The Fifth Section of Annihilating Bandits' First Battle

  Everyone arrived, and Zuo Zhenyuan called all the company commanders and platoon leaders into the temple together. After everyone sat down, Zuo Zhenyuan pointed to a map on the wall and began: "This time we must thoroughly defeat these bandits, they dared to rush into the lama cave a few days ago, killing the head of the village and destroying the wealthy households in broad daylight, it's simply outrageous. So the commander asked me to lead all the brothers into the mountains, we must eliminate them and not show any mercy. Next, let Shen advisor explain the battle plan to everyone."

  As soon as Zuo Zhenyuan's voice fell, a young military officer with a lieutenant colonel rank who had been following him stood up and walked to the front of the map: "The leader of this group of bandits is called 'Sun Erpao', he has a very bad temper, but he has a good strategist, his brother-in-law 'Daxixigua' Zhang Xicheng. This Zhang Xicheng participated in the wars against the Russians and the Japanese, and is quite skilled at using tactics. Last month when the 26th Regiment attacked them, Zhang Xicheng used three clever tricks: a night raid on the command post, a surprise attack on the grain transport team, and a suicidal bombing of the military supplies transportation truck, which led to the 26th Regiment's defeat. Therefore, this time we must pay attention to the safety of our supplies and be vigilant at night."

  The young officer said this, paused for a moment, looked around at the crowd and continued: "The plan formulated by the regimental headquarters is as follows: The fourth company, led by Captain Zhao, will lead your company to Lao Li's village from the west, set up an ambush circle in Xi Si Liangzi after going up the mountain, and prepare for an ambush. The sixth company, led by Captain Du, will lead your company to Lama Cave from the southeast, and guard the area around Dong San Gangzi and Dong Gou Tangzi after entering the mountain. The eighth company of the security regiment will go around to the back of the mountain, the fifth company will go around to the foot of the east slope, and the seventh company will go around to the south slope, and launch a simultaneous attack at the same time. Once the enemy is fired upon, set fire to the mountain immediately. Use all your strength to force them to flee down the steep mountain road on the west side of Zhēnzi Mountain, and then follow up with each unit behind them and annihilate them together with the fourth company in Xi Si Liangzi. Now the artillery company directly under the regimental headquarters should have arrived at Lama Cave and will provide powerful artillery fire support to everyone."

  The young officer finished speaking and looked at Zuo Zhenyuan before sitting back in his own seat. Zuo Zhenyuan stood up: "Is there anything else you don't understand?"

  "What if they charge towards the east or the back mountain? They all have horses." The battalion commander of the security team expressed his concerns. In terms of equipment and training, the security team was not just a little bit inferior to the regular army. This time, letting the security team take the lead in the attack, anyone could see that this was making the security team cannon fodder, so the battalion commander was very worried, which was also reasonable.

  "After the artillery company has heavily bombarded their stronghold, the artillery fire will disperse and bombard in three directions: east, south, and north. If they try to break out towards the rear mountain, you won't need to fight them, the artillery alone will be enough for them." Zuo Zhenyuan explained to the company commander.

  "What about their mortars and light and heavy machine guns? The 26th Regiment suffered losses due to these weapons being too powerful." Another battalion commander of the security regiment also spoke up: "Our security regiments don't even have machine guns in each company, can we gain an advantage by fighting them head-on like this?"

  "It's not asking you to fight to the death, it's asking you to set fire, don't you understand? At this time, Zhao Zhengyi, who had been silent all along, spoke up with some impatience and retorted to the security team leader, then turned to Zuo Zhenyuan and said: "Deputy Commander, your meaning is that we should let our 4th company make the actual main attack, right? Can we temporarily borrow the machine gun squad from the 6th company? Otherwise, with just a few of our machine guns, it's likely to be difficult to hold off a group of horse-riding machine gunners."

  Zuo Zhenyuan looked at Zhao Zhengyi and thought for a moment: "En, okay, transfer the six consecutive machine gun rows to your fourth row. In this way, the firepower is not much different from 'Sun Erpao'. Is there anything else that anyone doesn't understand?"

  Everyone stopped talking, and Zuo Zhenyuan was about to give an order when Liu Mingjiu stood up: "Reporting to Deputy Commander, Xia Xia has something to say."

  "Oh? What do you want to say, kid? Spit it out?" Zuo Zhenyuan looked at this doll that had already changed everyone's views, his face still expressionless, but a hint of amusement in his eyes.

  Liu Mingjiu adjusted his uniform and walked to the map, then pointed at it and began to speak: "Here, here, here, the enemy may take advantage of their cavalry's superiority over infantry to force open our blockade line. Therefore, I suggest sending people to dig traps, set up obstacles, and conduct small-scale arson in these three locations to prevent the enemy from discovering our plan to drive them out like a snake and catch them off guard. Please consider this, gentlemen."

  "Well, that's good." Zuo Zhenyuan listened to Liu Mingjiu's words and cast a look of appreciation: "Then let's do it this way. Before the battle starts, the four companies will only leave the machine gun squad in the predetermined position. The other three squads will dig traps, set obstacles, and bury wooden stakes at these three points, then set fire to confuse the enemy and return to the predetermined location. Does anyone else have any opinions?"

