Chapter 68: Pulling Out the Poisonous Fang

  Pull out the poisonous fang

  The dark night sky envelops the earth, rolling black clouds swallow the stars, and the biting cold wind whips up flying snow across the sky, decorating the desolate mountains. In the dead silence, there is an unyielding, seething hot blood hidden, which is the call of spring.

  Yun Xiangtian and Huang Min led the warriors of the Lethal Ghost Troop, silently hiding behind a mountain top behind the stronghold. They were covered in a thick layer of snow, completely blending into the mountainside. They closely monitored the movements within the stronghold, patiently waiting for the best time to attack.

  It was already midnight, and the machine gunner on the cannon tower at the entrance of the road stretched his waist, yawned, and moved his limbs. Yun Xiangtian lightly patted Chi Dian, who nodded in understanding. He tied a bundle of hand grenades to a rope, with his fingers hooked onto the grenade's ring.

  Yun Xiangtian, Huang Min, Wang Qi, and Feng Tianxiong raised their rifles, each aiming at the machine gunner and searchlight on the cannon tower. With Yun Xiangtian's order, four guns fired simultaneously. The searchlight went out, and Chi Dian jumped up, standing above the entrance of the dark fort. He grabbed the rope with one hand and threw the grenade forward with the other.

  The grenade flew out, pulled by the rope, and turned into the entrance, followed by a loud explosion. The Japanese inside the mountain cave were blown out. Huang Min waved his hand, and the soldiers of the Special Task Force threw four ropes fixed to the entrance, descending in an orderly manner and quickly occupying the cave.

  The explosion awakened the sleeping Japanese, who rushed out of their barracks, firing guns in all directions. The warriors of the Lethal Ghost Troop on the mountain top threw hand grenades like rain towards the Japanese. The two heavy machine guns inside the cave fired angrily, pouring bullets of hatred onto the enemy.

  In an instant, the Japanese were crying and howling, with many dead and wounded. The small group of Japanese, having nowhere to hide, hastily opened the large door in front of the stronghold and retreated into the cannon tower and fortifications on either side, stubbornly resisting and waiting for reinforcements.

  The Japanese action was beyond Yun Xiangtian's expectations; he had never thought that they would retreat into the cannon tower and fortifications outside the stronghold to counterattack, resulting in a standoff between the two sides. The cliff that was originally advantageous for attacking the Japanese had become an insurmountable chasm for pursuing them.

  Gunfire and artillery sounds came from the direction of Taohua Ridge, and gunfire sounds came from the direction of Linping. The blocking battle had begun. Yun Xiangtian knew that taking down the stronghold as soon as possible would reduce casualties among the blocking troops. But the current situation left him at a loss.

  Just as Yun Xiang Tian and Huang Min were in a dilemma, a team of troops rushed over from the main road. Lieutenant Tian Ye, the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the Lethal Ghost Brigade's newly formed 1st Regiment, hugged a light machine gun and led the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion to charge over. The Japanese army was caught in a pincer movement and immediately fell into chaos. Yun Xiang Tian seized the opportunity, commanding all his brothers on the cliff to slide down the mountain using ropes and launch a comprehensive attack. The entire encirclement battle went extremely smoothly, with most of the puppet troops already kneeling on the ground with their hands raised high above their heads when Yun Xiang Tian launched the attack. The remaining ones were annihilated along with the little devils.

  Yun Xiang Tian and Huang Min joined forces with Tian Ye, who then said: "Report to the commander, Tian Ye disobeyed military orders and took unauthorized action. Requesting military law to take action."

  Yun Xiang Tian Zhuang heavily saluted Tien Yeh and said: "Third Company Commander, you grasped the initiative on the battlefield, launched a flexible attack, led your troops to raid and defend against the Japanese army's stubborn resistance, and effectively coordinated with the Special Forces' actions. This is indeed a great achievement! After the battle, we will celebrate your victory. Now I order Comrade Tien Yeh to lead the Third Company and the Red Mountain Sister's unit to rapidly rush to reinforce the blocking of the Japanese army's Ba Tian Long unit on the Lin Ping front. You are the battlefield commander. Notify the Second Company to coordinate with the Special Forces to take out the Japanese stronghold at Peach Blossom Ridge."

  In the eyes of Tianye, a look of admiration flowed out. He gave Yunxiang a standard military salute and loudly replied: "Yes, can't stop the little devils, I'll take my head to see." Turning around, he shouted: "Third company assemble, target Nan Shan Ao, advance at a run."

  Tian Ye shouted loudly after leaving the field: "The first row stays at the guard post, guarding the prisoners. The second and third rows change clothes immediately and rush to the Peach Blossom Ridge outpost."

