Chapter 65: Breaking Out Under Cover of Night

  The headquarters of the Garrison Brigade was surrounded by a division of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

  After receiving the order to withdraw, Li Guoting's company was attacked by the Northern Expeditionary Army several times on their way back, and they had to fight in intervals. In the middle of the night, a small part of the Northern Expeditionary Army that had circled around surrounded them in a narrow area. The company had no choice but to put up a desperate resistance with another friendly force that was also besieged in this area.

  Fierce fighting unfolded immediately in this small area. Li Guoting's company and a battalion of friendly forces supported each other, inflicting heavy casualties on the Northern Expeditionary Army. Forcing the besieging Northern Expeditionary Army to slow down its offensive pace.

  The battle is still in a stalemate. The regiment and the allied forces are stubbornly resisting the Northern Expeditionary Army's repeated attacks. On the flat open ground in front of the position, rows upon rows of soldiers' bodies are piled up. The attacking Northern Expeditionary Army was unable to cross the position even one step.

  Li Guoting's company and friendly forces also suffered heavy casualties, with less than twenty people left in the entire company.

  The incessant explosions and smoke and flames rising from the trenches illuminated this small battlefield.

  Before dawn, the Northern Expeditionary Army, which had been besieging Li Guotang's regiment, launched another attack on them. The soldiers ran out of bullets and began to fix bayonets, charging out of their positions and engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy who were rushing up.

  Li Guoting was good at martial arts and knew a few moves, plus he had received training in the new army for so long that he had learned many practical combat skills. As soon as he entered the battlefield and opened up in close combat, Li Guoting quickly stabbed down a Northern Expeditionary Army soldier. Just then, an enemy soldier suddenly pounced on Li Guoting from behind, grabbing him around the waist and tripping him to the ground with one foot. The enemy soldier sat on top of Li Guoting, pinning his neck with one hand and pulling out a shiny dagger from his waist with the other, ready to stab it into Li Guoting's chest.

  At this critical moment, a figure suddenly ran up from behind the enemy soldier and stabbed him in the abdomen with a bayonet. The sharp blade pierced through the enemy's belly, and blood gushed out along the edge of the blade. Before the enemy could make a sound, his wrist holding the dagger dropped, his body tilted to one side, and he fell onto Li Guoting's body.

  Li Guoting exerted himself to push away the corpse that was pressing down on his body, and when he looked up, he saw that the person who had saved him was none other than his sworn brother, Zhao Erhu.

  Li Guoting happily got up from the ground and went to hug Zhao Erhu in his arms, excitedly asking: "Third brother, you... how did you come?"

  "Brother, I wanted to die for you. It turns out that the regimental headquarters was surrounded by the Northern Expeditionary Army, and the regiment commander ordered us to go and rescue them. Our battalion had just walked halfway when we heard that your company was also surrounded here, so the battalion commander received a distress message sent by your company commander and immediately ordered our company to rush up and rescue you. What a coincidence! As soon as we rushed up, I saw Brother being pressed down by this guy, he still wanted to kill Brother, damn it, I'll send you back to your grandma's house first!"

  "Hahaha——." Li Guoting burst out laughing after hearing it.

  The two brothers looked at the enemy corpse lying on the ground, Li Guoting kicked the corpse with his foot, and the corpse turned over, revealing a terrifying face covered in blood. Li Guoting looked at the face with disgust, then turned around and pulled Zhao Erhu towards the battlefield.

  Thanks to the support of Zhao Erhu and his team, the Northern Expeditionary Army was repelled again.

  Both sides fell into a stalemate, neither able to break through the other's defenses.

  The sky in the east had already begun to brighten, when a piece of bad news came from behind. The garrison of the First Division was broken through by the Northern Expeditionary Army.

  This news was undoubtedly a heavy bombshell that immediately exploded among the soldiers. The already hesitant military morale was completely shaken at this time.

