On the evening before the outbreak of the bloody battle, Xiang Gong Staff Officer and Duan Renyi, the head of the regiment, went to the forward position of Xiagangzi Village to inspect. On that day, the weather was very warm, the spring color had not yet been shattered by the artillery fire, the green was green, the green was green, the hillside was dotted with wild flowers, and the April sun was pouring down on the earth. The ground is a wheat field, and the wheat is very good, from the hill in front of Xiagangzi Village, all the way to the Xima River below. The Xima River flows silently, and the intoxicating halo of the setting sun floats on the surface of the river.

No one believed that there was going to be a war soon, not to mention the brothers of the New Third Regiment, even Duan Renyi, who was the head of the regiment, did not believe it. When walking from the Youth League headquarters of Shanggangzi Village to the front of Xiagangzi Village, the head of the regiment Duan Renyi kept chattering about the crops in the field, so that the public staff officer kept reminding Duan Renyi to remember his identity: he was no longer the county magistrate, but the regiment commander; It's not the crops that concern him, it's the war!

Duan Renyi said yes again and again, and when he walked to the village of Xiagangzi, he seemed to have a deeper concept of facing war. He stopped and stood in the weeds on the mound, squinted his eyes at the wheat field below, saw many bare spines and bare heads, and thought he had found something very serious:

"Why haven't these people evacuated yet?"

Xiang Gong couldn't cry or laugh:

"Commander Duan, you can see clearly, this is your soldier!"

Duan Renyi was stunned:

"My soldiers?! What are they doing? ”

The direction of the public is not angry:

"Dig trenches!"

"Digging trenches? That's good! This is good! ”

"As soon as it starts, this is the frontier!"

"Good! It's good to be on the cutting edge here! Om, nice terrain! ”

Duan Renyi said as he walked down, looking around at the scenery, without any shame.

After getting off the dart and approaching, the soldiers in the wheat field got up one after another to greet Duan Renyi, calling him the county magistrate one after another. He agreed, clenched his fists, and kept saying, "The brothers are hard," "The brothers are hard," as if these soldiers were not preparing for war, but helping his family build the courtyard wall. Seeing the older soldiers, he also leaned over to chat a few words of homely things, and asked people if they were used to the team? An old soldier said that he was not used to it, and when he finished speaking, he cried, which caused his eyes to turn red......

Xiang Gong couldn't stand it anymore, his brows were furrowed, his face was long, and he followed behind Duan Renyi without saying a word. When he walked to the dirt slope in the middle of the trench, he saw a fourteen or fifteen-year-old soldier peeing with his back to him and Duan Renyi, and he couldn't help it, so he stepped in front of Duan Renyi in three steps and two steps, blocked Duan Renyi's way, and drank the password of "Lizheng".

Not many people take passwords seriously. The old soldier who was chatting with Captain Duan Renyi was still wiping his tears, and the little soldier who was peeing with his back to him was still peeing. On the depression not far away, an old man with a piece of flower cloth wrapped around his head, I don't know if he didn't hear the password, or what, he pinched his voice and continued to sing his "Little Widow to the Grave", singing and twisting, and the onlookers cheered him at the top of their voices. Two guys in trousers were wrestling, falling from the wheat field to the shallow trench, and from the trench to the new mound, and they did not stop when they heard the command, and there were many people in front of and behind them. Some of the soldiers who were close to him barely stood up, but they were all crooked as if their bones were falling apart.

How does this look like a bad fight?!

The direction of the fire was penetrated, and he flew up with a kick, kicked the peeing soldier down, pulled out his pistol, and fired two shots at the "horn" above the depression.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the two shots were finished, an old man with a scruffy beard rushed to his feet, and before he could understand what was going on, the old man had pinched a shiny bullet case, and asked him with a walnut-like face:

"Master Fang, how many shots have you shot?"

He glared at the old soldier fiercely, and shouted "Lizheng" again.

The old soldier stood up, stood up for a moment, and then tilted his head:

"I want this kind of bullet shell, please ask Master Fang in the future...... You save me some. I'll give you money! To give...... Buy cigarettes for you to smoke! This shell makes ......"

He split his face and gave the old man a slap in the face:

"Are you a soldier and a food, or do you collect rags?!"

The old soldier didn't dare to be silent.

