The spies of the 391st Regiment were wandering around the county town of Fengdian, and the scouts of the 2nd Battalion of the Eighth Route Army did not leave.

Xia Lianshan rushed to the outside of Fengdian City with three warriors, they left one person to guard the horses in the old place where they dismounted last time, and Xia Lianshan and the other two mixed into the south gate of the county seat.

The Fukuda Brigade of the Otsuka Wing Unit, which garrisoned the county seat, was not heavily guarded. Perhaps because he had just been reprimanded by the commander of the Hagiwara Akira Brigade not long ago, the Japanese troops who remained in Fengdian had greatly restrained the unscrupulousness of the massacre of the city, and did not harass the people in the city, including those who entered and exited the city gates.

Xia Lianshan and the two soldiers observed and recorded the number, strength and firepower of the Japanese troops defending the city, and at the same time cautiously asked the merchants in the city about the address of his sister Xia Lily. Because Xia Lily was married when Xia Lianshan was in northern Shaanxi, it was only in the family letter brought from the Xia family's old house that he learned that his sister married into Fengdian, and her husband's family was also in the cloth and silk business. He asked others about Xia Lily, but after Xia Lily married into the king's shopkeeper's house, she didn't show up, and the business of the family's cloth village was taken care of by men, so few people knew Xia Lily's name.

After much difficulty, Xia Lianshan finally found several cloth and satin stores in the city, but all of them were tragically looted in the previous massacre. There is no way to follow this clue to find the family of the sister who married. However, from the private conversations of many people in the city, Xia Lianshan had already understood the brutality of the Japanese army's massacre of the city, and he had a strong sense of foreboding about the safety of his sister's family.

After patrolling the city for two days, Xia Lianshan first sent a soldier out of the city to report the basic situation of the Japanese troops garrisoning the county seat back to the second battalion of Guanmen Mountain; On the fourth day, Xia Lianshan really didn't dare to delay any longer, so he had to go out of the city and return.

Xia Lianshan's group has returned, and the reconnaissance team sent by Wu Zijian to Wencheng and Lingshi along Tongpu Road has also returned. Comprehensive intelligence shows that the Japanese army has occupied Fengdian and Wencheng one after another, and the main force is assembling at the Wencheng Railway Station to prepare to move south to Lingshi County. In view of the fact that conveying the news of the Japanese army's massacre of Fengdian to the commanders and fighters at present is not conducive to stabilizing the morale of the army, the battalion headquarters decided not to spread for the time being.

At this moment, the three companies of the Second Battalion of the Eighth Route Army had been stationed in Guanmen Mountain Pass and Hekou Village for several days, and since the existing civilian houses were not enough to accommodate so many men and horses, most of the officers and men could only sleep in the open. Wu Zijian suggested that two companies should be immediately organized to march to Xiping, a dozen miles south of Hekou Village, where the situation had already been ascertained in advance and was suitable for the main force to be stationed. However, Liu Shu objected, and he advocated that a decision should be made after the reconnaissance team sent by Wu Zijian returned, according to the distribution of Japanese troops and friendly forces in the vicinity. Battalion commander Feng Changzhi weighed again and again and decided to support the instructor's approach.

The 2nd Battalion, as a unit of the Lin Division, was overstaffed from top to bottom when it was first reorganized by the Red Army from the Nationalist Government. The strength of the entire Lin Division reached 15,000 men, and it was organized into two brigades and four regiments by the Military Commission, which meant that after removing the personnel directly under the division headquarters, brigade headquarters, and regimental headquarters, the number of people in each brigade was close to 7,000, the number of people in each regiment was close to 3,005, and the number of soldiers in one battalion reached more than 1,000.

Taking Feng Changzhi's second battalion as an example, the battalion headquarters has more than 70 people under its direct jurisdiction, including a guard platoon, a communications squad, and a logistics and health team; The four companies under its jurisdiction had 2450 men in each company, each in six platoons, and each platoon had more than 40 men. Such an establishment is very rare in the sequence of the national army after the reorganization of the army. However, because Chairman Chiang was worried that Yan'an's power would grow, he limited and reduced the establishment of the Eighth Route Army (Eighteenth Group Army) from the beginning, and the Red Army, which numbered more than 40,000 people, was only assigned the number of three divisions.

