Chapter 57

  At this time, Li Tie was leading the independent regiment in camouflaging the mountain cave base outside the cave.

  After a heavy snow, the northern land was truly wrapped in a silver coat. The slopes were all covered with white snow, but amidst this vast whiteness, a black cave entrance appeared. Because the slopes near the cave had been destroyed by devils and the minefields had lost their effectiveness, almost 90% of the landmines had been detonated, so the trees on these slopes had all been blown away, leaving them bare.

  Without the shelter of trees, the cave entrance is particularly conspicuous. Especially after a heavy snowfall, in the vast expanse of white snow, a black hole stands out, with clear distinction between black and white, making it especially eye-catching.

  Li Tie is now doing his best to make this entrance look as inconspicuous as possible from the air.

  Although the devils are unlikely to mobilize their air force to bomb a small mountain cave, since Yicheng has an airport and is not far from here in a straight line, if the devils suddenly have a whim on that day and send two bombers to practice their skills on the mountain cave, it's not impossible. So Li Tie thought, let's first make it difficult for the devils to spot this cave entrance from the air, and hide for now.

  On the hillside, there were withered branches and leaves blown up by landmines everywhere. Now, the main task of the independent regiment was to lift some slightly larger tree trunks that looked still usable to the entrance of the cave. Then, according to Li Tie's idea, a large grass shed would be built on top of the cave, which could cover the entire entrance without affecting the cars inside.

  It's easy to talk about, but it's really hard to do. The whole morning was spent just laying the foundation. And even that didn't go smoothly - mainly because the thatched hut was too big, bigger than anyone had expected. This is simply absurd, building this thatched hut is more troublesome than building a palace.

  Look, with his own ability, he really can't complete such a difficult task. Li Tie had to retreat and seek the next best thing. Under everyone's suggestion, they built a small thatched hut. It was just covering the entrance of the cave, only enough for one car to come out, a very simple thatched hut. Even so, it took everyone nearly two days to finish. Of course, building this thatched hut didn't require as much wood, so when it was finished, there were still quite a few left over.

  Finally, some warriors who were originally carpenters used the remaining wood to make many tables and stools, which they distributed to each unit. Everyone was overjoyed.

  On top of the thatched hut, a thick layer of straw was covered, because it would be dismantled and rebuilt later, so this thatched hut was only temporary, so Li Tie didn't take it seriously. Then another layer of thin soil was covered on top of the straw, in this way, from the air, the cave was basically invisible.

  The snow in early winter melts quickly, and in two or three days, there is no trace of snow on the sunny slope. In fact, even if it doesn't melt, just relying on the independent chain's tossing, I estimate that not much snow would be left on the entire mountain slope, all mixed with mud. From the air, it looks like a large army has been through, at least the Imperial Army hasn't come out, that is, the Eighth Route Army has done its job, and there must have been a bombing campaign.

  Stuck in the cave, bored out of his mind, Li Tie sent a telegram to the team leader: "Yo, what's up with work lately? No news, no contact, is everyone dead?" Er Gouzi received this inexplicable telegram and rubbed his bald head dozens of times, still unable to figure out what Little Li meant. At such a close distance, they had phones, so why send a telegram? Was he just bored after eating too much?

  Li Tie is bored in the cave, Er Gou's team leader is depressed in the team department: nothing else to do, just eating and drinking.

  In those years, ordinary rural households were basically sugar and vegetable half-year grain scenery, even landlords' families had no surplus grain. So, the whole team of several hundred people, all strong laborers, did a great job when working, but also ate one top three, especially with not much oil and water dishes, that was hungry fast, before mealtime, everyone was hungry. Once hungry, they would eat vigorously, so they would eat more. After preliminary calculations, the team's grain could only last until next spring, or even earlier.

  Let's collect grain from fellow villagers, first because the base is too poor and there's nothing to collect, secondly each household has eaten all except for next year's seeds, where can we find surplus grain to collect?

  One of the main reasons for this situation is that the yield of crops in the mountains is too low. The land in the mountains is barren, and there are no fertilizers now, usually only applying some organic fertilizer, such as human and animal manure, and basically relying on natural rainfall. The mountain top base is a bit better, after all, many small reservoirs were not built for nothing. But this place is too small to support the personnel of the large team and the villagers of three villages. As for other places, it's even worse, and some places can't even harvest what they plant.

  The people are the source of the army, without the people where does the Eighth Route Army come from? Therefore, we must ensure the livelihoods of our fellow villagers first before considering reducing the burden on the troops. If the fellow villagers cannot even guarantee their own lives, how can they wholeheartedly provide everything for the troops?

