Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen

As soon as his inner attention turned to tomorrow's battle and the team he led, Liu Zongkui's chaotic thoughts became clear, sharp and concentrated. Although this is still the Third Battalion of the C Regiment who participated in the border war a few years ago, it is an iron-clad battalion. Backbone is running out.Xiao Bin, the commander of the third battalion walking behind him at this moment, was only his platoon leader in the last war. Two of the three infantry company commanders had never experienced actual combat, and the soldiers had never smelled the smoke of the battlefield.Another reason that makes him uneasy is: before the war, the third battalion of the C regiment was originally a reduced organization, and each battalion had only two simplified companies. It was expanded into three full-sized infantry companies only three days before he was ordered to board the train. The commander was supported by other battalions or even other regiments, and he still couldn't name some of them.He knows this group of "battle backbones" well: a big battle is imminent, and no unit will "support" you with real combat backbones.The experience left by him from the border war a few years ago is: others pretend to "support" the backbone of your battle, but in fact they want to take the opportunity to unload your "burden" and untame those who are either incompetent or mischievous. The role is given to you.Of course, the last border war also gave him another kind of experience - people can change, rust iron in other places, and steel in another environment - but at least tonight, he still had to worry about this team. The combat effectiveness of the almost improvised team is deeply worrying.

Jiang Tao may be as he said tomorrow, and he will not need the battalion he leads, if the battle of Qipanling goes well.A person with a strong sense of fame and vanity like Jiang Tao will certainly not let non-directed troops get involved in his victory and glory, and he can understand this matter.Judging from Liu Zongkui's original intention of accomplishing the task while sacrificing as few people as possible, it is even the situation he most hopes for.However, he also has reasons to think about things worse tomorrow: Jiang Tao's subjective blind confidence makes him unwilling to conceive any possibility other than his own combat plan and be prepared for contingencies. They will lose their calmness and self-control due to the double setbacks on the battlefield and psychologically. In the midst of anxiety and mania, in order to save their beloved plan, they will blindly put the rest of their troops on desperate attempts. At this time, the situation of the reserve team will become extremely dangerous.Liu Zongkui did not wait for Jiang Tao in the tent of the A regiment's command post for three hours in vain. It was from the latter's carefully crafted sand table that he faintly noticed the hidden risks in the A regiment's battle plan tomorrow.The ease of attack and difficulty of defending Qipanling is so obvious that he feels that the enemy commander can see it clearly with a little military common sense. The only thing worth defending in the Gongmu Mountain area is No. 001. The enemy cannot and should not Treat it as a single area fortification.If he is the enemy's commander, he will consider the Gongmu Mountain area and the Tianzi Mountain area lying behind the canyon at the southern foot of it as a complete defense system, and focus on fortification on the No. Panling is used as a first-line security position, with a small number of troops symbolically assigned to act as scouts, and the main force (if any) is deployed on the high and dangerous peaks of Tianzi Mountain.In this way, you can attack (Jipanling is also easy to attack and difficult to defend against the enemy), retreat and defend (use long-range firepower from the peaks of Tianzi Mountain to block the canyon from above, and attack Qipanling and No. 001 highland). Nothing goes wrong.When he was on Mao'er Ridge, he was very puzzled. The above situation was so obvious, why neither Jiang Tao nor the superiors who approved the battle plan of A regiment could see it.Walking on the night road at this moment, he suddenly realized that what hindered the head of the military division and Jiang Tao's thinking might be the same thing - the national border marked on the map that should be drawn from the dividing line between Gongmu Mountain and Tianzi Mountain Wire.What our army considers is only to regain its own territory, but the opponent's combat purpose is to defend the places it has already occupied.

Even if his imagination is only partially true, tomorrow's battle will be complicated, and the fate of the weak team he leads will never be optimistic! After marching for an hour, the troops rested for ten minutes.He found Xiao Bin, Chen Guoqing, Cao Maoran, the deputy battalion commander leading the Seventh Company, and the assistant instructor leading the ambulance team and the migrant labor stretcher team at the back, and they squatted in a circle in the woods on the hillside. Come down, spread out the map in a transparent plastic bag, illuminate it with a flashlight, and say: "Let's have a short meeting now. I will introduce the situation of accepting the task in the A regiment today, and then study how to fight tomorrow's battle."

