"Poor little creature." Pu Tong glanced at the young soldier whose pupils were dilating, and then moved the blade of grass in his mouth from the left to the right. He then waved his hand at the people behind him, "Hurry up and check if there are any survivors. Tie up the lightly wounded ones, stab the seriously wounded ones, and pile up the bodies and burn them!"
"Yes!" everyone responded quickly.
“Why don’t you take action now?” Pu Tong turned around and glanced at the crowd, waved his right arm to drive them away, and when he saw them hurriedly dispersing, he laughed and sat down next to the young soldier’s body. He spat out the grass roots in his mouth with a "puff" sound, took out a small wooden box from his arms, opened it, picked out a cigarette and put it under his nose, a satisfied look on his face, "Wonderful..."
Putong is what Woolley calls "the natural enemy of Hatra."
The reason why Wu Lai gave such a high evaluation to Pu Tong was that Pu Tong was indeed the best guerrilla warfare expert in his army. In front of Pu Tong's Sixth Division, the guerrilla level of the Hatra Army could only be regarded as apprentice level, while Pu Tong's guerrilla attainments could be called a master.
Although Pu Tong learned guerrilla tactics from Wu Lai, he amazed Wu Lai again and again after he learned it. Wu Lai even felt that Pu Tong had grown from the Gap Defense Zone to Kayikede and surpassed himself in terms of selecting combat locations, quickly deploying troops, reasonably allocating troops, reasonably choosing combat times, and commanding rapid retreat after the battle.
Compared with Yin'er, who is also good at guerrilla harassment, Pudong's guerrilla warfare is more flexible and more coquettish.
Therefore, Wu Lai transferred him from Kayikede to Annan and gave Pu Tong a message - I don't care how you fight, as long as the casualty ratio is less than one to fifteen.
The casualty ratio of less than 1:15 did not make Pu Tong feel any burden. It was not a hard-fought positional war or siege war. He could eat if he could, and if he couldn't, he could eat when the time was right. Anyway, Wu Lai did not say that he must annihilate the Hatra army that was harming the people in Annan. If he was not afraid of Wu Lai's scolding, he really wanted to brag in his reply, for example, guaranteeing to achieve a ratio of 1:30 or something like that...
Before entering Annan, Putang broke up the Sixth Division into small units and deployed them in battalions. The intelligence provided by Annan said that the Hatra Army was "making trouble" in units of a thousand people, and it was just right to use battalions to deal with them - each battalion under Putang had about two thousand people, and two-on-one situations were Putang's favorite.
It is worth mentioning that in order to satisfy his addiction, Pu Tong himself led the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment to join the "hunting and killing operation" against the Hatra guerrilla army, and also brought several newly promoted deputy battalion commanders with him to observe and learn. This was Wu Lai's requirement for the division and regiment commanders - to train officers through actual combat.
At this moment, Pu Tong was smoking a cigarette and basking in the sun. In the past four days, he was suffocated by the heavy rain that never stopped. Now, the rain has stopped and the mortars and the new firearms that Wu Laixin had given to the Sixth Division can be used again.
"The lord is really good to me, Pu Tong. He always thinks of me when something good happens." Pu Tong thought happily in his heart.
"Report to the general!" A cavalryman galloped over, dismounted, and reported in a hurry, "The 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment is more than 30 miles away, and has blocked more than a thousand enemy troops in a canyon. Both ends are blocked, and no enemy can escape. However, they have captured more than a hundred Assyrian women and children, and they are shouting that if we don't clear the way, they will kill all these women and children. The 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment asks the general what to do?"
"Useless!" Pu Teng stood up suddenly, took a puff of his cigarette, and cursed with an unhappy face, "The head of the third battalion commander of the second regiment is a wooden lump. How can he be so inflexible? Does he still look like my soldier?"
The cavalrymen dared not speak.
"Messenger! Messenger!" Pu Tong threw the cigarette butt in his hand to the ground and shouted loudly.
"Report to the General!" Three young messengers who were rummaging through things nearby quickly dropped what they were holding and ran to Pu Tong.
"Notify everyone to assemble! Set off immediately!" Pu Tong ordered with a stern face.
"Yes!" The three messengers quickly agreed. One of them hesitated for a moment and asked tentatively, "General, if the deputy battalion commanders ask what to do with the prisoners, how should we answer?"
"You still need to ask this?" Pu Ting waved his arm, "Is there anyone alive here?"
The three messengers were stunned, and quickly nodded and turned around to pass on the message. After a while, the sound of gathering footsteps could be heard, which somewhat covered up some of the desperate cries for mercy...
…
Hadilie clenched the dagger in his hand again. Seeing how nervous he was, a lieutenant beside him patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, Staff Officer Hadilie, we will be fine. There are at least one or two thousand-man teams of ours within a few dozen miles. The signal smoke has been lit for so long, they should be on their way here."
Hadile nodded, but the nervousness in his heart did not lessen at all. The deputy general was right. According to Hatra's arrangement, there must be one or two other thousand-man teams within thirty to fifty miles around each thousand-man team. However, the wolf smoke had been lit for so long, but there was still no movement. If it weren't for the fact that they happened to have more than a hundred hostages on hand this time, the enemy troops blocking both ends of the canyon would have surely attacked long ago.
Why did I come here to join in the fun? Wouldn't it be better for me to stay in Hulett? Hardile thought to himself with great annoyance.
"Staff Officer Hadilie..." The deputy general was about to say a few more words of comfort when he suddenly heard a melodious horn sound in his ears.
The sound of the horn startled Hadile, and he quickly stood up and ran to the hostage queue. For some reason, he suddenly felt that he would be safer if he stayed with the hostages...
