20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 612 Fierce Battle

The blocking order was issued, and gunfire broke out on the battlefield.

The flames of the Maxim heavy machine gun roared in the night, and the hot empty shells burst all over the ground in the blink of an eye.

The sound of artillery fire was no less intense, still rumbling.

There were shouts of all kinds everywhere.

All the sounds swallowed each other up again, and the soldiers could hear almost nothing except the simplest and most straightforward commands - fire, concentrate, disperse, and lie down.

There are three trenches in the Shimenzhai defense line, connected by passages.

In the first trench are the main combat forces; in the second trench are the generals in command; in the third trench are the rotating reserve forces.

The trenches are winding and twisting, so that when shells fall in, the corners can be used for cover and reduce damage.

However, this also made the trenches particularly crowded.

The messengers crouched and ran between the battalions and companies, collecting information about the enemy on the front line and conveying instructions from the regiment headquarters.

When the field artillery fired, the whole mountain trembled slightly.

The trench was pitch black. The messenger stumbled and fell to the ground from time to time, then jumped up again, holding his hat with his hand and dived into the crowd of soldiers.

There were sounds of gunfire along the entire defense line, but it was impossible for the Zhi army to advance across the board, so there were many feint attacks in between.

In order to take the position, you must find a suitable breakthrough point.

The telephones in the hands of the commanders of each regiment were almost never disconnected. They were constantly reporting the enemy situation to their superiors and speculating on the main attack direction of the Zhi army.

The engineering company was like a fire brigade, carrying sandbags on their shoulders and running around in the trenches to repair the gaps in the defense line in a timely manner.

"Da da da--"

The Maxim heavy machine gun suddenly stopped firing, and after a few seconds, it resumed firing, but with a few more shouts during the shooting.

"Medic, come and carry the person!"

"Ammunition boxes, bring the ammunition boxes here!"

An entire box of ammunition seemed to be used up in an instant, and the logistics troops pushed and shoved left and right in the trench, rushing over with supplies.

I don't know what happened, but I heard another loud shout from the other end: "Two more, two more!"

The heavy machine gun is a defensive weapon and also a key target of the enemy.

The attacker has the advantage of being an attacker - taking the initiative; the defender has the advantage of being a defender - taking advantage of the situation.

Gradually, the Zhi army's artillery fire got closer and closer.

The thick smoke was pungent and stinging, like a file drilling into the lungs, making people sob and gasp for breath.

The already dim vision became even more blurred.

As the cannon fired, fragments whizzed in and layers of black soil covered the sky, as if the world was turned upside down and turbid waves were surging.

I don’t know when it started, but many people have fallen down, making the trench even more crowded.

Beifeng and others were located on the flank of the position.

The soldiers fired frequently but still could not figure out the enemy's movements. As soon as they saw the slightest movement, they immediately pulled the trigger.

The Zhi army launched a surprise attack at night, and the Feng army had to try its best to maintain the density of firepower.

Zhao Zhengbei held a rifle and spied on the enemy's movements through the gaps between the sandbags. However, no matter how good his marksmanship was, he could not defeat the falling night.

The Zhi army did not charge forward recklessly, but instead split into several companies and crawled forward under the cover of night.

After crawling for a distance, they suddenly heard a sharp whistle, and saw dozens of people suddenly stand up, run forward a few steps, and then immediately lie down on the ground.

Crawl forward and sprint.

Run to a gentle slope, stop to rest for a while, crawl again, and then sprint again.

This cycle repeated itself, the battle line gradually approached, and the distance of the final charge was also constantly shrinking.

Zhao Zhengbei took advantage of the enemy's charge and opened fire.

Bei Feng's shooting skills were extremely accurate, and he killed almost every target with one shot. However, in the fierce battle, no one praised him, and no one even noticed it.

The gunshots were too numerous and too frequent, confusing people's ears and eyes and making it impossible to distinguish them.

Although the friendly forces had no time to praise, the enemy was already terrified.

Every time there was a sprint, three or five people in the team would fall down. Since the Fengtian Army had no heavy machine guns on their flank, the Zhi Army company quickly concluded that there was a sharpshooter here.

As a result, the speed at which the flank front was closing in gradually slowed down.

"Retreat! Retreat!"

The soldiers were delighted and immediately gathered their strength, firing more frequently.

Zhao Zhengbei was also in high spirits. He squatted down to change the spring bridge and then quickly stood up.

Just as he was about to fire the gun, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a flash of fire from the gap between the sandbags.

"boom--"

The Zhi army's artillery shells fell almost right under everyone's eyes.

