The cottage is located on the north side of a main road that goes diagonally into the mountain from east to west. The hill it is located on is not very high. In fact, it is a high point on a small mountain range that is basically parallel to the main road, continuous and undulating.
The road heading west into the mountain winds along the foot of the mountain into the depths of the mountain. There are two roads leading up to the mountain village, north and south. The mountain village is almost surrounded by disconnected first-level cliffs. They are not high and not steep, but there are bushes and thorns. Overgrown and impassable.
It is not difficult to open a new path through the thorns, but the movement will definitely be loud and will definitely be discovered by people on the mountain stronghold, making a sneak attack impossible.
A team of thirty people walked from east to west on the dark mountain ridge under the starlight, bypassing a village two miles southeast of the village and south of the main road.
This is not the first time that Yang Deshi has led a team. He and Hao Ping once led a team to play in Xinglong Town. Although the results each time were not very good, they have seen many big scenes.
There were scouts leading the way, and the troops split up as they approached the mountain stronghold. Captain Liu led his men along the narrow path to the back mountain, outflanking them from both sides.
It was agreed that the attack would be launched in an hour. As for how long an hour would last, no one knew.
Yang Deshi felt a little nervous and thought carefully based on his previous post-war summary in the Independent Regiment, but found that none of the experience of winning nine consecutive battles was useless.
The Second Company and the Ninth Company fought many artillery towers and ambushes. However, based on the regiment’s experience in each battle, it felt like a blind cat met a dead rat. There were either internal agents, makeup, or a harassment war, or Obtaining information about the ambush in advance has no reference at all for the action at hand.
I always felt that something was not fully considered, and I was worried. I went through the Thirty-six Stratagems of Sun Tzu's Art of War all over again, but I couldn't seem to remember everything. I carefully thought about the battle from beginning to end, and suddenly realized that the pre-battle reconnaissance seemed not to be done well. In place!
The battle was about to begin, but the enemy's strength, firepower layout, terrain, etc. were not clear at all. More importantly, this battle was not reported to the superiors.
As the head of a county, should I report it before taking action? However, the security team happened to be out for dozens of days today, and there must not be many people left. If they really reported it, they would come and go again, and the chance would be gone.
Suddenly there was some hesitation. Captain Liu had already left with his men. As a general, you must not change orders day by day. Doing so would lower the commander's prestige.
In the past, when did the people named Hu and the people named Gao report to the regiment? Is it okay if it's different?
Gritting his teeth, the arrow was already on the string, and he could no longer hesitate.
At present, the troops have reached the mountain entrance not far from the mountain village where the security group is stationed. Everyone is crawling on a bush and hill, waiting.
A mile further on, the scouts found the security team sentrying at the foot of the mountain.
Yang Deshi wanted to attack this village not because he had any special purpose, but because when he first arrived, most of the villages were in the plains, without even a decent garrison.
If they were stationed on the plain, all the hard work of the Japanese would be over in one sweep and encirclement.
Captain Liu is very familiar with this area. Based on the reconnaissance in the afternoon and past situations, he found that the environment here is very good. It is backed by the East Taihang Mountains. If something happens, the personnel can retreat directly into the mountains.
Putting the garrison here is of course more practical and safer. Even if the Japanese invade in large numbers, they will have room to advance and retreat.
Moreover, this location is dangerous, and it may be one of the entrances for the Japanese advance team to enter the mountain. However, if it is secured and blocked, it will also facilitate the head of the headquarters' eastward access to the plains.
"The four of you go first and take out the two security groups' light and dark sentries. However, you must be careful not to make any noise." Yang Deshi no longer hesitated.
Two soldiers stood in front, Yang Deshi and his men followed closely behind, followed by six or seven others towards the foot of the mountain.
The sentry of the security regiment flashed on and off. The scout from the district team was unambiguous and quickly arrived. The two jumped up at the same time and rushed towards the sentry sitting on a stone in the bushes at the foot of the mountain smoking. They skillfully covered the mouth of the sentry, and the other one A man stabbed An Xing's abdomen with a bayonet. The severe pain made the sentry make a sound of "Ahhhhhh" in his nasal cavity, and his muscles contracted and struggled to resist.
The soldier drew out his bayonet and stabbed it in again. This time the knife penetrated the chest from the upper abdomen and pierced the heart.
It made a lot of noise.
A vigilant voice came from the roadside house: "What are you doing there?"
One soldier lowered his voice: "None of your business!"
The people in the hut heard something was wrong about the voice, so they went out, pointed their guns upwards and whistled in the direction: "Why is there something wrong with your voice?"
