Chapter 6: The Great Wall Ballad (Sixth Middle School)

  Although he had already experienced a night raid on the enemy, Zhang Songling was still nervous and sweating. Last time he was a new recruit, following Shi Liangcai's footsteps was enough, but this time, he was already the deputy commander of the second battalion of the first regiment, with nearly a hundred brothers watching him.

  "Tian Xiao Pangzi and the others are also watching from above!" He muttered to himself in a low voice, bent down, quickly lifted his legs and landed lightly, pouncing forward like a leopard cat, avoiding startling the little devils in the camp.

  This action shocked Liao Wen Hua greatly, in his old unit, although the company commander also had to go to the front line, but the one who led the charge was definitely the platoon leader or squad leader. But at this moment, Little Fatty Deputy Company Commander ran ahead of all the brothers in the whole company!

  Before he could decide how to react, the rest of his brothers had already followed suit, each one quick to lift their legs and land lightly on their feet, like a pack of hunting leopards.

  "Can't let the little fatty steal the show!" In a flash, Liao Wenhua made his decision. Before taking off, he quickly looked around and found that Team Leader Gou was actually ahead of Little Fatty, while his direct superior, Battalion Commander Gong Ziqiang, was only about half a step behind Gou.

  "A bunch of lunatics!" Liao Wenhua muttered to himself as he quickened his pace. Unfortunately, having been caught up with the lunatics, he could only accompany them in their madness. Otherwise, if someone with ill intentions were to see him, it would be a big trouble afterwards.

  Relying on his many years of experience in the army, he tried not to be in the front row. That was the easiest place to get shot, and after a battle, no more than one-tenth of the total number of people could walk off the battlefield alive. Zhang Xiaobao was in that row, if he got shot...

  A surge of excitement suddenly rushed to Liao Wen's mind, causing him to stare at Zhang Songling even more intently. Just then, several shrill whistles pierced the air as the Special Task Force's mortars began to fire, their 82mm shells drawing beautiful arcs before landing next to the heavy machine gun behind the sandbags, beating the enemy sentries to the discovery of the Special Task Force brothers.

  "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" The huge explosion sounded in succession, and the three groups of little devil machine gunners didn't even see who the enemy was, and they flew into the sky with their heavy machine guns. Another three mortar shells were fired a few meters off target, only knocking down the devils and machine guns at the target location, but not destroying the entire fortress. The sleeping devils were immediately awakened by the explosion, shouting and rushing out of the field tent. Some carried rifles, while others didn't even have time to tidy up their clothes, revealing round bellies from under their open jackets.

  "Charge!" Old Gou raised his shotgun, straightening his waist. "Bang, bang, bang, bang..." The two box cannons were used by him as if they had grown eyes, and the bullets chased after the devils' chests and bit hard. The several special service officers who rushed to the front also raised their box cannons one after another, quickening their pace, and gave the little devils a multi-gun salute in the process.

  "Bang, bang, bang, bang..." "Bang, bang, bang, bang..." At a distance of over 150 meters, not everyone can shoot as accurately as Old Gou. But the sufficient firepower of the box cannon still made the little devils who had just crawled out of their marching tents dizzy and disoriented.

  "Enemy attack!" "Enemy attack!" Several little devils shouted in panic, holding the Type 38 rifle and firing wildly. However, they were soon shot into a beehive by bullets. The first few rows of special agent soldiers ran with their legs open, took down the rifles on their shoulders, pulled the trigger, and fired row after row of bullets.

  According to the order before departure, the three battalions of the special operations team began to disperse and attack the enemy's left, middle and right routes while running. The little devils didn't expect that thousands of Chinese troops would suddenly emerge from underground, and in a hurry, they didn't know which route to block first. They were like headless flies, rushing back and forth in the camp, occasionally firing a few shots, but with no accuracy at all.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat..." The brothers struggled to carry the heavy Maxim machine gun over the mountain and it began to take effect. Several bursts of fire swept away more than 20 devils. The other living devils were stunned as if struck by lightning, stopping in their tracks, looking around in all directions. It wasn't until another dozen or so companions were mowed down by the machine gun that they let out a loud cry and fell to the ground together.

  The walnut garden is too far away from the enemy's position, and almost no devils would believe that those people who were beaten by themselves without any resistance in recent days would actually risk their lives to cross tens of miles of mountain roads and sneak up on them outside the Niangzi Pass. They fired randomly while lying on the ground, cursing loudly. They cursed the negligence of the night sentry, cursed the cunning of the Chinese people. The only ones they wouldn't curse were themselves.

  For this group of beasts that never knew how to reflect, Lao Gou would not show any mercy. With the dual-handed box cannon firing alternately, he named and shot each of the little devils blocking his way forward. The soldiers of the Special Operations Battalion, led by Gong Ziqiang, closely guarded Lao Gou's front, back, left, and right. There were several moments when the little devil's bullets almost flew past Lao Gou's body, either falling empty or being blocked by his brothers' chests.

  "Charge! Don't mind me, you damn well better hurry up and charge forward before those little devils react!" As he watched several comrades fall around him, Lao Gou yelled loudly. Gong Ziqiang neither responded nor talked back, using hand gestures to summon a squad of comrades to continue fighting to protect Lao Gou with their lives. He himself, hugging the light machine gun, charged to the front of the troops and fired a string of flames at the enemy.

  "Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat..." The light machine gun bullets pierced the enemy's position, bringing up strings of crimson blood beads. Several enemy soldiers suddenly jumped up and ran towards the depths of the camp without looking back. Inside the camp, a crooked handle suddenly opened fire, directly killing the escaping enemy soldiers on the spot.

