Chapter 6: The Great Wall Ballad (Part 2)

  The little devils relied on their excellent equipment and rigorous training, and they actually dared to think that with just half a division of troops, they could annihilate all the defenders at Nanguan. This snake swallowing an elephant's egg made their own defensive strength extremely weak. Throughout the entire Walnut Garden camp, bullets and shells were piled up like mountains, but only one squadron of little devils was stationed there to guard it. As for Lao Gou's labor battalion, even after deducting non-combat personnel and miscellaneous staff, they still had over a thousand brothers.

  With over a thousand brothers launching a surprise attack on more than 180 devils, it didn't require too high a level of command art. As long as the brothers could rush to the devils' side and explode, as long as the brothers dared to clash head-on with the little devils at close range, there was no reason to lose. And the tradition of the special operations team's officers leading by example greatly boosted the morale of the brothers. Almost every company commander charged to the front of their own company, followed closely by the deputy company commanders and several platoon leaders.

  It's also a charge, shouting "Brothers, follow me up" and "Brothers, come with me", the effect is vastly different. Watching the officers rush forward without regard for their lives, even new recruits who have just enlisted for a short time, do not dare to think of retreating in the face of the enemy. One by one, they gritted their teeth, bent their waists, and ran forward with all their might, mingling with the crowd. At first, the enemy's light machine guns were still aiming at the leading officers, but later on, they couldn't even aim properly, sweeping left and right against the surging crowd.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat..." Several brothers were hit by the machine gun and fell on the charging road. The brother next to him stepped over his body without hesitation, braving the enemy's bullets, and continued forward. "Rat-a-tat-tat..." The devil's crooked light machine kept firing, but found that more and more soldiers rushed to the camp, not only in front, but also on both sides, countless soldiers came up like they were out of their minds.

  "Boom!" A mortar shell arced down into the enemy ranks, sending a devilish shooter holding a light machine gun flying into the air. "Rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat..." The Maxim heavy machine gun of the special operations team also targeted the key points in the enemy camp, clearing them out one by one. The devils' light machine gunners often hadn't even finished loading a new magazine before they were forced out of their hiding spots by the Maxim and mortar fire, clutching their ugly guns and screaming as they were mowed down into a heap of bloody flesh.

  "Boom!" "Boom!" The mortar adjusted its firing angle again, passing over the heads of our own brothers who were charging at the front, and landing among the enemy, blowing up body after body. The enemy's gunfire grew more sporadic, and the pressure on the battlefield eased. Zhao Dafeng, Zhang Songling, and Liao Wenhua, who had already charged into the camp, wielded their big knives under the cover of the heavy machine guns, directly slashing at the enemy soldiers who were firing while prone, beheading them one by one and kicking their heads flying far away.

  When more than half of the brothers in a company charged into the enemy's camp, the heavy machine guns, mortars and grenade launchers on both sides completely lost their effectiveness. At such close range, a sweep of the machine gun would take out seven or eight of our own men along with the enemy. And as for artillery shells and grenades, those things were even more inaccurate. If they happened to be aimed at the enemy but landed among our own troops instead, the impact on morale was almost fatal!

  "Mount!" shouted Captain Kawashima Koji, raising his command sword high in the air. With a series of "clicks", all the remaining Japanese soldiers voluntarily ejected the bullets from their rifles, attached bayonets, formed into groups of three and five, and took up a formation for bayonet combat.

  Playing with knives, that's the northwest army's most skilled project. The first battalion commander, Gong Ziqiang, laughed loudly and threw away the empty clip of his light machine gun. With a big hand, he pulled out his own large knife from behind his head. Taking advantage of the momentum, he came up with a powerful slash, cutting the nearest Japanese soldier into two bloody pieces along with his rifle.

  "Eight Trigrams Formation!" The other two devils in the same group as this little devil let out a shrill cry, one of them thrusting straight at Gong Zisheng's chest. Another turned his body sideways, attempting to launch a sneak attack on Gong Zisheng's waist. Gong Zisheng suddenly swung his large knife upwards from below, sending the devil in front flying, then quickly spun around and stepped forward, the light of his knife drawing a beautiful arc in mid-air that swept straight towards the neck of the other devil!

  It's a matter of who dares to persist until the end. Even if the little devil's dagger can pierce through Wang Ziqiang's waist, the inertia-assisted big knife can also take this person's head off from his neck. The Japanese soldier, who had been influenced by Bushido for many years, didn't expect that there was someone in this world who was more ruthless than himself, and instinctively retreated to avoid it. Wang Ziqiang's knife light went empty, and he immediately twisted his waist to counterattack, the big knife folded back from an incredible angle, cutting open a bloody mouth on the little devil's belly.

  "Ah——" The wounded Japanese soldier let out a desperate howl, dropped his rifle, and grabbed his intestines with both hands to stuff them back in. Gong Ziqiang didn't even give him another glance, and the knife light once again chased after the Japanese soldier who had been knocked flying earlier. That Japanese soldier was clearly frightened by the brutal scene, took off his helmet, and swung it wildly with one hand. Gong Ziqiang cut off the strap of this person's helmet with one slash of his knife, and then with another slash, beheaded him, sending his head flying into the sky.

