The next day.

Fine.

The September sun is still hot.

Early in the morning.

About a few kilometers downstream of Banqiao Town, there are two groups of devils stationed, one is a large transport ship that has run aground, and the other is three small motor boats that have also run aground.

However, there is something puzzling about these two camps.

Both sides also hung plaster flags, proving that they were both devils.

But.

The camp was divided into two piles, with stranded ships in between, and the tents on both sides were of different colors, shapes, and arrangements, and the colors of their uniforms, and even their firearms were obviously different.

The only thing that is the same is the plaster flags that are erected.

Moreover, the two sides also set up sandbag bunkers and machine guns aimed at each other, in a posture of high vigilance.

"What are you doing, little devil?"

On the top of a hidden hillside a few kilometers away from Banqiao Town, a government intelligence officer held a telescope and looked into the distance, and his eyes widened when he saw it.

"It is said that the devil navy and the army are at odds, but, this..."

Next to him, another companion with a telescope spoke with a slurred voice.

Before, there was intelligence that the devil was at sea and land discord, and the degree was very serious, but a country's navy, discord is normal, after all, where there are interests, there is fighting, in order to compete for military spending, basically all countries' navies and armies are not right.

But... Isn't that an exaggeration?

No matter how discordant you are, you won't be able to draw a gun against each other.

I don't know, I thought that these were two hostile forces, and they were preparing to go to war!

At this point, the two were speechless for a while, obviously the scene in front of them was far away from the imagination of the two.

The topic quickly shifts to the subject:

"Who robbed the devil of this batch of gold?"

The intelligence department of the state government quickly peeled back the cocoon from a pile of information, figured out the ins and outs of the matter, and also learned that the transport ship on the Yangtze River was a smoke bomb, and the actual transportation route was the Huai River, and it was robbed by others.

But like the devil, it's not clear who did it.

"I don't know, I guess the devil is also investigating."

The other shook his head.

Then, his tone was full of exclamation:

"This group of people is really powerful, they can know the specific transportation route of the devil's gold."

For the sake of this batch of gold, the intelligence forces of the government and the devils fought underground for nearly half a year, and in the end they failed to accurately find the transportation route of the devils, and even the smoke bombs on the Yangtze River could not be accurately judged.

The little devil has infiltrated the Republic of China too deeply, and even many spies who have been lurking for more than ten years have infiltrated into the high-level, and the intelligence force is very strong.

"The top is looking into the matter with all their might."

"But..."

Speaking of this, the other person stopped.

To investigate a thing, at least there must be a suspect object, but now, there is simply no target of suspicion, and I don't know how to investigate at all.

First of all, they didn't do it.

Then, looking at the movement of the devils, the navy and the army were dispatched together, more than a dozen reconnaissance planes flew around in the sky, and the Saito Wing searched frantically, and today even mobilized other brigades to search everywhere, with Banqiao Town as the center, the devils within a radius of 200 miles have completely blocked the intersection, and it is not that the devils themselves are shouting to catch thieves.

As for the other group, it certainly wasn't.

First, their so-called base area is very far away, and secondly, that group of people does not have such intelligence and military strength.

According to the currently known situation, as well as the number of corpses of the devils on the bank of the river, it is speculated that at least one squad of the devils was killed, and three escort motorboats and a transport ship were hit and stranded, but no attacker's boat was found, although it is not clear what is going on, but it can cause such casualties, the strength of the people who did it, at least one elite regiment.

Not to mention them, even the national government could not gather such troops in the Huai River, an area where the devils were heavily stationed.

At this time, a person ran up from behind and told the two of them a message:

Not long ago, there was a battle at the intersection blocked by the devil thirty kilometers to the east, and it seemed that a small group of people and horses were going to sneak through the mountains, but they were discovered by the devils, and the two sides broke out into fire, and the specific situation was not very clear, but the devils seemed to have suffered a big loss.

"It should be this gang that robbed the devil's gold."

Several intelligence agents speculated in unison.

"But who are they?"

Immediately afterward, doubts followed.

······

Compared with the doubts of the intelligence officers of the national government, there are not a lot of puzzles in the hearts of devils, especially the navy, and even more.

Rank-and-file troops and officers on land and sea were confronted, but the top brass of both sides pushed forward a joint investigation amid mutual curses, and investigators were sent to the damaged motorboats and transport boats.

Of course, check each according to himself.

"Yaga, those damn horse manures."

Inside the Navy Command, Vice Admiral Tanimoto was furious.

He was angry at the situation.

Obviously, this matter has nothing to do with horse manure, the navy transported gold was robbed, and they wanted to investigate who did it, and where the intelligence was leaked, but the horse manure forcibly intervened, disrupting or even blocking the investigation.

