Hu Yi lay on the top of the mountain, carefully observing the terrain around the artillery tower. Gao Yidao lay beside him and explained the situation to Hu Yi.
"Each squad of the Japanese and puppet troops should have less than 30 people. They have two machine guns, one Type 99 machine gun and the other Czech machine gun."
"Are you sure they are two machine guns?" Hu Yi asked while observing.
"I sent a soldier to that area last night to fire a cold shot. The firepower test results should be correct."
"Where is the nearest reinforcement? How far away is it?"
"The only reinforcements that can come here are from Meixian County, which is thirty miles away. It will probably take an hour for them to arrive."
Hu Yi thought about it and said, "It won't take that long."
Gao Yidao was not stupid enough to have personal feelings when it came to the battle plan, so Hu Yi's words puzzled him a little, but he did not sneer at him. Instead, he asked in a serious tone, "Why?"
"The road below is wide and rutted. If reinforcements are coming from the county, they will definitely be by motorcycle or car, and the time will be much shorter. Thirty miles, I estimate that the reinforcements should arrive in half an hour."
This bastard is surprisingly so meticulous. Gao Yidao scratched the back of his head. Half an hour, damn it. It seems I have to revise the plan and fight faster.
Hu Yi then turned his head to look at Gao Yidao who was looking down to reconsider his plan, and added: "Also, I have to tell you that my machine gun only has two magazines. This battle is risky, and I won't find anyone to be my ammunition carrier."
Hu Yi's words made Gao Yidao feel very unhappy: "Hu, what's the point of saying so many useless things? Are you afraid of death and want me to back down? I tell you, we have to attack this turret today!"
Hu Yi was too lazy to argue with Gao Yidao and went straight to the point: "Then let's talk about the plan."
Gao Yidao casually broke off a dead branch beside him, then retreated down the hill and found a flat place, and drew a simple sketch on the ground. Hu Yi also followed him down and watched from the side.
"The plan consists of three steps. First, my Second Company and your Ninth Squad will simultaneously approach from the west and come within 300 meters of the artillery tower. Your Ninth Squad will stop here and prepare for cover and suppression. Then my Second Company will continue to move forward until it reaches a position where it can launch a charge. If the Second Company is discovered by the enemy while it is approaching, it will become a tough battle. The Ninth Squad will immediately start suppressing fire, and the Second Company will charge directly."
Hu Yi nodded. If this was the case, the Second Company would be in trouble. But there was nothing they could do. They had to go ahead because they were in the front and would still be beaten even if they ran back. Gao Yidao saw that Hu Yi understood and continued to talk about the plan.
"If the Second Company successfully reaches the concealed position without being discovered by the enemy, then proceed to the second step. The Second Company will hide and wait on the spot, while you, the Ninth Squad, will leave the western cover position and detour to the north to establish a firing position on the north side of the artillery tower. You can decide how far you want to move, but it must be an effective firing range. If you, the Ninth Squad, are discovered by the enemy during the detour, then you will stop on the spot, fire back, and draw fire, and then the Second Company will charge."
Hu Yi nodded again. If this was the case, Class 9 would be in trouble. However, the chances were low. After all, Class 9 had few people and was far away, so the possibility of being discovered was very small.
"If the Second Company and the Ninth Squad can successfully reach their positions, then we will proceed to the last step. The Ninth Squad will open fire first on the north side to draw the firepower from the artillery tower to your north. Then the Second Company will suddenly charge from the west and fight directly under the artillery tower. As long as we can get the Second Company to get there, you, the 'friendly army', won't have to worry about what happens next."
Gao Yidao finished explaining the plan, threw away the dead branch, and stood up: "Hu, this is the plan. If you have any farts, just do it now, don't wait until the critical moment to disgust me."
Gao Yidao's plan was detailed and highly feasible. What was particularly valuable was that Gao Yidao had made preparations for every step and considered the worst-case scenario. So Hu Yi's answer was simple: "No shit! I'm going to sleep now."
A crescent moon hangs high in the starry sky. On one side are vague mountains, and on the other is a pitch-black plain, connected from east to west by a barely discernible dirt road. A dark blockhouse stands alone by the road, with dim lights emanating from a few shooting holes.
Twenty-six figures, like a stream of water, slid silently down the western slope, then gathered into a pool and slowly soaked the blockhouse.
About 400 meters away, Hu Yi waved his hand, and Xiao Hongying, Luo Fugui and Wu Shitou stopped quietly, lying on the slope and looking forward, because Hu Yi did not allow them to participate in the battle.
