Chapter 67: The Mountains and Rivers Are About to Split, the War Horses Whinny

  The sun rises, and the entire base wakes up from its slumber. The warriors are busy sorting out their equipment, while the logistics department is busy checking supplies. Everywhere is a scene of vigor and high morale.

  Tang Qiu and Xiaoling exchanged a smile, everything was understood without words.

  At 7:00, the troops gathered on the drill ground. The sunrise cast a red glow on the soldiers' excited faces. The formation of soldiers on the drill ground was like a three-dimensional snow wall, which looked particularly solemn and majestic against the green grass and trees. This was the winter combat uniform designed by Tang Qiuli for the soldiers, mainly in pure white, blending seamlessly with the natural scenery of the Kwantung region, making it more conducive to concealment.

  Tang Qiuli made a pre-war mobilization speech, with passionate and stirring words, richly expressive and infectious, igniting the passion of the warriors.

  After bidding farewell to Qiusheng, Wang Xu, Zhang Quan and Xiaoling who stayed at the base, the troops marched out of the base in the order of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd battalions, followed by Zheng Yong's artillery battalion and a logistics battalion composed of more than 200 horses, embarking on their journey.

  This time, Qiū Shēng did not go out with the team, but stayed behind to take charge of all intelligence work. This was a special arrangement by Táng Qiū. A large army on a long expedition, going to an unfamiliar place to fight, without intelligence support, is almost like being blind.

  For this purpose, the troops carried more than a dozen radios, equipped to each squadron, maintaining close contact with the front and base intelligence centers, reporting relevant intelligence at any time, ensuring that combat troops have smooth information, timely intelligence, and grasp the latest situation.

  The most impressive thing is Zheng Yong, when did he become so generous? Not to mention the howitzer, just the 92-style infantry cannon alone brought 35 doors, and the shells were over 20,000 rounds. Zheng Yong was so happy that he ran back and forth, constantly reminding his soldiers to take care of their equipment, and if anyone lost a single part, they would be locked up and severely punished when they returned.

  It's no wonder that Zheng Yong was over the moon, in the Red Army and the Anti-Japanese League, a regiment with just a few mortars would be unbeatable. Since he started doing artillery work, this is the first time he has seen so many cannons, commanding so many cannons, including mortars, there must be more than 100. And it's still generous to command them all at once. If they were to fire simultaneously, how many little devils would be enough to fill the gaps? Moreover, the shells are unlimited.

  Following Tang Qiuli's idea, bring those few field guns too, let the little devils have a good taste of the power of firepower, know what it means to be hit by firepower. However, mountain marching, this guy is big and heavy, really inconvenient, had to give up, he was somewhat regretful in his heart.

  The troops advanced rapidly along the route left by the vanguard, and on the vast snowy plain illuminated by the bright sunshine, a mighty army marched forward in an imposing array. In the midst of the dark green pine forest, a snow dragon leaped agilely like flying, crossing mountains and ridges, rushing towards its target.

  The troops marched smoothly all the way, and the vanguard had cleared the obstacles. By dusk, the troops arrived at the designated campsite. On this day, the troops advanced more than 100 miles, which was still waiting for the heavy baggage team, otherwise, it would be even faster.

  Tang Qiuli led the command post members into this village with more than 100 households, and a large team leader Li Honggang had already welcomed them at the village entrance.

  After the decision to go east, the commanders of each brigade were adjusted. The commander of the first brigade was Li Honggang, the commander of the second brigade was Su Jingfeng, who followed Liu Tienan and Feng Jiwu to join the army in the gold mine, the commander of the third brigade was Han Tie, a Red Army cadre who joined the army at Sanhe River, and the commander of the logistics brigade was also Zhou Yushan, deputy director of the Logistics Department of the Red Army. In addition to Zheng Yong, the commander of the artillery brigade, among the commanders of the brigades, the original Red Army cadres accounted for the vast majority.

