The drizzle that had been falling for twenty hours had finally stopped, and the mist that had shrouded both sides of the river had not yet lifted, and the damp ground was even colder in the bitter wind. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

On the wet ferry pier, the atmosphere is tense.

The local villagers and hawkers who came by boat from the west bank did not dare to breathe, and trembled in fear in front of the soldiers who were loaded with guns.

Under the persuasion of several political cadres and Yan Yuese, the people hurriedly put on their backpacks, picked up their burdens, boarded the dock, and honestly followed the officers and soldiers who were guiding in front to the rows of brick kilns at the back of the village.

Most of the instructors and soldiers stayed in the houses scattered along the coast, methodically wiping down their weapons and sorting out their ammunition.

The regimental battalion commanders kept moving from company to platoon to carry out the final pre-battle inspection and arrangement, except for one company left on the pier, there was not a single soldier around the village, only three or three villagers above the pier to cooperate with the army's actions.

A group of scouts wearing hats and robes walked slowly, scattered along the embankment three miles from north to south, and carried out strict observation and vigilance of the upstream and downstream waters and official roads.

When Li Lianshan, the head of the first regiment, saw Zheng Yi and Wang Huchen coming, he hurriedly threw away his cigarette butts and strode forward to meet him: "It's almost over, I have ordered the ferry to stop, and after sending away this group of villagers who rushed to the market, the first company immediately evacuated the ferry, leaving only seven boatmen and a dozen villagers to confuse the enemy." ”

Zheng Yi pointed to the more than ten villagers on the dock who were trembling: "Look at them like this, can they confuse the enemy?" The mist on the surface of the river slowly cleared, and with a telescope, you can almost see people's faces from 500 meters away. ”

Li Lianshan subconsciously looked at the river surface where the mist gradually dissipated, and then looked up at the gradually thinning clouds in the sky: "The north wind is blowing, it is estimated that there will be no more rain during the day today, and the visibility is getting higher and higher, maybe the sun will come out at noon......

"In this case, I will send all the boatmen and the villagers who have been invited to cooperate to the brick kiln in the east of the village for concealment, and let the brothers of the police communication company change into the clothes of the villagers, disguise themselves as boatmen and villagers and stay up and down the dock, and hide all the light and heavy machine guns."

Wang Huchen suggested with a smile: "It's best to hide the light and heavy machine guns above the dock and move the pile of logs to the north as a shooting bunker." ”

"As soon as the battle began, the brothers ran up and set up machine guns to block the 200-meter-wide river in front of the pier, forming a dense firepower network more than 100 meters wide with a dozen machine guns to the south."

Li Lianshan immediately complied.

Zheng Yi and Wang Huchen looked at each other and smiled, and continued to walk towards the mortar position hidden under the big banyan tree above the pier, and just after discussing with Gao Cheng, the deputy commander of the second regiment's machine gun battalion who participated in the battle, a fast horse had come at high speed along the river bank to the south, and the scouts on the horse brought the news that Zheng Yi and Wang Huchen had been waiting for a long time:

The enemy's fleet sailed to a five-kilometer stretch of the upper reaches of the Gan River, and in addition to two small steamers towing thirteen cargo ships, more than two dozen large and small cargo ships followed behind the fleet!

Two small steamers emitting black smoke dragged more than a dozen wooden cargo ships down the river, and the cold river wind blew the blue sky and white sun battle flags above the cabin into a hunting sound.

Zhu Shigui, commander of the garrison division of the Third Army of the Yunnan Army, and Li Hongxiang, chief of staff, stood side by side on the foredeck of the small steamer, holding binoculars in their hands, constantly observing both sides of the river.

"After the Baishazhou in front, it is the kiln head village that has been rich in green bricks, gray tiles and large water tanks for hundreds of years." After Li Hongxiang finished speaking, he tightened the collar of his tweed coat.

Zhu Shigui continued to observe Yaotou Village, two kilometers away in front of him, and saw villagers grazing on the river embankment with ploughing oxen in twos and threes, and put away the binoculars with a slight smile:

"It is said that until the Xinhai period, Yaotou Village was still one of the richest places within a radius of 100 miles, with more than 100 large and small kilns, and then because the mud for burning bricks was dug less and less, and finally even the mud in the field was dug up, and it quickly decayed in less than ten years."

"Most of the villagers who have made money have moved to live in Wan'an, Taihe and Ji'an, leaving behind all the poor mud legs, and when you look up, it is desolate!"

Li Hongxiang couldn't help but look at the dilapidated village less than two miles on the right bank, and suddenly noticed that there was an abnormal situation on the ferry in front of him, and more than 20 boatmen and villagers quickly ran to the top of the wharf, and the villagers on the river embankment also threw down their ploughing cattle and ran in panic to the depths away from the river bank.

Puzzled, Li Hongxiang habitually raised his telescope to observe carefully, but before he had time to adjust the focus, the screaming sound of the cannonball suddenly sounded.

"Woo-"

"Boom-"

Six mortar shells flew at the scene and exploded in front of the small steamer and on the river surface more than 10 meters to the left, and one after another water columns rose into the sky, pouring Zhu Shigui and Li Hongxiang on the foredeck.

The small steamer, with a displacement of only more than 200 tons, swayed violently on the surging water, and instantly lost control and deviated from its direction.

"Enemy attack—"

"Turn! Quickly steer—"

Li Hongxiang and Zhu Shigui, who fell on the deck, shouted almost at the same time, and the two heavy machine guns on the left and right sides of the ship were crushed under them by the sand bags that had fallen and the soldiers who had fallen.

The old helmsman in the cockpit quickly got up, turned the steering wheel, and staggered in panic amid the sound of explosions and the curtain of water.

The transports behind the small steamer were in disarray.

Before the Yunnan officers and men could understand what had happened, more than 20 light and heavy machine guns on the shore roared in unison, and the dense rain of bullets smashed the chaotic Yunnan officers and men into a bloody mist and screamed for a long time.

After a period of panic, the Yunnan officers and men on the two large ships at the rear of the flotilla immediately set up their light machine guns and fiercely returned fire on the attackers on the shore.

"Da-da-"

Five light and heavy machine guns spewed dazzling tongues of fire, and the dense rain of bullets swept in, beating the Yunnan officers and soldiers who had nowhere to hide on the ship to the flesh and blood.

In the midst of the deafening sound of gunfire and explosions, more than 20 cargo ships at the rear of the flotilla urgently turned their bows, and the two 100-ton cargo ships at the head collided violently in a panic, and more than a dozen boatmen and businessmen fell into the icy river water in the blink of an eye, and the fully loaded cargo ship that broke through the hull shook violently and then capsized.

In less than three minutes, the 200-meter-wide and one-kilometer-long river was already screaming and chaotic.

Thirteen troop transports, towed by two small steamers, were still desperately turning to the west bank of the Ganjiang River, and three of the transports were on fire.

The Yunnan officers and men on the ship suffered heavy casualties under the fire network composed of more than 30 light and heavy machine guns and more than 1,000 rifles of the instructors, and they were like moving live targets, without any chance of fighting back.

"Boom-"

After a deafening bang, the small steamer that had escaped five rounds of concentrated shelling finally died, and a mortar shell that let out a screaming and falling at a rapid speed pierced the cabin cover behind the cockpit, and the violent explosion instantly ignited the disintegrating diesel engine.

The tail of the small steamer of more than 200 tons sank suddenly, and the bow of the ship was raised high in the rising fire and smoke, and all the passengers on board were thrown into the air.

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