At present, Feng Changzhi and Wu Zijian led a battalion of 1,000 people, except for the 8th Company remaining in the deep mountains, the 5th, 6th, and 7th companies, totaling more than 800 people, were stationed in the narrow Hekou Village and the area around the mountain pass, which was extremely conspicuous. Therefore, when the reconnaissance team returned one after another, Feng, Liu, and Wu immediately held a meeting to study the direction of the next division of troops.

Since the three reconnaissance teams were all sent by Wu Zijian, they naturally returned to him first after returning; Whenever he got the information brought back by a team, Wu Zijian always reported it to Xiao Junping, a staff officer of the Jin army who lived in the same room; Based on the intelligence of the reconnaissance team and the movements he had when he was at the headquarters of the 12th Independent Brigade, Xiao Junping made a judgment on the current military situation in this area, marked it on the map hand-drawn by Xia Lianshan and corrected by himself, and handed it to Wu Zijian.

Wu Zijian was very angry and showed this map at the battalion headquarters meeting.

Feng Changzhi was surprised and delighted, and almost lay his head on the map and looked at it greedily; Liu Shu only glanced at it a few times, and then asked Wu Zijian:

"So, for all the current military affairs of my battalion, the deputy battalion commander still has no reservations about the Jin army staff officer?"

Wu Zijian was in a good mood, he didn't care about the unfriendliness in the instructor's words, but pointed to the map and said:

"Instructor, to be honest, our current map is not much worse than Yan Laoxi's professional map of the Jin Army! Moreover, the distribution of enemy and friendly forces is almost always up-to-date and accurate. This Staff Officer Xiao is indeed not an ordinary talent. ”

"I've already studied it with the battalion commander," Liu Shu sighed and said calmly, "When Staff Officer Xiao's injuries improve, I will send him back to the Jin army." From today onwards, I will not inform him of the situation in our battalion. ”

Indeed, in the past few days at the foot of the mountain, Liu Shu has basically reached a consensus with the battalion commander on this matter. just saw Wu Zijian and Xiao Junping getting along day and night, so he didn't mention it to him for the time being.

Wu Zijian smiled slightly: "The latest information, the 12th Brigade of the Independent Brigade has abandoned Fengdian and Wencheng City Defense, and its current whereabouts are unknown, and Staff Officer Xiao has nowhere to go." He himself knows this. ”

Liu Shu was stunned, looked at Wu Zijian, and didn't say anything for a while: Could it be that this staff officer of the Jin Army really plans to stay in the ranks of the Eighth Route Army? In his mind, the scene of Zhang Xiu, the secretary of the battalion headquarters, having a warm conversation with that staff officer Xiao, suddenly appeared. The instructor's brow furrowed.

"Not bad, pretty good!" Feng Changzhi, who had been immersed in reading the map, didn't pay attention to the communication between the instructor and the deputy battalion commander on the side, and couldn't help but look at the map and praise at the moment: "After we arrived at Guanmen Mountain, we have been isolated from the outside. ”

The scope of this map stretches from Junling in the north, to Linfen in the south of Jinnan, from the Tongpu railway line in the west to Guanmen Mountain in the east. According to the annotation on the map, at present, Fengdian County is the Futian Brigade of the Japanese Otsuka Wing, and Wencheng is the main force of the Otsuka Wing of the Japanese Army; In addition, a large number of Japanese troops from Taiyuan were stationed at Wencheng Railway Station and nearby villages along the railway; On the Tongpu Road south of Wencheng, there are stationed in turn: the 17th Army of the Central Army of Lingshi County, the 15th Army of the Central Army of Han Xinling, the 14th Army of the Central Army of Huo County, and the 61st Army and the 71st Division of the Jin Army in Linfen of the Governor's Department of the Second World War Zone; Guanmen Mountain, the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army Forest Division. In addition, the 391st Regiment of the Central Army and the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army are currently missing, and the possibility of being stationed nearby cannot be ruled out.

