Li Qiulin and others climbed a hillside. According to time calculation, the Japanese and puppet troops tracking them should be in a parallel position with themselves. They continued to march forward, believing that they would soon be able to get around the enemy's back.
Just as they climbed a hillside, Japanese and puppet troops suddenly appeared in front of them. The distance between the two sides was very close, less than 100 meters. Both sides saw each other, and then a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.
Facing the sudden encounter, Li Qiulin also felt that he was a little careless. He really didn't expect that in order to accurately find the guerrillas, the Japanese and puppet troops would divide into three groups and search and advance along three mountain ridges side by side. When he was observing on the top of the mountain just now, he did not find the other two groups of Japanese and puppet troops. If he had known this, he should have led the team farther away.
At this time, it was too late for Li Qiulin to regret. The top priority is to defeat the enemies in front of us and avoid being entangled by them. As a result, they were surrounded by a large number of Japanese and puppet troops who caught up.
Li Qiulin ordered the guerrillas and special operations team members to strengthen their vitality and suppress the enemy in front. He took the time to observe the situation on the battlefield. Soon after, he discovered that the Japanese army they faced was about the size of an infantry squad, and it was impossible to eliminate them in a short time. At this time, two other groups of Japanese troops were also coming in this direction. The only thing they can do now is to quickly get rid of the enemy in front of them.
Li Qiulin made a prompt decision and ordered the special forces to stay to stop the enemy, and first covered the evacuation of the guerrillas.
Li Jiming was very moved when he saw the special forces members staying to protect his team. They also wanted to stay and fight with the special forces members against the Japanese army, but he also knew that they could not help the special forces with their own fighting power. The team members are too busy, and if they stay, they will become a burden to others. So they immediately turned around and ran back, then ran down the hillside and evacuated toward the southeast.
The Japanese squad leader who was fighting with the special forces members also noticed the intentions of the enemy on the opposite side through observation. He saw that there were not many enemy troops on the opposite side. They ordered their entire squad to charge forward together. They also hoped to defeat the enemy troops responsible for blocking the front as soon as possible, and then catch up with the escaping guerrillas.
However, the Japanese army still underestimated the combat effectiveness of the special operations team members. Although there were only twelve special operations team members, their firepower was powerful and their marksmanship was accurate. The Japanese army that launched a hasty charge suffered heavy losses in an instant and had to lie down and search for Cover to reduce casualties.
Li Qiulin saw that the Japanese troops on another mountain ridge had reached the bottom of the valley and were climbing up here, and some Japanese troops were outflanking them. Li Qiulin did not dare to fight, so he ordered the guerrillas to retreat while fighting. Buy time as much as possible to allow Li Jiming and the guerrillas to run further.
Li Jiming and the guerrillas knew that the situation was urgent. They rushed down the hillside desperately and then climbed towards the opposite mountain.
When Li Qiulin and others saw that the guerrillas had run six to seven hundred meters, they also accelerated their retreat, trying to get rid of the entanglement of the Japanese and puppet troops as soon as possible.
The terrain on the mountain was complex and the roads were rugged and difficult to navigate. Fortunately, the special operations team members were used to running on mountain roads. They retreated very quickly, gradually widening the distance from the Japanese troops who were following them.
A special operations team member was hit by a bullet in the leg, and the intense pain caused him to fall to the ground. The special forces members around him saw this and hurriedly shot at the Japanese troops. Li Qiulin quickly ran to the injured special forces member and bandaged his wound. Then two special forces members helped him to continue retreating.
The Japanese squad leader discovered that someone in the enemy army ahead was wounded. The wounded man was being held by two special forces members, and the evacuation speed slowed down significantly. He was very happy, seized this favorable opportunity, and urged his soldiers to rush forward.
Gao Cang was in a good mood now. He originally thought that it would take a long time to find the guerrillas, and he was even worried that the guerrillas would take advantage of the complex terrain of high mountains and dense forests to escape the encirclement again. I didn't expect that there would be such an unexpected surprise. Regardless of fatigue, he led his Japanese soldiers to move forward desperately.
At the same time, he used the walkie-talkie to notify the Japanese squad leader who was fighting fiercely with the guerrillas, asking him to entangle the guerrillas at all costs and not let them escape, so as to buy time for the main force to arrive.
