Osmanthus Hua, Xiangmei, He Zhifang, Shan Huimin and other comrades of the women's labor team and the art team were busy cleaning up and carrying materials and preparing for evacuation. Su Cheng came to Xiangmei and said to her, "I'm leaving." Xiangmei stopped what she was doing and pulled Su Cheng aside.

"Where are you going?"

"Later, I will go to Laojun'ao with the political commissar to block the enemy and cover your evacuation."

"Then I'll go too!"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll do whatever you do."

"No! This attack is different from the last attack on the enemy, this time it is very dangerous, whether it can come back alive, I don't know if I can come back alive. ”

"Then I'll have to go, I'm going to die together." Xiangmei was in a hurry, turned around to find the political commissar, and was pulled back by Su Cheng.

"The list of blockers has been decided, and the political commissar said that no one can change it, and it's useless for you to go."

"Nope! I'll go. Xiangmei thought that she might never see Su Cheng again, her heart was sour, and her tears were left behind, choking.

"Look at you, why are you crying? It's okay, Su Cheng is still young, and it's going to be fine. Su Cheng comforted her while helping her wipe her tears.

Su Cheng held Xiangmei's face and said with a smile: "Come!" Laugh one, I like the way you laugh the most, seeing your smile, even if I die, I will come back to life. Xiangmei gently slapped Su Cheng's shoulder a few times, and said coquettishly: "Don't say the word dead, I want you to come back alive, do you know the way?" ”

"Yes! Captain Qin, promise to complete the task, and I won't see you if I don't come back alive. Xiangmei smiled and said, "you!" 'I won't see you if I don't come back alive', I don't mean it's in vain. Su Cheng saw that the time was almost up, and said to Xiangmei: "Xiangmei, I'm leaving." As he spoke, he took two steps back, his eyes reluctantly looked at Xiangmei, and then suddenly turned around and prepared to leave.

"Su Cheng, wait a minute!" Xiangmei eagerly stopped Su Cheng, Su Cheng stood still, Xiangmei ran to Su Cheng's side, turned around, faced Su Cheng, and looked at Su Cheng with her big watery eyes, her eyes were already shining with tears. Su Cheng looked at Xiangmei's pitiful appearance, couldn't bear to look at her, and tilted his head to the side. Xiangmei held Su Cheng's face, kissed the corner of his mouth gently, and said, "You go." Su Cheng felt the corner of his mouth being touched by a soft thing, and suddenly, a feeling of gentleness, sweetness, love, and crispness that he had never felt before filled his heart and spread all over his body. This is the first time in his life that he has experienced what a girl's kiss is like, and he feels the affection of this kiss. He stroked his mouth with his hand, and his eyes looked at Xiangmei in a daze.

"Silly boy! Are you still stunned? Don't go yet! Xiangmei twisted her thick and long braids with her hands, and looked at him with her eyes full of attachment. Su Cheng blushed and ran away in a panic. Seeing Su Cheng's silly appearance, Xiangmei couldn't help but smile, looking at Su Cheng's back as he gradually moved away, an inexplicable melancholy welled up in her heart, maybe it was a kind of worry, a kind of loss, a kind of worry mixed with fear, a feeling of emptiness, it was really indescribable, and the way was unclear.

Xiangmei returned to the ancestral hall, and Osmanthus asked with concern, "What's wrong?" Seeing that you are unhappy, who dares to provoke you, the eldest lady? Xiangmei pouted and said, "It's Su Cheng, he won't let me go with me to stop the attack." Shan Huimin smiled and said, "What are you going to do?" Cumbersome? He Zhifang quipped: "Fighting, not falling in love, what are you going to do?" Let's be honest and move things with us. ”

"Sister Osmanthus, you see them talking about me like this, you can help me talk! I'm at least a warrior, and I haven't fought before. Xiangmei said unconvinced. Osmanthus smiled, didn't say anything, and was busy sorting out the supplies with her head down.

