From the experience of the female soldier Zhang Xiu who was suddenly attacked and captured by the Japanese army in Xiping Village, the instructor Liu Shu had realized that the six prisoners of war of the cavalry wing of the Sena Division were not trivial. Therefore, as soon as he withdrew into Hongxing Gorge, he gave orders to Lu Dajiang, the commander of the 8th Company, and Instructor Tang to keep a close watch on these six Japanese cavalry. After that, because he was busy quelling the "civil strife" and going out to suppress bandits, Liu Shu temporarily left the matter behind. Now, since he had made up his mind to leave the 2nd Battalion to find the regimental headquarters, he wanted to take these six Japanese prisoners of war with him and hand them over to his superiors.

Wu Zijian's mind was spinning rapidly, and he was first thinking about what special significance would these Japanese cavalry captured in the battle of Dawangyu in Little Elm Mountain have so special significance that the Japanese army should send heavy troops to suppress the border and search and rescue them? Secondly, Liu Shu went to find the regimental superiors, why did he have to take these prisoners away?

But he didn't come up with a reasonable answer to either question.

"Instructor, have you thought about it?" Wu Zijian had no choice but to ask tentatively: "If you go to the Zhengtai Road to look for the regiment headquarters and brigade headquarters, you basically have to operate in the enemy-occupied area, which is very dangerous in itself; If you take six more Japanese prisoners, how likely will it be exposed? ”

Liu Shu did not fail to consider this risk. He planned to lead a platoon of troops, and from the point of view of the guards, more than forty men were more than enough to control six prisoners; However, traveling through the Japanese-occupied area with Japanese prisoners undoubtedly had many unknown dangers.

However, the instructor had his plans.

Liu Shu actually has a pessimistic attitude that borders on despair about the current situation of the second battalion of the forest division. After this night battle, the battalion commander and a group of other outstanding commanders died, and more than half of the battalion was killed or wounded. The two base areas were destroyed by enemy troops, and the work of the Xiping Village Field Mobilization Committee was in vain. In his opinion, the 2nd Battalion not only lost all the achievements it had made after reaching Guanmen Mountain, but was even far less powerful than when it set out from Wutai in the northeast of Jin. What's more, what is even more worrying is that it is still unknown why the Japanese army is so hostile to the base area of the Eighth Route Army at the foot of Guanmen Mountain, and even sent several times its own elite troops to carry out a large-scale night attack.

Perhaps, such an attack or sweep will be the norm in the future, and this will be very different from the plan originally deployed by the Lin Division and the regimental and brigade commanders to open up a base area far from the rear of the Japanese army! Therefore, Liu Shu felt that it was necessary to report this major change in the situation to the head of the regiment and even the head of the brigade headquarters in a timely manner; Ask them to make new responses and adjustments.

Of course, it is impossible for him to show all this to Deputy Battalion Commander Wu Zijian. Moreover, he had already made up his mind to sue Wu Zijian fiercely from the superior chief. Because the reason why the second battalion has fallen to this point today, Wu Zijian bears a heavy responsibility that cannot be shirked!

As for bringing the Japanese cavalry prisoners of war, Liu Shu thought of it temporarily. The Japanese army valued these prisoners of war so much that the instructor sniffed out the value; If they can be escorted to the higher command headquarters safely and smoothly, it will undoubtedly be a miracle.

"Danger, there must be,"

In the face of Wu Zijian's temptation, Liu Shu deliberately responded lightly:

However, along the Zhengtai Road to the north, it basically belongs to the Taihang Mountains, and the heavy troops of the Japanese army are deployed in Taiyuan and other towns, so the mountainous areas should be neglected. As long as we are careful, it is completely possible to avoid their eyes and ears. ”

Wu Zijian's heart suddenly moved: "Instructor, how many people are you going to take to find the regiment headquarters?" It can't be that you want to pull away the main forces of the second battalion, right? When he said the latter sentence, Wu Zijian's tone was already half joking and half serious, and at this moment, he was indeed a little worried that Liu Shu would do this.

Liu Shu pondered for a moment and replied slowly: "I bring a platoon, it should be enough." ”

But this still took the deputy commander of the second battalion by surprise: a platoon! Boy!

"Instructor, don't worry about me, do you really think that pulling a platoon from the second battalion now is a small number? Excluding the wounded and sick, how many platoons can we form in total if we add up the four companies now?! Just because you personally are going to find the regimental headquarters, do you have to use the strength of a platoon? ”

"What do you mean by that?" Liu Shu looked displeased when he heard this: "Personally? Am I going out on behalf of an individual? The 2nd Battalion suffered major failures and setbacks, and I went to urgently report the situation and work to the superior leaders on behalf of the entire 2nd Battalion of the Forestry Division and the highest party organization of the 2nd Battalion! ”

Wu Zijian did not give in, he never thought that the current situation of the second battalion needed to be reported to the superior leaders, and he would never let Liu Shu take away the strength of an entire platoon at this critical juncture:

"Instructor, my advice to you is that you will need to pass through enemy-occupied territory on this trip, and therefore for safety reasons, everyone must travel in civilian clothes, and the number of people accompanying you should not exceed one class. The reason is very simple, the target is small, and the concealment will be strong. ”

"A class? Deputy Battalion Commander Wu, are you kidding me? There were six captives to be escorted! What is enough for one class? ”

"I don't understand that!" Wu Zijian slapped his thigh exaggeratedly: "Instructor, you are looking for the regiment headquarters to report the situation, why do you have to bring those six Japanese prisoners?" ”

Of course, Liu Shu had already found a reason to deal with it, and this reason sounded very good: first, the Japanese army's heavy troops were searching for these prisoners, which was enough to show their importance, and they should be handed over to their superiors for interrogation as soon as possible, in order to obtain something valuable from them; Second, it is very likely that the 2nd Battalion of the Lin Division has become a key target for the Japanese troops stationed in the vicinity, and in this case, it is not safe to detain the prisoners in the 2nd Battalion station.

