Chapter 4: The Bloody Battle of Dushan Town 3

  In the daze, Xiaotoufeng seemed to have gone through countless sufferings and hardships. Although he was on a golden road all the way, the pain of his soul and body being stripped away, as well as his fear of the unknown, made him struggle and scream involuntarily...

  Just as the reconnaissance unit was about to report to the vanguard 224th regiment that they had discovered the enemy in front, the enemy who had been observing our army's movements for a long time suddenly launched an attack! Fierce flames, bullets piercing through the scorching air. The soldiers of the first battalion of the 224th regiment who were charging forward were mowed down row by row, and more than a dozen reconnaissance companies that had charged into the position, along with their company commanders, were pinned down by the firepower of the enemy's 40th Army's 115th Brigade!

  Due to the terrible weather and extremely poor visibility, the Red Army could hardly see the enemy's position just a few dozen meters ahead. Many soldiers had their hands frozen stiff, and many rifles on their shoulders were unable to be fired because the rain and snow had frozen the bolts, making it impossible to pull the trigger. Even with numb hands, they couldn't throw grenades. In just these few short seconds, countless brave Red Army soldiers fell forever on this small piece of land.

  The enemy, centered on the small town, built a semi-circular fortification, not only killing many soldiers of one battalion with dense firepower, but also suppressing the second and third battalions with enemy fire in the river ditch not far from the town, so that the enemy formed a half-encircled shape against our army.

  The sporadic shots fired by the troops were far from enough to suppress the enemy's firepower. If it weren't for the few Czech-made machine guns captured from the 115th Division of the Northeast Army, the troops would have been done for! Due to the unfavorable terrain, many soldiers had no choice but to stand up and exchange fire with the enemy, only to be quickly knocked down by the enemy's flanking fire. The whizzing bullets continuously "cracked" away the muddy riverbank in front of them, weaving a dense web of bullets in the sky that brought death to the trapped Red Army vanguard troops.

  The retreat of the First Regiment made young Wu An-guo think that the Red Army was about to collapse. "If we don't go up, all the merits will be gone!" For this reason, Wu An-guo shouted loudly: "Eliminate, a regiment commander is worth 1,000 yuan, a battalion commander is worth 300, a company commander is worth 100! Even small soldiers have ten!" Then he led the way, waving his whip and leading the bandit army who were excited about the huge sum of money with a thunderous momentum, charging towards the shrinking Red Army.

  A distance of three to four hundred meters should have been a blink of an eye, and the Kuomintang cavalry was still in a relatively high position, with the geographical advantage giving them more momentum. However, Wu An Guo rode out on horseback, only to find himself in a predicament! The heavy hooves not only churned up a large pile of mud on the muddy ground but also greatly reduced the impact force of the cavalry, losing speed and making the cavalry lose its advantages. On the contrary, the charging speed was far slower than those infantrymen who rushed out from their positions to take advantage of the situation!

  The Nationalist army's troops were preparing to encircle the 224th Red Regiment from both sides, putting them in an extremely precarious situation. It was still Wu Zhengde, who loved his soldiers like his own sons, who stood up and persuaded the newly arrived guards to stay back. With a "whooshing" sound, he drew out a large knife with multiple notches from one of the special operations soldiers' bodies, which was still emitting a chilling glow. He pulled out his beloved revolver and shouted: "Communist Party members, Communist Youth League members, follow me!"

  Wolf-like warriors, led by their leader, charged madly at the approaching Nationalist troops. The heavy blade emitted a strong bloody smell, and countless enemy ghosts surrounded this beheading knife, letting out mournful cries. The swarming Nationalist soldiers never dreamed that they would encounter such a sharp attack from the enemy! The sharp triangular pyramid was like a hot knife cutting through butter, instantly cutting everything in two!

  In the flash of swords and shadows, the flying flesh and blood continued to confuse everyone's eyes. The faces and clothes were covered with the enemy's fresh blood. The two troops who had killed each other with fierce momentum swore not to let go of each other. Unfortunately, they encountered the Wu An Guo army in the muddy swamp, slowly moving forward like a sluggish beast. Unexpectedly, they collided head-on with Xu Haidong's deputy commander-led troops! The assault team composed of more than 60 machine guns drawn from the rear and front guards was not something that those single-shot Mauser rifles could withstand!

  One by one, the scorching flames and cold gleaming blades swiftly slaughtered their way in and out of Wu An Guo's cavalry team's long and narrow formation!

  Listening to the soldiers' wails of being shot, and the miserable cries of those who had their horse's legs cut off and fell from the horse, only to be chopped in two by a large knife, almost without stopping! The horses that couldn't move or give themselves speed advantage almost became their burial ground. Watching the horses slowly struggling in the muddy ground, and the bullets whizzing past his ears, the scorching air even dried up the rain and snow on his face!

