Not only Chu Maolin, but even Xiao Qiang, who was following up, did not immediately understand his intentions.

Chu Maolin's reaction was faster than Xiao Qiang's, he looked at the southeast Big Nose Peak, there seemed to be sparks in and out of his eyes, he lit up suddenly, took the submachine gun from his right shoulder and held it in his hand, and shouted: "7 companies and 1 platoon,." Follow me! Then he took the lead and rushed down a fork in the road to the southwest of the mountain. The whole battalion followed them and turned southwest.

Sure enough, the Soviets were confused by their actions. In less than 5 minutes, the high-level dual-purpose machine gun on the No. 3 peak of Xilian Mountain turned around again and fired head-on at the 7th Company and 1st Platoon, apparently suspecting that they were going to reinforce the 4th Regiment of the enemy on the belly of the No. 001 high to the west. A high-level dual-purpose machine gun at the southeast of Big Nose Peak stopped firing.

"The troops went down to the bottom of the valley and then quickly went east!" Liu Zongsheng seized the opportunity to shout at Chu Maolin. The valley floor was so lush that the ranks were hidden in it, and the Soviets could not see the direction of their movement.

This time, Chu Maolin did not decisively carry out the order. Chu Maolin looked at Liu Zongsheng and wanted to say something, but stopped again. Liu Zongsheng immediately understood what he meant: according to the pre-war enemy briefing, there was a large minefield set up by the Soviet army in the forest at the bottom of the valley, and the other side called it a "death zone"! Liu Zongsheng's brain was hot, and without any explanation, he turned around and snatched the submachine gun from the guard Wei Changgui, and rushed to the bottom of the valley first!

Because it's too late to explain! This has also happened in previous battles: if a subordinate has difficulty carrying out an order, he carries it out himself. It's not to set an example, time is a chance to survive at this moment, and time is victory. But he was still blocked by Chu Maolin and Xiao Qiang, who were chasing quickly. Chu Maolin only hesitated for a moment, and the deputy head of the regiment's actions made him feel extremely embarrassed! He is the deputy battalion commander of the company with sharp knives, and here and now, he can't let the deputy regiment commander go to the front instead of him, even if this is death!

Chu Maolin rushed to the front without saying a word, while Xiao Qiang and Wei Changgui grabbed Liu Zongsheng's arm from left to right. Xiao Qiang criticized him loudly for the first time today: "Deputy head of the regiment, you can't do this!" You are the supreme commander of this unit, and your responsibility is not to replace the sharp knife platoon to go through the mines! ”

Liu Zongsheng calmed down a little. Xiao Qiang is right. But Xiao Qiang didn't understand that sometimes whether the troops could act quickly depended on whether the supreme commander could be impulsive, or even risk death to jump to the front!

Later, Xiao Qiang also rushed to the front. Liu Zongsheng stayed with the rest of the battalion. He ran nervously as he waited for the sound of a mine explosion from the knife platoon. He didn't hear it. Chu Maolin was a brave and resourceful officer, he did not completely follow the order of the deputy regiment commander to go down to the bottom of the valley, but went down to the height where the forest covered the whereabouts of the troops, and then turned around and headed east. When the 7th Company arrived at the battalion's predetermined assembly place and the starting point for the attack - a narrow valley covered with groves on the west side of the leg of the mountain south of the 631 Heights - not a single person in the whole company hit the mine!

Liu Zongsheng did not stop in this gully, and climbed to the top of the southern leg of the 631 Heights along a half-man-deep rain fissure. Heights 632 clearly appeared in front of him, and in order to the southeast, heights 633 and 634 were lined up. Suddenly, he felt his mood really tense, as if he had never been so nervous in his life!

Since they managed to conceal themselves on the last leg of the march, the Soviets on Big Nose Peak did not realize that they were here!

He used his telescope to quickly and carefully observe the heights of 632, 633, and 634. Most of the mountains in the 634 Heights were blocked by the 633 Heights, and he couldn't see clearly, and he felt that they were low and small on the No. 1 Ridge, and only then did he suddenly feel that they were also tall and majestic. But except for rocks and artemisia. Jar bushes and patches of groves, he did not find a single Soviet soldier on the surface of any of the heights. Putting down the binoculars, he tried his best to suppress the excitement in his heart, and ordered Chu Maolin to immediately lead the 7th Company to attack the 632 heights!

