Not to mention, this time Chiang Kai-shek really guessed correctly, the officers and men of the 1st Brigade and 2nd Regiment stationed on the Lotus Mountain Heights did not find any mistakes in their defensive line

When the spy company reconnoitred the terrain in advance, it had a rough idea of this area, as long as the roads that could be walked were all marked, but they did not know anything about the path in the northeast of Lotus Mountain that was flooded with bushes and weeds, so when drawing the map, it was not noted.

When the regiment seized the high ground of Lianhua Mountain to build a defensive line, it operated in full accordance with the map, and although it also sent troops to conduct reconnaissance, because it was dark and did not eliminate the danger in depth and meticulously, it did not build fortifications and station officers and soldiers on this path. As for the 1st Brigade and 2nd Regiment that took over, they thought that the 1st Regiment had already done everything well, and the vanguard of the red side had arrived at the right time, so they neglected the reconnaissance and went directly into battle.

As a result, it was dark under the lamp.

In the bunker at the top of the Huangchaojiao, the main peak of Lotus Mountain, Lieutenant Colonel Fan Daoquan, commander of the 1st Brigade and 2nd Regiment, held a telescope to observe the battlefield situation.

Because the new 2nd Division was equipped with special sharpshooters at the company level, from time to time they fired cold shots to defeat the officers leading the Red Side, resulting in the Red Side's offensive being at a standstill.

The officers who were hit by the bullets in the exercise grinned and groped their necks and chests, secretly hating the viciousness of the blue side, and at this time, the referees wearing white armbands had rushed up to take the "dead" away from the battlefield.

Without the command and agitation of the officers and non-commissioned officers at the grassroots level, even the elite officers and men of the Chairman's Guard and the special service regiment and guard regiment directly under the Military Committee would have no motivation to attack.

You must know that Lu Dao got up after 6 o'clock yesterday morning, and after 9 o'clock he set off, there was a continuous march and battle, and most of the officers and men of the red side had been sleepless for more than 30 hours.

The red soldiers lazily rushed forward, hiding under the small hills from time to time, resting for more than ten minutes, and only when the back was really urgent, did they get up and raise their guns, shoot a few shots above the gun, and then quickly retreated and continued to hide, and the attack was not threatening.

Seeing this, Fan Daoquan was completely relieved, he put down the binoculars and looked back, but he didn't find the figure of his immediate boss, Zhang Ying, the chief of staff of the brigade, so he turned his head and asked Major Chang Shuxin, the deputy commander of the regiment who was looking at the map:

"Where's the chief of staff?"

"Huh?"

Chang Shuxin turned his head to look, and he was also at a loss, and only remembered after a while: "It seems that the officers and soldiers of the third platoon of the Sharp Knife Company who stayed behind went to the northeast to check the terrain, and I don't know exactly where it is." ”

Hearing a group of sharp knives, Fan Daoquan was a little itchy.

The second regiment originally wanted to form a sharp knife company, but because its own strength was not as good as that of the first regiment, a little good seedlings gave priority to the special service company and guard company directly under the division, and all the rest were the bones of each company, Fan Daoquan did not dare to concentrate them all into one company to use, so that the combat effectiveness of other companies would be gone?

After Wu Ming saw the good results of a sharp knife company, he had the intention to set up a sharp knife company in each regiment of the division, but the way to solve the shortage of personnel was not to draw people from each company, but to select recruits from the militia regiments in eastern Jiangxi and western Zhejiang, and directly hand them over to the Phoenix Mountain base for training, and after the training, they were transferred from the guard battalion, so that they could ensure that each regiment had a sharp knife company after one year.

Northeast of the main peak of Lotus Mountain, Huang Chaojiao, Chen Xitong led the Red Surprise Attack Team to finally arrive at the predetermined location, looking at the lush dense forest in front of him, Chen Xitong hesitated a little - can this road really go to the top of Lotus Mountain?

Marching all the way, bypassing several villages one after another, without alarming anyone, Chen Xitong finally led his troops to this extremely secret mountain road, but he was not happy at all, listening to the dense gunfire from the south, Chen Xitong knew that the frontal battlefield had reached a very difficult moment, if he could not rush to the top of the mountain from this path, and smash the command system of the blue side in one fell swoop by bypassing the enemy's rear, everything would be over

Chen Xitong licked his lips that were a little dry, and his heart was extremely anxious, but he still waited patiently for the arrival of Pang Chunlin, the head of the Shangrao Station of the Secret Service, and the mountain guides.

After a while, Pang Chunlin came up with the dwarf mountain people, who pointed to a gap in the dense forest, bent their bodies to look at it, nodded and said:

"That's right, this is it...... Sir, please see, from here all the way forward, do you feel that there are not many branches sticking out of the way? That's because the hunters and herb pickers have cut off the branches, so it's different from the surrounding environment, it's June, and the newly grown thatch has covered the road after a few heavy rains, but as long as you remove the weeds on the surface, you can go straight up the road to the mountain, this trail is rarely known."

