Chapter 19: Walking on Mountain Paths at Night

  Three trucks loaded with ammunition and military supplies were ambushed in the mountain pass, blocking the road, making it difficult to clear for a while. In the brief battle, the front transport vehicle had already driven away to avoid being attacked, and the rear vehicles could not pass through. Dong Li Mao decided to proceed on foot.

  Abandon all non-essential personal items except for the weapons and equipment you are carrying.

  But Li Yuanyuan's bag was not lost, but was hung on Hu San's shoulder. Dong Limao knew that women always had something they couldn't leave their body with.

  As they walked too far along the highway, they learned from a local driver that there was a mountain road leading directly to the front mountain stronghold, where a military supply station was set up, and passing vehicles would refuel and replenish water at the supply station.

  Led by Zhu Yongsheng and with Wang Jiagui bringing up the rear, the thirteen of them set off along the mountain path, each group of three people carrying a torch.

  "Sister, what's today's date?" Dong Li Mao asked Li Yuanyuan who was walking in front of him.

  "April 3rd." Li Yuanyuan replied, in front of her was Zhang Dali, with a Japanese-style light machine gun slung over his left shoulder and a torch held high in his right hand.

  "There are still 25 days until April 28." Dong Li Mao muttered to himself, he clearly remembered that the Japanese sneak attack on Taierzhuang was on April 28, 1942, and the expeditionary army's situation began to change from that day.

  "What's wrong? Is April 28 a special day for you?" Li Yuanyuan asked as she turned her head back.

  "Hmm... nothing, just talk casually." Dong Li Mao didn't want to explain too much, he followed Hu San behind him, also holding a torch in his hand.

  Dong Li Mao was very clear that this was an unchangeable history, and since he had no power to change it, he could only wait for history to change himself. He had gradually accepted the reality of becoming Tai Gong Ye, even if he didn't want to be like that, but there was no way out, and he could only follow in Tai Gong Ye's footsteps, step by step, walking forward with difficulty. Perhaps, sixty-two years ago today, at this moment, in this place, Tai Gong Ye was also walking on this mountain path, not a minute different from himself. If that were the case, would Tai Gong Ye and his men encounter something unimaginable during this short march?

  Dong Li Mao waved his hand and shouted: "Rest in place!"

  "Rest?" Li Yuanyuan stopped in her tracks and looked back at Dong Limao with a puzzled expression.

  Others also cast their eyes on him. Zhu Yongsheng turned back from the front: "Lian Zhang, we just climbed up the mountain road and it's not time to rest yet..."

  "Lao Zhu, I think something is off." Dong Li Mao looked around the mountain, the sky was dark and gloomy, it was the darkest moment before dawn.

  "You're worried..." Zhu Yongsheng guessed what he wanted to say.

  "I'm not worried about running into other Japanese sneak attack units." Dong Li Mao shook his head and said.

  "Yes, it's impossible for the Japanese to launch another surprise attack. In a little over an hour, daybreak will come and the Japanese won't dare to launch another surprise attack after their previous failure," said Zhu Yongsheng.

  "With just over twenty people, they think they can cut off this important transportation line? Isn't that a pipe dream? If I were the Japanese military commander, I wouldn't be foolish enough to do something like that. I would definitely adopt a more effective and destructive sabotage activity, making this so-called lifeline of a transportation mountain road completely destroyed or difficult to recover in a short period of time..." Dong Li Mao's thinking gradually cleared up, he stared at Li Yuanyuan with both eyes: "Sister, according to the intelligence your department has obtained, have the Japanese military ever sent troops to attack this transportation highway?"

  "The planes have been bombing ever since the expeditionary force entered Burma, but we've never intercepted any intelligence about sending troops to harass us." Li Yuanyuan replied firmly.

  "Don't you think that last night's Guan Village being raided and the ambush we encountered in the mountain pass just now are connected?" Dong Li Mao linked the two battles that occurred overnight.

  "It should have nothing to do with it, Guanzhai was ambushed by the black-clad men, that is, the Japanese army's special agents, but the ambush we encountered earlier was done by regular troops." Li Yuanyuan disagreed with Dong Limao's idea.

  "How did you know that the ones annihilated just now were regular Japanese troops?" Dong Limao retorted.

  Li Yuyuan took a glance at Zhang Dali's submachine gun: "This kind of weapon is only used by the regular army of the Japanese military."

  "Then if we hold American-made equipment and weapons in our hands, does that necessarily mean we are American soldiers?" Dong Li Mao's words seemed to have convinced Li Yuanyuan, who no longer spoke up.

  "Company Commander, what do you think we should do?" Zhu Yongsheng was also convinced by Dong Li Mao's analysis.

  "Tell the brothers to put out all the torches." Dong Li Mao's first order was to extinguish the torches.

  After all the fires were extinguished, Dong Li Mao continued to say: "Sending a small team to the rear to harass the expeditionary army's transportation convoy is like an arm blocking a cart, and it doesn't have much effect. If I were the Japanese commander, I wouldn't make such a futile decision. What would I do? It's simple - use the infiltrated agents in the rear to first take out the enemy's intelligence agency, which has already been proven by last night's sneak attack on Guan Zhai. Then, make another fake ambush on the transportation convoy to scout out if there are any heavily armed escort troops on this road. Unfortunately for them, they encountered us this time, which is something they never expected... The elimination of this small ambush team will give the enemy a false impression that we have a very strong escort team... What will the Japanese do next? Since the Japanese know that we have such a strong escort team, it means that this transportation line is extremely important to our army and must be thoroughly destroyed... So, what is the main target of the attack? Why haven't the repeated aerial bombings by the Japanese been able to paralyze this transportation line? It's because they haven't found the key point to bomb."

  Dong Li Mao's analysis left everyone stunned.

  "According to your analysis, is Japan's special mission still looking for its main bombing target?" Li Yuanyuan asked.

  "It's highly likely that they are hiding in the mountains, sending the location of this mountain road to the Japanese command center, or only reporting to the command center when they see a large number of transport vehicles passing by. That's why there have been cases where convoys were bombed as soon as they appeared. Unfortunately, the mountains here are high and deep, and Japanese planes can't fly low enough to bomb accurately, so the destruction rate is very low... After multiple bombings, the enemy felt that it wasn't effective, so they thought of another method, which is what I just analyzed... So, where is the weak point of this transportation line?" Dong Li Mao paused for dramatic effect, looking at Li Yuanyuan and then at Zhu Yongsheng.

  Li Yuyuan was indeed an intelligence officer, and she immediately understood: "You're referring to the village ahead with a military supply station?"

  "Right, the purpose of this Japanese army action is to find the exact location of that military supply station." Dong Li Mao nodded and then asked Li Yuanyuan: "Sister, didn't you know that there was a military supply station in front of the village?"

  "Hmm, I've never heard of it, and actually, I didn't even know there was a military supply station on this transportation line." Li Yuanyuan replied.

  Zhu Yongsheng now fully understood and asked: "Comrade Lian, should we report this situation to the military department?"

  "It's too late, we don't have hands... telephone or telegraph." Dong Limao immediately corrected himself, almost saying the word "mobile phone".

  "What should I do?" Li Yuanyuan asked somewhat anxiously.

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