"The troops turn around, the rear team becomes the front team, and we take the mountain road to Hunyuan County!" The chief of staff could not think of any other way but to compromise.
The result was exactly the same as his initial judgment...
There are traps everywhere on the mountain road, and they are all kinds of traps, making it difficult for everyone to guard against them.
Rugged mountain roads also greatly restricted troop formations.
In the past, we marched on the official road. Because the road was very wide, in order to protect the remaining mules and horses, everyone could march in three columns abreast.
There were mules and horses in the middle, and soldiers on both sides.
Now that was no longer possible, the troops could only march in single file, and the mules and horses loaded with food were completely exposed to the guns of the Eighth Route Army.
"Bang bang...bang bang..."
From the moment we entered the forest, the familiar sound of gunfire never stopped. Every gunshot meant that a mule and horse were killed and dumped on the roadside together with the grain on their backs!
The chief of staff saw it and felt pain in his heart, but he had no solution. He could only keep urging his subordinates to speed up and get out of this mountain road as soon as possible!
At six o'clock in the afternoon, the team finally returned to the official road, with only the last three kilometers remaining between Hunyuan City.
Raising the telescope, the chief of staff could vaguely see the gate tower of Hunyuan City.
But he was not happy at all.
Although the team around us has not become shorter and is longer than during the military period, there are nearly 500 more stretchers in the team.
Excluding the soldiers carrying the stretchers, there were less than 600 people in the entire team still carrying food.
The situation was even worse for the mules and horses. When the troops were divided, there were more than 200 mules and horses, but now less than 20 were killed. They were surrounded by everyone like precious animals, fearing that another accident would happen.
Adding up all the remaining food for the entire team, there was less than 23,000 kilograms left.
He brought two thousand people with him, and there were more than three thousand people in Hunyuan City. The total of five thousand people would consume five thousand kilograms of grain in one meal.
Even if he returned after delivering the food and stopped staying in the city, 23,000 kilograms of food would only be enough for them for four days.
It would take three days for him to send food to Hunyuan City and back. Subtracting the time needed for the troops to rest in between, the amount of food sent to Hunyuan City today is just enough for the division commander to last until the next batch of food arrives.
If the division commander has any military march during this process, the soldiers will eat too much for each meal, and this little food will not be enough to last the next supply delivery.
Therefore, the little food left by the team will definitely not satisfy the division commander, and he will not complete the mission.
I don't even know how to give an explanation to the teacher later, even if I think about it.
In Hunyuan City, the division commander was also hungry.
He wanted food so much that in order to stabilize the morale of the army, he directly led the troops two kilometers out of the city to meet the chief of staff.
Soon they met, but the teacher didn't see the 70,000 to 80,000 kilograms of food he imagined.
The area within his field of vision was filled with stretchers carrying wounded soldiers. It took him a long time to realize what he was doing.
The chief of staff was like a child who had done something wrong, standing in front of the division commander with his head lowered, silent, angry and aggrieved.
"Tell me, what's going on? Where's the food you brought? Why is this the only thing left?" The division commander first broke the silence, suppressed the anger welling up in his heart, and stared at the chief of staff and asked.
When the troops were divided, the troops brought a total of 120,000 kilograms of grain, but now there are still more than 20,000 kilograms left. More than two hundred mules and horses have been almost lost, and there are nearly 500 more wounded soldiers in the team. No matter how you look at it, this battle is
Military operations have failed.
As the top commander of the grain transport team, the chief of staff has an unshirkable responsibility.
Facing the teacher's question, he lowered his head even lower than before, and it took him a long time to bite the bullet and answer.
"Master, please calm down. I failed to complete my mission and let you down!"
"The Eighth Route Army was so cunning. It not only laid a large number of traps on the road, but also arranged for sharpshooters to shoot our mules and horses along the way."
"By the way, they also set up minefields on the highway. They told us that it was the little Japanese who set it up. They forced us to abandon the highway and take the mountainous road, which slowed down our march."
Speaking of this, the chief of staff also became angry.
In order to deliver the food to Hunyuan County as soon as possible, I was led by the Eighth Route Army along the way. I couldn't fight back when I was beaten or scolded. I felt so aggrieved.
Now that I have the opportunity to vent to my teacher, I can't wait to express all the grievances in my heart.
After it was over, he continued to fight with reluctance.
"Master, please give me another chance."
"I will give you the remaining food for the team now, and I will also let you take the wounded to Hunyuan City for rest. I will take the remaining 1,500 soldiers and go back immediately to transport the second food."
"Don't bring dry food?" the teacher asked back!
The more than 20,000 kilograms of food was far from what he wanted. If he asked the chief of staff to take away some more, the remaining food would not be enough to sustain him until the next batch of food arrived, so the division commander did not want to distribute the already insufficient food.
Some.
"No!" the chief of staff replied, shaking his head.
"I hid all the food that the troops gave up along the way. There must be some that the Eighth Route Army did not find."
"As long as 10% of the food is left, we can eat enough and rejoin the troops staying on the road safely."
There is too little food. The more troops left in Hunyuan City, the shorter the time everyone can hold out.
From the bottom of his heart, the division commander did not want the chief of staff to lead the troops into the city and waste the limited food supply.
Now the chief of staff proposed on the spot that he would not go into the city and go directly back to transport the second batch of food. Of course the division commander would not refuse!
Half an hour after the handover, the chief of staff began to return with more than a thousand troops.
But he far underestimated the Eighth Route Army's familiarity with his base area and underestimated the Eighth Route Army's ability to monitor him.
After walking back less than five kilometers, the group leader came over with a serious look on his face.
"Chief of Staff, something happened."
"All the grain we hid on the roadside was gone, and the mules and horses that were killed were also lost. It must have been that as soon as we left, the Eighth Route Army found the grain and carried it away."
"Keep looking!" After being manipulated by the garrison, the chief of staff seemed to be at odds with the Eighth Route Army and shouted angrily.
"We hid nearly 100,000 kilograms of grain on the road and killed nearly 200 mules and horses. I don't believe the Eighth Route Army can find them all."
"Keep looking and tell the brothers that we will stop to eat when we find food. We will continue on our way once we are full and full."
"If we can't find food, everyone will go hungry."
The troops continued on their way back and soon entered a dangerous mountain road.
The traps laid by the guerrillas on the road did not lose their effectiveness because they did not carry food, and continued to cause them casualties.
After finally walking out of the woods, there were more than a hundred slightly wounded people in the team.
As for the food the troops had hidden on the roadside, not a single grain was found.
The chief of staff clearly saw that the morale of the troops was gradually declining, and the soldiers' physical strength was constantly being consumed, and then they gradually became restless.
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