"Rack up the heavy machine gun and move fast!" He said.

The 7th Company quickly circled from the southern end of the leg of the mountain to the foot of the west side of the 632 Heights. Liu Zongsheng's heart tightened: among the three small heights they were responsible for attacking, Heights 632 was closest to No. 1 Ridge and the mountain pass between No. 1 Ridge and Vulture Ridge, and it should be deployed by the Soviet Army the most!

Xiao Qiang hurriedly ran up the mountain leg.

"What's the matter?"

"Deputy regimental commander, 8 companies to two platoons!"

"What about the 9th Company?"

"The 9th Company and the 8th Company and the 3rd Platoon did not follow!"

In the telescope, the skirmish line of the 7th Company had advanced to the 633 heights, and there were no gunshots on the hill!

"Order the 8th Company, immediately launch an attack on the 633rd Heights!" He said to Xiao Qiang without looking back.

Xiao Qiang ran down the mountain leg. Soon, the team of the 8th Company also passed through the southern end of the mountain leg and launched an attack on the 633 Heights to the south-east! A radio operator with a radio on his back hurriedly went up the mountain leg and said loudly to Liu Zongsheng: "Deputy Regiment Commander, the command post of the 3rd Regiment has repeatedly asked us whether we have arrived at the designated position and started the attack!" ”

Liu Zongsheng looked down at the watch on his wrist: the watch hand was already pointing to half past one in the afternoon. He frowned and said coldly: "Now you report to the command post of the 3rd Regiment, just say that our battalion has arrived at the starting position of the attack on time, and the offensive battle against the 632, 633, and 634 heights is ongoing!" With that, he raised his telescope again and turned his gaze to heights 632 and 633.

Fifteen minutes passed. Three streams of people from three platoons of the 7th Company appeared in the middle of the 632 Heights, and no gunshots had yet sounded on the mountain!

20 minutes. One of the three streams of people—the 7-company knife platoon—was close to the main peak, and the gunshots still didn't go out!

Now the knife platoon disappeared into the fog at the summit, and he couldn't see clearly with his binoculars. The guns still didn't go off!

Two minutes later, from the walkie-talkie, the voice of Deputy Battalion Commander Chu Maolin came loudly: "304!" 304！ I'm 301! I'm Chu Maolin! ”

Liu Zongsheng snatched the receiver from the walkie-talkie operator: "Deputy Battalion Commander Chu, report the situation quickly!" ”

"Deputy regimental commander, the 7th company has occupied the 632 heights! There is not a single soldier of the Soviet army on the heights! ”

"Good!" Liu Zongsheng said, without revealing too much joy in his heart, "I order you to immediately occupy positions in the direction of Vulture Ridge and organize defense!" ”

"Understood!" Chu Maolin replied.

He turned his telescope to the 633 Heights in the southeast again, and his heart was less nervous!

After another 15 minutes, the commander of the 8th Company, Li Mingli, also reported to him from the peak of the high ground: "Deputy Regiment Commander, our company has occupied the 633rd Height. There are no Soviet troops on it! ”

"Immediately build a position and go on the defensive!" He gave Li Mingli the order he had just given to the 7th Company, and did not forget to add a sentence: "Commander of the 8th Company, what is the situation on the 634 heights?" ”

"Nothing," Dawn replied after a moment, "it's quiet, and there's not a single figure to be seen!" ”

The trainer Cui Shi'an hurriedly ran up the mountain, and before he could say anything, a string of high-level dual-purpose machine gun bullets with a trilling sound hit the bushes behind Liu Zongsheng from the big nose peak. Liu Zongsheng was taken aback, Cui Shi'an didn't wait for the second string of bullets to come, and slammed him down in the rain cracked ditch.

20 minutes ago, when the 7th Company began to attack the 632 heights, he heard the Soviet army's Gaoping dual-purpose machine gun on the Big Nose Peak, but the gunfire was not aimed at them, so he didn't take it to heart. Later, because he was so focused on the 7th and 8th companies, he forgot about them. The second string of bullets also fell, sending sand and gravel flying up and down the rain cracked ditch. Liu Zongsheng raised his head, and Cui Shi'an, who was flushed, said another thing to him: "Deputy Regiment Commander, the 9th Company is up!" ”

Liu Zongsheng knelt down and straightened up from the rain crack ditch and looked at the big nose peak to the west of the south.