In order to ease the atmosphere, Duan Renyi walked up to him and said:

"Staff Officer Fang has good eyesight! This old man is really in tatters, the tuba is called Liu Tapo, he was on an errand under the commander of the third battalion, he did a good job, oh, not bad! Not bad! ”

He ignored Duan Renyi, and only yelled at Liu Rag:

"What are the people from the third battalion doing in the second battalion of laid-off posts?"

"Back to Fang Ye's words......"

"What Fang Ye? Here is the new third regiment of the 23rd Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army! I am a major staff officer sent by the headquarters of the 23rd Route Army, not a master! ”

Liu Rag hurriedly changed his words:

"Yes! Be! Fang Staff! You're always a staff officer, older than you, I know ......"

"What the are you doing from being on the job to being laid off? Do you want to be a deserter?! ”

Liu was panicked:

"Uh, no, it's not! Hui Fang Ye...... Uh, no, no, the words of the staff officer on the back side are like this: Isn't the commander of the second battalion Lan Yelan duzhong? Didn't Lan Ye make a bet with Hou Ye, the commander of our third battalion, yesterday? Didn't Lan Ye lose? I lost two bottles of wine, and this Hou Ye will let me get it. Let's be an errand for Master Hou, we have to listen to it. Hou Ye said: Liu Rag, you go to get wine, I want to say no, that is to disobey the military order, don't you often tell the brothers when you talk to the old admonition, disobey the military order to be shot......"

In the face of such a soldier, he simply couldn't do anything.

He waved his hand and ordered Liu to get out of the way.

After sending away the tatters of the third battalion, and then looking at the distance and near, I found that the tatters of the second battalion on the front were finally standing under the double coercion of gunfire and passwords. Some poked in the trenches, others in the newly dug mounds. In the distance, two shit soldiers in the wheat field were also standing with their torn trousers, and the uncovered half of their green buttocks were facing his face. There was obvious resentment on everyone's faces, and some of them rolled their eyes at him.

He was so frustrated that he couldn't help but think once again: what he was going to command in this resistance battle was not a national army, but a rabble that had only been in uniform for three months.

It is said that he can have nothing to do with this rabble, and he can be a staff officer next to Lieutenant General Han Peige, but he wants to lead the troops, and as a result, he was sent to this broken team with Adjutant Huang three months ago. But now that he came, he had to endure this crime, Commander-in-Chief Han was as kind to him as a mountain, no matter how difficult it was, he couldn't live up to Commander-in-Chief Han. Not Commander-in-Chief Han, his life was lost outside Wuchang City four years ago. Commander-in-Chief Han found him in the pile of dead men and took him on horseback and turned him four hundred miles in one go.

At that moment, he and Commander Duan Renyi were standing on the mound by the trench. The soil was freshly dug out, it was very soft, and his feet in riding boots sank down little by little, he ignored it, and stared at the upright soldiers for a long time before he said to the second battalion commander Lan Qianzhong, who appeared in front of him:

"Battalion Commander Lan, this is the brother of the third and fourth companies of your battalion, right?"

Lan Duanzhong, who was standing opposite Duan Renyi, nodded.

"You show me, who are like soldiers in this one! Is this the frontier position, or is it a large gathering of your unloading armor? ”

Lan was not convinced, and said:

"Brother...... The brethren are not drills, but ...... It's digging trenches! ”

"Digging trenches?"

He was even more angry, and he leaned on his side, pointing to the trench behind him:

"See for yourself, is this a fucking trench?! Can I bury you tightly"! Can such soldiers, such trenches, fight?! If you lose your position after the start, aren't you afraid of being shot?!

He was telling the truth, he knew Commander-in-Chief Han's temper, and if he lost his position, he didn't say that Lan Duzhong would be shot, but he was afraid that he and Commander Duan Renyi would also be shot. He thought hatefully, these gang of companies and battalion commanders should really kill a few.

This state of slackness and slackness cannot continue. If it continues, the prospect of the blocking battle will be unimaginable, and the military prestige of the 23rd Route Army is also destined to be lost here!

In this regard, Commander Duan Renyi should be as clear as he is. Therefore, he didn't discuss with Duan Renyi at all, so he announced that Duan Renyi would lecture him.

Duan Renyi was obviously not mentally prepared, he was stunned for a long time with his hand on the pistol, twisted his head, and asked him:

"Staff Officer Fang, what should I train?"

