Chapter Seventy-Three: Chief of Staff

The whole venue was silent, and Regiment Commander Zhang glanced at me coldly and said, "Battalion Commander Cui, we are not discussing, this is an order from the superiors!" ”

"Orders don't work!" I gritted my teeth and said: "I have already gone up to see the terrain, 417 Heights, Kuoma Mountain and 536 Heights, these highlands are all high slopes, dense forests and grasses, and none of them are not easy to defend and difficult to attack. Taking advantage of this favorable terrain, the enemy built a large number of fortifications, set up many artificial obstacles, and planted a large area of mines in front of the position. Moreover, the Vietnamese army has also carried out a careful firepower allocation according to the SHE process. But we didn't know anything about the terrain or the enemy's situation, and we started attacking before we could get a firm foothold......"

"Enough!" Regiment Commander Zhang interrupted me and said, "Where did you get so many reasons, why are you not familiar with the terrain and enemy situation, and the other troops are not all fighting well?" If others can fight, we can't fight? What's more, this is still an order from the superiors! I said Comrade Cui Wei, you will make mistakes with such thoughts! ”

"I agree with Camp Commander Cui's words!" At this time, He Liqiang, the third battalion commander who was not popular in the army, stood up and said: "I think what Battalion Commander Cui said makes sense, although I am a farmer, I don't understand the big truth. But I also know that we are fighting to win the war, to kill the enemy, and to seize the enemy's position...... And not to fight for the sake of fighting! I think that such a fight is not responsible for the lives of the fighters, and it is not responsible for the families of the fighters! ”

"You...... You guys! Commander Zhang was so angry that he couldn't speak, and he walked back and forth in front of the map.

"Captain Zhang!" I insisted, "We're not against you!" But the soldiers have put so many young lives into our hands, and we can't just decide the lives of the soldiers for the sake of a single order! ”

"The fighters have a point!" Hearing this, Political Commissar Huang also stepped forward to persuade Commander Zhang.

"Alas, old Huang ......" Captain Zhang said in embarrassment: "Whether it makes sense or not, this is an order from the superiors, do you think we can still disobey the order?" The superiors have the considerations of the superiors, and we have our considerations, what if we affect the unified combat plan of the superiors because of us? ”

I have to admit that what Commander Zhang said is also reasonable, but the problem is that I can't see any unified battle plan from my superiors. Facts have also proved that the superiors are more likely to give blind orders without knowing the actual situation. For example, now, there is a battalion of Vietnamese troops defending the 417 heights, and there is also fire support from the Kuma Mountain and the 536 heights, and it may not be possible to defeat it with the strength of a regiment, and even if it can be defeated, it will be a heavy casualty. However, the superiors asked our regiment to divide a part to attack the 417 heights, and the main force assisted other troops to outflank the Kuma Mountain, which is obviously nonsense!

The strength of the troops on the high ground on the outskirts of Lang Son is no longer comparable to the strength of the Vietnamese army during the Battle of Dong Deng, but the superiors are still using the insufficient strength of the Vietnamese army during the Battle of Dong Dang to estimate Lang Son......

If we continue to fight like this, there will be only one result, not only will we not be able to achieve any victory, but we will also suffer casualties, frustration of sharpness, and movement of muscles!

"So be it!" Political Commissar Huang then suggested: "Let's report the actual situation to the superiors, explain it clearly to them, and let the superiors make a decision!" ”

Head Zhang was silent for a while, nodded and said, "It's okay!" It's up to you to do it! ”

Political Commissar Huang nodded, turned around and went to the walkie-talkie to order the signal corps to contact the division headquarters. We only heard Political Commissar Huang intermittently shouting into the microphone: "Chief of Staff?" I am the political commissar of the 639 regiment......"

"It's hard to attack! The reality is ......"

"No matter how big the difficulty is, you have to overcome it? But ......"

……

After a while, Political Commissar Huang hung up the microphone and shook his head with a wry smile, it was obvious that the superiors would not give us a chance to report the situation at all!

