Chapter Ten: Holding Out at Phoenix Peak

  Half an hour later, Koizumi Masao made preparations for the attack and began the first round of artillery bombardment.

  It is said that Fenghuangling is easy to defend and difficult to attack, which not only refers to the era of cold weapons, but also when facing the artillery coverage of Little Japan, Fenghuangling still has an unparalleled advantage.

  Because the terrain of Fenghuangling is in the shape of a "convex" character, that is to say, no matter which direction the Japanese army launches artillery fire from, they can find a blind spot for artillery fire on this "convex" mountain top.

  Koizumi's gunfire was quite lively, but the losses for Ye Tufei's troops were small.

  The cannon fire had hardly ceased when Koizumi Masahiro launched his first infantry charge.

  But then he saw the little Japanese rushing up, Zhang Luo Hui gritted his teeth and raised his gun to charge towards the front line.

  Ye Tufei stretched out his hand to stop him, saying: "You'd better just lie here and rest honestly, my brothers can handle these Japanese infantrymen!"

  But Zhang Luohui couldn't bear it. He begged Ye Tufei: "Let me go ahead and take a look! I really don't feel at ease."

  Ye Tufei smiled and said, "Just this Fenghuangding, your government army once used two full brigades to attack for a whole day and night. Except for bringing back more than 200 corpses and who knows how many wounded soldiers, they didn't even get a single hair from our Zhongyitang."

  Ye Tu Fei said this when Zhang Luo Hui's face turned red, because he also participated in that battle, fortunately it ended before his regiment went up.

  Zhang Luohui realized his mistake and quickly covered it up, saying: "I really want to take another look at how your crossfire network made those little Japanese devils cry out in horror!"

  As soon as he said this, Zhang Luohui quickly covered his mouth.

  Ye Tu Fei burst out laughing and said, "Alright, stop beating around the bush! Earlier, when your face turned red, I knew what was going on. This can be considered a deal made through a fight!"

  Zhang Luo Hui hastily swore an oath, saying: "Sixth Master, we are just soldiers who eat our salary and follow orders. Whatever the higher-ups say, that's all we can do. Please forgive me, Sixth Master. But I swear, in that battle, neither I, Zhang Luo Hui, nor my brothers fired a single shot at you!"

  Ye Tu Fei nodded and said, "I believe you. Conversely, neither I Ye Tu Fei nor my brother Ye Tu Fei have ever fired a gun at you Zhang Luo Hui or your brother Zhang Luo Hui, right?"

  Zhang Luo Hui was stunned for a moment before he fully understood Ye Tu Fei's words, nodding his head and saying: "Yes, that's right, Sixth Master."

  Ye Tu Fei burst out laughing and said, "Alright then, you take two steps forward and see how my crossfire net makes those little Japanese devils wail and cry."

  Ye Tufei's troops, although not regular army, received daily military training that was even stricter than the regular army. When the Little Devils launched a charge on Fenghuangding, the brothers on the mountain top did not rush to open fire, but instead hid in their respective combat positions, waiting for the best moment to arrive.

  Zhang Luohui was extremely lucky when he rushed to the front line with his waist bent, just as the frontline commander Li Zhongyun thought it was the best time to strike at the enemy.

  Li Zhongyun fired the first shot, and a Japanese army sergeant fell down at the sound.

  Then, from the piles of rocks on both sides of the mountain top, several black muzzles of machine guns suddenly emerged, spewing out joyful flames. The brothers holding rifles hid behind cover, unhurriedly choosing their targets, not saying they hit every shot, but also hitting eight or nine out of ten.

  The little Japanese shock troops who had suffered a sudden blow quickly retreated down the mountain.

  At this time, those machine guns immediately stopped firing, and the machine gunners quickly withdrew from their original cover along with the machine guns.

  Similarly, the brothers who were shooting at Little Japan with rifles in the first line also stopped fighting and retreated from the first-line position along with the machine gunners.

  Zhang Luohui was somewhat puzzled as to why.

  Just as he was about to scratch his head and think for a moment, Li Zhongyun, who had been withdrawn, grabbed him with one hand and dragged him to the rear.

  As soon as the withdrawal was made, the Japanese shells came over, and the first line of defense instantly became a sea of fire. Zhang Luo Hui sighed in his heart, if he were to command, he would never have thought of withdrawing from the position, and the result would be that they would have been bombed hard.

  Twenty minutes later, Koizumi Masao launched a second attack, this time mobilizing the blood to put the tanks at the forefront of the offensive.

  Attack Fenghuangding, must pass through Fenghuangling, and the terrain of Fenghuangling is extremely unsuitable for tank warfare. However, at this time, Koizumi Masao had already killed his eyes red, he didn't care about the risk of tanks on that narrow mountain ridge, only to rush up to Fenghuangding and tear Ye Tufei into pieces.

  Two tanks, one in front and one behind, cautiously climbed up the mountain ridge, followed by about 100 Japanese infantrymen.

  The Japanese tank crew lowered the angle of the tank's gun barrel, creating a flat-shooting effect. Meanwhile, the heavy machine guns on the tank opened fire, trying to take advantage of their firepower superiority and suppress the enemy's counterattack.

  Zhang Luohui saw this and couldn't help but feel anxious in his heart.

  A month ago, his unit participated in a blocking battle on the southern front of Xuzhou, where the Japanese tanks used this tactic to easily break through **'s defense line.

