Our march soon changed to a day and night march.

On the one hand, we had to walk day and night, because our team had more than 200 people, plus dozens of mules...... Marching in a straight line on the mountain roads is quite conspicuous, and as we go deeper and deeper into the heart of Afghanistan, it becomes more and more dangerous, so it is necessary to prevent the Soviets from discovering that they are marching at night.

On the other hand, it is because of the weather...... The day is hot, and the march will undoubtedly increase the consumption of water, but the night will be cold...... Although marching against the biting mountain wind is not a pleasant thing to see, at least you can not have a dry mouth and want to drink water while walking.

It's just that the process of transformation is a bit painful...... The reason is that our biological clock does not adjust so quickly, and because we do not adapt to the weather, no one will sleep on the first day of the march, although we have been hiding in a cave all afternoon...... Of course, here we are talking about the fighters of our army, and as for the Afghan guerrillas, they all slept like pigs...... They seem to have been accustomed to this climate for a long time, and they will not be affected at all.

Because I didn't rest well, I was tired when I marched at night...... Even I was no exception, I was dizzy during the whole march, and I didn't know if I was tossed by the hot weather during the day and cold at night, or what I was doing, my head couldn't think at all, I only knew that I was moving forward mechanically.

At this time, I couldn't help but rejoice...... Fortunately, we have already formulated the battle jihua, and now we only need to execute it according to this jihua, otherwise in my current state...... There is simply no way to analyze the situation between friend and foe.

But fortunately, we have encountered this situation in Vietnam...... Summer in Vietnam is also hot during the day and cold at night. It's just that the temperature difference is much worse than that of Afghanistan. In addition, a few months ago, our training in China has always been aimed at physical fitness and cross-country, so the soldiers, including Zhao Jingping and other staff officers, can also keep up.

"Battalion Commander Yang!" Hassan expressed his surprise to me: "There is something I want to tell you, my soldiers ...... In fact, I want to compare myself with you on the mountain road. I'm sorry for this, the main reason is that during the training period we were a little unconvinced, how to shoot, discipline, tactics...... It's worse than you in every way, and we always thought our combat power was good! But it's not the same as you...... So my soldiers thought...... There is always something better than you, we have grown up in this mountain since we were children, and you have never walked in such a mountain...... That's why I want to compare you to you, but who knows that you're similar to us this time......"

When I heard this, I had to smile bitterly: "I'll tell you the truth...... Many of us are holding on, like me! ”

I have very few words to say...... It's a habit I've developed these days. Talk as little as possible during the march to reduce the loss of water! Part of the reason is that the body is exhausted. I don't even have the strength to say a few more words.

The other fighters are similar to me...... Only the Afghan guerrillas are still talking and laughing...... In this respect, the Afghan guerrillas have actually beaten us down.

Then I quickly thought about it...... The Soviet troops, known as the "Polar Bears", spent most of their time fighting on the bitterly cold plains, and suddenly came to the hot Afghan mountains...... It is no wonder that they did not dare to go deep into the mountains to encircle and suppress the guerrillas. This is the strength of attacking others with their own shortcomings!

And so it marched for two nights...... Actually, it's not just two nights. This is because the best time to march is in the evening when the sun is about to set and early in the morning when the sun is about to rise. This is the time to turn from hot to cold and from cold to hot...... It's not too cold, it's not too hot, and there's plenty of light, so we always go the extra mile at this time. As a result, the marching time was more than ten hours a day.

In the early hours of the third day...... We finally came to the source of the water that Hassan was talking about...... Lake Dahal.

Before seeing this lake...... It was hard for me to imagine that there would be water in such a hot and rocky place, and I even had a faint fear in my heart...... What if there is no water source? I've been on the battlefield for so long, and I've thought of many ways to die...... But I just didn't think about dying of thirst, and there is no doubt that this way of dying is the most torturous...... Because it will torment you little by little, it will make you crazy, make you want to cry without tears, and let you collapse little by little...... Zuihou is death.

I'm sure a little bit of the time...... If I had to face this kind of death, I would rather take a pistol and shoot myself in the head.

But......

Such a place has a lake, and it is a very large lake...... Just as humans would settle next to a water source, a large area of plants would also gather here...... So much so that the surrounding area is full of desert and stones, but here it is green.