  After deciding to send troops, Li Honggang and Zhu Jing suggested contacting the Manzhou Provincial Committee. Tang Qiuli agreed, after all, two troops were going to fight together, and besides, the Manzhou Provincial Committee had their own intelligence system. Just two days before the troops departed, the person they sent to make contact returned and told Tang Qiuli that they had made contact with the committee and brought back a handwritten letter from the secretary of the committee. The letter expressed great gratitude and praise for Tang Qiuli's actions, saying that from now on, the two sides would have a cooperative relationship, willing to fight shoulder to shoulder and strike against the enemy!

  In fact, the liaison officer also brought back a top-secret letter written by a special envoy sent by the Central Bureau to the Manchuria Provincial Committee for Li Honggang and Zhu Jing. In the letter, the special envoy repeatedly emphasized that this armed force must be firmly grasped in the hands of the party, quickly establish the party organization within the troops, absorb a large number of grassroots officers and soldiers into the party organization, and gradually change the political composition of the troops. As for Tang Qiuli, the special envoy also stressed that if he could join the party organization, it would be better; if he refused and did not accept the party's leadership, then Li Honggang and Zhu Jing could take resolute measures to solve Tang Qiuli by force when conditions were ripe, and control the troops in their own hands.

  After seeing the letter from the provincial party secretary, these party members felt particularly warm in their hearts. In the letter, the secretary expressed great satisfaction with their work and told them to focus on their duties without trying to change the troops, as long as they were sincerely fighting against Japan, they would be considered comrades. However, after seeing the special envoy's letter, these party members felt a chill run down their spines. This special envoy was too much, of course, they didn't dare let the commander-in-chief know about the content of this letter. In fact, they had many opinions about the special envoy's behavior, but due to party discipline, it wasn't convenient to say anything more. Anyway, not following his instructions was the solution.

  Li Honggang said to Tang Qiuli, "Commander, there are two landlords in this village. I have surrounded their houses with troops and am waiting for your arrival to take action and confiscate their property!"

  Tang Qiuli immediately knew that this regimental commander, who came from the Red Army, had again brought up the habit of beating local tyrants and dividing land, confusing the landlords in Northeast China with those in Southern China. It was a bit laughable and cry-worthy. In fact, in this region of Guandong, except for a small number of evil landlords, most were ordinary farmers who had settled on this land for no more than three generations. They worked hard, were frugal, and knew how to live their lives. As time passed, their family situations gradually improved, they bought houses and land, raised livestock, and became wealthy households in the village. However, they did not abandon labor and only hired short-term workers during busy farming seasons; few households had long-term workers (the author often heard older people talk about the situation when they were young, working as short-term workers for wealthy families, where the food was not bad, and sometimes even had meat and wine at night).

  Tang Qiu glared at Li Honggang for a moment, didn't say anything, and left Li Honggang somewhat perplexed.

  After the heavy troops followed up behind, all troops entered Tunzi to rest, strictly sealing off the news, allowing no one in or out, and putting sentry soldiers three miles outside Tunzi.

  It just so happened that the family assigned to provide accommodations for the headquarters was a landlord household mentioned by Li Hongzhang.

  Tang Qiuli led the staff to the rest place, and specially called Li Honggang. When they arrived, Tang Qiuli took a glance and saw that it was a wealthy family's home, with a large courtyard, clean and tidy, a row of main rooms and many side rooms.

  He was surrounded by his own soldiers outside, he hastily ordered them to withdraw and let him be!

  They arrived at the house, and the host was a man in his fifties, surnamed Li, who was trembling with fear. Tang Qiuli quickly explained and comforted him, stating their intention, and then chatted casually. As expected, after the old man finished speaking, Tang Qiuli glanced at Li Honggang.

  Li Hong was so embarrassed that his face turned red, it turns out that the landlords in this place are really different from those in the south, he had made an empiricist mistake and quickly apologized to the old man.

  Misunderstanding cleared, Old Li also put down his heart, and looking at the performance of the troops, it was indeed different from the national army and the beards. He turned his head and shouted towards the inner room: "San Er, come out! These are good people, meet the officials!"

