The sky has been gloomy all the time, and the rain is pouring down, making the forest look even more humid and muddy. If you don't pay attention, you will slip and get covered in mud. The mud and water alone don't matter, the most important thing is that your clothes get wet from the rain.
After your clothes get wet from the rain, the coldness that invades your bones is enough to make you shiver involuntarily. In more severe cases, it can cause you to have a fever a few hours later, making your internal organs unbearably hot.
Tang Cheng's throat twitched, and he tried hard to swallow the dried meat stuck in his throat. The rain was so heavy that they, wearing only raincoats, couldn't find a suitable place to stop and eat, so they had to
As he hurried on, he stuffed some food into his mouth. Fortunately, Fatty Ma prepared some dried meat. Otherwise, Tang Cheng would have had no choice but to eat the bare cakes soaked in the rain like the others.
When marching on a rainy day, chili peppers are indispensable to keep out the cold. Tang Cheng also felt cold, so he followed Hou San's example and chewed half of a dried chili pepper. Tang Cheng was not someone who couldn't eat spicy food, but he could
The spicy smell after chewing the dried chili pepper made Tang Cheng not only burp repeatedly, but even retched while hugging the big tree next to him. "Is there nothing wrong?" Yu Changshui, a soldier from Hunan who was walking behind Tang Cheng, stretched out his hand.
Yu Changshui, who supported Tang Cheng and smiled all day long, claimed to be an engineer, but Tang Cheng did not recognize that this wretched guy looked like an engineer.
Tang Cheng was very depressed and waved his hands to indicate that he was fine. He slept in the open air without stopping for a moment and marched like crazy for three days. Finally, he almost reached Sanxi Bridge. God was not kind to him, but it started to rain heavily. In such weather, the Japanese army would not come out.
.The muddy march consumes too much of everyone's physical strength. Fortunately, there are fewer things and more people. If all these 300 people were armed with live ammunition, I am afraid that more than half of them would have collapsed from exhaustion.
Tang Cheng looked up at the still gray and gloomy sky, wiped the rain off his face, and touched the shell gun on his waist. Then he continued to lower his head and follow the soldiers in front of him, pushing aside the branches and vines.
Tangcheng worked hard to move forward. Many of the defeated troops were veterans who had fought many battles. These people were very good at fighting. They knew how to dodge shells and how to avoid Japanese scouts. They had done this many times.
The experience gained in the defeat was summed up with flesh and blood. The more times like this, the more the gap between veterans and recruits becomes more obvious. The defeated soldiers in the wind and rain just marched with their necks hunched and heads down. If there was no order to stop advancing,
I'm afraid these people will go to the end of the world and won't stop.
Suddenly there was a burst of bird chirping from the front. Lao Dongbei, who was walking at the front of the queue, quickly squatted down and raised his arms high to signal the team to stop. The soldiers who were allowed to be equipped with rifles quickly dispersed and leveled the rifles in their hands carefully.
Be alert. The bird chirping just now was made by the scouts who went out to explore the route. According to the regulations in the subjects established by Tangcheng to train these broken soldiers, the scouts in front sent back a signal indicating alert, and the soldiers following behind needed to immediately
Make an alert response.
The other soldiers who were treated as reserve troops by Tang Cheng also dispersed and hid in the bushes in twos and threes. No one could care about mud and water at this time. It had been more than half a day since they entered this dense forest, and this was the first time.
Everyone was very nervous when they heard the scout's alarm for the first time. Tang Cheng also hid in the bushes, clutching his rifle in his hand and looking nervously ahead.
Tang Cheng knows how important the cooperation between soldiers is when facing a battle, but the defeated soldiers around him are all strangers. In order to better command these guys, Tang Cheng can only lead by example most of the time. The one who walks at the head of the team
Lao Dongbei had already squatted on the ground, squinting his eyes and trying hard to look ahead through the rain. But in this kind of forest, the naked eye could not see very far, and apart from the sound of rain, no other sounds could be heard.
Lao Dongbei waited for a while, and couldn't help but become anxious. He reached out and took the light machine gun carried on the shoulder of the soldier next to him, and slowly pulled the trigger of the gun and prepared to touch it.
Suddenly, the bushes in front of Laodongbei shook for a while, and a head popped out. It was Hou San, who was serving as the forward scout. Hou San first showed a smile to Laodongbei, and then raised his hand and shook it towards Laodongbei.
He shook his head and signaled that the alarm was lifted. "Okay, it's okay, let's all get up." Seeing the signal from Hou San, Laodongbei breathed a sigh of relief and stood up, greeting the soldiers who were on guard.
Hou Sanhe Dice was a bandit and was particularly familiar with the mountains. After entering this forest, Tang Cheng asked Hou Sanhe Dice to replace the previous batch of scouts. Hou San jumped out of the bushes, and Tang Cheng and others surrounded him.
, before anyone could say anything, Hou San suddenly said, "We found a few bullet casings in front, and they look like they were left behind by the Japs' Arisaka rifle bullets."
