Section 44: Raid on Tamsui (2)

  The sky was overcast with rain, and a team of soldiers wearing conical hats were struggling to march on the muddy road. Occasionally, some soldiers fell down and quickly got up again. The red ribbons on their chests had been stained dirty and could hardly be seen in their original color.

  Jiang Xianyun shouldered two rifles, advancing in the ranks with a tilt to one side, his boots growing heavier on his feet, caked with mud on the muddy road, making him miss the straw sandals he wore as a student.

  "Party representative, party representative."

  Jiang Xianyun turned around to see that it was Sanpailang Wang Jiaxiu, who had been hurrying over from behind with a series of quick strides. Jiang Xianyun wiped the rainwater off his face and asked: "What's wrong? What happened?"

  "Wushan, shouldn't we find a place to rest for a bit? If we keep going on like this, the brothers will definitely catch a cold." Wang Jiaxiu said in a low, panting voice. Since the fourth company commander Luo Kai Ping was injured in the Wild Duck Annihilation Battle, now it's the party representative Jiang Xianyun temporarily acting as the company commander.

  After the troops set out, they were still very cautious at first, but later found that there were no enemy tracks along the way, so the army's advance was very fast. In just one day, they crossed the Dan River at Zhangshuping and after crossing the river, He Yingqin's deployment became even bolder. The troops were divided into two routes, with one battalion as the vanguard advancing to attack Dabangdi, and three battalions and eight companies searching for upper trenches. One route was led by Battalion Commander Shen Yingshi, and the other route included the second battalion and three battalions, seven companies, and nine companies, advancing along the Dalin, Tangwei, Jiebangling, Qilingxia, and Shidugou to attack.

  On the second day at noon, the troops occupied Qiling and then attacked Shigudun with three battalions and nine companies as the vanguard. The mission of the fourth company was to search and advance in a northeasterly direction, with Dayangzhai as the terminal line.

  The troops set out and soon the sky was filled with a fine drizzle, the winter rain felt icy on their faces. However, for the soldiers marching, this kind of rain was just right. In February, Guangzhou had gradually warmed up, not as cold and windy as Jiangnan, marching in such rain allowed them to savor a hint of freshness, a hint of coolness, just enough to wash away their fatigue.

  The rain gradually grew heavier, the road became muddy and messy, freshness and elegance disappeared, irritability quietly emerged in the team, but no one spoke up, because Jiang Xianyun not only marched with them, but also carried two more rifles on his body.

  After listening to Wang Jiaxiu's words, Jiang Xianyun looked up at the sky and saw that it was still overcast. He shook his head and said: "No way, resting in the wilderness will make us catch a cold, half of us will get sick. Let's go ahead and find a village to rest."

  Wang Jiaxiu thought for a moment and felt that this was the reason. Just as he was about to speak, Jiang Xianyun said again: "Tell comrades, speed up, we haven't reached the designated location of the regiment headquarters yet."

  "Good." Wang Jiaxiu replied.

  The village ahead seemed far away, the sky had already completely darkened, and the four of them still hadn't found a place to rest. Jiang Xianyun was puzzled, so he quickened his pace to move forward. A row of tall trees had already been knocked down several times, their bodies covered in mud. He too was puzzled - why were there no villages on this road? According to the markings on the map, there should have been at least two villages. They searched back and forth on the map but couldn't confirm where they were. Jiang Xianyun had no choice but to rely on his intuition.

  After walking for half an hour in a daze, the four of them finally confirmed that they were lost. The legendary method to solve this problem is to rely on a compass or a direction-of-travel indicator, but unfortunately, the Soviet Union hasn't delivered any yet, so Comrade Jiang Yun doesn't have one; secondly, it's to look at the stars, as the Big Dipper in the sky is always in the north, but unfortunately, the Big Dipper is on vacation today and didn't come out to take a stroll.

  Several officers gathered together to discuss, the second row of Li Xianzhou is a Shandong native, northerners have a strong sense of direction, he firmly pointed to the left front and said that direction is north, Jiang Xiayun is a Hunan native, Wang Jiashou is an Anhui native, Wang Gongliang is a Sichuan native, northerners are just more united, Wang Jiashou (with the Yangtze River as the boundary) and Li Xianzhou's directions are the same.

  Following Li Xianzhou's direction, they walked for another two hours. By this time, everyone knew that something was wrong. The troops were exhausted, cold and hungry, so they had to rest in the rain-soaked ground, and there was no way to cook food.

