Eleven

  Wu Han was overjoyed and said to Yan Weidao, "Commander Yan, now that our two teams have merged, I suggest you take full responsibility until we reach Chongqing. With the pursuing troops closing in, shouldn't we move out immediately?"

  Yan Wei took out a cigarette box, lit one and handed it to Wu Huanhuai, saying: "Director Wu, you let me lead the troops in battle, so I'll just follow your orders. However, regarding Director Wu's suggestion, I have a different opinion."

  "Oh! What does Captain Yan think?"

  Wu Han did not understand Yan Wei's meaning.

  Yan Wei lit the cigarettes for both of them and took a deep drag, looking in the direction where the Japanese army would arrive: "With such a large group of children, it's impossible to escape! Besides, running is not a solution. I estimate that the entire area has already been blocked off by the enemy, with troops closing in from all sides. No matter how we run, we'll be caught up to. Moreover, I'm not afraid to tell Director Wu, General Guan Linzheng's soldiers are not very good at running. From the 17th Army days, they were never familiar with retreats. After being reorganized into the 52nd Army, they had never initiated a withdrawal! And now, the 32nd Military Corps will only defeat the enemy and trample over their corpses! It was like this during the Battle of the Great Wall, it was like this in years of suppressing bandits, and it was still like this in the just-concluded Wuhan Battle! Perhaps among all the battlefields in the entire Wuhan Battle, our 32nd Military Corps is the only one that has never lost a single battle against the Japanese army!"

  "You mean you want to fight?"

  Wu Han thought of his primary goal for this trip first.

  Yan Wei nodded and said, "Not bad. Whether you can escape or not is up to you to calculate carefully. Rather than being chased and then hastily fighting back passively, it's better to use the terrain and strategy to take the initiative and launch a surprise attack."

  Wu Han looked back at the large group of children, big and small, and thought that under these circumstances, it was already not bad if they could make it back to Chongqing without being exhausted on the way. How could they outrun a regular army? So he looked at Yan Wei and said: "Captain Yan, please give the order. My action team only requires four people to strictly guard the target, and the rest, including me, Wu Mou, are willing to follow Captain Yan's command."

  Yan Wei turned his head to look at Wu Hanhuai with a smile: "The most important thing for the two armies to join forces is to unify their command and work together. Director Wu has no distractions and is broad-minded, he is a person who can do great things. But I think your action team doesn't need to participate in the battle anymore, as long as you can protect the safety of the children, that's enough."

  Wu Han smiled and said, "Just now, Captain Yan called me Wu Mou a magnanimous person. I was secretly delighted to hear that! But why did Captain Yan still look down on us special agents with a sectarian mentality? You should know that these people of mine were all selected from the headquarters as top-notch experts!"

  Yan smiled and said, "Not bad! There may be people who can enter without a key, translate without a password, follow without opening their eyes, kill in the city without startling the neighbors, and even poison someone with a familiar face. But I'm sure there's no one here who has fought against the Japanese on the battlefield!"

  After listening to Yan Wei's words, Wu Hanhua was deeply moved by this person's quick thinking and unique insight, and his speech was also a sharp critique! Although this character is a taboo for their line of work, it is perfectly suited for an iron-blooded commander who has fought on the battlefield. So he said: "Captain Yan, that's what you say, but the bullets shot from my gun can also take lives from the Japanese!"

  Yan Weidao said: "Speaking of guns, your troops can't fight like this! Are your men carrying guns?"

  "It's here! A genuine German-made MP18!"

  "How many rounds does that soldier have?"

  "Thirty-five rounds of ammunition for each person."

  "Oh, so that's not a small amount either. Converted into rifle bullets, it would be enough for our 32nd Legion to fight a large-scale battle! Unfortunately, your guns are submachine guns, not rifles!"

  Yan Wei said and looked at Wu Han Hui with a face full of regret.

  "What's wrong with this submachine gun, Captain Yan? It should be better than a rifle at least?"

