu Rui returned the greeting and said with a smile, "The speech just now was very good."
"No way." Liang Yixiao denied, but a proud smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. When she was in school, she often won the first prize in speech contests. Every time there was an assembly in the school, she was the number one host. She was the most prestigious. At that time, she once gave a speech in front of tens of thousands of students, and the huge scene was really exciting.
Xu Rui smiled again and asked, "Have you really decided to join the youth training team and not go back to Wuhan to go to school?"
"I'm not going back." Liang Yixiao said, "Half of China has fallen. We can hardly find a place to put our desks. Why go to school? I want to stay and fight the Japanese."
Xu Rui smiled and joked: "Is it really because there is no room to put the desk, so that's why you left it?"
Liang Yixiao's pretty face immediately turned red. She decided to stay mainly because of He Shuya. Before coming to Wanzhong, she never expected that she would meet He Shuya here and fall deeply in love with this man who was better than her. The young man, who was still half a year younger, discovered that they were deeply in love when she wanted to return to Wuhan that day.
Xu Rui stopped and said, "However, I'm afraid you still have to go back to Wuhan."
"I won't!" Liang Yixiao immediately became anxious upon hearing this, pouting and said, "I won't go back to Wuhan."
"Really not going back?" Xu Ruixiao asked, "What if I let the nerd go with you?"
"Ah?" Liang Yixiao was stunned when he heard this, wondering if the leader wanted to help them both, right
However, when he thought about it again, Liang Yixiao felt that this was impossible. Even if Xu Rui had his heart set on it, he was afraid that the nerd would never agree to leave the army.
"Ah, what, what I said is true." After Xu Rui finished speaking, he turned his gaze to Wu Qian, and then said, "Xiao Wu, go back to Wuhan with Xiao Liang, I will let the nerd lead a platoon to escort you until Tongcheng, after you arrive in Wuhan, contact your teachers and classmates and mobilize them to come to our Damei Mountain."
"Yes." Wu Qian said simply, "I promise to complete the mission."
Liang Yixiao also stood up and stood at attention: "Promise to complete the task."
Wu Qian asked again: "Captain, when will we leave?"
"The sooner the better, it's best to leave today." Xu Rui said, "Because in a few days, the Japanese Kikuchi Brigade and Inaba Division should arrive, and you won't be able to leave even if you want to. .”
Wu Qianwei said: "But if I leave, what will happen to the working group?"
Xu Rui thought for a while and said, "Let's do this. I'll ask Shouxin to come over and help."
"That's good." Wu Qian felt relieved after hearing this. Huang Shouxin was not only a student of Feicheng Higher Normal College, but also a native of Anhui Province. It was most appropriate for him to take charge of the overall situation of the working group.
At that moment, Xu Rui asked Lei Xiang to call a group of patrolling cavalry from the street, and they separately went to notify Huang Shouxin and He Shuya to come. At the same time, he asked Wu Qian and Liang Yixiao to go back to the dormitory to prepare. When the two were ready, He Shuya also brought a platoon. When they arrived, time was tight. Wu Qian and Liang Yixiao immediately met up with He Shuya and headed for Tongcheng.
Xu Rui inspected the city again and stepped up supervision of each battalion to build barricades.
After completing a tour, I just returned to the headquarters when I saw Mei Jiuling hurried over.
"Mei Xiucai, what's wrong?" Xu Rui joked, "You lost your wife? You're so anxious."
"What, something happened." Mei Jiuling pulled Xu Rui to one side and said angrily, "Captain, the tunnel collapsed and crushed two fellow villagers to death."
"Land-in?" Xu Rui was stunned when he heard this, and then asked, "Why did it collapse after everything was fine?"
Mei Jiuling said: "The main reason is that during this year's plum rainy season, the rainfall is much heavier than in previous years, and the tunnel we dug leads directly to the Feihe River in the eastern suburbs. The groundwater seepage in that area is particularly serious, so first the water is permeable, and then A landslide occurred, killing two fellow villagers, and the tunnel on the bottom floor was also flooded by the river. Fortunately, the tunnel I designed was layered. Although the bottom floor was flooded by the river, the top floor was flooded by the river. The tunnel was finally saved, but..."
"But what? Mei Xiucai, please tell me." Xu Rui was also anxious. This tunnel can save his life at critical moments.
Mei Jiuling shrugged and said helplessly: "Due to the recent heavy rains, the soil in Feicheng has been severely waterlogged. It may be impossible to dig tunnels again."
"Does this mean that the tunnel excavation work can only be stopped?" Xu Rui asked with a frown.
Mei Jiuling sighed: "I'm afraid that's the case, Captain, we may have to think of another way to escape."
"That's easy to say. Think of another way to escape. Do you think it's easy to come up with a practical escape strategy?" Xu Rui snorted and said to Mei Jiuling, "However, since the soil in this area has It is seriously flooded and it will be dangerous to dig any more. So there is no need to dig any more tunnels for now. Let’s arrange for the fellow villagers to return to the base area first. Oh, by the way, the compensation work for the two fellow villagers who were crushed to death must be done well, as per the martyred family members. standards and preferential compensation.”
