Chapter Twenty: Cannons and Hand Grenades

  Li Jintang followed Qian Sihao to the top of the mountain, and after determining the direction, he basically had a number in his mind for the location of the devils' artillery positions. As for the terrain around Luowenyu, Li Jintang didn't say it was like the back of his hand, but he still had a general understanding of the situation. After all, as the main commander of the garrison at this pass on the Great Wall, Commander Li had carefully studied the map before. What direction, how many mountains away is where, what kind of terrain, Li Jintang could say roughly. Otherwise, Liu Zuming wouldn't have let him lead a battalion of brothers to sneak through seven mountains in the dark and launch a night attack on the devils' machine gun positions.

  That team's strength, if left at the pass to participate in defense, Liu Zuming would be able to alleviate a lot of pressure. Since taking the risk of releasing them, it was for the sake of victory. Fortunately, Li Jintian did not disappoint his commander, and the machine gun position was taken smoothly. If they could also take down the enemy's artillery position smoothly, the Japanese devils who came to attack the pass would basically be doomed.

  Li Jintian quickly regrouped his troops and led them in the direction of the enemy's artillery fire. The unit moved much more smoothly than Gaoquan, who had simply followed the sound of the cannons. Li Jintian had at least studied the terrain to some extent, so he was definitely better off than Gaoquan, who only relied on his ears. However, in situations like the cliff on the mountain top, unless someone had personally climbed the mountain before, it would not be marked on the map.

  The troops arrived at the foot of the mountain and were about to head up when Gao Quan happened to turn out from the front mountain road, startling the vanguard squad. Fortunately, the uniform of the 29th Army on Gao Quan's body explained his identity in time, avoiding any misunderstanding.

  "Hey, young fellow, how's it going?" Li Jintian asked with a smile. No way, if they took out the enemy's artillery again, he'd be credited with another achievement, and the battle would be won, bringing great benefits!

  "Report the situation." Gao Quan bowed and then clearly reported to Li Jintian what he had investigated. The scout only needed to investigate, report the intelligence to the superior, and how to arrange it would be up to the superior to plan.

  "Thirty-six cannons?" Li Jintian hesitated for a moment, "This is the sum of three artillery battalions! The devils really are generous, putting up an entire regiment's worth of artillery in one go!" The next moment, Li's face showed excitement, "Alright, since I've encountered them, I shouldn't let the little devils off easy either. Everyone rest for half an hour where you are, and then launch an attack after half an hour!" The east was already slightly brightening, it was estimated that in half an hour, the sky would be somewhat light. The soldiers had been busy all night, and the little devils had also been busy all night, launching an attack at dawn was best!

  Half an hour later, two thousand Chinese soldiers crept silently to the front of the devils' artillery positions. The devils were still intently operating the cannons, without a hint of awareness.

  The attack began with a hand grenade. A piece of black hand grenades, like dark clouds, flew towards the devils' artillery position!

  "Boom! Boom! Boom!"

  The sound of explosions filled the air, and the devils wailed in unison. Countless hand grenades exploded, blowing up the devils' artillerymen gathered on the battlefield to death. One grenade ignited a box of shells, causing an even bigger explosion, and the heavy cannon body was blown into the sky. The 29th Army lacked heavy weapons, but every soldier carried hand grenades with them, and these two thousand soldiers each brought several, making the number of grenades terrifying. When attacking the machine gun position, they used pistols and big knives, and the hand grenades were hardly consumed at all. Now, throwing them out in a rush, just the explosions formed by the hand grenades almost destroyed half of the devils' artillery position, and with the explosion caused by the shells, the devils' artillery position became a hell on earth for a time.

  Gao Quan led his squad of soldiers, originally planning to sneak up on the enemy's artillery command post, but now they didn't dare go over. The explosion was too terrifying, even the heavy howitzers were flying in the air, and going over now would be simply joking with their own lives.

  The artillery position of the devils is a regimental level, although one battalion is missing, it is still the main artillery position of the regiment. The commander of the regiment, Yamashita, never thought that his artillery regiment would be attacked by Chinese troops. Artillery is usually in the rear of the front line, this time it was only because the Kwantung Army headquarters must occupy the Great Wall pass, he moved his regiment's position a little forward, there are at least two infantry regiments in front of him attacking Luowenyu, the Chinese army at the mouth of the valley is busy dealing with those infantry and can't even find time to look for this unit.

  The artillery regiment is also a combat unit, and there are not many soldiers with guns in the unit. Organizing a combat unit of over a thousand people is no problem at all. Even if Chinese troops approached, they would still be able to defend themselves. Colonel Yamashita was still confident in his unit until this morning.

  The sudden explosion thoroughly disrupted the order of the Japanese army, and also disrupted the strong heart of Taisho. Shrapnel from hand grenades and shell explosions were flying everywhere, and the brave Imperial Army soldiers were as fragile as ants at this moment. Taisho stood at the entrance of the regiment command post, his figure still upright, but his face was pale as paper. Under the illumination of the explosion and flames, his face turned red and white, and the officers around him did not dare to make a sound, each looking at the tragic scene on the battlefield in a daze.

  Finally, the soldiers remembered their commander, and Japanese soldiers began to gather around Taisho one after another. Slowly but surely, more than 300 soldiers had gathered around Taisho. Taisho drew his command sword, he had already seen those Chinese who ambushed him! These Chinese had started attacking his position after throwing hand grenades!

  The grenade couldn't be thrown far, the Japanese artillery was reasonably deployed, and the nearby shells were detonated without affecting the entire position. There were still about one-third of the cannons that hadn't been detonated at the back. The soldiers who threw them earlier were excited, each person throwing as many grenades as they could, with only three to five grenades per person, which were soon used up.

  When the first shell of the devils was detonated, from Li Jintang to Gao Quan, and then every Chinese soldier thought that this devil's artillery position was finished, no need for them to spend a single soldier or bullet, they would definitely be blown to death. Who knew that after more than ten minutes of explosion, the explosion sound had completely disappeared, but the devils' position still stood with more than a dozen cannons, although these big guns were no longer operated by anyone, but they were not destroyed? Especially behind the devil's artillery position, a batch of at least 400 to 500 devils troops had gathered, and these guys still needed to be eliminated by themselves!

  Li Jintang, a long-time traveler, pulled out his pistol and fired a shot in the direction where the devils were gathering.

  "Kill the devils!" With Li's loud shout, all the soldiers of the 29th Army shouted in unison and charged towards the Japanese artillery position like a tidal wave!