The Flames of Resistance Against Japan in Jiangnan

After hiding the captured cars and trucks in the valley, Xu Wenqing did not want to easily abandon these hard-won means of transportation. So, he personally led the special operations company to clean up the tire tracks of the cars and trucks that had come from the main road into the valley.

Therefore, unless they are extremely unlucky, it is unlikely that anyone will discover that their convoy has wandered into this ravine.

Having finished handling everything, Xu Wenqing led the special operations company soldiers, who had been continuously instilled with some of the special operations experience from later generations, back to the mountain. They saw that Hu Jiu, who had arrived earlier, had already set up sentries, both visible and hidden. As for the Red Army soldiers who had been rescued from the Fuliang County prison the night before, they were already asleep in this tree-shaded valley, clutching their guns.

Seeing how quickly these soldiers fell asleep, Xu Wenqing understood that it was very necessary to bring the troops here for a temporary rest.

Seeing that Instructor Yao Hutou was still awake and leading political officers to cover some sleeping soldiers with clothes, worried that they might catch a cold in the chilly weather, Xu Wenqing was quite satisfied.

The practice of letting soldiers rest first while officers had to work until the very end was probably one of the reasons why the Red Army was able to maintain unity from top to bottom. Although corporal punishment was common in the military at that time, it was forbidden in the Red Army.

Of course, it was quite common for officers to occasionally curse or kick soldiers' backsides during training sessions. But in private, these Red Army officers undoubtedly treated these ordinary soldiers like family.

Seeing that these Red Army soldiers habitually slept on the ground, Xu Wenqing understood. For them, who were used to living a life of hardship, being able to get a good night's sleep was perhaps the greatest happiness. Having just been freed from prison and the threat of death, being able to walk this far in one go undoubtedly meant they had reached the limits of their mental and physical strength.

After Yao Hutou covered some soldiers who hadn't put on any clothes to sleep with, Xu Wenqing looked at Instructor Yao Hutou and said, "Most of these soldiers are now wearing their uniforms as covers."

"Instructor Yao, do you have a moment? I'd like to talk to you about something!"

Yao Hutou did not refuse and followed Xu Wenqing to the top of the mountain where they could overlook the roads and villages beyond the distant mountains.

The two sat down for a heart-to-heart talk and enjoyed their conversation immensely.

When discussing the matter with the military management, Xu Wenqing sent someone to summon Wang Tielin, the current deputy battalion commander, and Hu Jiu, the chief of staff. After discussion, the four of them made a temporary decision to expand the 55th Regiment of the 19th Division, which currently has more than 1,800 officers and soldiers, from nine infantry combat companies plus three directly subordinate special service companies to fifteen infantry combat companies and four directly subordinate special service companies.

Xu Wenqing remained as regimental commander and political commissar, Yao Hutou as director of the regimental political department, Wang Tielin was promoted to deputy regimental commander, and Hu Jiu continued as chief of staff. The entire 55th Regiment was divided into five main battalions, each battalion with three companies, and each company was temporarily composed of ninety men.

In addition to expanding the engineer platoon into an engineer company, the special operations company, guard company, reconnaissance company, and engineer company will be organized into a special operations battalion.

At the same time, Xu Wenqing also upgraded the size of the mortar platoon to the level of a company.

In addition, a supply corps was formed for the elderly, the infirm, the disabled, and the lightly wounded who had difficulty moving, responsible for transporting weapons and ammunition, as well as these few cars and captured wagons, which were very rare in the Red Army.

In this way, barring unforeseen circumstances, even if more Red Army soldiers joined in a short period, they would not need to prepare for further expansion.

After the initial plan was formulated, Yao Hutou, Wang Tielin, and Hu Jiu, who had also been busy all night, were all ordered by Xu Wenqing to rest. As for the selection of battalion commanders and company commanders, that would be discussed after they woke up.

Anyway, when they evacuated Fuliang County, Xu Wenqing had the cooks make all the flour they had seized from the security regiment's warehouse into steamed buns and take them with them. With these steamed buns and spring water, they could stay in the mountains for two or three days without lighting a fire and revealing their location.

However, while the other soldiers could rest, Xu Wenqing began to think about how he could lead the entire 55th Regiment to break through the encirclement of the Jiangxi Army, Anhui Army, Zhejiang Army and the Central Army in the rear, find a suitable place to lie in ambush, and successfully escape the predicament and survive.

Although it has been confirmed that the next battle will take place in Shangrao, another important military stronghold for the Jiangxi army, where even more prisoners are being held, Xu Wenqing is genuinely afraid that if they don't hurry, there will be instances of prisoners being killed.

Just as he was analyzing his future options, he suddenly heard gunshots coming from the distant mountains. Although it sounded like only one shot, it undoubtedly put Xu Wenqing on high alert. Could it be that besides his unit, there were other troops lurking in these mountains?

With this suspicion in mind, Xu Wenqing lost all interest in resting and woke up all the soldiers from the Special Service Battalion's Special Service Company, Reconnaissance Company, and Guard Company who had just rested. He instructed Li Dayong, the Second Company Commander currently on guard duty, to strengthen the perimeter's security. If any decisions were truly impossible to make, he told them to wake Hu Jiu, Yao Shengjun, and Wang Tianlin.

As for him, he needed to lead three companies of the special operations battalion into the mountains not far from their hiding place to see what was inside. Why, then, did gunfire suddenly erupt?

You see, at this early morning hour, hunters wouldn't be out in the mountains, nor would the Jiangxi or Anhui troops be venturing into these mountains. There's only one possibility: a small Red Army unit or guerrilla force is operating in those mountains. How could He Zhengdao give up without going to check?

Knowing that once this young regimental commander made a decision, it was difficult to refute, Li Dayong felt there was some danger. But seeing Xu Wenqing finish assigning the mission and then quickly lead his three directly subordinate companies of the three-hundred-plus-man special operations battalion into the mountains ahead, Li could only pray that the regimental commander would return safely.

He Zhengdao's guess was entirely correct. Near their resting place, Foziling, there was indeed a Red Army unit also taking a short break. Unlike Xu Wenqing and his group, who had ample weapons, ammunition, and supplies when they entered the mountains, this force of less than eight hundred men appeared somewhat disheveled.

The commander, who also looked quite young, was reprimanding the Red Army soldier carrying a small wild boar weighing about 100 pounds:

"How could you forget battlefield discipline? Do you even know where you are? Firing that shot will expose us all. Do you understand?"