The air in the forest suddenly became heavy.Several people took out their cigarettes to smoke.Liu Zongkui gave a brief account of how he received the mission at the Command Post of Regiment A, but left behind all his worries.Right now, the commanders of this team, like the team itself, are still psychologically fragile due to the lack of actual combat training and tests.He just told everyone in a serious tone that they must be fully mentally prepared for the difficult situation they may encounter in tomorrow's battle.And now it is necessary to specifically analyze the difficult situation that may be encountered, and formulate contingency measures one by one.He can't frighten them.

There was a solemn silence after he had finished speaking.After a while, Xiao Bin was the first to speak: "This means that tomorrow either we will not shoot a single shot, or we may fight on any hill on the Qipanling line!" His understanding was correct, but his tone was very aggressive, clearly revealing the anxiety and uneasiness that had risen in his heart.The rest of the people also opened their maps with a "crash", illuminated them with flashlights, and began to ponder over them seriously. "We should now do a careful study of how to fight the battle on each mountain and come up with a practical plan." The young and capable deputy battalion commander Cao Maoran quickly said what Liu Zongkui wanted to say, "I think this is the Two questions, one is to go, the other is to fight."

Everyone's eyes lifted from the map. "Yes," Liu Zongkui supported Cao Maoran's point of view, and was happy that the young man grasped the key to the matter so quickly, "The first is what route to take after receiving the order to reach the designated place to fight; How should the battle on the top of the mountain be organized?" He quietly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that after Cao Maoran solved the problem so concisely, the matter that was weighing heavily on his heart like a mountain suddenly became simple and clear. The problem became concrete.For a while, several people stared at the map again. The battle plan of the A regiment divides Qipanling into three combat areas - the 164 highland area, the 342 highland area, and the 631 highland area. Based on this, they designed tomorrow's battle plan: For the highlands, they only need to move up from the Heifengjian tonight along the northern slope of Qipanling; if they want to support the other two highlands, they must move east and west along the canyon at the northern foot of Qipanling. Run long distances before spreading out towards higher ground.Unless there are unexpected circumstances, the offensive will still be as agreed upon earlier, with the seventh company as the main attack, the eighth company as the assist, and the ninth company as the reserve team.Considering that each company may perform support tasks in a scattered manner, it was temporarily decided that the four battalion cadres present would follow three companies apart from the deputy instructor, and the deputy head would lead the battalion headquarters to follow two of the companies One task) or the main attack company (for example, three companies each perform one task) to coordinate and command the battle of the entire battalion.The deputy instructor is still in charge of the rescue team and the migrant workers' stretcher team, and then concentrates or disperses according to the situation to follow each company to implement battlefield rescue.

"Deputy head, is there another possibility?" When everyone's words were about the same, Chen Guoqing, the instructor who hadn't spoken much, raised his head from his map and said tentatively and unsurely, "Maybe tomorrow Jiang The head of the regiment didn't ask us to reinforce the three commanding heights on Qipanling, but to reinforce the small highlands in front of Qipanling. For example, these three prominent highlands." He lowered his head again and used his hands on the map Draw a circle around highlands 632, 633, and 634 in front of highland 631 at the eastern end of Qipanling, and raise your eyes again, "If this is the case, we must cross Qipanling and go south to fight in front of the enemy in Tianzi Mountain. Exposure campaign. It's going to be more complicated than we thought." He broke off, but everyone could see that he hadn't expressed all his doubts.

Chen Guoqing was of medium build, chubby, wearing a pair of glasses, and well-mannered. Before the war, he joined the political department of the army and came to the camp as an instructor.He knew very little about the military, and rarely spoke on such occasions, and Liu Zongkui and other cadres in the battalion did not pay much attention to his words.But at this time, they each glanced at their own maps: Heights 632, 633, and 634 are located in the canyon at the southern foot of Height 631. It is a long and deep rift valley in the Emerald Ridge area. Not far from the west side is a long and low mountain leg extending from south to north to the bottom of the canyon from Yingzui Peak, the main peak of Tianzi Mountain. Numerous small highlands stand out.Liu Zongkui also glanced at these three small highlands, but was not impressed: one side of his folded map is the edge here. Looking at the whole map, the positions of 632, 633, and 634 highlands in the entire Gongmu Mountain area Neither mattered, nor did altitude give them any special combat value, and it was ludicrous to imagine that the enemy would fortify them there.