  The second dog team leader is also a peasant, knows everyone's situation, considering the current situation of the base area, it is no longer possible to collect grain from here, but also can't let the soldiers go hungry.

  If we don't eat enough, then everyone will not have the energy to train, which will lead to a decline in our combat effectiveness. Originally, the combat effectiveness of the troops had already been severely damaged by the enemy and had not yet recovered. If we do not rely on this opportunity to boost it, there is a great possibility that we will not be able to withstand the next sweep by the devils.

  Affected by the sweep of the devils, nearly 50% of the county's troops were injured. Although relying on the strong medicine guarantee of the county's troops, many soldiers have recovered and returned to their posts, but many soldiers are permanently disabled and lost their combat effectiveness! Except for the independent regiment, no regiment is full. Although the independent regiment did not suffer any casualties, it had too few people, with only 20-30 combat personnel, and the rest could be classified as "non-combat" personnel, including the elderly over 60 years old and the young in their teens, all of whom were weak and disabled.

  The current county regiment can be said to be a standard mess, and the second dog regiment leader is preparing to select some young people from the militia force construction during this period, fill them into each company, make the troops reach full strength, and then intensify training, striving to make the combat effectiveness of the troops another step forward before the devils launch their next attack. But looking at the current situation, the food problem has arisen again, if we add more soldiers to fill up, the food will be even tighter, what to do?

  The sky is overcast and it's raining.

  The food-stuffed and unable-to-move Second Dog Squad Leader's mood was just like the weather, really terrible.

  Some people describe the rain as cow hair, flower needles, or fine silk, how poetic and picturesque. But now, Er Gouzi looks at the fine rain outside the window, it's like someone is using a flower needle to pierce his heart, using fine silk to sew his liver, and using cow hair to stuff his lungs. In short, one word: terrible.

  Just as he was pacing back and forth in the office, he received a telegram from Li Tie, suddenly reminding him that there was still this unruly little ancestor around, how could he have forgotten? Although this kid had solved everyone's cotton-padded jacket problem, and also solved the food problem once, it's likely that solving it again shouldn't be a big deal.

  Then, Second Dog Commander immediately made a phone call to the mountain cave base.

  "What's up, Li Tie? What are you busy with?"

  As soon as he heard this, Li Tie's body hair stood on end, one cold sweat followed another, and the goosebumps all over his body disappeared only to rise again!

  The captain has never spoken to himself like this before!

  There's no use being overly polite if you don't have an ulterior motive; otherwise, you're either a cheat or a thief.

  The captain speaks to himself like this, he must be up to no good.

  。

  Li Tie asked cautiously: "Lian Zhang, don't say that, okay? I'm getting anxious, if there's something on your mind, let's just talk about it between us."

  "Xiao Li, since it's like this, then I won't be polite. I'll just speak the truth."

  "Go on, I'm listening." Li Tie felt a bit better when he heard Er Gou call him Xiao Lizi.

  "Lately, the food in our unit is not enough to eat. I estimate that we can only make it until tomorrow or spring at most. If we wait for new soldiers to arrive at the company, there's a possibility that we won't even have enough to eat by next spring. You see, it's already impossible to ask everyone for food contributions now. Is it possible to go out and buy some?"

  The two dogs knew that Li Tie was a miser, hoarding a pile of silver coins and unwilling to spend them. If he were allowed to use these coins to buy grain, it would be better for him to rob the grain instead.

  As expected, as soon as he heard that Captain Li was going to spend his silver coins, Li Tie jumped up on the other end of the phone.

  "I knew you weren't sincere, you're after my money, aren't you? My money still has some use, it's just a few pounds of grain, isn't it?"

  "Alright, alright, as long as you have a way, of course it's better not to spend money. " Er Gou team leader heard Li Tie agree to this matter, and he was also very happy in his heart, let's see if you little guy is cheated or not, hehe."

  Not mentioning Er Gouzi's idleness in the squad, let's talk about Li Tie putting down the phone in the cave and starting to think about how to get some food.

  After some thought, only the devils had it, but what was the specific goal? Finally, he fixed his gaze on the devils' railway line. If they could get a few cars of grain from them, that would be enough for the troops to eat for a while.

  But anyway, staying in this cave is out of food, go out and explore the situation first.

  He set off immediately, bringing along a team of about twenty people, including Fox, and departed lightly.

  Rely on the masses, mobilize the masses, this is Li Tie's eight-character guiding principle for battle.

  There is a way: before the troops move, intelligence comes first.

  Li Tie led the Fox Team to leave the mountain cave base, but did not go directly to the railway. Instead, they hid in the nearby mountains and waited for intelligence from the advance reconnaissance team.