Everyone cheered when they saw this oasis, but they didn't rush to the lake as they did on TV and in movies...... We actually want to do this, and we have been suppressing our desire for water in order to save water these days, but then we see such a big lake...... You can imagine how tempting it will be for us.

However...... We also know that the more places like this, the more dangerous they are, for reasons that go without saying...... The water source in the desert is a very important strategic location, and there may be only such a water source within a radius of dozens of miles, so of course it is also a key monitoring point of the Soviet army.

Like we can see...... There were many charred corpses near the water source, and the guns on their hands and backs could still be faintly seen on these corpses...... There is no doubt that they are the guerrillas who have come here to replenish their water, but they are too careless.

At this time, I was a little worried that the Soviet army would poison the lake water, just like the Vietnamese devils did against us...... It later became clear that such fears were unwarranted, as Afghan government forces would also need these sources of water if they wanted to enter the mountains in search of guerrillas...... So, unless they made up their minds not to enter the area, or if the logistics were enough for them to enter the area with enough water, they would easily not dare to poison it.

On the other hand, they don't really need to poison at all...... The fact that the water source is not polluted means that there will definitely be partisans here to replenish water or rest, and the Soviet army can calmly monitor the movements of the partisans in this area from the air.

For these reasons...... So we didn't rush to Dahal Lake...... This will only bring us into the sight of the Soviet troops prematurely.

Here's our strategy...... The large army took advantage of the fact that it was still dark and camped in sensitive areas, which meant finding places with boulders and caves to hide...... In order to evade Soviet spy satellites or aerial reconnaissance, there are techniques to dodge, such as pulling a canvas of a similar color to the stone between two boulders, or sprinkling a layer of dirt on the canvas...... So you can hide from people under the cloth, and if you look down from the air, it is an inconspicuous stone.

When they were done, a small army was sent to unload their guns and lead mules to fill them with water bags in the guise of merchants...... Of course, during this period, the main forces of our army were still ready for battle, and this was to prevent being plundered by other guerrillas...... This is not a good source of water, and robbers and the like also know that the caravan must be rehydrated here, so they often lie in ambush nearby and wait for the rabbits!

Facts have also proved that our preparation is necessary...... Because when our water team led a dozen mules to the lake, a dozen cavalry soon rushed out from the left and right sides to surround us...... Cavalry is the most common form of banditry, as it is the most useful mobile force in the desert...... Cavalry does not need gasoline, can maneuver on most terrain, and is faster than mules and camels.

So it was natural that they became a favorite of the robbers, who could come like the wind on horseback and quickly evacuate after grabbing things...... Others can't do anything about them at all!

But this time they had the wrong idea...... Because we have already arranged more than a dozen groups of snipers as cover for the water collection team.

"Battalion commander, confirm it's a robber!" Saheid, who was part of the water fetching team, reported to me via a walkie-talkie: "They want us to hand over our belongings and mules, please instruct!" ”

"Warn them first!" I frowned, I actually hated this situation...... The disunity of the Afghans puts us at risk at all times.

"Tell them......" I said, "tell them that we have surrounded this area, let them go, and spare their lives......

"Yes!" Saheid answered.

My target is the Soviet army, and in this process, I don't want to cause trouble, let alone attract the attention of the Soviet army, so I try to keep a low profile if I can.

But the bandits didn't believe Saheid's words...... They let out a burst of laughter, apparently thinking that Saheed was scaring them.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for Sahayd to reply, "Battalion commander...... They don't believe ......"

"Sniper Platoon!" I had no choice but to give an order to the sniper platoon: "Leave no mouth alive!" ”

The reason for not leaving a living mouth...... I don't want these robbers to spread the word...... This can only be blamed on their ignorance!

"Yes!" With Company Commander Luo's response, the gunshots soon rang out......

More than a dozen gunshots rang out, and a dozen robbers fell off their horses one by one like dumplings, and almost at the same time...... I don't know if a sniper missed or something, and there was a robber who fell off his horse but was not injured...... When he stood up and saw that his companion was almost dead in that moment, he couldn't help but be stupid, and the horse was next to him, and he didn't know how to ride it, but ran away...... (To be continued......)