"Yes." Mei Jiuling stood at attention, saluted, then turned around and walked away.
Watching Mei Jiuling go away, Xu Rui suddenly shouted: "No!"
Lei Xiang, who was following Xu Rui, was startled and said anxiously: "Captain, what's wrong?"
"Leizi, go to the cavalry camp and borrow two horses, hurry up!" Xu Rui didn't explain much.
Lei Xiang didn't dare to ask any more questions. He quickly turned around and went straight to the cavalry camp. After borrowing two horses, he hurried back. Then he and Xu Rui rode on the horses and went straight to Feidong.
Xu Rui thought of the construction of fortifications outside the city from the collapse of the tunnel.
The position of the independent regiment is in the city. Once a fight breaks out, it will be a street battle, so the defenses are relatively unimportant. At most, they can set up a few circular barricades at the intersections of several main streets. However, the Wanzhong Advance Brigade outside the city is fighting in the field. The construction of fortifications is very important, so Xu Rui wanted to see the progress of the fortifications outside the city.
Since even the underground soil has been soaked due to heavy rains, let alone the surface, Feidong is even more troublesome because of the existence of the Fei River.
The two mounted their fast horses and soon arrived at the Feidong position.
The 1st Regiment of the Wanchong Advance Brigade was responsible for guarding the Feidong position. When Xu Rui arrived, the regiment leader Ding Li was rolling up his sleeves and personally leading people to dig trenches. However, due to the heavy rain for days, the entire trench fortifications were soaked in rainwater. , an engineer shoveled down, but in the end he shoveled up a shovelful of muddy water.
"Damn it, this job can't be done!" Ding Li threw the shovel away, a little annoyed.
Xu Rui came over and happened to hear Ding Li's words, so he smiled and joked: "Captain Ding, the little devil hasn't even come here yet, and you are already discouraged?"
Ding Li turned around when he heard the sound, and when he saw it was Xu Rui, he quickly stood up and stood at attention: "Sir Xu!"
Although Ding Li is now a serious colonel commander, in front of Xu Rui, Ding Li really can't put on the airs of a regiment commander. There is no other reason. First, because of the battle of Feicheng, the remnants of the 88th Division owe Xu Rui a favor. , and moreover, he admired Xu Rui's ability, so he still saluted Xu Rui as commander as he had done when he was the company commander.
Xu Rui returned the military salute and said with a smile: "Captain Ding, it seems that the construction of the fortifications is not going well?"
"It's not just not going well? It's simply not going well." Ding Li immediately complained incessantly, "I don't know why this thief got wet. It's been raining heavily these past few days, covering dozens of miles around. It’s so obvious that we can’t even find a dry patch of ground to build fortifications on, you see, we can’t even dig this trench.”
While talking, Xu Rui and Lei Xiang had already jumped into the trench.
As soon as the man entered the trench, the water immediately reached their knees. Lei Xiang was wearing the big leather shoes he had captured, but Xu Rui was wearing long military boots. The fun was great. The muddy water quickly poured in along the uppers of the boots. , when Xu Rui raised his foot again, only a bare sole was left, but his long military boots were stuck in the mud.
Ding Li hurried over, helped Xu Rui dig out his boots from the mud, and said, "Sir, look at this, what should we do? I heard that it will continue to rain heavily tomorrow. There is no way to repair this fortification. If this fortification is repaired, If you don't get up, what will you do if the Japanese attack? It's so frustrating, I'm almost dying of worry."
Xu Rui took the boots, poured out the mud and water, and put them on.
Then Xu Rui said: "Captain Ding, don't worry, I'll look around first."
Xu Rui said, and climbed up a nearby hill with Lei Xiang.
The terrain in the east of Feicheng is generally relatively flat, but after all, it is between Damei Mountain and Dabie Mountain, so there are still many hills. Most of these hills are not high, most are only more than ten meters high, and only a few The height of the hills is over fifty meters, but there are so many of them.
If you can make good use of these hills, there is still much potential for blocking.
Xu Rui squinted his eyes and turned from the dotted hills to the meandering Fei River. Suddenly his eyes lit up and he thought of a brilliant idea.
As the saying goes, water can capsize a boat, but it can also carry it.
In the same way, water can bring difficulties to the construction of fortifications, but it can also bring benefits!
Xu Rui hurried down the mountain, found Ding Li and said, "Captain Ding, weren't you still complaining about this thief just now? Now you have to thank him, haha."
"Thank him?" Ding Li was surprised, "Thank him for what?"
Xu Rui said: "Commander Ding, why don't you think about it? It has been raining for such a long time today and the ground has been soaked. Although it has brought difficulties to your regiment's construction work, it will also bring trouble to the Japanese." The attack poses great obstacles, especially for the Japs’ heavy equipment such as tanks and artillery, which will make it even more difficult to maneuver in such muddy terrain.”
"That's true." Ding Li thought thoughtfully. (To be continued.)