Because the guerrillas were injured, the retreat speed of Li Qiulin and others was greatly slowed down. The enemies who were following them continued to get closer to them, and the Japanese reinforcements gradually caught up.
The situation was very critical, so Li Qiulin decided to stay and stop the Japanese army. He first covered the special operations team members and evacuated the wounded. He knew it was dangerous, but he had no choice now.
The following Japanese troops were very happy to see that the enemy troops were staying to block the attack. This was exactly what they wanted to see. The Japanese squad leader reported the situation to Gao Cang. Gao Cang was very happy after hearing this and urged his Japanese officers and soldiers to speed up and go for reinforcements.
He personally led half a squad of Japanese troops to take a detour to outflank the enemy.
The injured special forces member was named Liang Guohua. He saw that the captain and the special forces members stayed to stop the enemy and cover themselves to evacuate first, while the Japanese and puppet troops were constantly approaching them. He knew that if he continued like this, he would be in danger of being surrounded by the enemy and causing the entire army to be destroyed. He made up his mind that he would never let everyone be in danger for him, so he decided to stay and take on the task of covering so that his comrades could evacuate quickly.
After making up his mind, Liang Guohua stopped and refused to run forward. His sudden movement was beyond the expectations of the two special forces members who were helping him. One of the special forces members was caught off guard and almost fell. He said anxiously: "Guohua, what are you doing? Leave quickly."
Liang Guohua pushed away the two special operations team members who were supporting him, and said firmly: "My injury is too serious and I can't walk today. I can't drag everyone down. Let me stay to take over the cover task, and you can evacuate with the captain." .”
The two special forces members assisted him in evacuating on Li Qiulin's order. They also understood Liang Guohua's thoughts, and of course they could not let him stay and die. The two men immediately supported him and dragged him forward.
A special operations team member said: "Guohua, what are you talking about? When will our special operations team give up on our comrades? Stop nagging, hurry up, and don't waste the time the captain and the others have fought for."
Liang Guohua pushed his body downward with force and said eagerly: "With so many Japanese and puppet troops walking on such a difficult road, there is no way to get rid of the enemy. You would rather sacrifice yourselves to protect me, why can't you let me stay to protect my comrades?" Really? Stop trying to persuade me, I won’t leave no matter what."
The two special operations team members were anxious, and while persuading him, they dragged him forward again. But the road was already difficult to walk, and coupled with Liang Guohua's desperate struggle, it was impossible to move forward. A special operations team member reluctantly let him go and ran to report to Li Qiulin.
Li Qiulin knows every special operations team member under his command, and he knows very well that under the current circumstances, staying with Liang Guohua is the only right choice. As the commander of this team, he must save more people's lives. Although leaving Liang Guohua behind made him feel extremely heavy, he had no time to hesitate any longer.
Li Qiulin fired twice at the enemy on the opposite side, then quickly ran to Liang Guohua, and persuaded him for the last time to evacuate as soon as possible.
Seeing Liang Guohua's resolute attitude, Li Qiulin was very moved. With tears in his eyes, he said to Liang Guohua: "Guohua, I will report your heroic deeds to my superiors and give you a reward. We will definitely take good care of your family."
Liang Guohua said eagerly: "Okay, thank you, you go quickly, tell my parents for me that their son died for the Anti-Japanese War, which is glorious. Tell my brother to come to our special forces to serve as a soldier again." I say hello to the captain, please tell him that 20 years later, I will be a good man again and continue to serve as a soldier under him."
Li Qiulin nodded and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely bring these words to you."
The special operations team members also ran over one after another. Everyone shook hands with Liang Guohua and evacuated quickly with tears in their eyes.
Liang Guohua moved his injured thigh, hid behind a rock, and shot at the Japanese and puppet troops. Even though he was only one person, his accurate marksmanship was almost fatal. As soon as the Japs showed their heads, he would kill them with one shot, suppressing them so much that they did not dare to show their heads at all.
The Japanese team leader was very angry, but had no choice but to order concentrated firepower to suppress him, and at the same time sent people to outflank him from both sides.
Li Qiulin and the special forces members seized the time Liang Guohua bought for them and evacuated quickly. They first ran back along the ridge, and then rushed down the hillside to catch up with the retreating guerrillas.