After crouching down and advancing to a distance of two or three hundred meters, Gao Yidao waved his hand, and Hu Yi, Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang quietly stopped, each found a hidden position, lay down, set up their guns, and aimed at the light coming from the artillery tower.
Crawling forward to a distance of 100 meters, under the moonlight, they could barely make out the dark firing holes on the turret. There was no grass on the ground in front. The second company was in place, and the first step was completed.
Hu Yi removed the butt of the machine gun from his shoulder, climbed up again, crouched down and patted Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang on the shoulders, then detoured to the north side of the turret. Although there was a moon, the vision of the sentry on the top of the turret was still severely limited, and the second step was completed.
Hu Yi led Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang and quietly crawled on the ground. For safety, Hu Yi did not dare to get too close, but he did not intend to fire blanks from a distance, so he kept moving forward until he was within 200 meters of the north side of the artillery tower, then stopped, crawled into a shallow pit, and quietly set up the machine gun. Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang followed Hu Yi's instructions during the day and hid 30 to 40 meters away from Hu Yi's position.
Click—the watch case jumped lightly, and the crystal dial was shimmering with cold moonlight. It was 1:20 in the morning.
Hu Yi closed his pocket watch, put it away, took out a grenade, pulled out the safety pin, smashed it on the ground, and threw it out.
boom-
The grenade exploded more than a hundred meters away from the north side of the artillery tower. In the quiet night, in the empty surroundings, the sound was unexpectedly loud, like thunder, which shocked everyone inside and outside the artillery tower. The enemy on guard was so frightened that he fell to the ground.
Hu Yi slowly took out the second grenade, detonated the fuse and threw it out, and then threw the third one.
Boom—Boom—
What does the firepower group do? It is both fire suppression and fire attraction. Especially in this battle, the enemy's attention must be fully attracted so that the second company responsible for the assault can be more carefree. How the ninth squad should fight is all arranged by Hu Yi himself. Gao Yidao doesn't know and can't control it. Anyway, it's enough to attract the enemy's attention.
The inexplicable explosion mobilized all the enemies in the artillery tower. Even Gao Yidao and Erlian who were hiding and waiting in the west were startled. Damn it, that Hu guy is really arrogant. There will be a big noise when he opens the door!
After three explosions, Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang began to pull the trigger.
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-
The two of them had also been instructed by Hu Yi in advance that accuracy was not important, only firing rate was. The two of them pulled the bolts as fast as they could, without even bothering to carefully aim at the unclear shooting holes. They just fired directly at the dark outer wall of the turret. In a blink of an eye, all ten bullets in the two rifles were fired, and then they quickly lowered their heads to start reloading.
Da da da da—
Immediately afterwards, the crisp and cheerful sound of machine gun fire rang out, and Hu Yi began to work.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... crackle... ding, ding, dang... various sounds were heard continuously from the north outer wall of the artillery tower, which made the puppet soldiers panic and caused the Japanese to rush to the firing holes on the north.
Before Hu Yi's first magazine was empty, the two machine guns in the turret fired at him in no uncertain terms. Hu Yi pulled the machine guns back into the pit, and bullets fell from the edge of the pit above his head with crackling sounds.
Seeing that Hu Yi was suppressed, Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang did as they were instructed before, stuck their heads out again, raised their guns, and fired a burst of rifle fire at the turret, then immediately retracted their movements.
The machine gun fire in the turret was immediately stopped and turned to take care of Ma Liang and the others.
Hu Yi immediately moved forward again and emptied his magazine towards the location of the flames from the turret.
The exchange of fire between the two sides was intense and no one would have thought that this was a small-scale battle. The Japanese and puppet troops in the artillery tower could not judge the size of the other side, so they did not hesitate and a red flare flew high into the night sky.
Gao Yidao and the soldiers of the second company were also stunned. Was this a fight between three people? This was too big a fight! If they hadn't known what was going on in advance, they would have thought that the regiment had sent reinforcements!
The Eighth Route Army had little ammunition, so even if they wanted to suppress the enemy, they tried their best to aim and shoot, and they would never shoot continuously if they could, and they would not waste bullets, and they would try their best to kill living targets. Hu Yi's habit was learned at the Military Academy, and his major was machine guns, so his concept of fire suppression was naturally different from Gao Yidao's. Whether it was suppression or attracting firepower, he had to fill the bullets to death. He wanted tactical effects, and did not consider the killing efficiency at all, and it didn't matter if he couldn't hurt anyone.
Gao Yidao listened to the bustling battle in the north and watched the flares flying high into the sky. He murmured, "Damn it! They are dogs and they can't stop eating shit. This is typical KMT behavior! They are so willing to waste it!"