This battle faced the life and death of the entire mountainous base area in the eastern part of Hubei, and Li Ziyuan did not be polite to Liu Yanlai. Facing Liu Yanlai's questioning, Li Ziyuan showed the tough side in his bones. directly and unceremoniously responded to Liu Yanlai's questioning, and explained the task to Liu Yanlai.

Faced with Li Ziyuan's strength, Liu Yanlai could only shake his head and smile bitterly. looked at the divisional operations section chief on the side, and motioned for him to come forward to stop Li Ziyuan's somewhat hasty combat intentions. But the chief of the operations section shook his head and told Liu Yanlai that his superiors sent him to Hubei with only ears and no mouth.

This was explained by the commander and the political commissar repeatedly when they came, and they could not disobey the orders of their superiors. And he also thinks that Li Ziyuan's dangerous tactics must be completely impossible. Hearing the words of the operational section chief sent by the sub-division, Liu Yanlai could only be speechless.

After completing the combat deployment, Li Ziyuan looked at the Japanese Citizen watch on his wrist, and said to the five company commanders below without the slightest hesitation: "Everyone go back and prepare immediately, the troops will set off on time at 12 o'clock tonight, and they must enter the position in the early morning of tomorrow." ”

Li Ziyuan's hand waved, which meant the end of this combat meeting. Before leaving Li Ziyuan's headquarters, Liu Yanlai hesitated for a moment but stayed. When Li Ziyuan packed up the map, Liu Yanlai walked to Li Ziyuan and sat down, looking at Li Ziyuan.

He was silent for a long time before he said: "Lao Li, you not only have to keep the district committee secret in this battle, but even when you mobilize the armed forces and militia in various districts, you have to come by yourself, do you have any suspicions within us?" Here are the two of us, if there is anything I want you to talk about openly and honestly, I don't want contradictions between the independent battalion and the local party committee. ”

"You are an old Red Army, and you are also the commander of an independent battalion, and you are responsible for the military struggle in the entire territory of Hubei County. You should also be aware of the consequences of circumventing the districts. Lao Li, if there is anything you can't say to others, can you talk to me, am I not worthy of your trust? ”

Regarding Liu Yanlai's words, Li Ziyuan said without the slightest hesitation: "Lao Liu, what you said is not wrong, I suspect that there is something wrong with us." The first few times I tried to find fighters to solve or delay the speed of the Japanese puppet army's eastward advance, but several times the plan went wrong. ”

"In addition to the reason why the Japanese puppet army is too closely connected with each other and its reinforcement speed is extremely fast. Another important point is that every time I arrived at the battlefield, I found that the Japanese puppet army was obviously prepared in advance. Even as soon as my troops deployed, the artillery fire from the side of the Japanese puppet army was already coming. ”

"In these battles, if I hadn't retreated quickly, we might have suffered big losses in two battles. Even in a battle, if Guo Laosan hadn't been vigilant, I would have almost been dumpled by the devil. Lao Liu, a problem may be accidental. But it's no accident that this has gone wrong one after another. ”

"After all these incidents, I look back and think about the battle during the Spring Festival. The Japanese puppet army dispatched so many troops to attack Lijiawa, it is obvious that they not only determined that our troops were in Lijiawa at that time, but even determined that the Hubei County Party Committee and the county government were also hidden in Lijiawa. ”

"Otherwise, the Japanese puppet army would not have sent so many troops and chose to sneak attack us on Chinese New Year's Eve. They had a clear goal and even avoided several of our pickets on the way into the mountain. The mountainous area in the eastern part of Hubei is so large, there is no reliable source of intelligence, how did the Japanese puppet army know that we were hiding in Lijiawa for the New Year. ”

"The only difference is that I led the team to leave in advance to sneak attack the stronghold of Luoma, which the Japanese puppet army did not notice. And I basically didn't notify anyone about that operation. It was after you Lao Liu also started on my side that you knew that I went there. ”

"Lao Liu, there are so many things that have happened, if I don't think that there is something wrong with us, then I don't know how I died. I believe in you, Lao Liu, Comrade Chang Juan, and Lao Guan. Except for the three of you, as for the others, Lao Liu is very sorry, it is difficult for me to fully trust now. ”

"This battle is a battle that will determine whether we can regain our foothold in Hubei, and it may even become a battle of life and death for us, and I can't allow the slightest mistake. If there is a leak of information, this battle will be a complete failure for us, and the entire situation in Hubei will also be completely eroded. Lao Liu, please understand me at this point. ”

Regarding Liu Yanlai's questions, Li Ziyuan was also quite outspoken, and directly told him that he did suspect that something was wrong inside. But for Li Ziyuan's suspicion, Liu Yanlai was very dissatisfied and said: "Lao Li, your suspicion is indeed somewhat possible. But you can't just distrust the local cadres, maybe the problem is with the troops? ”

"Don't forget, your independent battalion composition is complicated right now. In layman's terms, your independent battalion is now a hodgepodge. In addition to our own people, there are also captured personnel from the Chongqing side, as well as recruits from the puppet garrison who were captured by us. ”

