The Second Battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army Forestry Division was officially reorganized into the Guanmen Mountain Dispatch Detachment of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army Forestry Division, and the operation was being carried out with great fanfare inside and outside Guanmen Mountain.

The commanders and fighters of the 2nd Battalion were all immersed in an atmosphere of joy and excitement. Commanders at all levels were almost all promoted on the spot, and the new title of the detachment was carried out in the first place.

At the same time, the conscription campaign led by Zhang Xiu, deputy director of the "Xiping Village Field Mobilization Committee," also achieved great results; in addition to the two old base areas of Xiping Village and Hekou Village, a large number of young and strong people were also mobilized to join the Eighth Route Army in several villages at the western foot of Guanmen Mountain, including Lihuapu, and on both sides of the Qinglong River. Coupled with the recruits brought out by political commissar Liu Shu from Liao County, the number of recruits in the Guanmenshan detachment reached more than 500; The total strength was more than 1,400.

three battalions according to the new sequence of the detachment, three companies per battalion, three platoons per company, and three squads per platoon; The detachment headquarters is directly under the jurisdiction of a cavalry company, an enemy engineering team, an artillery platoon, a communications platoon, and a sanitary team.

Due to the lesson learned from the last time when the recruit company deserted a lot during the night attack of the Japanese army, all the 500 recruits this time were evenly organized into three battalions.

However, on the issue of the territorial stationing of these three battalions, Wu Zijian, the new detachment commander, and Liu Shu, the new political commissar, had serious differences.

In accordance with the operational needs, Wu Zijian first made the following arrangements:

The 3rd Battalion, of which Lu Dajiang served as the battalion commander, was fully responsible for the defense of the three base areas of Xiping Village, Hekou Village, and Hongxingxia in Guanmen Mountain, and the 7th, 8th, and 9th companies of the 3rd Battalion were guarding one place respectively.

On the basis of this defense, the second battalion of which Wei Xin was the battalion commander was stationed in Hekou Village and the newly built camp above the mountain pass; The first battalion of which Wang Shuanglong served as the battalion commander was stationed in Xiping Village.

The headquarters of the detachment is located in Xiping Village, and the units directly under the team headquarters are also stationed in Xiping Village.

Wu Zijian, the leader of the detachment, sat in Xiping Village

, Liu Shu, the political commissar of the detachment, sat in Hongxingxia, and Li Tianlin, the chief of staff of the detachment, sat in Hekou Village.

However, when the above-mentioned plan was delivered to Liu Shu for inspection, it was immediately strongly opposed by the other party.

The new political commissar believed that Wu Zijian placed the first and second main battalions in the villages at the western foot of Guanmen Mountain, which lacked a protective barrier and strategic depth, and was very vulnerable to direct attacks by the Japanese puppet army. In his opinion, the potential purpose of the detachment commander's arrangement was still to take the initiative to attack the Japanese army, so he placed the two most powerful battalions outside the Guanmen Mountain, which was easy to deploy.

"Old Wu, you should know better than me," Liu Shu pointed to the military map and said to Wu Zijian at the detachment headquarters set up in the land temple in Xiping Village: "Now the Japanese army's Sena Division has completely controlled the Nantongpu railway line, and the two villages at the foot of Guanmen Mountain are only twenty miles away from the railway line; If the Japanese army sends troops from the railway line, they can reach us within an hour, and you are equivalent to exposing two battalions directly to the guns of the Japanese army, which is too risky! ”

Wu Zijian stared at the map and did not say a word for a moment, but he was not staring at the place pointed by the political commissar, but at the vast area in the direction of the lower reaches of the Qinglong River, where no strong troops had yet been sent to occupy it.

