While the deputy commander of the 2nd Battalion and the captain of the enemy engineer were talking, they walked out of the courtyard gate and inspected the reconstruction operations of the villagers and soldiers in Hekou Village. Seeing the arrival of the commander, the officers and men of the 5th Company greeted each other from time to time, but many villagers only indifferently buried themselves in renovating their houses and did not pay any attention to the Eighth Route Army. Wu Zijian felt sad, and he whispered to Xiao Junping beside him: The common people are too innocent, the Eighth Route Army occupied their village, and it did not bring them any benefits, but it caused the war first; These villagers were once plagued by bandits at the Black Rock Cliff of Guanmen Mountain, and now they have to face the rain of bullets and bullets from the two armies.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Junping responded with a very calm expression: The country is broken by mountains and rivers, under the nest, there are eggs?

Wu Zijian was a little surprised by the indifferent attitude of the enemy captain, but after careful play, he felt that although the words of this former captain of the Jin army were cruel, they were also impeccable. How did the deputy battalion commander of the Eighth Route Army know that during the Battle of Xinkou last year, Xiao Junping had already experienced a cruel baptism of war with the 33rd Army of the Jin Army, which was serving at that time. Compared with the scene of the protracted bloody battle in Xinkou, the one-night catastrophe experienced by this estuary village in front of him is simply insignificant.

"Deputy battalion commander, there is a saying, I don't know whether to say it or not?" After being silent for a moment, Xiao Junping suddenly raised his head and said to Wu Zijian.

"Captain Xiao, what can I avoid from me? You are now the captain of the enemy engineer of the second battalion of our Lin Division, not a staff officer of the Jin Army, the Eighth Route Army has always advocated a democratic style, just say what you have to say! ”

"Okay, you come with me first." Xiao Junping dropped another sentence and walked straight towards the direction of the Qinglong River outside the village. Wu Zijian was at a loss for a while, so he had to take a few steps to keep up. Several soldiers of the battalion headquarters' communications squad, who had never left Wu Zijian's side, were a little nervous when they saw this: At present, the enemy situation in the vicinity is unknown, and the deputy battalion commander and the enemy engineer captain are walking outside the village in broad daylight, and accidents are likely to occur. They discussed it for a while, arranged for one of them, and immediately went to report to several platoon commanders of the 5th Company in the village.

Xiao Junping walked with his head borrowed, walked out of the village, and only stopped after stepping on the Qinglong River, which was covered in ice and snow. Wu Zijian knew Xiao Junping's stubborn temper, so he didn't ask questions on the way, and at this moment, he stood side by side with the captain of the enemy engineer on the bank of the Qinglong River, looking back at Hekou Village, and on their left side was the Guanmen Mountain Pass. Several soldiers from the battalion headquarters communications squad stopped more than a dozen paces away from the two of them, and their eyes vigilantly searched the direction of Fengdian and Nantongpu Road.

Xiao Junping pointed to his feet: "Deputy battalion commander, what do you think this is?" ”

Following the other party's fingers, Wu Zijian looked down and found a dense huge bullet casing, Wu Zijian picked up one: it was the Japanese army's 7.7 caliber bullet - Type 92 heavy machine gun special bullet!

As far as the eye can see, the snow in this area is covered with bullet casings of the same model, and there are countless of them. The deputy commander of the second battalion suddenly remembered: After the anti-night raid battle, Li Tianlin once briefly reported that he had destroyed a heavy machine gun position of the Japanese army under the mountain pass (which should be at the foot of the mountain).

When Xiao Wu's eyes met again, they already knew from their eyes that the other party understood.

"The Japanese army took advantage of the night to quietly establish a heavy machine gun position here, which can be described as ruthless;" Xiao Junping also picked up a 7.7 caliber bullet casing and played with it: "Obviously, they reconnoitred the terrain and situation in advance, and knew that our army had troops stationed separately in Shankou and Hekou Village. And within the range of this heavy machine-gun position, it is precisely the only way to travel between the two garrisons of our army! ”

While listening to Xiao Junping's narration, Wu Zijian looked towards the head of Hekou Village on the other side of the Qinglong River, and then turned his head to look at the Guanmen Mountain Pass on the left, and his heart couldn't help but twitch: The little devil is really vicious! With a few heavy machine guns in this position, no one was able to escape alive from its open and flat firing range.

"I've heard Tianlin say a few words," Wu Zijian fiercely threw the empty bullet casing in his hand into the snow: "At that time, he led your enemy engineer team to climb down from the ravine of the mountain pass in the dark, and crawled close to here to drop the bomb. Well done and relieved! ”

Xiao Junping smiled, and then said with his eyebrows tightened: "Deputy battalion commander, there is a premise that you may not know, I and the 5th company commander were guarding the fortifications above the mountain pass at that time, and we couldn't see the dead end here at all, and we didn't know that the devil had set up a heavy machine gun here. It was several fighters of the 5th Company who were scattered outside the village and retreated to the mountain pass in the dark, only to accidentally break into the Japanese machine-gun position and report to us after escaping. If there is no such episode, I am afraid that when Company Commander Li can't help but lead his troops down the mountain to support you, the heavy machine gun will be fired. ”

In the mind of the deputy commander of the second battalion, he began to imagine how many heavy machine guns (how many will there be?) Looking at the distribution of bullet casings, there should be no less than three) The scene of the collective start, it was definitely an out-and-out massacre! But--Wu Zijian suddenly looked at the enemy engineer captain again--what is it worth Xiao Junping to talk about? Was he tactfully paying tribute to himself?

