The battle did not begin with gunfire, but with a scream from a puppet soldier. He looked up blankly, watching one grenade after another tumbling and flying in the azure sky. In his pupils that were extremely dilated with horror, time almost froze, and he felt that the grenades seemed to be flying very high, very slowly, and very clearly, spinning like small black windmills, with graceful flying arcs drawing out trails of light smoke.
More than twenty grenades were like a hail of iron. Some smashed into the bushes and disappeared, some smashed into the embers of the campfire, some smashed next to the people who were resting, and some even smashed on the top of their heads, knocking them down on the spot. Some fell on the hard ground, continued to jump, and continued to roll. Smoke continued to come out of the wooden handles, and the rolling formed strange patterns.
The tips of the grass trembled violently in the air waves. Looking down, shock waves spread rapidly in the green like ripples, overlapping and interlacing, like a small puddle in the rain, stirring up one ring after another.
Before the sand had completely fallen, the blade rushed into the smoke. Although the bayonet skills of the 9th Company were very poor, the tip of the blade was Tian Sanqi. His charging back seemed to spread the plague. The soldiers in the second row followed behind him and were pulled into sharp blades by this plague god. They also rushed out with a fierce and resolute momentum! What's more, almost no enemy in the smoke could stand, and they still didn't understand what was happening. Their souls had already left their bodies.
Blood, and piercing; struggles and wailing, tearing, bayonets bent, and gunshots were heard. The killers and the slaughtered were all hysterical in the smoke!
…
The bloody soldiers of the Second Platoon felt that time was very long, as if they had used up all their life's energy. In fact, the battle of the Second Platoon ended unusually quickly. The smoke had just dissipated and the blood that had slid off the bayonet was still oozing to the ground before it became sticky.
Gunshots began to be heard on the left wing and then on the right wing. Enemies on both sides were rushing over, but were blocked by Ma Liang and Chen Chong, and began to exchange medium and long-range fire in a chaotic manner.
Tian Sanqi was also half covered in blood. He had stabbed the most enemies, but he was not covered in blood like some of the embarrassed soldiers. He held a rifle with a deformed bloody bayonet and shouted angrily at some soldiers who were staring at the bloody ground in a daze: "Squad one, go north, squad two, go south, squad three, clean up the battlefield now! Hurry! This is not the end!"
On the right wing, Chen Chong's platoon was conducting free firing. The first enemies to arrive from the south were similar in composition to those faced by the second platoon, also a platoon-sized puppet army with three or four Japanese soldiers added. They were stopped by Chen Chong's platoon more than 400 meters away from the second platoon's position. In a hurry, they could only fire at Chen Chong's platoon and were unable to do anything. The subsequent enemies had not arrived yet.
Hu Yi did not participate in the shooting, but kept observing with a telescope. The second row fired too fast; the first row on the left wing was still in ideal condition, and the situation was similar to that here with Chen Chong; this raid went more smoothly than expected before the war, it was simply perfect.
Chen Chong fired away his first row of bullets, then lowered his body to load the second clip: "Captain, how long are we going to stay here?"
"Twenty minutes, but at the moment it looks like... half an hour is fine."
A soldier came running over, blood all over his body. He was from the second platoon and reported the battle report of the second platoon behind Hu Yi, who was observing with binoculars: "Four killed, no seriously injured. The platoon leader asked, should the second platoon continue to stay and establish a position, or retreat a distance?"
"After the cleanup, withdraw and stay together with the first row. Are there any survivors?"
"have."
This made Hu Yi put down the telescope immediately and turned around: "Have you found out the enemy's troop strength?"
"The size of the puppet army is evenly divided on the four sides of Shili Dang. There are two squads of Japanese infantry in total, most of which have been temporarily incorporated into the puppet army. In addition, there is a cavalry squadron, half in the north and half in the south of Shili Dang."
Hu Yi always had no expression, but the soldiers of the 9th Company could still read the company commander's expression. The soldiers of the second row who were reporting to the company commander felt that the company commander was getting serious, and finally so serious that he frowned, for some unknown reason.
Chen Chong, who had aimed for a long time and fired a shot fiercely, turned his head because Hu Yi suddenly stopped talking to the soldier and said, "Captain, what's wrong?"
Hu Yi still didn't speak. He raised his frowning brows and looked north, then turned his head and looked south with a heavy heart. Under the blue sky, there was a distant horizon on all sides. Suddenly, he shouted, "Retreat! Retreat to the west! Go and inform the whole company to retreat! Retreat now!"
