Yamada received an order to divide the three squads into east, south, and north directions, and quickly search for the retreating Thunder Sword Independent Battalion.

Lei Jian led the independent battalion to get rid of the enemy's pursuit as quickly as possible, and at this time, the troops had already entered the dense forest of Jiguan Mountain in concealment.

After a night of fierce fighting, the soldiers were tired before dawn, and now they finally arrived at the Cockscomb Mountain, one by one they were tired and out of breath, and the companies received orders to rest on the spot, and the soldiers did not even have time to free their guns and backpacks from their bodies, and their bodies lay on the ground with a weak body, panting for breath.

Lei Jian's physical strength is much better than that of the warriors, he walked to the top of the Cockscomb Mountain, checked the geographical location around the Cockscomb Mountain, and felt that he was ambushed here, too close to Ao Mountain, once exposed, it was easy to be surrounded by a large army of the enemy, and the consequences would be very serious.

He said to the correspondent next to him, "Show me the map."

Correspondent Xiao Zhou spread the map on a big rock, found a few small stones to press the four corners of the map, wiped the sweat on his face and said, "Battalion Commander Lei, the map is paved."

Lei Jian put down the binoculars, walked to the map spread out on the big stone, studied it carefully, kept gessing, and Wang Xiaoliang, who followed up, asked, "Battalion Commander Lei, what are you looking for on the map?"

"Find a safe place, as the base of the independent battalion, we can't always run around like this without settlement, this is not conducive to the rest of the troops, it is easier to break away from the village and the masses, the supply of the troops can not be replenished, the captured enemy military supplies have nowhere to hide, our independent battalion will become rootless duckweed, it is difficult to carry out the war of resistance and work behind the enemy."

"Battalion Commander Lei, what you said is really a thing, our independent battalion has left the base area, the troops have expanded rapidly, and there are a lot of loot, and they always take it with them every step of the way, which will slow down the marching speed of the troops, so that we should open up a new base area, so that we will settle down and not be exhausted."

Wang Xiaoliang glanced at Niu Dali as he said and asked, "Deputy Battalion Commander Niu, do you think what I said is right?"

Niu Dali replied: "Battalion Commander Lei, I think what Deputy Battalion Commander Wang said is reasonable, I also think so, you see that our current army has nine companies, a team of nearly 1,000 people, and has fought several battles with the enemy puppet army, and has secretly attacked the temporary arsenal of the Japanese Fujiwara Brigade.

Lei Jian nodded and said: "Yes, it's a pity to lose it, with a slowdown in the speed of the troops, so I want to find a place that is conducive to the garrison of the troops, as long as the troops can settle down, they can run from a distance, see the opportunity to do the devil, and immediately detour back to our newly opened base area, and after a little repair, they can be put into a new battle."

The three of them were lying on the map and pointing, and the correspondent Xiao Zhou, who was standing on the side, was in a hurry, he approached the map, looked at it for a while, and said with little confidence: "Battalion Commander Lei, I think this place is more than ten miles away from Jiguan Mountain, which should be conducive to the concealment of the troops."

"What is this place?" Lei Jian asked.

"This is a big cave, it's very big, I can't tell how big it is."

"How do you kid know there's a big cave here?" Wang Xiaoliang asked suspiciously.

Xiao Zhou touched the back of his head and said embarrassedly: "My grandmother's family lives in a small village in front of this cave, when I was a child, our family had many sisters, and I was naughty, so my father sent me to my grandmother's house in the mountains."

"You kid wouldn't be naughty enough to go into the mountains and find a big cave here, would you?" Niu Dali said with a smile.

Xiao Zhou 'hi hi' smiled: "Deputy battalion commander Niu guessed correctly, I lived in my grandmother's house since I was a child, and I got acquainted with the little friends in the village, so they took me to run all over the mountain.

"Small hole, get in, how is it inside?" Lei Jian asked with shiny eyes.

Wang Xiaoliang couldn't hold his breath and urged: "You kid say it quickly?"

