Chapter 28: Street Corner (First Update Today)

  War is so cruel that it will not lean towards any side just because who is righteous, the piles of corpses at the street corner strongly prove this point!

  A miserable cry came one after another, the soldiers carefully checked every Japanese soldier lying on the ground, bayonets constantly poking and stabbing at these dead or dying little devils. Of course, occasionally there would be a few fake corpses jumping up from the ground wanting to pull the pin of hand grenades...

  Unfortunately, before the Japanese could pull the strings, several bayonets were thrust into his body. At such close range, bayonets were more effective than hand grenades, and it only took a split second for a bayonet to take someone's life, whereas hand grenades had a delay of several seconds. Even if the little devils managed to pull the pin, we would have enough time to stuff the grenade into their bellies!

  "Move faster!" Commander Xu ordered us: "Replenish hand grenades and explosive packs!"

  "Yes!" The warriors responded with a shout and quickly removed the hand grenades and explosive packs from the little devil's body at the fastest speed.

  "Wait a minute..." At this time, Chen Dalie, who was carrying three or four rifles on his back and holding two Type 38 Arisaka rifles in his hands, ran to me with a thud and said: "Only replenish hand grenades and explosive packs? What about... what about these guns?"

  "Obey orders!" I said, shoving the few hand grenades I had just collected into my grenade bag without looking back. "We're making a break for it, how can you run with so many guns on your back? Get rid of them all!"

  "Yes!" Chen Dalie responded with a loud voice, knowing that what I said was correct, and reluctantly removed all the guns from his body.

  But what we didn't expect happened at this moment, just as I and the warriors were busy collecting hand grenades, a blood-covered Japanese soldier suddenly jumped out of the pile of corpses, holding a machine gun and aiming at us...

  This Japanese soldier was very clever and calm, he actually waited until we put our rifles on our shoulders to collect ammunition before taking action. There is no doubt that... now as long as he lightly pulled the trigger, the few people gathered here would be gone.

  At that time, my mind was a complete blank, and all I could think of were two words: "It's over!"

  It's a good thing that I didn't die in battle with the enemy, but rather due to my own carelessness. This is something that I would never be able to accept! Fortunately, none of this actually happened.

  Before we could react, there was a loud "crash" and the Japanese soldier fell to the ground. In front of me stood the female student, holding a rolling pin with bloodstains on it.

  However, it was clear that the female student did not use enough force, so the Japanese soldier did not die completely. He struggled on the ground and tried to get up and resist...

  Unfortunately, he never had this opportunity again. A group of civilians, including men and women, old and young, emerged from somewhere, some holding hoes, others holding kitchen knives, and even an old lady holding embroidered shoes... They rushed forward without saying a word and used the various "weapons" in their hands to attack that Japanese soldier!

  This Japanese soldier did not die unjustly, because he at least set a record: the record of being killed by the most "weapons".

  "Officer!" The old man who had scolded me earlier came out, leaning on his cane and clenching his fists in apology: "Officer, you folks did a great job! I was wrong to blame you..."

  "Old sir!" I didn't know what to say because I didn't think he was wrong to blame me.

  "Enough said!" The old man nodded: "I understand, this old bone may not be useful, but it's still a person who understands things! You are a brave army, all of you are capable soldiers. An army like yours can't be surrounded by the Japanese devils and die in Beiping. You should break through the siege, you should live... Only by living can we recover our great rivers and mountains, only by living can we thoroughly drive out the Japanese devils, only by living can we avenge us..."

  "Old man..." I suddenly felt like crying.

  "Don't say any more!" The old man patted me on the shoulder and said, "The military situation is urgent, you'd better hurry up... But I have a request, I wonder..."

  "Please speak, sir!" I hastily replied: "Whatever we can do will certainly satisfy your wishes!"

  "That's good!" The old man beckoned to the female student and took her hand, saying: "Officer, I'm an old man with nothing to fear, but what worries me most is her. Can you take her away?"

  "Dad, you..." The female student heard and immediately became anxious, hastily interrupting to say: "How could I abandon you..."

  "Shut up!" The old man interrupted her: "What's the use of you staying behind? Instead of waiting for death with me, it's better to follow the troops and make some contributions to the country!"

  The old man waved his hand at the other villagers and shouted: "Fellow countrymen, it's inevitable that the little Japanese have occupied Beiping. Those of us who can't move won't drag down the troops. What's the point of those who can walk staying behind? Are we going to stay behind and become slaves to a lost nation? At least we can help our own troops carry ammunition and load bullets, or if nothing else, block some bullets!"