  "Commander, let's retreat quickly! If we don't, the whole army will be annihilated!" The regimental chief of staff almost cried as he jumped off his horse and shouted at Wu Ankang, who was leaning against his horse, firing a burst of bullets at the blurry figures in the distance. The enemy's desperate resistance had indeed exceeded Deputy Commander Xu's expectations, but these cavalrymen, who were used to fighting on horseback, were clumsy to the extreme after dismounting! They fired while leaning against their horses, but the horses, frightened by the dense machine gun fire, jumped and whinnied in confusion, disrupting their own formation, and even trampled their original masters into meat pies!

  Wu An's bloodshot eyes stared at the Red Army soldiers who were desperately attacking, and he said helplessly: "I'm not willing to give up! These thousands of people are my lifeblood! If I abandon them, how can I explain it to my brother-in-law?" The long-winded lecture had already made the chief of staff next to him look disdainful and very annoyed. "Your sister's pillow talk is just a breeze, and you're still pretending to be something? You're fake, aren't you? Do you want to lose face?" Suppressing his inner muttering, the chief of staff secretly gave a hand signal to Wu An's guards, and then Wu An was knocked unconscious by his subordinates in a "momentary lapse", and was sent to the rear by dozens of elite guards.

  The deputy commander Xu drove away the enemy cavalry regiment's sniper, only to find that this cavalry unit, which had inserted itself at some unknown time, had almost surrounded the 224th Regiment led by Wu Zheng! Cutting off the connection between the vanguard and the main force, without even coldly scolding his chief of staff, Deputy Commander Xu immediately led his troops in a pincer attack on the enemy's surrounding forces from the left wing!

  Although the enemy's cavalry suffered a great loss due to unfavorable weather, the enemy's 115th Brigade was the trump card of the provincial government! The three or four thousand people who came from both wings not only trapped the newly arrived 225th Regiment but also quickly deployed and occupied many small hills around. However, under the enemy's fierce attack and strong firepower, they were in a precarious situation, and the situation suddenly took a turn for the worse. If it weren't for the political commissar leading the combat team to fight to the death against the enemy's attacks, the troops might have dispersed!

  In the midst of dizziness, Xiao Toufeng felt like he was wearing a very tight and ill-fitting garment, feeling oppressed, crowded, and extremely uncomfortable. There were also some inexplicable things that forcibly drilled into his mind, some extremely childish and ridiculous words, as well as naive thoughts. "It's already the 21st century! You want to go to university without even reading books? Although money is very useful, this is just too absurd!" In the midst of uncontrollable laughter, Xiao Toufeng slowly came back to his senses.

  "I'm so hungry!" Little Headwind, who had been spoiled since childhood, felt the pangs of hunger for the first time. Rubbing his aching stomach, he suddenly felt an unusually cold chill and the dense gunfire outside! Looking at the dilapidated temple, the wounded soldiers groaning around him, the earth-colored Red Army uniforms, his small hands, and frail physique, Little Headwind suddenly remembered why he had received that information earlier - he was just an insignificant little devil in the 25th Red Army during the Long March! And to make matters worse, he was also that infamous Gao Quan! "But you're really too careless, Big Headwind! This kid is only thirteen years old! He can't even hold a big knife, and the shotgun seems too heavy for him!" Weighing his famous Mauser pistol, Gao Quan couldn't help but smile wryly.

  Listening to the increasingly dense gunfire and scattered cannon fire outside, Gao Quan slung his rifle over his shoulder and headed out. He really wanted to understand what kind of combat power the Red Army had now! What was special about the 25th Red Army, which claimed to be good at fighting tough battles, coming from the Dabie Mountains? The busy doctor didn't have time to bother with this small wounded soldier who only came in with a cold. In the 25th Red Army, where there were few doctors and medicines, even when team leaders underwent surgery, they didn't have any anesthesia. As for those with colds, they just used some herbal remedies to deal with it - life or death was up to fate, and if you died, that's it.

  But before he could take a few steps in the cold, windy and snowy weather, he was hit by flying bullets and fell to the ground like withered leaves. He was scared out of his wits! The "high-ranking official" who had never been on a battlefield before tried to draw courage from this body's host. Although he was a military enthusiast, when faced with bullets that didn't care about human life, he found himself powerless to stop them - it all depended on one's luck!

  I recall when I was a kid, I would snatch food from my friends. I'd put my hands into girls' skirts, and although our kindergarten teacher educated us well, I still played rough and unscrupulously, instinctively shrinking my head: "If you get hit, it's all over! You only have one life!" With some guilt, I couldn't resist my strong curiosity, nor did I have the awareness of being a red devil. I just held onto that huge Mauser pistol to boost my courage! In front of me, cannons were firing, guns were blazing, and the battlefield was filled with shouts and screams, but the hot blood in my body began to boil up, and I involuntarily sprinted towards the battlefield: "Do I really have a warrior's bloodline?" I asked myself as I ran.

  The hail of bullets in front of them constantly silhouetted the figures of the warriors who were fighting with the enemy!

  Chinese team... speechless! It's better for me to accompany my girlfriend instead, it's simply a waste of time!