The reason why the reconnaissance team of Zhao Mutou's special service company was the first to return to the Xiaozhai regiment headquarters in the Great Elm Mountain was, of course, due to the deliberate arrangement of the regiment commander Qin Zhongxiao.

When the main force of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army was still crowded on the narrow Junfeng Highway at night, Qin Zhongxiao decisively ordered Zhao Mutou to lead his subordinates to take the lead in retreating into the mountain pass of Da Yushu Mountain. In the eyes of the colonel of the Central Army, the whole regiment risked the death tonight to attack in order to receive and rescue the reconnaissance team of the special service company that had infiltrated the Japanese military blockade area in Little Elm Mountain; If these spies who have touched the important information make a mistake on the battlefield, all the efforts and sacrifices of the 391st Regiment will be meaningless.

Of course, on this night, the luck of the entire 391st Regiment was extremely good, especially after the Japanese cut off the shortcut from the northern suburbs of Fengdian County to the camp at Big Elm Mountain, and the whole regiment was squeezed onto the cramped Junfeng Highway. On that simple road, which was like a bellows with towering cliffs on both sides, if it was intercepted by the Japanese army from both ends, there would be only one dead end waiting for Qin Tuanzuo and his subordinates.

But they miraculously escaped.

After the spy company escaped into the mountain pass, the colonel of the Central Army insisted on sending off the artillery company and the main battalion, and then followed the first battalion into the mountain pass of the Great Elm Mountain. During the laborious march in the mountains, he finally received a report from the second battalion of the rear that all the troops of the rear detachment, including the chief of staff, had successfully entered the mountains.

The Japanese army once had a force stubbornly following and tracking, but it was constantly blocked and ambushed by Zhang Hong's own hands. The complex terrain of Great Elm Mountain is obviously more favorable to the blockers. Repeatedly attacked by surprise on the dim mountain road, the Japanese troops who were chasing after them finally lost their courage and confidence, and gave up and stopped tracking.

At this point, the midnight attack of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army came to an end. The whole army made a big circle around the Great Elm Mountain with difficulty, and returned to their respective camps centered on Xiaozhai at dawn.

As soon as he entered the regiment headquarters, the first thing Qin Zhongxiao saw was also a female major in civilian clothes. Just as he warmly greeted the commander of the spy company just now, Wang Suihua also welcomed the safe return of the Tuanzao adults with a smile.

Compared with the irritable and hectic when the emergency mobilization was mobilized to attack the mountains at night, the colonel of the Central Army and the female major of the military commander became gentle and elegant in the sweet air of the morning, and Wang Suihua even took the initiative to shake Qin Zhongxiao's hand.

"Major Wang didn't close his eyes all night?" Finding the bloodshot in Wang Suihuaxiu's eyes, Qin Zhongxiao showed a little cramped and uneasy: "What about the wood? Didn't this kid come back first? He didn't report to you? ”

"I've seen it a long time ago, I see that the people in the reconnaissance team are too tired, so I let them wash and eat first." Wang Suihua still explained with a smile.

Qin Zhongxiao said apologetically that when he received the Zhao Mutou reconnaissance team at night, the Japanese were in a hurry, so they didn't bother to inquire in detail: "But don't worry, this kid should have caught dry goods in Little Elm Mountain." Otherwise, the Japanese troops in the mountains would never have made a big move to chase them down in a hurry. ”

"It also depends on the wisdom of the regiment and decisively sends a large army to respond, otherwise, Company Commander Zhao and they will not be able to escape from the tiger's mouth!"

Once again, he was praised from the bottom of his heart by the beautiful female major of the military commander, and the colonel of the Central Army, who had been tired for most of the night, suddenly felt much refreshed.

After a few more pleasantries, they decided to go separately to rest and have breakfast first, and at 9 o'clock in the morning, Qin Zhongxiao, Wang Suihua, Zhao Mutou and their subordinates of the reconnaissance team would gather together for a meeting to report relevant information.

Chief of Staff Zhang Hong took the initiative not to participate in the intelligence meeting, one took the initiative to "avoid suspicion" (the female major of the military commander has always been secretive about the intelligence of Little Elm Mountain, and obviously does not want more people to know), and the other is that he also wants to spare energy to concentrate on inspecting and deploying the defense of Big Elm Mountain - this past night, although the 391st Regiment of the Central Army took the initiative to attack the Japanese army, whether the opponent will carry out a retaliatory counterattack and send troops into Big Elm Mountain to clean up and sweep must be dealt with in advance.

"It's necessary, you have to prepare for the worst;" The colonel of the Central Army was very satisfied with the thoroughness of the chief of staff: "After all, yesterday afternoon, the Japanese dispatched heavy troops to attack Xiping Village of the Xu Brigade Detachment of the Eighth Route Army. It's hard to say that in the devil's sweeping plan, our Great Elm Mountain was not included! ”

"Even if we weren't included at first, but at night we sent the main force of the whole regiment to Fengdian County and Little Elm Mountain to make such a big fuss, the Japanese will not let us go easily;" Zhang Hong said worriedly: "After we entered the mountain from the mountain pass of Junfeng Highway at night, the chasing soldiers behind the devil were at least a squadron, and they chased the mountain road for almost three or four miles before they were very unwilling to withdraw the troops. ”

"Inform all forward positions and observation posts to be on full alert within forty-eight hours; In addition, the communications platoon of the regiment headquarters urgently arranged for telephone lines to check the lines at various places, and it was necessary to keep the telecommunications unimpeded. ”

"Yes, Tuanza!"

