Chapter 42 Relieving the Guard

  "Brother! You're really something! I can only take the Japanese devils' bombs, now you've arrived! This is great, now those devils will get a taste of my cannonballs!"

  "The little Japanese are nothing special, just like us, with their heads on their necks! Brothers see the devils being afraid, it's all because of the government's doing! Who made the government not allow resistance, making brothers think that the devils are gods?!" As he spoke, Zhang Lieyang took out a pack of cigarettes from his own shirt pocket and handed it to Fang Zhenghai.

  Seeing the cigarette in Zhang Lieyang's hand, Fang Zhenghai smiled and said: "Brother, this is good stuff! Then I won't be polite!" As he spoke, Fang Zhenghai opened the pack of cigarettes, took one out and smoked two puffs before saying: "Brother, with your experience you shouldn't just be a company commander, should you?"

  Upon hearing Fang Zhenghai's words, Zhang Lieyang smiled and said: "Since you've figured it out, I'll tell you the truth! We're actually all General Xiao's house guards, and I'm their instructor!"

  "Impossible!" Fang Zhenghai exclaimed in surprise. As he spoke, Fang Zhenghai thought to himself: "A group of family members are so formidable! From now on, whoever encounters them will be unlucky!"

  Just as they were talking, the sound of artillery explosions came from behind! Fang Zhenghai looked in the direction of the explosion and said with a bitter smile: "The artillery is finished!"

  Zhang Lieyang patted Fang Zhenghai and said: "It's not over! They've already moved to the second position! Don't believe me? Give them a call and ask!"

  "No need to ask! What you say is definitely right!" Fang Zhenghai said with a determined heart.

  "Let me take a look at this Iron King and see if it's still usable?" Zhang Lieyang said, getting up and brushing off the dirt before climbing onto the tank. After a while, Zhang Lieyang dragged out the corpse of the Japanese tank soldier and said: "Come on, brother, help me load the cannon!"

  Upon hearing Zhang Lieyang's voice, Fang Zhenghai immediately ordered his guard: "Ergouzi, quickly go in and help!" Ergouzi heard Fang Zhenghai's command and crawled in without saying a word.

  As soon as he crawled in, he saw the devils attacking again under the cover of one of their own tanks. Seeing the devil's tank, Zhang Lieyang smiled and said: "Let's start with you!" He then said to Er Gouzzi: "Load the shell!"

  "It's all loaded!" Er Gouzi shouted loudly.

  The two dogs just finished reporting, and then they saw the barrel of the gun firing, and the enemy tank fell down. Then Zhang Lieyang fired two more shots at the houses on both sides of the road, and the houses collapsed instantly, blocking the enemy's path! From the observation port, Zhang Lieyang saw his own masterpiece and smiled at Er Gouzishuo: "The kid loaded the shells quickly! You call someone else to come in and teach him how to load the shells, you come over and I'll teach you how to fire this cannon!"

  When Zhang Lieyang finished speaking, Erdogzi excitedly climbed out of the tank and called someone in. Then Zhang Lieyang taught Erdogzi a few times before smiling and climbing out of the tank. Seeing Zhang Lieyang come out, Fang Zhenghai smiled and said: "Brother, it seems we can take a break!" Fang Zhenghai's words had not finished when the enemy's heavy artillery fired shells that exploded around the position. After a round of shelling, Zhang Lieyang frowned and said: "The enemy's warship has started to help out!" A while later, Zhang Lieyang saw through binoculars that enemy planes were approaching in the sky, so he immediately told Fang Zhenghai: "Quickly organize machine guns and shoot down the enemy planes!"

  "Alright!" Fang Zhenghai said, and then he went to arrange the troops. The enemy's plane slowly approached Zhang Lieyang's position, but when it was about to get close to the position, it encountered the machine gun firepower organized by Fang Zhenghai. Under the strong blockade of machine gun fire, the enemy cowardly dropped bombs around the position and flew back!

  Watching the enemy plane leave, Zhang Lieyang immediately led his men to the collapsed house. Arriving at the surrounding area of the house, Zhang Lieyang gave an order: "Quickly lay down the landmines!" Then Zhang Lieyang crawled into the tank and took out the bullets and shells, bringing them back to their position.

  Seeing Zhang Lieyang return, Fang Zhenghai curiously asked: "Brother, where did you go?"

  "I'm going to prepare some snacks for the devils!" Zhang Lieyang said, looking around at the enemy's position and telling Fang Zhenghai: "Hurry up and let our brothers take a rest! Let them replenish their ammunition later!"

  Just during the interval of fighting, when replenishing ammunition. Zhang Lieyang saw Liu Kaifeng and some students from Zhejiang University among them. So Zhang Lieyang smiled and shouted: "Kaifeng, how did you guys come here?!"

  Liu Kaifeng heard the voice and looked at Zhang Lieyang, saying in surprise: "When did you join the army?"

  "Just a temporary guest appearance! After this battle, I'll be back!" Zhang Lieyang said with a smile.

  "We came with Old Man Zhang! We slipped out while he wasn't in the hotel!" Liu Kaifeng said with a smile.

  "It wasn't my grandfather who let you slip out, but how did you manage to slip out?" Zhang Lieyang looked around and asked, "Has the entire Wan Yue family returned to Ningbo?"

  "Liè yáng, I'm telling you, don't get agitated! Only ten people from the Tang family made it back home alive! Your Wanyue is gone! Her body is being kept at home, waiting for your return to handle!" Liu Kaifeng said with a sigh.

