Chapter 27: Escape

  "Fight? Who's afraid of whom, the brave one!"

  He let out a loud roar, and for the first time, Xu Chang smashed open the wine bottle in his arms. "Clang clang!" After a burst of noise, because he was holding many bottles, they shattered on the hard ice surface and immediately emitted a strong aroma of wine.

  No one would bother with the fine wine spilled on the ground, and the road construction team's warriors also got excited. With a tiger's roar, the running footsteps went from chaotic to neat, and the loud thud of trampling snow quickly drowned out the rumble of the cars nearby.

  The Gobi Desert is not lacking in battles, whether it's capturing escaped prisoners or driving away foreign soldiers who have crossed the border. Sporadic battles will always break out on the desert. However, such battles are often undertaken by border defense troops, even if transportation units occasionally provide rear support, but there is no room for road engineering teams to participate in such battles.

  Not to mention now is still a peaceful era, even if it really came to the war years, road engineering troops although also an important force, but want to participate in actual combat, opportunities are still few and far between.

  Not only did Xu Chang become excited at this time, but also the road engineering team's warriors became excited.

  The distance of three kilometers was not considered far, and Xu Chang soon met up with Li Hao who had retreated ahead.

  "Director Lian, drink less."

  "My face wasn't made from drinking."

  Li Hao didn't mention anything about fighting as soon as they met, but instead said something while looking at Xu Chang's red face. Xu Chang also didn't show any courtesy to him, pointing at his hot and swollen face with his hand, his neck stiffened immediately.

  A smile appeared on his face, and Li Hao didn't argue with Xu Chang anymore. He knew that Xu Chang wasn't drunk, but just wanted to say so to dispel the urge in his heart. To prove that he wasn't drunk, Xu Chang could only respond calmly.

  "Old Li, how many guns do you estimate the enemy has?"

  Li Hao was not old, at least no older than Xu Chang who was about to retire, but like all highlanders who wanted to be respected, he wouldn't mind being called that by Xu. Besides, just looking at their faces, highlanders always looked much older than people from the interior.

  "Just now we recalled that the two gunshots seemed to be slightly different. To confirm this, I had the scout crawl up and retrieve the two bullet heads."

  Upon hearing this, the scout standing beside him immediately stretched out his tightly clenched fist with excitement, in the palm of which were two deformed bullet heads, one larger than the other.

  "Huh? This is a bullet head from an old-fashioned hunting rifle. It's rarely seen even among the older mountain villagers."

  Looking at the bullet head that was reduced by half, although it no longer had any shape to speak of, there wasn't much doubt in Xu De's judgment. The mountain people on the plateau who owned shotguns were not rare, and not only would Xu De, who often explored roads alone, encounter them, but he also kept a shotgun at home.

  "Really? There's still such a small-caliber shotgun? But the other one should be a double-barreled shotgun shell that's been popular in recent years!"

  As for the common sense of hunting guns, Li Hao was no less than Xu De. When people from the plateau were idle, they liked to bring their hunting guns up the mountain and drill around, regardless of whether they hit any prey or not. This seemed to have become a kind of ritual for men.

  "Hmm! This enemy is hard to read! It's strange that he has a double-barreled shotgun in his hand, why does he still want to expose himself with two guns?"

  "Are there more than two enemies?"

  Always listening to Xu De and Li Hao's analysis of shotgun bullets, Xu Chang didn't rush to speak up because it wasn't his area of expertise. However, hearing this, he couldn't help but say a sentence. If there weren't more than two enemies, the people in Shaiziya wouldn't need to change guns to show off.

  "But if they are mountain people, why did they shoot at me and wouldn't even listen to my shouts."

  Fugitives on the plateau absolutely do not have the situation of traveling with a companion, and fugitives who escape to the plateau only have the option of escaping alone. Any fugitive with companions by their side will never escape to such a remote place as the plateau. Even if they are fugitives, with mutual support, they will be much bolder.

  Since there was more than one person in the village of Sha Zi, Li Hao judged that the other party had a large proportion of mountain people, which was also one of the reasons why he hesitated.

  Unlike the fugitives who simply fled from the Zhengfu's attack, the mountain people had many reasons to shoot at the troops. Moreover, as a people living by guns, they were always very accurate in their shooting and would never miss their target.

  "Never mind, let's start with shouting. All cars go up, head forward, and line up in a row with the three-wheeled vehicles."

  Practice is the sole criterion of truth, Xu Chang didn't want to consider so many boring things, with the car of the road engineering team as a shield, the small silly valley in front of him was not even in his eyes.

  No one opposed Xu Chang's suggestion. The road engineering team's warriors were even more impatient. While the car was still driving, they followed from behind with a rustling sound.

  "We are the Road Engineering Battalion 12 of the XX Corps of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. We came to this place to take shelter from the impending blizzard and do not have any intention of threatening you. No matter who you are, why did you open fire on us? We hope that you can allow us to enter Shazikou for rest and reorganization."

  It was still Li Hao who stepped forward with a loudspeaker, and he didn't think there was any weakness in his tone. The People's Liberation Army fights for the people, not against them. Even if the situation is unclear now, as long as there is still a glimmer of hope, one must make every effort to achieve peace, this is the responsibility of being a guide.

  As Li Hao's shout faded away, the vehicles of the road engineering team began to rumble forward towards Sha Zi Ya. Except for the soldiers in the driver's cabin, several soldiers with the best marksmanship stood on the footboard of the vehicle cabin. If the other side made any further movements at this time, Xu Chang had already given the order to fire.

  Four hundred meters, three hundred meters, the road engineering team's progress was not fast, which also increased pressure on the opponent.

  "Report, enemy escaped from the other side of Sha Zi Gou, there are two people."

  The sudden report made Li Hao slightly startled, but he had already relaxed in his heart. Before Xu Chang and the others arrived, he had ordered two scouts from the troops to disperse on both sides of Sha Zi Ao, monitoring any movement inside. Since the enemy had left, the troops didn't have to worry for the time being and could focus on preparing to defend against the blizzard.

  "Old Li, you say should we send some people to follow up and take a look."

  "No need, as long as we don't chase them. If they're mountain people, they'll turn back on their own when they encounter the blizzard. If they're fugitives, we can consider how to collect their bodies after the blizzard."

  Instead of Li Hao, Xu De replied to Xu Chang. Although the mountain people on the plateau would never be afraid of blizzards, no one would show off in a blizzard either. The troops didn't pursue them and had already shown that they meant no harm; no highlander would give up hope of survival at this time.