The battle of Ridge No. 1 tomorrow of the 3rd Regiment was still the center of people's thinking, but now it has become a not the most important part of a larger combat operation. Moreover, Hu Lian's eyelids had been drooping heavily before, but now they were raised high, and from the depths of those triangular hole-like eyes, two sword-like rays of light shot straight at Peng Tao. He stared at him sternly and suspiciously for two seconds before he spoke clearly: "Peng Tao, I have set the last time for Zhu Yongde of the 4th Regiment to end the battle in the area of the main peak of Mount Kibiv at twenty-four o'clock tomorrow night. I have also set the last time for your regiment to end the battle in the No. 1 Ridge area at 24 o'clock tomorrow night, and if any of you cannot complete the combat mission on time, we will see you in the military court! ”

Peng Tao's face, which had been radiant all morning, turned slightly pale under Hu Lian's cold and pressing gaze. The people around quietly took a breath of cold air, and once again thought in unison: Early this morning, whether in the command post of the 3rd Regiment or in the entire theater of operations, the real soul and master of our army is still this Hu Lian, who seems to be gloomy and uncertain, and not someone else.

Two warning eyes shot at Peng Tao from behind Hu Lian's side. Peng Tao understood, clenched the sand table indicator stick in his hand, stood upright with his feet "snapped", his eyes were solemn and solemn, he looked at Hu Lian, and replied in a loud voice: "Report Hu Lian, Peng Tao understands!" ”

Everyone dodged away one after another, making way for Hu Lian, who turned around and walked out of the tent, and squeezed the division commander Zhao Zhen aside. On this occasion, Zhao Zhen was used to saying a few words, but Hu Lian didn't give him a chance to say some personal opinions. What made Zhao Zhen most unhappy was that because Hu Lian had set the last time for the 3rd Regiment to recover the No. 1 Ridge area, it was impossible for him to accompany Hu Lian to the 3rd Regiment command post this morning to inspect it. Before Zhao Zhen walked out of the tent, he glanced at Peng Tao's accommodation, and found that everything he saw when he came in had been covered by someone with the maroon velvet curtain. Zhao Zhen stared at this curtain and couldn't help but be angry again: where is it an ordinary curtain, he is absolutely sure that it was originally a big curtain on the stage of the auditorium of a unit above the regiment!

Zhao Zhen was the last to walk out of the tent with an angry face. The sun has risen very high. Hu Lian was getting into the car. He suddenly felt that he couldn't just give up, so after thinking about it, he left his car, walked over and opened the back door of Hu Lian's jeep, and sat in the back seat.

A few minutes later, two jeeps were speeding down the highway north of the mountain.

"Commander, tomorrow the troops will fight, and my opinion has not changed." After a short silence, Zhao Zhen spoke. This morning, he was in a bad mood, and as soon as the words came out, he seemed very angry.

"We typed the report half a month ago, but the army never gave us any follow-up. Today I would like to reiterate our opinion to you once again: replace Peng Tao from the command position of the 3rd Regiment, and send Commander Zhu of the 4th Regiment to replace him and command the battle of the 3rd Regiment tomorrow! He paused for a moment, saw that Hu Lian didn't react, and added a few more words, "We didn't do this on a whim, we are not at ease with letting Peng Tao command the battle of No. 1 Ridge tomorrow." We can't risk our victory! ”

He finally said what he wanted to say to Hu Lian all morning, and then looked at Hu Lian in the front seat attentively. Hu Lian didn't react at all, he kept his eyelids heavily drooping after getting into the car, immersed in his thoughts. Zhao Zhen was suddenly extremely depressed in his heart.

The car jolted. Hu Lian raised his head, opened his eyes, and looked gloomily through the glass window at the undulating forest in the canyon on the right side of the road, which was unusually bright by the sun.

Zhao Zhen seemed to be encouraged, and continued with what he had just said: "You also saw it with your own eyes this morning. Before the war, some people reported that his style was problematic, but because the troops were going to the front, we didn't have time to investigate and deal with it. Fortunately, he got that woman to his field command post! There is a war tomorrow, and today he still has the heart to take her to the woods to hunt birds! …… If you look at his command post, it's a playboy nightclub! Then he wanted to express his suspicion of the velvet curtain, but he stopped because he was not very sure.

"Army commander, Peng Tao has been the head of the regiment for two years. In the past two years, my impression of him is two Yu, the first is 'Jiao', and the second is 'Jiao'. Those who are too arrogant and frivolous are easy to underestimate the enemy, and the art of war says that arrogant soldiers must be compensated, and those who are too squeamish will find it difficult to bear the setbacks in war. In light of this analysis, we made the decision to replace him only half a month ago. Please make a decision as soon as possible, and be sure to give us an official answer today, after all, time is running out! ”

The jeep emerged from the morning fog again, turned a corner, and continued to circle the highway. Zhao Zhen noticed that Hu Lian's eyelids drooped heavily. That feeling of frustration flooded Zhao Zhen's heart again.