  Everyone else had nothing to say, while Zuo Zhenyuan, Du Youshan, and Zhao Zhengyi looked at Liu Mingjiu with a mixture of surprise, admiration, and concern in their eyes. Not only was his behavior different, but even his way of thinking about combat had changed completely from just a month ago. This progress and change in the second-generation soldier of the 18th Regiment, who was in their eyes, naturally made them very happy and relieved. After all, this unit's concept of friendship and kinship has been strong since its establishment, because it was developed through methods such as fathers pulling sons, brothers pulling younger brothers, and friends pulling friends when it first started out.

  After the meeting at Niangniang Temple, all the troops that participated in the battle quickly took action. Liu Mingjiu led the second squad to dig 30 traps between Xierliangzi and Xisanliangzi, felled large trees to block a mountain ditch that might allow the enemy to escape, set fire to the ditch, and then quickly returned to the designated gathering place of the fourth company at Xi Si Liang Zi.

  Less than ten minutes after the second row and the other two rows returned to Xiliangzi, fires broke out in three directions on the west side of Jingzishan Mountain, and gunfire rang out. After about half an hour of fighting, huge fires also broke out in the east, south, and north directions of Jingzishan Mountain. The entire Jingzishan Mountain was boiling and noisy that afternoon.

  "Look, the gunfire is getting closer and closer, dare to compete with me who will fall down more?" Luo Xiliang crawled to Liu Mingjiu's side in the temporary trench, and said with a light nudge of his elbow.

  "I'm afraid it's not going to work, but if we stay in this trench, we won't be able to see each other even within 20 meters. No way, squad leader, take your squad and follow me up the tree, or else we won't be able to see each other within 10 meters." Liu Mingjiu looked towards the direction where the gunshots were coming from, but didn't see anyone entering his line of sight, only seeing a dense thicket that blocked his view. Without even looking at Luo Xiliang, he immediately flipped over and quickly climbed up a large tree next to the trench. The soldiers in the squad also quickly climbed up the surrounding trees after hearing their squad leader's words.

  "What the hell is this little nine doing? Not far away, Zhao Zhengyi saw Liu Mingjiu leading a group of soldiers climbing up a tree and whispered to his deputy Li Nianxin: "What's wrong with staying in the good trenches, what the hell are they doing climbing trees?"

  "Who knew, this kid completely changed after being rescued by the team leader." Li Nianxin also looked at Liu Mingjiu, who was standing at the fork of two large trees, breaking off some small branches and stuffing them into his body, and said in a low voice: "However, this kid's recent performance has been very good, it seems like his brain suddenly lit up a lot. Let him be, anyway, nothing can happen with so many people on the ground."

  Suddenly, Li Nianxin and Zhao Zhengyi, who were staring at Liu Mingjiu, saw Liu Mingjiu wave his hand downwards, and then Liu Mingjiu pulled out the big-bellied pistol and fired three shots in a row towards the bottom. Following this, there were three mournful cries and the neighing of war horses. After the three mournful cries, the second row of soldiers who had climbed up the tree almost simultaneously stood on the fork of the big tree or lay on the thick trunk, holding their rifles and opening fire in the distance. The mournful cries and the neighing of the war horses began to come continuously with the sound of gunfire from the crowd on the tree.

  Just as Zhao Zhengyi was about to ask, a cavalry team wearing miscellaneous clothes appeared in front of the fourth company's position. Some wore sheepskin coats, some wore torn cotton-padded jackets with cotton exposed outside, and others wore horseback riding coats and long gowns. As soon as Zhao Zhengyi saw it, he knew that Hu Zi had already rushed to his own position, so Liu Mingjiu just stood high and looked far and opened fire first, so he didn't think much about it and gave orders to the two rows of machine gun positions behind him. For a while, the sound of machine guns "drip-drip-drip" and rifles "bang-bang-bang" became one piece, with occasional hand grenade explosion sounds thrown from trees and trenches in between. And almost every time an explosion sounded, you could hear a person's miserable cry or several cries, and the heavy "plop-plop" sound of horses falling to the ground.

  Liu Mingjiu, standing on the tree, had already seen the dense enemy forces below the mountain ridge, and the shotgun in his hand was firing continuously. Almost every time Liu Mingjiu fired a shot, he saw someone in the nearby enemy crowd let out a miserable cry and fall under their horse, some didn't even have the chance to cry out before being shot in the head. Liu Mingjiu, however, continued to use the tree branches as cover, continuously shooting bullets into one target's body and head after another.

  It wasn't that Liu Ming was born with a big temper or came into the world knowing how to kill. All of this was more because in his past life, he had been part of a special forces unit where soldiers were trained to be killing machines, and Liu Ming had also killed criminals three times in battles against drug lords and smugglers. So when the fighting started, he didn't feel any fear or weakness. "On the battlefield, people are just animals, don't consider the enemy as human, just treat them as moving targets." In Liu Ming's ears, his old squad leader's words from his first mission in his past life kept echoing.