Chapter Eleven: Thanks to Relatives and the Eighth Route Army

  The seemingly absurd order was still executed quickly, this is the biggest difference between real soldiers and miscellaneous soldiers. The first and second squads were still shooting with the guards behind the position, suppressing them from approaching the gate. The third squad moved all the explosives that could be found in the mine to here, seeing Holu's OK gesture, the commander waved his hand: withdraw.

  Jiang Yunzhi was the last one to withdraw from the position, carrying his gun and crawling to Zhong Yi's side.

  "Listen up, Sergeant! Once the enemy gets close to our position, lead everyone in opening fire. Don't aim at people, target those explosive landmines instead. Blow them up and let these bastards take a ride on our Chinese-made flying earth!"

  It turned out to be so, Jiang Yunzhi nodded and raised his thumb, "Boss, it's really high!"

  Zhong Yi, however, felt a little ashamed. This trick of the "earth plane" wasn't invented by us, we have to thank our relatives in the Eighth Route Army! But this can't be said now, it's 1934, if you tell people about the Eighth Route Army, who would know? The Red Army was reorganized into the Eighteenth Route Army, and that's still more than two years away.

  The captain of the mine guard, Brown, brushed off the dirt from his yellow-edged wide-brimmed hat, looking very depressed. What kind of thugs were these? They wore strange green and flowered clothes, but their firepower was fierce. Although they seemed to be few in number, their marksmanship was incredibly accurate. The retired veterans among the guards had almost all been killed or wounded, leaving behind mostly cowards who were afraid to fight.

  The gunfire on the battlefield grew more and more sparse, probably because they had run out of bullets. Brown, who had been crouching on the ground for half a day without daring to move, finally stood up and blew his whistle. The guards, who had thought they were superior in numbers but suffered a severe beating, also slowly got up from the ground. However, their appearance made Brown, who had participated in World War I and served as the commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, extremely angry. Can this still be considered an army? Although we are just a mining guard team, can't we do better than a group of fugitives? Some had lost their wide-brimmed hats, while others peeked out with their heads tilted, staring intently at the enemy's position. They were probably so scared that they would immediately drop to the ground again at the sound of another gunshot.

  "A bunch of bastards, look at the opposite side, those sons of bitches have run out of bullets. You're still hiding your heads like a bunch of women. You, Blank, where's your gun? FUCK, where did you throw your weapon?"

  Under Brown's incessant cursing, the team members who were almost frightened to death finally regained some morale, and Blank also picked up the rifle he had thrown away while fleeing in a panic.

  "You bunch of curs, Baron Arin the Bold paid us enough gold, now someone's stealing from the baron, it's time for us to fight! The people on the other side are out of bullets, come on, use your rifles to kill those bastards, and prove with their blood that the baron's pay is worth something. Charge!"

  At Brown's hoarse shout, the guards swarmed up to the barricade, and sure enough there was no one behind it. "They've run away, they must be hiding in the mine," he shouted. "Roust them out and shoot them! I'll ask the boss for a reward of gold for every man killed."

  "Ahhh——" A burst of wailing and howling, nothing in the world was more exciting than gold. Just a few minutes ago, the timid cowards who were crawling on the ground pretending to be dead suddenly turned into fierce kangaroos, jumping over the temporary cover at the gate. At the same time, Jiang Yunzhi, hiding behind a pile of abandoned mines, pulled the trigger first, followed by thirty automatic assault rifles opening fire. The dense firepower scared the kangaroos who had just mustered up their courage to quickly lie down on the ground. However, this lifesaving trick was not foolproof. The blasting caps and explosives under the array were detonated by the massive impact of the bullets. One explosion triggered a chain reaction, one after another, the deafening roars blew the temporary cover into the sky, along with several mangled corpses and limbs. The screams of agony mixed with the thunderous explosions.

  The Red Alert soldiers didn't fire again, but instead covered their ears tightly and opened their mouths wide. This was what Zhong Yi had ordered, as the ambush site was too close to the entrance, and the massive explosion's shockwave wouldn't distinguish between friend or foe, causing harm to everyone. Covering their ears and opening their mouths could prevent their eardrums from being shattered. However, even so, after the explosion, Zhong Yi still felt his ears ringing, and only saw Jiang Yunzhi's mouth opening and closing, but couldn't hear anything. Unable to hear clearly, he simply used hand gestures instead. The commander comrade bravely stood up, right hand gripping the 54 pistol, left hand waving: Comrades, charge!

