After Reconnaissance Platoon Squad Leader Wu Cunxiao and three comrades rushed back to the troop station, they reported the collected intelligence to the troop intelligence department. It wasn't just their four-man squad reporting; as the distance between the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army and the Hubei New Army got closer and closer, the reconnaissance troops probed intelligence in formations of four or two, determining feasible marching routes.

The scouts who completed their missions rushed back to the station. While chewing compressed biscuits and salted duck eggs, they pointed at the map, narrating the intelligence they collected to the intelligence officers. Some soldiers ran over a hundred *li* of mountain roads in a day; their bodies were already extremely exhausted, so they simply wrapped themselves in quilts and lay down to sleep.

After Wu Cunxiao finished reporting his work, he was just about to get up to receive the next task when soldier Li Chengdong standing beside him hurriedly stopped Wu Cunxiao. Li Chengdong whispered: "Squad leader, I think we should rest first too."

"What? Body can't hold up?" Wu Cunxiao asked.

"We want to participate in the upcoming battle," Li Chengdong said excitedly. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was going to attack an enemy twice its size; this would be a fierce battle. Judging by the current situation, by the time the battle started, the reconnaissance troops wouldn't have the physical strength to fight anymore. In the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, there were no "disposable items" like in the old-style armies. When it was time to rest, the troops not only wouldn't force everyone to go into battle but would also mandatorily require rest.

The other two soldiers also nodded repeatedly, supporting Li Chengdong's idea. When selecting reconnaissance personnel, the most important thing was firm will and serious attitude. One of the basic functions of reconnaissance troops was to scout roads. Not only did they have to walk the main roads, but more often they had to walk small paths, and for a large part of the time, they even had to walk unnecessary paths. If the reconnaissance troops walked the unnecessary paths, the troops could walk fewer unnecessary paths during marching and combat. If one didn't have firm willpower, one couldn't accept this kind of hard work in the first place. If scouts told lies, the impact on combat would be terrible. Therefore, the requirements for the character of scouts were even higher than the requirements for physical fitness.

Since the scouts were such excellent soldiers, they naturally didn't want to miss the battle. Especially a crucial battle like encircling and annihilating the Thirty-first Regiment of the Hubei New Army. The mobilization slogan of the troops this time was "Annihilate the Thirty-first Regiment, no big war in Anqing." The analysis of the war had already been conveyed to every soldier; everyone knew clearly what the battle meant. So no one wanted to miss this battle.

Suppressing the impulse to fight in his own heart, Wu Cunxiao persuaded: "Comrades, if we can't fight in the battle, it must be because our reconnaissance work was done well; we ran all the roads we should run. Think about it, everyone, after we run so many roads, tired like dead dogs one by one, going onto the battlefield like this is being irresponsible to everyone. Comrades, we can't just think about being red flowers; there must always be someone to be green leaves, and someone has to be cow dung. You say, in a battle, which link can be missing? Since we are reconnaissance troops, we must first do our own work well. Chairman Chen emphasized repeatedly that we must be good screws of the revolution. We can't think so much; focus on doing our own work well."

Chairman Chen Ke's words were brought out, so the soldiers of the reconnaissance troops naturally couldn't oppose Chairman Chen Ke's teachings. But everyone's eager thought to fight floated on their faces.

Wu Cunxiao tilted his head and asked: "Comrades don't think pathfinding is too boring and tired, do you?"

"Squad leader, I was just afraid you would think so," Li Chengdong hurriedly explained. "Which of us in the reconnaissance troops hasn't fought a dozen battles, big and small? Now we can't fight in such a critical battle; I feel stifled in my heart."

"Yeah, just pathfinding, not fighting, we don't feel at ease in our hearts either," the soldier beside him hurriedly said.

"Why wouldn't you feel at ease?" A loud voice asked with a clear tone from the side. Everyone turned their heads to look; it was the Troop Political Commissar Lu Zhengping.

"Commissar!" The soldiers saluted hurriedly. "This time we did all the work ourselves, so we don't feel at ease in our hearts."

After returning the salute, Lu Zhengping didn't speak immediately. It wasn't just the soldiers who didn't feel at ease; the Party Committee, including Lu Zhengping, didn't feel at ease either. After all, this battle wasn't ordered by Chen Ke personally. Without Chairman Chen Ke's order, the comrades always felt something was missing.