Wei Shichang, assistant to the brigade department, pointed to the pots and pans that were moved to the middle of the yard, and shouted to Ye Qin, the leader of the logistics detachment: "Captain Ye, these altars and jars are our family background, and the troops want to eat, they can't do without these things, take them all away for me, and those that can be loaded into ox carts can be loaded with ox carts, and if you can't, pick them up for me." ”

"Don't worry, Assistant Wei, we'll take these treasures away." Detachment Leader Ye Qin replied. Wei Degui was busy putting the book and some documents into a large wooden box, taking down the battle map from the wall, rolling it up, slowly rotating it and putting it into a bamboo tube, and then rolling some important documents into the gap in the map and carrying them on his back. The bamboo tube with this map looks very special, orange butter is bright, antique, and I really love it in my hand. Although it is just a bamboo tube, it is very particular about making it as a utensil used to hold maps and important documents. It is not only necessary to be easy to carry, but more importantly, it is necessary to prevent damage to maps, important documents and objects due to climbing mountains and wading through water, wind and rain erosion and various bumps in the process of marching and fighting. Therefore, under the conditions at that time, it was very important to make a good bamboo tube. First of all, choose a piece of old bamboo the size of an arm, leaving two joints in the middle of the bamboo; secondly, along the two ends of the bamboo, the bamboo knots are sawed down to form a closed shape; Then, sawed down at one end of the bamboo about one palm wide, one end is the cover, the inner wall of the cover is gradually thinned with a knife, and then the outer palm width of the opening of the long bamboo is thinned, the two sections of the diaphragm in the bamboo are poked and poured off, the inner wall is smoothed, and the lid is screwed on; After the last part, near the two ends of the bamboo tube, gently carve two grooves, tie the rope, polish the edge of the bamboo tube smooth, and coat it with tung oil, waterproof and mothproof. The yellow-orange bamboo tube is made, which is both beautiful and practical.

In the temporary headquarters of the Nationalist Government in Tanliang Town, Guo Lian, Chen Bing, Yuan Longbiao, and the commanders of various battalions and squadrons gathered in front of the operational sand table made based on the information provided by the Secrecy Bureau, and redeployed the offensive line. Guo Lian held the baton in his hand, pointed to the ancestral hall of Mawei Village, and said, "A battalion! ”

"Here!" The commander of the first battalion replied immediately.

"Order your battalion to take the lead and immediately occupy Laojun'ao, and the second and third companies will go straight to the lair of the bandit leader."

"Yes!"

"Second Battalion!"

"Here!" The commander of the second battalion replied immediately.

"Order the fourth and fifth companies of your battalion to attack the earthquake, focus on this ......" Guo Lian pointed to the headquarters of the sixth squadron of the communist guerrillas with a stick and drew a circle, "Do you understand?" ”

"Understood!"

Guo Lian also said: "The sixth company of the second battalion participated in the attack on Mawei Village, and I personally commanded it, and my headquarters was set up in the first battalion. Guo Lian patted Chen Bing on the shoulder and said, "Brother Chen, the fifth squadron of the Communist Party will be handed over to your Self-Defense Corps to solve it." Guo Lian continued: "After exterminating the main force of the communist guerrillas, all ministries should carry out a purge operation to clean up the surrounding villages, and must clean up the communist party from this area and restore the party and the state to a peaceful and stable situation." Everyone replied in unison: "Be loyal to the party and the state!" ”

Political commissar Qin Gang took Su Cheng, Lin Yi and other more than 20 people to fight and block the troops, and came to Laojun Pass. They chose a vantage point for cover and observation and laid an ambush. Qin Gang pointed to the route and said to Lin Yi: "Second squad leader, see it, you take a few people and plant some explosives there." ”

