At 6:45 p.m., 5.6 kilometers south of Maopai Ling, the front headquarters of the Red Army's ** Fourth Division.

Together with everyone, the two political work officers experienced a series of earth-shattering explosions in all directions on the outskirts of Maopailing Village, and after discussing with Guo Tianming and others for a long time, they could not reach a clear conclusion, so they had to call the villager who delivered the letter again to ask:

"Fellow, don't panic, speak slowly, I remember you just now said that when the Kuomintang bandits escorted you out of the village to force you to send us a letter, you saw with your own eyes that they planted more than a dozen mines on the road south of the village, right?"

"Yes, yes! It was a mine, round like a small grinding disc, and it looked like it was made of iron plates, and they had just dug the pit when they sent me out, and the mine was placed on the edge of the pit. ”

The villagers, who were about twenty-five or sixteen years old, had feelings for the Red Army, so they were not at all afraid, but excited.

Another tall and thin officer asked, "How do you know that the road is a landmine?" ”

The villagers immediately replied: "I saw them when they first entered our village, and I also saw their sappers bury the same mines on the ditch road outside Xiaodong Village. ”

The two officers glanced at each other, and the tall and thin officer asked again: "What else did you see when you left the village?" ”

The villagers thought for a moment and remembered one thing: "Yes, I saw more than 200 of their soldiers looking for dry straw everywhere, and they also paid for dry firewood from each family. In the past, they used to go up to the mountains to collect firewood for cooking. ”

The two officers were taken aback, and the short one suddenly asked, "Are they going to set fire to the village at the end of their rope?" ”

"Huh!? Burn the village? Probably not, right? Although they are white dogs, they are different from other white dogs, the officers and soldiers are very kind, and they asked me to deliver the letter, and their company commander gave me two oceans...... They have always been talkative, and they have always paid a lot of money to buy things, which is different from other white dogs, which is strange. "The villagers are very realistic, what to say.

The two officers couldn't sit still, and immediately went out to tell Guo Tianming and Xie Weijun about these situations.

Guo Tianming was so angry that he scolded Wu Ming for being cruel and reactionary, and now he saw that he couldn't escape and his true form was revealed, Xie Weijun was even more anxious, Wu Ming's letter tone was hard and then soft, and even the cruel words like burning jade were said, and then a series of big explosions were made to demonstrate, it must be to threaten the lives of nearly a thousand innocent people in the village, although people have been sent into the village to negotiate at this moment, but they don't know the result of the road when they don't come back, and they can only wait no matter how angry they are.

######

At seven o'clock in the evening, Maopailing Village, Dongda Sunping, the headquarters of the Fifth Regiment.

In the tent, the young officers sent to negotiate were well received, with cigarettes, tea and a handful of rare fruit candy, and the two receiving officers were also very polite, but they didn't see the culprit Wu Ming, and they asked twice and said that they had sent someone to call and inspect the defense line in the west of the village, and it was estimated that they would have to wait for a while.

Wu Ming is in the main hall of the old village chief's house at the moment, and the inside of the main hall, the two side rooms and the back hall are crowded with villagers who came to inquire about the situation, but no one blames Wu Ming at this moment.

Wu Ming, who made a series of earth-shattering explosions and frightened the chickens and dogs of the whole village, had already put a canvas bag full of ocean on the incense table, and then retreated to the door three steps in, took off the hat on his head, and respectfully apologized to the villagers:

"I really can't live with my father and fellow villagers, in order to save my life, in order to prevent the Red Army's more than 5,000 people and horses from killing in from the crossings, I must not order to blow up the three roads outside the village, the most fatal thing is that with the remaining more than 700 catties **, blow up half of the soil mountain at the Liuli River Bay downstream of the Sancha River Estuary, the soil mountain collapsed and blocked the river, a quarter of an hour ago I listened to the report of my subordinates, the section is too narrow, both sides are high mountains, the river has overflowed, flooding more than 100 acres of rice fields on both banks, it is estimated that there will be more flooded fields tomorrow, but it will never flood the east of the village Sanhekoubecause the place is high. ”