"Did everyone follow the plan, follow the usual training, and the experience accumulated in battle?" Lu Zhengping asked.

"We did it all," the soldiers looked straight at Lu Zhengping and answered firmly.

Seeing the comrades so serious, Lu Zhengping laughed: "Then that's fine. Comrades, these were all taught to us by Chairman Chen; Chairman Chen also fights battles like this. Following what Chairman Chen said is absolutely correct."

"Commissar Lu, after all, our numbers are small. We indeed did our best, but if something goes wrong, how can I face the comrades?" A scout said. Quite a few scouts had the same feeling; the more they prepared, the more suspicious places they would find. But the soldiers of the reconnaissance troops were also human. In this unfamiliar territory, everyone couldn't possibly walk every single small path on the mountain road. They had already done their best.

"Comrades, do you trust our comrades-in-arms?" Lu Zhengping asked. This question, seemingly unrelated to what the scouts were worried about, stunned the comrades.

Lu Zhengping continued: "The comrades of the troops absolutely trust you. If you say there is a road somewhere, everyone believes there will absolutely be a road there. We will indeed encounter various problems during battle, but I hope everyone puts down the burden. We must believe that the comrades of the troops can definitely overcome all difficulties and annihilate the Thirty-first Regiment. So, everyone focus on doing your own work now, finish collecting intelligence, and then hurry to rest. Don't worry, when everyone is needed to fight, I will absolutely not let comrades fall behind. When we win, we will let comrades from our reconnaissance troops rush back immediately to report the good news to Chairman Chen. Chairman Chen will definitely be happy."

Lu Zhengping's words untied the knots in the hearts of quite a few comrades. This battle was completely different from previous battles. Not only was the highest commander no longer Chairman Chen whom the comrades were convinced by, but the initiation of this battle was also decided by Zhang Yu and Lu Zhengping themselves. Although Chen Ke allowed the Anqing troops to choose for themselves, the psychological impact brought by different commanders couldn't be ignored. Chen Ke's status was recognized by all cadres and soldiers, but the status of Zhang Yu and Lu Zhengping was given by Chen Ke. After all, the base area had only been built for over a year; the so-called "seniority" hadn't formed deep-rooted ideas at all. Especially Lu Zhengping; there were plenty of people in the reconnaissance troops who enlisted at the same time as him.

When Lu Zhengping guaranteed everyone that members of the reconnaissance troops would "report the good news" to Chairman Chen, the comrades finally felt relieved. There were so many people in the reconnaissance troops; naturally, it was impossible for all to go back to "report the good news" to Chairman Chen. What the comrades cared about was that the work of the reconnaissance troops itself would receive Chairman Chen's praise. Whether it was their turn to report back personally became less important instead.

Having solved the pre-war psychological fluctuations of the reconnaissance troops, Lu Zhengping returned to the command post with the preliminarily drawn map. Zhang Yu hadn't slept much for two days; with red eyes, he gathered around the map with the comrades of the Operations Section. The landform of Yingshan County was called "three mountains sandwiching two rivers"; the whole territory was dominated by medium and low mountains, with many rivers. This also meant there were many possible road combinations.

The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, which was at an absolute disadvantage in numbers, didn't prepare to have a simple frontal battle with the Hubei New Army, but wanted to achieve victory by means of an encirclement and annihilation battle. This required as comprehensive an understanding of the terrain as possible. On this basis, they needed to possess overwhelming efficiency in the use of firepower. All of this required detailed maps for support.

Looking at the dense road signs, Zhang Yu felt a burst of irritability in his heart. Intelligence became a burden at this time; what to choose and what to discard wasn't an easy thing. Zhang Yu closed his eyes and recalled Chen Ke's command for the umpteenth time in his heart. Chen Ke's command wasn't complicated. Zhang Yu felt Chen Ke always seemed to pick a route casually, and then carried it out to the end according to this route. For Chen Ke, all this seemed to be logical. There was neither unease nor anxiety. At least Zhang Yu had never seen Chen Ke reveal unease and anxiety.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu opened his eyes. He tried hard to exclude all his other thoughts, thinking only of finding the most effective and reasonable marching route in his heart. He didn't know if this attitude of having no distracting thoughts worked, or if accumulated experience worked; anyway, Zhang Yu finally determined five routes for the siege. The Operations Section analyzed the five routes and also felt there were no problems. This analysis didn't have any special basis originally. Unless large troops tried them one by one personally, judging against the map, every route had its rationality, and one could definitely pick out a pile of faults too.

