CHAPTER XVII

The first squad leader Wang Shuren, a native of Hunan, has two years of military experience, is not tall, and looks a little oily. Such a person may be able to mix well in real life or officialdom, but in the army, especially in the army that is fighting......

Li Changbin, the leader of the third squad, is dark and thin, don't look at him, he is only half a year old, but it is said that he is the pacesetter of our platoon's military quality. Our company participated in the all-army joint competition, and he was one of them, and he even won a prize for shooting. But it seems that the performance on the battlefield is not very good, which also fully proves the saying that good performance in training does not mean that you can kill the enemy on the battlefield.

The second squad leader is me, and although this squad leader is small, he has all kinds of organs. How small is the squad leader? So small that even cadre uniforms were not distributed. What is a cadre uniform? In the words of the fighters, it is "four pockets". In this era, the military rank system was abolished because of the equality of officers and soldiers, so from generals and commanders to company commanders and platoon commanders, they wore exactly the same military uniforms, that is, there were two waists on the chest on the military uniform, a total of four pockets, while those who were soldiers only had two pockets on the waist...... This is the only difference between cadres and soldiers in the PLA troops in this era.

And I'm ...... A squad leader is in this critical zone where he is neither a cadre nor a soldier......

But then again, this first time I led the troops, it felt really different. Bayonets, small stones, and a few other squad leaders on the left and on the right, no matter what my opinion prevails, even in the process of marching to the side of the road to ask for instructions, really gave me a feeling of power in my hands.

Although these soldiers under my command will obey me, the other two squad leaders of our platoon do not have a good attitude towards me. I think it's probably because they're all veterans, so they don't think much of me as a rookie!

What to drag? I thought to myself, "You look down on me, and I look down on you!" What's wrong with being a soldier for a few more years? As the instructor said, whether it is a black cat or a white cat, the one that can catch a mouse is a good cat. On the battlefield, no matter how long you have been a soldier, if you can save your life and fight the enemy, you are a good soldier!

After the troops rested in Lao Cai for half a day, our battalion received an order to reconnoiter and march south.

This order turned out to be inappropriate, because we had not yet guaranteed the safety of Lao Cai, and it could even be said that Lao Cai was not occupied by us at all, but we thought it was occupied by us.

In less than ten minutes of assembly, our battalion was mobilized.

A team of more than 300 people, all of them with guns and cannons on their backs, how majestic it would be if they could be brought to the modern era to fight! When I think of this, I feel that I am a special cow as a part of them, but unfortunately I also know that the troops are not used for me to fight, but to deal with those more devils in front of me!

At the thought of dealing with the Yue Devil, the previous majesty quickly disappeared. Because I know very well in my heart that our troops cannot compare with the Yue devils in terms of quality or equipment.

The old man himself said that the more devils were holding weapons from the Soviets and Yankees. Soviet weapons are supplied free of charge, what submachine guns (in fact, it is an AK47 assault rifle, our soldiers are generally called AK47 submachine guns because of the Type 56 submachine gun), machine guns, hail rocket launchers, everything; The Yankees' weapons were left behind when the United States withdrew from Vietnam, and all kinds of weapons were available. Therefore, the weapons of the Yue devils seem to be very mixed, sometimes the militia has a micro rush in their hands, and the old men in the village will have bazookas......

On the other hand, the equipment of our infantry is still using 56 and a half, although this semi-automatic rifle does not need to be wrenched by a bullet like the previous 38 big cover, but it is still a trigger to shoot a bullet, and the AK47 in the hands of others is a string of bullets!

Even if the Type 56 submachine gun equipped by our army looks exactly the same as the AK47, the quality is not as good as the Soviet-made ones......

Therefore, as soon as this battle starts, the firepower of a platoon of the more devils is comparable to that of one of our companies.

But luckily, this time it wasn't our platoon scouting, which was definitely good news for me. It is not a fun thing to walk in front of the troops to reconnoitre, and if the devils have any ambushes or mines, they are all aimed at the reconnaissance platoon...... But I couldn't tell, and I soon realized how wrong I was with that idea.

