The day after the Red Army's ** Fourth Division reported the situation to the corps commander Lin Biao, it received an order from Lin Biao: launch a surprise attack on the enemy at Maopailing according to the plan, creating the illusion that the main force of our army is gathering between Nancheng and Yihuang, covering the main force of the main force to retreat quietly and inducing the enemy's main force to go south!

The siege of Nancheng has been canceled, but the task of the surprise attack on Maopai Ling still has to be carried out!

This means that the Fourth Division needs to continue to fight in the mountains west of Nancheng, and the first task is to capture Maopailing, the choke point of communication in the mountains, as soon as possible.

Guo Tianming, the division commander who received the order, immediately convened an operational meeting above the regimental commander, read out the order of the regiment, and pointed to the self-made simple map to solicit opinions:

"We have three regiments, but none of them is more than 800 men, even with the Red Guards around us less than 2,500 men, there are no heavy machine guns, let alone artillery or mortars, and in the face of a thousand defenders who have built many fortifications in dangerous places and are equipped with a large number of machine guns, this battle will be very difficult to fight, and there is no other way but a sneak attack. Let's all use our brains and express our opinions to see which direction and how we should fight. ”

The participants were well aware of the heavy burden on their shoulders, and although they had firm convictions and high fighting spirit, in the face of the enemy's sudden sacrifice of census accounts to closely check the damage of people entering and leaving, and the construction of many fortifications at various crossings, even Deng Tingqian, the commander of the regiment with the most extensive combat experience, was worried.

After more than four hours of repeated deliberations, the Fourth Division finally came up with a combat plan:

At five o'clock in the morning the day after tomorrow, a regiment took the lead in launching a surprise attack on Baiguozhai with only one company defending the enemy, forcing the defenders in the village to reinforce Baiguozhai, and the remaining two regiments then seized the opportunity to launch a fierce attack on the two passes in the west and northwest of the village, and strive to take Maopai Ridge in one fell swoop within half a day!

The task was issued, the commanders of each regiment left quickly, and the new chief of staff also led a group of division staff officers and political officers to supervise the regiments in person, and only the division commander Guo Tianming and political commissar Xie Weijun were left in the humble division headquarters.

Xie Weijun raised his head from the map on the desktop, looked at Guo Tianming, who was frowning, and asked in a low voice: "Old Guo, I haven't seen you so solemn for so many years, do you think that the defending enemy of Maopailing is not easy to fight?" ”

Guo Tianming nodded slightly, and pointed to several defense points outside Maopailing Village on the map: "You and I have lived in Maopailing, you see, the enemy has built as many as twelve fortifications at the three crossings, and the terrain is very well chosen, the height is staggered, the distribution is reasonable, and only two machine guns need to be placed in each direction to seal all the offensive surfaces, leaving almost no dead ends." ”

Xie Weijun has never gone to a military school, but he has developed solid military qualities and accumulated rich practical combat experience in the long years of war, so he understands Guo Tianming's worries very well:

"Yes! It seems that the regimental commander surnamed Wu who defended the enemy has received a formal military education, and not only has strict military discipline, but is also very meticulous, such things as copying the list of the whole village and closely checking Enwei at the same time, I have heard for the first time, who in the ordinary combat unit can come up with such a bad but very effective bad idea? ”

"This is exactly the terrible place of the enemy, this list is copied, coupled with a strict check, the villagers in the village just want to help us and dare not help, what's more terrible is that they have strict military discipline, fair trading, do not requisition the ancestral hall of the village houses, build grass huts outside the village, do not bully and exploit the people, but give the whole village a hundred catties of refined salt that the head of our headquarters has no blessing to enjoy, in such a situation, who can make the villagers hate them? I can't do it if you want to disguise yourself as a civilian, but it seems to be better than what we did. Guo Tianming whispered his concerns.

