Chapter 12: The Remaining Green Mountain

  After rearranging, Ma Qian'an picked up the machine gun again, thought for a moment, and put it down. Then he asked Li Fengshan, who was always by his side: "Brother Fengshan, how many bullets do you have left?"

  Li Fengshan proudly said: "The bullets of this rifle and other rifles are different, no one will fight with you for it, I just counted, there are still over 500 rounds left, go ahead and make more!"

  More than 500 shots? Still so energetic? Ma Qian'an listened and thought it was all fresh, thinking that if you could live to my age, you would know how petty your words are today. I used to fire 5,000 rounds of bullets in one day.

  The anti-Japanese alliance captured Tang Zhendong's vanguard two days ago, and last night they defeated Cheng Bing's vanguard, capturing a large amount of ammunition and guns. Each person had dozens of bullets on them. To better complete the blocking mission, Cao Yafan also left behind two boxes of bullets and over ten hand grenades. Ma Qian'an inspected everything and felt reassured that these munitions were enough to fight a medium-intensity battle.

  Now everyone is waiting for the little devils' second attack.

  "Captain, don't you think we should send someone to climb up that mountain and keep watch? I'm afraid the little devils might sneak up from the side and attack us from behind." warned a wounded soldier who had lost one eye.

  After the reorganization, Ma Qian'an named this team "Rapid Riding Rear Guard Team", which doesn't have any special meaning, it just sounds more powerful and means a rear guard unit. Li Fengshan was very impressed and praised Ma Qian'an for being cultured. The 38 surviving members of the team were divided into three squads, which is a temporary formation. Because the Anti-Japanese United Army had previously considered confusing the enemy in this regard, the formation they created was too large, with many empty positions, such as regimental commanders and division commanders everywhere, which would make people feel strange when calling out orders during battles. You can't say something like "Three division commanders, I order you to launch an attack with your 50 men and defeat the enemy's certain squad!" It sounds ridiculous for a division to fight against a squad. For Ma Qian'an, who was used to modern military formations, this didn't feel right, so he reorganized the team to conform to common military formation practices. The person who just spoke up is actually a regimental commander with only ten soldiers under him.

  Duomuyang's proposal caught Ma Qian'an's attention, he looked up at the high mountains on both sides, estimated the height, and calculated that during this heavy snowfall, climbing such a high mountain and then going around to his own rear would take no less than 50 minutes. If they could discover the enemy's plan to climb the mountain in advance, they would have time to retreat and build a second line of defense.

  On the ghostly array ground, the ghostly crossing edge team leader fell into trouble. The anti-union escaped into the mountain valley, but the valley entrance terrain was suitable for blocking, which made him pay a huge price. His own casualties overshadowed the joy of discovering the main force of the anti-union. He looked at his three company commanders and Aota Naoki company commander, with a hint of self-doubt, asked: "Gentlemen, our situation is like this, very bad, now we are not closer to the anti-union's main force, but farther away, do you have any way to break through this array?"

  Aota Naoki had already seen through this battle clearly, he sensitively realized that the godly gunner from yesterday was in that place. From the wounds of their own injured and fallen soldiers, many were caused by the powerful bullets of the Type 99 machine gun. The opponent couldn't possibly have many such machine guns, if there was only one, it must be that person operating it, a nightmarish figure. A direct charge would undoubtedly result in even greater casualties. It seemed that they had no choice but to use strategy.

  Aoyama Naoki roughly drew a topographic map on the snowy ground, then pointed to a protruding part and said: "Commander, we can launch a frontal feint attack, then send a surprise force to climb over this mountain head, and suddenly appear from behind them, locking their rear. Although it will waste some time, it's better than a direct assault. I suspect that the person who was surrounded by us yesterday is also there, and that person is not easy to deal with."

  Watanabe thought for a while and couldn't come up with a better plan, so he agreed with Aoyama Naoki.

  A group of Japanese soldiers slowly launched a frontal feint, hesitating to enter the range of the Anti-Japanese Alliance's attack. A small number of Japanese soldiers who had advanced stealthily hid very well in the snowy terrain, crawling on their bellies and taking cover behind objects as soon as they found them. Occasionally, they would pop out to fire two shots before quickly retreating back into hiding.

  Ma Qian'an looked at the hesitating devils and felt that something was not right. He frequently looked towards the high mountains on both sides, searching for whether his dispatched soldiers had sent a signal, guessing that the devils were definitely up to no good.

  Li Fengshan also felt something was wrong and asked: "Brother Ma, what's the little devil up to? Is he playing a trick on us?"

  "Fengshan big brother, don't you think those little devils are stupider than us?"

  "You're even more talkative than them! In this day and age, who's stupider than whom?" Li Fengshan wasn't too pleased with Ma Qian'an's teasing.

  "If they are not foolish, then what we can think of, can't they also think of?"

  "Look what you're saying, of course... You mean they want to take a shortcut, but this is too obvious, isn't it? Look at the Japanese troops making a fake attack from the front, they're not even trying hard, it's like they think we're idiots. Are they really that clever? Damn it."

  The two of them raised their heads, staring blankly at the mountain beside them. The other soldiers, except for a few who remained to continue monitoring the devils in front of them, also turned around and followed the two men's gaze.

  At this time, the anti-Communist League had two kinds of mentality. One was to be willing to die, represented by those original wounded soldiers. The second was to think about when they could retreat, represented by Li Fengshan's men, who would withdraw if possible and not engage in a fierce battle.

