Chapter 5 Chapter Four

Everyone stepped aside one after another, making way for the army commander who turned and walked out of the tent, and pushed the division commander aside.The division commander is used to saying a few words on such occasions, but the army commander did not give him a chance to express his personal opinion.The most unpleasant thing for the division commander was: because the commander had set the last time for the A regiment to recover the Qipanling area, it was impossible for him to accompany the old man to inspect the A regiment command post this morning.Before the teacher walked out of the tent, he glanced at Jiang Tao's bed, and found that everything he saw when he came in had been covered by the maroon velvet curtain at some point.The teacher stared at this curtain, and couldn't help but get angry again: it is not an ordinary curtain, he is absolutely sure that it was originally a big curtain on the stage of the auditorium of a unit above the regiment!

The division commander was the last one to come out of the tent with a scowling look on his face.The sun has risen very high.The commander is getting into the car.He suddenly felt that he couldn't just let it go. After thinking about it, he left his car, walked over to open the back door of the commander's jeep, and sat in the back seat. A few minutes later, two jeeps were galloping on the emergency highway in the north of Maoerling. "Commander, the troops are going to fight tomorrow, and the opinion of our division party committee has not changed." After a brief silence, the division commander said.He was in a bad mood this morning, and his lips seemed very angry as soon as the words came out. "We typed up the report half a month ago, but the army has not given us the following. Today I want to reiterate our opinion to you and the army party committee again: replace Jiang Tao from the command position of the A regiment, and send C Regiment Commander Liu will take over from him and command the battle of Regiment A tomorrow!" He paused, seeing that the commander did not respond, and added a few words, "We did not do this on a whim, we are asking Jiang Tao to command the horse riding tomorrow." Don't worry about fighting at Ling. We can't risk our victory!"

He finally said what he wanted to say to the commander all morning, and then looked carefully at the commander in the front seat.The army commander didn't respond at all. After getting into the car, the old man drooped his eyelids heavily, engrossed in his own thoughts.The teacher was suddenly very depressed. The car jolted.The commander raised his head and opened his eyes. Through the plexiglass window, he looked gloomily at the undulating forest in the canyon on the right side of the road, which was extremely brightly illuminated by the sun. The teacher seemed to be encouraged, and continued with the words just now:

"You saw it with your own eyes this morning. Before the battle, some people reported his style problems, but because the troops were going to the front line, we hadn't had time to investigate and deal with it. This is good, he got that woman to his field command post Tomorrow there is going to be a war, and today he still has the mind to take her to hunt birds in the woods!...Look at his command post, it’s like a playboy nightclub!" Then he wanted to say the right thing. The doubts of the velvet curtain, because they were not quite sure, stopped again. "Commander, Jiang Tao has been the commander of the regiment for two years. In the past two years, my impression of him is two words, the first is 'arrogant', and the second is 'jiao'. People who are too proud and frivolous tend to underestimate the enemy. It is said that arrogant soldiers will be defeated; those who are too delicate can hardly bear setbacks in war. In view of this analysis, we only made the decision to replace him half a month ago. Please make a decision as soon as possible. Give us an official answer today, after all, time is running out!..."

The jeep got out of a large cloud of morning fog again, turned a corner, and continued to circle on the urgent highway.The division commander noticed that the commander's eyelids drooped heavily again.That feeling of frustration once again flooded the teacher's heart like a tide. Half an hour later, two jeeps stopped beside a mountain leg extending from north to south in the Dashan Gorge in the north of Maoerling.A platoon of the Army Direct Engineering Battalion is building a semi-underground forward observation post for the army commander here.After the commander got off the car, he found that the place the old man had chosen for himself was very good. It was low-lying, but had a wide field of vision. Unlike ordinary observation posts, which were set on some commanding heights, they were easily guessed by the enemy and attacked by artillery fire. , but you can have a panoramic view of the entire main peak area of ​​Gongmu Mountain from here.

For a few minutes the commander stood under a masson pine forest, looking at the mountains to the south.The teacher thought that the old man might have forgotten what he said long ago.He's been busy this morning.But the army commander had already turned his head from the gloomy mountains and forests in the south, stared at him with a sharp gaze like a teacher reprimanding senior students for not knowing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and uttered eight words clearly: "It's a big taboo for military strategists to change generals before a battle." The tall teacher seemed to be nailed there by this sentence.The dappled sunlight scorched his bald head through the needles of the masson pine above his head, making him feel hot and unbearable for a while. "The Commander didn't think of these words in his heart. The Commander didn't say what he really wanted to say." A voice shouted in his heart, "The Commander's expression and attitude all morning showed that he didn't like Jiang Tao either, but he made up his mind. I am determined to let Jiang Tao lead Regiment A to fight tomorrow, and I don’t understand the reason behind it.” When the army commander walked towards the unfinished frontier observation post, the division commander did not follow.His first thought was that his business with the corps commander was over this morning.The army commander clearly denied the opinion of their division party committee, but the latter matter was no longer as important to him as it used to be.He has already done what should be done, and the commander may have his reasons.If something unexpected happens to Regiment A in tomorrow's battle, the army commander will naturally take responsibility for his decision today.Later, the division commander eagerly looked forward to returning to his forward command post, which was on the south side of the big mountain gorge in front of him, on the reverse slope of the mountain leg on the west side of Maoerling.The division commander suddenly thought of the reason that made him so unhappy and even angry: the whole morning, until now, he has been by the commander's side, and he has not found his exact location.