  "Yes!" The old man's words were like a bombshell, causing a strong reaction among the people, especially the elderly. As parents, they did not want their children to stay and wait for death, so most of them hoped that their children would follow the troops. However, the young people... They all had elderly parents and young children at home, how could they leave this family behind? The whole street quickly became chaotic, with crying, persuasion, and scolding... We were at a loss, not knowing what to do!

  But to be honest, ordinary people who have not been trained and follow us in a breakout seem to be of no use, and we even need to divert our attention to protect them...

  It wasn't until later that I realized this idea of mine was wrong, and it was seriously wrong!

  In the end, it seemed that the old man had his way. Among the civilians, many young and strong men voluntarily picked up rifles and ammunition from the Japanese corpses and followed us, including that female student...

  "Charge!" At this time, a shout came from the loudspeaker in front: "Brothers! The little devils are not many in the north of the city. Those who want to live, follow me and charge out! Kill!"

  "Kill!"

  ……

  The warriors, with bayonets in hand, yelled loudly as they surged northward along the streets. As for how many civilians followed behind them, or whether they followed at all... we couldn't care less!

  Fighting is about being fearless, going forward with determination and disregarding everything!

  Gunfire soon rang out, and I knew that the warriors in front had already rushed out of the street and contacted the Japanese army. Almost at the same time, shouts and dense gunfire sounded on both sides... The 39th Brigade's troops arrived in time to solve the surrounded Japanese military camp and launched a charge against the Japanese defense line with our military training team.

  From this point of view, Zhang Zizhong's command was still very timely, and several troops did a good job in coordination, without wasting much time, in other words, they didn't give the Japanese army many chances to breathe...

  However, this battle was not as easy as we had imagined, which can be heard from the dense gunfire and screams in front.

  When I led the warriors to the street corner with the crowd, I found that my judgment was indeed correct: the Japanese army had made some preparations. Several searchlights shone far away at the street corner, illuminating the entire street corner as white as daylight. Several machine guns used crossfire to seal off our attacking route, and bullets rained down on our military direction like raindrops...

  But all this did not deter the warriors of the military training group, they still held their rifles and bayonets and charged towards the enemy's position... Unfortunately, it seemed that none of this was useful, as soon as the soldiers rushed into the spotlight, they were exposed in front of the Japanese army like targets, followed by a burst of gunfire, one by one, heroes fell in the pool of blood and sacrificed their lives!

  War is so cruel that it will not lean towards any side just because who is righteous, the piles of corpses at the street corner strongly prove this point!

  "First company! Move out!" The task of taking the position seemed to have fallen on our battalion, as I saw Commander Xu giving orders.

  "Yes!" A row of long responded in unison, and with a wave of his hand, he led dozens of warriors to charge forward.

  With the experience of the previous batches of warriors, they no longer charged forward this time, but instead divided into two teams and moved forward along the houses on both sides of the street. Seeing this, I couldn't help but secretly praise him, it seems that this platoon leader still has some brains, because of the shooting angle, there are many places on the side of the house that are the blind spots of the enemy's machine guns, which can undoubtedly reduce the time for the warriors to be exposed to the enemy's firepower.

  But it seems that this will not have much effect - the distance from the street corner to the Japanese defense line is still 70-80 meters, which is an open area. I don't think they can break through the Japanese defense line in this situation...

  However, the row of men did not completely lack a plan. As they approached the street, they stopped for a moment, and then only heard the row leader shout: "Hand grenades!"

  A dozen or so hand grenades were thrown out of their hands almost simultaneously, followed by a loud "boom" and a burst of smoke at the street corner. The soldiers then shouted "kill" and charged towards the Japanese defense line with bayonets, taking advantage of the smoke.

  Using smoke to charge forward was indeed a good tactic. However, the street corner was too small, and the Japanese army simply used machine guns to sweep through the smoke randomly... I watched as soldier after soldier fell down! The only one who managed to have some effect was a row of soldiers who, before falling down, desperately threw a hand grenade at the enemy's defensive line with their lives.

  This grenade exploded within the Japanese defensive line, silencing a machine gun and blowing three Japanese soldiers out of their trenches. This was the result achieved by our army's company of over thirty soldiers with their lives!

  "Second company, advance!" Commander Xu yelled at me: "Think of a way, we must break through!"

  "What about me?" I was taken aback, what could I possibly do?