  Wu Han Hua looked puzzled.

  "What's the point? Is it better than a rifle? I'd like to ask you, Director Wu, our M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle can hit targets 600-700 meters away with an accuracy of no more than one inch! What is the effective range of your MP18 submachine gun? 100 meters? 150 meters? At most 200 meters? Using such a gun on the battlefield against the Japanese army, isn't that just waiting to die?"

  "Besides, the MP18 you're equipped with has a major design flaw - it can only fire continuously without a single-shot mechanism! That means if one doesn't hold back, a 35-round drum will be gone in the blink of an eye! Your gun runs out of ammo, how are we supposed to replenish it? Director Wu, do you think our 32nd Army doesn't have any German equipment?! We're not even short on MG-34 general-purpose machine guns! But why did I still insist that soldiers carry M1 Garand semi-automatic rifles and not bring any fully automatic weapons? It's because this mission doesn't have logistical support!"

  "To be honest, since the time of the Great Wall Battle, I've been a top-notch soldier in the Central Army, so I'm not used to fighting without logistical support. My soldiers are all elite, handpicked from various regiments and brigades, and they're even more extravagant than me - they've never had a tough day in their lives! I at least have some experience with hardship from my time in the Northeastern Army. But after that battle this afternoon, when I asked my battalion commander to check our ammunition, the numbers shocked me! On average, each soldier used up 20 rounds of ammo! My battalion commander even told me that someone joked with him, saying they had too many bullets and it was too heavy to carry, so they finished the fight quickly to lighten their load! But those are 7.62mm bullets we're talking about - we can't just replenish them anywhere! So, I think your action team should conserve its energy and focus on protecting the kids for now. Who knows, you might still need to rely on those toy guns of yours in the end."

  Yan Weiming obviously thinks that submachine guns are useless on a large battlefield!

  "Thirty-odd soldiers, each consuming twenty rounds of ammunition to annihilate an enemy force of over two hundred! What a feat! If every unit had achieved such success in the Battle of Wuhan, the committee chairman's allocated funds wouldn't even be enough for petty cash!" He chuckled and nodded: "Alright, toy guns are just that, perhaps it's because our line of work is different. You may look down on our MP18, but we think it's a great tool! On one street, two of us special agents can charge out with it, firing in a single burst to clear out a large area of Japanese soldiers! With one target vehicle, the two of us can rush out and stand in the middle of the road, finishing off the occupants with a single clip! How's that for rifle performance?"

  Yan smiled and said, "No way! It's really not possible! But my sniper can take out a target with one bullet from 500 meters away! At long range, the submachine gun is still just a toy!"

  Wu Han nodded and smiled: "That's right, if I were to hold a submachine gun and engage in a shootout with the Japanese army at 500 meters away, then I would indeed only be able to take a beating!"

  "You don't have to worry about that, the Japanese army's Type 38 rifle is a piece of junk and can't even shoot five hundred meters! Five hundred meters, the bullet would have already become a stray by the time it gets there! It's completely inaccurate! However, Director Wu, you told me earlier that you brought twenty people this time, I just don't get it, from up high in the sky, with one gust of wind, people can be blown away for two miles, and yet you've been here for half a day already, why haven't you gathered your troops to take roll call?"

  Yan Wei said and then looked at Wu Hanhuai's shocked face before turning around and leaving.

  "Either the Military Affairs Bureau people have always been indifferent to the lives and deaths of their subordinates, or Wu Hanhuai is only concerned with that child and his own mission, and has forgotten all about this batch! Otherwise, how could an officer not take roll call after the troops have assembled?"

  Thinking of this, he walked to the front of Li Lao and smiled: "Li Lao Ge, it seems that this time I'm not just going to make your family poor!"

  Old Li looked at Yan Wei and just smiled, but didn't say a word.

