Thank you Laowang Shunde for your strong support.
Lieutenant Wang Yipai lay on his back in the grass, listening to the chirping of insects and looking at the stars in the dark sky.
The team he brought with him had just been reorganized. The team of about 40 people was a squad leader of the supplementary regiment. After fighting a few battles, he became a platoon leader. It cannot be said that the Eighth Route Army has excellent traditions. Once troops below the company level encounter a battle, the command Most of the soldiers took the lead and rushed to the front. Because the platoon leader sacrificed several lives, he was directly identified as the platoon leader by the battalion commander.
Most of the soldiers next to him were asleep. On the other side was Su Qing, the political worker.
Officer Su was half-lying behind a bush on the right, staring nervously at a small Japanese gun tower standing outside the town five or six miles away, with a faint light shining over the town.
"Director Su, the small town to the east is full of Japanese soldiers who have withdrawn from the mountains. I think there is no point in waiting any longer!" This is not the first time that Platoon Leader Wang has come out to perform such a mission, but he still leads the team alone. For the first time, some worry about gains and losses.
"If we wait until dawn tomorrow and the person to be contacted has not arrived yet, let's talk about evacuation." Su Qing's cold voice came, without any emotion, as if he was talking about something indifferent.
"General Su, if you don't behave well, I will lead the soldiers to guard here. You can rest in the village first!" Platoon Leader Wang suggested nervously.
"You should know the importance of this mission! Therefore, I must stick here!" Su Qing flatly refused and had no intention of listening to Platoon Leader Wang's persuasion.
Platoon leader Wang was speechless and said no more.
The scene fell into silence. In fact, he wanted to refute: There are even more commanders in the divisions who take this road into the mountains. Who have I not seen division commanders and political commissars? Just a few dozen border area cadres are making a fuss out of a molehill.
If the personnel to be responded do not arrive on time, the mission can be completely abandoned. If you stay in the enemy-occupied area for a while, there will be more dangers.
Officer Su was educated and experienced in work, so Platoon Leader Wang felt that remaining silent was the best choice.
Su Qing was also thinking nervously. She had been in this business before, and this was the first time for such a large-scale response. If the person being picked up did not arrive on time, no matter what, it would be regarded as a mission failure and a decisive decision must be made. Cancel the action immediately without any delay.
The responsibility definitely belongs to the other party, but if you know the reason for the other party's failure, you should still consider continuing the mission. As for whether to continue, it is up to the person in charge of the operation to decide.
The person in charge of this operation is not Su Qing, but Platoon Leader Wang! But Platoon Leader Wang obeyed Su Qingyan because Su Qing changed his name for him.
The reason why the other party did not arrive on time should be very simple. Either he was arrested or there was something wrong on the road. It is not easy to be arrested when crossing the blockade at night! There was a sudden gathering of Japs in the east. This was an unexpected situation, so the possibility of diversion was the highest.
The Japs in the mountains have withdrawn and stationed themselves in the small town to the east in the past two days, so the second plan should not be used. The roads nearby are tightly blocked by the Japs. The place is so big, and it is impossible for the Japs to cover all the places. It is not very difficult for the team entering the mountain to bypass the blockade.
The intelligence said that the person performing the escort mission was a company-level instructor who often performed such missions and had rich experience, so a detour was the most likely!
If the other party bypasses the town, it will only take one more night at most. Logically speaking, they will send someone from the south or north to contact him, and then they will just take a detour to respond.
Su Qing knew that Platoon Leader Wang was considering his own safety, but he was always worried about this if he didn't stay here.
So, Su Qing simply added: "For everyone's safety, just leave one class here, and the others will go to the village to rest."
"How about you go into the village with the soldiers to take a rest first? They will just replace the soldiers from the village to come out for sentry duty." Platoon Leader Wang suggested again.
"No need." Su Qing's cold voice.
"Okay then..." Platoon Leader Wang said and looked up again to count the stars.
Glancing at the flickering fire of the turret in the distance again, Su Qing pulled up the marching blanket underneath him and leaned on the edge of the slope to take a nap.
Time passes slowly.
A dark figure ran back from the east side.
The sound of footsteps woke up several people who were half asleep.
The black shadow skillfully came to the vicinity of Platoon Leader Wang, lowered his voice, and reported excitedly: "Report to the platoon leader, someone is coming from the east!"
"How many people are there? Have their identities been verified?" Platoon leader Wang climbed up from the ground behind the hillside and asked excitedly to the shadow.
