The second squad returned to the wine station, and Liu Jianqiang gave Hu Yi a detailed report of the new situation they had encountered. From then on, they would not be able to conduct secret shootings at night.
This is how fighting works on the battlefield, you move back and forth, just like playing chess.
The news that Xiaodou brought was that it was unknown how long they would have to wait, as the construction of the Luoye Village artillery tower had already exceeded halfway, and it seemed that they had no choice but to take action. Hu Yi did not sleep well that night because of this.
At dawn in the morning, Hu Yi announced a temporary order: all rotation tasks during the day were cancelled, and the entire platoon was to rest except for the sentry posts.
The soldiers, who had been exhausted from farming and building houses all day, were so happy that they were bubbling with joy. Some jumped into the river to enjoy the coolness, while others lay in the house and fell into a deep sleep.
It was clear from the platoon leader's intention to take action at night, so Shi Cheng, Liu Jianqiang and Ma Liang all went to Hu Yi to inquire about the situation. Only Luo Fugui, the careless bear, continued to hibernate.
Liu Jianqiang also did not sleep well that night. What worried him all day was not the progress of the artillery tower, but the development and growth of his second shift. He had his eyes on the laborers who were building the artillery tower.
So he proposed a bold idea to Hu Yi: since the enemy was doing this, could they take the opportunity to rescue their fellow countrymen who were suffering? This would be a temporary solution as well as a fundamental solution.
Hu Yi’s answer was: We’ll see how the situation develops when the time comes.
…
The mountains are high, the moon is small, and the night breeze is blowing. This is a good time to find something to do.
An east-west path, with a mountain pass on the east and high mountains on both sides.
There was a squad of devils and a company of puppet soldiers. A dozen puppet soldiers were mixed in with more than a hundred civilians, busy around the bonfires. If they just wanted to harass, this battle would be easy to fight. However, Hu Yi stared at the mountain pass and observed that he had not started to deploy yet, because he was moved by Liu Jianqiang's idea, but he had not shown it.
If they could use firepower to block the rear of the construction site, the laborers would have a chance to run into the mountains. However, there were many bonfires lit outside, and it would be very risky to run out of the area illuminated by the fire. Is it worth it? Create an opportunity and let them decide their own fate.
"The machine gun should be behind the construction site. The first shift will be responsible for suppressing the machine gun. Find the position yourself and pay attention to the spacing." Hu Yi finally began to give orders.
"Yes." Shi Cheng led a group of people and ran down the hill into the darkness.
"Squad two, go down and follow the path to the mountain pass. Hide until you are outside the range of the campfire light. Be ready to pick up anyone who escapes. Do not enter the range of the fire."
Liu Jianqiang and his men quietly went down the hillside.
"Ma Liang."
"have."
"Go to the top of the opposite hill. The first shot will be fired by you, squad three. Once you attract the first wave of fire, your mission is complete. What to do next will depend on the situation."
"Understood." Ma Liang led the third squad down the slope.
Hu Yi took off his rifle and handed it to Wu Shitou behind him, then handed a bullet box to the little girl: "After Ma Liang's gunshot, you will be responsible for taking care of the puppet soldiers mixed in the crowd. Don't get too close to me. I will shoot as many as I can. If I can't, forget it."
The little girl didn't expect that she would also be assigned a task. She turned around and ran away excitedly, and Wu Shitou disappeared with his rifle on his back.
"Li Xiang, Xu Xiao is for you. Move a little to my left and wait for my order."
Upon hearing this, Li Xiang and Xu Xiao moved a distance to the east, more than 20 meters away from Hu Yi's position, and hid behind the top of the mountain, looking towards the mountain pass.
Luo Fugui put the machine gun away, then crawled one meter to the side, leaving a shooting position. As soon as he saw Boss Hu's posture, he knew that he had become the deputy shooter, and he was eager to have some free time.
As for how the fight would turn out, it didn't matter. At most, it would be a training exercise, and letting the new recruits in the ninth platoon feel the atmosphere of battle would be a gain. If the ammunition consumption was not counted, it would be a profit. Hu Yi lay down behind the machine gun and pulled the bolt.
