At this time, the mouth of the river is already full of meat.

Cai Zhong followed Liu Yimin to learn well, and as soon as he heard that the chief said that he had killed a few pigs in the afternoon, he pondered that the soldiers had been marching and fighting since last night, and they were very tired, and there was a big battle soon, and they urgently needed to replenish their strength. Since there is ready-made pork, wouldn't it be sorry for the fighters not to eat it?

As a result, several large courtyards in Xikou set up stoves, and the villagers took out the peppers, green onions, and wild vegetables that their families had prepared for the winter, and began to stew meat and steamed rice.

Several hunters also took out their prey, anyway, the commander of the Red Army said that they would pay according to the price, and who they sold it to was not for sale.

Several storefronts on the street were also opened, and the shopkeepers already knew that the Red Army was buying and selling. Because the owner of the grocery store told them that the firecrackers in the store had been bought by the Red Army, and the price was very fair, and the payment was all in the ocean. I knew that the Red Army came to buy so many firecrackers, and I really should have stocked up on more goods, but in these years, no one has long eyes before and after, right? A few envious shopkeepers smacked their lips.

When Liu Yimin returned to Xikou with his troops, it was the time when the rice was cooked and the meat was rotten.

The soldiers took the battalion as a unit, lined up to eat, and then sat or squatted, or bowled or lunchbox, and ate sweaty, oily mouths and round bellies.

By the time Liu Jianli and the three battalions returned with the prisoners, the other battalions had finished eating and had already assembled as a team.

Seeing that Liu Jianli and the third battalion had returned, Liu Yimin explained that he would hand over the prisoners to the management of the new battalion, and then asked Cai Zhong, did Li Qing and the soldiers of the sniper platoon, cavalry company, two mountain artillery companies, and engineer battalion have eaten? Cai Zhong said that he had arranged for the new barracks to deliver the meal, and it was estimated that he was resting on the battlefield after eating now! Liu Yimin, Cai Zhong and Liu Jianjian, lined up with the soldiers to eat.

Liu Yimin took a big bowl, and while eating, he thought about Chen Guangzhong, the commander of the 63rd Hunan Division.

Chen Guangzhong, commander of the 63rd Hunan Division, should be said to be a typical representative of the integration of soldiers and bandits in old China. He was born in 1897 in Shuangquanpu, Shaoyang, and began to mix in the underworld in Changsha at the age of 21. He once served as a soldier in the first division of the Hunan Army for a few days, and soon became a deserter and ran back to his hometown in Shaoyang to become a bandit.

In the early days of the Republic of China, it was a period of great social change in China, and all kinds of characters appeared under the banner of revolution, performing tragicomedy scenes that made people sigh. Since Chen Guangzhong can mix with the underworld, dare to be a deserter, and dare to be a bandit, he is a ruthless character.

The opportunity was not long in coming. Tang Shengzhi, then the commander of the Fourth Division of the Hunan Army, was at odds with the provincial governor Zhao Hengti, and expelled Zhao from Changsha to assume the post of governor. At this time, Zhao Hengti's subordinates quit, they asked Wu Peifu who was entrenched in Hubei for help, united with Wu Peifu, and defeated Tang Shengzhi. Tang Shengzhi was desperate, so he had no choice but to set his sights on the national political axe in Guangzhou, and agreed to reorganize his headquarters into the Eighth Army of the National Revolutionary Army to participate in the Northern Expedition. After Tang Shengzhi reached an agreement with the Guangzhou Nationalist Axe, he began to clean up the various garrisons in Hunan that were pro-Zhao Hengti.

In those days, there was no justice among the warlords, and they all spoke with their fists. Today you beat me, tomorrow I will beat you, divide and combine, fight and rest. The result of the fight is naturally that the warlords are still warlords, and the people are still the people, but the people's livelihood is withering and the country's strength is declining. Tang Shengzhi occupied the position of acting governor, and he could not solve the opponent by force, so he could completely change his tactics, and in July 1926, he used deception to trap and kill a group of garrison generals who supported Zhao Hengti and the Beiyang warlords, including Liu Chongwei, who was stationed in Shaoyang.