"I think this is a play directed and acted by horse manure."

Tanimoto seriously suspects that this is horse manure used to trap their navy.

After all, the three motorboats over there are obviously the Army's stuff, and in the vicinity of the Huai River, only the Army can secretly transfer the three motorboats, and other forces, even if it is the national government, don't want to get them.

But he has no evidence.

These are just speculations, and horse manure can casually deny them.

If you want to find trouble with horse manure, you must also find conclusive evidence.

"Send a report to the investigation team and ask him to investigate carefully, and if he finds evidence that this matter is the work of the horse manure, don't make a noise and bring the evidence back." Tanimoto admonished.

"Hey."

The staff officer bowed his head.

"General."

Suddenly, a staff officer walked in:

"According to intelligence, the army found a group of unidentified armed forces at an intersection thirty kilometers east of Banqiao Town, and a battle broke out between the two sides, according to the observation of intelligence officers, this group of unidentified armed forces was very combative, and even equipped with 60 mortars, and they managed to break through the blockade and continue to the east, while the army squad blocking the intersection seemed to have suffered heavy losses."

"The Saito United team has sent a brigade to encircle and suppress."

"Nani?"

Hearing this news, Tanimoto's heart was complicated.

He was a little happy about the heavy losses of Ma Manure's troops, but now a group of unknown armed forces suddenly appeared, which showed that it was very likely that this batch of gold should not be the hand of Ma Manure, but the hand of this group.

"Quickly find out who this group is."

Tanimoto rubbed his forehead and ordered.

He hoped that this time it was the thief of the horse manure who shouted to catch the thief.

"Hey."

The staff officer bowed his head.

······

At this time.

Downstream of Banqiao Town, the sea and land camps are facing off, but the investigation teams of both sides have already begun to investigate.

Soon some suspicions came to mind.

"It's not our airboat."

Looking at the three blown up motorboats in front of him, a lieutenant of the army said in a solemn tone:

"Although the structure is basically the same, and there is even a Japanese inscription on it, the factory marking is clearly wrong."

After a pause, his tone became more and more strange:

"These motorboats have been significantly modified to increase the horsepower of the engines, make them faster, and also make a soundproof cover for the engines, reduce noise, increase the rudder surface, and make them easier to operate."

"And."

"The manufacturing process is very good."

"Far better than the empire's manufacturing technology, comparable to the top European and American manufacturers."

This discovery, the navy red deer was naturally also discovered.

At the same time, a number of things were found on the side of the transport ship:

"From the analysis of bullet marks, it seems that Koizumi Osa and his escort soldiers were attacked when they were deterring the approaching three motorboats, so it seems that the attackers should be army horse manure, or wearing a military uniform of horse manure, so that Koizumi Osa lost his vigilance."

"And..."

"The other side also sent a group of men to sneak into the transport ship from the stern, killed the radio operator in the cabin, robbed the gold, and even took the radio and code book."

The Navy's investigative officer immediately reviewed the entire battle.

He continued:

"The other side used Mauser pistol rounds, which are commonly used by the Republic of China troops."

"But..."

Speaking of this, the Navy lieutenant took out several large warheads and shells:

"What model of weapon is this?"

"Could it be some kind of custom-made weapon?"

"It looks like a pistol ammunition in size, but with a caliber of 0.5 inches, the cartridge case is still so long, and the warhead is so heavy, can the recoil hand hold it?"

Seeing a pistol of this caliber for the first time made the navy smack his teeth.

······

That day.

An intersection 35 kilometers away from Banqiao Town.

At this time, Zhang Dabiao and others were repairing in a dense forest.

After eating the white-flour pancakes with meat in his hand, Zhang Dabiao looked around at the soldiers.

In the battle of breaking through the intersection, they eliminated more than 30 devils with or without intention, and only one person was lost on their side, three were injured, and only one of the wounded was seriously injured, almost a complete victory.

After that, they spent a few more hours, going around in circles, distracting the attention of the devil's pursuers.

'Put your weapons and supplies on the back of the mule. ’

Zhang Dabiao ordered.

Because they did not carry gold, their team of large mules carried a very light weight, plus the consumption of the previous battle, there was not much ammunition, the equipment and baggage of forty people, ten large mules could easily be loaded.

"The wounded also get on big mules."

After directing the wounded to get on the big mule, Zhang Dabiao said in a solemn tone:

"Next, let's go back to the group."

"Full speed march."

"It's one o'clock in the afternoon, and from now on, until six o'clock tomorrow morning, we're going to move here."

He pointed to a point on the map.

Hearing Zhang Dabiao's words, as well as the point on the map, everyone fell into a brief silence.

