Chapter 42: Plum Blossoms Welcome the Red Army in the Twelfth Lunar Month
Just lost the aid army, and the isolated city is also difficult to protect. However, Yang Huicheng seemed to still have a glimmer of hope for a miracle to appear, just like the crazy behavior of countless gamblers. Although it was difficult to send out another aid army (even if an aid army were sent, they would probably be intimidated by the Red Army led by He Long and shrink back in fear due to factional conflicts), he still sent telegrams to encourage and comfort them, then ordered them to hold their ground firmly and falsely claimed that the aid army was on its way.
Those who are obsessed with false comfort, indeed, have made great efforts to arrange defenses and prepare various defensive facilities. They set up barricades on the streets, calling them "French Revolutionary Fortresses!" They vowed to defend the county government office and Ningxia to the death, just like their revolutionary predecessors in France. Their faces were so thick-skinned that they almost directly said they wanted to protect the lives of these wealthy people! Moreover, in order to boost morale, the greedy head of the security team took out 5,000 taels of silver donated by various gentry and distributed a portion of it to over 500 soldiers as extra pay.
Moreover, every night there is delicious sour and spicy beef soup and mutton baozi to eat! The morale is high, the sheepskin coat is warm, the strong wine and thick soup, the fine smoke and guns also can't stop the biting cold wind!
To facilitate marching on the city wall, the snow that had not fallen for a long time was quickly swept away, but from time to time there were still one or two pieces of snow, which melted into a small piece of "creaking" ice under the warm care of winter. The two-zhang-high city wall, although dilapidated, was covered with water and then frozen, making it an icy surface that was slippery as a ball; every three battlements on the city wall were tied with a torch.
Fierce northwest wind made the torches "whoosh" in the strong gusts, scattered flames constantly like shooting stars, after leaving their parent body turned to ash and flew away; The green sparks also seemed to be discouraged by the severe cold; Not to mention those bluestone and white stones, which were about to be frozen and cracked!
Wearing gray cotton hats, carrying long bayonet rifles, security guards patrolled in groups of over a dozen, trampling on the creaking ice blocks. The fixed sentry soldiers had already been withdrawn, and Zhang Wancai, who knew his own soldiers' habits, simply dispatched six teams of over 60 people to each face of the city wall, continuously performing patrol tasks, changing shifts every three hours to get through the difficult and cold night!
The swaying torches, as well as the large piles of firewood at the foot of the city wall, became obstacles for General Fang and his soldiers to advance. Zhang Wancai, who usually didn't send out so many patrols, had clearly heard some rumors! With over 500 people defending a city that was only two or three miles in circumference, it seemed like they were defending everywhere but weak everywhere, with leaks everywhere!
The cloud ladder, which had been set up long ago, was covered with withered yellow hay, and the soldiers in gray uniforms were crawling forward towards the county town in an orderly manner. The bayonet-tipped rifles were smeared with black soot, and the scattered uncoated parts emitted a strange glow in the starry night. The poisonous crossbow arrows on the quiver emitted a faint blue glow.
As the captain of the special task force, Mao Lv was quite unhappy that he didn't get to go out on a big mission with his superior, but when it came to attacking Ning'an County, he couldn't help but be cautious. His eyes gleamed like a cat's as he stared intently at the enemy on the city wall. "One person per team, two-minute intervals, low alert level, medium light intensity, thick ice covering the city walls, very slippery, not suitable for flying hooks and other tools to latch onto the battlements." The secretary next to him quickly recorded Mao Lv's words in a small notebook, her bright eyes fixed on him with an unspoken feeling that was hard to discern, whether it was admiration or adoration. When she saw Mao Lv turn his head, she blushed and lowered her head, one hand supporting the smooth long hair on her shoulder.
The biting cold wind penetrated the thick cotton-padded jacket, and as he looked at the gentle girl beside him who was shivering with fear, a rare warmth flashed across the donkey's face. His coarse hands, rough from years of labor, tightly grasped the girl's hand, his face filled with concern and affection. The girl's face turned even redder in the night light, her head bowed so low it almost disappeared into her neck.
At two o'clock in the morning, drowsiness swept across the sentinel's face from time to time, with yawns rising and falling, and a confused gaze. Old Zhang touched the wine bottle in his bosom, still empty and silent, but because it was placed close to his heart, there was a hint of warmth that allowed his stiff palm to move slightly.
Suddenly a cold light flashed, and the neck felt icy, touching the fresh blood seeping out of the neck, accompanied by a "hiss" sound. The extremely heavy body slowly fell to the ground, with a desire to speak but unable to utter a word, filled with a sense of helplessness. Wide-open eyes stared straight at the sky, gazing at the silvery bright moon...
