Illuminated by the first flare, the Japanese could see a ditch in the field, but the line of sight was flat after all, and they could not be sure how many people were hiding in the ditch. Shooting had no effect, so they used grenade launchers to smash it without hesitation.
The explosions stopped, the gunshots stopped, and all three directions became quiet. The dark Ayato Village and its surroundings suddenly fell into deathly silence.
In the darkness, a voice muttered, "This... Boss Hu... can it be safe?"
The words "shut up" were spoken in a delicate and aggressive voice.
Ma Liang stared blankly into the darkness and felt someone kick him on the leg. He turned around and saw two figures standing behind him, one tall and the other thin.
"What does he want?" It was Wu Yan who spoke.
"The squad leader said... we need to reduce the risks for the excavation work to come."
"Getting beaten can reduce the risk? Is he just tired of living again?" This time it was Gao Yidao who spoke.
"The squad leader said... we are not afraid of guns when digging trenches, but grenade launchers are a threat. He said these Japanese are a standard squadron, they should have six grenade launchers, and there should be no more than 120 grenades. He wants to use them until the Japanese are reluctant to fight... Let me count here."
Gao Yidao was speechless, thinking to himself: So you can count when you're in battle? This shameless guy is really smart. I have to learn this trick...
Wu Yan was speechless, thinking to himself: How many times of bombardment and how many lives must have been lost to gain this combat experience? I have learned a lot...
Shaking his head in the pitch-black trench, he could hear the sound of falling sand. The fierce grenade coverage gave Hu Yi a long-lost feeling. This feeling was both annoying and exciting, a love-hate relationship. However, the 6mm caliber of the grenade launcher was too small, not as good as the feeling of mortars and artillery.
He pulled the machine gun from his arms, stood up again, and stuck his head out in the middle of the field. It was pitch black and silent. He mounted the machine gun, pulled the bolt handle, aimed at the darkness, and pulled the trigger.
The silence was instantly shattered, the machine gun was jumping wildly, the large bursts of light in front of the muzzle continuously pierced the narrow eyes behind the gun, a row of scarlet trajectories slowly unfolded, arrogantly passed through the dark field, madly biting the earth wall and brick joints, and quickly and evenly sprayed from one side to the other.
The three Type 99 light machine guns then fired in a staggered pattern, firing wildly in retaliation at the field.
Immediately afterwards, several muffled noises were heard from the village, and six explosions occurred alternately near the Czech shooting position, and the scene was noisy again.
"I'm going back." Wu Yan's figure disappeared into the darkness after saying this. He didn't intend to persuade him anymore. Hu Yi's approach inspired Wu Yan. There are many ways to achieve the goal, which can be the consumption of soldiers, the consumption of energy, and the consumption of ammunition and supplies. With such a method, this Japanese squadron far away from the county will sooner or later become timid and stretched. I don't believe they can always be high-spirited. Gao Yidao wants to talk nonsense, so let him talk nonsense. I hope the loss of the second company will not be too great. I hope so.
Now, Gao Yidao finally understood why Hu Yi was extorting bullets from him. Today, he finally realized that Hu Yi relied on bullets for everything. He was a bullet-eating disaster. There was absolutely no such machine gunner in the Eighth Route Army. He definitely didn't have the courage to waste ammunition like this. It was too wasteful, but... there was nothing he could do.
After several rounds, the Japanese grenade launchers stopped firing, and there was only one machine gun left to fight back, along with sporadic rifle fire. If you fire a burst of bullets, I will fire a burst of bullets back at you. It seemed that they realized that the Eighth Route Army was deliberately making trouble.
After the gunshots, a voice shouted in the darkness of the field: "Mule."
"Uh... are you calling me?" Luo Fugui asked the person beside him in a daze.
Liu Jianqiang had already stood up with a shovel in his hand: "Stop talking nonsense and get back to work."
All five magazines were empty, and Hu Yi sat in the trench, groping in the dark to reload the magazines. There was a rustling sound in the trench, and three figures crouched over and approached.
"Boss Hu, are you... okay?"
