Chapter 64: Fierce Battle on the Front Line

  A Northern Expeditionary Army soldier fell to the ground under Li Guotin's gun, without even making a sound. Immediately afterwards, another Northern Expeditionary Army soldier fell under Li Guotin's gun.

  Just as Li Guoting was about to aim at the third enemy who rushed up, a bullet suddenly came from his right side. The bullet hit the big hat on Li Guoting's head, making a hole in the right side of the hat and grazing past Li Guoting's scalp before exiting from the left side.

  Li Guoting hastily reached out to touch his own head, involuntarily taking a cold breath: "My god, just a little bit short, and my old self's head would have been relocated." Li Guoting said.

  "Squad leader, squad leader, several enemies are rushing over there again." A small soldier crawling beside Li Guoting shouted.

  Li Guoting turned his head and indeed found that several enemies were rushing up on the right side. They held their guns, firing at the trench where he was hiding while shouting and charging over.

  Li Guoting quickly raised his gun and fired, and an enemy running in the front fell to the ground. The several enemies following him immediately lay down on the ground, raised their guns, and a row of bullets came towards Li Guoting. The bullets hit the edge of the trench, and dust flew everywhere with the whistling bullets. Some flying dust blinded Li Guoting's eyes, and he rubbed his eyes hard with his hand, then aimed his gun at the enemy who was shooting at him.

  Just as Li Guoting was about to pull the trigger and fire at the enemy, he saw a dark object flying out of the enemy's hand on the ground, heading straight for his hiding trench.

  Li Guoting felt something was wrong, and hastily shouted to the soldiers around him: "Not good, quickly hide!" As he spoke, Li Guoting shrunk his body, covered his head, and squatted down.

  Li Guoting had just crouched down when a hand grenade exploded not far from his left side. With a loud "boom", the blast wave from the exploding grenade sent dust flying more than a meter high, rushing towards Li Guoting and the soldiers beside him. The small soldier who had called out to him earlier had one arm blown off by the grenade, leaving less than half an arm behind, with blood dripping down from the torn sleeve. The soldier clutched at his severed arm, screaming in pain: "Ahh... ahh..."

  Li Guoting saw the situation, hastily pulled out a roll of gauze from his own pocket, which was an essential first-aid item for every soldier going into battle. Li Guoting turned around and crawled over to him, bandaging his arm.

  "Oh no, it hurts so much, I'm going to die! I'm going to die!" The little soldier struggled and shouted.

  "Brother, bear with it a bit. You won't die, you'll live through this." Li Guoting comforted him.

  "Medic! Medic!" Li Guoting shouted.

  Another soldier holding a gun ran over with his head down and said to Li Guoting: "The medic is rescuing people over there."

  "Damn it, this side needs help too." Li Guoting said discontentedly.

  "Oh no——, it hurts——, I'm done for, I'm going to die——." The little soldier continued to shout.

  Li Guoting stretched out his hand and held his head, saying: "Brother, hold on for a while, the medical soldier will be here soon, soon..."

  Li Guoting's words were left unfinished, the small soldier's eyes rolled upwards, a mouthful of bloody foam was spat out, his head tilted to one side, and he died in Li Guoting's arms.

  Li Guoting's eyes were filled with tears, he reached out and closed the small soldier Zhang's eyes that had rolled back to show the whites, slowly laying his head on the cold ground of the trench, saying: "Good brother, rest your eyes, I Li Guoting will avenge you."

  Li Guoting picked up his gun, turned around and lay on the edge of the trench, firing at the enemy in front.

  Shells kept falling near the trenches or inside them. Under the cover of intense artillery fire, the Northern Expeditionary Army charged towards Li Guoting's position time and again, with fewer and fewer soldiers by his side. Gradually, as the battle raged on, only three men were left in this section of the trench: Li Guoting, Zhang Xia'er, and Liu Zhanke.

  "Fight, fight! The enemy is charging again!" Li Guoting shouted to himself. When he turned around, he found that there were only a few people left beside him. Including himself, there were only three people.

  Looking to the left and right trenches, they were still shrouded in dust and air waves blown up by explosions, unable to see how many soldiers of the third company of the guard battalion were still resisting.

