Three, mountain cave hides guns

  Yamamoto looked at the mountain cave with suspicion: "How can you climb up such a high cliff and how did you transport your weapons up there?"

  Zhan Biao looked at Yamamoto calmly and said, "Wars often create miracles, and we are all skilled in martial arts, with excellent physical fitness." Then he also asked, "Didn't you really notice that we were shooting on this mountain?"

  Yamamoto smiled wryly and said, "I was the third batch to enter the valley, I don't know if anyone from the first two batches discovered it. You, you were too ruthless, not a single person from the first two batches survived." Yamamoto stood at attention again, facing the valley. Then, without waiting for Zhang Biao to speak, he continued, "At that time, I was already very suspicious of this place, just because I thought it wasn't suitable for climbing and didn't think deeply about it. Plus, the frontline orders were one after another..."

  Gao Lianchang heard Zhan Biao's inquiry, looked up at the steep cliff, and then looked at the heavy machine gun. These weapons were for soldiers, and there was a glimmer of hope that they could be preserved. He nodded hastily to signal Zhan Biao to go take a look, but he worried about how Zhan Biao could climb up the cliff, which was over 30 meters high. Moreover, the lower part of the cliff was recessed inward for more than ten meters, making it very inconvenient to climb.

  Zhan Biao turned around and whistled, then shouted in the local dialect: "Junior brothers, gather 'round!" Although they were all Sichuan troops who spoke Sichuanese, different regions within Sichuan had their own accents.

  As soon as Zhan Biao's whistle sounded, eight men immediately stood up and rushed over from all directions. As soon as Zhan Biao's voice fell, the eight men were already standing in front of him. Zhan Biao quickly examined the injuries of these few people. Fortunately, only three of them were lightly injured, two with leg injuries and one with a back injury, all of which were minor scratches.

  Everyone knows that the relationship between these nine people is well-known to all officials and soldiers. Everyone knows that they are from the same village, have been practicing martial arts together since childhood, and are sworn brothers. Zhan Biao is the eldest brother. The fact that Zhan Biao has this group of younger sworn brothers is also one of the reasons why everyone respects him and Gao Lianzhang relies on him heavily.

  But everyone didn't know how deep their martial arts foundation was. They always got up an hour earlier than others every day to practice martial arts, and they always vied with each other to go on night patrol and practice martial arts in the dark. In fact, none of the nine people knew what level their kung fu would be if taken to the rivers and lakes. From childhood to adulthood, they just practiced hard with their heads down, never having the opportunity to fight with outsiders. And modern warfare is a world of hot weapons, making it even harder for martial arts to have a chance to shine.

  Everyone didn't know that Zhang Biao's ninth brother had played with firearms before joining the army. In their hometown, where martial arts were prevalent, the nine of them took on the responsibility of protecting the village in a chaotic world. After the master's death, the eldest brother followed the custom of being the father figure, and Zhang Biao was in charge of things in the village at a young age. Before the age of 20, Zhang Biao had great authority, and all major and minor matters in the village were arranged by him. He took it upon himself to change the money raised by the village to buy 20 rifles into one heavy machine gun, one light machine gun, and five rifles. The news spread throughout the surrounding areas that their village had light and heavy machine guns, which intimidated the local bandits and rarely provoked them. They practiced shooting heavy machine guns in their own way without an instructor. However, they didn't have time to show off their skills in actual combat. Although they had surrounded and attacked the Red Army when they first joined the army, Commander Deng Xihou and the Red Army had a tacit understanding, always keeping a day's distance from the Red Army, and they never fired at the Red Army. They only showed off their skills during target practice, earning them the reputation of being the "machine gun gods." Now they are all regular shooters in each machine gun squad and are the combat backbone of this machine gun company.

  From the time they joined the army, these nine brothers made a pact to take care of each other, they could not be in the same squad but could not be separated by more than one company. They would live together and die together. Just now, because all nine were martial arts practitioners, their instinctive self-defense reflexes saved them when the bomb fell.

  "There's a cave up there, we'll hide the heavy machine gun inside. San Dezi, get ready to grab and fly!" Zhan Biao ordered, pointing at the protrusion on the mountain wall.

  San De's soldier was extremely slender and delicate, the smallest military uniform looked a bit big on him. He took off the flying claw with long cow tendon rope from his waist - originally his flying claw was wrapped around his waist - and looked at the height and said: "My flying claw is only five zhang long, and I need to connect three backpack straps."

  At that time, the standard length of a soldier's backpack strap was six meters. After connecting three, there were more than 30 meters. San De took a deep breath and left more than one meter in his hand to swing it with a whooshing sound. Then, with a "hey", he swung the grappling hook, which dragged its long tail and hooked onto the protruding part of the mountain wall. San De shook it twice, and the more he pulled, the tighter it became.

  Then Qiangzi gestured to the others: "Qiangzi, set up the ladder!" The tall and sturdy Qiangzi walked steadily to the empty space under the rope and stood with one foot, and the seven people behind him all put their hands on his shoulders and stood in a row. Then the last person climbed onto his shoulders and stood still... In this way, the seven people set up a human ladder very skillfully. When they reached the third person, the people above helped them reach the lower edge of the cliff. At this time, San De held the rope with one hand and pushed against the human ladder with one foot, climbing up in one breath. Then Zhan Biao also climbed up.