  A young man in his early twenties came out of the house, with a sturdy build and a simple demeanor, dressed in hunting attire. It turned out that when he saw the troops entering the village, Lao Sun's third son, Sun Defu, was afraid of being conscripted, so he hid.

  While eating, Sun Defu mentioned a situation. In the afternoon, when he went down the mountain to set up traps, about 50 or 60 miles away from Tunzi, he accidentally saw a group of devils camping there, with about 200 people, and was so scared that he hurried back.

  Tang Qiuli was very interested in this situation and asked him what he knew in detail. He swallowed the little devil without knowing it, as if warming up! Finally, he asked, if you go now, can you find the place?

  Sun Defu said with certainty that it was possible, because after many years of hunting in the mountains, he was familiar with every nook and cranny within a radius of 180 miles, and there were no major or minor roads that he didn't know. If he wasn't familiar with the terrain, the Japanese devils would have set up camp in this area, and it wouldn't have taken more than ten days to find them.

  After dinner, Tang Qiu left the assembled troops and issued combat missions. Since there was only one enemy squadron, he led two squadrons from the three large squads, plus an artillery squadron, carrying ten mortars to execute this mission.

  Each of the major teams, upon hearing that there was a battle to be fought, eagerly asked to join in, their faces flushed with excitement. Seeing that the commander had already selected the troops, those who were not chosen looked on with envy and jealousy at the three battalion commanders, Han Tie and artillery battalion commander Zheng Yong. These two men puffed out their chests, their faces full of pride. This only made the other battalion commanders even more furious, their anger reaching new heights! Look at these two guys showing off, directly complaining that the commander was biased!

  Tang Qiuli smiled and told them that they all had a chance, and later they wouldn't have to worry about not being able to find a fight. What he feared was that when the time came, they would be too tired! After finishing speaking, he showed no mercy and didn't give them any chance to catch their breath!

  He and Shan Hu, Bao Tie led the troops to go, the battle was decided like this, Liu Tiehan led the main force to set out normally tomorrow, and he followed up later, must put on the rear guard troops, at least a battalion of troops.

  It was after three o'clock in the middle of the night, under Sun Defu's leadership, the troops arrived at the devils' campsite. Looking down from the mountain slope, the devils' campsite was right in a valley, which was sheltered from the wind and only had an entrance on one side. If they blocked the front exit and climbed up to the cliff behind, attacking from both sides, not a single little devil would be able to escape!

  He immediately called Sun Defu to bring a row of soldiers, bringing more hand grenades, and went around the back cliff of the devils' camp. As soon as they heard the sound of gunfire in front, they threw hand grenades down with all their might.

  The rest of the troops quietly approached the mountain slope in front of the enemy's camp, using the natural terrain to conceal themselves. More than 40 Czech-style light machine guns and five heavy machine guns were lined up in a row, their muzzles pointing at the enemy camp. Behind them, ten mortars had their coordinates set, with the gunners holding shells and kneeling beside them, waiting for the order to fire and blast these deadly guys onto the enemy's head.

  In the mountain nest, several large piles of bonfires were burning brightly, completely exposing the enemy's every move to the soldiers. Tens of tents were densely packed together, making it an easy target for attack. Such a vast campsite had only two patrolling sentries, how arrogant and reckless! It's as if they're saying "the god of longevity is hanging himself, tired of living too long!" Little did they know, a group of Chinese big brothers have come to take their lives, yet they remain complacent and unafraid.

  Counting the time, quietly waiting for the troops to arrive from behind, in the tent, the Japanese pigs' snoring sounds were clearly transmitted to the soldiers' ears. Those two Japanese sentries lazily held their big guns and strolled back and forth, carelessly. In their view, even posting a sentry was unnecessary, as no Chinese dared to attack the great Imperial Japanese Army! Insulting the Tiger's Majesty of the Imperial Army!

  The password was transmitted, and the troops behind had arrived. Tang Qiuli waved his hand, and the gunfire of the Fu brothers sounded. The bullets accurately hit the target, and the two devil sentries' heads burst open, falling backwards. The gunfire broke the silence and shattered the devils' good dream.

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