"About thirty or forty, which is about the same as the number of people we want to pick up, but it's still far away! We don't know the exact number yet! However, they are still pulling the cart with torches." The soldier took a breath after speaking.
"Huh? With a torch? What's going on? You go back first, continue the investigation, and be careful!" Platoon Leader Wang started to get excited.
"Yes!" the soldier said and ran down the hillside.
"They are holding torches, how can they be so brave?" Platoon Leader Wang muttered to himself, then happily said to Su Qing: "Director Su, thirty or forty people... finally waited for them!"
"In terms of numbers, it's almost the same, but they are lighting torches and driving cars..." Su Qing calmly thought quickly: "No, they are definitely not the people we want to deal with. The people coming are the Japanese or the security forces!"
"No way? The Japanese security forces rarely travel at night. Maybe it's because the comrades put on makeup and got a big car with the support of friendly forces? I've encountered this many times before with the company commander and the others when they went out to perform missions! "After listening to Su Qing's analysis, Platoon Leader Wang didn't think there would be any surprises.
"It's unlikely. It doesn't make sense to drive a big car through enemy-occupied areas!" Su Qing categorically denied: "Most of the teams we need to support are cadres transferred from the local area to the mountains. Once they arrive, they may not be able to Driving the car, secondly, there are a large number of Japs stationed in the town to the east, which is not far from the blockade. If the Japs are not in the town, it makes sense to go around from the north and south! Now we are driving the car, coming from the east again, they must be the enemy !" Su Qing judged decisively.
"Then what should we do? We need to retreat first... Oops... It's too late to retreat now, they're already here!" Platoon Leader Wang looked over at the torch-lighting team approaching, a little panicked, his scalp was numb, and he thought it was Not long after I became the platoon leader, I was performing an unprecedented first mission, so it was normal to be nervous.
"Don't be nervous. It's already midnight. As long as we don't get exposed, the Japanese won't know we're hiding here." Although Su Qing said this, her palms were sweating.
Under the starry sky, it was impossible to see far from the ground. The torch-carrying team turned around a small hill, and the creaking sound gradually became louder.
More than a dozen large carts were loaded with things, and the mules and horses pulled them easily. Two Japanese soldiers walked in front of the team.
Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen Japanese soldiers walked in front of the convoy, about 200 meters away from the leading soldiers. The group walked on the empty dirt road without any scruples.
The Japanese second lieutenant saw one dirt slope after another in front of him. He had visited it a few days ago. There was not even a soul in the nearby villages. It was almost like a wilderness. Walking on the road where the warriors retreated, the Eighth Route Army had already heard about it. And fled eight hundred miles away! No sense of vigilance.
A security soldier who was driving the car in front shook his head and complained as he walked: "We are almost at the supply point, what supplies do we need to send there!"
"More than a month after entering the mountain, the imperial army has achieved great results. We deserve to work harder!" came a shrill voice from behind.
The cart made a harsh squeaking sound. The Japanese second lieutenant stopped, waited for the mule cart to come, and jumped into the empty space left by the cart, preparing to take a nap against the grain bag at the back.
The leading Japanese soldiers were not too far apart from the team behind them and were advancing slowly. The carts behind them could not move fast. However, marching at night was much more refreshing than marching under the scorching sun during the day.
Behind the hillside, the sentry was carefully hidden.
On the road in front of the slope, the Japanese soldiers were humming babbling songs, their voices drifting in the wind.
"No, it's a Japanese!" the sentry turned and spoke to the person next to him: "Go back and report!"
The soldier next to him quickly climbed backwards, down the hillside, and hurriedly ran back along the foot of the hill.
The sentry lying on the hillside clung to the ground, breathing slowly, his heart beating wildly, his palms sweating, and he aimed his gun at a Japanese soldier.
The two Japs got closer and closer, chirping birds and laughing wildly, and then another Japs started crying and howling like wolves!
The harsh sound gave the soldiers behind the hillside goosebumps on the summer night!
The Japanese soldiers did not walk on the hillside, but slowly marched on the dirt road down the gentle slope. The sound became clearer and clearer. The distance between the two sides was less than thirty meters!
The soldier's fingers were trembling, and the muzzle of the gun was pointed at the bodies of the two Japanese soldiers. He was thinking that if he was so close, if he fired, he might be able to hit both of them with one shot!
Thinking of Officer Su's explanation before coming out, I endured it again and again, until a few minutes later, the Japanese soldiers walked away to the west.