The ten minute break is up.The front team started moving again. When Liu Zongkui moved forward again, he felt a little bit down.Tomorrow's combat deployment for the entire battalion has been clarified, and the next step is to turn it into determination and implement it in the team during the march.The leaders of the four battalions immediately went to the three companies and the ambulance team according to the division of labor. They used the gap between the marches to convey the spirit of the battalion heads' meeting to the cadres, and carried out a new mobilization of the troops according to the new situation to further prepare for combat.Of course, this matter can also be delayed after the troops arrive at Heifengjian.But even at the current speed, after arriving at the destination on time, there will be less than seven hours before the battle will start at dawn tomorrow.Those seven hours should all be reserved for the soldiers to sleep.Liu Zongkui is a commander with experience in war. He knows how important it is for soldiers to have a good sleep before the battle starts.

When everyone dispersed, he followed Deputy Battalion Commander Cao to the seventh company in front.He has to hurry up and check the combat readiness one by one for the last time. The troops were marching in a large valley.Above the winding and undulating ridgelines all around, the dark blue night gradually became brighter, and the surface of the dark mountain forest shone with dots of silver light.It turned out that a small full moon had risen in the southeastern night sky.Looking at the moonlight, a few giant trees on the ridge not far away look like cast iron.The cool mountain wind violently blew the trees and grass leaves up and down the slope, making loud noises like thunder, and smooth waves like dark green silk flowed all over the mountains and plains.His team walked among the waves, without seeing the head and the end.Suddenly, a change occurred in Liu Zongkui's heart, a kind of excitement from the depths of life.Dazed, he felt as if he had been walking in this familiar and unforgettable procession: I was so excited, I was actually like a recruit who was on the battlefield for the first time, experiencing the excitement on the eve of the battle.He realized this, and he didn't take it seriously, but the tension in his heart eased a bit, and he didn't fully return to the depression and heaviness just now.War, he thought, is a life one never gets used to, but you have to run into it again and again in your life.Compared with your life, it is always short, like a meteor passing by occasionally in the night sky, but it can prevent your life from continuing to exist within one tenth of a second.Life, he thought, is the key to life. When a person loses life, he loses everything, the whole world, but when you face the war that will kill you, you will still feel excited and be amazed by its thrilling and magnificent scene. Attracted by the sight—such as the march in the forest on a moonlit night—I willingly walked into the sight.As if you were not yourself, there was another person in your life who had no regard for his own life or the lives of others, who was dismissive of the myriad other splendors of a peaceful life, not even entirely in order to fulfill some Responsibilities and missions are simply yearning and longing to charge and fight, to destroy opponents and self, which is really strange.Oh!No, he was thinking too far.