Liu Chongwei is also a native of Shaoyang, at the age of 11, he was sponsored by the clan to enter the Xuncheng School, and was later admitted to the cavalry department of the Baoding Military Academy. When Tang Shengzhi booby-trapped him, he served as the commander of the Hunan Army's Reading Force Mixed Brigade and was tasked with clearing out bandits in western Xiangxi. According to the records of Shaoyang local chronicles, Liu Chongwei did a lot of good things for Shaoyang, such as running electricity, repairing bridges, repairing railways, repairing schools, and setting up scholarships, which had a certain influence in the army and Shaoyang, and Shaoyang's introduction of electric lighting was the result of Liu Chongwei's efforts. Therefore, after Tang Shengzhi booby-trapped Liu Chongwei, some of his subordinates not only did not accept Tang Shengzhi's adaptation, but defected to the bandit Chen Guangzhong. This greatly increased Chen Guangzhong's strength.

Zhou Pan, commander of the Second Division of the Hunan Army, saw that Chen Guangzhong was strong and strong, and hurriedly recruited him and appointed him as the battalion commander. This Zhou Pan was also blind, and he couldn't see Chen Guangzhong's wolf ambition at all, so he provided Chen Guangzhong with a year's salary in vain.

After Xu Kexiang launched the "Ma Yue Incident" on May 21, 1927, Chen Guangzhong buzzed and pounced like a fly smelling blood. He led his troops to break away from the Second Division of Zhou Panxiang's Army, proclaimed himself "* advance commander", and attacked the workers' pickets and peasant self-defense troops led by [***] everywhere. Chiang Kai-shek saw that this guy killed [***] with a higher surname than himself and his methods were more ruthless than himself, so he knew that there was a good dog, and hurriedly appointed him as "Commander of the Communist Party in Xiangdong" and "Director of the Second Training Division of the Fifth Division of Reading Force". At this time, Chen Guangzhong changed from a voluntary suppression of the Communist Party to an authorized suppression of the Communist Party, and there was a big outbreak of the jackal's surname.

When Peng Dehuai launched the Pingjiang Uprising in July 1928, Chen Guangzhong was unable to do enough and led his troops to intercept the rebel troops, but the result was naturally defeated. Annoyed and angry, Chen Guangzhong bloodied Pingjiang Changshou Street and Dongnan Township, killing 1,800 innocent people and taking credit.

This massacre made Chen Guangzhong addicted to murder, and he has been out of control ever since. Every time the Red Army attacked the villages and towns, thousands of innocent people died at the hands of him and his subordinates, from the tens of years old to the swaddling baby, and only in Liuyang Tiezhi Mountain, Hengshan, Foling and other places, there was no one within 10 kilometers. The degree of ferocity, not to mention that no one in the [***] sequence is unsurpassed, even if it is considered in Chinese history, only the Hu murderers in the Wuhu Rebellion, the Mongolian murderers in the late Song Dynasty and the early Yuan Dynasty, the Manchu murderers in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and the Yue Kou who engaged in the "three lights" policy can be compared.

Chen Guangzhong completely instilled his bandit's surname into his subordinates. Chen Bu took his left ear as a basis for killing, and each left ear received a reward of 5 silver dollars, but later because he killed too many people, it was reduced to 3 silver dollars per left ear. There was not a single copper in the right ear. According to historical records, once Chen Guang came back from the central part of the Communist Party, and his subordinates were rewarded with several sacks in their left ear.

In this way, Chiang Kai-shek, who was the chairman of the Military Committee of the National Political Axe, and He Jian, chairman of the Hunan Provincial Political Axe, not only did not kill him to thank the countrymen, but promoted him to the commander of the Reading Brigade. With such a leader and such a political axe, how can the people be worthy? At this point, He Jian thought about it and was not too enjoyable, so he personally reported to Chiang Kai-shek to ask for credit for Chen Guangzhong, the reason was that "the first soldiers of the Communist Party were suppressed, many miraculous feats were made, the place was stabilized, and the people were completely eradicated". He Jian also merged the indigenous Chen Zigong Department of Xiangxi with the central part of Chen Guang to form the 63rd Division, and appointed Chen Guangzhong as the commander of the lieutenant general.