  After climbing up this mountain, I felt that this was an ideal place to hide a gun. This is indeed a cave, the entrance is very low, only half a person high, but it is five or six meters wide, forming a flat entrance. And this protrusion is the extension of the lower end of the entrance, extending out for nearly two meters, covering up the entrance without leaving any marks. What's amazing is that the edge of the protrusion curls up, like a natural breast wall, more like a balcony of a building. This "balcony" can be entered by retreating two steps, it's a natural machine gun bunker. If you set up a heavy machine gun at both ends of the "balcony", you can seal off the left and right mountain valleys, and in the middle, you can also place a heavy machine gun, directly pointing to the middle of the valley, which is where the troops were bombed while eating earlier.

  As he entered the cave, Zhang Yi was delighted to be greeted by a gust of cool wind, indicating that there was another exit inside, providing an escape route. Upon entering the cave entrance, one could stand up straight, and it was a spacious mountain cave over two meters high with no visible end in sight. What's more, the cave initially sloped upward for over ten meters before making a nearly right-angle turn. This way, the slope at the entrance could prevent hand grenades from being thrown in and water from flowing in, while the right-angle turn could be set up as an ambush point, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. As he walked further inside and listened carefully, he could hear the sound of dripping water deep within, indicating that there was no shortage of water.

  Zhan Biao, due to time constraints, did not continue further and hastily returned to the ground to report to Gao Lianzhang.

  Gao Lianchang thought for a moment after hearing this and asked Zhan Biao: "How confident are you in keeping these heavy machine guns?"

  "Zhang Biao stood up straight, raised his fist and swore: 'As long as I have my gun, I will live! If my gun is gone, I am gone!'"

  Gao Lianlong patted Zhang Biao's shoulder with his right hand, and sucked in a cold breath due to the wound on his left arm. He first said softly, "I really can't bear to part with you." Then, gritting his teeth, he loudly gave an order: "If that's the case, these eight people are all yours! You all listen up!"

  Zhan Biao beckoned with one hand, and his fellow disciples quickly lined up in a row. San De slid down the rope like a squirrel to join the group.

  "Attention, Squad Leader Zhan Biao!" shouted Captain Gao Lian. Zhan Biao took a step forward and stood at attention: "Sergeant Zhan Biao of the Machine Gun Squad, 81st Regiment, 125th Division, 45th Army, 22nd Group Army, awaiting orders!"

  Gao Lianchang continued to shout: "Zhan Biao, listen to the order: reorganize a squad of machine gun company, Zhan Biao is still the squad leader. Now I command you all to complete the task of protecting the anti-war weapons and equipment of the machine gun company with all your might!" The nine people shouted in unison: "As long as we are alive, our guns will be with us! If our guns are lost, we will die!"

  Gao Lianchang gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "Zhan Biao, you must promise me that if I don't die, I will definitely get this batch of heavy machine guns into my hands!" Zhan Biao raised his right knee and stood at attention again, also speaking fiercely and repeating: "As long as I don't die, I will definitely hand over this batch of heavy machine guns to Gao Lianchang!"

  Then Commander Gao ordered the concentrated storage of dry rations, fried noodles and other food for the entire company, enough to sustain them for one or two months. Zhan Biao wanted to decline, but Commander Gao glared at him, and he didn't dare say a word.

  All the weapons and equipment, Gao Lianzhang only took away three light machine guns, a dozen or so pistols and necessary living supplies. The rest of the weapons and equipment were left behind, including 6 heavy machine guns, 5 Czech light machine guns, 120 Zhongzheng rifles, 9 pistols, 48 boxes of 7.92mm light and heavy machine gun and rifle ammunition, 30 boxes of hand grenades, and 6 boxes of pistol bullets. The equipment was a motley assortment, leaving behind all the things that Gao Lianzhang had wanted to get rid of in order to make the regiment lighter over the past few days.

  Finally, Gao Lianzhang bid farewell to Zhan Biao: "We still have to rush to rescue the seriously injured, you can move them yourself. Brothers, take care!" As he spoke, Gao Lianzhang also took off the German Zeiss binoculars hanging from his side and handed it to Zhan Biao.

  The whole class lined up to bid farewell to the departing troops. In the twilight, the comrades heading west were getting farther and farther away, while the sound of gunfire was clearly audible from the east. No one knew what fate awaited those who had been left behind by the main forces. Under the fading sunlight, the nine brothers couldn't help but feel a mix of sadness, loneliness, helplessness, and loss.

  After the troops withdrew, Zhan Biao commanded his brothers to work hard and made two sets of sturdy rope ladders and four suspension baskets. Under the moonlight, they nervously transported weapons and equipment into the cave. They worked until midnight before finally moving all the weapons and equipment inside. Then, Zhan Biao distributed nine handguns to everyone, requiring them not to leave their guns. He also set all the light and heavy machine guns to a state of readiness for battle. Two heavy machine guns were placed at the entrance of the cave, and three light machine guns were placed at the turning point inside. Liu Yang carefully connected several buckets of circulating cooling water to the Maxim heavy machine gun. Finally, nine comfortable campaign beds were laid out inside the cave.

  At dawn, everyone ate some dry food and fell asleep on the marching bed in exhaustion. Zhang Biao, who was standing guard at the cave entrance for everyone, also fell asleep unintentionally, unaware that danger had quietly arrived in the valley.