Wu Zijian explained that the distribution of the Central Army and the Jin Army was recalled by Staff Officer Xiao when he was in the 12th Brigade with reference to the report of the Headquarters of the Second War Zone, and the distribution of the Japanese army was the return of the reconnaissance team sent by the 2nd Battalion. Moreover, according to Staff Officer Xiao, the armies of the Central Army along the Tongpu Road were only one part of the army, not the main force of the army.

After learning about the situation of the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army, Feng Changzhi suddenly asked Wu Zijian:

"Old Wu, in your opinion, the 12th Brigade is gone, will Staff Officer Xiao stay with us?"

As a result of seeing Xiao Junping's ability again, the battalion commander obviously had hope for the staff of the Jin Army again.

"I don't think it's a big problem, first, Staff Officer Xiao was not originally from the 12th Brigade of the Du, he was originally from the 33rd Army of the Jin Army, and the 33rd Army was disabled by the Japanese, so he was exiled to the 12th Brigade of Du; Second, he saw with his own eyes the unambiguity of the Eighth Route Army's fight against devils, and he had a good impression of us. ”

Wu Zijian said as he looked at the battalion commander and the instructor at the same time, and he noticed that an imperceptible expression of impatience passed over Liu Shu's face.

Of course, Feng Changzhi was also aware of the instructor's attitude towards the staff officers of the Jin Army, and he said to him with some flattery: "Instructor, I think that if Staff Officer Xiao trains in our battalion for half a year and a year, he will definitely be able to become a qualified soldier of the Eighth Route Army. ”

"Warrior?!" Liu Shu finally couldn't hold it back: "Battalion commander, I still say the same thing, he Xiao is a captain of the national army, will he stay in the second battalion as a soldier?" Deputy Battalion Commander Wu, tell me about it? ”

Wu Zijian replied with a big grin: "Why do you want to be a warrior? With the level and ability of Staff Officer Xiao, it shouldn't be a problem to be a company commander in the second battalion, right? ”

Liu Shu was furious and was about to attack immediately - as the political commander of the second battalion, he could not tolerate a Kuomintang officer leading a company of the second battalion, not a platoon and a squad!

Feng Changzhi had discussed this issue with the instructor before, so he hurriedly spoke to appease the latter: "Forget it, the military situation is urgent, Staff Officer Xiao let it go in advance, let's hurry up and deploy the team, seven or eight hundred people are gathered in a small village, and there are enemy troops and friendly troops nearby, it is not a long-term solution." ”

Wu Zijian also felt that it was difficult to convince the instructor to change his prejudice against the staff officers of the Jin Army for a while, but fortunately, Xiao Junping could not go anywhere at the moment, and he could stay by his side and do his work slowly.

Immediately, the three made arrangements in light of the current situation and situation, and battalion commander Feng Changzhi and instructor Liu Shu led the battalion headquarters and the 6th and 7th companies to Xiping Village immediately. Wu Zijian, deputy battalion commander, with 5 companies, stayed in Hekou Village and Guanmen Mountain Pass; and is responsible for contacting the 8th Company of Hongxing Gorge in Guanmen Mountain. The first task of each company was to establish a defensive zone and find a place to live; Mobilize the local masses to support the Eighth Route Army. At the same time, the movements of the Japanese troops in the vicinity were closely monitored, and each company was not allowed to take the initiative to attack the Japanese troops without the collective decision of the battalion commander.

Liu Shu proposed to take the radio away, but Wu Zijian insisted: The parts of the radio are currently damaged, and they must be repaired at any time before they can be listened to normally, and Xiao Junping is the only one in the battalion who knows how to repair it, so it is better to stay here to play the role of the radio. Liu Shu glared, doubting the authenticity of the deputy battalion commander's words, and Feng Changzhi made a round from it: let Staff Officer Xiao hurry up and repair it, and after it is completely repaired, it will be sent to the battalion headquarters.

Wu Zijian smiled proudly. At the moment, he got almost everything he wanted: the main company, the defense area, the staff of the Jin army, the military horses, the map, the radio. The deputy battalion commander was very satisfied, and next, he was going to throw off his arms and do a big job. The instructor saw some signs in his smile, and before leaving, he warned Wu Zijian:

"Deputy Battalion Commander Wu, remember, without the collective decision of the three commanders of the battalion headquarters, you must not mobilize any troops and take the initiative to attack the Japanese army!"