He understood: the 9th and 8th companies and the 3rd platoon did not take the route of the 7th and 8th companies just now, but they brought the Gaoping dual-purpose machine guns of the Soviet army here at Dabifeng!

"Hurry up and order the 9th Company to occupy the 634 heights! Move fast! He said loudly to Cui Shi'an, his face suddenly turning red. The Soviets did not fortify the 632 heights, which were closest to the No. 1 ridge, and of course there was no reason to deploy troops on the 634 heights, which were deep in their own defenses. But now that the other party has discovered them, the 634 Heights will soon become the first target of the enemy and us! He had to get it under his own hands before the Soviets!

Choi Sai On ran down the leg of the mountain. In a short time, a slightly confused team came out of the woods at the bottom of the ditch, and like the other two companies, went around the southern end of the hill, and ran along the depression at the foot of the west side of the 632nd and 633rd heights towards the 634th heights. Liu Zongsheng's heart twitched!

He has no other troops to use! Only by occupying the 634 heights will the whole battalion be able to take the initiative in today's battle!

"I won't let the 9th Company hold out on the 634th Heights for long," a new determination had formed in his heart, "As long as the 9th Company controls the 634th Heights in time, and the Soviets give me time, I will send the 7th Company to replace them!" ”

He forgot about the high-level dual-purpose machine gun of the Soviet army on the Big Nose Peak, stood up from the rift, opened his eyes wide, and watched nervously at the small team rushing to the 634 heights. At this moment, for some reason, his heart was tightened very painfully by a thin silk thread like before the dawn of the Chinese army's shelling!

Since there was no food in the morning, the 9th Company's attack from the mountain stream to the 632 highland area was carried out even more difficult.

After returning to the company after the meeting at the battalion headquarters, Cheng Yukun and Liang Tenghui quickly gathered the team at the edge of the forest; They also seized the time to hold a meeting of officers above the squad level, and then ordered all squads to go back to mobilize and prepare for the attack and join the battle. After doing all this, they returned to the front of the queue and stood. The 7th Company, which served as the vanguard, had just rushed out of the forest on the west side of the stream and climbed to the mountain beam of No. 1 Ridge.

The 9th Company is a guard company, and it is necessary to wait until the 8th Company is on the road before it can set off. If one of Cheng Yukun and Liang Tenghui had a little more experience, he would have thought that when the whole battalion marched in a column—and climbed the steep No. 1 ridge under the threat of Soviet artillery fire and minefields—the departure time between the avant-garde company and the rearguard company was often half an hour, and this time could be used for the whole company to eat. Although one vegetable pot and a pot of rice were blown away by Soviet shells, the other two rice pots were still intact, and they were not cooked before the Soviet bombardment, but they were cooked during the shelling. However, due to their inexperience, and some things happened during this time, the whole company still could not eat the two pots of cooked rice.

