Thirteen

  Yan Wei said to Huang Ran who had been following him: "Hey, Counselor Huang, how many years have you been assigned to my unit?"

  Huang Rang didn't know what Yan Wei meant by this, so he thought for a moment and said: "It's been about two years, I think. I was transferred here from the 25th Division in 1936, when our division was fighting against the Second Red Army Corps on the Xilan Highway. At that time, our regiment was ordered to infiltrate the rear command post of the Second Red Army Corps, and I was specially assigned to come over and draw maps and plan routes for our regiment."

  "That's right, it was that time. The plan you came up with back then really worked! Our troops infiltrated and destroyed almost all the enemy command centers along the way! I still remember that battle, our 25th division annihilated nearly half of the Second Red Army's forces! It also established our commander's glorious military achievements in suppressing bandits and never losing a battle!" Yan Wei seemed to recall the life-and-death situation during the bandit-suppressing war, his face filled with emotion.

  "But in my heart, what I have always been proud of is the Battle of the Great Wall back then! That's the kind of battle a true soldier should fight!"

  At this time, Zhang Liao interrupted and said: "General, you think that the Great Wall War back then was the most representative of our military's style! But some people don't think so! I heard that Yang Ju, the original commander of the 145th Regiment of the 73rd Division of our 25th Army, after fighting the Battle of the Great Wall, even refused to accept the military merit medal awarded by the Military Commission! In the end, he defected from our National Army and joined the Communist Party!"

  Yan Wei smiled and said: "Zhang Liao, you little scoundrel, how dare you speak ill of Yang Ju? Do you even know who Yang Ju is?"

  Zhang Liao smiled and said, "I know. In the past, he was the regimental commander of our 25th division. He made a great contribution in the Battle of the Great Wall, making our 17th Army famous throughout the land! I heard that he is quite wealthy in his hometown of Shanxi and is a local wealthy family. Unfortunately, he has now joined the Communist Party."

  Yan Wei couldn't help but want to burst out laughing, but he was afraid of alerting the Japanese army, which should be nearby by now, and exposing their target, so he forced himself to hold it in.

  Yan Wei looked at Zhang Liao and smiled, "You go back and ask the old men from the original 145th division about Yang Ju, you'll understand what kind of person he is. Besides, now that the Communist Party has accepted the National Government's reorganization, we are also part of the national army's combat sequence. He, Yang Ju, can't be considered a traitor anymore! Remember this, Zhang Liao..." Then he turned his head to look at Huang Ran and continued, "And you, Huang Ran, in this world, who dares to say what is right or wrong? Even if it's about the Chairman's right or wrong, later on, the Military Bureau Director Dai will personally come to the troops to arrest people! I can still think of a way with General Guan to protect someone. But if you speak about Yang Ju's right or wrong and are unlucky enough to be found out by him... Ha ha! If he wants to kill someone, looking at the vast world, there won't be any place for them to hide!"

  Zhang Liao's face showed surprise, yet he seemed to not quite believe his own words. Yan Wei didn't bother with him anymore and turned to Huang Rang: "I was saying, since you were transferred to my guard unit, I haven't seen you fire a shot! You're not just a combat advisor from the start, are you? Have you ever been a real soldier in the lower ranks? Have you ever fought in battle?"

  "Huang Ran smiled and said, 'Commander, you know I graduated from the 12th term of Huangpu's infantry department. Due to the tense situation with Japan at that time, we didn't even finish our studies before being hastily graduated and assigned to various units below. I've fired a gun many times, my marksmanship is still passable, but as an infantryman carrying a rifle onto the battlefield, this is actually my first time. What I studied in military school was combat theory and mapping, and after joining the unit, I continued to do the same thing.'"

  "When the time comes and we engage with the Japanese army, don't take your rifle to the front line, just pay attention to covering yourself and keeping your life safe. Our unit can't do without you, a mapping expert...” Yan Wei's words were interrupted by a dense burst of gunfire from the southeast direction. Yan Wei understood that this was Blue Gang's unit already engaging with the pursuing Japanese army!