After nine o'clock, in the war room of the 391st Regiment headquarters in Xiaozhai, the previously scheduled personnel, including the colonel of the Central Army and the female major of the military commander, began the intelligence briefing.

In addition to the company commander Zhao Mutou, there were also four representatives of the reconnaissance team in the special service company, three of whom were soldiers of the special service company who had the honor of personally entering the Japanese military blockade area of Xiaoyushu Mountain.

Zhao Mutou's young face could not hide his tiredness, and at his request, the participants all gathered around the huge combat sand table. On that sand table, there are landmarks centered on Fengdian County, including Big and Small Elm Mountains and Guanmen Mountain, and as far as Wencheng on Tongpu Road.

"Tuanzuo, Major Wang, the internal terrain of the small elm mountain on this sand table is not quite the same as what our reconnaissance team saw on the spot, I will try to use it as a comparison." The commander of the spy company poked the outline of Little Elm Mountain with a slender wooden stick and said.

Wang Suihua's heart moved, and she immediately stopped the other party's words, and turned to Qin Zhongxiao beside her to ask his staff officers to bring cardboard, white paper and drawing pencils. Then she put the white paper on the cardboard, and the pencil was ready to draw a map closer to the restoration according to the dictation of the scouts.

So, Zhao Mutou gave a lecture, and several of his subordinates added it according to their own memories. Ten minutes later, a topographic map of the southern mountainous area of Little Elm Mountain (focusing on the area of the Japanese military blockade) appeared on the paper of the female major of the military commander, and it came to life. Qin Zhongxiao, who was standing beside Wang Suihua, couldn't help but sincerely admire the other party's drawing skills.

From this map, in the military blockade area south of Xiaoyushu Mountain, the abandoned site of the Songjiagou Coal Mine and the Songjiagou Railway Station are almost in the center of the blockade area. According to Zhao Mutou's personal observation, the Songjiagou coal mine was dug at the root of a hill two or three hundred meters above sea level, standing on the top of the hill and looking south, the open-air platform of the railway station was about a mile away from the coal mine. In the middle of the railway station and the former coal mine site, a large camp is now fenced off with barbed wire, and the barracks built in a unified system can be faintly seen in the camp, mainly arranged horizontally; There are a few longitudinal arrangements on one of the sides.

In front of the platform of the railway station, there seems to be a locomotive parked with carriages on it.

Listening to the narration of the special agent company commander and his subordinates, the pencil in his hand rustled and drawn, but the heart of the female major of the military commander had already beaten more and more violently - especially when the locomotive described as carrying a carriage appeared on the platform of the Songjiagou Railway Station, Wang Suihua's hand holding the pencil even began to tremble imperceptibly.

Take your time, take your time! - The female major of the military commander strongly restrained her excitement. She first showed the topographic map in her hand to the officers and men of the special service company, and repeatedly asked, established, and corrected until all parties felt that it was more appropriate. It wasn't until the topographic map of the Songjiagou Coal Mine area was basically finalized that she began to ask Zhao Mutou and the three soldiers of the special service company who had climbed over the barrier into the military blockade area and exchanged fire with the Japanese to correspond and point out the map one by one, reviewing what happened during the night.

The three soldiers were lucky enough to escape from the military blockade area, and their squad leader was martyred on the spot—as she said this, Wang Suihua noticed the painful expression on the face of the young spy company commander, and also heard Colonel Qin's heavy sigh.

The place where the four-man reconnaissance team risked death should be located on the east side of the Songjiagou coal kiln and the Songjiagou railway station, where the Japanese had deployed defensive forces and were stationed in military tents set up in the same place in peacetime.

A more valuable discovery was the reconnaissance team led by Zhao Mutou himself, who established two important circumstances through a condescending visual inspection on the top of the hill: first, a well-guarded militarized camp was set up between the railway station and the coal kiln; Second, there is now a train parked on the platform of the railway station.

"There's something quite strange," Zhao Mutou said, scratching the back of his head: "At that time, squad leader Zhang and the others were found out and forced to open fire, and the Japanese immediately sounded the alarm in the blockade area; As soon as the sirens sounded, I could clearly see that almost all the lights in the barbed wire camp were quickly extinguished - until we withdrew from the top of the hill, the camp lights were not back on. ”

The female major of the military commander frowned, looked directly at Zhao Mutou, and asked silently.

"Well, my understanding is that ground lighting control will only be implemented when there is an air raid and the sirens are sounded; But what happened at night was obviously a ground attack, why did the lights in the camp go out in an instant? The little devil's approach is incomprehensible......"

"To hide people's eyes." Wang Suihua followed the words of the spy company commander and muttered softly. The colonel of the Central Army, who was close at hand, heard this, but he did not say anything to interrupt.

"Company Commander Zhao, now let's talk about the military train parked on the platform."

"Columns?" Zhao Mutou was stunned by Wang Suihua's judgment: "I didn't say that it was a military train - because the distance was too far at that time, and the sky was dark, I could only see through the lights on the platform in the telescope, and I could barely see that it was a train, with the front and carriage." ”

"Wood, use your brain to think about it," this time Qin Zhongxiao finally couldn't help but speak: "In the heavily guarded military blockade area of the Japanese, the train parked at the railway station, is it still a coal carrier if it is not a military train?!" ”