The next day was another painfully sunny day. After drinking two bowls of dog bone and vegetable leaf soup, An Yi raised his head and looked at the cloudless sky through the gap between the tree canopies. He shook his head helplessly, thinking about what to do today.
We have to move forward 40 to 50 kilometers, otherwise the longer we delay on this journey, the more miserable we will be.
The seven-hour continuous forced march was worse than An Yi imagined. More than two hundred brothers just drank several large bowls of gruel sprinkled with salt and swallowed in a roadside restaurant in Leiyang City that had no smell of meat.
A few pieces of musty-smelling sauerkraut immediately set off on the journey. The sun was blazing all the way, but there was not a trace of wind blowing. The weeds and trees on both sides of the road seemed to have been baked by the high temperature, hanging down and curling listlessly. The road was covered with
The raised parts of the gullies crushed by heavy trucks have long been hardened, and there is no drop of water in each shallow gully. They are all whitened by the sun that seems to be getting bigger and bigger hanging in the sky like a fireball. The entire Xiaoxiang land
Like a blazing and suffocating furnace, even breathing is a heat that burns the throat.
The brothers' clothes were dried, wet and then dried again. The top and bottom of the clothes were covered with strange-shaped white salt crystals. Everywhere there was a small ditch or stream with water, the brothers could no longer remember the days of An Yi.
Lai repeatedly warned that the water might be home to parasitic locusts, blood-sucking eggs and other harmful microorganisms. They all rushed to the edge of the ditch to drink the water with their dirty hands. They politely took out the iron bowl from their satchel and took a swig of water.
I drank until my chest was soaked and I was gasping for breath.
Driven by the instinctive sense of survival, no one cares about health, including An Yi himself. However, under the leadership of three tough officers, no one in this group of tough men is left behind. It just started after drinking gruel at noon.
Not a word of complaint was heard - everyone was afraid that if a bad word was spoken, the remaining willpower in their chests would dissipate.
Yin Jinan, who has always been rigorous, loosened the top button and two buttons, his chest was reddened by the sun, and his beard had already been pulled back to reveal the lush chest hair. The two saw An Yi put down the delicate telescope and nodded, knowing that today
The place to set up camp for the night has arrived.
The two of them took out their telescopes and raised them in front of their eyes. They saw the two brothers from the fifth platoon who were out for reconnaissance standing at the entrance of the trail between the two mountains on the river bend in front. On the left side of the road, which was more than fifty meters deep, there was a relatively large area.
This is a good location on a gentle grassland. It has mountains on both sides and a wide view. It is protected by mountains, has water and trees, and is easier to defend and harder to attack than other terrains.
"The second platoon of the second platoon, the second group of the cooking squad, crossed the road and crawled in the ditch within two minutes. From a prone position, they aimed at the big white tree about 120 meters ahead on the right side and fired rapidly. They were asked to reload quickly.
Everyone finished fifteen shots!"
Standing on the high ridge by the roadside, Beard roared loudly. Just like every time when the brothers were most tired, he suddenly issued a shooting order. It was so strict that there was no room for negotiation. Since the training time on weekdays was extremely limited, Beard could only make use of every opportunity.
You can take advantage of the opportunities to implement the established training plan, so that your men can accumulate as much experience as possible and master shooting techniques in different situations.
Dozens of exhausted brothers seemed to obey the order as if they were conditioned reflexes. They stumbled across more than fifty meters of uneven grass, crossed the road and threw themselves into the dry ditch. They mechanically pulled the bolt of the gun and loaded it nervously.
The cook soldier was not behind either. An Yi took the special rifle handed over by Dong Yazi and rushed over. He quickly loaded the bullet with his eyes almost closed and took aim at the target while kneeling.
"beat!"
The crackling sound of gunfire and the sound of pulling the gun bolt were heard together. Standing high up, Huzi raised the "Zeiss telescope" given by An Yi before departure to observe the impact point of the bullet, and suddenly gave an order loudly:
"Stop shooting—"
After Beard's order echoed in the mountains, the sound of frightened horses neighed from the dense forest around the big white tree a hundred meters away, and then seven tall horses suddenly rushed out of the woods carrying seven riders wearing Zhili military uniforms.
, leapt into the dry and barren rice fields, and fled towards the northwest by riding horses.
Beard yelled, "Hit people, not horses," and jumped off the high ridge. He drew his two guns from his waist and chased after him quickly. The three security guards two hundred meters in front reacted and immediately turned around and raised their guns to attack the seven cavalrymen who were charging towards him.
Shooting, three gunshots went off. The leading rider fell off his horse, overwhelming the horse and rolling forward. The third galloping white horse collided with the second yellow horse that suddenly changed direction, and flew out with a miserable scream.
Rolling violently for several meters, the riders on the two horses were all thrown into the air as soon as they took off their carbines.
An Yi stood up and fired continuously and rapidly, shooting down two riders with two precise shots. Huzi and three well-trained sentries quickly approached the target and fired repeatedly, knocking away the two men. The remaining two were shocked and tightened their reins.
The two horses stood up several meters high, screaming in pain, and then turned around and rushed into the woods under the control of their owners.
An Yi's gunfire rang out again, and the rider who was escaping in front fell off his horse. The other rider yelled "Don't shoot" in fear, then reined in his horse and slowed down, turned around skillfully and finally stopped.
An Yi handed the gun to Dong Yazi who came to him with satisfaction, pulled out the shell gun and rushed into the rice field. The brothers from the two platoons also quickly surrounded them under the leadership of their respective platoon leaders.
Xia Jian left the camp under the leadership of Xia Jian and quickly spread out to guard all directions.
The six horses were obviously well-trained. After their master fell down, they gradually stopped. The brothers quickly grabbed the reins and pulled them aside. The remaining brothers surrounded the injured on the ground in groups and pointed their guns at them.