  "Prepare for battle and protect your own life." Yan Wei said and then took up his rifle and went forward two steps.

  As the gunfire drew closer, Yan Wei could clearly see the muzzle flashes of guns firing in the distance under the cover of night. At this position, Lan Gang's unit should have stopped firing quickly according to plan and dispersed to retreat back to their base secretly. The remaining task was supposed to be taken over by the soldiers guarding the entrance of the base to attract the Japanese pursuit troops. However, looking far away at the outer periphery of the base entrance, there were still continuous gunshots, and someone was fighting with the vanguard of the Japanese army that had arrived first and not retreating! Yan Wei couldn't help but wonder what Lan Gang was doing, but in an instant, he understood that the Japanese troops must have stretched their battle line too long during the pursuit, so Lan Gang's unit could not successfully lure all the Japanese into the encirclement by retreating now. They were determined to hold on until the main force of the Japanese army arrived!

  Yan Wei secretly thought: "This Lan Gang is ruthless! He's willing to risk his own life just to complete the task. I'll definitely not let him off next time!"

  "Huang Ran will hide in place, Zhang Liao will follow me." Yan Wei said and got up, carrying his gun to rush towards Lan Gang's department. Yan Wei, who never advocated for a desperate fight and didn't want to risk his life, couldn't just watch as Lan Gang was used as bait in a dangerous situation!

  At this moment, Yan Wei was at a disadvantage and couldn't see the Japanese army's situation in the distance. However, judging from the density of the enemy's gunfire, it seemed that his guess was correct, and he had indeed failed to lure all the subsequent Japanese troops over.

  Yan Wei Gun responded quickly, knocking down two Japanese soldiers closest to their position. He then swiftly took out a light machine gun that was spewing flames and made his way to Lan Gang's side. Covering his ear, he yelled, "Withdraw the troops immediately! Leave the rest to the defensive position!"

  But apparently the situation has changed again, and a large number of Japanese troops who rushed to the scene have already caught up, and at this moment, the dense firepower network formed by a large number of machine guns and rifles has made it impossible for Yan Wei and others to lift their heads!

  Yan Wei was about to use crawling method to convey orders, when he saw the machine gunners on the opposite side of the Japanese army's position being shot and killed one after another! Apparently, Yan Wei's soldiers also clearly saw this, and they took risks to expose their heads and shoot. Relying on the high-speed continuous shooting performance of the M1 Garand rifle, the situation suddenly changed.

  Looking at the Japanese army's position in front of him, where all the machine gunners were instantly annihilated, Yan Wei knew without thinking that it must be Qu Fei and He Lan who had arrived just in time. Judging from the order in which the Japanese machine gunners were killed and their wounds, if one were to deduce the trajectory of the bullets, the two men should still be sniping from a considerable distance away at his rear sides! Yan Wei even thought: "Could it be that these two people's eyes are like those of an owl? In such dark night colors, they can still accurately kill enemies 100 meters away without missing a shot!"

  Actually, Yan Wei understood that in this light, shooting to kill the enemy was not relying on the sniper's hawk-like eyes. At this moment, it was truly a hawk overlooking thousands of miles, and it was absolutely impossible to clearly see the target at 100 meters away in such a dark night! Unless it was an owl, which would be barely possible. In this situation, a sniper's shooting assessment is based on the muzzle flash of the gun when firing, the spark generated by the collision between the firing pin and the cartridge case, and the explosion of the primer at the bottom of the cartridge case, to determine the position of the shot! It was precious that in such a situation, every shot would hit its target!

  Seeing the situation improving, Yan Wei shouted to Lan Gang: "Order the soldiers to secretly retreat and enter the formation after a complete ceasefire." After finishing speaking, he raised his gun and shot another Japanese soldier.