Seeing this situation, it was too late to say anything, and the only thing that came out of his mouth was "national quintessence".

When the explosion sounded, all the soldiers swung like a swing and fell to the ground.

Before they could get up, they saw the sandbags on the top of the trench suddenly tilted and hit the brothers directly.

All of a sudden, everything was mixed up, and everyone was in a panic, shouting and cursing.

Although the trench was below the horizon, the collapse of the sandbags in the bunker was like a gap in the defense line.

A gust of strong wind immediately brought down pressure.

"Brothers, hold the line, hold the line!"

Zhao Zhengbei shouted loudly, but ended up with a mouthful of sand. He spat it out twice, pushed away the sandbag that was pressing on his body, and hurriedly looked around.

"Get up, get up, get up quickly!"

As he shouted, he picked up the sandbags and piled them on top of the trench again.

However, the shrapnel from the artillery had already torn many sacks, and once they were lifted up, quicksand overflowed, making a mess on the ground.

"Get up!"

Zhao Zhengbei shouted at the soldier next to him, but the soldier was pinned under the sandbag and couldn't move.

When I leaned over to take a look, I discovered that the man's right eye had been pierced by fragments, leaving a bloody hole. There was no need to rescue him any longer.

Death is not necessarily a bad thing.

There is a common saying among soldiers: They dare not die but dare not get injured, only because there is a shortage of military doctors.

Most of the medical soldiers accompanying the army are graduates of crash courses. If you expect them to bring people back to health, you must have great courage.

At this time, the other soldiers came to their senses and hurriedly stood up, shouting at each other, but they felt a piercing pain in their eardrums and could not hear anything.

Without the shelter as a barrier, the enemy's bullets immediately whizzed towards them.

Suddenly, there were crackling sounds on the horizons in front and behind, like a violent storm.

Many brothers had just woken up from the aftershocks, looked up in confusion, and then fell to the ground.

“Get down, get down!” Zhao Zhengbei was already shouting until he was hoarse. “Engineer company, medical soldiers, bring some people, bring some people!”

Not long after shouting, a soldier came running over in panic.

However, he was neither an engineer nor a medic, but a messenger.

"The captain sent me to see what's going on here."

"Engineer Company!" the north wind shouted.

"I know, the engineering company will be here soon!" The messenger shouted at the top of his lungs, "How many enemy troops do you see here?" "We are short of manpower and ammunition, we need reinforcements!"

"Reinforcements will be here soon. I'm asking about the enemy!"

The messenger desperately pointed to the front line, and Bei Feng finally understood.

"There are about a hundred people, not too many. I don't know if there are more behind us. We were bombarded here just now, otherwise we would be able to hold on!"

The messenger nodded, wrote down the situation, and then pointed to the grove on the north side and said, "The commander orders you to pay attention to the flank!"

Simple instructions, but a lot of words went into it.

Zhao Zhengbei rubbed his ears and paused for a while before responding, "I see, but how could there be a large army in that small forest?"

The messenger didn't explain much, just said: "Follow the order!"

After saying that, when he turned around and was about to leave, he saw Lin Zhidong and his men rushing over carrying sandbags.

"Zhengbei, are you okay?"

"It's okay, deliver it to me!"

Zhao Zhengbei hurriedly took the sandbags and piled them on top of the trench in the hail of bullets. In a hurry, they were naturally not as neat as they were at the beginning.

Lin Zhidong didn't have time to ask more questions. He just patted Beifeng on the shoulder and shouted, "I still have to take people over there. Be careful!"

"The same to you!"

The two nodded to each other, turned around and said goodbye. Whether they would meet again after dawn depended on fate.

Soon, several medical soldiers also rushed over.

The medical soldiers on the battlefield are like a corpse collection team. They carry more people than they save.

Immediately afterwards, the reserve team in the third trench also sent out several people with ammunition and supplies to quickly fill the vacant positions.

During this time, the front-line troops allocated firepower to provide cover for the flanks.

Despite this, when the flank defense line was repaired, when Zhao Zhengbei looked forward again, he saw that the opposing company had caught up.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Zhao Zhengbei pulled the bolts one after another, turned his head and shouted, "Brothers, hold on!"

"Yes!" The soldiers responded without turning their heads while shooting.

"Fu Chengyu!" Zhao Zhengbei shouted again, "Fu Chengyu, take a few people to the north and keep an eye on the small woods over there!"

In the dim light, someone came over and asked in fear and trepidation: "Sir, I... my rank is not high enough!"

Zhao Zhengbei cursed, "You are such a fucking stubborn person. I have the final say here. Just go if I tell you to!"

