"Dad! Soldiers are passing through!" On the road from Panjin to Andong, in a very inconspicuous village called Zhoujiatun, a door was pushed open, and a young man rushed in, shouting excitedly.

"What?" Hearing this news, the head of the household shivered in fright. He stood up from the heated kang, "Quickly hide the things in the house!"

"It's the People's Party's soldiers!" The young man was not afraid at all; instead, he continued excitedly, "Dad, let's sell the game we hunted to the People's Party."

"Have you lost your mind!" The head of the household was even more frightened by the young man's words, "Selling things to the government troops? Do you think the government troops don't know we have stuff?"

"Dad! When the People's Party killed the Mantetsu people, they said they have Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention. Buying and selling with the common people is done at fair prices. People in the village ahead have already sold a lot of things to the People's Party!" The young man actually hadn't really dealt with government troops before, he had only heard that the village ahead had sold a lot of mountain goods to the People's Party and made a good profit.

"You believe what government troops say? The Great Qing Dynasty also said it loved the people like children! How many times has our family been harmed by government troops!" The head of the household's veins almost popped out on his forehead as he earnestly instructed his son.

The young man naturally didn't accept the old man's lecture and tried to refute: "Troops have passed through here more than once or twice, and I haven't seen the People's Party take anything!"

"The People's Party took so many things from Mantetsu, would they care about our little bit? You child, you just don't understand!" The head of the household cursed, hating iron for not becoming steel!

"Then give me the few roe deer I hunted last time, I'll take them to sell!" The young man was still not convinced by his father's words.

"Fart!" The old man was furious, "What do you mean you hunted? Without the gunpowder and shot I bought, you'd hunt a fart of a roe deer!"

The father and son quarreled like this, and naturally, they parted on bad terms. However, the old man wasn't as worried in his heart as he said with his mouth. The People's Party had passed near the village many times, and not only had they not forcibly plundered anything, but they had also treated the villagers' illnesses. Although the old man had a deep-seated fear of government troops, in this heavy snow, who would be bored enough to waste energy hiding their own things?

But no one knows a son like his father. The old man was uneasy in the room for a while, suddenly remembering his son's restless nature, knowing that his son could never stay quiet for so long. When he put on his clothes and rushed into the back room where the mountain goods were stored, he indeed saw that the place where seven or eight roe deer meat and skins were originally hung was empty. Needless to say, his son must have secretly taken the things and run off to sell them to the People's Party.

"Damn it!" The old man was furious, but a moment later, a kind of panic filled his chest. That was his son after all, with his reckless temper, if the government troops robbed his things, he would definitely fight them desperately. The old man couldn't care about that much and hurriedly rushed out. It wouldn't matter if the things were robbed, but if something happened to his son, the old man wouldn't be able to live either.

Arriving not far outside the village, he indeed saw an endless long column marching in the fluttering snow. The old man had never seen an army of such scale, and this army was different from any army he had seen before. It wasn't just the flower-white clothes they wore, nor just the strange poles in their hands. All the soldiers gave the old man a feeling that in such snowy weather, there was only one thing they had to do, which was to move forward. As if nothing could stop their pace.

Awed by the momentum penetrating the entire army, the old man didn't want to get close to such an army at all. But there were a few familiar figures ahead, looking like young men from the village, including the old man's son. Those few people were surrounding several officers in flower-white clothes saying something. The old man had no choice but to rush over.

"Sir! Look how good this fur is, just buy it!" Just as the old man approached the crowd, he heard his son's loud voice shouting.

"Yes! Sir, selling this fur in the market wouldn't be at this price, this is really a cheap sale." Beside him, a young man who didn't know death from life was also chiming in.

"Fellow countryman, we'll buy this meat, but we really have no use for the skins right now. On a long journey, weight matters. Taking these skins would only be a burden for us." The officers explained very politely.

Such polite and reasonable government troops scared the old man bad. As the saying goes, when things are abnormal, there must be demons. Government troops reasoning with common people is abnormal; the government troops must be plotting something bad. Rushing over in three steps combined into two, the old man accompanied a smile and blocked the young men behind him, "Sir, we won't sell the skins, just selling the meat is fine."

After finishing speaking, the old man started to shoo the young men back into the village, "Alright, alright, don't cause trouble for the officers. Go home quickly."

"Fellow countryman! Wait!" The officer hurriedly shouted.

