Chapter One (13)

  "There are no living prisoners, only dead heroes!"

  "Let's go!"

  Ma Cheng led the way and ran towards the mountain. The mountain was not high, but it was exceptionally steep. It took the troops nearly 40 minutes to rush to the top of the mountain.

  Ma Cheng was the last one to climb up the mountain, saw that they stopped ahead and said to He Da Jun: "Can't stop, hurry up and go, if we let the Blue Army arrive first then it will be troublesome."

  He Dajun, who was in charge of leading the way, ran over and said dejectedly: "Commissar, this is a solitary peak. Except for the path up the mountain, there's no other way to go. What should we do?"

  Under the moonlight, the mountain was a vast expanse of gray and white. Ma Cheng went forward to take a look, and indeed, there was only one path down the mountain, which was the same way they came up.

  "Take another look, this is not Mount Hua, it's impossible for there to be only one path."

  "I've scouted ahead, the other sides are all cliffs, there's no way down."

  What to do? The whole company is waiting for Ma Cheng's order. Ma Cheng ran to the edge of the cliff and looked down, the best route to the second area was through the cliff, but how high was the cliff, what was the situation below, it was impossible to see clearly at night. If he didn't get a clear picture of the situation below, Ma Cheng dared not take this risk, which concerned the lives of the whole company, any slight mistake would be a disaster for the troops.

  Everyone looked anxiously at their deputy leader. Ma Cheng gritted his teeth: "Return by the original route."

  Ma Cheng planned to increase his speed after descending the mountain, bypassing the winding road and arriving at Area 2 ahead of the Blue Army.

  It's easy to go up a mountain, but difficult to come down. The mountain path is very steep, and when walking down, one can only walk sideways, taking small steps, and it's hard to hurry.

  Just as they reached the middle of the mountain, the Blue Army, shouting slogans like "Capture Ma Cheng alive and capture the entire Second Company", charged over from a short distance away.

  Ma was shocked, and before he could give an order, some of the soldiers had already run up the mountain.

  "What shall we do, Commissar?" He Da-jun asked anxiously.

  The Blue Army's speed was too fast, Ma Cheng thought for a moment and said to He Da Jun: "Let's go back to the top of the mountain first, they can't attack us for the time being."

  Re-ascending the mountain, perhaps due to everyone's desperate efforts, after sprinting for half a day and night with extremely depleted physical strength, the entire company used only half an hour to charge up to the summit.

  At this time, the warriors' physical strength had almost reached its limit. As soon as they reached the top of the mountain, they all collapsed to the ground and couldn't move anymore.

  Ma Cheng walked to the edge of the cliff and shone his flashlight downwards, but couldn't see the bottom at all.

  He Dajun's rock climbing skills were among the best in the Wolf Troop, and he volunteered to open up a path below the cliff. He tied one end of a rope to a large tree at the edge of the cliff and the other end around his waist, holding onto the rope with both hands as he backed down step by step.

  Not long after, He Dajun came up and reported a piece of news that Ma Cheng did not want to hear: "The mountain wall is all covered with moss, it's too slippery, no strength can be applied to the feet, relying solely on arm strength, which cannot hold at all. There are people moving below, I estimate it's the vanguard of the Blue Army."

  That is to say, if it goes on like this, the Blue Army will have only one platoon of soldiers left at the bottom, and as soon as they go down the mountain, they can easily take care of one, and all the troops will still be captured.

  The Second Platoon has reached a dead end, this is an unacceptable reality for all the soldiers in the Second Platoon. Ma Cheng refused to give up and said to the signaler: "Call the First Platoon, ask them to help divert the enemy at the foot of the mountain."

  After receiving a distress signal from the second company on the other side of the mountain, they didn't stop. Liu Yibao said to instructor Wang Youcai: "Let's save him, he really can think of it, and it's better to directly call Lanyu a dry father and ask them to let him go."

  Wang Youcai looked hesitant, "They are all Red Army, it's not good to see them die without helping."

  Liu Yibao said: "This is not a coordinated operation, we all have our own tasks to complete. You still don't understand the Blue Army's tactics? This is concentrating superior forces to annihilate my weak points, surrounding and annihilating the Second Company is an entire regiment, if we go to rescue them, we will get trapped there, we are the vanguard of the battalion for ten years, the only model company, if one person gets captured, it would be a great shame for the First Company, the First Company can't afford to lose that person. Tell them, at this moment, no one can help anyone else, think of your own way."