As soon as he finished speaking, several soldiers who rushed forward quickly grabbed his legs and pushed him to the ground. The sentry subconsciously pulled the trigger, but forgot that the bullet was not loaded.
The sentry's mouth was covered, and he was still struggling and moaning in pain on the ground. Finally, through the light from the hut, he could clearly see the five or six people coming to the intersection. A man with a bloody bayonet ran over from the hidden sentry position. The soldiers of the security group wisely gave up the struggle.
Yang Deshi looked at the soldiers around him, turned his eyes to the sentry's face, and saw endless fear.
This made him feel a sense of excitement in his heart. After leaving the Independent Regiment, he thought he would never have a chance to fight again. Unexpectedly, just a few days after he came out, he encountered such a good thing.
The point is, it's all under his control.
All the soldiers behind followed him, and no one made a sound. They were all waiting for Yang Deshi to give them the next instructions.
The next task must be to go up the mountain. There is no need to think about the reason for stopping here. It is to find out the strength of the troops on the mountain from the sentry.
The scout stepped forward and scraped the sentry's neck with his bayonet a few times: "You'd better be honest. If you want to shout, I don't have a problem with it. Of course, if you don't tell the truth, your mother will never see tomorrow." Sun, you better think clearly! Tell me, who is the leader on your mountain?"
The way the scout asked the question was obviously experienced, but in fact he already knew the answer.
The hand covering the sentry's mouth was released. The sentry did not shout. His heart was beating fast: "It's Commander Gou."
In fact, even if you shout, the mountain and the village are so far away, you may not be able to hear.
"How many people were there originally? How many have left today?" The scout's question was mixed with some information he knew, so he was not afraid of this guy lying.
"There used to be a battalion on the mountain. A reinforced platoon left today. There are still more than fifty or sixty brothers in the mountain, and there are more than a hundred stationed in the village to the east." The sentry replied honestly.
"A battalion? Uh, how many sentries are there on the way up the mountain?" The scout was startled. He didn't ask if there were any sentries on the way up the mountain, but directly asked how many there were.
"There's one right at the entrance to the village, but not on the road."
"We have known about the firepower situation on the mountain for a long time. We just want to check with you. Be honest, do you understand?"
"Every little sentence is true."
Yang Deshi was a little confused. A battalion. Isn't this nonsense? What a slap in the face! There are only fifty or sixty troops on the mountain? Three machine guns? .
This made him feel a little nervous. Now the bandits in the cottage had about the same strength as the district community, but he was the main attacker and only had two machine guns. One of them was sent by the Ninth Company, and the other was used to ambush the Japanese. The rotation training team was divided into two. Yes, the key problem is that there are no professional machine gunners in the team.
There is also a company of bandits in the village over there. This situation makes the prospect of the battle not optimistic.
The sentry kept telling the information that there was a gate in the village. If the whereabouts were exposed, the attack would be from bottom to top, so it would not be easy to fight.
Fortunately, the bandits' fighting power is not very good, otherwise they would not dare to get close to fight, and they would have to go home.
The scout missed a fatal question. He didn't think of asking the sentry about the origins of this group of "bandits"!
A group of people dressed as guerrillas formed a large circle about ten meters away, watching the county magistrate in a daze.
Now, the county magistrate raised his head, which meant that he was about to issue an order. Everyone at the scene was excited, and the whole place at the foot of the mountain burst out with an eager desire to fight.
"I ordered that two soldiers should be left on guard here, and the others should be divided into two levels and head towards the mountain immediately!"
The county magistrate's order was brief and bold.
No, I dare to use less to fight more! He's a man.
"Then should we find a way to break into the cottage first or start fighting directly?" the deputy captain of the district team asked quickly.
"Of course we have to find a way to sneak into the village first!" Yang Deshi was taken aback and ordered awkwardly, with displeasure in his voice: "Do I need to say this?"
"Uh, okay, if we can get in, should we take action first or wait until there is movement in the back mountain?" The deputy captain couldn't help but ask again.
"Of course we send people in first. It would be best if we can take down the stronghold without any bloodshed. In that case, Captain Liu and the others don't have to do anything. Do you understand?"
Faced with the pressure of the county magistrate's gaze, the deputy captain swallowed back what he had to say, silently took two steps back, turned around and ordered: "Everyone in the second class, follow me!"
Yang Deshi looked back and touched the shell gun on his waist. This time he did not advance with the first echelon because he had to command the larger rear team.
(End of chapter)
