The beacon of youth

It was past midnight, and the guards had urged them several times to no avail. A few baked browned potatoes were placed in a large porcelain bowl. These baked potatoes were the rations of the chiefs.

Boss Peng and several leaders in the Northwest Field Army Headquarters have not slept yet, and they are not in the mood to sleep. There is no news about the four columns and ten brigades responsible for covering the retreat of the main force. There is no news of the entire brigade of more than 8000 people. Can sleep well.

"Damn, what's the matter? Ask Zhang Dazhi (commander of the fourth column) if you have any news." Boss Peng rarely said a foul word.

One of the chiefs smiled wryly: "Boss, it's useless to ask. Zhang Dazhi has sent out all his guard company and scout company. So far, no news has come."

Time passed little by little in anxiety and waiting. Just when the chiefs were getting restless, a guard ran in from the door. He said: "Commander, good news, the Tenth Brigade is back, Brigadier Gao and the others are all back, not too far outside the door."

The chiefs who heard the news all hurried out, didn't they? There were many soldiers standing in shadows not far from the headquarters, and Brigadier Gao stood at the front of the team.

The heads of the headquarters hurriedly asked the nearby security forces to settle down the soldiers who had returned from the Tenth Brigade, and then let Brigadier Commander Gao go to the headquarters.

After careful questioning, I found out that the radio station of the [-]th Brigade was damaged during the battle, and there was no time to repair it during the rapid march, so I got it back by feeling all the way, but I went the wrong way and couldn't find my position in the fourth column. Instead, he came to the headquarters.

Brigadier Gao reported the battle in detail to several leaders, and finally said: "The cavalry of Ma's army are very fierce, and they are much more aggressive than Hu Zongnan's Central Army. The disadvantage is that they don't have any heavy firepower. The rifles on their backs It's not as effective as the saber in your hand."

After seeing off Brigadier Commander Gao, Boss Peng frowned and said, "Guys, why don't we just go to sleep and study this Ma Jiajun who came from Qinghai, and find a way to deal with them."

Boss Peng had just finished speaking when he saw the door curtain lifted, and another person walked in from the outside. This person closed the door casually, took Boss Peng's words and said: "Boss, I just walked around among the soldiers, they The cavalry of the Ma family army fought fiercely all afternoon, and the battle did not end until dark, and finally stabbed the enemy with a bayonet. The troops suffered a lot of casualties, and the preliminary figures have been calculated." There was a piece of paper in his hand.

Political Commissar Xi Zhongxun handed this note to Boss Peng: "Boss, the army has lost a lot, and the reduction is close to [-]. Most of the rest of the soldiers are also wounded. According to the soldiers, Gao Jinchun also has wounds. But this kid kept his mouth shut and didn’t tell any of us.”

Several chiefs took the note from Boss Peng's hand and read it one by one. After reading the note, one chief slammed his fist on the table: "Boss, you can't do this, it's just a waste of time with the enemy. , We can't afford to fight such a battle."

Boss Peng rubbed his dazed eyes, came to the map on the table with a small piece of wax head in his hand, and said to himself: "Yes, we can't afford to fight against the enemy. , We don’t have that habit either, Husling and Masling together have more than 40, we only have 10,000+, and we will be wiped out if we fight for consumption.”

The other chief put the note on the table and looked at the map with Boss Peng, and then argued with several people around him: "Our field army is used to fighting the enemy in the field, and the speed of mobile warfare is the key, but this Ma's army is big. Some of them are cavalry, and they happen to be our nemesis in mobile warfare."

The chief who was arguing with him said: "We are not as fast as cavalry in mobile warfare, and we can't compete with the enemy in positional warfare. You all talk about how to fight this battle."

Seeing a few people arguing endlessly, Boss Peng, who was looking at the map, raised his head and smiled: "Don't make things too complicated, the cavalry of Ma's army is not as powerful as you imagined, today, yes, yesterday, they are It caught us off guard, and caused us some losses after giving full play to the advantages of the cavalry. Modern warfare cannot solve problems by charging on horseback. What I worry about is not how powerful their combat effectiveness is, but what I worry about. Cavalry will cause great trouble to our logistical supply lines."

When Boss Peng said this, the chiefs stopped talking. The problem is indeed that it has hit the key point. The field army is a large force of 10,000+ people. The logistics and transportation basically rely on the local militias and migrant workers. If these come and go like the wind It would be really troublesome for the cavalry to pick out the militiamen.