"Okay, great"

Chen Xitong finally put his mind at ease, patted the mountain man on the shoulder, and turned around and asked the adjutant to take out twenty yuan of ocean to reward him. The mountain people took the white flowers, bit their faces with their teeth, and almost laughed, and then carefully put the money into their arms.

"Up"

Chen Xitong waved his hand, and the officers and men of the platoon at the head were as dexterous as apes, like cunning rabbits, and burrowed into the dense forest, and then the officers and men of the chairman guard of a battalion, carrying guns, followed closely behind and quickly marched forward

Chen Xitong took people, cats on their waists, and followed the big team forward.

At this time, it was already past one o'clock in the afternoon, and the dew on the branches, shrubs and weeds had already evaporated, but when passing through the jungle, the branches that had been pushed away were full of elasticity and swayed from side to side, and there were many thorny thorns among them, which made Chen Xitong's face hot and painful, but he didn't care at all, the more this proved that the road was difficult to walk, and the chance of the enemy finding it was smaller.

From the dents carved out by the hunters, they climbed two cliffs in succession, and then entered a forest, Chen Xitong was sweating profusely, and his whole body was soaked with sweat. He strode forward, following the people in front of him, and he knew very well in his heart that the key to the success or failure of this battle was whether he could lead the team to deliver a surprise blow to the blue command.

The team moved forward silently, no one made a sound, everyone knew that Lu Dao is now at the most critical moment, and it must not be taken lightly, but the "rattling" sound made by stepping on the dead branches from time to time startled the birds in the depths of the dense forest, making the entire marching team more depressed.

Before Chen Xitong went up the mountain, he strictly ordered no one to speak out, and whoever ruined this sneak attack plan would definitely have to eat military law. Now that he was about to reach the top of the mountain, Chen Xi felt a hint of joy in his heart, and waved his hand at the team behind him, signaling everyone to speed up.

At this moment, the short and sturdy mountain people who were leading the way in the front suddenly stopped, and the officers and soldiers of a platoon followed closely behind looked at each other, not knowing why.

Immediately afterwards, the squadron and the rear team stopped, and everyone looked at the front team in confusion, only to see that the mountain man's head shook from side to side, his dark face turned pale, beads of sweat the size of beans oozed from his forehead and dripped to the ground, his thick lips were about to bite blue, and his whole body trembled violently with fear.

Lieutenant Zhang Yan, a 22-year-old guard platoon commander from Suqian, northern Jiangsu, came to the mountain people's side, leaned over, and asked in a low voice: "What's the matter, why don't you leave?" ”

The mountain man blinked, pointed to his feet, and his mouth was so flat that he was about to cry: "I stepped on a landmine."

"Whew-"

Platoon Commander Zhang was so frightened that he hurriedly flashed to the side, and only when he reached a safe distance did he look at the mountain people incredulously: "How do you know that Ludao is a landmine?" ”

The mountaineer pointed to the front, and Zhang Yan saw a sign erected under a big tree four or five meters in front of him, on which four big characters were written in charcoal pen, "Be careful, this is a real mine", and then the mountaineer pointed to his feet, and the second lieutenant saw the bulging metal-like object, and immediately understood that this was not a joke, but that it had indeed encountered a mine, and it was not a drill mine made of oilskin paper that he had encountered during the march before.

The young lieutenant immediately asked: "Didn't you say that no one is walking here, how can there be mines?" There was a hint of anger in his voice, and the volume was a little louder.

"I—"

The mountain people were so anxious that their legs trembled, and hot tears popped out of their eyes: "Where do I know the way."

What should I do, I've stepped on a mine, I don't want to die, I'm old, I'm young-"

"Shut up, don't move, if you move, it will explode, and no one will be able to save you"

Platoon Commander Zhang reprimanded the mountain people who led the way in a low voice, he knew very well in his heart that no matter what, he could not let the mountain people detonate the mines, otherwise the huge noise would alarm the defending enemy on the main peak, as long as the other party stuck the path, with the terrain of this road, this sneak attack would inevitably end in failure.

Platoon Commander Zhang turned around, ran quickly to the back, and quickly informed Chen Xitong of the emergency.

Chen Xitong was very shocked when he heard this unexpected news, and said in his heart that it was really unfavorable to look at the mountains in front of him, Chen Xitong tightened his face, hummed cold air through his nose, and thought hard about countermeasures.

Listening to the gunfire from the south, Chen Xitong knew that the frontal attack on the road was frustrated again, and when he gritted his teeth, he waved at the officers and soldiers under his command, and issued an order: "Continue on the road, everyone walk carefully around the guide, pay attention to your feet, I suspect that there is more than one mine here."

The officers and men of the Chairman's Guard of a battalion fanned out the mountain people in the middle, and they walked indifferently past the mountain people, not caring at all about the mountain people's mournful cries.

When Pang Chunlin passed by the mountain people, he shook his head sympathetically and made a gesture that he couldn't help

The mountain people begged bitterly: "Stationmaster Pang, for the sake of me leading the way, you save me, I really don't want to die."

Pang Chunlin walked more than ten meters away before he stood still, and whispered: "You wait patiently for a while, as long as we can rush up the hill and win this sneak attack, we will come back to pick you up immediately......"

At this time, a sudden change occurred.