Yi and Hu Hu looked at each other and walked to the last survivor with their guns in hand. They stared silently at the tall man with a straight back and a dirty shirt on his horse.
"Throw away the carbine and the short gun on your waist, slowly dismount, and walk over step by step." Beard ordered coldly.
The bearded rider threw down his gun and dismounted obediently, walked step by step about four meters in front of An Yi and the two of them, and stopped slowly. His wide, red eyes couldn't help looking at An Yi and his beard, and finally turned to An Yi's face.
He said without fear: "I didn't expect your marksmanship to be so good... And you, your accent sounds like you're from Cangzhou, right?"
Beard recognized the rank of lieutenant colonel on his shoulder and stared into his eyes expressionlessly: "The official position is not small, which part is it?"
"My surname is Zhang, Zhang Chengzhu, courtesy name Zhenbei, from Baoding. Last month I was transferred from Marshal Wu's Third Division to the cavalry battalion commander of Commander Ye Kaixin and Ye. The attack on the Hengnan Iron Bridge was carried out by my men. Two of them were led by Tang Shengzhi.
After the regiment broke up, we fled here. We originally wanted to cross the northern suburbs of Leiyang and go northeast to retreat into Jiangxi. When we saw you approaching, we hid in the woods to avoid it. Unexpectedly, we were discovered by you... You are very good, and you are smarter than Tang Sheng.
The troops are much stronger."
Having said this, Zhang Chengzhu smiled bitterly: "If you two are merciful, please let me go. If things don't change, let me repay you in the future."
An Yi saw Huzi looking at him, laughed, turned to his brothers and loudly ordered: "Brothers from the fifth platoon, stay, and the rest will be led by the platoon leader back to the shooting point to continue the interrupted training... Tietou, and your
The brothers helped the people on the ground, put away their weapons, and checked their injuries."
"yes!"
The three squad platoon leaders loudly replied and divided up the execution.
Zhang Chengzhu looked at An Yi in surprise, with some admiration in his eyes, and then strode towards his brothers. After seeing everyone's injuries, he shook his head sadly: the two company commanders were shot four or five times and are no longer alive.
, three of his bodyguards were hit in the head by precise bullets and were already dead. His adjutant broke his right arm and was knocked unconscious. Zhang Chengzhu squeezed the adjutant's broken arm, tore off the corner of his own clothes and fixed it skillfully.
An Yi walked up to him and said apologetically: "Brother Wu, I'm sorry! If you didn't run away, we wouldn't shoot. Maybe you don't believe it, but as long as you come out and put down your guns, none of this will happen."
, To be honest, I really don’t want to kill anyone, especially my own countrymen.”
"I believe that your eyes tell me that what you are telling me is the truth. Alas... I don't blame anyone. Since you eat this bowl of rice, it will be the same as if you were shot anytime..."
Zhang Chengzhu stood up and looked at An Yi quietly, pointing at the dozens of brothers who were shooting into the forest: "Don't tell me, you were just training and didn't notice us, right?"
Huzi and An Yi showed helpless smiles at the same time. Huzi replied sheepishly: "As my brother said, I didn't notice you at all. You were just doing routine training. These brothers under our command have just been recruited for more than two months. There are no
I have learned shooting properly, so I can only seize every opportunity to practice hard so that my brothers can survive as long as possible when they go to the battlefield."
Zhang Chengzhu closed his tiger eyes in pain, wiped away the sweat on his thick eyebrows and red face with his big hands like cattail fans, shook his head frequently and sighed, looked at the nameplates on their chests and asked calmly: "God's will, God's will...
…What do you call the two brothers?”
An Yi glanced at the nameplate on his chest that was very confusing: "My name is An Yi, the newly promoted company commander. This is Brother Hu Jialin. He was originally the equestrian instructor when my younger brother was in Huangpu Military Academy, and now he is the company deputy of my younger brother.
We are all small people. Like most of my brothers, we don’t have a font size. Please forgive me! I wonder what Brother Zhang’s plans are? Should he leave now or have a meal with us before leaving? We will bury the dead ones properly.
, but the neck of the horse on the ground was broken, so we had to kill it for cooking as soon as possible. Now we only have more than 70 kilograms of rice and some oil, salt, sauce and vinegar left. This horse can keep more than 200 of us walking for three days.
My brothers have had a good meal, I hope Brother Zhang won’t be offended.”
Zhang Chengzhu looked at the white horse that was still twitching and the heavy bag of mud-covered ocean beside it. He slowly walked over and squatted next to the horse's head, gently stroked the white horse's forehead, and suddenly pulled out the horse's boots.
He stabbed the sharp dagger quickly, and a bloody arrow shot out from the top of the horse's neck, which made An Yi and Beard extremely sad.
Zhang Chengzhu put away the dagger and returned to the two of them, pointing to the bag of ocean on the ground and the skin bag on the back of the black horse not far away:
"There are nearly two thousand dollars in the bag, and there are a few gold bars and some jewelry in the skin. The two brothers have watched the soldiers for so long without touching their fingers. It is enough to see that the two brothers lead the troops well and are definitely not ordinary people.
Moreover, you told me the truth without any deceit or suspicion at all, which is rare... Well, it's better to obey orders than to be respectful. I'll stay for a meal, and by the way, I can set the bones of my brother who was lucky enough to survive.
"
An Yi stepped aside and said: "Brother Zhang, please, I have some Yunnan Baiyao obtained from the Yunnan Army, as well as some Panax notoginseng powder and anti-inflammatory straps. Maybe this injured brother can use it... Tietou, bring it underground."
Bring all the horses back to the camp, and then ask Old Han to come over to skin and cut the flesh. The sooner the better."