"With such a complex composition, who can guarantee that there will be no problems within your independent battalion? You can't overturn a boat with such a rod and put all suspicion on the local comrades. Lao Li, I still believe that our cadres are reliable, and I hope you will also believe in them. ”

Liu Yanlai was not satisfied, but Li Ziyuan shook his head and said, "Old Liu, the composition of my troops is indeed complicated now. But before every battle, I don't convey my plans to ordinary fighters as well. I'm not so stupid as to let even the most ordinary fighters know my entire battle plan. ”

"There were even two battles, except for me, Ma Yongcheng and He Sanliang, even a few company commanders didn't know. However, in all these battles where problems arose, I greeted my local comrades. Because I needed to mobilize stretchers and supplies to be able to evacuate my wounded in the shortest possible time. ”

"Besides, if there was a problem within my troops, my independent battalion would have been terminated long ago. Because these days, my troops have been constantly shifting resting places. That is to say, these days, except for our insiders, outsiders are basically unable to grasp the laws of our activities. ”

"And these days it turns out that there is no leakage of our whereabouts. Lao Liu, the battle to greet you in advance failed, and we didn't have any problems moving alone. Who do you say I would put my suspicions on in this case? ”

"Lao Liu, it's not terrible that there is a traitor or a traitor inside. But we can't just hide and refuse to admit that we have internal problems. Since the second half of this year, the situation has been deteriorating. We've got a few bed bugs inside of us, it's normal, as long as it's removed. ”

"This battle is also a litmus test for us. Let's take a good look inside us, who this inner ghost is. Lao Liu, if you don't find out this guy, can you Lao Liu sleep? Lao Liu, I hope you put aside other things first and concentrate on sending out this inner ghost. ”

After Li Ziyuan said this, after grabbing the belt and carrying the pistol, he stuffed the two Mauser M1934 pistols into Liu Yanlai's hands and said, "We are not afraid of internal problems, just find out." But you old boy must pay attention to safety yourself, this gun is for you and Chang Juan. You're all only carrying a pistol, and it's still a little unsafe. ”

"I will give an explanation to Lao Ma, and I will give you and Chang Juan's guards in a moment, in addition to each of their barge guns with an additional twenty rounds of ammunition, and then give each of them a three-eight horse pistol and fifty rounds of ammunition. Lao Liu, the situation is getting more and more complicated, and it is a severe test for each of us. ”

"And compared to our troops, you who often move alone are more dangerous. You and Chang Juan must pay attention to safety, my Lao Li and the independent battalion can't do without you. The army is the fish, but you are the water. Fish can't survive without water. ”

Regarding the two guns handed over by Li Ziyuan, Liu Yanlai groaned for a while and took them. However, Liu Yanlai then said: "I will hurry up and investigate the problem you said." But Lao Li, I still think that our local cadres, at least for now, are still trustworthy. ”

Liu Yanlai was stubborn, Li Ziyuan just smiled and didn't say anything more. After seeing that the time on his watch was almost there, Li Ziyuan and his troops disappeared on the mountain road northeast of Li Jiawa under the cover of night. After Liu Yanlai and Chang Juan glanced at each other, they sat down and studied the question raised by Li Ziyuan for a long time.

And Li Ziyuan, who led the team away, did not wonder what Liu Yanlai would do next. It is his job to purge the internal spies. As long as he is patient, Li Ziyuan believes that with Liu Yanlai's ability and level, he will find out the spy hidden within him.

After his troops had avoided all the villages, Li Ziyuan rushed to gather the village militia before dawn and arrived at the ambush position he had chosen. At the same time, the divisional operations section chief and He Sanliang, who were in charge of blocking and reinforcement, also arrived at the location designated by Li Ziyuan with their own troops. The smooth arrival of all troops was a good start for Li Ziyuan.

In order to ensure the success of this operation, Li Ziyuan kept it as secret as possible. When the basic militia of the villages was woken up from their dreams and concentrated, it was not known what had happened. But after Li Ziyuan's previous strict military training, these militiamen also understood the discipline of the troops.

There are no strangers to the movement of troops, so no one asks where they are going. At the beginning, Li Ziyuan's military training for these basic militiamen showed results at this time. The quality of the militia that was gathered was not much worse than that of the district squads, and they also maintained strict discipline along the way.

No one smokes, and no one walks around. The chief of the operations section in the sub-district was a little surprised by the performance of these militiamen. The militia is always a militia, and the concentration of the militia to cooperate with the local troops in combat is no stranger to this chief of operations. But at best, these militias were tasked with keeping watch and guarding, as well as transporting supplies and guarding prisoners.

It is basically impossible for these militias, who are very militarily militar, more often than not, to protect the people of their own villages to fight that kind of regular warfare. However, the performance of these militias in Hubei County surprised the chief of the operations section. The quality of these militias is basically no worse than that of the district armed forces.

Although it is not as big as the regular army, it is not as big as the gap in other counties. No one walked around during the march, and no one smoked in violation of discipline. If it weren't for the old-fashioned rifle he was carrying and the typical peasant dress, the chief of the operations section would have thought that he was facing a main force.