After putting down the telescope, Pu Tong frowned. The canyon was about four or five miles long. The knife-cut stone walls on both sides were not too high but there was no place to climb. Hatra's thousand-man team was blocked in the middle of the canyon. Looking down from where he was standing now, he could clearly see that the thousand-man team was divided into six hundred people, half in the front and half in the back, confronting the third battalion of the second regiment. The rest of the people surrounded more than a hundred women and children and stayed in the middle. About fifty steps away from them, a large bonfire was lit. A dozen soldiers threw some fur, rotten meat and other things into the bonfire from time to time, making the smoke black.
"Oh my god, he's even more shameless than me." Pu Tong curled his lips, leaned over, picked up a long grass leaf from a bunch of weeds in front of his feet, cut it off at the root, and held it in his mouth. Then he turned around and asked the commander of the third battalion of the second regiment, "The enemy army has no archers?"
"Yes, but not many. We shot them dead as soon as they showed up." The third battalion commander replied.
"How long has the enemy been raising the signal smoke?" Pu Tong asked again.
"As soon as the enemy set off the signal smoke, I arranged for someone to deliver the message to you, General." The third battalion commander paused and said, "The enemy should not have reinforcements, otherwise it would have taken so long..."
"You are really stupid. Have you forgotten what I told you when we first arrived in Annan?" Pu Tong gave the third battalion commander a blank look and asked.
The third battalion commander was stunned and thought, you told me so many things, how do I know which ones you are referring to?
Seeing the confused look on the Third Battalion Commander's face, Pu Tong kicked him bluntly: "You little bastard! With your memory, do you want to go to the kitchen?"
"No, General, I'm an old man who has followed you since the Gap Defense Zone." The third battalion commander pleaded hurriedly.
"Old man? You don't even have a memory, how can you lead troops to fight?" Pu Tong kicked out the second kick.
"Ouch, ouch." The third battalion commander pretended to cry out in pain and asked, "General, just remind me again."
Pu Tong glared at him and said, "For the last time, listen carefully. I said at the time that once the enemy is surrounded, they will definitely resort to lighting smoke signals or other means to ask for help. If we see smoke signals, it means that we have the upper hand at the location of the smoke signals. We should charge in the direction of the smoke signals without hesitation, beat the enemy to death with a flurry of punches, and then split up to act! Have you forgotten all this?"
"I haven't forgotten, General." The third battalion commander said with a smile, "I thought you were talking about stripping the enemy soldiers."
"Bullshit! What does that have to do with the current situation?" Pu Tong glared at the Third Battalion Commander again. Just as he was thinking about whether to slap him again, he heard a reminder from the First Battalion Commander of the First Regiment behind him.
"General, it looks like two battalions from the third regiment are coming." said a battalion commander.
Pu Tong turned around, raised his telescope and looked a few times, then laughed and said, "These guys must have killed the enemy's reinforcements just now. Look at those naked guys beside their team. Tsk tsk, how did the Hatra army keep their soldiers? They are all so white."
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
The third battalion commander was stunned. He thought to himself, judging from what the general said, could it be that he has the same hobby as me...
What the first battalion commander said was right. It was the second and third battalions of the third regiment that came. After listening to the report, Pu Tong gave the two battalion commanders a few instructions, then picked out two thin and weak but handsome soldiers from the prisoners and kept them. Then he waved his hand and told the two battalions to "fight their own battles."
After the two battalions left, Pu Tong patted the shoulders of the third battalion with a smile and said, "Your commander is much more capable than you. You should learn more from him."
The third battalion commander nodded quickly.
Pu Tong smiled and put his arm around the Third Battalion Commander's shoulders. "Normally, since you have such a poor comprehension and a bad memory, I should have asked your regiment commander to dismiss you. However, I, the General, am magnanimous and willing to give you a chance to make amends. What do you think? Do you want this opportunity?"
"Thank you, General. Of course I accept it." The third battalion commander nodded vigorously.
"Well, you should do it now..." Pu Tong lowered his voice so that only the third battalion commander could hear him. After giving him all the instructions, he patted him on the shoulder and asked, "This is your own idea, right?"
"Yes, General." The third battalion commander puffed out his chest and answered loudly. Suddenly, he bowed and said in a low voice, "General, if anything happens in the future, you have to protect me."
"No problem, go ahead." Pu Teng waved his hand and turned to walk towards his mount while saying, "Do a good job. Since you can handle this, the first battalion will leave first. We still need to set up an ambush tonight."
"Farewell, General."
"Don't see me off. Go and get busy. I'm waiting for your good news." Pu Tong didn't even bother to turn his head.
…
After another horn sounded, Hadile saw two soldiers running towards him.
"What's wrong?" Hadile quickly stopped him and asked.
The two soldiers glanced at him but ignored him. Instead, they ran straight to the deputy general who led the thousand-man team. After saluting, they reported, "General, the enemy leader wants to talk to you."
"Dialogue?" The deputy general frowned.
"Yes, he is fifty steps in front of our fortifications on the right, with a total of twenty riders," the soldier replied.
"Could this be a trick?" Hadile came over quickly.
The deputy general glanced at him with dissatisfaction, thinking to himself, why is the arrogant attitude you had when you first came gone now? However, although he thought so in his heart, he would not say it out loud, and just waved his hand: "There is no need to consider whether it is a fraud or not now, I will go and take a look."
"General, I'll go with you." Hadile said quickly.
"No need, Staff Officer Hadile, you should stay with those women and children." The deputy general raised a hint of sarcasm, "If something unexpected happens later, you can grab a few children to protect you, which may help you save your life."
Hadilie was stunned for a moment, then he sighed heavily and turned away...