Republic speculator Republic speculator came to town on the 8th day of the lunar calendar (eighteenth)

  Adding the ambush earlier, Zhuang Jihua has clashed with Chen Jun twice now, once attacking and once ambushing. Chen Jun's performance made Zhuang Jihua feel that meeting him was not as good as hearing about him. However, this attack made Zhuang Jihua realize that Chen Jun's combat strength was indeed not weak. Chen Jun's soldiers were skilled at using the terrain, under the command of their officers, they advanced slowly along the terrain, rolling or crawling, until they reached a distance of 70-80 meters from the 7th company's position. The 7th company's soldiers were essentially new recruits, and in the previous two battles, they had won easily, without even having time to feel fear. Now that the battle was stalemated, they became somewhat flustered, and their shooting became less accurate. As the enemy slowly approached within 50 meters, bullets hit the fortifications, kicking up a cloud of smoke and dust, and the 7th company's soldiers began to show signs of slight panic. Cao Yuan felt the soldiers' fear, and he walked around the position, rallying their spirits.

  Zhuang Jihua also discovered the soldier's anxiety, but he didn't move, only loudly shouting at the soldiers: "Just now that bastard ran away, I haven't had a chance to get angry yet. Now it's good, that bastard has been sent to our doorstep. Brothers, be careful, try to send them back home with one shot, or else they'll run away again, and I don't have the energy to chase after them." A soldier called out: "Company Commander, you watch well, guarantee one shot per person, send them back home." "Zhang Sanwa, you bastard, don't brag, trying to deceive me, no way. One shot won't do, two shots, two shots won't do three shots. There's only one rule, don't let them run away." Zhuang Jihua said with a smile. Zhang Sanwa didn't respond, took aim, "bang", the enemy in front of him struggled twice and then stopped moving, Zhang Sanwa pulled back the bolt, ejected the shell, loaded another round, and fired again, and another enemy fell down.

  "Another one." The soldier next to Zhang Sanwa helped him count. "Three." "Four", Zhang Sanwa fired five shots in a row, and five people fell down on the other side. The two soldiers next to him didn't shoot anymore, they just helped him count and indicate targets. Hey, this kid is actually a great shooter, Zhuang Jihua felt a bit surprised, how did he not notice it before? Actually, it's not his fault, during training, these soldiers only shot at the target three times, a total of twelve bullets. The first time they shot at the target, Zhang Sanwa's name wasn't even among the top ten in the whole company. The third time, Zhang Sanwa's score entered the top five, but still not the best. Who would have thought that this kid would burst out today? "Good job, damn it, you shoot well, I'll recommend you for merit when we get back."

  Zhuang Jihua shouted loudly. Zhuang Jihua's laughter and Zhang Sanwa's divine gun made the soldiers calm down again, continuing to exchange fire with the enemy. The Chen army soldiers were mostly old soldiers, seeing that the seventh company's bullets had become dense again, they retreated. Zhuang Jihua saw that this side of the position was stable, so he said to Cao Ying: "I'll go take a look at the second platoon's position." After finishing speaking, he brought the messenger soldier and ran to the right wing. Song Xilian was directing soldiers to build fortifications, seeing Zhuang Jihua coming over, he welcomed him. "How is the situation on your side?" Zhuang Jihua didn't have time for idle talk. "It's okay, just a bit short-handed." Song Xilian accompanied Zhuang Jihua as they walked and talked. "What about casualties?" "One killed in action, six wounded, all lightly injured." The second platoon's position wasn't large, Zhuang Jihua took a walk around the position without spending much time, he looked outside and said to Song Xilian: "You must pay attention to the flank, the other side is full of old slippery fish, they can't attack head-on, they will definitely go around the flank. That side is near the mountain, Hu Zongnan can provide cover, earlier there was no gunfire on the mountain, Hu Zongnan has a lot of patience, he's doing well."

  "On your side, there are also mountains, but we don't have enough troops. Be careful, the enemy may come over along the mountain waist. Don't think that just because there's a gap in the terrain you'll have time to set up. When the battle gets intense, you won't be able to take care of it."