Shi Cheng led the first squad along the top of the mountain on the north side of the road to the east, and stopped after about fifty meters away from the ninth squad's position, and dispersed to wait. The soldiers of the first squad were relatively calm. They had fought three fierce battles with the ninth squad, and they had confidence in the firepower group of the ninth squad. Now they had just begun to learn to be calm.
Liu Jianqiang led the second squad along the path and crawled towards the mountain pass. They stopped only when they were about 50 meters away from the bonfire. They could clearly hear the shouts of the puppet army supervisors and clearly see the busy crowd. Liu Jianqiang set the distance to about 50 meters because he habitually referred to the distance of grenade throwing. Only at this distance can he have the ability to fight back, and he feels safe with the ability to fight back. In fact, he wanted to move forward a little further, but considering Hu Yi's words "absolutely not allowed to enter the range of the fire", he stopped here.
Five new recruits followed the squad leader and quietly crawled, sweating with nervousness. They had been shot several times, but this was their first time to participate in a real battle. The platoon leader only gave the second squad a mission to provide support. Was it necessary to be so close? After all, there were more than a hundred Japanese puppet troops, and after all, we were only a platoon. Although we could run away at any time after dark... it was a bit risky, wasn't it
Ma Liang led five soldiers to the top of the southern hill and began to run eastward along the hilltop. The new soldier behind him looked at the fire at the eastern pass and asked breathlessly: "Squad leader, we are in range. I think we are almost there, right?"
"There's no need to be afraid. They can't climb up, so it doesn't matter if we're closer. It's okay even if we run over their heads. If something happens, we can just retreat south. Don't you agree? At least we have to make sure that all the enemies behind the artillery tower can be taken care of by us." Ma Liang whispered to calm his nervous men as he ran.
The random gunshots at night for many days made the Japanese and puppet troops believe that it was the guerrillas who did it. However, after using this despicable method last night, there were no gunshots all night. It seems that they can rest easy from now on.
Bang—gunshots rang out on the southern hilltop, followed by two more bangs from Mauser pistols. It was impossible to see where the bullets flew to, and it was unknown whether anyone was hit, but in an instant, everyone fell to the ground. Again
The Japanese soldiers at the farthest east quickly moved away from the firelight and entered the shooting position in the dark. They set up their machine guns and steadied their Type 38 rifles. In three or four seconds, they began to organize firepower to shoot at the location where the gunfire came from. Most of the puppet soldiers were located behind the artillery tower. After many days of training, their reaction speed had greatly improved. They rolled, flipped, jumped, and looked like real soldiers. They hid in the nearest concealed position and began to fire back after the Japanese soldiers fired a round.
Bullets whizzed continuously, and there were strange noises all around. The five new recruits from the third squad hunched over the slope, not daring to open their eyes.
"The bullet can't turn, don't stay here, move to the west, and don't stretch your head to look down." Ma Liang crouched down, kicking the soldiers around him while shouting.
At the first squad position, Shi Cheng saw that the flames from the Type 99 light machine guns in the east began to flash continuously, clearly distinguishing them from the flames from the rifles, so he called out to those nearby: "Get to work!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the eight scattered rifles started firing, and without thinking twice, they aimed at the flames and started shooting.
A puppet soldier shouted, "There are also some in the north!" At this time, the Type 99 light machine gun had been silenced, and the Japanese machine gunner and assistant gunner were busy retreating into the bunker to avoid the stray bullets flying nearby.
A group of puppet soldiers and Japanese devils turned their guns around and fired back, regardless of the fact that the rifles on the northern hill seemed to have stopped firing.
Suddenly, the machine guns rang out, accompanied by a distinct Czech howl, and a barrage of bullets arrogantly poured into the group of rifle flames. In the exaggeratedly swaying light of the campfire, one could vaguely see the broken soil and ash jumping up continuously on the ground, separating an elegant bullet line, like a bunch of strange flowers. Wherever they passed, the puppet soldiers fled in panic, their souls were scattered, or they stared with their eyes wide open and forgot to crawl.
The Type 99 light machine gun was extended again in the darkness, turned around, and fired back at the Czech position where the flames had just been extinguished. The gun fired violently, and large balls of flame flashed the gnashing expressions of the two Japanese shooters.
Shi Cheng leaned forward again and shouted, "Two shots!"