On the map, that point was more than 120 kilometers away from their current location. And they only had fifteen hours, which is an average of fifteen miles per hour. In addition, there is also time to rest and eat.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Dabiao said fiercely:

"The task of attracting the attention of the devils has been completed, and we have bought at least a day for the gold convoy."

"However, the location we are in now is the center of the devil's heavy army, within a radius of two hundred miles, there are tens of thousands of small devils' troops, and there are devils stationed in every county, and there are almost no bases around us."

"Moreover, we are running out of weapons and ammunition, even if we risk our lives with devils, we can't kill many devils."

"The only chance to survive is a rapid march."

"With a marching speed beyond the imagination of the little devils, quickly transfer and highlight the encirclement of the little devils."

"Either get tired and lie down, be caught up by the devil and fight with the devil, or survive and return to the group to continue to eat and drink and fight the devil."

"I want to emphasize that we only have ten big mules, and we can't carry everyone, and if anyone can't run and falls behind, then I don't need to say."

As he spoke, Zhang Dabiao opened his shirt, revealing a large tumor on his chest with a broken sleeve.

"Now."

Putting away his clothes, Zhang Dabiao said sharply: "Now, let's go." ”

In silence, the whole team silently marched towards the north.

No one of the fighters who can participate is afraid of death, and everyone has the consciousness of exchanging their lives for their lives with devils.

But everyone has an abacus in their hearts.

Relying on a small amount of ammunition, a fight with the devils here, one life is worth one life, far less than the devils who can be killed after returning to the regiment, this business, no matter how it is counted, is a blood loss.

Labor and management never engage in loss-making business.

Thinking of this, everyone's ears seemed to ring the mantra of the head of the regiment.

So, in order to eliminate more devils, let's risk your life and march.

·····

Eight o'clock in the evening.

The sky was gray.

"Let's go."

Wang Gensheng also said sharply:

"Full speed march, we're going to get to the next supply point before dawn."

Accompanied by his order, all the fighters of the gold convoy took a deep breath.

At this time, there was a deep exhaustion on everyone's faces, yesterday's battle, coupled with a night of rapid marching, even they could not bear it, but without any hesitation, this group of people still walked towards the north quickly and firmly, leading the mules.

······

At the same time.

Separate regiments.

Zhao Gang looked at the starry sky in the south, his eyes full of worry.

"Lao Li, you say..."

The anxious Political Commissar Zhao couldn't help it, and began to nag Li Yunlong again.

"There is a chance, but there is only one chance."

Li Yunlong's voice was solemn, as if the steel was heavily intertwined:

"According to the predetermined plan, or even beyond the predetermined plan, after grabbing the gold, march as fast as possible, and quickly leave Banqiao Town on the Huaihe River before the devil reacts, before the devil figures out the request."

"The faster they are, the safer they are."

With the information provided by Brother Chen, this mission will definitely succeed, the gold must have arrived, and because there is enough information, the retreat route has been arranged, and the supplies have been prepared in advance.

Whether they can escape depends on whether Zhang Dabiao and Wang Gensheng are fast enough.

"Hmm."

On the side, Zhao Gang just nodded slightly.

······

South.

Late at night.

Inside a Japanese headquarters.

The division commander of the devil garrison around the Huai River frowned as he looked at the information gathered in his hand.

The three tons of gold of the red deer were robbed on the Huai River, and a Dazuo was killed, and the person who did it also obtained three modified army motorboats by unknown means, and then disguised himself as the army.

This is very troublesome, in case the red deer take advantage of this time, even if there is no actual evidence, it is really difficult to deal with.

A dereliction of duty will not be able to run.

Moreover, the incident has been happening for more than a day, and they still have not investigated who did it, and even almost his entire division and regiment went out together to block the intersection within a radius of 100 kilometers, and nearly 10,000 troops searched frantically, but they failed to find the group of people who fled eastward.

Even the troops of the nearby government knew about this situation and began to act one after another, which made him very big, and he had to devote some of his energy to deal with this group of people.

"General."

Suddenly, a staff officer walked in:

"When the first brigade of the Saito United was searched along the direction of Itabashi Town, it found some fresh footprints, and from the analysis of the traces of the footprints, this team was about seventy people, and there were many mules and horses loaded with heavy loads."

The little devil still found the traces of Wang Gensheng, after all, in order to hurry quickly, he didn't have time to clear the footprints and other traces.

"Oh?"

'So it's a sound from east to west? ’

The commander of the Devil Division's eyes lit up: "Order Saito, quickly send cavalry to pursue, and notify the garrisons of the counties in the north to strengthen the blockade and surveillance of various road junctions, and prohibit anyone from passing." ”