Seeing that the other party was noncommittal, Liu Shu continued to persuade non-stop: "The tradition of our Red Army in those days was to rely on the steep mountainous areas to bury its head in the development and development of strength, and only after it was full of wings did it go out of the mountains to expand to the surrounding areas. Therefore, I think that at present, the headquarters of the detachment and the main force should be transferred to the Guanmen Mountain, and the defense area should be laid with Hongxing Gorge as the center; In the two village base areas outside Guanmen Mountain, it is enough to set up a battalion and build a shallow defense. ”

"Political commissar, Hekou Village is small, but Xiping Village, as a large village, is not easy to develop into a base area of the Eighth Route Army, and there is also the credit of your personal leadership, so you can bear to give up so easily?" Wu Zijian said incomprehensibly.

"How can you say it's giving up?" Political Commissar Liu Shu helped his thick-framed glasses: "After all, we still have to leave a battalion outside the mountain, put one company in Hekou Village, and two companies in Xiping Village, so that we can attack and retreat, and the initiative is firmly in our own hands." ”

Hearing this, the new detachment leader was happy, revealing a somewhat playful demeanor: "Can you attack? You only put one battalion in two villages, how to attack and where to attack? I think the main preparation of the political commissar is to retreat, right? As soon as the Japanese came, they retreated to Guanmen Mountain! ”

Liu Shu glared at Wu Zijian's hippie smile, and anger gradually rose from the bottom of his heart: "Detachment leader, please don't be sneering, don't feel that you Wu Zijian is the only one in the entire Eighth Route Army who is resisting Japan!" Don't forget, I haven't asked you to reason about your unauthorized mobilization of troops to fight with the Kuomintang army! With that, he tapped his knuckles on the table where the map was covered.

Unexpectedly, Wu Zijian was not only not annoyed, but his smile became brighter and brighter, and at the same time, he took out two notes from his jacket pocket, carefully unfolded them, and handed them to Liu Shu: "Political commissar, if you don't mention the joint operation, I really almost forgot about it, this is the flying pigeon biography just sent from the 391st Regiment Headquarters of the Central Army in Big Elm Mountain, take a look." ”

The political commissar of the detachment took the two pieces of paper somewhat inexplicably, picked them up and read them one by one. Gradually, he understood that this was a commendation order from the former enemy command of the Second Theater of the National Army conveyed by the 391st Regiment to the regiment and the second battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Eighth Route Army Forest Division. The content of the commendation was for the joint combat operation that the two units had just carried out to attack the Nantongpu railway line.

"What's going on with the Pigeon Story?" Liu Shu raised his head from the paper and asked.

"This is a special means of communication that my ministry established with the 391 regiment not long ago. The Central Army has radios and walkie-talkies, but our Eighth Route Army is poor and can't communicate with other people's advanced equipment, so we invented this method. Our detachment and the 391st Regiment have people who know how to raise carrier pigeons before becoming soldiers, and the old guy from the 391st Regiment has even been carrying a cage of carrier pigeons with him to fight, which happens to be directly used for us. ”

"Is this method reliable?" The new political commissar of the detachment frowned: "In case the carrier pigeon is knocked down by the Japanese, won't the information passed on be leaked?" ”

Wu Zijian disagreed, saying that something is better than nothing, at least for now this is the fastest and most effective way to contact the two armies. The Japanese can shoot down carrier pigeons, and of course they can also decipher telegrams - nothing is foolproof.

"So, what do you think?" Liu Shu exaggeratedly shook off the two pieces of paper in his hand: "What is the purpose of this commendation order in the Second War Zone?" In my opinion, this is an attempt to encourage more troops of the Eighth Route Army to go to the front line to fight the Japanese army head-on through the means of commendation! It has the ulterior motives of the Kuomintang itself. ”

Wu Zijian raised his buttocks and leaned forward, and took back two pieces of paper that were not valued by Liu Shu's hands: "What is the purpose?" As the former enemy command in the theater of operations, isn't it normal to award commendations to subordinate units that have won battles? - Commissar, you're thinking too much! ”

Liu Shu immediately ridiculed him: "Won the battle? Do you think this joint attack on the railway line has been won? Look at the battle losses of our troops, in exchange for what booty? Just this paper commendation order? ”

"Of course not, there is a bonus of 10,000 yuan!" The detachment leader smiled and admired the two pieces of paper in his hand and said, as if they were the silver tickets of Qianzhuang with a face value of 10,000 yuan.