Qilian was climbing on a ridge with clear moonlight and sparse trees, and he could smell the excitement and tension in the queue that echoed his own heart from a long distance away.The gradually bright moonlight, the vast night view of the mountains and forests, the speedy night march, the active and excited mood of himself and others, dilute the remaining gloom and dullness in Liu Zongkui's spirit, and make a younger, more heroic, especially more Someone who looked like the old company commander who led the Seventh Company in the last border war and repeatedly made military exploits reappeared in the team.The soldiers all turned their heads to look at him and Deputy Battalion Commander Cao, and Liu Zongkui easily changed into the slang of battlefield veterans, and greeted them loudly: "How are you guys?" "They're still alive right now." The soldiers laughed and answered sparsely.This standard dialogue in the trenches was passed down from generation to generation by veterans who participated in the last war, but at this moment it played a good role in setting off the atmosphere, "Deputy commander, how are you?" "As for me, my arms and legs are still intact, so it will be hard to say tomorrow." Liu Zongkui chatted with the soldiers in high spirits.He knew that this was ideological agitation work, "I heard that some of you even peed your pants?" There was a burst of laughter in the queue.Finally, a soldier said in a high voice: "We didn't even have time to urinate alone." Hu Zhigao, the company commander of the Seventh Company, ran over from the front of the line amidst another burst of laughter. When he saw Liu Zongkui, he called out "Deputy Head" and turned his head to curse at the line: "Damn it, who of you made a rumor about me? Do you want me to be promoted!" His words caused another burst of laughter.As soon as the laughter fell, he said again: "I can't be promoted, who of you still wants to be promoted!" There was another long burst of laughter.The original excitement in the queue was obviously strengthened, but the tension was weakened. Everyone's steps unknowingly became lighter and more powerful, and their speed quietly accelerated. Next, Liu Zongkui listened to Hu Zhigao's report on the morale and combat readiness of the whole company. Cao Maoran conveyed to all the cadres of the seventh company the spirit of the meeting of the heads of the battalion just now, and clarified the main task of the seventh company tomorrow.After that, they went to each platoon to hold a meeting of the backbone of the squad and platoon leaders. When the troops took a break on the way for the second time, the Seventh Company had completed another mobilization with the squad as a unit, and carefully inspected and implemented various combat preparations again.In the forest with mixed moonlight, Liu Zongkui checked the weapons and equipment of the soldiers one by one, and felt that the atmosphere in the queue was solemn and dignified, but not depressing, which showed that the fighting spirit of the whole company was high.The Seventh Company is his old company, and almost all the cadres of the company platoon were brought out by himself. He knows the basics, and today he still has some preference for this company. , coupled with the leadership of Cao Maoran and Hu Zhigao, two shrewd and capable young men, he can rest assured. On the next part of the journey, he arrived at the Eighth Company.Xiao Bin has conveyed the spirit of the battalion here, and a new mobilization has also been completed.He went to the soldiers and checked them one by one. After listening to the report of Li Ao, the commander of the Eighth Company, he felt that although this company was not as confident as the Seventh Company, there was no need to worry too much.Before the expansion of the Eighth Company, it was a complete organic company. During the expansion, the company and platoon cadres basically did not move. Li Ao has been secretly fighting with the commander of the Seventh Company, Hu Zhigao. Not long ago, the battalion decided to let them play assists.In actual combat, this type of unit that seems to be not slippery will often perform well. Leaving the Eighth Company and heading to the Ninth Company at the rear, his excitement caused by tonight's mountain march and later intensified by the fighting atmosphere of the Seventh Company suddenly fell. The Ninth Company is a company that was hastily restored and formed before the war.The composition of the cadres is as follows: the company commander Cheng Ming is the chief secretary of the former regiment headquarters, the instructor Liang Pengfei is the organization officer of the political department of the division, and other cadres are drawn from the regiment and the A and B regiments.As the "battle backbone", the squad leader, deputy squad leader, and combat team leader are scattered from almost all companies in the regiment, and most of them are soldiers in the original unit.When initially considering the candidate for the company commander, Liu Zongkui once raised objections to Cheng Ming, but the regiment leader insisted on his own opinion: first, he could not find a familiar and more suitable person in a hurry; second, this improvised company They can't fight at all. Regiment C is the reserve team of the division, the third battalion is the reserve team of the regiment, and the ninth company is the reserve team of the third battalion. The so-called reserve team of the reserve team is very difficult to fight, which Cheng Ming doesn't quite understand A military person as a company commander can also save a competent company and platoon cadre to fight in the combat company.Cheng Ming's wife is in the countryside, and her military service is not short. What the regimental leader didn't say was to give him a chance to step up to the step of re-employment and transition to the deputy battalion, and transfer the family members to the universal household registration.Liu Zongkui was also a farmer's boy, and he understood the painstaking efforts of the head of the regiment, so he didn't insist on it. What's more, the head's analysis of Jiulian's failure to fight was not unreasonable. Neither the regiment leader nor he expected that the troops would receive such an order from the division when they arrived in the theater: transfer a battalion from your regiment and assign it to Regiment A to participate in the offensive battle in the Qipanling area.Considering that there may be a second phase after the first phase of the war, when the C regiment may play the "leading role" on the battlefield, the regiment leader certainly cannot give his best troops to others.As the reserve team of the regiment, the third battalion was originally tasked with responding to unexpected reinforcements.The result of the matter was that the Ninth Company, which was the least able to fight, became one of the first companies in the whole regiment to go to the battlefield.