On 12 June, twenty hours after the official start of the large-scale military exercise, codenamed "Peace Mission".

In the early morning, the dawn first appeared, the earth was hazy, and Diankou Village at the northeast foot of Lotus Mountain.

The man who woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep came back from the mountain behind the house with a basket on his back, pushed open the hidden door, put the pigweed such as milk vetch and rice cabbage into the pigsty on the right side of the patio and laid it out, dried the dew on it, and waited for the dawn to cook and feed it to the two little piglets who were sleeping.

The man came to the main hall in front of him, took out a match from his pocket and lit the kerosene lamp placed on the table of the Eight Immortals.

Soon, a little fluorescent light dispelled the darkness and exuded the warm atmosphere of home, the man patted the dirt on his body, turned around and was about to close the door, suddenly heard a noisy footsteps outside the door, the man ran to the door in horror and closed the door panel, and was about to buckle it from the inside, when he heard a crisp cry.

"Daddy—"

As soon as the man heard that it was his own child's voice, he hurriedly opened the door, opened his mouth and scolded: "Before dawn, are you out of the room?" Why don't you come back soon......"

When he saw the figure clearly, the man was startled, and the three military masters were walking towards the door of their ten-year-old son, who was walking in the middle, jumping up and down looking very happy.

A few years ago, the territory of Yushan in northeastern Jiangxi Province was either suppressed by the Communist Party, or bandits and bandits, and the people's lives were very difficult. However, since the rise of the Maoliangwu Chamber of Commerce and the cooperation with the Gandong Chamber of Commerce, they often send people to buy all kinds of herbs and mountain goods, and the livelihood of the man's family has improved significantly, in addition to using matches and kerosene lamps, there is spare money to buy two little piglets, just wait for the fattening of the New Year to sell to the Maoliangwu Chamber of Commerce, to the mother-in-law and children to pull a new clothes.

In the early hours of the morning, the man heard the noise of footsteps outside the house, and did not dare to light the lamp, but only glanced through the crack in the door, and saw a silent and silent army marching. At that time, the man thought that there was another war, and the common people had no good life, so they were worried all night.

Now seeing the man in the military uniform, the man is a little scared, judging from the style of the military uniform, it should be the Central Military ...... However, in these years, being a soldier is similar to a mountain bandit, and he can rob it, so the man did not relax his vigilance at all, hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed his son's hand, and taught him a lesson:

"What's the matter with you kid, you don't sleep well and go out for a walk, and you even disturb a few military masters...

As he spoke, the man dragged his son, hid his son behind him, and was about to walk towards his door, but the way was blocked by an officer.

"Fellow, wait a minute," the officer greeted with a smile.

The man hesitated a little and quietly pulled the child under his armpit. The officer who blocked the road looked very kind, and said something from Quzhou in western Zhejiang, and the man had the courage to ask: "Are you from the new Second Division?" ”

"Yes"

The officer grinned, took out a piece of flatbread from his pocket and handed it to the man: "Fellow, I'll ask you something, you don't have to be afraid." ”

As soon as he heard that it was the officers and soldiers of the new Second Division stationed in western Zhejiang, the man's heart finally relaxed.

The new second division is the unit pulled up by Wu Ming, the son of Shangrao, the earliest number was called the Fifth Regiment of Zhejiang Security, and later it was called the Second Brigade of the Zhejiang Army, of which a small half of the soldiers came from Jiangdong, which can be said to be their own family.

From the mouths of the officers and soldiers of the Chamber of Commerce and the local militia group, the man has heard a lot about the new Second Division, not only knowing that it is the children of the common people of Gandong, but also understanding that the officers and soldiers who come out of that army never take a stitch from the people, even if there is a shortcoming, they will buy it with the people with kind words, absolutely fair trading, the people will not only not suffer losses, but also make a small little brother. Therefore, the people of Gandong are relieved of them, and even vaguely hope that they will come more.

Men have also heard of this kind of flatbread eaten by the new second division when they marched.

Generally speaking, the flour made of wheat, barley and rye is baked out of bread to eat, a kind of cake is called "dead dough cake", that is, the dough that has not been fermented is directly cooked in the pot, this kind of cake will be uncomfortable after eating, you must add a little vegetables or other things or meat to cook and eat, and there is also a kind of "hair dough cake", that is, the dough baked after fermentation, this kind of cake is the main grain when the new second division is marching and fighting.

The dough is made by adding "leaven" when the flour is mixed with water, and then allowing the dough to rise naturally. After kneading the dough cake, put it in the pot and cook it directly, it will be cooked after a while, people in Shaanxi and Sichuan call this kind of dough cake "pot helmet", which is to the effect that the hat of the pot, because this pot is actually a piece of iron, as long as there is a little fire at the bottom, the dough can be cooked.

After the fermented flatbread eats the stomach, the stomach will not rise, the digestion is normal, and after this kind of flatbread is done, it can be moldy for ten days and half a month, it will not deteriorate, it is easy to carry, and it can be eaten anytime and anywhere.

The new 2nd Division carried this kind of march on its back, and once the battle began, it would feed on it during the long-distance march, and when it was eating, it would only need to drink some water, and it could be opened at any time and stopped at any time. If you are camping on the battlefield, you can do it for a few days without cooking and only eating food.