  Just as Liu Kai-feng finished speaking, Zhang Lie-yang suddenly slumped to the ground and muttered: "Ten years of life and death are vast and boundless, no thoughts, yet unforgettable. A thousand miles of desolate graves, nowhere to speak of the bleakness. Even if we meet again, we won't recognize each other, dust fills our faces, temples like frost. Last night's lonely dream suddenly returned home, a small window, just dressing up. We look at each other without words, only tears flowing in thousands of lines. I expected that every year would be heartbreaking, on a clear moonlit night, a short pine hill..."

  Upon hearing Zhang Lieyang's words, Liu Kaifeng couldn't help but comfort him, saying: "A person can't come back to life after they're dead! You should mourn in moderation!" As soon as Liu Kaifeng finished speaking, the collapsed house suddenly exploded! Upon hearing the explosion, Zhang Lieyang immediately ordered Zhang Xiangwu, saying: "Xiangwu, use the four mortars to blanket that area for me!"

  "Yes!" Soon, Zhang ordered the five mortars to start firing. At this time, Zhang Lieyang said to Liu Kaifeng: "You go back and tell my grandfather to rest assured! I will come back alive! You guys hurry up and leave!"

  Liu Kaifeng and his men had just left when the devils charged over. Zhang Lieyang picked up a Czech light machine gun and said to the special forces soldiers, "Push the devils back!" As he spoke, Zhang Lieyang jumped out of the trench, and the other special forces soldiers also jumped out of the trench and swept the devil's group with fire!

  Fang Zhenghai, who was waiting in the trenches, looked at Zhang Lieyang's performance with surprise and suddenly became stunned. He jumped to the left for a while, then to the right, then fell down, and then rolled over! But the guns in their hands were always aimed at the devils and firing.

  The devils saw Zhang Lieyang and his men's appearance and actions, and they immediately retreated in fear. They kept shouting: "Devil! Devil!" After driving the devils away, Zhang Lieyang returned to the trenches.

  As soon as he returned to the trench, Zhang Lieyang immediately asked: "Toward Five, how many casualties did our brothers suffer?"

  "Little master! We have a total of 336 brothers! Only two were grazed by the devil's cannonball in the previous bombardment, and none of the other brothers were injured!" Zhang Xiangwu patted his bulletproof vest and said: "Little master, this thing you bought is really useful!"

  Seeing Zhang Xiangwu's appearance, Zhang Lieyang smiled and said: "Let the brothers hurry up and rest! We still have a tough battle to fight!"

  Just then the phone rang, Fang Zhenghai answered the phone and said: "Who is it?!"

  "I am Chiang Guangnai! I'm now dispatching the 119th Regiment of the 60th Division, 3rd Battalion to relieve you! Then your unit will rush to Qingyun Road!" Chiang Guangnai said seriously.

  "I guarantee the completion of the task!" Fang Zhenghai hung up the phone and walked to Zhang Lieyang's side, took out a cigarette and smoked two puffs, saying: "Wait a while, we'll switch defenses to Qingyun Road!" As soon as Zhang Lieyang heard Fang Zhenghai's words, he was stunned! Because Zhang Lieyang knew that in history, one of the most brutal battles fought during the January 28 Incident was on Qingyun Road!

  Seeing Zhang Lieyang's distraction, Fang Zhenghai smiled and said: "Brother, don't you want to smoke a cigarette to refresh your mind?"

  "No need, thank you!" Zhang Lieyang said as he took the canteen from Zhang Xiangwu and took a sip of water. "Captain Fang, have all the brothers check their ammunition and fill up! We'll be in for a fierce battle soon, and we might not be able to resupply!" Upon hearing Zhang Lieyang's words, Fang Zhenghai thought for a moment before ordering Er Gouzzi to spread the word. Then, Fang Zhenghai looked at Zhang Lieyang and asked, "Brother, do you have any way to get this Iron King Eight moving?"

  Zhang Lieyang smiled and ran to another tank with his men, and after a while, Zhang Lieyang came back with a large pile of parts. At this time, Fang Zhenghai ordered his men to scrape off the markings on the enemy tank.

  After replacing the parts on the tank, Zhang Lieyang smiled and said to Zhang Xiangwu: "I taught you how to drive this thing, go try it!"

  Upon hearing Zhang Lieyang's words, Zhang Xiangwu smiled and rubbed his hands together before crawling into the tank. After a while, the tank started up. Just as it had run for only a few steps, the relief personnel arrived.

  When Xu Dahai of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Regiment, 119th Brigade, 60th Division saw this tank, he exclaimed in surprise: "Wow! You still have this guy here?!"

  "This is what we just seized! Get ready to drive it to Qingyun Road!" Fang Zhenghai said with a smile.

  "Brother, Qingyun Road has already been occupied by a group! You guys be careful!" After saying that, Fang Zhenghai and Xu Dahai exchanged a few words before rushing to Qingyun Road with Zhang Lieyang.

  As soon as they arrived at Qingyun Road, they saw a large group of devils rushing towards the position. At this time, Zhang Lieyang immediately ordered: "Open fire!" Under the strong firepower of the special warfare team, the devils were beaten back.

  After the devils retreated, Fang Zhenghai led his men into the position. At this time, a man walked up to Fang Zhenghai and said: "Thank you for your timely reinforcement! I am Bao Dahai, the commander of the 177th Regiment of the 61st Division, and now our regiment has only about 100 people left on the position. If you hadn't arrived in time, our position would have been finished!" As he spoke, Bao Dahai saw the tanks slowly approaching from behind and exclaimed: "When did the devils' iron king arrive at the back?"

  "Look, that's ours! We captured it at the Wanjiazhai position on the Wujiang River. I heard you didn't have any defensive fortifications here, so we brought it over!"