Chapter 28: You Will Make Mistakes Like This Flying Pig Net

  Chen Zhi Kui was shocked to hear that Liu Feng wanted to lead the team to attack the enemy's artillery tower, and hastily said: "We only have 40 people, the enemy's artillery towers are several miles apart, if we take too long, we will be attacked by the devils' reinforcements, it's not worth it."

  Liu Feng said with disdain, "Comrade Chen Zhengwei, Captain Lin, we've been training for so long, taking out a few enemy pillboxes is nothing. It's just a drill. If the little devils around us dare to send reinforcements, then we'll wipe out their entire reinforcement force."

  Liu Feng said very confidently, Chen Zhi-kui said: "The devil's artillery tower is very strong, how can we fight?"

  Liu Feng smiled and said: "We have 60 mortars, we have grenade launchers, shooting down the enemy's artillery tower is a piece of cake. One shot one hit."

  Chen Zhi Kui then followed Liu Feng to look at the map and asked: "So you think it's suitable to attack that fort?"

  Liu Feng said, "Xixian Village and Dongdaxin have two major strongholds of the devils. The two strongholds are twenty miles apart, with three artillery towers in between. We will attack the middle artillery tower. If the devils from the left and right artillery towers dare to come out, we will wipe them out. If the devils from Xixian Village and Dongdaxin come out to reinforce, then we will retreat."

  Commander Lin and Chen Zhengwei weighed it up, feeling that they had forty men and cannons, while the middle artillery tower only had two devils and one class of puppet army. A few miles away, the south and north artillery towers each had only two devils and one class of puppet army. Even if they all came out to reinforce, as long as they set up a blocking formation in both the south and north, there wouldn't be any problem.

  "Alright, then. Comrade Chen Zheng and I will set up ambushes in the south and north respectively to block the enemy's reinforcements from the southern and northern artillery towers. Liu Feng, you lead the main force to attack the middle artillery tower of the devils. We can buy two hours of time. Are you confident that you can take down the artillery tower?"

  Liu Feng said, "It won't take two hours, and there's no need to set up an ambush. I'll bring one mortar, three snipers, and two artillerymen. The others will be commanded by Lin and Chen. And it will only take about ten minutes to take out the enemy's gun tower. If everything goes smoothly, we can complete the raid before they even get news of the middle gun tower being attacked from both north and south. And if they don't react, we can also take them down."

  "What are you kidding? Ten minutes to take down a fortified tower?" Chen Zhi-kui shouted.

  Liu Feng said, "We have mortars. With 60 mortars, if we hit the target accurately, one shot can destroy the gun tower. If not, three shots will do. How much time does it take? Ten minutes is too long."

  "But..."

  Chen Zhi-kui was about to say something, but Lin Xue-jun interrupted him: "Don't worry, we were originally going to fight the devils. We can't shrink back just because they built a cannon tower. I think Comrade Liu's plan is fine. The soldiers have been training for days, and their marksmanship and running speed are not bad at all. Even if we can't beat them, we can still run away without any problem. So, Chen Zheng-wei and I will each lead 15 soldiers to monitor the two cannon towers along the highway. If they come out to reinforce, even if we can't eliminate the devils' fake army in the south and north cannon towers, we can tie them up and buy time for Liu Feng. Comrade Liu, you take a mortar and a grenade launcher, and 10 soldiers will attack the middle cannon tower."

  Chen Zhi Kui finally nodded and said: "Alright, let's set it for tonight. Everyone go prepare separately."

  That night, Liu Feng led a team of ten soldiers, including three snipers, with Han Dingtou as the leader of the sniper group, two machine gunners, two ordinary soldiers, two mortar men, and one grenade launcher.

  Actually, according to Liu Feng's idea, he only needed one mortar and three snipers. However, Lin Team Leader and Chen Zhengwei were skeptical of his tactics and still gave him ten soldiers.

  At night, Liu Feng moved to within 500 meters of the artillery tower. On top of the artillery tower was a searchlight that shone in all directions. The artillery tower was a three-story brick and stone structure with embrasures on the top floor, where there should have been a machine gun, and shooting holes on all four sides of each floor.

  Liu Feng said to mortar gunner Zhang Damao, "Damao, in the assault team, you're the most accurate with the mortar. Can your first shot hit the artillery tower?"

  "Take a look at the artillery tower," said Zhang Damao, "General Staff, you can rest assured that at such close range and with such a large target, if we can't hit it, I'll let you chop off my head."

  Liu Feng nodded and said: "Damao, I'll take the other team members to the front. You stay here with this artilleryman to support us. Grenadier, follow me within 200 meters!"

  Liu Feng left Zhang Damao and another mortar man behind, taking the remaining eight soldiers to sneak within 200 meters of the artillery tower. Liu Feng then left the grenade launcher and two machine gunners here, and scattered three snipers to ambush, letting two ordinary soldiers follow him to advance to within 150 meters of the artillery tower.

  Because the searchlight's beam was shaking back and forth continuously, it was very regular, so it was very simple to avoid the searchlight until Liu Feng and his men had set up their guns, and the searchlight still hadn't discovered them.

  Liu Feng raised his 38 rifle and "bang" fired the first shot, extinguishing the searchlight. Zhang Damao, who was behind him, heard the gunshot and immediately loaded a shell into the well-aimed mortar.

  The unique sound of the "Boom" howitzer, one second later, a bright orange flame burst out from the top of the tower, and the shell hit it directly. The upper half of the tower collapsed immediately.

  The machine gun on the watchtower had just fired for a second when it fell silent, followed by cries of agony from inside the watchtower.

  "Boom" again, the shell directly hit the gun tower once more. This time, the gun tower could no longer withstand the direct hit of the 60mm mortar and completely collapsed, turning into a pile of ruins.

  Liu Feng waited for a good half day, but unexpectedly not even one devil soldier or puppet army managed to escape. They were all buried under the ruins.

  Liu Feng waited for another ten minutes, still no movement, then brought two soldiers closer to the artillery tower and found that the artillery tower had become a pile of rubble. It is estimated that the devils' fake army would be hard-pressed to survive. The shells did not trigger an explosion of the ammunition inside the artillery tower, so it should still be possible to capture quite a few. Liu Feng let Han Dingtou bring the sniper and keep watch, while he brought the remaining soldiers to start clearing the rubble pile.

  Ten bodies were dug out of the rubble, and five puppet soldiers were seriously injured. The two devils were dead. The reason was that the devils liked to live on the upper floor and were directly hit by shells, what else could they do?

  Then, in the ruins, they found a usable 38 rifle, ten formal rifles, and a large amount of ammunition. For the seriously injured puppet army soldiers, the Eighth Route Army soldiers were prepared to provide medical treatment, but were stopped by Liu Feng. Liu Feng did not want his tactics to be spread, so he ordered them to stab all of them to death with bayonets.

  However, all the Eighth Route Army soldiers were unwilling to carry out the order to kill the captives. Han Dadao said: "Chief of Staff, you are making a mistake by doing this."