Half an hour later, two jeeps stopped at a leg of a mountain that stretched from north to south in a large gorge in the northern part of the mountain. A platoon of the engineer battalion directly under the army is building a semi-underground forward observation post for Hu Lian here. After Zhao Zhen got out of the car, he found that the place he had chosen for himself was very good, it was low, but the field of vision was very wide, unlike the general observation post set up on some commanding heights, which was easy to be guessed by the enemy and was attacked by artillery fire, but from here it could have an unobstructed view of the entire main peak area of Mount Kibif.

For a few minutes, Hu Lian stood under a masson pine forest, looking out at the mountains in the south. Zhao Zhen remembered that Hu Lian might have forgotten what he said earlier. He had been busy this morning. But Hu Lian had already turned his head from the lush mountains and forests in the south, and stared at him with a gaze that seemed to him as sharp as a teacher reproaching senior students for not knowing how to add, subtract, multiply and divide, and clearly spat out eight words in his mouth: "It is easy to be a general in battle, and it is taboo for soldiers." ”

The tall Zhao Zhen seemed to be nailed there by this sentence. The dappled sunlight shone through the pine needles above his head, and he felt hot and unbearable for a while.

At night, a huge crab-like cloud that slowly swams engulfs the moon in the west, and the night darkens over the vast area of Mount Kibiv.

At the top of the north side of the Dashan Gorge behind the No. 1 Ridge, Hu Lian stood facing a rectangular lookout hole facing south, and instead of putting the telephone receiver in his hand, he kept it far away.

"Master Zhao?"

"Commander, it's me!"

"How's your situation there?"

"Report to the army commander, since 20 o'clock last night, all units of our division began to act according to the predetermined plan, and at present, except for the roundabout troops of the 4th Regiment Zhu Yongde, who are still in the middle of the movement, the rest of the troops have arrived at the designated positions and completed their combat preparations. Everything is going well at the moment, please instruct the commander! ”

Since Hu Lian's forward observation post was less than three kilometers away from the theater in a straight line, Zhao Zhen's forward command post was pressed to the anticline on the west side of the No. 1 Ridge in advance. If the moonlight is bright, Zhao Zhen's command post and Hu Lian's observation post can be seen from afar with the naked eye; But once the moonlight dimmed, all Hu Lian could see through the lookout hole was the southernmost mountain range and the black outline of the No. 001 Heights.

After Zhao Zhen's words were finished, Hu Lian still stood motionless. Zhao Zhen on the other end of the phone realized Hu Lian's silence, just like when he went to the command post of the 3rd Regiment yesterday morning, he couldn't grasp Hu Lian's thoughts again.

"Commander, what other instructions do you have?" Across the wide mountain gorge, he asked again.

Hu Lian seemed to have been awakened from some kind of vague and unpredictable thinking, and his feet moved. The guard moved a folding chair behind him, but he was still standing.

Zhao Zhen finally heard Hu Lian's hoarse voice from the phone: "Senior Commander Zhao, how is the situation of the 4th regiment?" ”

"A telegram signal sent back by Zhu Yongde just now indicates that they have reached Vulture Peak, which is the turning point, and are preparing to cross the No. 1 Heights to the northeast to make a detour!"

"What about the 3rd regiment?"

"I called just now and asked, and it's normal! Hu Lian was silent again. Zhao Zhen felt that his breathing was also heavy.

"Where are your reserves?"

"Report to the corps commander that the 5th Regiment has now advanced to the original assembly place of the 4th Regiment. I told them to rest for a few hours, and as soon as the battle began at dawn, they immediately moved forward, ready to support the 4th Regiment in battle. ”

Hu Lian was silent for a long time this time, and Zhao Zhen wasn't sure if he should put the phone down. In the observation post on the north side of the canyon, people felt a different kind of heaviness: Hu Lian seemed to be making a final determination about some of his own arrangements.

Sure enough, when Hu Lian spoke again, his tone was obviously decisive and heavy: "Zhao Zhen? ”

"It's me!"

"In the next contact time, you convey my order to Zhu Yongde: If the target is not exposed, he will not be able to reach the starting position of the attack on time, and I will allow him to force forward at the expense of exposure! If all the troops can't be in place at the same time, they will be scattered into several routes, and as long as one of them is in place on time, I will count him as having completed the roundabout mission! ”

"Yes!"

"I would also like to tell you that behind your division, I have ordered two regiments of the 15th Division to advance to the original assembly sites of the 5th and 3rd regiments, which are the second echelon of troops that I have prepared for the reconquest of battle in the area of Mount Kibiv. I wish I could do without this force. This matter is not to be known to any third person except you and your chief of staff! ”

Zhao Zhen felt his throat dry.

"Understood!"

"One last thing: from now on, both of us—me and you—" he accentuated the tone of the last three words, "and there must be no more interference in the operational command of the 3rd and 4th regiments unless there is a special and unavoidable reason." …… Do you understand what I say? ”

"I ......," Zhao Zhen hesitated for a moment, then replied honestly, "I don't understand!" ”

"I don't want to give any explanations. I just want you to carry out the order! ”

"Yes!"

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Commander!"