  Yan Wei said with a hint of embarrassment: "In times of national crisis, all Chinese people should not waste words! Old Li, more than 200 Japanese soldiers are about to catch up, and I'm afraid that even these two wooden houses of yours won't be spared! This time, consider it as a favor between brothers, I've dragged you into this too." He then took out five silver dollars to give to him.

  Old Li smiled and pushed Yuan Wei away: "Brother Yuan, don't be in a hurry to give me money, I'd like to ask you, do you want to fight the Japanese army here?"

  Yan smiled and said: "Good! I want to annihilate the Japanese army here!"

  Lao Li smiled and pulled Yan Wei's arm, pointing to the southeast direction: "There, more than 200 meters ahead, there are many traps I dug to stir up trouble. If you can lead the Japanese army there, it should come in handy."

  Yan Wei smiled and said: "Li brother, we are going to fight against two hundred Japanese soldiers, not twenty. Your traps don't mean much."

  Old Li nodded thoughtfully and said: "So that's it! There are still some benefits to be gained from this...!"

  As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and pointed to the south: "Walking forward for about two miles, there is a place with open surroundings and no woods. The precious thing is that all around are small hills, just one entrance can go in, once inside, it's easy to get in but hard to get out! Hehe, when you deploy troops on those small hills, it will be as easy as throwing stones into a pot from the edge to hit rabbits! The rest doesn't need me to teach you, does it?"

  Yan Wei stared at Old Li, who was laughing so hard he couldn't close his mouth!

  Old Li also looked at Yan with a smile and said: "How's that? Your elder brother, a poor hunter, can still help you out, right?"

  Yan smiled and said, "Older brother Li, it's a pity you didn't join the army! If you had enlisted earlier, with your innate strategic mind, I'm afraid you would now be holding an even higher position than me!"

  "That's it!" Old Li said with confidence.

  "Li, how big is the area of that place you mentioned?"

  Old Li knew what Yan Wei wanted to ask, so he said: "Don't worry, the next four or five hundred people will be rich! It's a square land boundary, with more than 30 feet in both directions!"

  "How much higher is it than the small hill above?"

  "Not high, about 70-80 feet."

  Yan Wei's right hand clenched into a fist and slammed into his left palm with a loud "slap!" He said in a low voice, "Heaven has given us this land, we will surely defeat the Japanese army here!"

  "Hey, hey, hey! What's so extraordinary about him? It was me, your old brother Li, who gave you this precious land!"

  Old Li smiled and looked at Yan Wei.

  Yan smiled and said: "Li brother, it seems that our friendship can't be just like this! Let's finish this battle first and talk about it later. However, you have to lead the way."

  "I'm not going to lead the way, I'm almost 40 years old, how fast can I run? Let my son lead the way for you. Besides, it's up to your soldiers to bring the Japanese army to this Ghost Gate Pass! Don't worry, it's still my son who will lead the way for your soldiers."

  Lao Li sent Buddha off to the west with a smile on his face.

  Yan Wei was about to call out to Lan Gang to come and listen to orders, when Old Li stopped him again, saying: "Brother Yan, why don't I take the kids and head out first tonight? You see, this place is a treasure trove, but what if your troops can't successfully lure the Japanese in? Wouldn't that be a waste of effort? In the chaos of battle, it's hard to guarantee anything, and if we accidentally harm the children, that would be unbearable. So why don't I take the lead and bring the kids to the temporary shelter on the other side of the mountain first? Once you've finished dealing with the Japanese, my son can come find us. Either way, whether we win or lose, we'll have to leave in a hurry, right? Might as well let me take the kids first! What do you think?"

  Yan Wei thought for a moment and felt that with Wu Han's escort, there should be no problem. He then said: "Alright. Li brother, I don't know how far your next hideout is from here? In what direction?"

  "Older brother knows you are going to Sichuan, westward, and will definitely not miss your way."

  "Blue Steel!"

  Yan Wei shouted loudly, and then Wu Hanhuai came running over.