The site used for confrontation exercises was a hill that was not very high, and at the very top of the hill there was a hypothetical headquarters. The red side has to hold the position for two hours, while the blue team, as the attacking side, has to capture the headquarters on the top of the hill within two hours. As the defender, the red side had two hours to set up a defensive position, so after Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng announced the start of the exercise, the 1st Battalion of the Central Guard Regiment, as the defender, took the position first.

The Eighth Route Army had fought countless positional defensive battles, and the Central Guard Regiment was even more elite, so it was not generally familiar with the construction of fortifications. Tangshan Leopard and the guard company rested at the bottom of the mountain, while watching the operations of the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army on the mountain.

In the stands, Wang Haitao and the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party were also watching the construction of the fortifications of the first battalion of guards on the hill. Seeing that the fortifications of the soldiers were not only built quickly, but also of good quality, the commanders of the Eighth Route Army nodded with satisfaction. In Wang Haitao's eyes, although there are still many deficiencies in such a defensive position, it is barely qualified.

At the foot of the mountain, the commander of the guard company under Tangshan Leopard was also discussing with Tangshan Leopard about the fortifications being built on the mountain. The company commander said: "Brigade seat, you see this defensive position built by the communist army, the communist army has not even repaired the anti-artillery hole, if it is true, I only need to concentrate the mortars of the whole company, and cover it with a few rounds of artillery fire, and there will be no more people left on the position." ”

Tangshan Leopard said with a calm face: "Don't be careless, you kid can't take the position within two hours, but it's not just a shame, before the military seat asks me, I will deal with your kid first." The company commander smiled and said: "Brigade seat, you can rest assured, I can't take this position for two hours, and I still have the face to do it in the guard brigade?"

Hearing what the company commander said, Tangshan Leopard's face improved a little, he pointed to the position on the mountain and said: "The communist army is not very heavy, this battalion only has two old-fashioned heavy machine guns and six light machine guns, you let the snipers kill these heavy weapons as soon as possible." The company commander replied, "Brigade seat, do you still have to worry about this? How to attack, the brothers know in their hearts." ”

Tangshan Leopard thought about it, the guard company is the elite selected by himself, there are more than a dozen snipers in the company alone, coupled with the advantage in firepower, even if mortars are not allowed to be used during the exercise, blocking the opponent's heavy firepower, it should not be much of a problem to take the position. Thinking of this, I also relaxed a little. Two hours passed in the blink of an eye, and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng announced the start of the attack.

The commander of the guard company did not rush to attack, but assigned tasks to the fighters at the foot of the mountain. The whole company of six heavy machine guns and eighteen light machine guns were lined up in a fan pattern, and the soldiers in the trenches must be suppressed. Eighteen snipers were first and foremost light and heavy machine guns on the position, and then the commander. The rest of the soldiers formed into several assault groups and launched an assault on the top of the hill from several directions.

A few minutes later, the fighters took their positions, and first the snipers were 400 meters away and launched a sniper attack on the machine gunners in the position, which also opened the curtain of the attack. The light and heavy machine gun shooters on the position were hit by bullets flying from a distance and were judged out. And because the distance is too far, the position of the sniper is quite hidden, and the fighters on the position can't fight back if they want to.

At this time, the light and heavy machine guns of the guard company opened fire, and dozens of machine guns opened fire at the same time, so that the red fighters in the trenches could not even lift their heads. These machine gunners are quite good marksmanship, and at a distance of 300 meters, they are shooting upwards again, still letting the bullets fly close to the trenches, and the soldiers in the trenches, as long as their bodies are exposed a little more, will be shot and judged out.

Now the fighters on the position are completely suppressed, they can only protect themselves, and they are not able to organize a counterattack at all. At this moment, the commander of the guard company gave the order to attack, and several assault groups, using all available terrain formations, launched an assault on the hill as quickly as mercury. The commander of a battalion of the Central Guard Regiment on the hill looked at the form in front of him and sweated urgently.

The number of attackers was quite large, but they were all scattered assault groups, they cooperated with each other, covered each other, and with the support of extremely skillful tactical movements, they quickly approached the defensive positions on the mountainside. Even the Red warriors on the mountainside positions used their best weapons*, inflicting minimal losses on the attacking warriors.

Half an hour later, the Blues had completely occupied the mountainside position, and the two companies of the Red Army defending the mountainside position were all condemned dead. The Blues did not stop their attacks, but continued to launch assaults on the top of the hill. By this time, the Red Army had already suffered most of the casualties, and the machine guns at the foot of the hill fired more intensive bullets at the top of the hill. And the sniper's elusive shooting makes the fighters on the hilltop position hit the game if they are not careful.