  In the sky, blood rained down. One after another, the devils' heads were cut off by the big knife and rolled in mid-air in despair. They are cruel, they are evil, they are greedy; they fought from Japan to Korea, and from Korea to the three northeastern provinces; they occupied the three northeastern provinces but were not satisfied, they wanted to occupy the whole territory; they wanted to make the great Yamato nation with only tens of millions of people ride on the heads of the Chinese people like those nomadic tribes in history, bullying and extorting. They are doomed to be eliminated on the land of China like those nomadic tribes, turning into piles of dung!

  "Dada dada dada" the bugler sounded the traditional Northwest Army's suona, to boost the morale of the troops. Someone kicked over the kerosene lamp in the chaos, turning the enemy's marching point into a lone torch. Some people bent down halfway through the charge and gave each of the wounded devils an extra knife to prevent them from playing the trick of self-destruction again. The brothers of the Land Management Team charged into the devil's group with their companions, using big knives to cut out bloody paths.

  The sky was quickly set ablaze, red like the bottom of a pot. Under the blazing vault, the distant Great Wall seemed even more majestic. He stood there, he had always stood there, his eyes wide open, quietly and proudly watching the battle beside him. From the day it was built to now, through nearly two thousand years of wind and rain, he had witnessed countless battles. Witnessed victories, witnessed defeats, witnessed draws, yet never made a sound.

  He won't make a sound, he won't applaud for the guardians, but he quietly sends his own roar and cheers into the depths of every guardian's soul. Let them feel the power of the Great Wall, let them feel the dignity of the Great Wall, let them unhesitatingly use their souls to cast another Great Wall that will never fall! From the east sea to the west desert. When disaster strikes, every person with human blood flowing in their veins and proud of their ancestral heritage becomes a brick on the Great Wall, shoulder to shoulder, soul to soul, for parents, brothers, for children and grandchildren, blocking the beasts from outside, propping up a sky that is not humiliated or empty.

  He was once humiliated and sold out, brutally broken through, but never fell. He stood tall, because in the darkest and coldest moments, there were still people standing tall. He shone brightly, because no matter how many hardships he endured, the nation that forged him and protected him would always be reborn in glory!

  In the battle at the foot of the Great Wall, Zhang Songling and Liao Wenhua's combination was not the most courageous pair, but the most eye-catching pair. Among them, one was a veteran soldier who had experienced countless battles, with a knife technique developed on the basis of the Broken Wind Eight Style commonly used in the Northwestern Army, which focused on defense rather than offense, seeking no merit but avoiding mistakes. The other person was a young and inexperienced fighter, with a rough and unpolished knife technique that focused on attacking, with nine out of ten moves aimed at advancing, and the remaining one move pondering how to annihilate the enemy together with him.

  The devils who paired up to fight Zhang Songling and Liao Wenhua were in for a disaster. All the bayonets that charged towards Xiaopangzi were either parried or pushed aside by the old oil slick, leaving them open to attack. Every time Xiaopangzi struck with his knife, it was with great force and momentum, leaving no room for retreat for himself or his opponents. One of the devils was just a fraction of a second too slow and had his belly ripped open by Zhang Songling. Two other devils shouted as they stabbed at Zhang Songling's chest, but were deflected by Liao Wenhua with a horizontal push followed by a diagonal slash.

  "Kill!" Taking advantage of a little devil being led by Liao Wenhua, Zhang Songling rushed over from the side, and with a single horizontal sweep, he cut down thousands of soldiers. The four-pound heavy knife was swung open by him with both hands at full force, its speed as fast as lightning. Half of the little devil's body was severed by the blade, and he didn't feel any pain until he saw the rare white fat officer in the crowd smiling wickedly as he pulled out a blood-stained dagger from his own body, then let out a miserable cry and fell to the ground instantly.

  The last of the two Japanese soldiers who were fighting against Liao Wenhua made another swift stab, but was again blocked by Liao's large knife. Enraged, his eyes turned red, he ignored the short and stout officer nearby and stabbed at Liao one after another. "Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!" The bayonet clashed with the side of the knife, producing a series of crisp sounds. Liao Wenhua parried each blow, defending himself impeccably. Meanwhile, Zhang Songling raised his knife from behind the Japanese soldier and silently chopped down, cutting off nearly half of the soldier's shoulder and back.

  Liao Wenhua smiled kindly at him and quickly turned around, charging towards another group of devils who were fighting with his brothers. "Can't you slow down? Are you in a hurry to die?" Liao Wenhua cursed loudly, exhausted and hot. He had been fighting for over ten years, whether it was internal or external battles, but he had never fought as hard as today. Not only was he always at the forefront of the charge, but also, in order to cover up Zhang Xiaopang's reckless behavior, he had suffered two not-so-serious stab wounds from bayonets. One was on the side of his thigh and the other was on his shoulder, both were shallow cuts that just grazed the muscle, leaving gashes at least three inches long. The sweat-soaked pain was burning like fire.