  After half an hour's wait, Li Fengshan finally saw the soldier who climbed to the top of the mountain waving his hat as a warning signal through his binoculars.

  It's time to go, Ma Qian'an took a deep breath and ordered the troops to assemble and retreat.

  One more frustrating thing was waiting for him, those wounded who volunteered to stay behind refused to withdraw. Ma Qian's order did not get their recognition and execution.

  "Comrades, we have held out for more than two hours. In theory, our blocking mission is already complete and we can retreat." Ma Qian explained patiently.

  "Captain Ma, do you think we can still move?" A soldier smiled bitterly and patted his bloody thigh, "Even if we can move, I want to hold on for a while longer, so that the main force, so that you all can have some more time to retreat, right?"

  The squad leader said: "You go, remember, fight the devils well, I'm done, you'll have to rely on yourselves from now on."

  Ma Qian did not give up and begged: "We retreat a little further back, we can set up two defensive lines, come with us."

  Li Fengshan has already beckoned Ma Qian'an from afar.

  "Stop stalling, if you don't leave now, the fake attack by the enemy will become real soon. You'll want to leave but won't be able to, what's the point of staying? Let's go!"

  When Ma Qian faced this group of people who were willing to die, facing warriors with wills harder than steel, he felt so powerless. Thinking back to when he was still scolding Cao Yaofan, thinking that he could save these wounded soldiers, now it seemed so ignorant. And yet he wanted to persuade this group of people to withdraw together, how childish. They were more determined than him, they were the true backbone of the nation. They took death lightly, only because they had a simple faith in their hearts to restore the rivers and mountains.

  Ma Qian walked slowly and thoughtfully.

  He suddenly pointed at the young machine gunner, the girl, and said: "Alright! I respect your ideas, you don't have to leave, but she must go."

  "I won't leave, I want to die with him." The girl sat beside Xiaocao, affectionately holding his arm and smiling gently at him.

  Xiao Cao gently shook off the girl's arm and said firmly to Ma Qian: "Captain Ma, I agree, take her away!"

  The girl puffed out her cheeks, stubbornly turned her body around, and covered her ears.

  Ma Qian'an looked at Li Fengshan who was getting farther and farther away, then turned his head to the group of soldiers and said: "I have another way to keep your lives safe, there is some danger, this girl can't stay here, if the devils find out she's a girl, something bad will easily happen."

  The squad leader said: "Captain Ma, we are not afraid of death, what else can we be afraid of? Speak."

  "When the devils come up, don't resist and don't pull out the hand grenades in your pocket. You must surrender voluntarily. In order to lure the Anti-Communist League, they basically won't kill the surrendered Anti-Communist League members." Ma Qian'an knew that as soon as he said this, it would cause misunderstandings among these soldiers. He had already seen the battalion commander slowly turning his gun around.

  "Don't misunderstand, let me finish." Ma Qian calmed down the restless soldiers and stared at the camp commander's black muzzle, continuing to say: "We want to develop, we want to grow stronger, so we need all kinds of people to undertake different tasks. We not only need tens of thousands of people with guns, but also tens of thousands of people fighting in the enemy's heart. Do you understand?"

  Seeing the warriors lower their guns slightly, Ma Qian felt relieved in his heart. "Why have we failed frequently in the past year or two? It's because the enemy has grasped our movements, destroyed our secret camps, and specifically, they have more information than us and done better intelligence work. You all have made up your minds to defend the Anti-Japanese League with your lives and have taken action, enduring the strictest tests. I believe in you, and fighting alive within the enemy's internal ranks will be much more effective than dying here. Do you understand? If this time the devils don't kill you, after you recover from your injuries, they will assign you to various vanguard teams. If they refuse to surrender, killing you would be the worst outcome, but that just means you'll have killed a few fewer devils. I'll make up for it by killing more myself, do you understand?"

  Seeing everyone's expression had relaxed a bit, Ma Qian added another sentence: "If you die in battle here, the significance and effect will be far less than the path I pointed out to you. This is a task, a task with great significance and profound meaning, without willpower, faith, or intelligence, it can't be completed. Dying is simple, just pull the grenade from your arms and it's done, but fighting alive is difficult. Do you dare to accept this task?"

  The warriors gathered together and quickly consulted with each other. Two minutes later, they agreed.

  The squad leader asked: "If you really become one, how will we contact you afterwards?"

  "Write down your names, I will report to Commander Chang. We will send someone to contact you. Before our people find you, you are not allowed to take any action against the enemy. Hide, or hide!"

  "What should we be aware of?" a bright-eyed warrior asked.

  Ma Qian took a deep breath and said, "One word: pretend."

  Pretend, pretend to be afraid of death, pretend to be a traitor, whatever you want.

  "Are you like this too? If it weren't for you saving the commander and killing so many devils, I really wouldn't dare believe you."

  "What? How did it get on me? Ma Qian'an was puzzled and looked at the camp commander with inquiring eyes."

  The squad leader smiled and said: "You have a lot of mysteries on your body, sometimes it's me, sometimes it's mine, sometimes you look like a farmer, and sometimes you look like a gentleman."

  "Who says farmers can't be masters? I say what I want, it's my freedom, that means I don't forget my roots." Ma Qian'an argued strenuously while putting away the list, secretly shocked in his heart, there are really many clever people.

  Ma Qian finished instructing and set a secret signal for contact, then pulled the unwilling fake little girl and quickly escaped.