When the commander of the first battalion of the Red Army was also shot out by snipers, there was no suspense in this offensive and defensive exercise, and in the end, the Blue Army completely annihilated the Red side in 55 minutes at the cost of 24 casualties, seized the position and won the victory. This offensive and defensive exercise made the leaders of the CCP and the commanders of the Eighth Route Army look at each other, and by the time the referee announced the results, they had not yet recovered from the shock.

When the officers and men of the 1st Battalion of the Central Guard Regiment walked down the hillside with their heads downcast, the soldiers of the 1st Guard Company did not swell because of the victory, but lined up to salute the soldiers of the Central Guard Regiment who walked down. However, the officers of the Central Guard Regiment seemed very unconvinced, and they returned the salute carelessly, which made Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng's brows furrow.

In the afternoon, the guard company was going to hold a summary meeting as usual, and Wang Haitao invited Commander-in-Chief Zhu and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng to quietly listen to the summary meeting of the guard company next door. What Commander-in-Chief Zhu and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng heard was that the officers and men of the guard company had seriously summed up what they had not done during the attack, why they had lost 24 soldiers, and what they should do to do their best next time they encountered the same situation.

Commander-in-Chief Zhu and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng exchanged glances as they listened, and their eyes showed appreciation and affirmation. After listening to the summary meeting of the guard company, Commander-in-Chief Zhu was going to attend the meeting of the Central Committee, and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng went to the headquarters of the Central Guard Corps. As soon as Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng arrived outside the barracks door, he saw that the regiment commander Wu Lie was scolding the first battalion commander, and the first battalion commander said with a full stomach: "Regiment commander, the firepower of this Kuomintang unit is too fierce, and there are more than a dozen machine guns, which can't even lift our heads up, how can we fight back?"

At this time, the soldiers below also said: "Yes, the marksmanship of these Kuomintang soldiers is too accurate, and we were shot without seeing where the bullets were flying from." Hearing this, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng, who couldn't listen to it, pushed open the door with a "bang" and walked in with a blue face. This knock on the door startled Wu Lie and the officers and soldiers of the first battalion, and when Wu Lie saw that it was Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng coming, he hurriedly jumped up and shouted: "All stand upright, salute!"

Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng replied with a cold face, looking at the soldiers in the barracks without saying a word, and the soldiers who were looking at them with clear eyes lowered their heads weakly. At this time, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng suppressed the anger in his heart and said: "Why, if you are still not convinced after losing the battle?" ”

After listening to the first battalion commander, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng asked again, "Where else?" No one spoke up anymore. After waiting for a while, seeing that no one spoke up again, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng said: "I think you have lost ideologically! You always look down on the Kuomintang army and think that Lao Tzu is the best in the world. If you have this kind of thinking, even if you are given the same advanced weapons, you will still lose. I ask you, who can kill the enemy's guns from a distance of 400 meters?"

After a while, seeing that no one answered, Mr. Peng said: "There are at least a dozen people in a company on the other side who can do it! Why can't your machine guns play a role? The other side is just these dozen sharpshooters, so your heavy firepower is completely useless." You should know very well how the opponent's machine guns are firing, and whether you can also beat the machine guns like this? You may not have seen clearly the tactical movements of the opponent's attack, but I can see it clearly, and the skillful individual skills and tacit cooperation between each other are by no means a day's work. Also, after the battle, you are here to complain about this and that, but people are seriously summing up their experience, and in this regard, others must be better than you! What else are you not convinced?" Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng's words made all the officers and men of the first battalion, including the regiment commander Wu Lie, bow their heads.

Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng gave a lecture to the officers and men of the first battalion in the barracks, and the principal leaders of the CPC enthusiastically discussed the confrontation exercise in a small conference room. In the past, they had only heard that the 90th Army was extremely powerful, but they had never seen it with their own eyes. Today's performance of Wang Haitao's troops was an eye-opener for these leaders. These leaders were extremely surprised that a battalion of the Central Guard Regiment was completely annihilated in just a few dozen minutes in an attack that was like a cloud of their peers.

The speeches at the meeting were basically the military commanders of the Eighth Route Army, and to put it bluntly, no one still doubted Wang Haitao's ability to lead and train troops, and no one doubted the combat effectiveness of this army. As for Wang Haitao's statement that he wanted to train his own army, no one stood up to oppose it, but he had great interest and expectations for the rescue.

In the end, the leaders of the CPC unanimously approved that after seeking the consent of Commander Wang Haitao, the training of the troops should be launched as soon as possible. In addition, Commander Wang Haitao was also asked to conduct a training session for some officers of the Eighth Route Army. The training for troops is mainly based on techniques and tactics and the use of firearms, while the training of officers is mainly based on the methods and experience of fighting against Japan and the way of commanding large-scale battles.