Mao Xiaozi developed a habit when hunting. Whenever he saw cut down plants or shrubs or signs of human treatment, he would observe them and then make an analysis.
This is what he told others: "How can we have the rifles we use now for hunting? They are all bird muskets. I made them myself. They are actually just iron sand bullets in an iron pipe. A slightly larger one is fine for hunting small prey.
Most of the prey can only be injured and cannot die. It can run faster than you. At this time, you have to follow its tracks and chase after it. Therefore, you must be able to distinguish which branches it has crushed and which ones have not, otherwise it will not take long.
Just lost it..."
(Note: Bird gun is the collective name for matchlock guns in this era)
Mao Duzi talks about these things one after another, and he can't finish them for days and nights.
The suspicious traces found this time were also due to Mao Duzi's habit. No one else took the mound of dirt on the road seriously, but Mao Duzi found it strange and took out his engineer shovel to dig up the mound.
After digging, there was nothing surprising, just a bunch of traces of a fire.
The soldiers all felt that Mao Duzi was too sensitive. From time to time on Zhongtiao Mountain there would be people or hunters collecting mountain goods. Isn't it normal for them to leave some traces?
But Mao Duzi picked out a few unburned branches and handed them to Lao Qi, saying: "Company commander, look at this incision. It was made with a sharp military thorn. Ordinary people don't use military thorns commonly. They usually use military thorns."
Sickle or hatchet!”
What this means is that military thorns are actually not suitable for use in the mountains. They are used for killing people, not for picking or chopping firewood.
"There are still these pits!" Mao Duzi pushed aside the sand, revealing the traces of digging the soil with hard tools. He roughly measured it with his palm and said, "This should be the Type 98 engineer shovel commonly used by the Japanese..."
Hearing this, Lao Qi couldn't help being surprised and asked: "Are you sure? I'm talking about Mao Duzi, so don't say this nonsense!"
"Company Commander!" Mao Duzi replied in embarrassment: "How can we be sure of this? I just guessed based on the traces. But in this matter...what if I guess right?"
Lao Qi thought about it and thought it was right.
And the marks indeed look like they were made by military spurs and engineer shovels.
This is not a trivial matter. It shows that there are probably Japanese soldiers entering Zhongtiao Mountain without them knowing about it.
So Lao Qi reported the matter.
After Wang Xuexin listened to Mao Duzi's detailed report, he immediately went to the regiment headquarters to find Li Yunlong.
At that time, Li Yunlong actually received the news. When he returned to the regiment headquarters and told Zhao Gang about the meeting, Zhao Gang gasped.
"Old Li, you mean..." Zhao Gang asked: "The target of the Japanese is still Zhongtiao Mountain?"
"Eighty percent you can't be wrong!" Li Yunlong put his legs on the kang and sipped reluctantly while holding the wine bowl and replied: "I always felt that something was wrong before, but when Xiao Dongbei said this, I understood it, the devil
It’s still the same old tricks. And it’s very likely that they will send troops to infiltrate just like they did when they fought against the stubborn army!”
"Old Li..." Zhao Gang replied: "I had a chat with the 'principal' a few days ago. He said that there have been more businessmen coming and going recently. He also said that after the Eighth Route Army stationed in Zhongtiao Mountain, the security has improved and there are more people doing business.
It’s over! Do you think it will be..."
These words made Li Yunlong unable to drink the wine he brought to his lips. He looked up at Zhao Gang and said, "Old Zhao, what do you mean... these businessmen may be Japs?"
Zhao Gang nodded and said: "I didn't think much about it at the time. I thought it was because our Eighth Route Army collected less taxes and drove away the Japs, so there must be more people making a living from salt. Now that I think about it... we still have
We haven’t established a firm foothold yet. The Japanese are still thinking about counterattack. This is still considered a battlefield. How can the merchants increase so much at once..."
Li Yunlong couldn't sit still anymore. He stood up from the kang and walked around on the ground.
After a while, he frowned and said: "Damn you little devil, you really used the same trick a second time. But then again, this is really a big ball of thread, very difficult to deal with!"
No wonder Li Yunlong said this. They had discussed the issue of disguised infiltration at the headquarters. What the Eighth Route Army could do was actually very limited.
You can't send out troops to check passing merchants, right?
It was common for the recalcitrant troops to do this. They were not looking for Japanese soldiers but to achieve the goal of blocking the Eighth Route Army and strictly investigate whether these businessmen were hiding supplies that the Eighth Route Army urgently needed.
If the Eighth Route Army did the same thing, it would be difficult to find out the reason, not to mention the problem of disturbing the people... Those Japanese in the mainland advance team even spoke and lived the same habits as the Chinese people. They just interrogated and asked where they were.
What can be discovered!
Or not letting people do business?
This is even more impossible. In order to restore productivity and trade circulation as soon as possible, the Eighth Route Army encouraged and supported the people to do business after the war. If it were to do everything across the board because of the possibility of spies sneaking in... then when would it be allowed to let go?
Relying on reports from the common people is even more passive. You can only wait for information and rely on luck.
Just when Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang were thinking about it but couldn't figure it out, Wang Xuexin came to find them.
"Captain!" Wang Xuexin said as soon as he entered the door: "The Japs have probably already taken action!"
"You came just in time!" Li Yunlong said, "I was just about to tell you about this!"
As soon as the two sides exchanged the information they obtained, they became more convinced that the Japanese had sneaked in.
Li Yunlong raised his head and said to Wang Xuexin: "Little Northeast, isn't it time for the mountain troops you trained to come into play? Isn't Mao Douzi good at tracking? Find these devils and destroy them!"
"Captain!" Wang Xuexin replied helplessly: "This is not what the mountain troops do!"
Li Yunlong's eyes widened and he asked: "Isn't this what he does? He raises soldiers for a thousand days and uses them for a while. We feed the mountains with good food and drink. Now you tell me that he can't do it?"
Wang Xuexin didn’t even know how to answer.
There is a saying in modern times that "the best way to deal with special forces is special forces."
If you use this sentence to describe it, there is nothing wrong with what Li Yunlong said. The Japanese who infiltrated can be said to be special forces, and those who deal with them must of course be special forces.
When this is actually wrong.
The best way to deal with special forces is actually conventional forces, because what special forces fear most is entangled with conventional forces.
The correct statement should be that the best way to deal with special operations is special operations.
The special operations here should be to know an important target of the enemy and master detailed information, then send the mountain company to hit it with one blow, rather than using the mountain company as a search team, as Li Yunlong said... This is not just overkill,
It also puts the mountain company in danger and passiveness.
Because it is easy to hide it in the deep mountains, but trying to find it is like finding a needle in a haystack.