The cavalry company led by Xia Lianshan galloped all the way out of the head of Xiping Village; He was worried that he would encounter a Japanese interception in the direction of the village, but the light cavalry eventually ran unhindered into the night.

Xia Lianshan, who was born as the deputy commander of the 5th Company, was particularly worried about the situation of the 5th Company at this moment. A messenger sent by Deputy Battalion Commander Wu to report the news said that it was the Mongolian cavalry that had been severely attacked by five companies that had attacked Hekou Village. However, before leaving just now, the battalion commander personally told him that the Japanese army would account for a very large proportion of the enemy troops who came to attack the two base areas of the 2nd Battalion tonight, and he must be prepared to fight to the death.

"Lianshan, remember, everything is about preserving the vital force," after Xia Lianshan had already turned over and mounted his horse, Feng Changzhi still tugged on the reins of his horse, raised his head and admonished: "The cavalry is a plain battle, the target is obvious, and it is easy to be exposed to the enemy's strike vision. If the situation was critical, the whole company would rather abandon the horses than try to take the soldiers to the mountains. As long as there are people, sooner or later the horses will be able to pull them back. ”

From the battalion commander's solemn words, Xia Lianshan really realized the seriousness of the situation. Into the mountains? Need to go into the mountains? He had walked the mountain road leading to the Hongxing Gorge of Guanmen Mountain, and he knew very well that it was difficult for horses to walk on such a rugged mountain road. If you go into the mountains, you almost have to give up your horses.

A cavalry company that has just been formed! Xia Lianshan couldn't help but feel a tingling pain in his heart, and at the same time, he was more and more worried about the battle situation in Hekou Village. With such complicated thoughts, the cavalry company commander took the lead and led the team behind him to gallop through the wasteland at night.

Suddenly, the sound of artillery rang out ahead; Through the transmission of the west wind, the cavalry could clearly hear it, and at the same time, they all guessed that the cannon sound was coming from the village of Hekou, which was a few miles away. They rode faster.

The cavalry guessed correctly, the cannon sound was coming from the wilderness north of Hekou Village, and the Japanese Type 92 infantry guns were wielding. But when the seventy-odd horsemen ran to the south entrance of Hekou Village, the sound of artillery stopped.

Xia Lianshan turned back and stopped the march of the cavalry company, and they stood on horseback, listening to the movement of this small village close at hand.

However, there was no movement. The village of Kawaguta, whose silhouette was barely visible in the dark night, was silent, and it was hard to believe that there was a battle here if it had not been for the roaring of artillery that had just been heard.

"Dismount in a row!" Xia Lianshan gave an order in a low voice. There were two platoons of cavalry companies, each platoon of more than 30 people, and he let the second platoon turn the reins of his horses and retreated a few dozen steps, while the first platoon of people walked towards several houses at the end of the village, and one of the platoons was in the forefront.

Xia Lianshan, who once garrisoned Hekou Village, knew very well that there were many light and dark sentry posts at night in the area at the end of the village; In fact, not only at the end of the village, but also on the periphery of the village, there are also mobile sentinels, but a battle broke out tonight, and the mobile outposts on the periphery should have shrunk into the village, otherwise the cavalry company would have encountered it on the way here.

In the class at the front, someone shouted to the house at the end of the village:

"Who's keeping vigil?" This is the nighttime code word agreed upon by the two villages of the second battalion of the forest division.

"Fight wolves and pick walnuts! Password? Someone at the end of the village on the opposite side quickly answered and asked questions.

"Mount Wutai. Requirement? ”

"Lama Temple!"

After verifying his identity, the cavalry squad at the front stood up and ran into the entrance of the village, and Xia Lianshan also rode his horse and ran over: "I am Xia Lianshan, the commander of the cavalry company of the second battalion, which platoon of the 5th company is here?" ”

"Report to Company Commander Xia, the second platoon of the 8th Company was ordered by Deputy Battalion Commander Wu to defend the south entrance of the village."

Xia Lianshan was stunned: "8 companies? When did the 8-company arrive? Is Oe coming? "The big river he said is Lu Dajiang, the commander of the 8th Company.

"Our company commander didn't come, it was the first and second platoons led by Deputy Company Commander Han."

"Has the enemy attacked?" Xia Lianshan didn't have time to ask the reason why the 8th Company unexpectedly appeared in Hekou Village: "Was it the enemy who fired artillery just now?" Where is the deputy battalion commander? ”

"The enemy is firing artillery at us outside the village, and it seems that they have not yet sent troops to attack, and Deputy Battalion Commander Wu is commanding at the head of the village."

Xia Lianshan thought about it, it seems that the end of the village is relatively safe at present. He ordered two platoons of the cavalry company, one to enter the end of the village, and the other to remain on guard outside the village. He himself led a few cavalry and galloped towards the head of the village.

Seeing Xia Lianshan arrive with a cavalry company, Wu Zijian was overjoyed at first, but when he heard that Xiping was also attacked and it was Japanese troops, he immediately became worried again. At this moment, the deputy commander of the second battalion also understood that the Japanese puppet army's attack on the two villages tonight was obviously a unified deployment.