He snorted:

"Is this still asking me? Do you see that they look like soldiers? Is it like digging a trench? ”

"Yes! Yes! ”

Duan Renyi seemed to understand, raised his head, and began to speak:

"Brothers, what Staff Officer Fang said is right! Hmmm, that's good! We are not ordinary people now, we are all, oh, all soldiers, revolutionary soldiers of the anti-Japanese resistance! Soldiers, oh, you have to look like soldiers, and you have to look like anything! Om, dig trenches, you have to dig trenches well, fight a war, you have to fight a good battle, oh, you can't be sloppy! ”

Duan Renyi trained seriously, holding his waist with one hand and dancing frequently with the other, very much like a serious matter.

"It's very sloppy! When my brother was the county magistrate, I encountered such an incident, oh, the above asked the brothers to take a counter-revolutionary, and the counter-revolutionary was called Liu Laoba. Brother sent someone, oh, to get it. Take it and ask it, and you will know that it is wrong. The counter-revolutionary is called Liu Laoba, and the person the brother takes is called Liu Laoba, one is eight of eighty or ninety, and the other is the Ba of 'Bashan Night Rain', which is, oh, sloppy! Isn't it a brother who has multiple hearts, and if he asked, wouldn't it be a big mistake? So, don't be sloppy! Om, can't be sloppy! Let's just talk about digging trenches, do you think so-so is coaxing me and coaxing the staff officers? No, it's coaxing yourself! As soon as the battle starts and the guns go off, who is unlucky? You're out of luck! Therefore, you have to dig trenches well, and you have to listen to the staff of the side! Om, whoever listens to the staff officer is to listen to me. Staff Officer Fang is for your good, and Staff Officer Fang said that you should prepare for a bad battle, and my brother thinks it makes sense. There is a way, be prepared, oh, you can be fine! ”

Duan Renyi was not the material for the head of the regiment at all, and the words that should have shown majesty were made sparse again. He touched Duan Renyi's hand dissatisfiedly, wanting to remind Duan Renyi to come up with the grandeur of a regiment, but Duan Renyi didn't care, and still spoke to his subordinates amicably:

"Brother this...... This is very understanding of this! When the brother was the county magistrate in Jijiadian, there was a rule of law that everything should be prepared for the past. Do you remember the flood three years ago? Our Changchun to the east is flooded, right? Is the king's camp in the north flooded? Have we unloaded Jiadian and drowned? Not drowned! Why? Because my brother is ready! In the winter of the first year, the river defense was strengthened and three drainage ditches were opened! ”

As soon as the topic of being a county magistrate came to the topic, Duan Renyi had more words, and the content was solid.

He became anxious, this was not Xijiadian after all, seeing that the sun had set, and the position was still so chaotic, he couldn't let Duan Renyi pull it down.

He touched the hand of Head Duan Renyi again and clearly reminded:

"Captain Duan, it's not too early, are you ......?"

Duan Renyi understood, responded with the sentence "It's over", and said to everyone:

"Digging trenches is not the same as digging drainage ditches! Om, the drainage ditch is not well dug, at most it is to flood the fields, and the trenches are not well dug, but you will lose your life and bleed! If a battle is fought and everyone gives away their lives, how can I explain to my father and sisters, brother! Yes?! Brother is the head of the regiment, oh, and he is also the county magistrate of Xijiadian, wow! Alright, I'm done talking, let's do it for yourselves! Disband! ”

It was disbanded like that, and the reprimand and the non-admonition were almost the same. The situation of the direction and the public expectation of the frontier will not fundamentally change because of Duan Renyi's remarks. He knew too well about the rabble.

He suggested to Duan Renyi: In view of the current situation on various positions, it is necessary to hold a meeting overnight after dinner to further implement the pre-war arrangements. Duan Renyi nodded immediately, and also notified the second battalion commander in front of him, Lan Qianzhong, on the spot. Then, he summoned the company and platoon commanders of the 2nd Battalion to his side, once again explained to them the depth, width, and key points of firepower in the trenches in the forward positions, and ordered them to rush to work all night. After the explanation, he was still not at ease, so he snatched an iron mill from the hands of the brothers beside him, waved his hand, and said loudly to the platoon commanders:

"Come here and see how Lao Tzu digs the trenches!"