  After a rest, the rain stopped, and the wind hitting the body felt even colder. Jiang Xianyun decided to continue on the road and couldn't stay here any longer. The four of them walked for about 4 or 5 li, stumbling and staggering along. "There's light!" a soldier called out. "Over there, over there," several soldiers nearby asked in a hurry.

  "There." The soldier pointed to the opposite side, and everyone looked around but didn't see any light. When the soldier insisted that there was, Jiang Xianyun decided to try it out. He had Li Xianshou take two people to go take a look. After a while, Li Xianshou ran back excitedly and said, "There is indeed a village."

  The crowd let out a faint cheer, but Jiang Xianyun did not immediately issue orders. He asked Li Xianzhou if there were any enemy situations in the village, and Li Xianzhou hesitated, awkwardly saying that he hadn't seen any sentries at the village entrance. Jiang Xianyun shook his head helplessly, then called over three platoon leaders. Jiang Xianyun once again emphasized to the platoon leaders the importance of crowd discipline: after entering the village, they must remain silent and strictly prohibit loud noise to avoid startling the masses, while also preventing enemy situations. If the masses do not allow them to enter their homes, they are absolutely forbidden from forcing their way in; without the consent of the villagers, they are absolutely forbidden from taking things that belong to the common people for starting fires or warming themselves. Finally, he sternly said that anyone who violates these rules will be severely punished according to military discipline. He told the platoon leaders to make it clear to the soldiers that they were a revolutionary army, not a warlord's troops - if they couldn't even bear this bit of hardship, what was the point of making revolution?

  The village was quiet and still. When the four of them approached the village, the dogs at the entrance barked loudly, but they didn't pay attention to it. They stopped when they reached the entrance of the village.

  Xiaobo, who lived at the entrance of the village, heard the tense barking of dogs in the village. He fumbled to light the oil lamp, and his old partner on the bed was also startled awake, muttering something with sleepy eyes. Xiaobo didn't respond, picked up the lamp, opened the door, and walked into the yard, where he heard the barking outside.

  "Old man, old man." Someone outside the gate was calling him.

  "Who's there?" Xiaobo raised the lamp in his hand and looked outside.

  "Old man, don't be afraid, open the door, we won't delay any longer." Jiang Xianyun called out in a low voice.

  Xiaobo opened the door with a quivering heart, knowing that it was not very sturdy and could not withstand these people. Jiang Xianyun walked into the small courtyard, smiling before speaking: "Old man, don't be afraid, we are from the Huangpu Military Academy, here to fight against Chen Jiongming, and won't harm ordinary people."

  Xiaobo saw a young military officer walking in, and he was a little nervous. At this time, the troops who came were good, took some grain, robbed something, and the bad ones didn't know what to do.

  Seeing the old man's frightened look, Jiang Xianyun softened his tone: "Old man, don't be afraid, we're lost and want to ask you, what is this village called?"

  Xia Bo saw that the soldier didn't seem to have any malicious intent, and his courage returned a little: "Officer, this is Shuitian Village."

  "What's going on?" Jiang Xianyun took out the map and looked at it under the lamp light, Li Xianzhou also came over to take a look. At this time, Xia Bo saw clearly that there were many soldiers standing outside the door, but they were all standing outside the door. Under the eaves of the house across the street, many soldiers were also vaguely standing.

  "Damn it, I've walked past." Li Xianzhou cursed with a hint of Shandong accent that Xiaobo didn't quite catch.

  "Old man, is there a place to stay?" Jiang Xianyun asked after putting away the map. They had run to the east of Danshui now, more than ten miles northwest beyond their search termination line.

  "Here." Xiaobo thought painfully, these soldiers...

  "Sir, my home is small, if you want to stay, it's manageable, but there are still so many brothers outside..."

  "The old man misunderstood. I asked if there was a bigger place where all of us could live, and we would pay for it." Jiang Xianyun hastily explained.

  "There is indeed a place, it's the Xia family ancestral hall, but officials have already moved in." Xia Bo explained: "However, you can go to the village and ask for..."

  "Has someone moved in? When did they move in?" Jiang Xianyun suddenly interrupted Xiaobo's words. He exchanged a glance with Li Xianzhou, and Li Xianzhou turned around and walked out.

  "When night fell, a group of people came over and moved in." Xiaobo didn't notice any tension in Jiang Xianyun's words.

  "Old man, can you take us to the ancestral hall?" Jiang Xianyun asked in a low voice.

  "As long as you don't harm my family, it's fine."

  (Jiang Xianyun said painfully, I'm so tired and hungry and cold, give me some votes to warm myself up.)