Entering the Tiger's Lair

  Entering the Tiger's Lair

  It was late at night, and the mountains were quiet. Down in the valley, the bright flames of the torches illuminated the sealed-off area, while the enemy soldiers slept in groups of three to five. Only a few sentries patrolled back and forth. The enemy's mindset was the same as that of the bandits who had been surrounded in the mountains - they thought tomorrow would be the final battle, and the bandits would no longer be able to break through.

  Luo Yi and Su Xiao Feng each wore a set of National Army soldier uniforms, quietly sneaking to the edge of the blockade line. These two sets of uniforms were taken from the National Army soldiers who were killed a few days ago, now they came in handy as disguises.

  Luo Yi proposed a plan to launch a surprise attack on the enemy's command center. Although everyone thought that this plan had no chance of success, it was better than surrendering without a fight. Su Xiao Feng was the most skilled martial artist among them, so he volunteered to accompany Luo Yi down the mountain. According to him, if they couldn't succeed, dying in the enemy camp would at least allow them to take some enemies with them, which was better than waiting for death on the mountain.

  "Let go." Luo Yi said to Su Xiaofeng.

  Su Xiaofeng stretched out his hands and a wild rabbit darted out from them, making a rustling sound in the bushes.

  "Halt! Who goes there?" The sentry heard the voice of the wild rabbit and raised his gun.

  Luo Yi jumped up, ran towards the rabbit while shouting to the sentry in a low voice: "Shut your mother's mouth, can't you see the rabbit? Quickly surround it, don't make noise, there are many people and you won't even get a bone."

  The sentinel saw Luo Yi's military uniform and thought he was a colleague who had sneaked out to catch wild rabbits for a midnight snack. Luo Yi's words reminded him that if he could catch a wild rabbit himself while everyone else was asleep, wouldn't it be better than sharing with a group of people?

  "Where are you from? I've never seen you before?" The sentinel muttered, following Luo Yi into the bushes. The wild rabbit had already been pinched by Su Xiaofeng and had one leg broken, and it couldn't run far even if it hopped and jumped.

  "Hurry, you go that way, I'll stay here." Luo Yi didn't respond to the sentry's question. He was betting that the sentry wouldn't take his identity seriously. After all, a regiment had over 400 people, and in the dark, it was normal for the sentry not to recognize him.

  The sentry rushed over under Luo Yi's command, and Su Xiaofeng was waiting for him there. Dealing with a clueless sentry, Su Xiaofeng had no chance of losing. The sentry was choked by Su Xiaofeng in the darkness and pressed into the bushes, and soon kicked his legs.

  "Go!" Luo Yi beckoned to Su Xiao Feng, and the two of them rushed towards the largest tent on the blockade line. Although they had knocked out a sentry, the blockade line had a certain depth, with other sentries in front of them, as well as enemy soldiers sleeping in piles. It was impossible for them to rush out. Their only chance was to carry out the "beheading action" that Luo Yi had mentioned.

  Two people sneaked to the back of the large tent, Luo Yi took out a small knife and cut open a small opening in the tent. He observed inside. Under the illumination of the firelight outside, Luo Yi could see that on one side wall of the tent was hung a battle map, and in the middle of the tent was a large table covered with thick tablecloths. He confirmed his judgment, this must be the enemy's command center.

  He carefully cut the canvas with a small knife, gradually enlarging the opening until it was large enough for one person to crawl through. Then, he and Su Xiaofeng crawled into the tent one after another.

  Two people followed the faint snoring sound and found a camp bed, on which someone was sleeping. The military uniform had been taken off and placed on a chair beside it. Luo Yi picked up the uniform and examined it carefully, recognizing that there was a lieutenant colonel's insignia on it. Since the enemy was a battalion, the highest rank among their officers should be lieutenant colonel. Therefore, the person sleeping on the bed should be their battalion commander.

  Enemy commander Bai Yunfei never thought that the bandits on the mountain, who would collapse at a mere touch, would dare to sneak into the military camp. The victories of the past few days had made him and his soldiers complacent, but if they were facing the Red Army from the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi border region, he would never have been so negligent.

  "Brother, wake up. It's daylight." Luo Yi patted Bai Yunfei's face, saying with a grin.

  Bai Yunfei was startled awake from his dream to find himself already bound, with a foul-smelling cloth stuffed into his mouth. He silently regretted not having the orderly wash his socks before bed...

  "Uh......uh......" He struggled.