  But what about the harvest? Who knew about harvesting? It seems that all those little devils who were paired up to fight against Zhang Xiaopang, ended up getting killed by him in the end! And Lao Liao was always helping him out. As for Zhang Xiaopang, he just recklessly charged into the pile of bodies, not even bothering to stop and collect the epaulets from the devils' corpses!

  Just thinking about not having a shoulder badge to record his merits, Liao Wenhua felt the wounds on his body ache even more severely, and his footsteps began to stumble. Without Liao Wenhua's cooperation, Zhang Songling became very lonely, and he successively fought two little devils, but was preempted by other brothers each time.

  There were no more stray devils around, so Zhang Songling had to stop and look back for his partner Liao Wenhua. In the corner of his eye, he saw a devil company commander retreating towards the largest pile of ammunition boxes in the camp under the protection of several trusted little devils. The rest of the devils in the camp had already been surrounded by the brothers. They were back to back, holding their bayonets horizontally, making a final desperate resistance.

  The brothers of the second and third battalions also came from both wings, completely sealing off the devils' retreat route. The remaining sixty or so little devils on the battlefield had become fish in a barrel. They couldn't escape, nor was it possible for them to have enough time to wait for external support. That little devil's squadron leader shouted loudly, wailing like a wolf that had fallen into a trap in despair. And several of the devils' trusted followers who had been following him shook and trembled as they took out several hand grenades and placed them one by one next to the ammunition box.

  The little devil is going to fight desperately! Zhang Songling didn't dare to delay any longer, dropped the big knife and re-pulled out the box cannon. On the battlefield, his comrades were rushing around, constantly interfering with his vision. "Get out of the way! Get out of the way quickly!" he shouted as he ran forward a few steps, pulled the trigger, and at the cost of a full clip of bullets, knocked down a devil soldier who was twisting a hand grenade.

  "Ah Kua!" The Japanese Lieutenant Kawashima Kanji discovered that his conspiracy had been exposed, and immediately pulled out the Wang Ba box from his waist and fired at the little fatty who was rushing towards him. Unfortunately, the performance of the Wang Ba box was a bit poor, and Lieutenant Kawashima Kanji was too flustered, shooting several bullets in a row, all hitting the soldiers beside Little Fatty. However, that bloody Little Fatty, relying on the large capacity of the box cannon, continued to fire continuously, knocking down one of his trusted men.

  Just as the little fat man was about to rush into his own camp, Lieutenant Ogawa Koji couldn't delay any longer. He bent down and went to twist the hand grenade with his last two loyal men, "For the Great Japanese Empire!" he shouted loudly, trying to blow himself up along with the soldiers rushing into the camp through the ammunition box explosion. But unexpectedly, a large knife suddenly flew over and cut off the arm holding the hand grenade.

  "Get out!" Liao Wenhua jumped to the side of the ammunition box, his legs quickly kicking the hand grenades that had started smoking on the ground into the air. The other old soldiers who had discovered the enemy's plot also rushed up, either picking up the hand grenades and throwing them far away or kicking the smoking hand grenades into the air.

  They tried to avoid the grenade's landing point from the crowd, but when the explosion sounded, it still caused great casualties for the brothers. Including more than a dozen devils, they didn't even see how the grenade flew over, and were blown into the air by the explosion, then fell down as corpses one after another.

  "On board!" Captain Kawauchi Kanetsugu of the Japanese army shouted again, holding up a turtle shell with one hand and looking for the little fat officer who had ruined his success at the last moment. But Liao Wenhua didn't give him that chance, picked up the big knife, and with a swift motion, beheaded him and severed his arm from his body.

  "Spare our lives!" The last two Japanese soldiers were suddenly frightened out of their wits, clasped their hands together and knelt down on the ground. One of them surprisingly spoke intelligible words, although with a non-standard accent, which was clearly heard by Old Gou and others who rushed up.

  It's said that the Japanese devils who never surrender actually knelt down to beg for mercy? The brothers were all shocked, almost unable to close their mouths, and one by one turned their eyes to Old Gou, asking him to make the final decision.

  "I'm a doctor, I haven't killed anyone! Spare my life, spare my life!" The little devil who could talk pointed to his sleeve badge and pleaded, with snot and tears streaming down his face.

  "The devilish soldier you saved has killed!" Lao Gou beheaded the Japanese doctor with a single slash of his knife. Before he could turn to face another Japanese, Liao Wenhua had already rushed over and finished off the last one with a single blow. "All little devils should die!" He added loudly, trying to please Captain Lao Gou.

  Although no shoulder badges were collected from the devils, the merit of beheading a devil company commander and a signalman is something that nobody can take away. From now on, when the regimental commander mentions our old Liao's name, he won't have any positive impression at all.

  "Good job!" Old Gou smiled, stretching out his bloody hand and slapping Liao Wenhua's shoulder hard. But the next sentence made Liao Chonglong's heart fall from heaven to hell, "Tonight is just an appetizer, our special forces team must at least stay here for three days! When the time comes, you'll have your chance to perform!"

  Note: There will be only one update tonight. Thank you for your attention.