Chapter 38: The Little Devil Has Gone Mad

  Because the Japanese reinforcements would not arrive until three days later, Zhang Damao estimated that after yesterday's daytime and nighttime battles, the Japanese army facing them should not attack their positions again. Unexpectedly, at more than 3 pm, the Japanese appeared in his telescope again.

  "Didn't they say the devils' reinforcements wouldn't arrive for two or three days?" Zhang Damao said to Li Liansheng, holding up his binoculars and looking through them.

  "Yes! If that's the case, then the little devil's forces would be two battalions, and the newly reinforced ones are even better equipped..." Li Liansheng checked the formation and arrived at Zhang Daman's side.

  "Didn't Guo Mazzi say that a company from the 211 regiment would arrive immediately? Mother... how come it's been so long and there's still no news, but the enemy's reinforcements have arrived first!" Guo Jinnan actually didn't have any pimples on his face, and nobody remembered when or why he got this nickname. Zhang Daman and Li Liansheng were both old soldiers who followed Guo Jinnan when he was a squad leader, and they always showed great respect for him. Now Zhang Daman called him by his nickname instead of "regiment commander", which showed that he was very anxious, and didn't have confidence in the upcoming battle, after all, the enemy's forces were overwhelmingly superior.

  "Hmm... it seems wrong?"

  "What's wrong? What's not right?" Zhang Damao, who was lying in the trench and had just taken out a cigarette to light up, heard Li Liansheng's words and quickly picked up his binoculars again. Whenever he encountered difficulties, he couldn't help but think of smoking a cigarette.

  "Look, the enemy's artillery seems to still be those 2 'door' 92-step cannons plus a few 'door' howitzers. Logically speaking, if it were really the enemy's ace mountain warfare division's battalion, shouldn't they have at least one cannon?" Li Liansheng said with some curiosity as he looked at Zhang Daman.

  "Right... it seems that the enemy doesn't have many people either, not like two companies' worth of troops," Zhang Damao said, putting down his binoculars and looking at Li Liansheng.

  "Can't believe those devils from yesterday still haven't given up... they're not satisfied with the number of people who died yet... haha... Seeing the formation of the enemy 'Japanese' army, Zhang Dama's hanging heart finally fell, and he even felt a little proud. With their current preparations, just the pit where Zhang 'Mist' Dragon lies in wait can kill dozens of devils. As for this bunch of defeated soldiers, Zhang Dama didn't put them in his mind at all."

  "Are we calling them devils all day, devils... they've really become devils. So the devil is bewildered and cries out to us for a single bullet... haha...". At this time, Li Lian Sheng was also relaxed, and he, who rarely joked, even started making jokes.

  "I really hope they're stupid enough to come visit our position twice a day, so that by the time reinforcements arrive, I'll have already sent them all back home with a smile." Zhang Damao said as he put away the cigarette he had just taken out, when he was in a good mood, he wasn't interested in smoking.

  "Ah, the little devil's barrel is shaking, let's hurry up..." Zhang Damao was loading his gun while Li Liansheng held onto his binoculars, keeping an eye on the Japanese army's movements across from them. He saw that the Japanese artillerymen had already begun to move their shells into place and knew that the bombardment would begin any moment now. They had already bombarded this area once before, so there was no need for them to re-calibrate anything for such a large-scale attack.

  "The devils are going to shoot cannons, hurry up and hide in the cave!" Zhang Damao shouted while following Li Liansheng into a nearby anti-cannon cave.

  "The enemy's artillery fired a round of indiscriminate and uninterrupted bombardment at the position of our company, lasting for as long as half an hour."

  "Eh... Big Ma, ... it seems like the devils are using 92-type cannons? The sound doesn't seem like a howitzer... Listen carefully, is that right?" Li Liansheng usually didn't call Zhang Damao "Commander" in private, but directly called him "Big Ma". At this time, he held his breath and listened carefully to the sound of the Japanese army's shells piercing through the air and exploding, saying to Zhang Damao.

  "Right! Logically, this indiscriminate bombing should be done by the 'Japanese' military's long-range heavy artillery. Eh... Li Zi, I think I understand now. This group of devils must have received orders to wait in place for support, but they want to save face before the reinforcements arrive, so they want to wipe us out first. That's why there is no 'Japanese' military heavy artillery bombing. If my guess is correct, this must be their own doing."

  "Ah, it makes sense... Ah, this good thing has finally come to us... Hehe... Hmm... The cannon fire has stopped, I reckon the devils are about to charge." Li Liansheng said, kicking Zhang Damao who was leaning in the trench at that moment.

  "Ah ya valley... Ah ya valley..."

  "Dada, dada, dada, dada, dada..."

  "Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!" As expected, after the cannon fire stopped, the devilish officer's mad shouting mixed with the sounds of machine guns and rifles rang out. The 92 artillery that had just stopped firing also occasionally fired two shots.

  Zhang Damao's estimate was correct, this group of 'Japanese' troops had received orders to stand by and wait for reinforcements after three consecutive defeats, but because the Japanese squadron leader had been sent back home by Zhao Zhibang yesterday, the new squadron leader who came up wanted to perform well in front of his superiors and also wanted to gnaw on the hard bone in front of him before the arrival of the reinforcement troops to save some face, so he launched an attack on the Chinese squad without waiting for the reinforcements and without the support of long-range artillery fire.

  "This time, the devils seemed to have studied China's military tactics of breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat. All the machine guns, artillery, grenade launchers, and even the 2-inch cannons were firing frantically, while the infantrymen, each with a white cloth wrapped around their heads, charged forward recklessly. When one fell down in front, those behind would immediately trample over the corpse and continue charging forward like madmen. Even the machine guns, which were originally easy targets for our troops to shoot at, also followed the infantry and charged towards our position."

  "They're crazy, they're really crazy... The little devils are truly out of their minds. Because the Japanese army launched a suicidal attack that completely disregarded all rules and regulations, it was totally beyond Zhang Daming's expectations. After Zhao Zhibang took out two of the three machine gunners, the remaining one simply dropped his machine gun, picked up a bayonet, and charged forward with the infantry. Meanwhile, the 92-type cannon in the back was firing wildly at the company's position, as if it wouldn't stop until all its ammunition was depleted. It wasn't just the 92-type cannon; the mortars and grenade launchers were also firing indiscriminately. Under this intense and reckless firepower from the Japanese army, the casualties of the Chinese company suddenly increased dramatically."

  "Zhāo Zhìbāng, first take out the enemy's mortar and grenade launcher...!" Looking at the 'Japanese' army that had already charged over 100 meters away, Zhang Dàmáng crouched into the trench connected to Zhao Zhìbāng's and shouted loudly.