Four, Revenge Raid
"Excuse me, your army," the old man asked again, "that afternoon when we passed by many troops including division and regimental command posts, you didn't take action. Why did you choose to launch a massacre at noon when people were eating?"
Zhan Biao's answer left Yamamoto bewildered and speechless, laughing and crying at the same time: "Oh, what a pity. That day we were sleeping on top and didn't hear any troops passing by below." After saying that, Zhan Biao looked down at the eastern mountain wall for a long time without speaking, and Yamamoto also knew that it was where the Chinese army had been bombed, silently following his gaze.
Zhan Biao continued to answer: "The reason for the massacre is that your heavy machine gun squad was also eating here, and they even dug up our comrades who were buried by us the day before... We shed so much blood, let them shed the same amount of blood!"
Zhan Biao and his men slept till noon, the retreat was really exhausting. Zhan Biao, who was sleeping not far from the cave entrance, was awakened by the noise in the valley. He was shocked, how could he sleep so soundly? He came to the entrance of the cave and took a peek, then quickly withdrew his head. Wow, the whole valley was filled with Japanese troops, they were resting and eating, and just below the east wall of Dongshan where the National Army had eaten yesterday, there were more than 200 Japanese soldiers, an entire battalion.
The Japanese army's chūtai is equivalent to the National Army's battalion, with a standard infantry chūtai having over 180 people, including a 19-person headquarters and three infantry squads (equivalent to companies, each with 54 people). The number of personnel in the corresponding units of the Japanese army was much more than that of the National Army. If it were an A-type division of the Japanese army, there would be even more people, with one chūtai having up to 250 people.
Zhan Biao hastily returned to the cave and woke up his fellow disciples one by one. Everyone gathered at the entrance of the cave, analyzing the situation in front of them. There were two options: either hide themselves and protect their weapons or launch a surprise attack on the enemy. Zhan Biao decided on the first option, to hide well and protect their weapons. If the hiding place was exposed, the enemy would focus on it, and they wouldn't be able to complete the task of protecting their equipment. His fellow disciples also nodded in agreement, as they were used to following their senior brother's arrangements. In fact, Zhan Biao's decisions had always been correct and in line with everyone's wishes.
Listening to the increasingly noisy noise in the valley, Zhang Biao pressed his hand and let everyone crouch at the entrance of the cave, and he quietly crawled out and lay on the platform to observe. Suddenly, he saw him punching the stone wall beside him, shouting: "Bastard! Son of a bitch, give face don't want face!" Back at the entrance of the cave, he angrily said: "The Japanese devils dug up two graves of our comrades we buried yesterday. No way, we have to change our minds and take action to teach them a lesson!" It turned out that the Japanese army saw five big mounds with steel helmets on top, knowing that they were burying soldiers, so they dug them up and searched for money and gold teeth. A Japanese soldier proudly held up the French currency cut from the leg of the corpse, showing off, causing a lot of noise among the Japanese soldiers.
Another reason for Zhang Biao to change his mind was that he had clearly seen that the Japanese army's troops were also playing with heavy machine guns this time!
The Japanese army set up two rows of weapons on the north side of the dining position, one row with 18 Type 96 light machine guns and 9 Type 89 50mm grenade launchers, and another row with 12 Type 92 heavy machine guns. Zhan Biao thought of his more than 100 dead and wounded brothers, hummed, defeated our machine gun company, I will also eliminate your machine gun battalion! Blood debts must be repaid with blood!
"Those little Japanese are too arrogant, they killed our people and now they're desecrating their graves! If we don't avenge this now, we may not have another chance. This is the perfect opportunity to teach them a lesson, we shouldn't miss it, for the sake of our fallen brothers and the Chinese people. And those heavy machine guns are really making me drool." Everyone heard that the big brother was going to fight, they didn't say a word, their eyes were blazing with anger, they put on their German M35 steel helmets one after another. Xiaofeng clapped his hands: "Brother Biao, we're going all out, people say those devils are quite something, but we want to see if they really have steel bones and six arms."
Cheng Yisi thought for a moment and added: "Our position is easy to defend but hard to attack, and the devils are all concentrated on this platform, no, rooftop opposite us - I think it's more suitable to call this platform a rooftop. If we can seal off both ends of the valley and encircle the devils in the mountain valley, that would be ideal. As long as we don't leave any survivors, our location here won't be exposed."
Zhan Biao was very satisfied with the reaction of his fellow disciples. Everyone wasn't simply following blindly, and they were all able to think for themselves. He nodded at everyone and began to arrange: "That's right, remember, we must not leave any survivors in order to protect ourselves. We'll form pairs as primary and secondary shooters, set up three heavy machine guns on the frame, San De and Chang Jie will be one pair, blocking the north valley entrance, Xiao Feng and Er Zhu Zi will be another pair, blocking the south valley entrance, Qiang Zi and Zheng Wen will be a pair in the middle, sweeping across the enemy inside the valley. Cheng Yi, Liu Yang, and I, we three people each with a light machine gun will check for survivors and be responsible for preparing ammunition. When we start fighting, first throw a round of hand grenades, first stun them, use smoke to cover the entrance so they can't see us shooting. This way, our nine people will first throw three rounds of hand grenades together, facing our own front from near to far, the first round explodes at our feet, the second round explodes in the middle of the path, and the third round explodes on the opposite side, we must be quick and throw them all at once. Immediately after that, use machine guns to sweep. We must end this quickly, when I say stop, everyone stops. There's also one more thing to pay attention to, don't throw hand grenades near the machine guns and ammunition piles. Did you all hear clearly?" Everyone responded in unison with a soft "yes".