Just when everyone was at a loss, a chief who had been silent all this time suddenly said, "There may not be any way."

Everyone looked back, huh, who is it?It was Liu Jingfan, deputy commander of the field army who was in charge of logistics, who said this.

Commander Liu came from a local background. He used to be the chairman of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government. In March 10,000, Hu Zongnan joined the field army after Hu Zongnan attacked Yan'an. After joining the field army, his main job was to be in charge of the logistics support of all soldiers. The field army He is responsible for the messy work of eating, dressing and so on for [-]+ people.

Because he is not a military cadre, Commander Liu basically doesn't intervene in these discussions about how to fight the war, and today it is very surprising that he also said something.

Seeing that Commander Liu was also interested in fighting, Boss Peng also asked a little curiously: "Old Liu, I said that you are usually indifferent to these things. What happened today? The sun came out from the northwest? Is there any good way to tell me quickly?" Say, don't play tricks on us."

Seeing that everyone was very interested in what he said, Commander Liu laughed and said: "Boss, I am a layman in warfare, but my brains are not for nothing. You guys are only thinking about how fast the enemy's cavalry is. Don’t think about it, there are also fast-running troops in our field army.”

One of the chiefs suddenly patted his head: "Hey, Lao Liu's idea is really good. Doesn't our field army still have a cavalry division? We use them to deal with the enemy's cavalry and cooperate with the local militia to protect our troops." Rear supply line."

Before Boss Peng and Commander Liu could say anything, another chief immediately poured cold water on him: No, our cavalry division has not been formed for a long time, and we haven’t fought a few decent battles. Then three or 4000 people can fight a small battle, but it is unwise to let them go head-to-head with the cavalry of the Majiajun, and they may be wiped out in a few strokes.

Seeing a few people still arguing there, Commander Liu Jingfan laughed again: "Hey, what can I say to you guys, you guys think about it again, in our field army, it is not the light cavalry division that runs fast, there is also a troop that runs fast Nor slower than them."

Who are these chiefs in the headquarters?His head was very active, Commander Liu's eyes lit up immediately after this reminder, several people looked at each other, and said together: "Hahahaha, Lao Liu, I really have you, don't we have king beards?"

Commander Liu: "Have you all remembered? If you think about it, it's nothing to do with me. You guys think about it."

Boss Peng also smiled and said: "Don't look at Lao Liu who doesn't like to participate in these messy things with us, he has goods in his stomach, isn't that right, did you remind everyone with one sentence at the critical moment, confidential officer, give me I will take over the second column."

A burst of phone ringing woke up the staff officer on duty at the Second Column Headquarters who was in a daze. Response: "Yes, yes, chief, I will call our commander right away."

After a while, Commander Wang Zhenwang of the Second Column, who was awakened, put on his overcoat and took the microphone in the hands of the staff officer on duty: "It's Boss Peng, what's the good of looking for me in the middle of the night? You can't sleep at all tomorrow morning." How do you march? You can’t fall off the jeep while dozing off.”

Commander Wang Zhen is one of the few lower-level commanders in the People's Liberation Army who dares to joke around with Boss Peng. Boss Peng's evaluation of Commander Wang is: "Wang Huzi and I are like two Hunan mules, and we still have a bad temper. When the big mules are grazed in a trough, they will kick each other while eating, but we two Hunan mules use the same strength when pulling the harness.”

From these words, it can be seen that Boss Peng likes Commander Wang, an upright general: "Wang Huzi, don't give me sloppy eyes, have you heard about the Tenth Brigade?"

Commander Wang: "Boss, how can I not know about such a big event? I heard that they fought terribly, and the casualties were not small."

Boss Peng: "It's not that small, it's very serious. The casualties are approaching [-], and Gao Jinchun is also injured. I have something to say. Let the brigade commander and political commissar headquarters of your independent brigade come to report tomorrow morning. I have a special mission. .”

Early the next morning, several jeeps suddenly drove out from the winding mountain road. They were brand-new American jeeps. He lifted it up and put it on the backrest in front of him, half-closed his eyes and didn't know what he was thinking.

Li Yuming, the company commander of the guard company sitting in the co-pilot seat, said without any face: "Brigadier, look at your sitting posture, you don't look like a senior chief at all. You know that you are our brigade commander, but I don't know I thought it was just a long row or something. When the political commissar Wang was in the car, he was never the same as you. He always sat there in a very serious manner. He looked like a senior commander of the People's Liberation Army. Can't you just follow along and learn more?