  Ye Tu Fei seemed to have noticed Zhang Luo Hui's fluster, and he gently patted Zhang Luo Hui's shoulder, saying: "Don't worry, soon you'll see a good show."

  On the side, Guo Zhonglin still didn't forget to mock Zhang Luohui with two sentences: "You see, it's not just your government army that has no skills, no wonder you can't beat those little Japanese."

  Zhang Luohui was wronged by Guo Zhonglin's words, and he wanted to argue back, but not a single word could be uttered.

  Guo Zhonglin was pleased, pointing at the Japanese tank and saying to Zhang Luohui: "Let's teach you a lesson. This little Japan's iron turtle looks very fierce, but it also has its weaknesses. I'll tell you, this iron turtle is most afraid of holes. As long as we dig the hole deep enough and big enough, it's guaranteed that the iron turtle will fall in and won't be able to climb out."

  After listening to Guo Zhonglin's explanation, Zhang Luohui quickly picked up the binoculars to observe, but no matter how he observed along the way, he couldn't find the big pit that Guo Zhonglin mentioned.

  Ye Tu Fei saw through Zhang Luo Hui's thoughts once again, he pressed down on the hand that Zhang Luo Hui was using to hold the binoculars and said: "You can't see into this hole now, if you could see it, wouldn't that little Japanese also be able to see it?"

  Guo Zhonglin found another reason to scold Zhang Luohui, shouting: "Damn it, with a brain as dull as yours, how did you become the team leader?"

  Zhang Luohui could no longer bear it and coldly retorted: "I may not be as clever as you, but I'm braver than you!"

  Luo Zhonggang happened to run over to report to Ye Tufei at this time, heard Zhang Luohui's words, and retorted with great dissatisfaction: "You're just a coward, you dare to play with your life? Our second brother is the one who really dares to play with his life, isn't he? Second brother!"

  Ye Tu Fei said to Zhang Luo Hui at this time: "Old Five is right, in terms of risking one's life, our second brother is the best in the world."

  Guo Zhonglin was unhappy, he didn't dare to say that Ye Tufei was wrong, and could only point at Luo Zhonggang and shout: "You little rascal, can't you just help your second brother out? Instead of helping him speak up, you're always finding fault with him, don't you know how to be loyal?"

  Zhang Luohui was completely bewildered.

  At this time, Ye Tu Fei explained to Zhang Luo Hui again: "Second brother, in order to eat honey, he even dared to steal the beehive with his butt exposed. Can you say that he is the most daring person?"

  Zhang Luo Hui burst out laughing.

  Laughing and joking, Japanese tanks had already approached the front line of Fenghuangling.

  Ye Tu Fei said: "Old Five, it's your turn next!"

  Lao Wu Luo Zhonggang happily agreed and gave the order to take action against his brother.

  After a loud explosion, amidst the smoke and dust, one of Little Japan's tanks was gone. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that in front of the second tank, a 10-meter-square crater had been blown out.

  "Brother Five, how much explosives did you use? Judging from the sound of the explosion, it's impossible to blast a hole this big!" Zhang Luohui couldn't help but ask.

  Luo Zhonggang didn't even have time to explain to Zhang Luohui, he was busy urging his brothers to quickly continue attacking the tanks in the big pit.

  Guo Zhonglin wiped his nose and replied to Zhang Luohui's question in a disdainful tone, "That pit was something we brothers had already abandoned long ago. Eldest Fifth simply blew off the lid on top."

  "Oh, the canopy!" Zhang Luo Hui muttered to himself, "How much manpower must have been spent on this! Sixth Master seems to have prepared for this stop for quite some time."

  Zhang Luohui had just gotten an answer on his side when Luo Zhonggang gave him another surprise.

  Luo Zhonggang and his brothers moved out more than a dozen things he had never seen before, which seemed to be fun under their hands. They put a bamboo basket full of earth bombs on a cowhide bottom bag, then several brothers worked together to press the cowhide bottom bag as far back and down as possible, and when they let go, the earth bombs flew into the sky.

  What surprised Zhang Luo Hui even more was that this simple toy actually had a pretty good accuracy, with about one-third of the earth bombs/missiles falling into that big pit.

  Unlike before, Luo Zhonggang's use of landmines/explosives this time did not make a big noise when they exploded, but the fire after the explosion was not small.

  Kuo Chung-lin stood behind Chang Lo-hui and said with a sour tone, "This is called an incendiary bomb, Commander Chang, haven't you seen one before?"

  Zhang Luohui really wanted to turn around and slap Guo Zhonglin, this guy was too disdainful of himself. Although he had never seen such a homemade bomb before, what about real incendiary bombs, have you ever seen one, Guo Zhonglin?

  Zhang Luohui gritted his teeth and restrained himself. He decided that from now on, whenever Guo Zhonglin spoke, he would just pretend he was farting.

  The Japanese tank was trapped in the sea of fire and could not move forward or backward. The tank soldiers inside had no choice but to abandon it and escape for their lives. However, the flames outside were like a raging sea, and they suffocated to death before they could even climb out of the tank.

  Another tank behind saw the situation was not good, and hastily turned around to retreat.

  This gave the brothers of Li Zhongyun's Divine Gun Squad a great opportunity, and they calmly aimed and fired, as if using firecrackers to send off the Japanese retreat.

  After Little Japan's second wave of attack was repelled, the sky grew dark.