The voice was so loud that all the soldiers in Chen Chong's platoon heard it. The shooting on the position stopped abruptly. They withdrew their rifles, lowered their bodies, and looked at the company commander in confusion.
…
The sun was rising higher, almost to the zenith, so dazzling that one could not raise their heads. There was no wind, and not a single cloud in the sky.
The ground was hot and the grass was not tall, drooping under the scorching sun. A locust was attached to the back of a grass leaf, flapping its wings noisily, and then it stopped making any sound. Then it jumped away in panic. Then military shoes ran by, scraping the grass leaves, and pairs of gray leggings, either stained with blood or covered with dust, trampled the grass hurriedly again and again.
The Ninth Company was stretched out in a disorganized manner in the vast green wilderness, so tired that they did not seem to be running, yet they were clearly running. Their military uniforms had long been soaked by sweat and turned a dark color, sticking to their spines with clear dirty wrinkles, accompanied by heavy breathing and the sound of empty water bottles as they ran.
Wang Xiaosan, who was out of breath, kept looking back: "Why do we have to run so hard? Even if there were more puppet troops, we wouldn't have to run like this, right?"
Luo Fugui was carrying all of Xiao Hongying's belongings on his back, and he was already panting heavily: "Boss Hu said to run away, this is definitely not going to end well! Whatever you want!"
Then it was Xiao Hongying who was out of breath: "The fox said... huh... he was afraid of the cavalry."
"Cavalry? Are cavalry very powerful?" Someone asked this question, but no one could answer it. No one had ever seen one, so a soldier couldn't help but look back at Tang Dagou. Unfortunately, although Tang Dagou had a lot of combat experience, he had never seen what the Japanese cavalry looked like. He continued to run hard with his face covered in sweat, without even looking up. He had never been so restrained before.
Hu Yi ran at the end of the team, looking back again and again with worry. Unfortunately, Hu Yi not only learned cavalry knowledge in the military academy, but also saw the Japanese cavalry in battle.
Cavalry, this ancient and powerful military unit, had already declined, but on this battlefield, it was still rampant. Some people thought that under machine guns, how could cavalry still ride and kill? People who had never seen the Japanese cavalry said so.
In fact, the Japanese cavalry rarely fought on horseback. There were only four possibilities for fighting on horseback: 1. Cavalry against cavalry; 2. Rapid flank assault under limited conditions in field battles; 3. Chasing down defeated soldiers; 4. Seeking death.
The Japanese cavalry spent most of their time fighting on foot! No matter how large the scale, the most basic unit of the Japanese cavalry must be a group of four horses. Before entering the battle, three people in each group dismounted, and one person led the horse to follow behind; they were more responsible for professional reconnaissance, rapid search, long-range pursuit, interception, outflanking, reinforcement, and security patrols; it is not to say that the Japanese cavalry did not have the ability to fight tough battles and positional warfare. The cavalry not only had war horses, but also pack horses with machine guns and baggage. They did not fight tough battles because the Japanese were reluctant to do so. The cavalry was too expensive. Both equipment and personnel were luxury goods.
At this moment, Hu Yi finally understood why the Qiufeng guerrillas did not dare to run out of Shilidang easily. They must have been afraid of being killed by the Japanese cavalry!
At this moment, there is a tall warhorse galloping freely on the wasteland under the scorching sun. Chinese people call it an "Oriental horse". In fact, the bloodline of this warhorse has nothing to do with the Japanese. It is a hybrid of a Norman horse and a purebred horse from France, and should be called an "Anglo-Norman horse".
The Japanese soldiers riding on horses had the butt curtains fluttering behind their military caps, their water bags and saddle bags were bulging, they were wearing Shogo military shoes in the stirrups, they were wearing cowhide leggings, a "Type 32 Cavalry Sword" was hung on the side of the saddle, a "Type 44 Canvas Bullet Belt" was wrapped around his waist with two grenades attached to it, and another leather ammunition bag, which was different from the infantry's, as it was not hung around the waist but slung across the chest; a "Type 26 Revolver" was equipped on the side of his waist, a Type 10 signal pistol was kept in his waist bag, a Type 44 carbine was slung across his back, and a telescope box was slung across his body. How could he not be arrogant!
Gradually, three more horses came running behind this warhorse; this group was just one of many cavalry groups searching and pursuing westward at intervals...