"Remember the place where the puppet army placed the sandbags yesterday?"
"Um."
"Start digging from the right side of the trench now, towards where the sandbags are. Don't keep digging. Stop and tell me when you're 20 meters away."
"Yes."
Luo Fugui and the other two turned around and went into the darkness to start working again. At this time, the rustling sound was heard again in the trench. After a while, a big man with a crouched back came to Hu Yi, looked at Hu Yi intently, and then sat down in the darkness of the trench.
"How long will it take?" Gao Yidao asked.
"soon."
Hu Yi's answer made Gao Yidao a little puzzled. This place was still about seventy meters away from the village. Although Luo Fugui and the other three were working very fast, Gao Yidao was afraid that it would be dawn by the time they finished digging the seventy meters.
Hu Yi stuffed a full magazine into his pocket, then took out another empty one to fill. He guessed Gao Yidao's silence was because he was worried about something, so he continued, "I won't let them dig to the edge of the village, because they will be hit by the Japanese grenades sooner or later. From our current position, we only need to dig 20 meters forward. It won't take long."
"What? You expect me to crawl over the remaining fifty meters? The lives of your squad nine are valuable, but the lives of our second company are not? You..."
"You don't have to climb fifty meters, just twenty meters. Along that ditch, there is a sandbag fortification twenty meters ahead, which can hide a squad. It can be your temporary cover position. From there, it is only twenty meters away from the village. It should not be a big problem for you, Gao Yidao, in such a dark day, right?"
"Hu, stop talking nonsense. At least you have to dig to the location of the sandbag for me."
"It's you who's going to be attacked, not me. I only have so much. If you're not afraid of being hit by grenades, then let your Second Company dig it out by themselves. Don't expect me to let my brothers take this risk."
"Damn you... believe me or not..."
"I don't believe it." Hu Yi threw down the machine gun magazine in his hand on the spot, staring quietly at Gao Yidao's face in the dark, facing the threat calmly.
In the darkness of the trench, neither of the two men could see each other clearly, but they were both looking at each other, looking hard, wishing they could stare the other to death.
It was already past midnight, and Luo Fugui and his two companions were about to complete their excavation work, but the sound of their shovels and pickaxes forced the Japanese to fire a second flare. This time, they were hastily ordered to quell the riot, and did not bring flares with them. Only one of the grenade launcher's ammunition handlers brought three flares with him, so they had to use them at their discretion.
They found a ditch extending about 20 meters from one side of the middle trench, so they fired threatening shots again and fired a few grenades at the same time to deter the Eighth Route Army from this futile act. It would be dawn in more than three hours, and they were still 50 meters away. If they were closer, they would use grenades to take care of them. I don't understand what the Eighth Route Army is thinking. They have to come over here to die? Do they want to break into the village? If we delay until dawn, I want to see how you can run back.
A black shadow like a bear tiredly climbed out of the trench and lay down in the shallow pit behind Ma Liang, muttering: "Damn it, this is too scary. Who made this grenade launcher? I'm going to dig up his ancestral grave... I don't want to celebrate the New Year anymore, this is so scary..."
Then two more people climbed up and also fell into the shallow pit, gasping for breath.
A figure came up last, holding a machine gun, and whispered, "Girl."
"Fox, I'm here."
"Yes. Ma Liang continues to observe, and the others should pack up their belongings and rest first."
"Brother, don't we need to cover the Second Company?"
"Without any cover, all we can hit is the back of the Second Company."
At the end of the trench, in the darkness of the woods, the Second Company had assembled. A tall figure stood in front of the team, giving orders in a low voice.
"The ten of you follow me closely and make sure the grenades are ready. The first platoon will follow and provide cover in the middle trench. When we get close to the village, you will be the second batch. The second platoon will wait in the trench at the back and prepare to take over the position of the first platoon. No one is allowed to make any noise, or I will not let you off until I become a ghost. Do you understand?"
A chorus of low voices said, "Understood."
"Let's go now." The tall figure turned around after saying this and disappeared into the darkness...