"Brother, the reason why I did this is purely to save my life, not to deliberately harm my father and fellow villagers, in order to compensate for the loss of the villagers, the younger generation sent this 1,500 oceans, and I beg my father, old folks, brothers and sisters to forgive! During these days, I, Wu Ming and my brothers, have been well received by the villagers, and we want to thank everyone! No matter what happens tomorrow, no matter where we go in the future, dead or alive, I, Wu Ming and my brothers, will never forget the kindness of the villagers! ”

The villagers saw Wu Ming bending down and bowing deeply again, and many people were so moved that they quietly wiped their tears, the old village chief was an understanding person, and he was also in tears at this time, and he couldn't cry.

Wu Ming straightened up and told the villagers loudly: "Before leaving, the juniors make a promise that no matter what happens tomorrow, even if the Red Army comes in, we will not resist, and we would rather surrender than let the villagers suffer." But not tonight, although the Red Army sent people, but it has not yet been negotiated, the Red Army scouts are likely to touch the edge of the village, we have to go outside the village to light a fire, to prevent them from coming in in the dark and secretly attacking, it is estimated that there will be a time to shoot cold guns, so please go back quickly, close the door and do not come out, so as not to be injured by cold guns. See the folks again, I have to be busy! ”

After Wu Ming finished speaking, he respectfully saluted a military salute, and under the gaze of countless pairs of hazy teary eyes, he turned around in great pain and tragedy, and strode out without looking back.

After walking a few steps, I heard a suppressed cry behind me, and soon there was a messy footsteps, and the villagers, who were obviously afraid of being injured by mistake, ran back to their homes.

######

The young officer, who came to negotiate but waited for more than an hour, finally met Wu Ming.

When Wu Ming walked into the tent and apologized with a smile, the young officer almost couldn't believe his eyes, the tall, elegant and gentle man in front of him, with a gray short cotton jacket and military uniform exactly like an ordinary soldier, but with a kind smile on his face, turned out to be the heinous white bandit leader in his mind.

Wu Ming pulled over the empty box and sat down opposite the young officer: "I'm sorry to make the distinguished guests wait so long when we meet for the first time!" Sluggish, haha! What's your surname? ”

The young officer cheered up and replied very seriously: "My name is Zhao Tiemin, an officer of the Political Department of the First Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and I am here to ...... this time."

"Got it! Comrade Zhao, right? Ha Luha, I heard that your accent is from Hunan, right? Look at your temperament, you should be an intellectual, which university graduated? Wu Ming asked very kindly.

Zhao Tiemin had no choice but to answer patiently: "I am from Hunan, I have been a teacher for two years, Head Wu, can we talk about the matter in front of us?" ”

Wu Ming nodded, stood up and walked towards the kettle:

"No problem, but please wait, I just came back from inspecting the defensive positions on the west side of the village, and I haven't even taken a sip of water, so make a cup of tea to quench my thirst." Actually, speaking of which, I'm the same as your Red Army here, the battalion and company commanders don't have their own orderlies, so they have to do everything themselves......"

"In these years, it is not easy to recruit a soldier, no one comes when the military salary is low, four sets of clothes and four pairs of shoes are issued a year, a meal of meat is eaten every three days, and you have to ask the husband to teach them to read and write, teach them to sing, otherwise they don't understand military law and firearms maintenance regulations, ordinary soldiers have to get eight oceans a month, if you add a month of eating, drinking, and Lazar, it will be more than ten yuan! It seems that you must be an officer, and you are also a family member, and only the family knows that firewood and rice are expensive......"

Zhao Tiemin looked at Wu Ming who was chattering and making tea elegantly in astonishment, feeling that this was a slimy little man, a poor scholar with no prospects, where was the reactionary warlord leader who was extremely feared and hated by the whole army?

was stunned for a long time, until Wu Ming held a cup of tea and sat across from him with a smile on his face, that Zhao Tiemin asked suspiciously, "Are you really Wu Ming?" ”

Wu Ming was stunned, looked left and right, and immediately came back to his senses: "I'm not Wu Ming, who is Wu Ming?" Oh! I forgot that you don't know what is going on inside us, but now, I'm not afraid to tell you the truth, we are not a regular army, we are a security force in Zhejiang Province......"