  As Yan Wei's successive orders were transmitted, when there was no longer any return fire from their own position, even after Qu Fei and He Lan on both sides of him had silently withdrawn, Yan Wei took advantage of the moment when a Japanese soldier was reloading after firing to shoot him accurately with one shot. Then, he quickly picked up his rifle and ran back swiftly under the cover of night. This was actually undoubtedly taking a risk and gambling with death! But Yan Wei knew that the two black shadows following him were definitely Lan Gang and Zhang Liao, who clearly did not dare to abandon their superior officer at this time.

  The sound of gunfire from the enemy's position gradually disappeared, and Haruka pointed to the front line and said to Hama-saki Hiro-matsu beside him: "Commander Hama-saki, the battle in the front is obviously over. Please order the troops to conduct a thorough search of this area immediately, lest the enemy escape under the cover of night!"

  Hamazaki Hiro's expression clearly showed his dislike for subordinates who didn't know their place, and he looked at Haruka Motomiya with a sense of urgency: "Lieutenant Colonel Haruka, please give the order to pursue and search the troops."

  "Alright!" Yuan Huai immediately gave orders to the messenger to search forward for the target.

  Although the Japanese army was indeed attracted by the bonfires lit in the ambush circle as planned, due to the overly long battle line of this Japanese pursuit force, Lan Gang's unit had to engage in a positional warfare outside the ambush circle to wait for the gathering of subsequent Japanese forces. Therefore, although the Japanese army was successfully lured into the ambush circle at night according to the original plan, it did not completely form a good situation for annihilating the Japanese army as expected.

  Watching the Japanese army continuously pressing into the encirclement, Yan Wei understood that at this moment it was already impossible to annihilate the Japanese army as planned, and it could be said that this operation had already failed! So he twisted open a hand grenade handle cover, pulled out the pull ring, and threw it down at the Japanese army that had already entered below.

  For the dozens of Japanese soldiers hiding in this circle, more than 20 M24 hand grenades were obviously too luxurious! But according to the predetermined command, after the buried soldiers threw out their hand grenades one by one, they also understood that there was a problem with the predetermined tactics, and now they had to prepare to accept Yan Wei's latest order. Because after this round of grenade bombing, not a single shot was fired, and there were no longer any living people in the valley!

  "Order the whole army to form a semi-circular defensive position with Qiu Bian as the center, concentrate our forces and defend the eastern and western sides that the Japanese army is about to encircle, even if we can't annihilate the Japanese army, we must drag out time for Wu Hanhuai's side to retreat!"

  Jian Gang had just given the order to set up camp, and seeing Li Shan's tense expression as he followed closely behind him, said: "Don't be afraid, we'll see your father soon."

  "Sir, I'm not afraid at all! Is it that our plan hasn't worked out?" Li Shan said, clearly unwilling to let Yan Wei misunderstand him, and anxiously looked at Yan Wei.

  Facing this young man's inquiry, Yan Wei bitterly smiled and said: "That's right, it didn't work out!"

  Li Shan said: "Sir, we must fight to the death with them here! Our terrain is not advantageous!"

  "Is there still a discount?" Upon hearing Li Shan's words, Yan Wei suddenly became interested.

  "Yes! It's just that the direction is opposite to where my dad and them are going! Heading northeast, the terrain will get higher and higher, and after two miles, it'll all be small mountain peaks. Just occupy one spot and you can take the high ground and attack them from above! Better than fighting them head-on here!" Li Shan said, pointing towards the northeastern direction in the darkness of night.

  Yan Wei thought to himself, looking at the ordinary-looking mountain boy in front of him: "These father and son are both geniuses! Spending their days in these mountains competing with wild beasts, they've actually developed a natural strategic vision! They know how to fully utilize the terrain to outmaneuver their opponents. If they could just recognize a few characters and be sent to military school for training, they would definitely become a brilliant battlefield commander in the future! It's truly a treasure of China that there are so many talented people! Where is this barbarian land that can compare to us?

  "Follow me." Yan Wei said and immediately ran towards the front line.

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