Amidst the neighing of men and horses, groups of security troops marched lazily in company units, at varying speeds. Those traveling by road were the fastest and naturally the most advanced.
Most people walk on the uneven ground in the saline-alkali land, just to avoid eating a few mouthfuls of dust. Occasionally they pull handfuls of fluffy grass out of boredom and rub a few handfuls in their hands to absorb the sweat from their palms.
Perhaps because they heard about the Eighth Route Army and the rumors that three reconnaissance squads had disappeared, the few security forces on bicycles on the road did not dare to rush forward in the evening breeze.
It's like a crooked stream of stragglers, marching fifteen miles in three hours!
Looking at the desolate village not far away, the sky was getting dark. Perhaps because of the large number of people, some people finally began to walk faster.
The light in the sky turned red and gray, and finally someone discovered through the cracks in the swaying grass in the field that there seemed to be dust flying, mixed with the afterglow of the sunset.
The bicycle team stopped on the road, and a few people were looking carefully. The dust may have been flying all the time, or it may have been blown by the evening wind, and it was thicker than usual.
I rode my bicycle cautiously and continued to advance vigilantly. I was shocked when I saw that the road ahead was dug up.
"Hey, will there be a No. 8 road ahead?" A security guard jumped off his bicycle and turned to ask the squad leader who was following behind.
The monitor behind them didn't care at all: "Haha, just dig a road in eight directions! There are so many of us, they have already run away. The purpose of digging this trench is to make us chase slower."
The implication is that it is abnormal for the Eighth Route Army to not dig trenches.
The security army nodded: "That's right. Every time we go out, the Eighth Route Army will dig ditches on the highway. Do these mud-legged people really think that we can't get through by digging a few ditches?"
"Hey, the Eighth Route Army just wants us to be suspicious, but they don't even look at how many of us there are! Don't wait any longer, and leave quickly, otherwise the brigade commander won't see us later, and it will be miserable if we shovel dirt to fill the ditch."
"Squad leader, there are not many ordinary people in this area for dozens of miles. Why does the commander personally lead the team this time?"
"You know what the hell, the headquarters called and asked the military commander by name to personally lead the team. He also said that the county town must be captured. Can he not come?"
"Commander's car is really nice. It's shiny and shiny. It would be great if I could sit in it for a while." The guy stretched his neck and looked back.
"Sit? Do you know how much the commander spent to buy it? This time I drove it because I wanted to experience the feeling of a small car."
"No matter how good it is, it's just a second-hand product. I don't know which bastard in Tianjin sold it to the army commander. It is said that it cost us ten thousand yuan!" The group of people continued to move forward as they talked.
"Oh, why is there another ditch here?" Not far away, another ditch was found on the road.
The squad leader of the security army finally became a little wary and stepped forward to observe carefully: "This trench was dug not long ago. Could it be that there is a Eighth Route Army hidden in the village in front?"
The subordinate responded with the words the monitor just said: "So what if there are, don't look at how many of us there are!"
The squad leader was riding a bicycle with one foot on the ground. He looked up at the dead village three or four hundred meters away. There was nothing strange about it: "Well, you are following my example again. Hurry up. We have burned down this poor village three times. Those ordinary people He's also a bitch, he always comes back and makes us burn again!"
Hu Yi held up his binoculars and felt that the security forces on the road should have arrived at the ambush position in the subdivision, but the gunfire never sounded.
If we release it again, the security forces will enter the second line of defense!
Hu Yi's guess was correct. Brigadier Zhu did have to move the enemy closer to fight because his troops were short of ammunition!
Although the military subdivision supported them with a lot of ammunition, there were more than 2,000 people here, and each of them was given three rounds of ammunition. Including what they had before departure, the average per person did not exceed six rounds of ammunition.
After all the bullets are loaded into the rifle, there is only one bullet left in the bullet bag!
Although the Ninth Company occupied the Japanese warehouse in Huaxian County, it was a pity that apart from some worn-out firearm parts, clothing, food and daily supplies, there was no ammunition at all!
The ammunition seized only came from some of the Japs who were killed during the breakout, and the ammunition of the Japs and puppet army defenders who were hacked when they occupied the county. The more than a thousand rounds of ammunition seized were still 65 rounds, and most of them were sent to Erlianjiu. Even in hand.
The Japs usually distribute 30 rounds of bullets to the puppet troops, and with the addition of a dozen Japs, the total number of bullets seized was only over 3,000 rounds.
The division issued an order to ambush the security forces, and the promised supply of reloading bullets for the border area will probably take a day or two to arrive!
Therefore, Brigadier Zhu, who is short of ammunition, plans to let the enemy get closer!
Far away on the road, a shining black guy appeared in the marching team!
As the distance continued to approach, the low sound of the engine could be heard faintly. A black car, with its two headlights turned on before dark, was slowly walking in the flying dust brought by the infantry in front, protected by dense guards on the front, rear and left.
The brigade commander behind the grass squinted slightly and turned his head to look both ways. The soldiers were camouflaged by weeds on their heads and were all lying in shallow foxholes away from the road.