"Yes!" Lin Yi waved his hand, called a few soldiers, got together, explained a few words, brought explosives, and buried them. The comrades on the position, tied rattan into circles, stuck branches and leaves on them, put them on their heads, used them as camouflage, each chose stones and trees as cover, placed grenades and guns, and prepared for battle. Qin Gang ordered people to set up a stone formation at a dangerous position, and after the stone formation was arranged, Lin Yi and others also returned. Everything is ready, just wait for the enemy to arrive. Time passed minute by minute, Qin Gang always held the telescope to look in the direction of Tanliang Town, suddenly, he put down the telescope and beckoned to Su Cheng hidden behind a pine tree not far away, Su Cheng came to Qin Gang's side covertly, Qin Gang handed the telescope to Su Cheng, pointing to the distance, Su Cheng understood, picked up the telescope and looked at it, and couldn't help but "ah", the enemy came up! A flag appeared in the camera, and a few big characters were clearly visible, "Wandering first", and then looking at those soldiers, there were sixty or seventy people, how could it be called a platoon? Su Cheng glanced at Qin Gang in confusion, and Qin Gang whispered, "These people, are they the vanguard company you attacked?" Su Cheng replied uncertainly: "Not quite like it." At this moment, under the banner of the first hovering, standing is the commander of the first battalion and one company of the security regiment, known as the "vanguard company", he waved his hand and said to the standard-bearer: "Hurry up, hurry up!" Tear off the banner of 'Pioneer Wandering' for me, and quickly replace it with the banner of Lao Tzu's 'Pioneer Company'. Damn it! Isn't it just a sneak attack on the Communist Party, so that it won't replace the banner of Lao Tzu's 'vanguard company'? Lao Tzu hasn't done it face-to-face with the Communist guerrillas, and I don't know who will kill the deer. After the banner of the "Vanguard Company" was hoisted, he pointed to the commanding heights where the guerrillas were ambushed and shouted to the soldiers: "Brothers! Do you see the vantage point ahead? Whoever goes up to that position first and puts the flag of 'Pioneer Company' on the highest point, Lao Tzu will reward him with two packs of cigarettes. "Oh! Oh! The soldiers were so excited that they rushed forward. Su Cheng looked at the binoculars, a smile appeared on his face, he returned the binoculars to Qin Gang, and whispered: "Political commissar, look, that's right!" It's the pups. Qin Gang raised the telescope and looked at it, and it was the banner of the "Pioneer Company" that caught his eye, and he couldn't help but laugh and mock: "These cubs, their faces have become really fast, and they can be regarded as 'shame and courage'." Qin Gang put down the binoculars, pulled out the shell gun on his body, and said to the machine gunner next to him: "Wait until the enemy is close before fighting." Su Cheng went back to his pine tree and hid himself. Everyone held their breath and waited for the enemy to come up.

The enemy was getting closer and closer to the position, and even the enemy's eyes and nose could be recognized, Qin Gang raised the shell gun and shouted: "Fight!" The shell gun in his hand sounded first, "Da Da... The machine guns around him roared desperately at the enemy, spewing fire. The sound of gunfire grenade explosions, echoing through the valley. Some of the enemy were hit by bullets and fell to the ground and died, some were blown up into the sky with stones by grenades, and then rolled down the cliffs. The commander of the vanguard company has met a real opponent this time, and he thought that he was being attacked by a sneak attack, and he was very unconvinced, but now he was beaten by these "dirt buns" in front of him and lost his temper at all. He commanded his subordinates, no matter how they rushed, the position that was close at hand could not be attacked, and they looked at the wounded and dead soldiers who were beaten to the point that they had no fighting spirit. No matter how he shouted or shouted, the soldiers were no longer willing to rush forward, so they had no choice but to abandon dozens of corpses in front of the position, and climb back to the foot of the mountain with twenty or thirty people. At this time, Guo Lian had arrived with a large number of people, and when he saw the scene of defeat and retreat in the telescope, he was so angry that he stomped his feet and scolded: "Damn 'Pioneer Company', incompetent!" Idiot! The party-state has raised these rice buckets in vain, and there are so many people that they can't even take a small position. As he spoke, he paced back and forth, and the commander of the first battalion on the side lowered his head, did not dare to make a sound, and looked at him with his triangular eyes from time to time. After a while, the company commander of the "Pioneer Company" came to Guo Lian with a group of brothers, carrying the banner of the "Pioneer Company". The commander of the "Vanguard Company" ran over and reported: "Report ...... Report...... Report on the group, a total of ...... Common...... Communist Party Tour ...... Guerrillas, too ...... Too...... It's amazing, I'm ...... I ......" Guo Lian grabbed the chest of the commander of the "Pioneer Company" and was about to scold, but his eyes caught a glimpse of the banner of the "Pioneer Company", he threw the commander of the "Pioneer Company" to the ground, walked straight over, took the flag and looked at it, and then threw the flag to the ground and sneered: "Okay, you 'Pioneer Company', Lao Tzu demoted you to platoon commander, and you proclaimed yourself company commander,"

"No...... No...... That's not the case, Tuanyu! The commander of the "Pioneer Company" crawled over to explain.