Listening to Liu Shu's confident statement, Wu Zijian realized that the instructor's trip was well thought out and determined! He thought that only by using the power of the military commander could he prevent the other side from escorting the Japanese prisoners of war from Guanmen Mountain.

Wu Zijian immediately pointed out that this matter is too important to be decided by you and me alone, and should be submitted for collective discussion and decision-making at the upcoming military meeting of company and platoon commanders of the whole battalion. Liu Shu was stunned when he heard this, blinked, and wanted to raise an objection, but he couldn't find a reason for a while. Wu Zijian didn't give the other party a chance to continue to refute, and ran out of the camp headquarters with a head in the air.

The military conference was convened as scheduled.

In addition to the 5 th Company, which was still stationed in Hekou Village and Xiping Village outside the mountain, and the commander of the enemy's engineering team, the surviving company commanders, instructors, deputy company commanders, platoon commanders, and deputy platoon commanders of the other three companies were all present at the scene. Wu Zijian also specially asked the leader of the artillery squad directly under the battalion headquarters to attend the meeting.

The meeting was personally presided over by Wu Zijian, and instructor Liu Shu first announced: In view of the fact that Wu Zijian, the deputy battalion commander, has returned to Hongxingxia, Wu will preside over the military affairs of the whole battalion from now on, and the original instructor will be canceled to temporarily act as the commander of the second battalion. Liu Shu was disappointed again to find that this announcement caused quite a lot of fluctuations in the venue, and the look of relief and excitement almost rippled on the faces of every commander. He thought: Well, in the final analysis, he is only a political work cadre, and these military cadres on the front line at the grassroots level obviously respect and trust Wu Zijian more.

Wu Zijian immediately announced that the participants stood in silence for the battalion commander who had just died and all the commanders and fighters of the second battalion of the forest division. At the end of the silence, he admitted in a painful but firm tone the defeat of the anti-night raid battle in the two base areas outside Guanmen Mountain, and emphasized that the defeat is not terrible, but the terrible thing is not knowing where the defeat is. At the same time, the whole battalion was ordered to quickly get rid of the shadow of defeat, boost morale, and prepare for revenge.

Next, Wu Zijian used a temporary door panel to spread it on the table, quickly and briefly made the sand tables of Hekou Village and Xiping Village with stones and sand, and then, starting from the battle of Hekou Village, he reviewed the thrilling anti-night raid battle that happened a few days ago. The battle in Hekou Village was explained by him and Deputy Company Commander Sun of the 8th Company (Deputy Company Commander Sun took two platoons of the 8th Company to catch up with the battle); The battle in Xiping Village was led by Wang Shuanglong, commander of the 6th Company, and Wei Xin, commander of the 7th Company, supplemented by other commanders who participated in the battle. In the battle of Xiping Village, the artillery squad played an outstanding role, used up all the shells, and made great contributions to supporting and covering the defense and retreat of the main force of the battalion.

This lecture took two hours. During this period, Wu Zijian also asked questions, discussed, and polished in detail about the offensive and defensive characteristics and tactical composition of different battle locations, found out the shortcomings, and emphasized the advantages.

Due to the poor lighting in the battalion headquarters, seven or eight lanterns were lit, and the participants of about 20 people surrounded the sand table and all participated in it with concentration. This is a tradition that Wu Zijian has always established when he was a company commander and deputy battalion commander, and he believes that no matter whether the battle is won or lost, it is necessary to find out the cause and effect, otherwise, it will be a confused battle. And his subordinates have also benefited a lot from this immersive review operation for a long time.

Although the instructor Liu Shu gathered around the sand table together, he never said a word; First, in the night battle in Xiping Village, he was basically responsible for directing the evacuation of the rear, and he didn't go to the front line to fight, so he couldn't say anything; Two, at this moment, his mind is far from being in the sand table under his nose, he is thinking about how to come up with a reason to serve the public later, to ensure that he can smoothly take a platoon of elite soldiers and strong generals, escort the prisoners of war of the Japanese cavalry wing away-whether it is Hongxing Gorge, or the villages outside Guanmen Mountain, under the premise of Wu Zijian covering the sky with one hand, there is no future at all! Unless he can ask for Shang Fang's sword from his superiors and reorganize the development policy of the second battalion, he can regroup.

However, it backfired. When Liu Shu proposed a plan to take a platoon and escort Japanese prisoners of war to travel, Wu Zijian immediately preemptively said:

"I personally do not recommend that the instructor lead too many troops to carry out this mission, because it is extremely risky to make a big deal in enemy-occupied areas and there are Japanese prisoners of war in it. Now, I would like to invite all platoon commanders to express their opinions. The instructor is a political cadre, and he is not very experienced in military operations, so I hope you can help come up with ideas! ”

When Liu Shu on the side heard this, he almost fainted.