"No way!" Political Commissar Huang sighed and said to us: "The superior is this order, no matter how difficult it is, we must cooperate with the 638th Regiment to attack Kumashan, otherwise the 638th Regiment will suffer great casualties!" ”

"But if we fight, our army will suffer even greater casualties!" I'm still a little unwilling.

Commissar Huang patted me on the shoulder and said, "I understand what you mean, but we are soldiers!" ”

I don't have anything to say when I hear that.

"I command!" Regiment Commander Zhang quickly pointed to the map and said: "The second battalion is responsible for attacking the 417 heights, and the first and third battalions cooperate with the 638th regiment to flank the Kumashan ......."

Then he looked at the multi-function watch on his wrist and said, "Prepare for fifteen minutes, attack on time at five twenty sharp!" ”

"Yes!" I replied a little helplessly.

But at this moment, gunshots and explosions suddenly came from outside the regiment headquarters, and Regiment Commander Zhang and Political Commissar Huang glanced at each other, neither of them knowing what was happening.

After a while, a correspondent ran in and reported: "Regiment commander, political commissar...... The Vietnamese army dressed up as our army and entered the army to pound Luan, and Luan was beaten outside! ”

"What?" Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but be taken aback.

Infiltration warfare, the first word that comes to my mind is this.

I have to admit that the Vietnamese army seized the timing just right, the first and third battalions fought a day's battle, and then ran a long distance, and at this time they had just arrived at their destination, and they might not be in a hurry to eat a few bites, so they could be said to be a tired army. In addition, the soldiers generally believed that we were attacking the Vietnamese army this time, so they had no defense. Choosing to launch an infiltration war at this time may be more effective than launching it at night!

After all, I know very well that the greatest purpose of this infiltration war is actually to disturb our army and affect the morale of our army. Such a large-scale attack will not cause too many casualties to our army, and it is precisely their 'riot' harassment that thwarts our army's upcoming offensive and avoids greater casualties for our army.

If the commander of the Vietnamese army knew this, he was afraid that he would vomit blood in anger!

"Immediately organize the commanders of each company to take their own troops and do a good job of identification!" Political Commissar Huang ordered: "No shots are allowed until absolutely necessary, and the soldiers who saw Luan shooting were executed by the company cadres!" ”

Political Commissar Huang's order is indeed a way, after this order goes down, all the soldiers dare not shoot anymore, and the Vietnamese army whose soul is in our army, they naturally can't get into a strong wind if they don't shoot, and once they shoot, their own company cadres will execute them! Company cadres such as company commanders, platoon commanders, instructors, etc., these are all people known to the soldiers, so naturally there will be no misunderstanding!

"Old ...... Zhang" thought about it, and Political Commissar Huang turned his head to ask Commander Zhang: "Look at the current situation......

Political Commissar Huang's meaning is obvious, now that our army's own internal soul has entered the Vietnamese army and there has been a 'commotion' luan, then attacking the enemy's position at this time is tantamount to sending him to death. No matter how dead you are to carry out the order, you will not be so stupid!

"Suspended!" Head Zhang sighed, and sat on the chair with a very ugly face.

"Report!"

"Report!"

……

Because the commanders of each battalion were holding meetings at the regimental headquarters, the signal soldiers came one after another, and the correspondents of the other two battalions, which made Regiment Commander Zhang and Political Commissar Huang quite strange, came to report how many soldiers were sacrificed, and only the correspondents of the second battalion came to report: "The Vietnamese army disguised itself as our army and tried to approach our position, and our army has killed and wounded more than 40 people!" ”

All of a sudden, all the cadres in the regimental headquarters focused their eyes on me.

Political Commissar Huang asked suspiciously: "What's going on with the second battalion?" ”

"Report to the commissar!" I 'stood up' and replied, "The second battalion has arrived first, and I have already asked them to build fortifications, arrange sentry posts, mines, and pass on the password!" ”

"Well, there's a hand!" Political Commissar Huang couldn't help laughing, but his smile was not very natural. Head Zhang was even more silent, his face was dark.