After the start of the Central Red Army's Long March, Chen Guangzhong acted actively, chasing the Red Army all the time, and rushing to the front line. Historically, after the Red Army was transferred to Guizhou, He Jian used the pretext of encircling and suppressing the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps to withdraw most of the main forces of the Hunan Army, leaving Chen Guangzhong's division alone to pursue the Red Army with the Central Army. In the area of Zhenxiong in Yunnan, the Miao people were burned, killed and looted, resulting in almost extinction of people within a radius of dozens of miles. Due to the number of kills, the bounty was reduced from 3 silver dollars to 1 silver dollar for each left ear. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Guangzhong's division was ordered to garrison Jinshanwei, and the 62nd Division of the Hunan Army 800 brave men stained Jinshanwei with blood, Chen Guangzhong saw that the war was tense, and ran back to Shaoyang to build Chen's garden tower, resulting in the defeat of the department, and the death of the major general brigade commander Li Bojiao. Chiang Kai-shek was really angry and imprisoned him in Shangrao, Jiangxi. After being released, Chen Guangzhong returned to his hometown, bullied men and women, and did all kinds of evil, forcing a generation of famous singers in Shaoyang to commit suicide by throwing themselves into the river. During this period, he also did the only good thing he did in his life, that is, in 1944, he donated Chen's Garden to establish Shaoyang Public Hospital, donated funds to repair Zidong Academy, and reprinted "Baoqing Mansion Chronicles".

When Hunan was peacefully liberated, Chen Guangzhong jumped out again and was appointed by Bai Chongxi as the "commander of the Chinese people's salvation [***]", sacrificed butcher knives, specially attacked the rebel troops, and slaughtered the masses. On December 6, 1949, Chen was captured by our army in Xie Jiachong, Longhui County, Shaoyang, and executed in accordance with the law on December 25, 1949.

Thinking of Chen Guangzhong's sinful life, Liu Yimin couldn't help but scold a sentence of "scum".

Cai Zhong, who was next to him, saw Liu Yimin running away while eating, thinking that he was thinking about war again, so he ignored him. Hearing Liu Yimin scolding, he said, "Commander, you're eating, why are you scolding?" ”

Liu Yimin came back to his senses from his contemplation at this time. smiled and said, "It's nothing, I'm thinking about where the Hunan 63rd Division might be now." ”

Cai Zhong said: "That is, the soldiers have eaten well, and all battalions are waiting for the battle order." ”

Liu Yimin said: "Okay, deploy early, the soldiers can rest for a while after they go to the position to recuperate their physical strength." "Turn around and ask Liu Jianli to notify the battalion commanders, deputy battalion commanders and instructors to receive the task.

At this moment, He Xinghua, the director of the radio station, rushed to report that the enemy's 62nd Division had been contacted, and the route of the march was clear, and that after the division set out from Zhaiya, it had advanced south along the main road through Damulin Village and Huangjiashui Village, and was expected to arrive at Luocheng Village in an hour. When Liu Yimin heard this, he took the telegram and read it again, and hurriedly said: "Chief of Staff, immediately inform Li Qingliu to keep the engineer battalion to hold Beishan Village and the hill on the east side, withdraw the rest of the troops to Xikou and stand by, and the commander of the engineer battalion will come back with Li Qing to attend the combat meeting. Then I hurried around looking at the map.

By the time Li Qing arrived at the courtyard of the chief's house, chief of staff Zhang Yicheng had already led several staff officers to draw a topographical map of the vicinity of Xikou, and hung it on the wall of the main house of the chief's house.

Liu Yimin likes this feeling of command more and more, he was still a little nervous when he fought in Xiaoshui, after the baptism of the battle of Xiaoshui and the elimination of the 62nd Division of Hunan Province, he seemed to be more and more suitable for commanding a large army to fight, besides, which good man doesn't want to kill and make decisions?

Looking at the cadres' looks of anticipation, Liu Yimin began to speak: "Comrades, from last night to Xiaoshui to now, in just one day and one night, we have continuously eliminated two elite divisions of the Hunan Army with the strength of one regiment, do you feel good?" ”

The cadres said yes in unison.

Liu Yimin shouted loudly: "I didn't hear, didn't you eat?" Answer me out loud, okay? ”

At this time, the cadres held back their strength and shouted in unison: "Okay! ”

Liu Yimin waved his hand in satisfaction and continued: "We were able to achieve such unprecedented results because of proper tactical command and the heroic invincibility of the Red Army soldiers. Think about it, if our Red Army soldiers could not overcome fatigue and carry forward the spirit of continuous combat, would we be able to continue the battle of Xikou after the battle of Xiaoshui? Answer me out loud!"