  Looking back, the Northern Expeditionary Army was still shouting and charging forward.

  Li Guoting shouted to the two soldiers beside him: "Xiao Er, Zhan Ke, fight, we must fight and absolutely cannot let the enemy rush over."

  "Yes, squad leader." The two soldiers obeyed orders and lay down with Li Guoting at the edge of the trench, aiming their guns at the enemy and firing.

  In the darkness, amidst a burst of gunfire, Li Guoting saw several Northern Expeditionary Army soldiers who were charging forward fall to the ground.

  The rest of the Northern Expeditionary Army soldiers all lay on the ground, no longer charging forward. They used their weapons to shoot towards Li Guoting together, bullets whizzing by, hitting the edge of the trench and splashing up clouds of dust.

  Just then, Pai Lung arrived with several soldiers. Two of them were carrying a Maxim heavy machine gun.

  "Platoon leader, how many men do you have left?" The second platoon leader who had just jumped into the trench asked Li Guoting.

  "Report, there are only three people left in the first row." Li Guoting reported to the second row leader.

  The second lieutenant looked at the two soldiers beside Li Guoting and said, "Sergeant, you've done a good job, blocking the enemy's attack on your position. The regimental commander saw it from over there. Now, the enemy is likely to break through here. So, the regimental commander has sent me with machine gunners to support you. No matter what, we can't let those Northern Expeditionary Army troops rush up."

  "Yes, line up, resolutely defend our position." Li Guoting said.

  The second row of Erzhong patted Li Guoting's shoulder and said, "Well done, you're indeed a Qinba Hanzi."

  Just as the second round of gunfire had stopped, a shell exploded at the front line. The huge explosion shook his eardrums. Li Guoting hastily buried his head in the trench to avoid the flying shrapnel. The dust raised by the exploding shell poured into the trench and covered Li Guoting's head and body. When he lifted his head from the dusty soil, shaking off the dirt on his body and head, he saw that the squad leader was covered in blood, lying in the trench.

  "Company Commander, Company Commander..." Li Guoting hastily went forward to help up the Second Company Commander, only to see that his face was covered in blood. With difficulty, he opened his eyes and saw Li Guoting, then said: "First Company Commander, I'm done for, take over command, fight..."

  He died with his words unspoken.

  Li Guoting put down his tall body, pulled the big-brimmed hat off his head and covered his face with it, turned around and lay on the edge of the trench. At this moment, the Northern Expeditionary Army, who had been lying on the ground earlier, got up again and rushed towards Li Guoting.

  "Beat him, beat him hard." Li Guoting ordered.

  The machine gunner raised his machine gun and fired a burst of shots, knocking the Northern Expeditionary Army soldiers who had just lifted their bodies forward to the ground again.

  "Good. Brother, you're doing great!" Li Guoting exclaimed, seeing the Northern Expeditionary Army being beaten to a pulp, and turned his face to shout at the machine gunner.

  "It's not good, squad leader, the position of the team leaders has been surrounded by the Northern Expeditionary Army." Zhang Xia'er, who was injured in the head and bleeding, led the communication soldiers from the battalion headquarters to Li Guoting.

  "What? The battalion commander is surrounded? What about the regimental commander and the company commander?" Li Guoting was shocked and asked in a hurry.

  The signal soldier took a glance at Li Guoting and said, "The regiment commander has already retreated to the rear. Your battalion commander is also withdrawing. He told me to rush over and inform you that you must immediately withdraw from your position."

  "Fall back? Where to fall back? We've just pushed the enemy back." Li Guoting said.

  "Withdraw in the direction of the regimental commander's defense. All troops withdraw to where the regimental commander is located. The battalion commander has ordered, hurry up and help the regimental commander break out of the encirclement." The communications soldier finished speaking and ran off to another squad.

  Li Guoting raised his head, took a look at the Northern Expeditionary Army who were pinned down by machine guns and didn't move. He turned to face Zhang Xia'er, Liu Zhanke, and the two machine gunners, saying: "We're withdrawing."

  The machine gunner immediately raised the machine gun and retreated to the rear along the trench under the cover of Li Guoting, Zhang Xia'er and Liu Zhanke.