Of course, I know why, I, the battalion commander, have done better and thought better than them, and this will naturally make them lose face.

He Liqiang, the commander of the third battalion, gave me a thumbs up and patted me on the shoulder and said, "You can do it!" It's a march! ”

That's when I regretted that I had just told the truth, when I should have said, "Alas! It's nothing, it's just that those soldiers under my command are lucky enough to recognize the Yue devil! We've been there so early that it's normal to be prepared! ”

The way of being an official, the way of being an official! Being a soldier in this era is not just about being able to fight!

Therefore, many times I feel that fighting a war in this era is far more difficult than in the period of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea.

"Captain!" This is a correspondent in the regiment headquarters holding the microphone of the walkie-talkie, and said to the regiment commander Zhang with some trepidation: "A call from the division headquarters asks why we haven't launched an attack yet......

Regiment Commander Zhang sat up from his chair in a hurry, walked to the correspondent in three or two steps, grabbed the microphone, and said, "Report to the Chief of Staff...... We, we were attacked by Vietnamese agents......"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

……

Next, the head of the regiment Zhang seemed to have no room to speak at all, only watching his face become more and more pale, beads of sweat the size of beans dripping down his forehead, and it took a while before he hung up the phone weakly.

"How?"

"How?"

……

A few of us hula surrounded us, although we did not approve of Captain Zhang's approach, but we did not want to see him punished for us.

Regiment Commander Zhang said slowly with a sad face: "The attack has stopped, and the superiors say that we are responsible for the failure and heavy casualties of the 638th Regiment!" ”

"What? How can we count the defeat of the 638 regiment on our heads? "The cadres couldn't figure it out.

Actually, there's nothing I can't figure out, I smiled wryly, there are too many such things. In our modern era, it is called "back black pot". If you lose this battle, you must always have someone responsible! Of course, the superiors will not say that they do not blindly command according to the actual situation, so this responsibility ...... It fell on our 639 regiment!

It also happens to be ...... We didn't listen to their orders to fight! So they have even more excuses - if the 639th Regiment had attacked according to our orders and plans, this battle would never have turned out like this!

At this time, I feel a little sorry for Captain Zhang, after all, I hurt him with this black cauldron, but if I had to do it all over again, I would still choose to do it! Because these are nothing compared to the lives of the warriors.

"Captain! Telephone ......" at this time the correspondent called again.

This time it was even shorter, and Head Zhang took the microphone and shouted "yes" twice before hanging up! Then he turned to us and said, "The division headquarters will send a chief of staff tomorrow to inspect the work......

Everyone in the regimental headquarters was silent, and everyone knew what that meant.

After a long time, Political Commissar Huang ordered: "You all go back!" Organize your own troops to prevent Vietnamese agents from infiltrating and sneaking attacks again, and do a good job in all aspects to prepare for the inspection of your superiors! ”

"Yes!" We answered, knowing we couldn't help anything, so we went our separate ways.

On the way back, I felt heavy and indignant at the same time. Those of us who are soldiers are fighting for life and death on the front line, not to mention the blind command they are pointing fingers at behind, and if we lose the battle, we will put all the responsibility on us as soldiers! Why send someone to check this......

But what can I do?

I returned to the garrison sullenly, and it happened that the soldiers had also prepared anti-artillery for me as the battalion headquarters. So he didn't speak, got into the anti-artillery dong, lay on the 'bed', buried his head and slept!

"Battalion commander, battalion commander......"

I was woken up in my sleep. I got up from the bed, grabbed my sniper rifle and asked, "What's the situation?" ”

"No ......," the correspondent replied tremblingly: "It's the regiment headquarters who called, asking you to go and say what...... There's someone up there! ”

"Hmm! "I looked at the multi-function watch on my wrist, it was half past two in the middle ......of the night, I didn't expect the people on it to be really anxious!

But yes, there will be a war tomorrow at dawn, and if you don't come tonight, you won't be able to call us tomorrow.