  "We're short-handed for now, but wait and see how many people Huang Mingcheng can gather later. Once we have them, I'll give them to you first."

  "You see, we can put two sentries on that rooftop," said Zhuang Jihua, pointing to a wooden house at the edge of town. The house was in just the right position to keep an eye on a section of mountain waist on the flank of the second company.

  The two were discussing this when they suddenly heard a long, drawn-out "whoosh", followed by the sound of an explosion. They looked at each other and simultaneously exclaimed: "They have artillery!"

  "Take cover! Take cover!" shouted Song Xilian.

  Zhuang Jihua immediately sprinted to the right flank. The third company commander, Du Yiming, had been sent to train the workers, so he was only able to replace him in command."

  Du Yuming was very reluctant to go, but Zhuang Jihua was determined not to let him stay behind. In fact, Zhuang Jihua was also worried in his heart. If he lost all three National Army generals in this battle, how could he explain it? He had to keep at least one of them alive. When he ran to the third row, Cao Yuan had already ordered the third row to disperse. The enemy's artillery fire was scattering towards the rear, which was a tactic Zhuang Jihua had learned from his previous life and added to their training. A few people were left in the front to observe the enemy situation. The enemy's cannons raised a cloud of smoke on the front line, destroying two fortifications before stopping, without extending their fire. "The enemy is coming!" the observation post shouted. The third row soldiers immediately rushed to the front line. At this time, Huang Mingcheng came running up with his men. "What are you doing here? Get down!" Zhuang Jihua yelled at him.

  "I'll take a look and see if there's anything else I need to do," Huang Mingcheng said. "There's nothing, no one is protecting you," Zhuang Jihua said in a bad tone, suddenly thinking of asking: "How many people did you find?" "Eighty-two people, they are receiving training at the back." Huang Mingcheng didn't think much of it. "I'll send someone to find the comrades from the Farmers' Association and let them come over too." "Okay, fire!" Zhuang Jihua was already beyond caring, this time the enemy was coming in full force, a sea of black pressing forward, with three or four hundred people rushing towards them. This time Zhuang Jihua gave the order to open fire when the enemy was about 200 meters away. A row of gunfire rang out, and five or six people fell on the other side; however, this time the enemy did not stop, quickly running forward, soon reaching 150 meters, 100 meters, and entering within 100 meters, the accuracy of the seventh company's shooting increased, each row of gunfire able to take down over a dozen enemies, the threat from the machine guns also grew greater, the enemy troops fell prone and engaged in a shootout with the seventh company, an enemy officer shouted loudly in the ranks to boost morale.

  Under the intimidation of the officer, the enemy soldiers began to advance again, 70 meters, 50 meters, and the bullets that came over also gradually increased in number and accuracy. From time to time, bullets flew by from the side, Zhuang Jihua shouted: "Prepare hand grenades." The soldiers all took out their hand grenades. "Throw hand grenades." Zhuang Jihua was the first to throw a hand grenade, followed by dozens of hand grenades thrown into the enemy crowd, and the explosion set off a large smoke screen. The nearby enemies suffered heavy casualties and had to retreat. The enemy officer shouted loudly, and the rear guard team opened fire and killed several soldiers who were running in front. After that, the enemy soldiers began to charge towards the Seventh Company again. "Zhang Sanwa," Zhuang Jihua ran to Zhang Sanwa's side and said to him: "First shoot their officers."

  "Yes. Continue to shoot." Zhang Sanwa responded with a sound, and then looked for the enemy officer's figure in the enemy group. The battle had been going on until now, and the casualties of the 7th Company were not very large. Zhuang Jihua found that the enemy rarely opened fire before entering 150 meters, and their accuracy was general at a distance of 100 meters, but they shot fiercely at a distance of 50-60 meters. Based on this discovery, Zhuang Jihua began to organize Zhang Sanwa and other sharpshooters to shoot at a distance of 200 meters. Within 200 meters, they almost never missed a shot, and their killing effect on the enemy was even greater than that of machine guns. After several officers were killed, the enemy stopped at a distance of 150 meters, and when they saw the attack stop, an officer rushed out from the enemy position, grabbed the flag from the flag bearer's hand, and shouted towards the 7th Company while rushing forward. Under his leadership, Chen Jun's soldiers shouted and launched a charge.