The troops marched along the road, and after walking for more than two hours, the order suddenly came from the front: "Stop advancing and stand still!" ”

Later, I learned that it was the company commander who was walking in front of me who saw the treacherous terrain ahead and was worried that he would be ambushed by the Vietnamese army, so he ordered the troops to stop and plan to let the small troops go up to reconnoitre. It turned out that the company commander's fears were also justified. At that time, I also saw the terrain, the road winds like a long snake in a large open field, lined with rice fields hundreds of meters wide, and in front of the road are two unnamed high grounds, if the Vietnamese army is ambushed there, it is very likely that our entire army will be crushed in the rice fields, and there is nothing to hide.

But the superiors didn't think so, and later, according to Scar, the company commander reported the situation to the battalion commander as soon as possible, and the battalion commander contacted his superiors through walkie-talkies.

What the superiors asked was: "How is the reconnaissance platoon in front?" ”

"Everything works!" The battalion commander answered truthfully.

"That's fine!" The superiors were a little impatient: "I said how did you do it, the marching speed is so slow?" Our brother troops have already surpassed us by more than ten kilometers...... How can you complete the task if you are afraid of this, or that? I order: Immediately gather the troops and move forward at full speed, and race against time to reach the designated place! ”

Scar's assessment of this order from his superiors was: "The superiors will sit in the office and have a ruler to measure the map, where will they know what is actually happening?" They still think that this battle is still the same as fighting the Kuomintang, and as soon as we come up, the enemy will run around like the autumn wind sweeping away the leaves! ”

So the troops could only continue to advance according to the orders of their superiors, and they ran forward in a long snake formation without any defense.

The reason why I followed the order was because the military order could not be violated, and because I did not remember the old man saying about this battle. Afterwards, I thought that the reason why I didn't hear the old man talk about it was because the old man didn't want to remember this sad past......

There will always be sacrifices in war, but sometimes such sacrifices can be avoided altogether!

I regretted it a little when I followed the troops out of the mountains and into the rice fields, and although I didn't know much about military affairs, I also discovered that our troops were as clear as lice on a bald man's head.

The road was quiet, so quiet that only the footsteps of the soldiers and the "sonorous" sound of the equipment on their bodies colliding with each other. I mechanically followed the troops forward, but my eyes were nervously fixed on the two high ground a few hundred meters ahead, for fear that a volley of bullets would suddenly shoot out there and take my life......

I have to admit that I was still thinking only of myself, and it wasn't until Little Stone called me next to me that I realized that I was already the leader of the first squad, and that there were seven or eight warriors staring at me!

"Squad leader!" Little Stone shouted beside him, "Why do I see that something is wrong on this road, you see ......"

As he spoke, the little stone pointed to me at the new soil that had been turned out on the side of the road, and said, "Why does this road seem to have just been built, and the soil has not yet been stepped on!" ”

I couldn't help but be stunned when I heard this, the road that was just built?

I looked up to the side, and it soon became clear that a few hundred meters ahead of me there was also a road along the edge of the rice paddies into the jungle, and it was much safer to walk with many trees and rocks as cover.

So obviously, this is the trick of the more devils, we have to take that road, and I don't know what tricks the more devils have played to block the intersection of that road and then lead us to this ghost gate!

Thinking of this, I could no longer hold back the fear in my heart, and shouted at the bayonet walking in front: "Platoon commander! It's an enemy trap! ”

Scar also sensed that something was wrong, but he didn't speak because of the orders of his superiors and the reason he couldn't be sure, and then he heard me shout like this, so he immediately ordered: "Stop advancing!" Ready for battle......"

But it was already too late, there was a loud "boom", and the fighters on the road ahead stepped on a mine. Then the sound of machine guns and explosions soon rang out. Bullets rained down on us from the two heights, and the soldiers who walked in front fell screaming in pieces, and the others ran back in swarms like ants, but they were quickly blocked by the fighters who followed behind, and a few shells threw a dozen fighters into the air......

"Spread out! Spread out ......" Scar shouted as he waved at the fighters and lay down on the side of the road with his submachine gun in hand, rushing towards the high ground with a shuttle of bullets.

Instead of running back, I rolled over and rolled into the rice paddies and hid on the inside of the ridge.

Because I know it's useless to run back, there will be no result except to huddle together and let the Yue devils kill themselves. What's more, the more devils are not fools, they have painstakingly set this trap, and it is impossible to leave us with a way out.

Looking back in the direction we came from, as I expected, the intersection where we came out was already a field of shells and machine-gun bullets, and the Yue devils had obviously blocked the intersection with long-range mortars and machine guns.

In other words, one of our battalion of fighters has been pressed by the Vietnamese army in this open field!