The commander of the leading tank company immediately raised his telescope and looked forward -
Three or four hundred meters ahead, the road was crowded with people, all local farmers, carrying hoes, rakes and other tools, pointing and shouting at the approaching armored division. People on both sides of the road
There were more farmers in the farmland. They were scattered far away, like a fence, blocking the way of the tanks of the 1st Lan Division.
The commander on each tank held up the telescope and looked at it in disbelief. For a while, everything was said in the radio headset. But the company commander immediately reported it to the battalion commander. Because the commanders of each regiment and the commander of the first division,
They were all having a meeting in Rommel's command car, so the radio call went directly to Rommel.
Rommel listened to the report on the radio and couldn't believe his ears for a moment, so he asked the translator to translate it into German and listened again. He put on the headset, climbed up the iron ladder, opened the roof cover of the command vehicle, and looked at the telescope with a telescope.
Looking from a distance.
It's too far away and nothing can be seen. Although it is not a column formation now, the march of a division is still very long. It is two kilometers away from the vanguard.
He hit the roof of the armored vehicle hard, and then said in Chinese into the headset:
"Order the vanguard to stop advancing."
He looked at his watch and continued:
"I'll give you five minutes to solve the problem. After five minutes, move on."
Then Rommel tried his best to look forward with the telescope, but couldn't see anything. He murmured in German:
"I can't believe something like this would happen..."
…
More than a hundred meters away from the farmers blocking the road, the leading tank and all the tanks stopped. The engine was still running and the commanders did not get out of the car. They were still exposed outside the turret, observing with binoculars.
The company commander shouted into the headset, and soon the orderly soldier came over on a sidecar motorcycle. The company commander leaned over the tank and ordered:
"Go over and ask!"
The messenger received the order and drove his motorcycle "chugging" to the crowd more than 100 meters away.
The company commander watched through the telescope as he gesticulated with the villagers for a while, then returned "chugging" on his motorcycle.
"Report," the messenger raised his head and said to the tank, "the villagers said that we destroyed their crops, but they refused and asked us to give an explanation."
The company commander was stunned, got a little angry, and shouted:
"Explanation? What explanation? Didn't the local government agree to compensate them at one and a half times? What else should I say?"
The messenger said:
"That's what I told them, but they still refused to do it. How much money they should pay is another matter. Crops are the lifeblood of farmers. As long as they still have breath, they can't watch us suppressing them like this anymore!"
The company commander smashed the top of the turret and said angrily:
"Nonsense! This is a military exercise, what do they think it is? Tell them to get out of the way immediately, otherwise you will bear the consequences!"
"yes!"
The messenger rode over again on his motorcycle. The company commander saw through the telescope that the messenger negotiated with the villagers again, but it seemed that the villagers ignored him at all and just held up their tools to make noises.
The leader's voice sounded in the headset:
"What's going on? Why haven't you dealt with it yet? Lord Long and Master are already angry!"
The company commander quickly told the story about the farmers in front blocking the road and "demanding an explanation", preventing the troops from passing by.
In the command car behind, Rommel, the division commander, and several regiment commanders listened to the sounds on the radio and could hardly believe their ears.
"If this were Germany," Rommel said, staring at the others, "we could give them one minute to get out of the way, and after one minute they would all be arrested. How to do that here?"
The division commander and several regiment leaders looked at each other. After a while, the division commander said:
"The Ming Dynasty must not be like this."
Another group leader suggested:
"We can contact similar local government agencies and ask them to handle it."
Rommel lowered his head and stared at the map:
"What do they want?"
He briefly measured it on the map with his hand and said to himself:
"This place is only 15 kilometers away from the Sixth Red Division...and we are advancing too fast. At least in the eyes of the Sixth Red Division."
Rommel said to himself and made a few more gestures, looked up at the people in front of him, and suddenly said:
"If the red side pays these farmers to block our way, that would be a good way to slow us down."
As soon as this sentence was said, there was a sudden silence in the command car, and then several people suddenly realized it. The more they thought about it, the more they felt it was right.
"If this is really the case," one of the group leaders said, "then no matter how we explain, they will not let us go."
The teacher nodded and said:
"It makes sense. What should we do now? There are two ways. Either go to the local government agency and ask them to come forward. Or, we can also spend money to get these villagers to get out of the way."
The several regiment leaders looked at each other and thought it was too ridiculous. The army of their own country was conducting exercises on their own land and they had to spend money to "buy roads". This is really... It is better to send people to the local government and follow them
Negotiation is more reliable.
But Rommel looked up and said:
"Okay, let's all chip in."
Several people were stunned:
"Lord Long!"
Rommel raised his wrist to look at his watch, then looked at the map, cursed in German, raised his head and said roughly:
"Damn it, it's too late! Do you want money or practice victory?"
…
Ten minutes later, a sidecar motorcycle drove in front of the villagers. A junior officer sitting in the sidecar took out a large bag without saying a word, and then took out a large handful of banknotes from the bag, waving it in front of the villagers' eyes.
Akira said:
"Look, everyone, there are 1,000 Mingyang in this bag! Have you seen the small hill one mile to the south? Let's go and wait under that small hill. Whoever passes by now will be given 10 Mingyang directly! It can be said that
Well, there are only 1,000 mingyang in total, which means only the first 100 people can take it! There are no latecomers!"
After saying that, the motorcycle turned south and headed straight for the hill.
The hundreds of villagers blocking the road exploded with a bang. They all straightened their heads, looked at the direction where the motorcycle was going, and talked incessantly. The people standing at the back didn't hear clearly and were still asking each other.
But no one moved a step, they were all looking at others, hesitating.
Finally, a young man looked at the people around him and ran towards the motorcycle.
Immediately afterwards, the second young man followed.
The crowd started to commotion, and soon a third, fourth, and fifth person followed. But most people didn't move yet, just talking among themselves.
After a while, several young people came back out of breath but happily. Each of them held ten one-minyang bills in their hands.
The crowd exploded. Nothing was needed anymore. All these villagers, men, women, old and young, ran like crazy towards the hills to the south.
10 mingyang is a lot of money. In this era, 10 mingyang can buy more than a thousand kilograms of high-quality rice, more than two hundred kilograms of pork, and more than six grams of gold.
Suddenly there was no one on the road and more than a hundred meters on both sides.
…
Looking at the empty roads and fields in front of them, the futility and depression in the chests of the commanders disappeared at this moment. The company commander was very proud, holding one hand on the top of the turret, waving back the other hand, and giving commands to the headset