  "Come closer!" Lieutenant Kanetsugu Kawashima of the Japanese army yelled, shooting and killing more than a dozen fleeing soldiers with his light machine gun. "Come closer, I've already asked for instructions from the mountain below and the old pass, reinforcements will arrive soon!"

  "Hold on, hold on!" Several squad leaders also shouted loudly, assisting Kawashima Koji in rounding up the panicked enemy soldiers. The camp had a large amount of ammunition stored inside that hadn't been transported to the old fort yet, and if it fell into the hands of the enemy, even with Lieutenant Kawashima at the forefront, they would all end up dead.

  Compared to the majority of people in this era, the little devils' soldiers were all elite. Under the tireless efforts of several squad leaders, they quickly recovered from their panic and began to actively gather together. The remaining three heavy machine guns were also set up again by the devils, and together with the light machine guns inside the camp, they frantically spewed out flames. More than a dozen veteran devils even rushed to the edge of the camp, standing upright and throwing hand grenades outward.

  "Boom!" A hand grenade exploded on the path that the Special Operations Battalion had to take, knocking over three comrades. Zhang Songling's figure was quickly engulfed in smoke, causing Lieutenant Colonel Liao Wenhua's heart to skip a beat. Before he could confirm whether his true feelings were joy or sorrow, Zhang Songling's distinctive rotund figure jumped up from behind the smoke, firing two pistols left and right, hitting an enemy soldier who was about to throw a grenade, causing blood to splatter everywhere on his chest.

  "Protect Zhang Lianchang!" shouted Liao Wenhua, not even knowing himself whether it was out of false pretenses or genuine concern. Several more hand grenades fell down, smoking, and scattered around Zhang Xiaopang's front, back, left, and right. Xiaopang fell to the ground with a thud, and then a series of explosions completely buried him. "Zhang Lianchang——" Liao Wenhua heard someone shouting loudly in his ear, the voice covering up all the machine gun fire and grenade explosions. "Zhang Lianchang——" He himself also involuntarily shouted along with them, dashing deep into the smoke, searching for that figure who used to be very annoying to him. Under a pile of dirt, a helmet struggled to emerge, revealing a lieutenant's uniform torn by shrapnel below. He rolled over and rushed up, preparing to bandage Xiaopang's wounds, but was skillfully avoided by the latter. "Nothing serious!" Zhang Xiaopang turned back and smiled at him, his teeth gleaming white.

  "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" Six mortars fired two rounds of simultaneous shots, silencing the enemy's heavy machine gun once again. The flames illuminated Zhang Songling's figure, and his round appearance suddenly became extremely lovable in Liao Wenhua's eyes.

  "Watch out!" Zhang Songling suddenly jumped up again, embracing Liao Wenhua and rolling into a foxhole. A hand grenade smoked and fell on the position where the two had just stood, blowing up a cloud of smoke and dust.

  "Damn it, who's afraid of whom!" Liao Wenhua was suddenly enraged and didn't care if he or Zhang Songling were injured. He pulled out a Shanxi-made hand grenade from his waist, unscrewed the cap, pulled the string, and threw it at the enemy position.

  "Boom!" The hand grenade exploded, shrouding the devil and his line of sight in a cloud of black smoke. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhang Songling stood up again, carrying the box cannon to continue charging forward. A barricade built by the devils with burlap sacks and wooden crates blocked his way, he fired several shots at the devil's camp through the burlap sack, but it was like scratching an itch, his heart burning with anxiety. Liao Wenhua quickly ran up front, throwing one hand grenade after another into the burlap sack, not seeking to kill many devils, but at least ensuring that the devils could not open fire or throw grenades above Zhang Xiaopang and himself.

  "Kill the devils!" Deputy Zhao Dafeng wiped Zhang Xiaopang's body and rushed over, single-handedly pushing aside the devil's obstacles. With a burst of strength in his legs, he descended from the sky like a hawk. In the instant he landed, he fired all the bullets in the box cannon, then quickly dropped the box cannon, stretched out his hand behind him, and the knife shone brightly like a strip of white silk!

  "Kill the devils!" Several more warriors, surpassing Zhang Xiaopang and Liao Wenhua who were stumbling about, charged into the devil's lair with their large knives, one knife per devil, chopping them until they wailed to their fathers and mothers.

  "Kill the devils!" Unable to continue throwing grenades for fear of harming his own people, Liao Wenhua looked up and estimated the height of the obstacle. He found a few protruding points, put his hands on them, and then, like a monkey, climbed to the top of the obstacle.

  "Come on!" As if possessed, he bent down and stretched out his right hand to Zhang Songling. The latter's face showed a clear expression of astonishment, which was immediately covered by a smile.

  Pulling Liao Wenhua's hand, Zhang Songling clumsily climbed over the obstacle. At this moment, more than a hundred brothers had already rushed into the devils' camp, raised one of the three great treasures of the Northwestern Army, the big knife, and chopped the little devils to fall people and horses.

  "Kill the devils!" The two battalion commanders of the first regiment and the first company exchanged a smile, simultaneously drew out their large knives from behind their backs, and charged into the battle formation together.

  Beside them stands a majestic Great Wall. Having withstood countless storms and become worn out, yet it will never fall.

  Note 1: A standard Japanese Army infantry company had approximately one hundred and eighty men, including: a nineteen-man company headquarters: company commander, executive officer, three sergeants, four medical orderlies, an orderly for the officers, a bugler, eight communications personnel, and three platoons of fifty-four men each.

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