Chapter 6: The Great Wall Ballad (Part 1)

  As soon as the words fell, Zhang Songling himself was startled by his own words. In recent days, the poor performance of the Second War Zone officials and the bad news coming from all directions had been accumulating in his mind like dark clouds, making him confused, bewildered, and exhausted, sometimes even sleepless. But at this moment, it seemed as if a million rays of sunlight suddenly swept down from the night sky, clearing away all the dark clouds in his heart.

  Looking at the officers of several other special operations teams, they were also stirred up by Zhang Songling's words. Generally speaking, in their hearts, they had never linked their own actions to the rise and fall of the country. But at this moment, everyone suddenly discovered that on their thin shoulders, they were actually carrying the entire nation.

  "You're a talented young fellow, being just a小连长is really underutilizing your abilities!" Old Gou also turned his head, first stunned, then smiling and praising in a low voice. "Do well, after this battle is over, I'll talk to the old regimental commander and have him recommend you to attend the Central Military Academy in Nanjing!"

  Swish! Several comrades-in-arms turned their eyes to Zhang Songling, their gazes filled with envy. Especially the second battalion commander Liao Wenhua, who thought that after this, Zhang Xiaopang would take the fast track to promotion and wealth, his eyes burning with jealousy. Who would have thought that Zhang Songling himself was completely uninterested in Old Gou's offer, as if he didn't know the significance of the Nanjing Central Military Academy in the National Revolutionary Army, lightly shaking his head, softly declining: "Thank you for your cultivation, sir! However, I'd rather be on the front lines killing little devils! That spot, sir, is better left to someone else!"

  "You...?" Old Gou was stunned again, staring straight into Zhang Songling's eyes without seeing any deceit or panic. After a moment's thought, he knew the other party wasn't deceiving him, so he smiled and crawled over to hug Zhang Songling's shoulders, scolding in a low voice: "You ungrateful little brat! Do you think I'm Principal Jiang? You think whoever you want to get into Central Military Academy can just get in?! Our special operations team isn't just you, the only high school student!"

  "I must avenge my grandfather first!" Zhang Songling said with a smile, emphasizing in a low voice.

  "I get it!" Old Gou nodded with a look of understanding, and once again patted Zhang Songling's shoulder firmly. "I won't force you to go! I just think that if you become a general in the future, at least you'll cherish our brothers and not be like that Huang guy, who doesn't even understand the situation on the battlefield, yet still forces our brothers to fight to the death with the little devils!"

  "Yes, if Little Fatty were the commander of the Second War Zone, he would definitely not close his eyes and give orders blindly. He wouldn't abandon his brothers in the most critical moment of battle and run back to Taiyuan!" Shi Liangcai also crawled over, lowering his voice to tease.

  "If anyone dares to give me a hard time in the future, I'll report it to Zhang Xiaopang's name and scare him to death!" Liao Wenhua also put aside his complicated emotions and smiled as he chimed in.

  "That's natural, Little Fatty and us have a bond of chopping knives and killing devils together!" Wang Xuesong and Zhao Dafeng also joined the "pulling relationship" army, crawling over, lifting Zhang Songling's steel helmet was a rubbing motion.

  Zhang Songling's face turned red, and he covered his head with both hands, dodging left and right. Accidentally stepping on a dry branch, it snapped with a "crack", startling everyone into a cold sweat.

  The famous little devil's sentinel seemed to have also heard the abnormal movement on this side, holding a rifle with a bayonet attached, taking big strides towards the small hillside where the crowd was hiding. Having walked halfway, he felt his legs and feet sour, put down the bayonet, and fired a shot up the mountain slope!

  "Bang!" The bullet flew over the heads of Zhang Songling and others, knocking down a small branch with leaves. Liao Wenhua was startled and instinctively reached for his gun, but Shi Liangcai firmly held down his arm. "Don't move, in case we expose our position, everyone will die here!"

  Liao Wenhua was stifled, and could only nod his head in compliance. The little devil on the halfway up the mountain tilted his ear to listen for a while, but got no response, so he raised the 38 big cover again, firing at several other suspicious directions "Bang!" "Bang" "Bang" "Bang!"

  Bullets flew wildly, hitting leaves and branches that fell continuously. The backbone of the special forces team was under the strict supervision of Lao Gou and Shi Liangcai, not daring to make a sound as they lay on the ground. Time suddenly became very slow, with each second feeling like tens of thousands of years. All other noises in the surroundings completely disappeared, leaving only the monotonous sound of rifle shots: "Bang!" "Bang" "Bang" "Bang!", one after another.

  "Kouqiao Second Lieutenant, what are you doing?!" Finally, a rebuke came from the direction of the enemy camp, halting the suffocating gunfire.

  "Over there, I heard some noise over there!" Private Takahashi pointed to where the old man and others were hiding and loudly reported.

  "What have you found?!" A small devilish Wu Chang brought two other soldiers rushing over, looking in the direction pointed by Gao Qiao's finger.