The old man was startled in his heart; it seemed he hadn't seen wrong, the government troops were playing hard to get.

"Fellow countryman! We haven't paid for the meat yet!" The officer's next words were even more shocking.

The few young men immediately went around the old man and excitedly took the money. There were also a few young men who didn't know death from life asking the officers to wait here, saying they would go home and bring other meat from home to sell.

The old man's son also wouldn't be left behind, glancing proudly at his old dad, he also ran home to get his own meat. The old man sighed slightly; these young people just didn't know the danger. But these government troops looked quite polite, and didn't look like the type to be secretly bad. He hoped the government troops wouldn't hurt anyone after robbing the things. This could be considered a lesson for the young people.

Until the government troops completed these meat purchases, and politely refused the fur trade. They loaded the meat onto some sleds pulled by big dogs, then pulled out strange cloth from around their necks to cover their faces. The old man thought these government troops were about to make their move. Unexpectedly, the officers actually urged the dog sleds and followed the troops forward. This business deal was actually completed.

But the old man was still unwilling to believe it; the government troops doing this was probably to deceive people. Everyone in this endless unit covered their faces with a strange cloth; if a few people suddenly jumped out and robbed everyone, who would know who did it? But the old man didn't wait for the opportunity to teach a lesson to those show-off kids including his son. The People's Party's troops just marched east into the flying snow without stopping. No one attempted to plunder the small village in this wilderness at all.

Returning home with a mix of rejoicing and unhappiness, the old man saw his son discussing with those bastard kids about going to the towns in the Panjin area to sell furs. The brats said excitedly: "The People's Party soldiers have trodden the road solid, it will be much easier for us to walk."

The old man had never seen an army with no end marching in heavy snow. With who knows how many tens of thousands of people walking past, even the thickest snow would be stepped solid, and there was absolutely no need to worry about getting lost. But the passing of troops meant fighting; heaven knows what the fighting outside had turned into. The old man blocked the door and said loudly: "Selling things this time, can only be said to be your good luck. You met good government troops, but if you go to Panjin, I won't let you go no matter what! What if you don't meet good government troops on the road? Aren't you going to your deaths!"

The young people were only excited for a moment; in this deep winter, even if there was a road to walk, the wind, snow, and low temperatures outside were not easy to endure. Seeing the old man really getting angry, the young people stopped clamoring. "Then when the People's Party government troops pass again, we'll buy things for them then."

The People's Party troops actually sincerely welcomed the masses in the villages along the road to sell food to the troops. On a long journey, weight matters; when marching exceeds a certain distance, any bit of extra weight can cause huge physical consumption. Moreover, the marching 15th Army had not completely accustomed itself to the weather in the Northeast. Needless to say anything else, most of the officers and soldiers of the 18th Army had already mastered the skill of using sleds, while the officers and soldiers of the 15th Army were just attempting to master it.

The snow in the Northeast falls thick; snow more than half a person high is a very common occurrence. In order to increase marching speed, the troops first let dog sleds go in front, followed by troops who had mastered skiing skills relatively well. The road they pressed out was then walked over by the infantry behind, and in the middle, the logistics troops' sleds performed some degree of rolling, which barely maintained a road surface that could guarantee marching speed.

The commander of the 15th Army, Weber, was from Wuhan. He joined the Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army in 1908. In terms of seniority, he was far deeper than Mu Husan, the commander of the 18th Army and concurrently the Commander of the Fourth Field Army. But just this one thing made him understand why Mu Husan could come from behind and surpass him. Just this item of marching showed how much thought and brains Mu Husan had actually used.

On the afternoon of the 24th, the troops had arrived at the designated rest point. The 18th Army and the 14th Army had built a large area of snow houses here. At this time, following the bone-piercing gale, the snow soon stopped. The wind blowing at this time was a northwest wind, so the troops could be considered to be moving with the wind. If the troops continued to advance braving the gale, it was very possible to rush to the destination at night. If they started resting now, it would delay at least a few hours.

Although he really wanted to order the troops to continue advancing, Weber consulted the guide staff officer sent by the 18th Army. The suggestion given by the staff officer was to rest immediately.

Weber was very much in favor of this suggestion in his heart, but he asked: "Why?"

"After this gale, the temperature will drop sharply. With the condition of our comrades, I'm just afraid they won't be able to withstand it," the staff officer replied.