Gao Cang also tried his best. He personally led a small group of Japanese soldiers to climb up the ridge from behind Liang Guohua. At this time, Li Qiulin and others had already run down the valley. Gao Cang ordered the Japanese officers and soldiers to shoot at Li Qiulin and others from a high position, and then led some of them to rush down the hillside.
Li Qiulin and others were in a very passive situation. They were at the bottom of the valley, only more than 200 meters away from the Japanese army. The bullets fired by the Japanese army from a high position were very lethal to them. A special operations team member was shot in the head and died on the spot.
Li Qiulin and others did not care about fighting back now, and could only desperately climb up the opposite hillside, hoping to get rid of the Japanese army's pursuit as soon as possible.
Not long after, another special operations team member was shot and injured. Fortunately, this time he only injured his left arm and the impact was not serious. He did not bother to bandage the wound and gritted his teeth and continued to climb the mountain.
After more than 20 minutes, they finally climbed up the hillside. At this time, the terrain began to be favorable to them. They attacked the Japanese troops chasing from the valley from a high position, causing them a lot of casualties and greatly slowing down their pursuit.
Li Qiulin and others retreated while fighting, and finally climbed over the mountain and disappeared from the sight of the Japanese army.
Gao Cang led the Japanese soldiers on their way and finally climbed up the mountain. However, those hateful enemies had already disappeared into the dense vegetation and completely lost their traces.
Liang Guohua tried his best to suppress the enemy troops. He had already seen the Japanese outflanking him from both sides. But he had no choice but to watch helplessly as the enemy surrounded him.
The Japanese team leader has accepted Gao Cang's order, hoping to catch a special operations team member and learn about the situation of Xu Dalong, Mr. Chen and others from his mouth. After completing the siege of Liang Guohua, he did not directly shoot him to death, but shouted at him to persuade him to surrender.
Liang Guohua smiled contemptuously and was too lazy to pay attention to them. He picked up his sniper rifle and killed the Japanese who shouted with one shot.
The Japanese were very angry. However, they had received orders. Although they shot at Liang Guohua, they did not dare to let the bullets hit him.
Liang Guohua understood what the Japanese meant and knew they wanted to capture him alive. He knew very well that he would have no way to survive in the hands of the Japs, so he decided to take advantage of the Japs' mentality and eliminate as many Japs soldiers as possible to buy time for Captain Li and others to evacuate.
He moved his body, found a stone crevice, covered his body as much as possible, and then monitored the Japanese soldiers. If anyone dared to show his head, he would shoot him to death.
After losing six soldiers, the Japanese squad leader realized that it was impossible to capture anyone alive, so he ordered to shoot Liang Guohua. Dozens of Japanese soldiers fired bullets at them. Liang Guohua was hit by several bullets and died heroically.
Li Qiulin and others quickly evacuated, and soon they saw the guerrillas who stayed to wait for them, and then followed them to meet Li Jiming and others. They continued to march at high speed, and finally completely escaped the tracking of the Japanese and puppet troops.
This encounter caused heavy losses to the special forces team. Two special forces team members died heroically and one was injured. This rarely happened in previous battles. This time the loss of the special forces team was related to Li Qiulin's decision. For this, he deeply blamed himself.
The faces of the two sacrificed special forces members appeared in front of his eyes, and he was filled with regret. The severe pain in his heart made him almost faint.
Li Qiulin led the special forces and guerrillas to pay silent tribute to the two special forces members who died and held a brief memorial service. Then Li Qiulin sent a telegram and reported the situation here to Xu Dalong. He sincerely admitted his mistake in the telegram and expressed his acceptance of the organization's punishment.
Xu Dalong felt very relieved after receiving the telegram from Li Qiulin. First of all, Li Qiulin and others have successfully completed the task of attracting the enemy's attention. Although he was also saddened by the sacrifices of the two special operations team members, he was satisfied with Li Qiulin's positive attitude of being brave enough to accept his mistakes, willing to learn lessons, and continue to grow and improve.
He sent a telegram back to Li Qiulin. In the telegram, Xu Dalong did not blame him, but praised him and asked him to tell every special operations team member that they had successfully completed the task of covering Mr. Chen. Xu Dalong asked Li Qiuling and the special forces team members to avoid fighting with the enemy in the next time, protect themselves, and wait for Xu Dalong to join them. (End of chapter)