The operational plan for a five-route siege was finally determined.

The Thirty-first Regiment of the Hubei New Army didn't know their fate had already been decided on paper. At this time, they were sleeping soundly. Long-distance mountain road marching consumed physical strength very much, especially mental energy. The Thirty-first Regiment had no experience in mountain marching, let alone mountain combat experience. They were still within the Hubei boundary now. With their imagination, they absolutely couldn't imagine that the "Bandit Army" would actually besiege the Government Army within Hubei territory. The mountain wind was very cold. Along the way, one-third of the soldiers of the Thirty-first Regiment caught a cold for various reasons. Either having a fever from a cold or having sore legs and feet. This was also the reason their marching speed was extremely slow.

After dawn, the Thirty-first Regiment didn't continue to set off but continued to stay put. Mountain marching lacked reliable water sources. The higher the altitude, the more inconvenient it was to fetch water. Just collecting water for people and horses to drink consumed huge energy. The Government Army had to have the "style" of the Government Army; if enough water wasn't obtained, it meant marching "preparation" was insufficient, and the officers of the Thirty-first Regiment refused to set out. The officers also had their own difficulties. The reward money given for sending troops this time wasn't enough to begin with. If they "coerced too much," heaven knew what trouble would arise.

By the time the laborers and low-level soldiers transported enough water, it was actually almost noon. After drinking water and filling their portable bamboo tubes with water, the huge team of the Thirty-first Regiment slowly tossed about on the mountain road for a long time before finally continuing to advance towards Yingshan County.

Zhang Yu watched the actions of the Thirty-first Regiment through binoculars. He suddenly somewhat understood why Chen Ke could always make combat determinations easily, and win the planned victory every time. How could one not win fighting against such trash? The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army set off at four in the morning. The troops advanced with light packs, spending five hours walking more than forty *li* of mountain road. Originally, everyone was determined to have a storm-like mobile battle. As a result, after various troops entered the predetermined positions, the Thirty-first Regiment hadn't set off yet. Now they were still four *li* away from the "pocket" (ambush circle). With their speed, heaven knew how long it would take to enter the pocket.

Zhang Yu decided not to waste time with this group of Manchu Qing trash. He issued an order to the Operations Section: "The whole army rest."

The comrades of the Operations Section raised no objection at all. Running on the mountain road for so long, everyone was really tired. Soon, except for the security personnel, the officers and soldiers of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, including Zhang Yu, lay down and slept at the ambush location. Today the sky was clear for thousands of *li*. In a relaxed and tranquil atmosphere, neither the ambushers nor the ambushed had any murderous aura on them. The distance between them was shortening extremely slowly.

Zhang Yu didn't sleep very soundly. He woke up intermittently several times in between. Every time he woke up, Zhang Yu thought he would hear the voice of the Operations Section personnel waking him up immediately. But he didn't hear it. Fatigue soon conquered this young man. Until the last time he woke up, because of the recovery of energy, Zhang Yu suddenly felt a huge panic in his heart. Did the Operations Section all oversleep? Did they let the enemy pass? Fear drove away the remaining sleepiness cleanly. Zhang Yu leaped up from the ground; he ran hurriedly to the observation point and looked down with binoculars. He saw the Manchu Qing troops were still acting unhurriedly. Most of the team had already entered the encirclement circle, and only less than one-fifth of the troops were still outside the attack range.

"Did I not sleep at all?" Such a thought suddenly arose in Zhang Yu's mind. His repeated waking up was just him accidentally dozing off just now. Thinking of this, Zhang Yu took out his pocket watch. The hands had moved a large angle from the last time Zhang Yu looked. Zhang Yu rubbed his eyes, only then confirming that the Manchu Qing actually spent a full three hours walking less than four *li*. Moreover, looking at it now, the troops of the Thirty-first Regiment actually intended to set up camp and cook. No wonder the comrades of the Operations Section hadn't woken him up until now; Zhang Yu thoroughly understood what was going on.

"Let's attack as soon as they stop," Zhang Yu ordered.