Xie Weijun looked around nervously, approached Guo Tianming and whispered: "Old Guo, don't complain like this in the future, the political trial has become more and more strict recently, and even the political officers of the headquarters have been sent to the regiment level, I don't want you to get into trouble because of a few complaints." ”

Guo Tianming nodded helplessly, pointed to the map again and said worriedly: "The key to this battle is how to successfully sneak into the southeast side of Baiguozhai, although the commander of the first regiment is confident to do it, and he also proposed to quietly climb to the top of the mountain behind Baiguozhai, throw ** bag from top to bottom, and destroy the enemy's fortifications, but whether you can get close to Baiguozhai smoothly is the key." ”

Xie Weijun recalled for a moment and pointed to the creek on the southeast side of Baiguozhai: "I have been to this place, the east side of the creek is a steep mountain beam, there is a trail hidden between the dense forests, almost the hunters and herbs in the village go a few times a year, outsiders do not know that there is a road in the steep dense forest of the road, along this rugged trail over the back of the mountain beam, more than 200 meters to the north there is a deep stream about eight meters wide, there is a single-plank bridge directly built with cut down trees on the deep stream, as long as the single-plank bridge is crossed, Go about 100 meters to reach the top of the cliff above the east side of Baiguozhai, and you don't have to worry about how you fight. ”

"Do you think the defenders have discovered this path?" Guo Tianming asked.

Xie Weijun thought for a while: "Probably not, they have only changed their guards for a few days?" It is estimated that the barracks have not been built, how can you find a steep mountain road that people in the village usually do not walk? Unless someone in the village informes, it is impossible to let the enemy stay for a month. ”

Guo Tianming finally put his mind at ease: "Let's go, go to a group to have a look, and cheer up the soldiers who are about to go out!" ”

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In the afternoon of the next day, in the tent on the edge of the east ancestral hall in Maopailing Village, Wu Ming carefully read the report on the enemy situation sent by Yu Jishi, and immediately dictated a telegram back to the telegraph operator: "Call back: Please rest assured that our regiment has completed the defensive arrangements and is organizing reconnaissance teams to search in the south, southwest, and west directions. ”

Xiao Du, a 19-year-old telegraph operator, quickly recorded it, handed the message to Wu Ming for signature, and quickly returned to a row of ammunition boxes on the side of the radio station, converting the words into groups of numbers.

Wu Ming turned to Dai Ziran, who was marking the situation of the enemy and us on the map: "Don't you think it's strange that the main force of the Red Army suddenly appeared on the line from Guangchang to Ningdu, a hundred miles to the south? ”

Dai Ziran raised his head: "Yes! The Red Army won the battle but retreated rapidly, and as soon as it retreated, it was hundreds of kilometers, no matter how you look at it, it is very abnormal, it is not good, just as you said, arrange a big pocket in advance, and the main force of our army has to drill into it if it wants to find the enemy and fight. ”

Yin Dizhong, the commander of the first battalion who came to report, also came up: "The key is that the Cantonese army on the southern road does not actively cooperate, otherwise the communist army will not dare to retreat to the edge of the defense line of the Cantonese army, no matter how powerful it is. ”

"That makes sense!" Zhang Dongning echoed Yin Dizhong's view.

Wu Ming frowned, stretched out his hand and pointed to the map between Guangchang and Nanfeng and Huangpi, and drew a circle on the densely marked mountains: "What if the main force of the Red Army is here?" ”

Everyone was stunned, and Dai Ziran quickly reacted: "If this is the case, it will be troublesome...... It is very likely that the communist army will quietly gather superior forces and launch a surprise siege on any of our divisions heading south, and as soon as it succeeds, it will immediately flee and disappear again in the reckless mountains......"

"This situation often occurred in the previous years of fighting, and this area is a mountainous area with high mountains and dense forests and ravines, most of the inhabitants are far away from the city, and we have a hard time listening to the accent, even if the main force of our army drives in smoothly according to the aerial map, it will never get the help of the locals, which is equivalent to a black eye!"

Yin Dizhong also became grim: "The communist army is good at marching day and night, and it is not uncommon to use night and early morning to sneak attack, even if you enter a division, you will inevitably be beaten passively!" ”

"So there's really no way to take the communist army?" Zhang Dongning felt a headache.

Everyone hurriedly looked at Wu Ming, Wu Ming thought for a while: "There is still a way, but it has nothing to do with us, let's do our own things well first." What about the two directions you are responsible for? ”

Yin Dizhong hurriedly replied: "After the outpost has been arranged, the reconnaissance platoon is divided into six squads and sent out in turn, and the search range has been expanded to five kilometers. ”

"Are there many merchants?" Wu Ming asked.