"Lianshan, why did Lao Feng send you here? At present, the enemy's situation is unknown, and the cavalry company is the treasure of the whole battalion, and it is too risky to rush forward to the battlefield at night. ”

"The military situation is urgent, and the battalion commander is worried that your side will not have enough troops, so he specially asked us to hurry over, deputy battalion commander, you can assign us a task. Raising soldiers for a thousand days has to be used. ”

Hearing what his original subordinates said, Wu Zijian became more and more annoyed: "You still don't understand what I mean." I'm not used to the cavalry company not fighting, on the contrary, I should use you on the blade. It's not cost-effective to let you go into battle in a dark melee like tonight! ”

In Wu Zijian's mind, the cavalry company has long ceased to be a simple combat unit, and now it is no longer the era of cold weapons. But these more than 70 horses are the best means of transporting troops: if each cavalryman carries an infantry on his horse, and a few light machine guns, these 100 horses are a formidable mobile force, which can be quickly pulled to any place on the battlefield where it is most needed, and exert its combat power. In the past and recently, he has experienced the power of the Japanese army's mobile delivery capabilities to transport troops; The second battalion couldn't get trucks, but the more than 70 war horses didn't eat dry food after all.

"Deputy battalion commander, we're all here, can't we still run back in the dark?" Xia Lianshan said, the corners of his mouth flashed a ridiculous smile, this is the calmness and confidence of a battle-hardened veteran commander before every battle.

Wu Zijian was so angry that he punched the cavalry company commander on the shoulder: "You really should run back!" The battalion commander is right, tonight is a decisive battle, in case we can't hold the village and want to enter the mountain, the mountain pass road here is treacherous, far less gentle than the mountain pass behind Xiping, you, the cavalry company commander, use your brain to think about it, which mountain pass is more suitable for horses to go into the mountain?! ”

Before Xia Lianshan could respond, a soldier suddenly ran into the house: "Deputy battalion commander, there is a situation in the front yard!" ”

The front yard refers to the courtyard where the Makqin heavy machine gun fortifications are located, and there are more than a dozen soldiers in ambush under the courtyard wall at the head of the village towards Hekou Village, and they have just felt that in the thick night, there seems to be a large group of people moving slowly towards this side outside the village entrance.

"Don't be in a hurry, when you are about to get closer, throw a few torches out, my machine gun is going off here, you can do it again!"

Wu Zijian quickly sent away the soldiers who reported the news, and then said to Xia Lianshan: "It looks like it's about to start, you hurry up and pull the team into the village, the end of the village is now officially connected by the cavalry, and the second platoon of the 8th company is transferred to the west of the village, you are familiar with the situation here, and you will also go to the west to help Deputy Company Commander Han command." ”

Last time, Xia Lianshan personally commanded the battle against the cavalry of the puppet Mongolian army in Hekou Village, and the main battle at that time was the narrow west of the village, so Wu Zijian intended to make such an arrangement.

Xia Lianshan knew in his heart: Wu Zijian was still reluctant to let the cavalry enter a fierce battle. He looked at the old chief and wanted to say a few more words, but the deputy battalion commander was already engrossed in peering out through the heavy machine gun firing hole. The cavalry company commander sighed and hurried out of the fortifications.

Wu Zijian's eyes were sour, and he didn't see anything unusual on the other side of the village, but the front yard was in the open air, and he definitely felt it more realistically; He instructed the Maxim shooter, keep his eyes wide open for the torches, and open fire as soon as he confirmed that it was the enemy who touched it.

It was indeed the enemy army, the puppet Mongolian army.

At this moment, they were ordered to abandon their horses and walk on foot, and the two companies of a cavalry battalion, divided into front and rear teams, were twenty or thirty feet apart from each other, and quietly touched up towards the general direction of the head of Hekou Village.

Some of these puppet Mongolian cavalry had participated in the last battle of Hekou Village, so they have memories of the terrain and landforms in this area. Of course, there was fear: the artillery of the Eighth Route Army was accurate, and the machine guns were also powerful.

They didn't know that the artillery of the Eighth Route Army had been transferred, and they had to guard against whether the Eighth Route Army would rush down and attack the mountain pass next to the village, so they were frightened and squirmed step by step towards the head of Hekou Village.

"Who? Password! ”

A muffled shout suddenly sounded in the night sky, and the puppet Mongolian soldiers suddenly stopped—they were only nearly ten zhang away from the head of Hekou Village. They were taken aback and at a loss by the shouting.

"Bang!"

Finally, there was a cavalry of the puppet Mongolian army who couldn't hold it back, picked up his cavalry gun and fired in the direction of the sound in front of him, but as soon as the gun fell, he saw a torch rising in the air, tumbling and flying to the top of the puppet Mongolian army's top soldiers, and before they could understand, several similar torches fell from the sky almost at the same time.

The night sky was lit up in an instant, and in the firelight, the figures of twenty or thirty puppet Mongolian cavalry were clearly exposed, and the expressions on their faces were terrified, staring at the strangely flying torches, stunned in place. In the afterglow of the torches, a large group of figures could be seen creeping behind the spearheads.

Makqin fired without hesitation, and the rain of bullets poured down condescendingly, and the ranks of the puppet Mongolian army suddenly let out a howl.

The soldiers of the 5th Company, who were guarding the courtyard wall at the head of the village, had just finished throwing their torches, when they struggled to throw out a few more * in the roar of heavy machine guns.

At the same time, the fortifications of the village head, which consisted of three or four houses and courtyard walls, were secretly chained, also began to be fired. Guarding these fortifications was a whole platoon of troops of the 5th Company, although it was still out of sight, but with the sight of the torches shining for a short time just now, the 38-type rifles and medium rifles of the whole platoon were fired together.