On the night of the Japanese puppet army's large-scale sneak attack on the foot of Guanmen Mountain, unlike Wu Zijian's side of Hekou Village, who luckily held the last position, the defense line of Xiping Village collapsed on the whole line, and the main force of the Second Battalion of the Eighth Route Army Forest Division was finally forced to abandon the village and retreat into the Guanmen Mountain Pass in a hurry.

The battalion commander Feng Changzhi was shot unconscious on the bank of the Qinglong River in the village, and Wei Xin, the commander of the 7th Company, asked the frightened instructor to protect the battalion commander's stretcher and withdraw to the mountain first, while he himself personally led the rest of the 7th Company to deploy at the mountain pass, waiting for the arrival of the 6th Company, which was still blocking the Japanese army on the bank of the Qinglong River. When he finally saw Wang Shuanglong, the commander of the 6th Company, fighting and retreating, and reaching the mountain pass, the guns pursued by the Japanese army were also approaching.

The Tyumen Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Army, which launched a fierce attack, was still struggling to pursue and kill after the Eighth Route Army retreated to the mountain pass because the heavy task of rescuing the prisoners of war of the cavalry wing of the division and regiment did not come to fruition. The pass of Guanmen Mountain, where Xiping Village is backed, is not only flat but also quite open, and is basically unsafe.

Soon, letting go of the comrades-in-arms of the 6th Company, Wei Xin's 7th Company only blocked for a few minutes, and was loosened by the dense firepower of the Japanese army.

By the moonlight, a large number of Japanese soldiers swarmed into the mountain pass, and continued to chase after them, firing bullets like locusts.

Wei Xin seized this favorable terrain and quickly deployed all the 7 companies nearby, turned back and opened fire condescendingly, relying on the geographical advantage and the strafing of two light machine guns—one Czech and one crooked, and the other crooked one failed to withdraw in time when it was responsible for blocking the village just now—and finally stabilized the defensive line.

The Japanese captain Tyuming Shaozo, who personally commanded the pursuit, saw that the Eighth Route Army had found and occupied a blocking position that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and was repulsed after ordering several attacks, and only one squadron of troops he brought into the mountains was obviously difficult to achieve a breakthrough; So he informed the chief of staff of the river by walkie-talkie.

Hebian Dazuo, who had already raised troops to occupy the entire Xiping village and began to clean up the battlefield and search for cavalry prisoners of war, looked at the time and felt that it was no longer meaningful to pursue any further, and that it would only increase the casualties of the Tyumen brigade, so he ordered the troops to be collected from the mountain pass.

Seeing that the Japanese army began to retreat under the moonlight, Wei Xin, the commander of the 7th Company, who had fought a vicious battle for a long time, finally breathed a sigh of relief. But he did not dare to leave the camp in the same way, lest the Japanese turn around and pursue again. Only one platoon was sent to catch up with the battalion headquarters and the 6th company, which had already gone away, so as to facilitate contact; He took the remaining more than 100 people and continued to hold on to the spot for nearly an hour. It was not until before dawn that the Japanese would not come again for the time being, and the exhausted commander of the 7th Company ordered everyone to evacuate.

During this time, Liu Shu took the battalion headquarters and some officers and soldiers of the recruit company, as well as the 6th company, and kept moving into the mountains all night. The instructors of the 2nd Battalion of the Lin Division did not know that the pursuit of the Japanese army had stopped; He just gave the order to rush the march. The villagers and guides of Xiping Village who led the way could not figure out the specific location of the so-called Hongxing Gorge of the Eighth Route Army in Guanmen Mountain (the name was given by the instructor Liu Shu himself), and the commanders and fighters could only mention that the troops had marched from Hongxing Gorge and went back and forth in and out of Guanmen Mountain, which was located in Hekou Village.

The only time they stopped was to find that the battalion commander, Feng Changzhi, was not breathing.

During the retreat, the people of the health squad had been doing their best to treat the battalion commander's injuries, however, four or five heavy machine gun bullets had been fired into Feng Changzhi's waist and abdomen, and the severity of the injuries far exceeded the existing treatment capacity of the health squad. When the health squad leader found that the battalion commander was no longer breathing, he had to cry out "instructor" in grief.

The whole team stopped, and the commanders and fighters, including Liu Shu, who were surrounding the battalion commander's stretcher, all cried loudly. The cry soon infected the teams in front and behind, and the windy valley was filled with a thick atmosphere of grief and sadness.

This pause allowed the platoon sent by Wei Xin, the commander of the 7th Company, to evacuate first to catch up with the main force.

From the soldiers of this platoon, Liu Shu learned that the Japanese army's pursuit was blocked by the commander of Wei Company, and the Japanese army had begun to retreat from the newly established blocking position of the 7th Company, and it seemed that they had the intention of withdrawing their troops. The instructor felt a little more relieved, but since he was not sure whether the Japanese army had really collected their troops, after a moment of stagnation, he ordered the troops to continue marching—taking with them the body of the battalion commander Feng Changzhi.

The area in front of him is even more ravines and ravines, and Liu Shu, who is unfamiliar with the place, feels safe at this moment, is the Hongxing Gorge where the second battalion once camped and there is still a company stationed there. The battalion commander was sacrificed, the troops suffered heavy losses, and he was currently the supreme commander of the second battalion of the Lin Division, and he had to take the team to Hongxing Gorge to recuperate.

What's going on over there in Kawaguchi?!

