Shanxi, which has just entered April, seems destined to be unquiet at night. At this moment, on the Junfeng Highway from Junling County to Fengdian County, a long line of armed troops is quietly marching.

The not-so-bright moonlight shone down, elongating the figure of each marcher, and also reflecting the standard rifles they carried on the shoulders of their gray cloth uniforms.

The few men in the middle of the line were carrying shell guns in their magazines, which made them look very different from the rest of the line. A middle-aged man surrounded by these men with short guns at the core, with a telescope hanging on his chest, rubbed the frame of the telescope with his hand from time to time as he walked, revealing his love for this Western object.

"Political Commissar Liu, the news from the top soldier squad is that the city wall of Fengdian County can already be seen in front of you!"

A soldier who ran from the front of the line panted to the middle-aged man with a telescope on his chest; The latter looked at the watch on his wrist by the help of the hazy moonlight, then looked up and said:

"The order was given, the troops stopped advancing, all went down the road, and rested near the foot of the mountain; Set off in fifteen minutes and detour to Fengdian City. ”

The long procession quickly rushed to the dark foot of the mountain on the side of the road, which was at the western foot of the Great Elm Mountain, only a few miles away from the county seat of Fengdian in front of it.

The middle-aged man with a telescope on his chest was led by the men with short guns to a section of dead wood lying on the ground, sat on it, and began to beat his calves that were sore and painful from the long journey.

- Political Commissar Liu. This unfamiliar title has only begun to be frequently mentioned by people around me in recent days. Compared to the instructor, the title of political commissar is undoubtedly higher and more powerful.

Liu Shu, the former instructor of the second battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, tasted all this leisurely, with a pleasant smile on his face. Now, his new identity is: Political Commissar of the Guanmen Mountain Dispatch Detachment of the Eighth Route Army Forest Division Xu Brigade.

Recalling the scene when he ran away from the Guanmen Mountain base area and went to find the headquarters of the Lin Division Xu Brigade, Liu Shu, who led the team back today, can definitely be regarded as complacent.

Liu Shu knew that he was very lucky, because it was destined to be an aimless search from the beginning. But God has eyes, he and the eight soldiers of the communication squad of the second battalion headquarters had just gone out to the Zhengtai Road when they heard that a large force of the Eighth Route Army had gathered in Xiyang County (located at the junction of Shanxi and Hebei).

When Liu Shu hurriedly led people over, the legendary Eighth Route Army had already crossed the Zhengtai Railway and drove south.

Later, it was learned that after the Spring Festival, not long after the second battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Lin Division where Liu Shu was served, the main force of the Xu Brigade of the Lin Division and the main force of the Xu Division (that is, the 129th Division, the division commander Xu Xiangqian) jointly advanced to the Zhengtai Road. At the beginning of March, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army ordered the main force of the Xu Division to march to Qinxian and Xiangyuan counties in the southern Taihang Mountains, and the headquarters was moved to other counties at the same time. In mid-March, the main force of the Lin Division's Xu Brigade was also ordered to follow up, starting from Xiyang County and occupying the area of Wuxiang County.

If Liu Shu and the others arrived in Xiyang one day later, they would be completely empty: at that time, the rear guard of the Xu Brigade was about to set off. Liu Shu, who was overjoyed, immediately followed the rearguard troops and stayed near Liao County; A series of reports were written on the situation after the second battalion entered Guanmen Mountain, and the rear guard unit sent people to the Xu Brigade Brigade Headquarters in Wuxiang County.

To Liu Shu's great surprise, the brigade department quickly gave him a written instruction and sent someone to send it back. The content of the instruction is as follows:

First, from now on, the number of the second battalion was withdrawn, and its troops were officially reorganized and renamed: Xu Brigade Guanmenshan Dispatch Detachment, and the detachment was organized at the regimental level;

Second, Wu Zijian was appointed as the head of the detachment, and Liu Shu was appointed as the political commissar of the detachment. The two men must strictly abide by the original established policy of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters on the establishment of anti-Japanese base areas by various departments, inherit the will of Feng Changzhi, the commander of the sacrificial battalion (who has already planned to be recognized as a revolutionary martyr), strengthen unity and cooperation, and lead the detachment to accomplish the glorious task of armed resistance against Japan in the Guanmen Mountain area.

Third, Liu Shu, political commissar of the detachment, received 200 officers and men and light weapons and equipment reinforced by the brigade headquarters in Liao County, and then immediately led the troops back to the Guanmen Mountain base area.

Seeing the beginning of this instruction, Liu Shu's heart was like overturning the five-flavor bottle, and he had mixed feelings. The criticism and punishment he expected against Wu Zijian, the deputy commander of the second battalion, was not reflected in the written instructions, which means that his greatest wish to leave this time has been disappointed. However, the second battalion was reorganized into a dispatch detachment as a whole, and the unit was upgraded to the regimental level, and it itself became a regimental commander from the main battalion. This is undoubtedly a huge surprise.

The good news is that Wu Zijian was not only not punished by his superiors, but was promoted to the captain of the detachment, and his own political commissar of the detachment will be under his leadership in the future! I'm afraid the sad days are still to come.

The situation did not allow Liu Shu to worry too much, and then, he quickly received the team and equipment of 200 people transferred to the detachment in Liao County, a small part of the team members were veterans of the Xu Brigade, and the rest were recruits recruited from the people of the Taihang Mountains in the past month or so. This finally made the mood of the new political commissar very good.

