Chapter 471

  Six menacing B-88 reconnaissance bombers appeared on the horizon, swooping down viciously towards the Chinese garrison's position like sharks smelling blood.

  The first enemy plane dived down towards the ground, machine gun bullets "whizzing" vertically into the traffic ditch and trenches, where seven or eight soldiers had nowhere to hide and fell one after another in a pool of blood.

  The devilish plane shot out a string of bullets and dropped a bomb, then pulled up, proudly shaking its wings twice before charging into the high altitude with passion.

  Immediately afterwards, the second and third enemy planes dived down to the ground one after another. The soldiers in the trenches were completely unable to dodge the bullets shot from the air, and fell down one after another.

  The bomb that fell into the trench exploded violently, and the rolling smoke mixed with mud rushed into the air. The bodies of more than a dozen soldiers disappeared in an instant. This is still pretty good, if not for Li Bin's carefully designed defensive fortifications, the casualties brought to the soldiers by the devils' planes would be even greater!

  "The devils are coming! Brothers, charge!" an officer shouted with a raised arm.

  Shells mixed with bombs, one by one fell on the position and exploded, aircraft machine gun bullets whizzed down from the sky, one after another brave warriors fell in a pool of blood. The volunteer army soldiers rushed forward to their positions, fearless of the devils' planes' bombing and strafing, and charged forward tenaciously.

  "Damn it! Get me Hong Biao on the phone!" Li Bin roared.

  As soon as the phone was connected, Li Bin roared into the receiver: "Hong Biao, listen to me! Get your anti-aircraft tank out and attack immediately! Those damn Japanese planes are too arrogant!"

  "Yes!" Hong Biao hung up the phone and turned around to shout at his soldiers: "Brothers, the little devils' planes are here! We're going out now to give them a show of our strength!"

  One after another, the anti-aircraft vehicles converted from light trucks rushed out of the air-raid shelters, with the high-altitude machine guns mounted on the carriages spitting out waves of retaliatory flames, weaving a dense web of fire in the sky to block those rampaging enemy bombers.

  Unfortunately, although these warriors had heard Li Bin mention "aiming at the lead quantity when shooting down planes", they didn't have any actual experience in anti-aircraft combat. After sixteen tanks shot for half a day, not even one enemy plane was brought down. However, although no enemy planes were shot down, the sudden burst of bullets into the air did give those enemy pilots a fright, and they hastily pulled up, not daring to dive low and strafe, which allowed the soldiers in the trenches to reduce their casualties.

  "Damn it! Coward! Just a few of those Chinese machine guns and you're already like this!" Commander Okada Kikujirō, who led the bombing himself, cursed loudly. "First take out those Chinese trucks!"

  He then flew his Kawasaki Ki-88 reconnaissance bomber towards the first Turkish anti-aircraft vehicle.

  The machine head flashed a few times, and a string of poisonous bullets shot out from the air, hitting the carriage of the first armored car, a soldier who was operating the machine gun to shoot at the sky was hit by several bullets and slowly fell down, the deep red blood stained the floor of the carriage into a piece of crimson.

  Another Kawasaki reconnaissance bomber swooped down from the sky, two bombs whizzing towards the ground, two columns of smoke rising from the ground, and the armored car overturned on the side of the road caught fire.

  Right after that, another anti-aircraft vehicle was hit by a shell, and the machine gunner inside the carriage sacrificed. The driver quickly turned the steering wheel to avoid the incoming shells. The deputy shooter supplemented the machine gun position and continued to fire, but soon he was also hit by the evil bullet.

  Hong Biao personally drove a war chariot, with the machine gunner behind him fiercely firing into the air. Suddenly, a devilish bomber plane swooped down with an ear-piercing screech. Hong Biao hastily turned the steering wheel, and a fiery whip-like tongue of flame lashed out beside his vehicle, sending up swirling clouds of sand and gravel.

  He slammed the steering wheel and stepped on the gas pedal, a bomb exploded more than ten meters behind his car, and the powerful shockwave almost overturned his car.

  The howling bomber almost grazed the head of the soldier at the back of the carriage, and the propeller whipped up a strong wind that blew away the soldier's cotton hat.

  "Damn your grandma's little devil!" The warrior let out a roar of anger. The Markov heavy machine gun, with its muzzle raised high, spat out a vengeful flame that chased after the retreating enemy bomber plane.

  "Boom boom boom", several holes were left on the body of this Japanese bomber, and the devilish pilot who heard the sound was frightened and hastily pulled up.

  Because the warriors responsible for air defense used their lives to attract the enemy's firepower, the warriors running in the traffic ditch quickly arrived at their own position, waiting in array, with steel guns aimed at the invaders who were approaching step by step.

  Li Bin in the command post picked up his binoculars and calmly watched the large groups of devils who had already stepped onto the ice surface and were pressing towards him, he held his breath and did not give the order to detonate immediately.

  After a few minutes, the Japanese infantry regiment crossed the icy river, followed by a group of infantrymen and some artillerymen pulling field guns, carrying mortars and heavy machine guns.

  "Boom!" Li Bin slammed his fist heavily on the table.