"Bang, bang, bang" More than a dozen dark gray cloud ladders, after the hook at the front end of the ladder was tightly hooked onto the city wall, more than a dozen black figures quickly climbed up the ladder and onto the city wall. The dagger silently slashed the necks of eleven fallen corpses once again, then with their mouths holding the dagger handle, one hand holding a shotgun, they dispersed to both sides of the city wall to keep watch. More and more soldiers climbed up along the cloud ladders.
Along the dark right side of the city wall, dozens of black-clad soldiers moved swiftly and silently along the wall, their soft-soled shoes making not a sound on the hard stone. Then, more than a dozen dazed soldiers suddenly appeared, and as soon as one of them caught sight of something in the corner of the wall, they were immediately pinned to the ground by over a dozen soldiers who had leapt into action, their mouths covered tightly, their necks slashed open with sharp daggers, and poison entering their bodies through their blood within three seconds. With a few spasms, the body that had been trembling violently just moments before slowly stiffened, and in the depths of those dark eyes, there remained an unspeakable terror.
But luck did not always favor the donkey and his men. The reconnaissance platoon that had burst in through the north gate finally ran into a patrol team while feeling their way to the west gate, and they were caught off guard. A small squad leader from Zhang Wancai's hometown, seemingly discovering something suspicious in the corner of the city wall in the dim light, raised his hand and fired a shot, and the powerful muzzle flash exposed the donkey and his men. The bullet whizzed past the donkey's face, leaving a trail of blood, before hitting the donkey's arm.
The donkey's left arm went limp and fell, but the soldiers behind him suddenly fired a dense barrage of bullets. More than a dozen militia soldiers slowly fell to the ground, twitching all over. The fierce battle was now unavoidable, and the intense gunfire had awakened the enemy. In the donkey's mind, only one thought emerged: they could only rely on speed, quickly crushing the enemy from all sides before they could react, while the enemy still didn't understand the situation! Thoroughly annihilate them! Dead enemies are the best enemies; in a life-or-death moment, there is no room for national sentiment, friendship, or camaraderie - you can't show mercy!
The four city gates were opened, and the Red Army's nearly thousand-strong troops poured into Ningxian County from all directions. The shouts of thousands of people! The killing cries shook the sky and earth. For the first time in decades, the ancient county was swept by the red revolutionary force! The corrupt dust was about to be swept away from this ancient city! Unknown fears made conservative and timid residents hide at home, not daring to go out. During the warlord era, how many times had they been looted and pillaged? Many residents over 30 or 40 years old were already terrified by these memories! They feared it was another bandit army attacking the city! The Nationalist Party's education made them have an unspeakable fear of "communism" and "sharing wives"!
The county magistrate, Wen Shao, the head of the civilian militia, Zhang Wancai, and the county party secretary, who wore gold-rimmed glasses and was normally elegant and refined, were all cowering in fear inside the county government building. The four walls of the courtyard were lined with multiple gun muzzles, and Czech machine guns were continuously firing through the shooting ports, pouring out ammunition. The powerful muzzle flames illuminated all the roads leading to the county government building, making them shine brightly. "Keep firing! Keep firing! We must not let them get close!" Fear and excitement contorted Zhang Wancai's face, revealing an abnormal flush that was even more intense than after smoking opium.
Facing the Nationalist Party's militia with such powerful firepower, Maozi had to wave his still intact right arm, signaling for the troops to retreat. "Damn it! The Nationalist Party is really rich! They even dare to fire Czech-made guns like this! Not only are they wasting bullets, but they're also likely to cause the gun barrel to overheat, and when that happens, the barrel will explode, I wonder what they'll do then!" Maozi sneered in secret, naturally knowing that the Czech-made guns used in Shaanxi were actually products of the Gongxian Arsenal, with domestically produced barrels that didn't have the same level of precision as the originals.
The machine gun's firepower soon weakened, and the intermittent gunfire allowed the Red Army soldiers hiding on both sides of the street to quickly advance towards the county government office. The bronze cannon that had been sent over with great difficulty fired four or five solid shells in a row at a distance of less than 100 meters from the county government office. After the white smoke dispersed, three or four holes as wide as half a person were opened on the wall of the county government office, and rolling dust filled the collapsed wall area.
A burst of intense grenade explosions, the donkey led the soldiers in first, and the militiamen who lost their cover were quickly thrown into chaos under the fierce attack. When the three leaders were caught, facing the cold and murderous eyes of the crowd, thinking of the "glorious reputation" of Gaoquan's troops, they suddenly had a bowel movement, and the stench made the donkey and others burst out laughing!
Two thousand left for tomorrow's shipment, five thousand will be shipped tomorrow
Just been pulled away for a meeting, so I'm updating a bit late...
Today 6000 of me is still quite enough for my character, right?