Rou rou's eyes were worried, and he grabbed a flashlight and got out of the tunnel. But when I got to the outside of the tunnel, I found that the flashlight was completely redundant, and I didn't dare to light it up! What if a Vietnamese sniper dodged in the shadows gave me such a "bang" shot......

With two guards, he 'touched' the dark in the mountain road, and after a while, he came to the regiment headquarters, shouted a report, and was just about to go in, but was stopped by the guards at the entrance of Menkou. That's when I realized that the guards had been replaced by fighters I didn't know.

"What are you doing?" The two guards, who were also cattle, came up and searched me without saying a word. When had the guards who followed me ever seen me being bullied like this, they immediately grabbed me and blocked me.

"What's going on?" There was an inquiry in the rock, and then a young man in a cadre uniform was seen open the black curtain and walked out.

"Report to the Chief of Staff!" The other side's guard 'stepped forward' and reported: "This comrade won't let us search!" ”

It turned out that he was the chief of staff, and I couldn't help but squint my eyes when I looked at this oily-haired young man. It turned out that this guy was commanded by Luan above, but I don't know where he came from, this style is even bigger than Liu Shunyi, and he has to search his own people when he goes in.

"Hmm!" The chief of staff looked at me with a straight face, and said coldly: "Come in!" ”

Without looking back, he walked into the regiment headquarters.

"You're waiting outside!" I glanced at the two guards next to me, and the two guards stood beside each other, one on the left and one on the right.

My temper is like this, I don't care who you are, even if the king of heaven provokes me, I won't give you good fruit to eat!

As soon as I stepped into the regiment headquarters, I felt an unusually oppressive atmosphere, Political Commissar Huang and the battalion commanders were there, but Regiment Commander Zhang was not there.

"Where's Head Zhang?" I asked.

No one spoke, only the chief of staff of Si Swenwen replied unhurriedly: "Commander Zhang has been relieved of command because he is cowering in battle and his will to fight is not firm, and you will listen to my command in the future!" ”

"What?" Hearing this, my bullish temper jumped up again, looked directly into the eyes of the chief of staff and said, "I am the one who opposes Commander Zhang's immediate attack, you can deal with me!" ”

The chief of staff leaned back in his chair leisurely and said, "That's a matter between you and Commander Zhang, don't worry, if you don't listen to my orders, I will also remove your command!" ”

I sneered and replied disdainfully, "I'll wait!" ”

A hint of anger flashed in the chief of staff's eyes, as if he was about to attack, but he couldn't find a reason to attack. In other words, in this era, the equality of officers and soldiers is emphasized, so I did not violate any discipline by talking to him like this.

Wang Zhengang, the commander of the first battalion, secretly pulled me from behind, and I sat down on the chair.

"Comrades!" When I sat down, the chief of staff said: "We should realize the importance of this battle, Lang Son City is a gateway to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, and its strategic significance is very important, and even has great political significance, so how to fight this battle well and win this battle is very important." Although your performance before was not very good, I believe that you are still heroic soldiers, I believe that you will perform well in tomorrow's battle, and I also believe that you will report to the people of the motherland and the leading organs with excellent results! ”

The chief of staff said, waving his arm. I have to admit that if he had been doing speeches full-time, he would have been a talent.

After a pause, the chief of staff pointed to the map and continued: "I order, the attack on the 417 Heights and Kuma Mountain will start at six o'clock tomorrow morning, and the artillery fire will be prepared for twenty minutes!" Ten minutes of artillery fire extended. After the flare, the 2nd Battalion was responsible for attacking the 417 Heights, and the 1st and 3rd Battalions were responsible for cooperating with friendly troops to attack the flank of Kuma Mountain! ”

Isn't it the same way to play? It's just that it's better than Captain Zhang. I originally wanted to oppose it, but when I heard that there was 20 minutes of artillery preparation for this attack, I understood that this was a unified operation of the whole army. If I objected again, it would be unreasonable, so I didn't say anything. Because I know it's useless even if I say it......

It's just that I don't know how many soldiers will become victims tomorrow!