  At this moment, the sky had already darkened, and the sparse tree shadows were swaying in the wind, as if hiding thousands of horses. The devil's squad leader only took a glance, but felt a chill run down his spine. However, he couldn't believe that the Chinese troops had the ability to cross over several mountains and lie in ambush right under their noses without being discovered by planes or other friendly units. Frowning, he loudly scolded: "Private Gaoqiao, your courage is too small! Being scared by a few small trees into this state, if you really encounter Chinese soldiers, wouldn't you immediately surrender to them?"

  "Hey, hey! The officer's scolding is extreme, Sergeant Takahashi knows he was wrong!" Corporal Takahashi didn't dare to talk back, put away his rifle and stood at attention.

  "Go back, don't be suspicious! You're scaring yourself to death!" The ghostly Wu Zhang looked again at the heavy mountains behind Lao Gou and others, and became even more convinced that it was impossible for the Central Army to reach this location. The vanguard of the Imperial Army had already arrived in the area of Guan Gou behind Nanziguan, dozens of miles away from here, with the ancient fortress of Gu Guan in between. If the Central Army wanted to attack this place, they would have to take down the ancient fortress first.

  That's really a fool's dream. With the poor training level and low equipment standards of the Chinese team, how is it possible? The troops at Niangzi Pass didn't even have a single mountain gun equipped. Without artillery support, how many lives would it take to retake the pass?

  Considering the huge gap in strength between the two sides, the Japanese sergeant was even more convinced of Private Takahashi's earlier thought that every blade of grass might be an enemy soldier. He glared at the latter fiercely and continued to scold: "Be more careful next time, don't waste bullets casually. You should know that those few shots you fired just now have already cost as much as a month's training expenses for our entire company!"

  "Hey, hey!!" Corporal Takahashi replied respectfully, following closely behind Sergeant Wu like a small puppy as they returned to the camp. Although he couldn't understand Japanese, Lao Gou had clearly seen the movements of the little devils and quietly wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead, turned around, and whispered: "Withdraw completely and wait for the aircraft! Whoever dares to make another sound, I'll personally shoot him!"

  The crowd spat and crouched, quietly retreating to the hiding place of the main force. With other brothers, they seized the opportunity to rest and accumulate their strength. In the blink of an eye, the second half of the night arrived, and with several loud explosions of hand grenades, large flames burst out again on the positions of the enemy troops. The brothers launched a new round of feigned attacks according to prior agreement, in order to distract the attention of the little devils.

  "Charge!" Old Gou waved his hand vigorously, leading the entire team to swiftly approach the Little Devil's camp. Everyone held their breath, like mountain goats, agilely crawling up the slope. Continuously, rocks and mud were trampled by everyone's feet, rolling rapidly down the slope with a thunderous roar. However, these sounds that made the special task force brothers' scalps numb were completely covered by the gunfire and hand grenade explosions in the sky, unable to reach the ears of the Little Devil soldiers on night watch.

  "Boom!" "Boom!" The little devil's artillery was also enraged, and began to pour shells onto the human position. Every shell that fell, splashed up a huge flame. The ground underfoot was shaken by the shells, and the Great Wall behind was also shaken. What didn't shake, however, were the soldiers' silhouettes, one after another, like giant rocks holding up the sky.

  "For the last time, check your puttees!" Old Gou's figure stopped at the edge of the woods less than 500 meters from the devils' camp, giving a low command.

  "Check your puttees!" The junior officers passed the command one by one, until it reached everyone's ears. The brothers lowered their heads and carefully examined every part of their bodies under the firelight and starlight in the sky, fearing that they might miss something and delay the charge later on.

  Lao Gou's telescope was borrowed by Zhang Songling again, with the help of the bright electric stone lamps inside the devils' camp, he could clearly observe the movements of the entire camp. There were not many devils soldiers on night duty, but at the key positions near the entrance of the camp, several temporary strongholds had been piled up with sacks at some unknown time. Several heavy machine guns protruded from behind the sacks, their icy barrels reflecting the light of the lamps.

  "If we use mortars to lift them, these few heavy machine guns will not be able to play any role!" Zhang Songling thought secretly in his heart, relying on the experience accumulated from the last sneak attack on the devils' artillery position. Before he had time to report his idea to Lao Gou, the other side had already issued a second order: "The heavy machine gun squad and mortar will go ahead and build a position to suppress the devil's firepower!"

  The brothers of the heavy machine gun squad took down several large water bottles from their backs, poured them into a few galvanized copper pots, and began to cool down the Maxim. A moment later, they quietly carried all the equipment out of the forest, stealthily approaching the enemy. Immediately after that, the only four mortars of the special operations team were also brought out, taking advantage of the cover of night to find suitable firing positions.

  To ensure the accuracy of the shooting to the greatest extent, the machine gun squad and mortar squad advanced under the risk of being discovered by the enemy sentry until they stopped within 300 meters of the target. Seeing that several firepower suppression teams were in place, Lao Gou raised his hand for the last time, shouting in a low voice: "The second battalion flanks to the left, the third battalion flanks to the right, and the first battalion charges directly at the front. Go, kill the devils!"

  "Kill the devils!" The brothers responded in unison in their hearts, leapt out of the forest and rushed towards the devils' camp.

  Note 1: Carbide lamp, invented in 1897. Calcium carbide reacts with water to produce acetylene, which is then ignited for lighting. Commonly seen on Chinese battlefields during World War II.