  "Hand grenades!" Again, dozens of hand grenades were thrown out, and the intense explosion forced the enemy to retreat. After the smoke disappeared, an enemy officer raised his flag and launched another attack, but this time he was not so lucky, and several bullets hit him almost simultaneously. The momentum of Chen's army was temporarily suppressed, just as gunfire came from the left side, a group of Chen's army moved over from the flank, suffering from Hu Zongnan's platoon on the mountain. At this time, Chen's army blew the charge horn, and more than 100 people poured out from Chen's position again. This group of Chen's army merged with the previous one in front of the position and pressed towards the Seventh Company together. "Hand grenades! Hand grenades!", Zhuang Jihua was getting anxious, and the soldiers of the Seventh Company desperately threw hand grenades, and the waves of explosions once again stalled the enemy's charge.

  But the enemy did not retreat, instead they lay down on the spot and charged again after the smoke dispersed. "Fix bayonets!" Cao Yuan shouted loudly, Zhuang Jihua glared at him with anger upon hearing this, but he couldn't change Cao Yuan's order because changing orders at this time might cause confusion among the soldiers. Zhuang Jihua didn't want to engage in close combat with bayonets, as the enemy outnumbered them ten to one and the casualties would be heavy; after a few rounds of fighting, the Seventh Company would be annihilated. The soldiers of the Seventh Company fixed their bayonets well, Cao Yuan gave the order to charge, and they rushed out of the fortifications first, colliding head-on with Chen's army. Zhuang Jihua raised his shotgun and fired while charging forward; the enemy who collided with him didn't have a chance to engage in close combat. The several soldiers following him formed a protective circle around him.

  The soldiers of the 7th Company charged into the enemy ranks with their bayonets shining brightly, and the officers of the teaching regiment fired their revolvers to great effect, instantly dropping over a dozen Chen troops. The 7th Company's bayonet charge was not about one-on-one combat, but rather team fighting, where two or three soldiers would automatically form a small team, even when facing more numerous opponents they could still emerge victorious. Zhuang Jihua's emphasis on teamwork paid off, and the Chen troops found that to kill just two 7th Company soldiers, they had to pay the price of two or three men, while attacking a small team of three to five men would result in seven or eight casualties without necessarily destroying the team. The more the Chen troops fought, the colder their hearts became, while the 7th Company's morale grew stronger with each fight, and on the battlefield, a strange phenomenon emerged where sixty or seventy men were able to hold off two or three hundred men. A Chen officer became enraged and sacrificed himself to scatter two 7th Company teams, but was immediately spotted by Tang Qijun, who fired two shots at him, and the officer fell to the ground, glaring at Tang Qijun. The soldiers following the officer rushed towards Tang Qijun, but when he tried to fire again, all he heard was an empty click - his bullets were spent. Just as he drew his command knife, a bayonet appeared in front of his chest, and a nearby soldier helped him deflect it, while another enemy took advantage of the situation to stab at the soldier, only to be blocked by another bayonet. Tang Qijun remained calm and composed, gripping his knife with both hands, taking advantage of the moment when the enemy's guns were momentarily silenced to charge forward, and with one swift motion, he split open an enemy's skull, then turned his blade around and felled another man. With Tang Qijun at its center, another small team was formed.

  Chen Jun's soldiers could no longer hold on and slowly retreated, turning into a rout. The brave officers had already died in battle, while the cowardly ones ran ahead of the soldiers. Zhuang Jihua did not order a pursuit, but instead chose to cut his losses. This charge cost the 7th Company over a dozen lives, while the enemy left behind over a hundred corpses. Despite the high casualty ratio of 1:10, Zhuang Jihua could not afford it. He quickly regrouped his troops and retreated back into town.