Bang, bang, bang... The soldiers of the first squad fired a row of shots at the flames of the Japanese machine gun. There was a loud noise of bolts being pulled, bang, bang... The second row of shots sounded again, and then they all shrank back in a wretched manner. At this time, the Japanese Type 99 light machine gun was silent again.
At the foot of the mountain pass, hundreds of rifles were firing in a mess, some heading south, some heading north. A few dozen meters further west, civilians were crouching in fear near the artillery tower, with their heads in their hands and their buttocks sticking out, while a dozen puppet soldiers were hiding and crawling.
Bullets whistled chaotically in the dark night. Hu Yi loaded the second magazine and shouted to the left: "Li Xiang, can you see the range of the rifle group? Shoot eight rounds for me! Shoot eight rounds!"
Because Li Xiang's grenade launcher was still not accurate, Hu Yi used it as suppressive fire. It did not require a fixed point, just rapid fire.
He only brought twelve grenades this time. In order to meet Hu Yi's request, Li Xiang had placed the grenades around him in advance. He held up the grenade launcher, made a rough estimate, loaded the first one himself, and fired it without hesitation.
Boom—the flash of the explosion was particularly clear at night.
Without caring about anything else, he slightly adjusted his angle and posture, froze his body, clenched the grenade launcher with his left hand, and pulled the firing rope with his right hand, and shouted to Xu Xiao beside him: "Load!"
Bang—"Pretend quickly" Bang—"Pretend when it rings!" Bang...
Seven grenades were fired at very short intervals, and explosions began to sound continuously at the mountain pass. There was no target, but just blind bombardment in a general range, and the explosions spread out in a mess.
The area around the hiding place of most puppet troops was filled with gunpowder smoke, shaking the earth and the sky. The rubble thrown up by the explosions fell like rain. They felt that it was more like artillery fire, and they were stunned! Some cried and some shouted, crawling on the ground like dogs in the flash of explosions. Except for a squad of devils in the back who continued to shoot, the puppet troops temporarily lost their combat effectiveness, as if they had become a large number of trembling corpses.
The Czech machine guns started firing again, and the sickle-like trajectory reappeared. They were so arrogant that they were too lazy to even fire single shots!
This scene shocked not only the puppet soldiers, but also the new recruits of the second and third squads. For them, this was the first real battle after joining the Ninth Platoon, and they were dumbfounded. People say that the Ninth Platoon is fierce, and now they really believe it. For many days, because they had no guns, because they had to farm and build houses all day, and were forced to go to the river to irrigate water, all the pessimism they had developed was swept away, replaced by a strong sense of solidity, which made them more eager to fight!
Liu Jianqiang anxiously looked at the civilians lying on the ground, not daring to move. Why didn't they get up? He couldn't help but yell at them, "Run! Run! Come here..."
A puppet soldier mixed in the crowd pointed his gun towards the dark direction where the shouting came from. Suddenly, his body trembled violently, and he fell backwards, with blood gushing out from the center of his chest.
Finally, one of the civilians got up, crouched down and started rushing westward.
The chain reaction affected others, and the brave ones began to get up and run westward desperately.
Several puppet soldiers had already died, and the rest shouted in panic: "They are trying to run!... Stop right there! If you run again, I will shoot you!..."
With a bang, another puppet soldier was silent, and the others panicked and lay down again. At this time, the Type 99 light machine gun in the darkness behind them fired, and instead of continuing to attack the top of the mountain, they began to harvest the civilians who stood up in the firelight.
One after another, ragged figures fell beside the campfire, and waves of blood mist were particularly conspicuous in the firelight. The courage of the civilians disappeared in an instant, and no one dared to get up. They just lay around the artillery tower, staring blankly at the dozen or so people who tried to run away falling in a pool of blood, without any reaction.
Even though the Czech machine guns on the mountain started roaring again, the rifles began to suppress again, the Type 99 rifles stopped moving again, six more grenades flew into the night sky, and one of the puppet soldiers who was monitoring them died, none of the civilians stood up and tried to escape. They were just like the puppet soldiers in the explosion flash behind them, just wanting to live. No matter how loudly someone in the darkness in the west shouted at them, no one was willing to stand up again, as if they had become a group of numb shells without souls...