"Will the Japanese run away?" Weber knew very well how much suffering the 15th Army had eaten in the Northeast winter. But if the campaign objective could not be completed because of a moment of slackness, the responsibility would firstly be attributed to Weber. In the Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army, pursuing responsibility was always processing the top ones first before processing the comrades below. Weber had personally participated in the Military Commission meeting that established this kind of rule.

"If the Japanese march at night in this kind of weather, that would really be the best thing. I'm just afraid that by then the Japanese army won't even have the strength to pull their rifle bolts," the staff officer said calmly. The 18th Army had done this kind of thing once, and as a result, that unit completely lost its combat effectiveness after the march.

After fully understanding the situation, 15th Army Commander Weber immediately ordered the troops to prepare for accommodation. The 18th Army staff officer's suggestion was very correct. Don't look at it being afternoon right now; by the time it got dark, the 15th Army had barely organized the accommodation conditions, and all troops had moved into the ice houses.

Listening to the wolf-howl-like sound of the wind outside, Weber couldn't help but go out personally to inspect the camp. Even though he wore extremely thick clothes, Weber also felt the cold wind rapidly extracting his body temperature. What was more terrible was that Weber didn't even feel the cold; after walking for just a while, he felt his body gradually stiffening. And the dark clouds in the sky were actually quickly driven away by the gale; by midnight, the sky had cleared. The cold moonlight sprinkled on the snow-white earth, making people feel a wave of freezing cold that penetrated the heart and lungs.

The patrol troops were no longer on one shift a night, but one shift every hour. Although inspecting the camp was Weber's habit, today he only stayed outside for an hour and a half before being forced to return to his headquarters. Touching his face with his fingers, Weber found that both his fingers and cheeks had lost their sense of touch. Although it wasn't the first time he was stunned by the bitter cold of the Northeast, Weber still felt some shock at the accurate prediction of the 18th Army staff officer.

Before dawn every day is the coldest time; a clear night leads to faster loss of surface temperature. The geography knowledge Chen Ke learned from junior high school had also completely spread to the People's Party base areas, especially within the Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army. Even so, in the bitter cold before dawn, the 15th Army still got up and ate breakfast, then the troops stepped onto the white wilderness dyed slightly red by the dawn light and continued to advance towards the destination.

At 2:00 PM on the 25th, with the support of the 18th Army's reconnaissance troops, the Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army's 15th Army finally occupied the railway from Benxihu to Andong. Weber ordered the troops to move north along the railway. According to intelligence, the Japanese 7th Division was less than twenty kilometers ahead. In the snow, dog sleds are the most effective tool for action. Not long after marching, the Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army caught two batches of Japanese scouts. The gale on a sunny day after snow was like a knife cut; these Japanese scouts were trembling all over from the cold and couldn't run at all. Just by stripping off their upper jackets and walking them in the snow for two minutes, these Japanese devils started howling and surrendering. The guys who didn't answer honestly were stripped until only their underpants remained and continued to be walked in the snow, while the honest guys provided the recent situation of the 7th Division.

The 7th Division simply didn't expect the Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army to be able to circle around from behind; now they hadn't even set up defensive positions. The gale weather that started last night had made the entire 7th Division turtle up inside their cold camp, unable to move, and the troops' fighting will was low.

The staff department of the 15th Army all looked at Weber. Although the situation of the 15th Army was also miserable, seeing the uniforms of the Japanese scouts with their own eyes, the commanders of the 15th Army all believed that compared to the Japanese army, the 15th Army was definitely far superior to them. If they could launch a surprise attack on the Japanese army, there was a great chance to achieve great battle results.

The temporary headquarters was in a temporary tent; saying it was a tent, actually, it leaked wind everywhere. Weber's military hood covered his head, and his expression couldn't be seen clearly for a moment. The commander of the 1st Division said: "Commander, if you are worried, let our division hit them and try."

After experiencing the long-distance snow march, Weber knew very well how difficult it was to launch an attack in accumulated snow that was at least knee-deep. Once the 1st Division suffered a blow from the enemy's superior forces, the troops behind could not effectively support them. Letting the 1st Division launch a probing attack was no different from letting the 1st Division fight independently. Thinking over and over again, Weber finally succumbed to the temptation of launching a surprise attack to gain war merits.

"Troops attack the enemy's 7th Division!" Weber ordered.