Chapter 64: The Earth Tank

  The next morning, Zhang Hua and Guo Chengzhu led a group of cavalrymen dressed in ordinary civilian clothes. Riding fast horses, they arrived near Feng Village within less than an hour. However, at this time, the sky had just begun to brighten, and there were no pedestrians in the vast village.

  However, Zhang Hua and others standing on a small hill outside the village still found a very large courtyard in the east of the village at first glance. The entire wall was as Peng Longfei said, several miles in circumference and four meters high. All were built with large stone slabs. Zhang Hua believed that even with the 60mm mortar in his hand, he could only leave some black marks on these walls, which would have no effect at all.

  At the same time, on the high walls of the courtyard, every few dozen meters apart, there was a guard patrolling with a gun. And in each corner of the entire wall, there was a watchtower that stood more than a meter higher than the wall. Through binoculars, Zhang Hua could clearly see the light machine guns emitting blue light in the watchtowers.

  As I turned my gaze back to the entrance of the mansion, beside the large gate stood over ten fully armed guards. Each one was spirited and alert, completely unlike other servants who were lazy and sloppy.

  "Lao Guo, it seems like this is a tough nut to crack..." After observing the entire courtyard's defenses, Zhang Hua let out a sigh and said to his sidekick, Guo Chengzhu.

  "Captain, I have the same feeling. Especially those guards, they are not ordinary militia at all, their discipline is even stricter than that of the Shanxi Army. It seems that this Feng Baotian has invested a lot of experience and money in this guard team. Captain, let's discuss how to attack..." Guo Chengzhu said with the same feeling.

  "A full-on attack is definitely not feasible. Just the few light machine guns on his four watchtowers have already caused significant casualties among our soldiers, which we cannot accept. It seems that we can only use strategy now... Try to blast open the high walls of the courtyard as much as possible. As long as we can blow open his courtyard walls, we will have succeeded halfway." Zhang Hua said thoughtfully, starting to recall some battle tactics, hoping to find a clue from historical wars.

  "Alright, we'll use the earth tank, that's right, the earth tank. Old Guo, quickly draw out the terrain map of Fengjia Courtyard, we're going back to prepare now." Thinking of the examples in history where the Eighth Route Army often used earth tanks to attack the enemy's strongholds, Zhang Hua couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement and gave orders to his deputy regiment commander.

  "Company Commander, what's a Toot Tank? I've never heard of it..." Deputy Company Commander Guo Chengzhu asked with furrowed eyebrows after hearing Zhang Hua's words.

  "Hehe, Old Guo, you'll know when the time comes..." Zhang Hua said with a mysterious expression on his face. After returning to the barracks, Zhang Hua ordered the guard platoon to search the landlord's house and collected over a dozen quilts, as well as a large eight-immortal table. At the same time, there were also several buckets of water that the soldiers had just fetched.

  "Company Commander, what are you going to do with these things? Can they stop bullets?" Looking at the table in front of him, a pile of quilts and several buckets of water. Deputy Company Commander Guo Chengzhu and the surrounding soldiers all asked in confusion.

  "Heh heh, don't be in a hurry. Let me tell you, this is used to block bullets. Wu Pai Zhang, come over and help me." Zhang Hua nodded and ordered the guard platoon leader beside him.

  Two people, under the gaze of surrounding warriors, a quilt and a bucket of water. In less than a few minutes, they used the dozen or so quilts in front of them to wrap up the entire octagonal table, leaving no gaps at all.

  "Captain, this isn't a bulletproof shield, is it?" Deputy Captain Guo Chengzhu asked in confusion, looking at the eight immortals table wrapped in a quilt in front of him.

  "Heh heh, let's just try it out. Wu Tao, bring a rifle over and give it a shot...Also, bring over a light machine gun and see if this earth tank can withstand the bullets." Seeing the puzzled looks of the crowd, Zhang Hua didn't explain further and instead gave orders to Wu Tao beside him.

  "Yes, Company Commander..." Wu Tao replied loudly, turning around to take a rifle from a soldier behind him, loading the bullet. Without any hesitation, he aimed at the eight immortals table in front of him and pulled the trigger.

  A sharp gunshot rang out with a "bang", and the bullet accurately hit the thick quilt.

  "Switch guns..." Zhang Hua nodded and didn't rush to look at the result. He gave a command with no expression, facing Wu Tao.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat..." A burst of pleasant gunfire rang out, and several bullets all hit the eight immortals table in front.

  "Old Guo, come on, let's go take a look..." After finishing shooting, Zhang Hua didn't hesitate at all and said with a smile to the deputy battalion commander Guo Chengzhu beside him. Pulling Guo Chengzhu, the two of them crawled into the Ba Xian table that was completely covered by quilts.

  "My goodness, it really can block bullets... It has only penetrated three layers of quilts, and there are still two layers that have not been penetrated..." Suddenly, a cry of surprise came from the Eight Immortals table. Deputy Regimental Commander Guo Chengzhu, holding a bullet dug out from the middle of the quilt, exclaimed loudly.

  "Comrades, don't just stand there, go take a look at what's called an earth tank..." Zhang Hua shouted loudly, looking at the strange gazes of the surrounding soldiers.

  "Battalion commander, don't worry, with this earth tank, I guarantee that we can take down the Feng family compound with minimal casualties... Who would have thought that just a few quilts and buckets of water could block bullets?" Deputy battalion commander Guo Chengzhu said confidently, looking at the few bullets in his hand.

  "Haha, Old Guo, this earth tank is not omnipotent. If the enemy uses hand grenades, it can be easily destroyed. Moreover, there's the enemy's mortar, which this earth tank can withstand bullets but absolutely cannot withstand the explosion of a single shell. Therefore, for the entire battle, we still need to make detailed deployments and strive to use the smallest number of casualties to resolve the 500-strong militia inside Fengjia Courtyard." Looking at Deputy Regimental Commander Guo Chengzhu's confident face, Zhang Hua couldn't help but feel a sense of unease.

  "Ah, I almost forgot the most important thing, the enemy also has three medium-sized mortars, this is no joke." After hearing Zhang Hua's reminder, Guo Chengzhu also immediately reacted.

  "Alright, let's go back to headquarters and discuss in detail how to fight..." Zhang Hua nodded and headed towards the command center.

  One day later, after careful deployment, the entire special operations battalion, except for leaving a guard platoon to watch over supplies, almost all personnel were mobilized. After two hours of marching, before dawn broke, 500 soldiers had already surrounded the entire Feng family compound, waiting for the arrival of daylight.

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