  At dawn, the Northern Expeditionary Army attacking Hesheng Bridge received support from the flanking of the Seventh Army, which had just captured Wang Benli, and launched a full-scale attack. Wu Peifu, who was stationed on the front line and personally commanded his elite troops to fight, witnessed with his own eyes as row after row of soldiers retreated like a broken dam from the front line. In a state of panic, Wu Peifu immediately ordered the frontline supervisors to shoot any officers who fled in disarray. After shooting several regimental-level officers, he was still unable to stop the soldiers' defeat. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Wu Peifu had no choice but to lead his remaining defeated troops and abandon their resistance at Hesheng Bridge, withdrawing to Wuchang City.

  The main force followed Wu Peifu's withdrawal, and those troops like Li Guoting who were temporarily drawn up became the shield of the main force's retreat, suffering a fierce attack from the Northern Expeditionary Army.

  Li Guoting and his company commander were shot multiple times during the retreat and died on the spot.

  Li Guoting and Zhao Erhu saw the whole team being dispersed, and the two brothers didn't have time to think much, they followed a small path and ran back.

  The sound of gunfire was still ringing around them. Zhao Erhu ran and asked Li Guoting, "Brother, where are we running to?"

  Li Guoting said without turning his head: "Let him run wherever he wants, as long as he can avoid those Northern Expeditionary Army and find our own troops."

  "Hmm, big brother is right. By the way, big brother, how's second brother doing now?" Zhao Erhu asked again.

  "Second brother, it's much more comfortable than our place," said Li Guoting.

  Two people ran while talking. Along the way, they almost met head-on with the Northern Expeditionary Army chasing Wu Peifu. Fortunately, Li Guoting had sharp eyes and saw that group of Northern Expeditionary Army rushing towards them from a distance, so he quickly pulled Zhao Erhu and hid under a abandoned earth wall, thus avoiding the Northern Expeditionary Army.

  That evening, the two brothers ran into a small village. As they were about to enter the village, they suddenly heard a burst of intense gunfire coming from inside the village.

  Li Guoting pulled Zhao Erhu, quietly along a ruined courtyard wall of a civilian house, crouching down, carrying guns on their backs, moving forward. The two of them wanted to see who was shooting.

  As soon as they entered the village, they saw a dozen or so Northern Expeditionary Army soldiers surrounding a courtyard. Bullets were constantly flying out of the courtyard. The Northern Expeditionary Army soldiers surrounding the courtyard also returned fire.

  A man resembling a military officer from the Northern Expeditionary Army stood behind a wall, shouting at the surrounded courtyard: "You are surrounded and cannot escape. Surrender quickly, we will not kill you if you surrender. Our Northern Expeditionary Army treats prisoners of war with kindness."

  There was no movement in the surrounded courtyard. Nor could any answer be heard.

  "Damn it, refusing to surrender, shoot me." The Northern Expeditionary Army officer was impatient and ordered the shooting.

  Dozens of soldiers surrounding the courtyard began throwing hand grenades into the yard and shooting into it.

  Gunfire echoed back from within the courtyard.

  Li Guoting whispered to Zhao Erhu behind him: "Third brother, let's sneak to the back of that courtyard in front and see what kind of people are inside."

  "Hmm." Zhao Erhu replied.

  Li Guoting and Zhao Erhu began to move forward along the foot of the wall of a civilian house, taking advantage of the cover of night. Before long, they arrived at the back of that courtyard.

  Behind them was a row of houses, and Li Guoting saw two Northern Expeditionary Army soldiers standing under the eaves with guns in hand, staring intently at the windows. Li Guoting lowered his head to think for a moment, then turned around and whispered a few words to Zhao Erhu. Then he and Zhao Erhu took off their rifles, removed the bayonets, leaned them against the wall, and quietly crept towards the two Northern Expeditionary Army soldiers in the dark.

  Li Guoting covered a soldier's mouth from behind with one hand, and with the other hand holding a dagger, stabbed it into the soldier's back. The soldier groaned and fell to the ground. At the same time, Zhao Erhu also got another soldier. The two men bypassed this row of houses and came to the side. Just then, a person suddenly climbed up on the earthen wall on the side. Before he could get down, a burst of gunfire came from the front, and the man groaned and fell off the wall.

  Li Guoting and Zhao Erhu rushed forward, lifted up the person, and upon seeing his face, they suddenly cried out in surprise: "Ah, it's the Captain!"