Zhan Biao looked at the sunlight at the entrance of the cave and whispered: "Remember, if we are unlucky and discovered by the devils, no matter how many people are left, we must retreat into the cave and continue to fight. No one is allowed to surrender. If there are one or two survivors, think of a way to return home and report...". Everyone was silent, knowing that victory or defeat would be difficult to determine in battle. The Japanese army was quite capable, just look at how accurately their planes dropped bombs yesterday, it's clear that the troops who retreated from the front line were not exaggerating. Zhan Biao paused for a moment, gritted his teeth and gave the order: "Alright, hurry up and prepare separately, no messing around! The battle will begin in ten minutes!"
After more than ten minutes, the nine people were all ready. Three muzzles of Maxim guns stared in three directions, and canvas belts filled with yellow bullets hung in the ammunition boxes. Next to the three Czech machine guns was a pile of live ammunition, and there were nine piles of hand grenades with their caps unscrewed...
Zhan Biao gave the order: "Prepare to throw grenades!" Everyone picked up their hand grenades. The tall and sturdy Qiangzi asked Zhan Biao, "Can we throw two at once?" Zhan Biao hesitated for a moment, "Qiangzi's hands are big, throwing two is okay, but San De, don't even think about it, or you'll end up throwing one into our own cave!" Everyone laughed, using the laughter to cover up their tension and nervousness, after all, this was their first time facing the ferocious Japanese army. San De stuck out his tongue and said discontentedly, "Throwing two, I'm not sure about that, but throwing accurately? Who dares to compete with me? Hmph!"
As soon as Zhang Biao let out a short and sharp "Charge!", the Japanese troops in the valley were stunned by the sudden appearance of a large number of black crows flying overhead! A series of rolling explosions could be heard, but it was unclear how many rounds had been fired. The area within a hundred meters in front of the cave entrance was swept clean by more than 50 hand grenades that came pouring down from above. Next came the low and powerful sound of heavy machine gun fire, mixed with the light and rapid firing of light machine guns. Most of the Japanese troops had just stood up after dropping their lunchboxes when they fell to the ground, and those who were rushing towards the row of heavy machine guns or fleeing towards the mouth of the valley fell down one by one.
This was the first time that Zhan Biao and his nine brothers were not shooting at targets but at real people in actual combat, and it was also the first time they did not mind wasting bullets. Although they had practiced hard before, they couldn't help feeling a little flustered for the first time in such a real fight, and their hearts were racing fast. Fortunately, there were nine of them together, especially with the eldest brother, after fighting for a while, everyone felt more at ease.
But the initial chaos still allowed the Japanese army to take advantage of the situation, and also let the devils experience the super strong combat power of the Japanese army again. It was seen that under this sudden attack, the Japanese army did not retreat or panic at all, and those who were not killed in the initial attack rushed towards their weapons like madmen, stubbornly resisting, they discovered the firepower points on the mountain wall!
The bravery and tenacity of the Japanese army made Zhang Biao understand what it means to be a true soldier. The Japanese army, in the face of death threats, had almost no fear of death. Some Japanese soldiers were hit but still rushed towards their weapons, while others were knocked down several times but still crawled forward stubbornly. Those who didn't move were already dead. Zhang Biao thought to himself that if both sides were well-prepared for battle, it would indeed be a hopeless fight. The Bushido of these devils was truly not in vain.
A Japanese lieutenant finally succeeded, he held the bodies of two companions and crossed the death line, pounced on a heavy machine gun, and very skillfully adjusted the angle, instantly firing a burst of bullets. The mountain wall suddenly splashed with stone chips, two crisp sounds of steel helmets, two consecutive dull hums, were the steel helmets of Erzhuangzi and Changjie that were hit by bullets, both heads tilted and fell to the ground.
Fortunately, the Japanese army's 92-style heavy machine gun used a 30-round cartridge clip, which required an assistant to reload when firing. This lieutenant was operating alone, and after one clip was fired, the sound of the gun stopped, and the light machine gun and strong heavy machine gun called out to him. In an instant, the Japanese lieutenant was shot into a sieve, with blood and flesh flying everywhere. This was the only time that the Japanese army's heavy machine gun squad made a threatening counterattack.
They finally understood that the Japanese army was also made of flesh and blood, and in the face of bullets, they were nothing special. Especially after being stimulated by Erzhu and Chang Jie being beaten unconscious, everyone started fighting with anger and boldness. Their marksmanship became more accurate, and their past hard work gradually paid off.
The sound of the Japanese counterattack grew weaker and weaker under the intense machine gun fire from Zhang Biao's nine men. In less than three minutes, there was no one moving in the valley. With a single order from Zhang Biao, everyone released their grip on the machine guns. The valley suddenly fell silent, without a sound. Er Zhuangzi and Chang Jie also got up, dazedly rubbing the bandages on their heads. Everyone else was also rubbing, rubbing their ears, which were still ringing from the shock of the gunfire.
