Chapter Seventeen: Temporary Machine Gunner

  The battle on the devil's machine gun position went very smoothly, and the devils who had no powerful weapons to fight back were killed by the Second Division's big knife team. The bodies rolled over and over, and the corpses were all over the field. Gao Quan led his squad in a fierce charge during the battle, and the devils seemed to have become free gifts, with everyone wanting to cut off a devil's head with their own hands as a souvenir.

  The battle was about to end when the enemy reinforcements arrived. More than 300 devils in a company rushed over to reinforce. Li Jintang shouted loudly, and the soldiers who had been fighting to the end immediately formed a combat formation to clean up the battlefield.

  The enemy's machine gun position had twenty-four heavy machine guns, and except for the ones damaged unintentionally during the battle earlier, nearly twenty were still in good condition. When Gao Quan and his men arrived, the enemy's machine guns were still firing, with bullets and everything else in good order, even the safety catches were still open, all they needed to do was pull the trigger to start shooting again.

  Li Jintang gathered his troops, and the Japanese reinforcements were already close. Li Jintang didn't notice, but Gao Quan's eyes were sharp, and he spotted it at a glance - these devils weren't here to reinforce the battle on this side, they were just passing by! The little devils were using flashlights, and it was clear that they hadn't formed an attacking formation. The vanguard scouts in front didn't even keep a distance from the main troops behind them, these devils were just passing through!

  "Traveler, traveler!" Gao Quan dared not shout loudly, and softly called out as he ran over.

  "What's the matter?" Li Jintian asked, still in a relatively calm tone. Mainly because tonight's attack went smoothly, and Gao Quan performed quite well, beheading the Japanese lieutenant, which was considered a significant achievement. If it were someone else, the brigade commander would have already kicked him out, and the troops would have had a fierce battle by now, without so much nonsense?

  "Hey, these devils don't seem to be here for reinforcements. I'm looking at the machine guns on their position and thinking we can still use them for a bit." Gao Quan looked at the machine guns on the enemy's position with a somewhat thieving gaze.

  A loud drum doesn't need to be beaten heavily. How rich is Li Jintian's battle experience? Following Liu Zuming on the southern and northern expeditions for so many years, haven't you seen anything? As soon as Gao Quan spoke, he understood.

  "Disperse and prepare for battle!" This command immediately changed from preparing to fight with knives, to dispersing and preparing for battle. That is to say, we should use guns to shoot at the devils, no longer using big knives to fight.

  Li Jintian selected dozens of people from the troops and dispersed them to various machine gun positions, preparing to use the enemy's machine guns to deal with these passing enemies. In fact, there were not many machine gunners in the team, but since the enemy had already loaded the bullets, who wouldn't know how to pull the trigger? After Gao Quan briefly explained some operational key points to everyone, these big knife soldiers immediately all became machine gunners.

  As they watched the little devils getting closer and closer, Gao Quan gave a loud order: "Fire!" Twenty heavy machine guns opened fire simultaneously!

  The little devils were truly unguarded. This was their own defense zone, and right in front of them was the position of their machine gun squad - what need was there for defenses? Unfortunately, nightmares always start from the most reassuring places. The Japanese soldiers could never have imagined that their own machine gun emplacement would open fire on themselves!

  "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

  Twenty heavy machine guns fired bullets to form a bullet curtain, pouring down on the little devils who walked with their heads bowed! Li Jintang led a regiment of soldiers, and all the soldiers with guns opened fire at the same time. This time, the devils were doomed!

  The little devils lined up in a queue, like wheat in the fields being harvested, fell down in batches. The devils in the back row panicked and rushed to hide on both sides. Those who crashed into rocks, were squeezed off the mountain and fell into the ditch, and even more were killed on the spot. The machine gun fire lasted for only half a minute, and all the bullets inside the machine gun were shot out. The hand was still holding the trigger, but it couldn't shoot anymore. Due to the urgency of the situation, Gao Quan didn't have time to teach the machine gunners how to reload, he just taught them two things: where the trigger was and how to aim, nothing else could be taken care of. Among these big knife-wielding soldiers, only a few knew how to reload bullets, after the bullets in the machine gun were shot out, the machine gunners automatically returned to their old profession.

  There were only two machine guns on the ground that could continue to fire, one of which was operated by Gaoquan himself, and the other was estimated to have been used by this old brother before. Gaoquan took a new round of bullets from Wang Dazhu's hand and pressed it into the gun chamber, and the machine gun roared again. The flashlight in front of the devils fell to the ground, and there were beams of light everywhere, with a layer of devils lying on the ground, and it was unknown how many of these unlucky devils passing by were still alive.

  Gao Quan finished firing the second row of bullets and stopped for a moment. Li Jintian waved his hand, leading the Big Knife Squad to charge forward. The Japanese battalion had already been annihilated, but it was unknown whether there were still any fish that had slipped through the net. As for being afraid of surviving Japanese soldiers shooting cold guns? The good men of the Temporary Second Division didn't care; they had fought face-to-face battles before, so why would they be afraid of a few stray cold guns and bullets?

  The two brothers quickly cleaned up the battlefield, collecting usable weapons and throwing the Japanese corpses into the mountain stream. Just as they thought it was all over, a Japanese soldier who didn't know when to give up hid in the shadows and fired a shot, wounding a comrade's arm. He was immediately beheaded by the Big Knife Squad brothers.

  Liu Ruming tilted his head and listened carefully to the sound of gunfire. The enemy's machine gun had indeed stopped. Liu Ruming's heart skipped a beat, just as he was about to give an order, the machine gun fire started again, seemingly louder than before! Commander Liu's heart hung in suspense once more - could it be that Li Jintang and his men had failed in their mission? The taste of waiting was really unbearable. Fortunately, there were still some little devils causing trouble down at the pass. They charged forward like madmen, wave after wave. Liu Ruming busied himself deploying troops to various positions, wherever danger arose, he as commander would lead the guard regiment to provide reinforcements, and Luowenyu remained steadfastly in place.

  The machine gun sound rang out again, and it didn't take long to completely stop. Liu Ruming's heart was greatly settled, Jin Tian had succeeded! As an experienced and seasoned commander, Liu Ruming had a strong grasp of the timing of the battle. The little devil's machine gun position had been taken down, and while the little devils were still reacting, this was the best time to launch a counterattack!

  "Order all troops to launch a counterattack against the enemy in front of them immediately!"

  Liu Ruming's order was given, and the entire Langtangyu garrison's positions immediately erupted in a loud shout of killing. The little devils who were attacking could no longer withstand the force and began to retreat. The Japanese commander saw that things were going bad and immediately called the machine gun position on the phone, but the Japanese at the machine gun position did not answer. This made Lieutenant General Raigai, the commander of the detachment, curse loudly. It was too dark now, and it was impossible to call for air support, so he could only order his beloved artillery to increase their firepower immediately and put pressure on the Langtangyu garrison.

  "Rumble! Rumble!"

  A series of deafening roars like landslides and earthquakes, the enemy's artillery launched a fierce bombardment with an intensity much greater than before the attack began, targeting both the Luoyan Gorge Pass and the battlefields in front of it where both sides were fighting!