As he spoke, he named a few brothers and asked them to keep an eye on the movements in the woods, and then continued to participate in the blocking battle.

Although the Zhi army's front line was slowly advancing, the casualties it suffered were also quite heavy.

When the battle was in full swing, someone suddenly ran over and shouted, "Sir!"

Zhao Zhengbei turned around and unexpectedly saw Fu Chengyu, so he asked, "I just sent you there, why are you back?"

"Sir, there are enemies over there in the grove!"

"What?"

Zhao Zhengbei was stunned for a moment, then quickly withdrew from the shooting point and strode away with Fu Chengyu.

After walking for a while, they arrived at the corner of the trench.

This section of the trench did not engage in any firefight with the enemy, so the sound of gunfire was naturally much less frequent.

The small woods on the flank of the position, although not big, let alone a deep mountain forest, were lush and leafy and definitely could not accommodate a large army.

If the Zhi army wanted to attack from this side, they would not be able to charge forward.

Therefore, when Zhao Zhengbei heard that there were enemy movements in the woods, he was naturally surprised. He walked over and borrowed a telescope from someone, and then he suddenly realized what was going on.

Looking in the direction of Fu Chengyu's finger, I saw enemy troops in the jungle, but not in large numbers, and there was no exchange of fire.

With the help of the dim moonlight and the light from the battlefield, one could see vague human figures swaying in the bushes, treetops, and grass in the distance.

"It should be the enemy's reconnaissance company!"

Zhao Zhengbei put down the telescope and said, "Fu Chengyu, go to the regiment headquarters and report the news!"

Fu Chengyu took the order and left.

Immediately, Beifeng handed the telescope back and borrowed a "Type 38 rifle" from someone else.

"Sir, should we prepare to attack?"

Zhao Zhengbei shook his head, then picked up his rifle and said, "Don't attack, just fight here."

"Sir, don't be ridiculous. How can we hit this?"

The soldiers were a little skeptical. Although the range from here to the grove was enough, the vision was blurry and there was only a faint light from the camp. How could they hit the target?

Zhao Zhengbei didn't explain much, but just shouted coldly: "Stop making noise!"

Everyone was silent.

I saw Beifeng holding the gun and aiming for a long time before he pulled the trigger.

"boom--"

The gunshot startled a group of birds in the forest.

Someone looked through a telescope and saw the dark shadows of the trees swaying, as if something fell, but no sound was heard.

"Fuck, that's so accurate!"

The soldiers were extremely surprised and shouted at Beifeng to fire another shot.

However, Zhao Zhengbei shook his head and said, "It's impossible to hit them. They are on the tree, so it's easy to hit them. Besides, after one shot, they will be on guard."

"What should we do now?"

"You guys wait here and wait for news from the regiment headquarters. There won't be many people in this small forest. I have to go back over there."

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, the loud military bugle sounded again.

Zhao Zhengbei hurriedly crossed the trench and returned to his original position. Before he could ask his left and right, he saw that the advance troops of the Zhi army had approached to a distance of less than 100 meters.

I don’t know if it was an illusion, but the sounds of artillery fire from both sides seemed to gradually become sparse, leaving only the sound of gunfire, and the surroundings suddenly became much quieter.

The firing of the Maxim heavy machine gun became more intense, and the loader was transferring ammunition while pouring water on the gun.

Suddenly, the vanguard of the Zhi army threw countless tubular clusters towards this side. They looked like bombs, but they were not, and they were not thrown far away.

"The enemy is about to charge!"

Zhao Zhengbei muttered to himself, tightened his grip on the rifle, and then shouted to those around him: "Quick, quick, stop shooting first and reload the ammunition! Reload!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers raised their guns, squatted down, and reloaded without caring how many bullets were left in the magazines.

After a while, white smoke suddenly rose from the ground not far away.

The smoke screen rose higher and higher, like a barrier, lying between the attackers and defenders. This was certainly not a poison gas bomb, but just a primitive trick.

There were continuous violent coughing sounds from the battlefield, with tears streaming down one's face, looking a little embarrassed.

Immediately afterwards, the commanders of the regiment in the second trench rushed into the first trench, shouting the numbers of the battalions and companies and conveying the latest instructions from the regiment commander:
"Attention, all battalions and companies, check ammunition and attach bayonets!"

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a "click" sound in the trench, and everyone was busy preparing for hand-to-hand combat.

Everyone looked tense; several hours had passed since the blocking battle began, and now they had to go back to their primitive ways.

The commanders mixed in with the soldiers, repeatedly reminding them tirelessly: "Brothers, be sure to follow orders and don't attack rashly!"

(End of this chapter)