"Ten thousand yuan, where's it? This shouldn't be a blank check issued by the former commander-in-chief of the enemy in the theater and Deputy Commander Wei Lihuang, right? This time, it was Liu Shu's turn to change into a playful demeanor.

Wu Zijian took his eyes off the two pieces of paper, turned his head to look at the spring outside the window, and stopped talking.

After being silent for a while, it was political commissar Liu Shu who spoke first, and he said that if the bonus could indeed be distributed, then the money must be reported and handed over to the Xu Brigade Brigade Department, and he would listen to the instructions of his superiors; It is absolutely not allowed to be used by the detachment leader on his own initiative.

Hearing this, the detachment leader withdrew his gaze from the scenery outside the window and stared at the political commissar sitting opposite, but still remained silent.

"Okay, let's not take the topic away, today you and I will focus on the distribution of the subordinate forces of the detachment, I repeat, this plan you came up with is too risky, I don't agree. I think it should be—"

"-I think you have too many words," Wu Zijian, who was silent, suddenly stood up from the stool and directly interrupted Liu Shu's words: "Political commissar, don't forget the division of power between you and me - I am the detachment leader, and this troop distribution plan was formulated by me and Chief of Staff Li after repeated deliberation; I'll show you that it's just a formality, whether you agree or not, the plan has been decided. The next step is to convey it to the troops. ”

"Wu Zijian!"

Liu Shu also stood up, but he shot the case, and his voice was violent.

The detachment leader responded coldly: "I'm here, what do you have to say about the commissar?" ”

The two looked at each other for a moment, and finally, Liu Shu lamented in his heart: That's it, as the guy opposite said, the detachment leader is in charge of military power, and he will definitely not be able to obey him with the title of political commissar in this regard.

While thinking so, Liu Shu sat back on the stool. After calming down for a moment, he said:

"I won't go to the Red Star Gorge in the mountain, I want to stay in Xiping Village!"

Of course, Wu Zijian understood Liu Shu's true intention: the other party wanted to stay here and watch him, the detachment leader, and prevent the troops from carrying out the so-called "military adventure" operation. Therefore, on the grounds that Hongxingxia is the base camp of the entire detachment and needs the political commissar to go to the town in person, he asked Liu Shu not to shirk.

"Captain Wu, I also ask you not to forget," Liu Shu warned with indignation: "In addition to being the political commissar of the Xu Brigade Guanmen Mountain Dispatch Detachment, I am also the director of the Guanmen Mountain Area Field Mobilization Committee, and my office is here, in Xiping Village!" ”

In the past, the Xiping Village War Mobilization Committee was set up in the village office at the east end of the village. After returning from Liao County this time, Liu Shu had already made up his mind to set up a war mobilization committee in the Guanmen Mountain area, and he would serve as the director of the committee; Then, in more than a dozen villages at the western foot of Guanmen Mountain, village-level general mobilization committees were set up to accept the unified leadership of the regional general mobilization committees.

At this moment, Liu Shu gave up the name of the General Mobilization Committee of the Battle, which made Wu Zijian have to give in on the spot - the detachment commander himself has a good impression of the General Mobilization Committee, in addition to the fact that this is a political task issued by the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army to the troops in the base areas, but also because the committee really has the ability to call for the mobilization of a large number of young and middle-aged people to join the army.

Liu Shu finally scored a point, his indignant mood was soothed, and he looked at Wu Zijian, who was inevitably a little stupid, and he added a sentence reluctantly:

"Old Wu, you remember, the revolutionary army can never leave the party to command the gun! The idea of pure militarism is to fall on a big heel, don't forget the defection of Zhang Shaodong, the former commander of the 687th Regiment of the Xu Brigade, which I just conveyed! In terms of military command, Zhang Shaodong's qualifications and abilities are far above yours, but this did not prevent him from becoming a shameful person who betrayed the revolution! ”