"The north slope of Santougu is relatively steep, and my children finally climbed to the foot of the mountain to hide less than two zhang high, and set aside the branches and thorny shrubs, and found a hole that can be more than one person high and one zhang wide, and we were afraid of being found by our friends, so we got into the hole."

"How big is the hole?" Lei Jian grabbed Xiao Zhou and asked.

"The cave is big, at that time, I couldn't see it clearly, and then I walked in with a torch to see, my mother, I can't tell how big this cave is." When Xiao Zhou said this, he seemed to regret a little that he didn't figure out how big the cave was at the time, and now he couldn't say clearly, so he was embarrassed to touch the back of his head again.

Lei Jian found the location of Santougu on the map, which should be twelve or three miles away from the temporary stationing of the Jiguan Mountain Independent Battalion on this mountain.

He ordered Niu Dali: "You lead a main company to hold on to Jiguan Mountain, once the enemy discovers the whereabouts of the large force of the independent battalion and pursues it, you must resolutely block the attack and cover the large army to reach Santougu smoothly, if there is no accident, you must turn around and suddenly go south and enter Santougu."

Lei Jian ordered Li Gang again: "You lead a company as a forward company, search and advance to Santougu, once you find the enemy, immediately change the route of the march, approach Fengwang Mountain, and then throw off the enemy, and the target turns to Santougu."

He ordered Wang Xiaoliang: "Order the troops to set off immediately."

The large force of the independent battalion left Jiguan Mountain, and the five companies shared and transferred the spoils, and under the escort of two companies, they quickly marched to Santougu.

After climbing a few mountains, it was almost noon to walk into a village, the common people had never seen such a strong team, knowing that it was the Eighth Route Army coming, and the village steward trotted to find the thunder sword.

He took Lei Jian's hands and said: "But I hope you guys are here, a few days ago, fifty or sixty little devils broke into the village, ruined the village, and took away a lot of young and middle-aged people, saying that they wanted to build roads, hey, these beasts, lived in the village for two days, burned, killed and looted, and ruined the big girls and little daughters-in-law of several families, and a few of them felt that they had no face to see people and were humiliated, and they killed themselves, hey, miserable."

When Lei Jian and the soldiers heard the village steward talk about the atrocities of the devils, they gritted their teeth one by one, eager to find this little devil army and kill all the mongrels.

At this time, the villagers who surrounded the village cried about the crimes of the devils, Lei Jian looked at the tattered and tattered village slaughtered by the devils, and he comforted: "Fellow villagers, you have suffered, only by participating in the Eighth Route Army and defeating the little devils, can we have a good life."

The young and middle-aged people who were not in the village or hid out when they were slaughtered and arrested by the devils felt that if they stayed in the village, they would be slaughtered and arrested by the devils sooner or later, and they resolutely asked to join the Eighth Route Army one by one.

The old man in charge pleaded: "This little brother, it seems that you are the biggest officer in this army, you can take away all the remaining young men in my village, they want to join the Eighth Route Army to fight the little devils, we will send them off, you can take them in."

Lei Jian said excitedly: "Uncle, the Eighth Route Army was originally the army of the common people, so many good young people actively asked to join the Eighth Route Army, and the Eighth Route Army welcomed them."

The old man said with tears in his eyes: "Okay, hand over these young offspring to the Eighth Route Army, and I can still leave roots in this village, but you are here, the food and chickens and ducks in the village have been snatched away by the little devils, and there is nothing good to entertain you, so you can only rely on eating bran to fill your stomach, as long as you don't dislike it, I will immediately call all the families in the village to prepare to go."

"No, no, no, uncle, I know that the villagers are not easy either, so we won't bother, the troops will ...... soon."

Wang Xiaoliang didn't wait for Lei Jian to finish speaking, pulled Lei Jian aside and whispered: "Battalion Commander Lei, our independent battalion hasn't had a hot meal for four or five days, otherwise we will have a full meal in this village before leaving, do you say okay?"

"No, the villagers are so ruined by the little devils that they can't even fill their stomachs, how can they cook so many people's meals at once? Immediately ordered the troops to leave the village and quickly march towards Santougu. Thunder Sword commanded firmly.