In accordance with the instructions of the brigade headquarters, Liu Shu immediately set off after completing the reception, and went straight west from Liao County to the direction of Junling; Then arrive at Fengdian through Junfeng Highway, and finally bypass Fengdian County to reach the Guanmen Mountain base.

It can be said that as soon as he stepped on the Junfeng Highway, Liu Shu was familiar with the road - that was the route when he led the eight communication squad soldiers to leave, but it was not the same as it used to be.

At this moment, Fengdian County, which was in front of him, reminded Liu Shu, who was sitting on the dead wood, that the destination was really not far away.

Liu Shu did not know that in the area south of Fengdian and west of Guanshan, another thrilling battle had just been fought. The Central Army in the Great Elm Mountain, the Japanese puppet army in Fengdian County, and even the Eighth Route Army in Guanmen Mountain all participated in this battle.

And the reason why he chose to walk at night was out of caution to avoid the surveillance of the enemy army in Fengdian City.

At midnight, Political Commissar Liu Shu and his team successfully bypassed the county seat and rushed to the northern foot of Guanmen Mountain in one go. After resting again, at the dawn of dawn, they arrived at Hekou Village, at the western foot of Guanmen Mountain.

The second battalion of the Xu Brigade was boiling.

The return of the instructors, the joining of the new contingent, and the number of the dispatched detachment have all brought tremendous encouragement to the officers and men who have just experienced the flames of war.

After hearing the news, Wu Zijian rode a horse and led the cavalry company to personally go out to Hekou Village to greet the instructor. Subsequently, a grand welcome ceremony and the establishment ceremony of the Guanmenshan Dispatch Detachment were held in Xiping Village.

In accordance with the instructions of the Xu Brigade Headquarters, the Guanmenshan Dispatch Detachment was a regiment-level unit, and the detachment had three combat battalions under it. Based on this line of thought, after consultation between the detachment commander and the political commissar, the four companies of the second battalion of the original Xu Brigade were merged and adjusted into three battalions, and the troops brought by Liu Shu from Liao County were incorporated into each battalion to disrupt the order.

Li Tianlin, the former commander of the 5th Company, was promoted to chief of staff of the detachment; Wang Shuanglong, the former commander of the 6th Company, Wei Xin, the commander of the 7th Company, and Lu Dajiang, the commander of the 8th Company, were successively promoted to the commanders of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions.

Due to the special circumstances, the establishment of the enemy's engineer corps, cavalry company, and artillery platoon, which was originally under the direct jurisdiction of the battalion headquarters of the second battalion, was changed to be directly under the command of the detachment headquarters.

After the expansion, there are three combat battalions, each of which has jurisdiction over four combat companies; However, considering that the existing strength was insufficient, only Wang Shuanglong's first battalion had four companies, Wei Xin's second battalion had two companies for the time being, and Lu Dajiang's third battalion had one company for the time being.

According to the instructions of the head of the brigade headquarters, the Guanmenshan Dispatch Detachment will be expanded in the local area under the new name from the day it is established, and it is necessary to strive to reach full strength in a short period of time.

At the same time, when interacting with neighboring allies, you should also act cheaply with the new name.

Soon, the newly established Xu Brigade Guanmenshan Dispatch Detachment held its first closed-door meeting of the commanders, which was attended by the detachment commander, political commissar, chief of staff, battalion commanders, and cavalry company commanders.

At the meeting, political commissar Liu Shu first introduced the current situation of the main force of the Lin Division and Xu Brigade. Last year, on the basis of the 687th Regiment and the 688th Regiment, the Xu Brigade expanded a 689 Regiment; At present, under the command of the brigade headquarters, the three regiments have all crossed the Zhengtai Railway and marched into the South Taihang area, roughly distributed in the areas of Liao County, Yushe County, and Wuxiang County, and are connected with the main force of the Xu Division (129th Division) of the Eighth Route Army, and are preparing to hold on to the Taihang Mountain for a long time in the future.

But the next two pieces of news revealed by Liu Shu made everyone's mood complicated and heavy.

One of the pieces of news confirmed the rumor that the division commander Lin Biao was shot and wounded in Xi County, southwest of Shanxi Province, and that the division commander has now been succeeded by Chen Guang, the commander of the Chen Brigade (343 Brigade). Division Commander Lin has been transferred to Yan'an to recuperate. The 343rd Brigade is still fighting in the southwest of Shanxi.

The second piece of news is even more shocking. Zhang Shaodong, commander of the 687th Regiment of the Xu Brigade (344th Brigade), was ordered to lead the whole regiment to occupy Gaoluo Town in late February when the main force of the brigade arrived on the front line of Xiyang; Unexpectedly, during this period, Zhang Shaodong and the chief of staff of the regiment fled with guns and betrayed the revolution. So far, the whereabouts have not fallen. This incident greatly shocked the top brass of the Eighth Route Army. A few days ago, the Xu Brigade Brigade Headquarters had launched a special rectification of the regiment in Wuxiang County, and Zhu De, commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, personally came to the scene to preside over it.

"Comrades, this bloody lesson reminds us that we must never relax ourselves on the road to revolution and must never deviate from the party's command!"

Liu Shu sighed painfully, and a pair of eyes glanced at Wu Zijian sitting beside him from time to time:

"At no time can pure militarism prevail. Zhang Shaodong, as a veteran and excellent commander of the Red Army and the number one commander of the Xu Brigade of our Eighth Route Army, has actually fallen to the point of defection, and we must arouse a high degree of vigilance, and we must never allow similar incidents to be repeated around us! ”