What happened in the past half hour was that after the whole battalion received the combat mission, Cheng Yukun Liang Tenghui's state of mind changed. Cheng Yukun had a heroic performance when the Soviet army bombarded the mountain stream, and since then he has always thought that he has passed the "pass", of course, he does not want to admit that the change of mood at this time is still due to fear, but on the contrary, he thinks that it is caused by another anxious thinking that has nothing to do with fear: the company is really going to the battlefield now, but can it really fight? Will they really work well with themselves on the battlefield? The most important thing is - this kind of worry buried in the bottom of his heart he has never told others - except for Shang Yujun, the leader of the 3rd platoon, these people who have wives and children like him will not only think about life like their previous self this morning? If they go to the battlefield and on your company commander, won't you catch it blind?! And those soldiers—from what happened at the bottom of the stream in the morning, Cheng Yukun knew what the attitude of the company's soldiers was towards him—can you expect them to charge for you? The more he thought in this direction, the more he felt that today's affairs were going to be troublesome, and he felt that he should do something before leaving! The change in Liang Pengfei's mood is related to the deputy of class 6 who has just been sent down the mountain by him. Before sending the body away, he only had a mixture of horror, pity, and disgust, and did not understand the shock it produced in his heart; After sending him away, he returned to the company's shelter department, vividly recalled the human leg on the forest meadow, and recalled the limbs of the 6th squad deputy who were sent down on a stretcher, and the thoughts that had been hidden in his heart suddenly became active. These thoughts are: In the past, when I thought of dying in battle, I was just imaginary, but today I find that death is actually the kind of deputy of Fang Cai Class 6! In the past, when he thought of death, he was always associated with his wife and house, but now he suddenly realized: death is only his own business, his own death! The latter thought was too new, too terrifying to his soul, and his heart, which had been terrified since the previous night, could no longer be calmed. When the whole battalion received the order to move to the 632 Heights area, this fear, which seemed to be soaked in the soul, was suddenly strengthened again. He couldn't help but think: here you can still hide in the shelter, and when you go to the battlefield, you will have to face the bullets of the Soviet army. What's more, the company commander Cheng Yukun doesn't understand military command! Secondly, when they returned from a meeting at the battalion headquarters, they found that the news that the deputy of the 6th squad had been killed had spread throughout the company. What happened was: When the body of the deputy of the 6th squad was transported away, the 6th squad leader did not know, and when the company assembled, he climbed out of the hole, only to find that the deputy squad leader was missing, so he shouted everywhere, and went to report to the 2nd platoon leader Cheng Fei. In order to prevent him from shouting, Cheng Fei called him aside, told him the truth, and asked him to readjust the combat team in the squad according to this situation. The 6 squad leader's eyes widened when he heard this, and he returned to the squad and did not tell anyone else, but since he had to adjust the combat group, he could not help but explain the matter clearly to the deputy squad leader candidate who was pre-selected before the war. As soon as I explained this, I even knew everything.

The deputy of class 6 is an unknown person, and many people don't even recognize him; But it is precisely the death of such a person that makes everyone suddenly feel the accidental surname of death and the mystery hidden in the accidental surname. No one paid attention to the deputy of class 6 when he was alive, and those who knew him after his death immediately remembered his many advantages: kindness, not showy, accurate shooting, never blushing with anyone, etc., and the coffin was decided on two words: good man! But this good man became the first victim of the whole company! No one in the queue was talking about it, but it didn't take long for many people to quietly realize that a significant change had taken place in their hearts. When the company gathered outside the forest, Zhang Zhongliang, a new soldier in the 3rd platoon and 9th squad, actually cried with a sob!

The 3rd platoon was located at the rear of the company, and Zhang Zhongliang's cry took a while to reach the ears of Cheng Yukun at the front of the queue. His nerves were already tense, and his cry immediately made his pores explode: Who is this? Didn't go to war, howled first! What will be the effect on the fighting mood of the whole company?!

"Who's howling that?!" He shouted angrily; Hurried to the 3rd platoon: Zhang Zhongliang was found wiping tears from the queue. Zhang Zhongliang stopped crying when he heard his angry scream, and his twin brother also rushed over to block between Cheng Yukun and his younger brother like guards.

"What are you crying about?!" Cheng Yukun didn't let go of the recruit, and his face turned red from angrily scolding Zhang Zhongliang. "What kind of performance are you?! Yes? …… What about your platoon commanders? ”

He thought of Shang Yujun again. This kind of thing happened in the platoon, why didn't the 3 platoon commander care?!

He quickly found the person he was looking for in the queue, and his heart was shocked. Compared to the morning, Shang Yujun has changed too much! The anger that had always appeared in the eyes of this student officer was gone, and at this moment it was filled with a sudden dreamlike look that made Cheng Yukun extremely unhappy, his face was as white as a piece of thin paper, there was no blood at all, and even the blood vessels under the skin could be seen clearly. The nameless fire in Cheng Yukun's heart rose again: No wonder someone in the 3rd platoon was crying, look at this platoon leader, as soon as he heard about the war, he was so frightened that his face was pale!

"3 platoon commander, what's the matter with this soldier?! What's going on with yourself?! His eyes widened, and he shouted at Shang Yujun, "You don't care?!" ”

Shang Yujun seemed to have been awakened by him from a dream. He looked at his company commander, as if nothing had been cleared; Suddenly, his pale face gradually turned bloody, and his gaze became extremely sharp.

"Company commander, he's hungry!" He said loudly.

The irony in his words was immediately felt by the warriors around him. The soldiers laughed quietly. Cheng Yukun was deeply enraged, "What do you mean by that?!" He shouted at Shang Yujun, turned around and walked towards the queue, unwilling to reason with the latter again.

(To be continued)