"Let you occupy the commanding heights of Laojun'ao, **, but let the Communist Party occupy it first, now, so many people, can't even take a small high ground, what's the use of you?" After speaking, he turned around and took two steps back, beckoned to the guards, and the two guards rushed over with carbines, and at the same time "da-da-da" at the commander of the "vanguard company" was a shuttle, and the guards retreated to their places and stood. Guo Lian turned around and walked to the corpse of the commander of the "Vanguard Company," stopped, and said to the commander of the first battalion and the other officers: "Everyone, take a good look, if there is anyone who is ineffective in combat, he will end up in the same situation as this person." The commander of the first battalion thought about it, wait a minute, the regiment must order me to attack the mountain, if I can't attack it, it can be seen that the end is very miserable, thinking of this, he hurriedly stepped forward and suggested: "Tuanzuo, since this mountain is not easy to attack, it is better for us to rush directly through this mountain col, how about it?" Guo Lian looked at him, then at the top of the mountain, and then at the road leading to the mountain col, and seemed to feel that what he said made some sense, so he said: "Okay, the first battalion commander, you take your men and horses and quickly pass through the mountain pass." The commander of the first battalion wanted to escape the drudgery of attacking the mountain, but he couldn't escape the dangerous work of stepping forward to explore the way, no matter how it was death, in desperation, his heart was horizontal, and a word popped out of his mouth: "Yes!" And he went out with his own troops.

The commander of the first battalion of the security regiment, with more than a hundred people, with guns in hand, looked around, cautiously, trying to pass the road under the hill. All this was seen by the guerrillas who were guarding the commanding heights. Political Commissar Qin Gang changed the gun to his left hand, raised his right hand, and after the enemy had all entered the stone formation, he decisively waved his hand down and said, "Release!" The guerrillas carried wooden sticks on their shoulders and sled hard, and suddenly, a pile of large stones rolled down the mountain, and the sound of the stones colliding with each other, the roaring and rolling sound of the flying stones, and the screams and wails of the soldiers after being injured by the stones, one after another, poignant, and shocking. If you don't get hit by a rock, you are so frightened that you run back desperately.

The battle is raging on Laojun'ao's side, and the retreat of Mawei Village is busy. Large boxes and small boxes, large bags and small bags, cattle and horses, people are the backs of their backs, pulling, lifting, carrying, and being very busy. Captain Hou Liang walked out of the ancestral hall, and when he saw this scene, his thick eyebrows were furrowed, and he immediately shouted: "Correspondent! ”

"Here!" Su Jie carried simple luggage and ran forward from behind.

"Go, go, go! Hurry up and call the other leaders to me. After a while, all the leaders arrived, and Hou Liang said solemnly: "Comrades! The comrades who fought in front of them were bleeding and dying, for what? Isn't it just to buy precious time for us to evacuate? If you look at these pots and jars, big bags and small bags, can they guarantee a safe evacuation? "Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, they all lowered their heads, Hou Liang continued: "Deputy Captain Yang, immediately organize the evacuation of the team, and the other comrades immediately organize the villagers to evacuate to the mountains for shelter, except for the things that must be taken away, the others are destroyed or left on the spot. Let's go and prepare. ”

The loud rallying cry sounded throughout Mawei Village, the troops had been assembled, and the villagers had begun to evacuate to the mountains one after another. Hou Liang looked at the time, and suddenly frowned, alas! It was a full three hours later than the original evacuation time. How did he know what these three hours meant to the guerrillas and the villagers of Mawei Village?

"Let's go!" Hou Liang gave an order, and the team moved to the mountains in the southwest direction, according to the evacuation plan, they had to climb over these mountains, and then go north, get rid of the enemy's pursuit, and then, turn south to join the five squadrons in the area of Liangyou and Dadeng.

Guo Lian saw this miserable scene in the telescope, he sighed, and did not punish the commander and subordinates of the first battalion who fled back. Originally, he didn't have much hope of breaking through, it was just a temptation. "! I don't believe it, I can't even deal with these '**', what are you talking about bandits? Come on! Turn in all the little steel cannons for me, and fork. Guo Lian ordered an artillery company, concentrated six small steel cannons (mortars), aimed at the guerrilla positions, and began the artillery bombardment. Six small steel cannons lined up to bring the entire guerrilla position into the scope of the shelling, the two guns on the left were responsible for bombarding the position on the left, the two guns in the middle mainly hit the position in the middle, and the guns on the right were specially aimed at the targets on the right. "Chirp-boom" One after another, artillery shells fell on the position, gunpowder smoke billowed out, explosions thundered and thundered, shrapnel and gravel flew sideways, and civil engineering cracked. Some of the guerrillas were blown up and flew out of the ground, while others were buried by earth and rocks, and the guerrillas suffered heavy casualties. Su Cheng saw that the cannonball was coming violently, so he hurriedly collected his gun and hid behind the pine tree to dodge, and a cannonball roared and fell next to the pine tree, and it exploded with a "boom", and a huge shock wave lifted the tree and people into the air and fell under the cliff.