  The warriors didn't understand what the officer was doing, Qian Zhihao shouted loudly: "Officer, there are still those who haven't been blown to death, get down, it's dangerous!" As soon as the words fell, Zhong Dachang officer responded with a loud thud and rolled down on the abandoned mine heap.

  "Officer... officer!" The crowd rushed over in a panic, and Jiang Yunzhi calmly fired his gun, shooting the lucky survivor who had escaped the explosion.

  Qian Zhihao slapped himself on the mouth in frustration, "Damn it, jinxed!"

  "Don't panic, Commander is fine!" Holger's loud shout slightly stabilized the soldiers. Since the day they were recruited from the base camp, the Red Alert soldiers had deeply imprinted an infinite faith and loyalty to the highest commander of the base in their hearts. If Zhong Yi really had an accident, the base would enter self-destruction mode, and the Red Alert soldiers would become rootless vagrants. So, when Zhong Yi was hit by a bullet just now, all the Red Alert soldiers fell into despair.

  Huo Lu, who was careful, was the first to hold Zhong Yi. He immediately discovered that the location of Zhong Yi's gunshot wound was on his head. The helmet had not been penetrated, but the impact force of the bullet had knocked him unconscious, and he should be out of danger.

  Jiang Yunzhi gave a decisive order, and Huo Lu led the way, with each squad maintaining their combat formation as they withdrew from the mine. Qian Zhihao took the lead, while Qian Zhongshi, who was still feeling a bit guilty about his earlier mistake, led the second squad of soldiers in almost exhausting all their ammunition. The guards at the entrance, whether they were mobile or not, as long as they had four limbs, were given additional firepower.

  The guards stood on either side, and the three of them quickly passed through the gate, leaving the Super Mine Shaft. Of course, what also left the Super Mine Shaft were the more than 40 gold bricks in the team members' backpacks...

  The entire way was silent, the commander was unconscious and unresponsive, which made this beautiful aerial battle lose a lot of color. The soldiers all felt a bit heavy in their hearts. When they were more than 20 kilometers away from the minefield, Jiang Yunzhi ordered everyone to rest. Qian Zihao, who was panting heavily, gently put down Zhong Yi on his back and let him lie flat, saying "I said why it's so heavy, turns out he still had gold bricks in his pocket, wants money but not life! The superior is really a greedy guy."

  "Don't touch my gold!"

  "Ah! Officer, when did you wake up?" Qian Zhihao was startled by Zhong Yi's sudden appearance.

  "It's just been transferred to your back."

  "Why aren't you talking? You're making us worried!"

  "I was thinking that everyone else had run far away carrying me on their backs, but only you just started carrying me. If I woke up at that time, it would be very unfair to the others."

  "I..."

  "Hahaha..." The other Red Alert soldiers who rushed over upon hearing the sound also burst out laughing.

  From then on, my military career was overshadowed by a thick layer of gloom. Chang believed that I had secretly spoken ill of him, which is also the reason why most of my fellow soldiers who were conscripted at the same time as me became marquises and generals, while I remained only a colonel when I retired.

  Of course, there are many reasons why Qian Zhihao did not become a general in the end. The most common view is that the emperor was always generous with rewards for military commanders on the front lines, but was much stricter with those around him. As a result, Qian Zhihao, who had been serving in the Emperor's personal 006 unit for a long time, naturally had fewer opportunities for promotion.

  Many years later, Zhong Yi himself said: With copper as a mirror, you can correct your clothes and hats. With history as a mirror, you can know the rise and fall. With people as a mirror, you can understand gains and losses. Qian Zhihao is one of the few people in the Imperial Guard who can speak to me frankly, such a person must be kept by my side to understand gains and losses! This statement is roughly the same as what Qian Zhihao himself thought, it sounds good, but the meaning is still that he is a poisonous tongue, with insufficient commanding ability!

  Of course, this is just a joke circulating among the Imperial Guard. Although he did not become a general, the Emperor's trust in Qian Zhihao was unparalleled. After serving as the commander of the Imperial Guard for ten years, Qian Zhihao retired from the military and entered politics, immediately being dispatched to Singapore to serve as Governor-General of Nanyang until his retirement. Later scholars called him the "King without Grievances". No one doubted that he was qualified to write a memoir like "Days with the Emperor", among the million soldiers in the Imperial Guard, only Qian Zhihao had this privilege.

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