Thinking of Hekou Village, thinking of the 5th Company, and thinking of Wu Zijian, the deputy battalion commander, Liu Shu couldn't help but feel angry from his heart. This unorganized and undisciplined Wu Zijian repeatedly attacked the Japanese army without authorization, and finally caused retaliation and caused evil consequences, and the good situation in the two base areas outside Guanmen Mountain was completely lost overnight! The battalion commander was killed, a large number of soldiers were killed, the work achievements of the Field Mobilization Committee were in vain, the recruit company was almost disintegrated, and a large number of baggage losses were discarded. I don't know how long it will take to recover from this heavy blow!

And Hongxing Gorge, although it is the safest and most reliable stronghold at the moment, the environment in that area is very bad (otherwise how could the second battalion pull the main force out of the mountain from there in the first place?). It is far from being comparable to the rich plain villages at the foot of the mountain, not to mention that there were fierce bandits in that area before, and there was a record of firefighting with Lu Dajiang's 8th Company. The road ahead is long and the prospects are bleak, instructor Liu Shu can't help but be disheartened, sighing and crying secretly.

Knowing this, he should have insisted on removing or demoting Wu Zijian last time, and did not give him the right to command the troops, which would save him from supporting the army and respecting himself! There is also the battalion commander - it is said that the comrades who have died should not be blamed - but if it were not for the battalion commander who repeatedly did not adhere to principles and protect Wu Zijian, it would not have caused today's tragic situation!

Liu Shu recalled these old things upset, and made up his mind that as long as Wu Zijian was not killed, he would definitely be dismissed and investigated this time! The battalion commander is gone, and he is the top leader of the party organization of the second battalion, and no one can stop him from punishing Wu Zijian this time!

The instructor thought of Zhang Xiu, so he instructed the battalion commander next to him to immediately find Zhang Xiu - during the march just now, she had been helping the people in the health class to take care of the wounded - Liu Shu felt that it was necessary to communicate this matter privately with Zhang Xiu first, so that she could be mentally prepared and stand on her side in advance.

At this time, Wang Shuanglong, the commander of the 6th company, hurriedly ran up and reminded the instructor whether to slow down the march. Second, it is necessary to wait for the 7th Company team responsible for the break: Wei Xin has no local guide there, and the terrain in Guanmen Mountain is so complex and treacherous, if the main force marches too fast, it is easy to cause the 7th Company to fall behind.

Liu Shu did not agree, pointing out that at present, the overall safety of the main force of the second battalion should be taken seriously, and before the safe arrival of Hongxing Gorge, the danger has not been completely lifted, and it is not advisable to stay too much on the way. Wang Shuanglong gritted his teeth and proposed that a number of liaison groups could be considered along the way to appropriately pick up the 7th Company in the direction of the coming road, but Liu Shu also impatiently vetoed it.

Wang Shuanglong had no choice but to give up - the style of the instructor was completely different from that of the battalion commander and the deputy battalion commander, and it had always been difficult for him to communicate with him.

But the 6th company commander still had a faint sense of foreboding, after all, the road he had just walked was too difficult to identify, and if there was no unified guide to guide him, Wei Xin and his more than 100 people were likely to turn or even take the wrong route.

In fact, Wang Shuanglong's worries really came true!

Wei Xin, the commander of the 7th Company, has been chasing the main force since he withdrew from the temporary blocking position with his people. He didn't expect that under Liu Shu's urging, the main force would march so fast. The leading spearhead hurried blindly, and before they had traveled five miles, they embarked on another rugged mountain road that diverged from the main force in front.

By the time Wei Xin realized that he might get lost, the sky had already dawned, standing on a mountain beam, looking around, between the vast peaks and valleys, where was the shadow of the main force?! They could only judge the direction of the southeast, northwest, and northwest based on the afterglow of the morning sun that could barely be seen and hid on the side of the mountain beam, but since even the fellow guides of Xiping Village couldn't figure out the specific location of Hongxing Gorge, the more than 100 pure outsiders of the Eighth Route Army Forest Division were even more helpless and helpless in front of the mountain in front of them.

A cold sweat broke out on Wei Xin's back - the battle at night was rushed and tragic, and the officers and soldiers of the 7th Company barely carried any food, drinking water and cold protection with them at this time, except for weapons and ammunition; If you get lost in Guanmen Mountain, then the commanders and fighters who are already cold and hungry are afraid that they won't even be able to survive tonight! Not to mention the wounded.

A platoon commander proposed to fire continuous gunfire to get in touch with the main force. Wei Xin hesitated for a moment and did not take it. Obviously, firing a gun may be able to contact the main force, but it is also likely to draw the enemy forces in. Although the Japanese pursuers returned to the direction of the mountain pass at night, did they know that they were not to avoid the night and continue to enter the mountain after dawn to pursue the Eighth Route Army?

When Wei Xin was in Xiping Village at night, he had already learned what happened to Zhang Xiu, a female soldier of the battalion headquarters, in the village office, and also knew that the Japanese had sent a small force to try to rescue the cavalry of the captured Sena Division. If this night attack by the Japanese army was related to this rescue operation, then they would definitely not give up on this, because Wei Xin knew that the battalion headquarters had escorted the Japanese cavalry prisoners into the mountain pass in advance at the same time as the battalion headquarters was transferred.

"Let the spearmen go as far north as possible!"

The commander of the 7th Company, who was at a loss while standing on the mountain beam, finally made up his mind. He also judged that the so-called Hongxing Gorge must be in the north of Guanmen Mountain based on the previous march from Hongxing Gorge to Hekou Village.

"Let's see if we can get lucky enough to meet the locals in the mountains and let them lead us the way."

But Wei Xin's prediction was wrong, and his spearhead soldiers did encounter the locals in the mountains, but those locals were not fellow villagers, but heavily armed bandits from Guanmen Mountain.