Soldiers don't like rain because marching is difficult.
In the plains where there has been no rain for half a year, the earth is cracked by the sun, trees are dead, ponds are drying up, and rivers are drying up, making it difficult for people and animals to drink water.
What's even more serious is that locust plagues have appeared in the plains. In low-lying river valleys, there are only grain-producing areas, and production has been reduced on a large scale!
People are afraid of natural disasters, and even more afraid of man-made disasters!
The Japanese raids started at the beginning of the year and lasted until summer. They fortified the foothills of the Qianlidahang Mountains and cleared the fields. They forced civilians to build blockhouses and dig blockade trenches everywhere, so that there were many blockhouses in the plains and the blockade trenches were high and deep.
Everything is to prevent the development of the Eighth Route Army, prevent materials from outside the mountain from entering the mountainous area, and implement the three-light policy to make the plain area near the foot of the mountain almost uninhabited.
Through various methods, they infiltrated the Eighth Route Army headquarters in the mountains and carried out focused raids. On the surface, they almost succeeded in cutting off the Taihang Mountains into an isolated land. The Eighth Route Army ushered in the most difficult years.
A small village sits quietly under the pre-dawn starlight. There is no sound in the village, and it is dimly surrounded by darkness.
Two vigilant figures, one behind the other, gradually seeped out from the darkness in the south, walking steadily and quietly on the hillside. Not far ahead, the path turned between two bushes.
The black shadow continued to advance, the muzzle of the rifle pointed diagonally at the ground, and the pace made a hurried and rhythmic sound.
Suddenly a deep voice came from the bushes: "Stop, raise your hands!"
Night Walker was shocked, stopped walking, and stiffened on the spot!
After a while, two figures emerged from the darkness at the edge of the bush. One was holding a rifle and the other was slowly approaching the shadow.
"Stand still, Grandpa's bullets don't recognize people!" The voice of an obviously middle-aged man.
After the man with the short gun finished speaking, he stood on guard five or six meters away. The figure with the long gun came to the side of the night walker and stopped. With the faint starlight, he tore off the rifles and the cross-body slings of the two men. Mauser.
After being shot, Ma Liang frowned and said nothing: According to the situation reported by Chen Chong, the other party should be one of his own, and it was not worthwhile to be shot in the dark, so he did not resist.
The current position is on the outside of their defense zone, and there should be more than one sentry post. There is nothing wrong with them being vigilant.
Ma Liang quickly identified himself to the shadow and explained the situation: "Let's come find Chen Chong!"
"Chen Chong? Are you from the Independent Regiment?" the middle-aged man's voice sounded. After a while, he turned to the person next to him and said, "Go to the headquarters and report! Ask that Chen Chong to come over and confirm!"
Hearing this, the man carrying the gun put the bundle of confiscated guns in front of the middle-aged man and ran towards the village, preparing to report the situation.
Not long after, another group of black shadows followed behind Ma Liang, and Captain Liu of the district team followed them!
Although there were many people, they were still disarmed by the middle-aged man.
However, they temporarily put down their weapons after being persuaded by Ma Liang. Otherwise, there is no way that a middle-aged man can be the opponent of more than a dozen people! A man's spit would drown him!
At this time, the sentry just came back from the village. He looked at the large group of prisoners with doubts and admired the middle-aged man on guard: "Um... Chen Chong is on guard in the north and can't come over until dawn!"
"Don't worry, it won't be long until dawn. Isn't the sky already white?" the middle-aged man said proudly.
"Well, we are from the district team. My surname is Liu. Can you say a few words?"
"Okay." The middle-aged man said with a smile.
Captain Liu hurried forward and said a few words to the middle-aged man. He was immediately led by the sentry who had just returned and headed back to the village!
"You're a good boy! But it's not a good habit to put down your gun all the time!" After Captain Liu and the sentry left, the middle-aged man educated Ma Liang, who was squatting.
Ma Liang had black hair, squatting on the ground, his feet were a little numb. In the dark, carrying a middle-aged man on his back, he reached out and took out the oar from his calf and inserted it into his lower back. He didn't answer, thinking to himself, knowing that you are me. Man, can I still take action?
When the sky in the east became darker, Hu Yi and his men walked closer to the woods. As they walked, they communicated with a young man from the district team about the battle in the plains. Behind him, the little girl was sleeping soundly on a stretcher.
"After passing this bush, not far ahead is the village that Captain Liu mentioned. Why don't we take a break first?" The young people were excited, and Hu Yi replenished their bullets with gratitude from the bottom of his heart.
"No, we should try to avoid marching in unfamiliar places during the day! We must march to the village at dawn!" Hu Yi flatly refused.
Because of the district team who are familiar with the terrain, the escort mission of the Ninth Company has been completed ahead of schedule.
Because the district team knew the nearby terrain very well, Hu Yi got more information.
Most of the Japanese security guards guarding the small roads in the mountain pass have withdrawn. Only the gun towers on the main road into the mountain are still guarded by security forces, but they cannot stop the district team who are familiar with the terrain at all.
The only uncertainty was the time for the Japs to withdraw from the mountains. However, it was impossible for the large group of Japs entering the mountains to take a small path, and the possibility of encountering them was unlikely. Therefore, in the early morning, the district team arranged for some people to take over from the Ninth Company and escort the team into the mountains. Mountain, take a small road and walked away.
The district team had other tasks when they went out, and Captain Liu did not personally lead the team to escort them.
A soldier who was familiar with the plains was also arranged to tell Hu Yi about the situation on the plains.
Before Hu Yi went to the Songhu battlefield, he had fought with the Japanese many times. Unexpectedly, he turned around and returned to this place again!
They had been retreating before, but now they have become guerrillas!
Outside the bushes, the team came into contact with the outer sentry of the rotation training team again!
The middle-aged sentry was not simple. He had questioned the district team thoroughly early in the morning, but he couldn't tell anything from Ma Liang and his two men who were squatting aside! In addition to knowing that the two people are in an independent group.
A group of soldiers under Captain Liu were sleeping in the woods, snoring loudly.
The east begins to turn red, and a ray of sun appears.
Looking at the dark team led by Hu Yi, the middle-aged sentry was not nervous. Instead, he led the two Eighth Route Army sentries who had just been recruited and stopped Hu Yi in the bushes filled with morning glow.
Seeing Ma Liang empty-handed and becoming the opponent's sentinel, Hu Yi's head turned black.
"Brother, are you here too?" Ma Liang asked with a sad face.
"Where's Captain Liu?" Hu Yi asked Ma Liang with a dark face.
"Follow them into the village!" Ma Liang replied quickly.
"Have you found Chen Chong?"
"He was on guard in the north and said he would not be able to come over until daybreak..."
"Hey, hey, you two, do you think I don't exist? Don't tell me that you are also a district team, huh?" The middle-aged man saw that Ma Liang and Hu Yi knew each other, but the title was not their job title, which means they are not like regular soldiers. However, The captain of the district team said a few words about the rotation training team, indicating that they were people sent by the division to convey orders. They were all together, so of course they could rest assured, so he stared at Hu Yi indifferently.
His eyes lit up, good guy, this soldier looks good, and he even carries three guns! Such soldiers are rare in the Eighth Route Army.
"Hey, boy, you hung up three people's equipment by yourself. What do you mean?"
"It's boring!" Hu Yi's face was calm. He didn't expect that he would bump into the rotation training team during this escort mission.
"Hey, what are you talking about? Are you soldiers under Lao Lu?" The middle-aged man was not angry.