"At noon, two groups came, a total of 34 people, mixed with more than a dozen villagers from nearby villages who came to visit relatives, one group came from Lixi in the west, and one group came from Rongshan in the north, all of them were recognized by the villagers, and the goods sold by the caravan were also real." Yin Dizhong replied.

Wu Ming nodded: "Very good, continue to maintain a strict interrogation system, we must not let people take advantage of loopholes, after the engineer company is transferred to the south of the village to repair the bridge, the west and northwest directions will depend on your battalion." ”

Yin Dizhong puffed up his chest: "Don't worry, the first battalion will never let the enemy touch you!" ”

Wu Ming asked again, "What else do you want?" ”

Yin Dizhong said with a smile: "Can you send us two military dog search teams?" The surrounding mountains are high and densely forested, and the roads are tortuous and narrow, and there are many places where you can't see them. ”

Wu Ming readily agreed: "No problem, the three military dog teams left in the regiment headquarters are going to assist you, but these three military dogs are only one year old and have not yet been trained. ”

"Thank you! The subordinates are going to lead the people and the dogs, haluha! ”

Yin Dizhong left in a hurry, Zhang Dongning sighed: "This military dog is really easy to use, I didn't think anything when you got a few puppies back from Hangzhou, I just thought that this kind of German wolf dog was quite majestic, I didn't expect it to be trained according to your method after two years...... In this big mountain, military dogs are more effective than the top scouts of the spy company, but the cost is too great, and the food treatment is more than that of battalion and regiment-level officers! ”

Everyone laughed loudly, Wu Ming didn't care: "If it weren't for your father-in-law snatching five little paparazzi last summer, our military dog reconnaissance platoon would have been built a long time ago, and it is not easy to get two batches of purebred German shepherds in recent years, and the price of each puppy is more than a professional sniper rifle, which is very expensive!" ”

"Go back and talk to your father-in-law, you can't let the breeding dog mate with the soil dog casually, and the dog cubs born should be given priority to ensure that we use them, and don't let the Shandong kid who trained the dog do other work, let him train the dog professionally, and I will give him a lieutenant when he does a good job."

Everyone couldn't help but laugh again, Wu Ming looked at his watch, stood up and began to put it on: "I'll go to Baiguo Village, it's the top priority of the entire defense area, see how the spy company is doing." ”

Dai Ziran smiled and asked, "Are you worried that the communist army will suddenly come out from that direction?" ”

Wu Ming nodded solemnly: "That's right!" This is the main reason why I ordered the special service company to expand the search range to ten kilometers, by the way, did you search the high mountain southeast of the Baiguozhai crossing? ”

Dai Ziran immediately replied: "Yesterday afternoon has completed the search, two experienced old brothers on the return trip because of chasing two roe deer, after hitting the prey, went up to fetch, accidentally found a trail behind the mountain beam, along the trail through a nine-meter-wide deep stream, there is a mossy tree that has been put down, horizontally on the deep stream, through the single-plank bridge can easily reach the top of the cliff in the east of Baiguozhai, the spy even handed over the report last night said that standing on the top of the cliff can see the movement in the village without binoculars, With a telescope, you can see all the fortifications on the northwest side of the village. ”

Wu Ming suddenly became alert, and after thinking about it, he called Dai Ziran too: "Let's go and have a look, if you can't destroy the single-plank bridge first, I'd rather help the villagers repair it before leaving, and I can't let a hidden danger exist." ”

Everyone followed Wu Ming to develop a cautious and cautious habit, and nodded in unison when they heard the words, and they all wanted to follow to have a look, and Wu Ming asked Zhang Dongning to stay, and he took all the brothers to ride to Baiguo Village, which was 2.5 kilometers away in the southeast.

At the same time, a Red Army assault team composed of 45 officers and men of 100 battles quietly arrived at the mountain pass five kilometers south of Baiguozhai through the reckless mountains.

Zhou Dezhi, the commander of the reconnaissance platoon who served as the guide, took the lead in turning into the crossing, and the rest of the team members immediately followed, climbing the hill and climbing the mountain beam with agility like apes, taking a short rest, checking the weapons and ammunition and four home-made ** bags, and under the low order of the regiment commander Deng Tingqian, the team marched quickly north along the rugged mountainside path.