  Although the wires were blown up in the bombardment, there were still a few lines that were intact. More than ten warriors responsible for blasting pressed down the blaster at the same time, and suddenly several fierce flames rose from the ice surface, followed by a shocking and earth-shaking roar from the glacier, and the ice surface emitted a "cracking" sound of shattering ice layers.

  Explosions rang out one after another, and the ice surface that had been blasted open instantly sent up columns of water containing ice floes that shot into the sky. The flying ice blocks were like sharp steel knives, cutting down large numbers of devils to the ground.

  At the same time, the Dalinghe River railway bridge was also shrouded in a thick smoke and fierce flames, with sections of the bridge deck flying up like paper, twisted steel rails tangled together, segments of the bridge piers falling off from the abutments into the icy river, smashing through the ice surface, dropping into the water and splashing up ice fragments.

  The ice surface that suddenly broke open could not withstand the weight of the devils, nor could it withstand the weight of mortars, heavy machine guns and infantry artillery. For a time, a burst of miserable cries came from the group of devils, those devils on the river surface fell into the icy cold river water, their cotton clothes were soaked in water, becoming heavy and cold.

  Men and horses, along with their weapons, fell into the icy waters, and the river's surface, blown to smithereens, was filled with people struggling to stay afloat. The blood-curdling cries of agony pierced General Kajiwara's ears, making his face contort in anguish: "Baka! Those Chinese are cunning to the extreme!"

  Soon, the devils who fell into the river were swallowed up by the icy cold water, and their heavy cotton clothes dragged them down to the bottom of the river, one by one, their heads disappearing from the surface.

  The frozen mules tried to jump out of the river, but the cannons they were pulling dragged them down to the bottom of the river. In a loud cry of the mules, they sank into the icy cold water along with the cannons.

  The devils who had crossed the icy river heard the explosion behind them and were all startled, turning their heads to see an astonishing scene in the river.

  "Hit! Give those sons of bitches a good beating! Wipe them out!" Li Bin roared. After finishing speaking, he ran out of the command center and rushed towards the tanks that were being attacked by the enemy planes.

  The once silent guard army base suddenly erupted with intense gunfire and artillery blasts.

  "Boom!" The shells flew out of the barrel, rose into the air, and then fell among the devils on the riverbank with a deafening whistling sound, exploding and sending up several columns of smoke. The devils behind were stunned by the terrible sight and had not yet realized what was happening when they fell down in large numbers amidst the drifting gunpowder smoke.

  Four heavy machine guns and twelve Czech-style machine guns roared at the same time, weaving a deathly web of fire that enveloped the devils' heads. The bullets were like sickles cutting scallions, knocking down the devils on the riverbank in batches.

  However, these Japanese troops of the 20th Division stationed in Korea were indeed a group of seasoned veterans. As soon as they heard the gunfire and explosions, they immediately dropped to the ground and attempted to return fire with their rifles and submachine guns. Nevertheless, these devils soon discovered that this riverbank had been cleared too cleanly! Not to mention obstacles, even small stones had been removed, and the trees on the edge had been cut down neatly.

  Bullets shot from high ground whizzed in, knocking down the devils crouching on the ground like dead fish. Mortar shells and grenades dropped into the crowd, exploding and sending shrapnel flying, turning devils without cover into corpses.

  The devils and the godly marksmen tried to shoot, but found their position was really bad. The enemy was not only in a high place, but also behind piles of snow, which were melted by the hot air heated by the gunfire, creating swirling mists that rose in front of the enemy's shooters, making it impossible for the devils and godly marksmen to see the target clearly. While they themselves were as clear as feces on the snowy ground in the eyes of the Chinese defenders.

  Soon, more than 400 devils who had crossed the river were killed or wounded in the fierce attack of machine guns and howitzers. More than 200 devils who fell into the water on the river surface could only be rescued by half of them, and all infantry guns, field guns, howitzers and heavy machine guns sank to the bottom of the river.

  The Japanese commander hastily ordered the artillery to open fire, but the Chinese defensive position was at least 400 meters away from the riverbank, and the machine gun position was more than 100 meters away from the front line. The infantry guns and field guns could not cross the river, so they could not conduct direct fire on the target. The Japanese had to rely on howitzers for indirect fire, which naturally did not have the same effect as direct fire from flat-trajectory guns.

  Japanese bombers in the air found their infantry being heavily fired upon, they hastily abandoned their attack on the anti-aircraft vehicles and dived towards the defensive positions of the garrison.

  Li Bin rushed out of the command post and sprinted towards an anti-aircraft vehicle, whose gunner had already been killed. He leapt onto the vehicle in one bound, grasped the machine gun and fired a burst of flame into the air.

  As a tank soldier, the anti-aircraft machine gun was easy to use, and the retaliatory bullets rushed towards a Japanese bomber that was wreaking havoc. The estimated lead was good, and the string of bullets all hit the Japanese plane.

  The "Puffing" enemy pilot's head burst out with blood bubbles, and the Kawasaki bomber that was about to dive-bomb suddenly twisted its nose, let out a strange cry, and plunged into the ground, turning into an orange-yellow fireball on the riverbank.

  "I hit it! I hit it!" Li Bin was so excited that he almost jumped up.

  Just then, a Kawasaki bomber discovered Li Bin, who had shot down their friendly plane, and the aircraft dived viciously towards Li Bin.