  At dawn, a group of Japanese wounded soldiers arrived outside the Taohuajing Japanese military base. The leading officer loudly shouted to open the gate. The Japanese soldiers at the base asked them if they were wounded soldiers from the Lihuigou base. After the small team leader verified their identities again and confirmed that they were indeed wounded soldiers from Lihuigou, he ordered the gate to be opened to let them in.

  Disguised as a wounded Japanese military officer, Yun Xiang Tian led the special forces unit led by Huang Min into the gate when it opened and launched a surprise attack on the unguarded devils. The battle was over when Geng Xi Wang's second unit arrived. Yun Xiang Tian ordered the special forces to guard the stronghold and he led the second unit to attack the Japanese reinforcements at Li Hua Gou.

  When the troops led by Tian Ye withdrew from Linping, the entire battle came to an end. Yun Xiangtian ordered the destruction of the artillery towers and defensive fortifications at the two strongholds, and then retreated back to Lingfeng. At the celebratory banquet in the command center at Lingfeng, Yun Xiangtian held up a bowl of wine and said first: "This battle was successful in taking out the two strongholds at Lihua Gou and Taohua Ridge, and the merits of Tian Ye, the company commander of the newly formed 1st Battalion, 3rd Company, cannot be overstated. If he hadn't led his troops to reinforce and launch a surprise attack on the special forces company at Lihua Gou stronghold in time, the entire battle wouldn't have gone so smoothly. Come, let's all toast to our meritorious comrade, and also to our fallen brothers." After finishing speaking, he took a big gulp of wine first.

  The ruler of Qi spat out the wine he had drunk and looked at others loudly saying: "How is this? Is this water? What about yours?"

  Sitting next to the commander of the Qi state, Tian Ye looked at the wine cup with a worried expression. He took a small sip and smiled wryly: "It's really wine! Vice Commander of the Qi army, is your cup filled with water? Unlikely."

  Qiguo Jiang took a glance at Tianye, not saying a word. He picked up the wine bowl in front of Tianye and took a big mouthful. He spat it out again and shouted loudly: "That's wine? This is clearly water!" His words caused everyone to burst into laughter.

  Yun Xiang Tian suppressed a smile and said, "Deputy Commander Qi, I heard that you once made a military oath with Huang Da Ge to not drink during battles. I don't want you to be punished. Today, let's just use tea instead of wine to celebrate our victory. We'll have a proper drink after we take down Lin Ping City."

  "Captain, that was in the past. We fought against the little devils many times and were defeated, so I got drunk with anger and neglected my military duties, which led to me signing a military order with the battalion commander. But today we broke through the enemy's lines and won, so the old military order is abolished, right? Today we're having a celebratory feast, so we have to drink some wine, don't you think? What kind of celebration would it be without wine? Even if I, Old Qi, don't drink, we should at least let everyone else have a little, and make merry, haha! You say that's right, don't you?"

  Huang Min glared at Qi Guo and said, "Sit down, you're just a drunkard, can't live without wine, right? What's wrong with you? Are you ashamed?" He turned his head to Yún Xiāng Tiān and said, "Yún young brother, today we celebrate our great victory, or else..."

  Yun Xiang Tian smiled and glanced at Huang Min: "Or what? Or, or, shall we have a drink?"

  Huang Min nodded happily and said: "Yes, yes. Today we're happy, let's drink a little less?"

  Yun Xiang Tian slapped the table and stood up with a expressionless face, saying: "You all want to drink, huh?" Everyone fell silent, staring blankly at Yun Xiang Tian. All they heard was Yun Xiang Tian shouting again: "Come on, bring it over!"

  Everyone stared at Xiuzhu and Yansnow in confusion as they walked in, each carrying a tray covered with red cloth. Qiguo took a deep sniff and said: "It's wine, it smells like wine." He hastily lifted the red cloth and let out a loud whoop, saying: "It's wine, it really is wine!"

  Huang Min asked in confusion: "Captain, what does that mean?"

  Yun Xiang Tian pouted and said: "Since Vice Commander Qi won't drink, then we'll have some. It's a celebratory feast, how can we do without wine?"

  The Qi state will rush over to the wine jug on the tray, shouting loudly: "Others may not drink, but I, old Qi, must drink, even if it means being punished by military law." After finishing, he poured himself a large bowl and drank it all in one gulp, still unable to forget to say: "Good wine, refreshing!"

  "Drinking is allowed, but getting drunk is not. Anyone who gets drunk will be disqualified from the next battle."

  Qiguo gritted his teeth and said: "Fine, as long as it allows me to kill devils, I don't mind not drinking enough today, tomorrow I'll drink the blood of those little devils to quench my thirst."

  Ling Feng was immersed in a joyful atmosphere, but the Japanese army on the opposite side was brewing a conspiracy. The ammunition depot was blown up, and the strongholds were knocked down. It was impossible for the Japanese army to launch a large-scale attack, but they came up with another vicious plan.