There were three bullet casings in Hou San's open palm. The impatient Lao Dongbei reached out and grabbed the three bullet casings and looked at them for a while, then turned to look at Tang Cheng beside him. He could already confirm Hou San's suspicion.
They are the cartridge cases of Japanese Arisaka rifle bullets. After crossing the river, they in Tangcheng used Japanese weapons a lot, especially the Japanese 38 rifles and light machine guns, and both of these weapons used Arisaka rifle bullets.
It was precisely because Lao Dongbei dealt with Arisaka rifle bullets every day that he recognized the three bullet casings Hou San brought back at a glance.
Tang Cheng took the cartridge case handed over by Lao Dongbei and looked at it for a few times, then nodded. This was indeed a Japanese Arisaka rifle cartridge case.
"Everyone, be careful, Hou San, I'll give you 10 more people. Pay attention to your surroundings when you go forward." They are all people who have experienced life and death many times. Let alone bullet casings, we have seen too many dead people.
So Tang Cheng tried his best to maintain a calm tone when he spoke. Tang Cheng just didn't want to cause commotion among other soldiers when he spoke like this, but he obviously forgot that these were not ordinary recruits under his command. These were the defeated troops of veterans.
They had already seen the problem just from the solemn expressions on his and Old Dongbei's faces, but the defeated soldiers didn't know the specific content yet.
Maybe God couldn't bear to add new worries to the miserable Tangcheng and the others. After experiencing the warning just now, the pouring rain that started in the morning finally subsided. But it has been raining continuously all morning. Although
The meeting has gradually diminished, but the ground is still muddy.
Tangcheng and the others could only follow the marks left by the scouts and march along the edge of the bushes. This is a woodland after all, with many bushes and trees. The root systems of the bushes are well developed, and the branches and leaves are mixed with mud and water. The leaves are mixed together, causing mud and water all over the ground.
, obviously it is much easier to walk. In addition, dense bushes are also good concealment. When an emergency occurs, these bushes can effectively provide camouflage protection for Tangcheng and others.
There was still no one in the queue of 300 people speaking, not because they didn't want to, but because they didn't have the extra energy to speak. Tangcheng was obviously satisfied with the performance of these defeated soldiers. After marching for three consecutive days, except for the first night when someone was camping,
I secretly asked Hou San and the others. From the next day, Tan Fei, who was patrolling back and forth, did not hear anyone talking privately about the hardships of the march. Marching to an unknown place for three consecutive days, as long as anyone who is not a fool will be there, most of them will be there.
In his heart, Tang Cheng knew that it was not that these defeated soldiers did not want to ask, but that they had not yet decided how to ask themselves.
After crossing another mountain, Tang Cheng, who was covered in mud and water, ordered to slow down and transferred the 60 selected gunmen to the front team. One of the forward scouts had already returned, and according to the words he thought of, they walked forward a few miles further.
The first destination of this trip is Zhangjiadian. Zhangjiadian is just a small place, and it can’t even be found on the map. Zhangjiadian may be infested by Japanese troops because it is half way from Tangcheng.
The few local guides we found. Not all Chinese people are as accustomed to living aloof as the people in Longgang Town. The closer these people are to De'an, the more they hate the Japanese army, and even Tangcheng is also along the way.
I received a lot of information about the Japanese army.
"Everything is going according to our plan. If you really confirm that there are Japanese soldiers, don't panic. Since the guides said that there are not many Japanese soldiers here, let's treat this as the first battlefield." Yuan Yuan
When they could see the mountain road outside Zhangjiadian through the telescope, Tangcheng ordered the troops to be cautious and move slowly. For them, who were fighting alone, safety was a must. The scouts who had gone out in front had not yet
Before the enemy's situation is truly confirmed, all plans and arrangements are in vain.
The rain finally stopped, and mist rose from the hills around Zhangjiadian. Tangcheng and his group of 300 people used the cover of the fog to quietly move towards Zhangjiadian. They stopped moving, but they were still at the front.
Lao Dongbei raised his arms high, and several figures appeared in the mist in the distance. As he got closer, he realized that it was Hou San and the scouts who had gone out before, who had returned.
"It looks a little wrong. Although Zhangjiadian is not big, there are dozens of households. But after we stared at it for a long time, there was not even a ghost in Zhangjiadian. Let alone people, even dogs barked.
I can't hear it." What Hou San brought back was obviously not good news. In such a situation, either the information provided by the guides was false, or Zhangjiadian may have become a deserted village long ago, and Tangcheng seemed to be more inclined.
Yu believes in the latter inference.
"Housan San, take me over and have a look. Old Northeast, you look at them and tell everyone to find a place to rest. Without my order, the target must not be exposed." Only by seeing it with your own eyes can you make a judgment, so he warned the old man.
A few sentences from the northeast, Tang Cheng followed Hou San forward and went to the scouts' observation point. "Tell everyone to spread out and search carefully. If we can confirm that there is nothing abnormal here in Zhangjiadian, we will use this place as a temporary headquarters."