Perhaps aware of Wu Zijian's doubts, Xiao Junping changed his words and pointed to the mountain pass and Hekou Village and said:

"Deputy battalion commander, you see, these two current garrisons of our army have actually committed a taboo. On the surface, the fortifications of the mountain pass and the defense system of the estuary village can be the horns of each other; However, between the bottom of the mountain pass and the head of Hekou Village, there is an open field, including a river, without any cover or cover, and once the enemy forces blockade this open land with firepower, the two garrisons of our army, one high and one low, are bound to become independent battles, and it is difficult to communicate with each other. ”

Before the enemy engineer captain's voice fell, Wu Zijian already remembered that in the battle against the night attack, the last general attack launched by the Japanese puppet army was to first send heavy machine guns and a team of troops to try to move to the mountain pass and Hekou Village, severing the connection between the two places!

The face of the deputy battalion commander of the Eighth Route Army suddenly became hot: he was also experienced in a hundred battles, but he didn't find such an obvious mistake in the formation. Indeed, at first, all that came to mind was that the two places could be at each other's horns, but they did not calculate how the troops could communicate with each other from such a large open field under the blockade of enemy fire.

"Alas!" Wu Zijian looked up to the sky and sighed, and then looked at the former staff officer of the Jin Army: "Captain Xiao, what you said is so right, it's me who can't survey well!" ”

"With all due respect," Xiao Junping continued to be unrelenting: "We are still too greedy for the houses in Hekou Village, I remember that when the Second Battalion just trekked from the Little Elm Mountain to the village, many officers and soldiers said happily that there are many vacant ready-made houses in the village, and they can be stationed directly, so there is no need to eat and sleep in the open now!" It is precisely this sentiment that influences the commander's decision-making thinking. ”

Wu Zijian nodded vigorously, and began to stomp vigorously on a small snow mound on the ground with one foot. The scene that Xiao Junping said, he also remembers it vividly and vividly; He admired the thin Jin army staff officer in front of him again: at that time, he was really just a wounded Jin army staff officer, who was carried here on a stretcher from Little Elm Mountain by his own order. At that time, the commanders and fighters of the 2nd Battalion (including Wu Zijian himself), who had traveled long distances and suffered hardships, were all overjoyed to discover such an ideal campsite as Hekou Village. Although he once considered that this small village was easy to attack and difficult to defend and was not suitable for garrison, he only ordered the construction of hidden fortifications along the outskirts of the village, and did not consider the hidden danger that the village and the mountain pass would be separated in the event of a fierce battle.

"So, we're going to get out of the village completely?" Wu Zijian asked the captain of the enemy engineer tentatively, and in his mind, he still secretly compared Xiao Junping to his staff officer: This is definitely a wise and competent staff officer.

"What do you think?" Xiao Junping asked a little slyly: "Although Hekou Village was not lightly damaged by Japanese artillery this time, the fortifications are still there, and after so much effort, the deputy battalion commander is willing to give up?" ”

Wu Zijian really hesitated: first, as Xiao Junping said, they had built quite ingenious and strong fortifications on the periphery of Hekou Village, and even if they were partially damaged, they were worth repairing; Second, if all the troops were to be pulled above the mountain pass now, the barracks there would not be enough, and many officers and men would have to start camping again.

But after seeing Xiao Junping with a somewhat naughty smile, Wu Zijian suddenly had an epiphany: Isn't this the reason for making the wrong decision before, how can he look forward to it!

"I have decided that all of them will be pulled up the mountain pass, and I would rather have more difficult conditions, but also ensure the strategic security of the troops first. Besides, what is hardship! When the Eighth Route Army was still called the Red Army, it traveled more than 20,000 miles from Jiangxi to Shaanxi, climbing snow-capped mountains, crossing grasslands, and gnawing tree bark. Compared with the hardships at that time, now pulling a few tents and camping on the mountain pass is just a big deal! ”

This time, the captain of the enemy engineer showed a knowing smile on his face, and he secretly thought: I had heard that a few years ago, the communist army carried out the Long March from their so-called Soviet area, and Chairman Chiang and the major local warlords sent heavy troops to surround and intercept them along the way, and they even survived from the cracks, so they must have their own way of excelling. Hardship, compared with brutal desperateness, can only be regarded as a small thing after all.

Suddenly, Xiao Junping thought of Yan Xishan, the native emperor of Shanxi, from the words "local warlord", and remembered the national defense fortifications built by Chief Yan on the eve of the Anti-Japanese War in the northern part of Shanxi.

"Deputy battalion commander, I still have an idea, maybe we don't have to withdraw from Hekou Village!"