He suddenly regretted it. After visiting the positions dug by the independent group, he found that he had indeed taken it for granted.
The trenches dug by the Second Company of the Ninth Company were half a man deep, with the pile of soil just up to the chest, two trenches at the front and back, and a zigzag communication trench in the middle. However, the fortifications dug by his men were all shallow foxholes.
In fact, it's not his fault. Anyway, in the battle, he fired three rounds of bullets, then charged, went forward to fight with the security forces and bayonets. There was no point in digging such a deep trench!
Of course, the hardware facilities are not as good as those of the independent regiment. Each group of three people has an engineering shovel. Our own troops have to use bayonets and bare-handed planing, so the efficiency is naturally lower than that of the old commander.
Those guys in the Independent Regiment didn't care about their military uniforms at all, unlike the division soldiers who took off their bodies until they were digging trenches, leaving only a pair of shorts.
If we can really win this battle as Captain Hu said, it will at least solve the soldiers' clothing problem.
The Japanese dug trenches and built blockhouses everywhere in the occupied areas. As a result, the clothing factories in the area were without raw materials, and spinning and weaving were almost at a standstill.
Central Hebei was originally a cotton-producing land, but unfortunately the Japanese controlled the purchase of cotton. The Japanese in Ding County even opened a dozen textile factories. Unfortunately, all the spun cotton was sent back to the Bird Country by the Japanese.
As a result, half of his brigade could not afford to wear the regular uniforms of the Eighth Route Army, and they looked no different from the guerrillas.
Therefore, the name of his brigade is the North China Anti-Japanese People's Army!
Because he had no uniform, he did not have a regular army number assigned by the division, the only number in the Eighth Route Army.
He has always been worried about this.
As for the security army's naked buttocks after seizing their uniforms, does this have anything to do with him?
He has a different mentality from other army commanders. What he values most is not the seizure of weapons! But the military uniform
Most of the other troops think that as long as they have guns and bullets, they can pull out a few more teams at any time!
A black figure riding a bicycle had already passed the divisional defense line on the road and was about to enter the village. The brigade commander still did not give the order to fight.
The commander who stayed at the entrance of the village narrowed his eyes slightly and did not order the guard company to take action with the reserve team.
You have to wait until both wings come into contact with the enemy!
Only now did the commander realize that what Hu Yi said was true. The troops that first came into contact with the security forces were on both sides of the road, and the ambush soldiers gave up the ambush on the road.
The two wings of the security forces were walking in the saline-alkali land, still three to four hundred meters away from the ambush position.
The security forces began to gather on the highway. A company commander of the security forces jumped off his horse and looked at the shallow pits on both sides of the road that would expose a person's buttocks even if they were lying down. What is this Tuba Road doing?
After pinching a handful of the excavated floating soil, it was obvious that it had only been excavated not long ago. A person would have to make a grave to bury someone in such a shallow pit. What does this mean?
Of course, if he saw the trenches of the Second Company and the Ninth Company, he would immediately lie on the ground and shout loudly for an enemy attack!
The company commander of the security army thought carefully. The hundred or so security troops he led gathered around the shallow pit on both sides of the road and looked around with wide eyes in boredom.
A platoon commander squeezed in beside the company commander: "Company commander, look, it won't take more than half an hour to dig this hole!"
"Really? You are a good boy. You are worthy of being a talented student who went to a military academy. You can see that." The company commander was disdainful.
"Company commander, what are you talking about? I just participated in the officer training camp for half a year." The platoon leader replied sheepishly.
"You know how to read, but you're no more crude than me. It's not in vain that my brother Hua Dayang sent you to the military academy." The company commander praised this relative half-heartedly.
"There is something wrong with these pits. They are a bit like the trenches dug by the Eighth Route Army, but they are so shallow. They obviously failed to dig them successfully! I didn't understand something. They said they dug foxholes, but they couldn't even cover anyone. This is strange! "
"What do you mean by the Eighth Route Army digging this hole? Is it a grave they dug themselves?"
"Hahaha" there was a burst of laughter from all around.
"Company Commander, something is not right about this." The platoon commander looked serious.
"Huh? What's wrong? Are you stupid because of reading?"
"You see, these pits are wet and they are not dug deep, which means that the Eighth Route Route is not far away." The platoon leader under his command had just graduated from the North China Army Military Academy. He was the company commander's sworn brother, so he laid them for him. A platoon leader position.
"You also know that the digging is not deep, which means that the Eighth Route Army originally wanted to dig deeper, but when he saw our large army coming, he had no choice but to run away, right?"
"Could it be that the Eighth Route Army set up an ambush in the village?"
"What an ambush. Didn't the reconnaissance squad come back and say they still have half of the people in the village? You're too suspicious to be a great leader."
After the company commander finished speaking, he immediately got on his horse.
With the light coming from the car behind him, the company commander suddenly noticed a flash of light suddenly appearing in the grass in the distance.
Damn, is there really an ambush? That reflection must be someone observing with a telescope!
(End of chapter)