  Luo Yi said: "Let's discuss this, I'll take the thing out of your mouth, you're not allowed to shout, okay?" As he spoke, he took out a hand grenade and placed it in front of Bai Yunfei, pulling out the fuse. He said: "If you make a sound, I'll pull the fuse. To be honest with you, we are bandits from the mountains, our lives are worthless, not comparable to yours as a national army lieutenant colonel who has a future. We're honored to be able to travel with you. What do you say, give us an attitude."

  Bo Yunfei had never heard such a shameless remark. He looked at the hand grenade and then at Luo Yi, helplessly nodding his head.

  Luo Yi pulled his socks out of Bai Yunfei's mouth, then wiped his hands on his uniform and muttered: "You've got foot odor."

  Bo Yunfei cursed a few times, wanting to scold but couldn't, after all the socks were his own. He asked Luo Yi: "What do you want to do?"

  "Let's talk."

  "What's going on?"

  "Give us your life in exchange for the lives of 40 people on our mountain."

  Su Xiaofeng had just searched the tent and found a box of hand grenades. He moved the grenades over, counting them like treasures, and said in a gloomy tone: "Not only your life, now I'll throw out all these grenades, at least 40 of your men will die."

  Bo Yunfei thought for a moment and felt that Su Xiaofeng's threat was not entirely unfounded, so he asked: "What do you want me to do?"

  Luo Yi said: "It's simple, just open up a path and let our people go. In the past few days, you've already killed many of us, take those guns back with you, you can already consider it a job well done, why must you exterminate us completely? Moreover, your encirclement campaign is targeting the Red Army, but we are not the Red Army. If you agree, I'll let you go and you can still be your regiment commander when you return. If you don't agree, then there's nothing to say, it's just a matter of life and death. Even if you do manage to wipe out our mountain stronghold, the credit won't be yours."

  Bai Yunfei said: "If I let you go like this, when I get back I'll also be court-martialed."

  "We won't let you release him publicly, just give us a way out and we'll give you an appropriate explanation."

  "I'd like to hear more about it."

  Luo Yi held a flashlight and shone it on the map on the wall, saying to Bai Yunfei: "This place is called Laohu Cliff. We've been there before, and there's one of your platoons stationed there. We can't get through. Now call that platoon and tell them to withdraw their defense, saying that other places are in a tight spot. It's a cliff, and ordinary people wouldn't think we'd leave from there, so you won't have any responsibility. When we leave, we'll leave some incendiary materials in this forest. Then, when the time comes, let the artillery bombard here and set the mountain forest on fire. After that, it can be announced that we've been annihilated."

  Bo Yunfei looked at Luo Yi with curiosity, and didn't make a sound for half a day.

  "What's wrong with you? What are you thinking about? Such a good deal and you don't even want to do it, are you stupid?"

  Bo Yunfei said, "Unexpectedly, there is someone like you in the bandit's lair. This method is truly flawless, benefiting both others and oneself. To be honest, none of my advisors are as clever as you."

  "Haha, this is also what you forced us into. We're just a group of country bumpkins, when we get anxious, we naturally come up with ideas."

  Bo Yunfei shook his head: "I don't believe you're a countryman, you must be from some military academy. Being able to point out these positions on the battlefield map without hesitation is impossible without several years of training."

  Luo Yi Xin said, "What's so special about this map? In the past, I and Shou Hou often used his father's military maps to play Weiqi, and those maps had a larger scale than yours."

  "Cut the crap, will you accept this condition or not?" Su Xiao Feng asked, still tossing the grenade in his hand.

  Bo Yunfei nodded and said, "I guess this brother might also be from Huangpu. He's my junior fellow apprentice. I'll give him some face. Release my hands, and I'll make the call."

  Luo Yi knew Bai Yunfei was trying to save face, so he didn't tease him anymore. He helped Bai Yunfei sit down in the chair next to the phone, put the receiver to his ear and shook the cradle a few times for him.

  "Hello, I'm Bai Yunfei, get me three consecutive twos." Bai Yunfei said into the phone.

  Before long, the phone was connected, and Bai Yunfei repeated what Luo Yu had taught him, ordering the enemy army besieging Laohu Ridge to withdraw. Of course, his order was given very artistically, indeed making it impossible for anyone to find fault with it.

  "Alright, my troops have left, how are you going to arrange things? You two are leaving, aren't you afraid I'll go back on my word?"

  Luo Yi smiled and said, "It's okay, I'll stay here with you. Let this brother go back to the camp to arrange for the transfer. However, before he leaves, would you please have the camp commander write a letter of proof for me?"