The phone on the south side of the canyon hung up first. After a while, Hu Lian handed the words in his hand to He Chaozong, who had been standing beside him. After that, he walked away from the lookout hole and did not sit down in the folding chair behind him. He was still standing, gazing intently at the mountains in the south of the canyon shrouded in the night.

The moonlight did not shine in the wooded canyon again. He Chaozong, who had been standing with Hu Lian all the time, suddenly had an idea: It was not easy for Hu Lian to make the last decision; Since he made that decision, until the end of the battle tomorrow, Hu Lian will not leave this lookout.

…… After dark, the whole regiment began to move towards the area where the attack started, and Peng Tao returned to No. 1 Ridge by car.

Compared to when he set out in the afternoon, his mood is now as calm, confident and excited as before. Not only was the doubt about the prospects of the battle brought to him by Liu Zongsheng, deputy commander of the 5th Regiment, dispelled, but this final inspection also increased his confidence even more. Now Peng Tao thinks that tomorrow he and the 3rd Regiment led by him will not be able to win the battle on the front line of the No. 1 Ridge, but will definitely be able to win a beautiful battle according to his plan!

How deep a person's heart is is often difficult for outsiders to guess. Even for a man like Peng Tao, who regards war as his life's work, the advent of a real, rather than a virtual one, can seem sudden to him and cause a deep shock in the depths of his soul at the first moment. The reason for the shock is extremely complicated: Peng Tao has been longing for war for many years, but when he thinks about it seriously, what he longs for is not actually war, but to make meritorious contributions in the war and achieve the feats and fame of his father, Admiral Peng Qingzhong; But despite this, he has lived under a peaceful sky for a long time, just like everyone else, and he thinks that he is ready for war and to fulfill the military mission in war. In fact, like all people who live in peace, when war really comes, he suddenly finds that not only is he not fully prepared, but he is not even at least prepared, and he is more suitable for peaceful barracks life than war. Peng Tao never thought that he would die in any war, and this was the biggest psychological difference between him and many grassroots officers and soldiers, but even if he didn't think that he would die in this war that had just come, he couldn't help but think about the responsibility he had to bear in the war. Although he participated in several battles as a staff officer after the war began, at that time he basically stayed in the command post with the division commander Zhao Zhen, and had no experience of commanding a regiment in his current capacity. Peng Tao never doubted that he was excellent and outstanding as a soldier, but with the big war imminent, he still couldn't help but feel a little worried about whether he would be able to lead a regiment to complete any combat mission assigned by his superiors (he didn't want to admit that this was a doubt about his own ability. Just admit that it is a little bit of anxiety that comes naturally from people under heavy pressure). Peng Tao walked into the war along the following spiritual path: after the initial shock, he understood the full significance of this incident for himself and everyone else in the whole regiment or even the whole division faster than anyone else. The first thing he thought of was: As a regiment commander, even if he admitted that he had a little hidden concern about his own ability, he still had the unshirkable responsibility to lead the regiment to war and complete any combat mission. That being the case, there is no need for this worry and anxiety; Second, the war not only constituted a severe test of his actual ability to lead troops, including his luck, but also provided a rare opportunity for him to make a name for himself in the military circles. Peng Tao's inner gaze had turned to his surroundings at this time: although he did not have the experience of leading a regiment to participate in actual combat, he believed that he was excellent compared to other regiment commanders who were also going to war, such as his father's old comrade-in-arms, and Zhu Yongde, the son of General Zhu Daizhen, who had distinguished himself in the "Expulsion of Zhang Tang" war. Zhu Yongde would also think about what this war meant to him. Between the test and the great opportunity, Zhu Yongde will first think about how to seize and take advantage of this opportunity, as he does. Thinking about it this way, Peng Tao not only felt that he should not let that bit of self-doubt and anxiety remain in his heart, but also believed that their existence was completely unreasonable in the comparison with Zhu Yongde's ability. Zhu Yongde is not worried about his ability, what reason does he have to doubt himself? While at home, Peng Tao threw himself into preparing for war with unprecedented enthusiasm, leading his troops to the front and then conducting large-scale pre-war acclimatization training, studying the problems that the largest war in China's history might pose to him and his troops, and solving them one by one. He immersed himself in this, thinking that he was already experiencing war, but during this period he only experienced sand table operations and actual military exercises, and did not notice that with these pre-war activities, the realism and heaviness of the coming war were being replaced by some new game-style tension and excitement. War preparation itself has a certain playful quality, and this game-style war preparation in turn strengthens his self-confidence of the pride of the day, and also makes the initial doubts and anxieties no longer appear. For a while, Peng Tao thought it had been completely eliminated, but it didn't. When the troops really entered the battlefield one day, the game-style pre-war preparation activities were over, and the realism of the war suddenly returned to his heart, and the original faint self-doubt and anxiety quietly emerged from the bottom of his heart: the war was about to start, but Peng Tao suddenly felt a little new uneasy about the offensive battle plan he had formulated for the No. 1 Ridge area.

As a field commander who considered himself a first-class military expert, he could not accept suspicion from any direction (including his own heart): but his keen intuition, which was also created by first-class military qualities, quietly reminded him that this plan was not really extraordinary.

(To be continued)