The cadres roared like thunder again: "Can't! ”

Liu Yimin picked up a small wooden stick, pointed to the topographic map on the wall and said: "Look, Xikou sits in the east and faces west, the mountains behind it are continuous, the road in front of the village connects the cedar bridge to Jingwuzhou, the opposite side of the village is the continuous mountains, the middle is farmland, and the middle of the farmland is the Yangxu River. From the brush to the mouth of the stream, there is a mountain road that connects it. Considering that it was night, and most of Chen Guang's main force in central China were from Xiangxi habitual bandits, and if they were ambushed in the valley, it was very likely that the enemy would escape by taking advantage of the mountainous terrain and the cover of night, so I was determined to completely annihilate the enemy on the farmland in front of Xikou Village. ”

"Zhang Yicheng!"

"Here!"

"Record battle orders!"

"Yes!"

"1. Enemy Briefing: The enemy's 63rd Division was ordered to reinforce the 62nd Division, which was composed of two brigades and four regiments, equipped with a divisional mortar company and two brigade heavy machine gun companies, with a total strength of about 8,000 men. According to the radio contact, the enemy's 63rd Division's march route was to start from Zhaiya in Jingxian County, go south through Dalin Village, Huangjiashui Village, and Luocheng Village, and turn east along the main road after reaching Huabi Village, and go straight to Xikou, with the aim of copying our army's rear road and forming a flank attack with the 62nd Division. ”

"Second, the deployment of our army: the artillery battalion set up mountain artillery and mortar positions in Xikou Village, marked the firing boundary in advance, and the artillery fire should ensure that the entire ambush area is covered; The 3rd Battalion was equipped with a heavy machine gun company and established a blocking position along the edge of Xikou Village; The 1st Battalion led the 5th Battalion to hide on the hillside opposite the Xikou, and after the enemy left the mountain pass and entered the flat land, it quickly blocked the enemy's retreat, and the sniper platoon moved with the 1st Battalion, arranging its own positions and shooting targets to ensure that Chen Guangzhong, the commander of the enemy's 63rd Division, was killed; The 2nd Battalion was equipped with the 2nd Company of Heavy Machine Guns and ambushed on the south side of the main road, and the 4th Battalion was equipped with the 3rd Company of Heavy Machine Guns to ambush on the north side of the main road. When the enemy is in confusion and retreats, the second and fourth battalions carry out flank attacks, and the first and fifth battalions resolutely block the enemy's retreat. ”

"3. Confusing the enemy: The radio immediately informed Li Yimo that he would retreat 5 miles, and after discovering that a torch appeared near the brush village, he would light the torch and continue to disguise the enemy's 16th Division to support the troops; The engineer battalion left one company on the hill to camouflage Tao Guang's division to hold on, and the other two companies pretended to attack the Red Army, and the other two companies disguised the Red Army to attack. The first company of the recruit battalion left 200 men to cooperate with other company cadres to guard the prisoners, and the remaining 200 people disguised as the enemy's Wang Yuying brigade to copy the rear road of the Red Army, and launched an attack along the road to the eastern hillside. The camouflaged troops were all under the command of Li Qing, and more firecrackers and torches were prepared, creating the false impression that Wang Yuying's brigade and Tao Guangbu were flanking the Red Army. ”

"Fourth, since most of Chen Guangzhong's division was born as bandits, was fierce and cunning, and had a lot of blood debts, after receiving the enemy, all units should strictly guard the defensive line, maintain the continuous firepower, and destroy the enemy with firepower until the enemy surrenders, and before the enemy surrenders, the soldiers are forbidden to take the initiative to capture prisoners."

After the task was deployed, Liu Yimin glanced at the cadres: "Is the task of each unit clear?" ”

The cadres shouted in unison: "It's clear! ”

Liu Yimin asked Cai Zhong if there was anything else to add, and Cai Zhong shook his head. Liu Yimin said: "Comrades, after our army's rapid march last night, we have engaged in the Xiaoshui battle and the Xikou battle, and the soldiers are already extremely tired. Commanders at all levels must make it clear to the soldiers that as long as we win this battle, we will be able to win rest time and space for recuperation in the passage area, and thoroughly complete the task of covering the main force of the Red Army through Guizhou. Do you understand? ”

The cadres once again replied in unison: "Understood! ”

Liu Yimin waved his hand: "Execute!" ”

The cadres came out one after another.

The night was silent. The quiet mountain village and town Xikou lie quietly in the mountains, looking from a distance, it is dark and swarthy, and it seems both peaceful and quiet and unfathomable. No one knew that under this tranquility and tranquility, the soldiers of the Red 18th Regiment had already opened a big net, just waiting for the murderous crocodile of the Hunan 63rd Division to crash in.