Speaking of this, Wu Ming pointed to his body, "So you see, our military uniforms are not as good as the regular army, and it is just that we don't have a collar badge, there should be a white cloth on the left chest, and it should be written with a clear number and position, but we don't, I guess you don't know what to do, the soldiers don't have the identity certificates issued by the local governments, and I don't seem to be able to prove myself for a while...... Huh, what's the sound? ”

Han Tiecheng, the adjutant outside, ran in: "Report to the regimental seat, there are gunshots from the direction of the east pass, as if there is another fight." ”

Wu Ming was taken aback, stood up and asked sternly, "Didn't I repeatedly order that you are not allowed to fight with your brothers in the Red Army?" What's going on? Who takes the lead? ”

Han Tiecheng lowered his head and explained: "It wasn't us who fought, the river bays in the east were blown up, blocking the river, and the rice fields and roads on both sides were all flooded, three feet deep, who would dare to go over to fight with the black lights?" It was the friendly forces outside the East Pass and the communist forces above the pass that were fighting again. ”

"Our allies? Wasn't Nancheng surrounded by the main forces of the Red Army? At this time, they have the courage to come out and help us turtles in the urn? Could it be that he came from Fuzhou? ”

Wu Ming thought hard, and didn't pay attention to Zhao Tiemin, who had already stood up nervously.

At this moment, the short communication company commander hurriedly came in, and wanted to report orally, but after glancing at Zhao Tiemin on the side, he didn't speak, and directly handed the message to Wu Ming.

Wu Ming approached Ma Deng and hurriedly ordered the communications company commander: "Pingzhang, you immediately call back to the chief of staff and ask which part of the brothers came to save us, plus my opinion, this night battle is not what we are good at, and it is not a single man who can fight the eastern pass, let alone one or two regiments...... We can't let more brothers suffer because of our 1,800 people! Just when we don't exist, let's go, go! ”

Zhao Tiemin strode up to Wu Ming: "Commander Wu, let me ask you, are you planning to threaten us with the lives of nearly a thousand innocent people, thinking that my four-way army will not dare to attack your regiment?" ”

Wu Ming returned to his seat painfully: "Comrade Zhao, in fact, I wanted to lay down my arms and negotiate well, but these ...... It's all done by the brothers below, if it is changed to another regiment, maybe they can still listen to me, everyone knows that the Red Army treats prisoners preferentially, but our regiment can't do it......"

"I panicked when I found out that I was surrounded by you, and for a while, the battalions and companies took it upon themselves to put cold guns everywhere and make explosions everywhere, not to mention that they planned to burn all the houses in the village, and all the roads into the village were planted with mines, and I tried hard to stop them, so they didn't burn the houses."

"Let me tell you clearly, the first battalion commander Yin Dizhong and the chief of staff of the regiment are not my people, one of them is a cronie sent by our division commander General Yu Jishi, and the other is a veteran ruffian in the Zhejiang army, his father's name is Li Gang, he is the director of the public security bureau of the provincial security department, and there is also an operational staff officer named Dai Ziran, he is a special commissioner of the Central Party Department, and the letter I wrote to you was the one he forced me to write!"

Zhao Tiemin was dumbfounded, and it took a while before he came back to his senses: "Head Wu, I think there is no point in negotiating between us, farewell!" ”

"Oops! You slow down, can you get out if no one sends you? They are piling hay and firewood everywhere, and they are setting fires outside the village, and the smoke is so thick that you can't see the road, what if you step on a mine? I'll send ...... Adjutant Han, please send this Comrade Zhao out of the southern position of the village, you must send him out of Lu safely, the two armies will not fight and not kill them, everyone must have this morality, go quickly! ”

"Comrade Zhao, I still have some fruit candy here, you can take it and eat it, I guess your Red Army doesn't have this ....... Oops! Slow down......"

Han Tiecheng caught up with Zhao Tiemin, who was leaving angrily, and escorted him around the minefield planted by the only thirteen mines left in the whole regiment.