Another advantage of this kind of flatbread is that you don't have to cook in the camp for a few days, and you don't have to raise a fire, so the camping is not cumbersome, but the army still maintains a high degree of combat effectiveness, because the nutrition in the flatbread is enough, and when the commander gives an order, all the officers and soldiers can immediately assemble and eat while walking. For long-distance raids and raids and long-term lurking of troops, this kind of food is the most suitable.

However, with the successive commissioning of the food factory of the Maoliangwu Chamber of Commerce, convenience foods such as cakes, instant noodles, canned food, ham sausages and other convenience foods have begun to supply the military department, and the logistics support of the new Second Division will be on a higher level at that time, but in general, this convenient and fast cake will still serve as the main military food for a long time.

In the face of the flatbread handed by the officer, the man hesitated a little and did not dare to reach out to take it, but the child under his armpit was quite clever, and suddenly jumped out, took the flatbread in his hand, and then returned it and carefully put it in the pocket of his clothes, and then looked up at his immature face and asked:

"Uncle, if you want to know what Lu Dao wants, just ask me Daddy...... My father is the most famous hunter in the area, and he has gone up to the mountains to hunt wild boars and leopards."

Although the sky was just dawning and his vision was not good, the man was keenly aware that there was already a large bread in his son's pocket, and hurriedly stepped forward to snatch the cake back and taught his son:

"Mountain boy, don't you already have a piece of bread, why do you still need someone else's? I don't know what to do."

As he spoke, the man was about to return the flatbread to the officer, who smiled and waved his hand, then stuffed the flatbread back into the child's hand, and smiled kindly: "Take it, little one, thank you for showing us the way...... This is from your uncle, hurry up and go home and eat."

The boy broke free from his father's grasp like a slippery loach, stretched his legs and ran home, and when he came to the door, he shouted loudly into the house: "Sister, get up quickly, or the fragrant bread will not be eaten for you."

The children of the poor are in charge of the family at an early age, and the ten-year-old children will always think of their brothers and sisters when they have good things, which is not uncommon in this era. Seeing this, the officer smiled, took out a large cake from the satchel of the guard standing next to him, and handed it to the man again, the man waved his hand again and again, and the officer insisted on stuffing the cake into his hand, and then asked the man for help.

It turned out that after the forward troops of the New Second Division arrived at Huangchaojiao, the main peak of Lianhua Mountain, in the early hours of the morning, they immediately followed the ridge and quickly spread out to Taling in the north and Wuying Ridge in the south, digging and constructing fortifications, and more than four hours had passed by now. After more than 10 hours of forced march, the troops immediately rushed into repairing the trenches, and now they are tired of men and horses.

The officer's request was to ask the man to immediately organize the people of the village and quickly boil some hot water and send it to the position

When the man heard this, he didn't say a word, but immediately turned his head and went home, gave an order to his mother-in-law, who had just gotten up, and then went to every house in the village to inform him, and soon the quiet village was in a commotion.

The officer also ate some flatbread with the marching kettle, and then pulled the boy to sit down on a big rock at the entrance of the village, and asked about the topography of Lotus Mountain and some conditions in the surrounding villages.

At this time, a large group of men and horses rushed down from the mountain, and the officer frowned, stood up and stopped the officers and soldiers, and soon, a man came out of the ranks with ink, and greeted him with some embarrassment:

"Chief of Staff, why are you here?"

The officer blocking the road was Lieutenant Colonel Zhang Ying, chief of staff of the First Brigade of the New Second Division, who patted the morning dew on his body, glanced at the person who stepped forward to greet him, and asked directly: "Commander Han, have the fortifications been repaired?" ”

The first regiment commander, Han Tiecheng, was Wu Ming's first chief of guard and adjutant, and was very familiar with Zhang Ying, the former deputy section chief and tactical instructor of the Phoenix Mountain Base in Quzhou.

"Of course, although in order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the four new regiments that went to northeast Zhejiang to build defense fortifications in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, many veterans were transferred from our troops, but the new recruits who were supplemented were brought by non-commissioned officers and veterans.

"At present, half of the men and horses have begun to withdraw to the bunker on the anticline of the main peak to rest, and the other half is building anti-artillery shelter under the guidance of the engineer company directly under the regiment.

Zhang Ying raised her eyebrows after hearing this, pointed to the officers and soldiers who were two companies behind Han Tiecheng, and asked, "In this case, you don't have a good rest, what do you want now?" ”

Han Tiecheng grinned again: "I see that the brothers are lazy one by one, and they don't have any energy at all, this is not our style...... I've gathered the brethren who are still able to hold on, and I'm ready to take the initiative to go out and meet the soft eggs of the Royal Guard."

Zhang Ying snorted coldly, pointed at Han Tiecheng and scolded angrily: "Didn't you already release your sharp knife company?" Why do you have to take people out of the city, you are not afraid of mistaking the teacher's affairs? You are the regimental commander, and as the military commander, you should stay in your command now, instead of leading the team to steal the limelight."

Han Tiecheng was scolded for being bloody, but Zhang Ying has deep seniority in the army, Han Tiecheng had systematically studied tactical courses under Zhang Ying, and in the tradition of respecting teachers in this era, Han Tiecheng could only pinch his nose and admit it, and lowered his head gloomily.