When they heard that the Japanese had sent people disguised as guerrillas to attack people and frame the blame on the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps, the officers in charge were furious.
But they also had to admit that the Japanese attack hit their weak point. If they didn't handle it well, all the early efforts would be in vain.
What's more important is the worry of causing a chain reaction. After all, good things don't go out and bad things spread thousands of miles. If events in this area spread widely, it will have a great impact on the image of their northern Jiangsu Corps.
They have been creating the illusion that the Jiangsu North Corps and the local people, the military and civilians, are one family, but now that they are doing this, the military and civilians can still be one family.
In this era of backward communication methods, all kinds of gossip and rumors are flying all over the sky. Once someone slanders the Northern Jiangsu Corps, the people will be very dissatisfied with the attitude of the Northern Jiangsu Corps because they would rather believe what they have than what they don’t.
Change.
"What the little devil did is really draining the firepower." Yang Ling also realized the seriousness of the problem.
If a combat company reported the situation, it was just a special case, but now almost every company entering this area had the same news. He knew that this was a conspiracy that the Japs had planned for a long time.
"We must immediately send people to each village to explain, otherwise it will be extremely detrimental to us over time." A staff member immediately proposed a solution.
Yang Ling shook his head repeatedly: "The local people are furious now. No matter how we explain it, they will not trust us again in a short time."
"What should I do?"
All the officers frowned: "That's right next to the Japanese territory. Without the support of the local people, the brothers over there would be in a passive position."
"To untie the bell, you must tie the bell. We must catch the Japanese who attack the people and frame us as soon as possible. As long as we catch them, all the problems will be solved."
What Yang Ling and the others urgently need now is evidence to prove the innocence of the North Jiangsu Corps, not futile explanations, because sometimes words are feeble.
"But it's not easy to catch these devils in a short period of time. There are dozens of villages over there and there are many reeds in the river. If they hide a cat there, we will have to catch them blind." All the staff members frowned.
Tight wrinkles.
If you want to find this group of devils, you need to mobilize a large number of troops to block various intersections, and then conduct a blanket search, which will undoubtedly consume a lot of manpower and material resources.
"The problem now is that we are in the light and the enemy is in the dark. What if we reverse the situation and we hide in the dark?" Yang Ling said after thinking for a long time.
"Sir, what do you mean?" The staff officers were puzzled.
"Don't the local people now hate our officers and soldiers of the Northern Jiangsu Corps? Then let the combat companies withdraw from this area and let the Japanese think that their conspiracy has succeeded."
"Isn't this exactly what the Japanese want?"
Yang Ling shook his head and explained: "What I mean is that by retreating boldly during the day, the Japanese will mistakenly think that we have abandoned this area. At night, we can quietly go back and ambush in secret, and then wait and see if the Japanese show their fox tail."
After hearing Yang Ling's explanation, the staff suddenly realized that in this way, they could indeed move from the light to the dark, and use retreat to advance, and regain the initiative.
Soon, orders from the Commander-in-Chief of Northern Jiangsu were passed to all combat companies in the area, requiring them to retreat immediately.
"What? You want to retreat?" When they heard the order to retreat, the brothers were all furious.
"We haven't caught the murderer yet. If we all evacuate in such a disgrace, wouldn't we have to bear the blame forever?" The brothers were all puzzled.
They felt that the first task now was to immediately form a search team, even if they had to dig three feet into the ground, they would find this hidden enemy.
But retreating now is equivalent to admitting that they failed in the confrontation with the Japanese and wanted to take the blame.
"What are you shouting about? Can we find the enemy if we stay here now?" Company Commander Sun Liang looked at the shouting brothers and asked with a dark face.
While reporting the situation to the commander-in-chief, the brothers were not idle at the same time. They sent out scouts to search for information. However, this group of enemies disappeared without a trace as if they were able to use invisibility. They didn't even have the hair of the other party.
Not one was caught.
The farmland, water, and reeds in this area undoubtedly made their search more difficult, which made the brothers angry and discouraged at the same time.
Because they know that this enemy must be hiding in the dark to watch their jokes, but they just can't find it.
"What we call it is luring the snake out of its hole. We pretend to retreat. The Japs can't help but show up. When the time comes, we'll kill him and get back to him!" Company Commander Sun Liang cleared up the ideological work of the brothers in just a few words.
Soon, the combat companies of the Northern Jiangsu Corps that had recently entered this area were searching to no avail, and encountered the hatred of the local people. Without supplies, they all evacuated the area.
"Get out! Get out!"
"If you dare to come again, I will break your legs!"
…
Because the officers and soldiers of the Northern Jiangsu Corps had always maintained restraint, the angry people became more emboldened and even gathered on the roadside to curse the officers and soldiers of the Northern Jiangsu Corps.
The officers and soldiers of the Jiangsu Northern Corps felt aggrieved. They wanted to stand up now and explain that they were not the ones who killed him, but explanations were useless. The people did not believe them until the real murderer was caught.
"ah!"
Seeing that the troops were about to evacuate in dejection, the people even felt that a great revenge had been avenged and threw stones at the officers and soldiers, hitting the brothers and causing them to cry out in pain.
The angry brother looked at the man who was standing on the field ridge throwing stones at him, and took off the rifle from his shoulder.
"What are you doing! Let's go!" Seeing this brother picking up his gun, the platoon leader hurriedly stopped him in a cold voice.
Now that they have taken the blame and their image has plummeted, they cannot make any more mistakes at this critical moment.
Although this brother was full of grievances, he finally put away his gun unwillingly and evacuated with the team.
Because Liu Heitan led the traitors pretending to be guerrillas, they went around destroying, looting, and harming the people, so that public resentment boiled over. The real guerrillas who entered the area became like street rats, and everyone shouted for beatings.
Although the brothers knew that this swaggering withdrawal during the day was just to retreat in order to confuse the enemy.
However, facing the people standing at the entrance of the village and cursing them on the roadside, their hearts felt like knives being twisted, and they felt so uncomfortable.
They fought bloody battles with the Japanese to protect these people, but now they are misunderstood, filled with grievances and suffering.
"Brothers, we will put this debt on the devil's head! We will come back soon for revenge!"
The officers also constantly walked around the team to calm the emotions of the brothers.
The troops evacuated the area and did not stop until dark. They were already far away from the area and seemed to really give up here.