under fire

The sparkling canal is not very wide.

The river is in a plain and flows slowly.

From time to time, there are a variety of floating objects such as branches, tree trunks, and water plants on the river surface, drifting slowly northward with the current.

More than a dozen small boats could not transfer thousands of villagers to the west bank in a short period of time.

You can only travel back and forth on the canal.

When heading west, the boat was always fully loaded, and even the water on both sides of the boat was filled with people clinging to the side.

After unloading the goods at the west coast, the ship returns to the east coast to pick up people and goods.

Return trip after trip.

As time went on, fewer and fewer people remained on the East Coast.

It was almost the last time people were transported to the west bank of the river.

The sound of the Japanese gunboat's engine came from the north.

At this time, the boat had just reached the middle of the river. An experienced boat captain roughly estimated the speed of the boat, and immediately his face changed drastically and shouted to the rowers behind: "Hurry up, row faster!"

"If we run faster before we reach the shore, the Japanese gunboat will definitely intercept us." A voice came from the boat behind.

"We have to reach the shore before the Japanese arrive, unless we can speed up the ship!"

"Or, let those who can swim let go." The captain looked at the villagers who were clinging to the side of the boat and in the water.

The people clinging to the side of the boat immediately felt a little panicked.

But no one let go, instead they held on tighter.

In the river, an old man suddenly said, "Young men, you keep running. I am old, so I will let go first."

Although the canal is not very wide, human strength is limited and most people cannot swim across a canal that is nearly one mile wide in a short period of time.

The captain of the boat quickly comforted him: "Don't worry, everyone, let's go west separately. The enemy motorboat is targeting our boat. As long as we can get within 50 meters of the west bank of the river, we will be fine with our cover on the shore."

"Once the Japanese motorboat arrives, no one will be able to escape."

The soldiers of the main battalion who had reached the west bank first, after setting up their positions on the river bank, looked at the boats on the river, and then at the Japanese motorboats that were getting closer and closer, but they could only stare helplessly.

"Fortunately, Hexi has not found any enemy troops chasing and intercepting us."

"It's not that there are no devils, it's that the guard battalion disrupted the devil's plan to mop up the enemy!"

The sky was beginning to darken and the outline of the Japanese motorboat could be clearly seen in the canal.

On the motorboat, the Japanese also saw clearly the situation on the river.

Beep beep.

When the nearest ship was within a mile of the river, the heavy machine guns on the motorboat began firing.

Puff puff.

Machine gun bullets hit the river surface, creating a series of splashes

Then there was another series of splashes, and the trajectory began to pull back.

Snatch, snatch, snatch.

A row of bullet holes immediately appeared on the hull that emerged from the water.

Sensing danger, the captain pulled the oars.

The people who were scattered in the river and swimming westward swam desperately using their hands and feet, and their speed became even faster than before.

In their minds, they would be safe only if they rushed within 50 meters of the river bank.

Hedong.

Half of Li Xiang's body was exposed on the sandbag.

In the telescope's field of view.

The steamship that the Japanese converted from an iron-hulled cargo ship was not small.

There were at least twenty devils on board.

Heavy machine guns continued to fire at the boats on the river.

Li Xiang frowned and immediately gave the order to attack the enemy motorboat.

The machine gun placed behind the sandbags at the bow began to blindly fire at the Japanese motorboat a mile away as the ship shook slightly.

Immediately afterwards, the muffled sound of Czech machine guns spread across the river.

The Japanese were fighting fiercely when the observer suddenly saw splashes on the river near the hull and immediately discovered that there was a light machine gun from the east side of the river firing indiscriminately at them.

The Japanese observer yelled at the top of his voice: "Enemy iron-hulled warship spotted!"

"Machine guns, clear the enemy's firepower!" The Japanese second lieutenant was holding a telescope in a daze: the enemy's iron-hulled ship seemed to be quite large.

I quickly realized that it must be the patrol boat that was stolen after the attack by the Eighth Route Army!

It must be taken back or sunk!

Then the second order was issued: "Mortar fire, target, iron-hulled boat!"

"Everyone, fight and protect the villagers in the river!" The company commander of the third company of the main battalion that crossed the river first shouted loudly.

At this time, you don't care about being too far away from the enemy. Shooting inaccurately will waste bullets.

As long as the speed of the enemy ship can be slowed down, the villagers crossing the river will have a better chance of survival.

Immediately afterwards, the Czech light machine guns on the west bank began to fire, shooting at the Japanese speedboats on the river.

The three parties opened fire at the same time, and the whistling sounds of bullets were chaotic and disorderly.

The surface of the river was covered with ripples caused by bullets hitting the water.

The battle seemed fierce.

But for the three parties that opened fire, it had no effect. The Japanese on the motorboat completely ignored the shooting from the west bank!

"Maintain the density of firepower, the Japanese machine gun fire is being attracted here!" Li Xiang held up the telescope and turned a deaf ear to the occasional clanging sound of the Japanese heavy machine gun bullets hitting the hull.

Li Xiang did not panic, but carefully considered the current situation in his mind.

He knew very well that there were still a large number of Japanese devils in the Donglu Village in the southeast.

There were two reasons why the Japanese appeared here. One was that they launched a revenge attack on the Japanese canal motorboat that was ambushed. The other was that they set up a defense line on the east side of the canal in an attempt to encircle the Ninth Battalion that was temporarily stationed in Wang Shun's territory.

He believed that the battalion commander must have a solution, and as a commander, his instinct prompted him to think hard.

It would be easy for him to cross the canal to the west, but it would be tantamount to abandoning the Ninth Battalion.

Therefore, he felt that the Japanese's attempt to defend the east bank of the canal should be broken!

Bullets whizzed past from time to time, flew over heads, flew past ears, and wreaked havoc on the surface of the river.

I felt someone pulling my legs hard.

Slowly turn your neck and look at the figure behind you.

A platoon leader under his command was lying behind a sandbag, shouting anxiously: "Company commander, hide quickly! Company commander, don't show your head..."

The platoon leader tried to lower his head protruding from the sandbag.

Li Xiang looked unhappy: "The enemy's machine guns are so far away, what are you worried about?"

"Be prepared for the worst"

Hiding behind sandbags.

Li Xiang took out a pen and wrote on paper for a while, then turned to the mortar gunner on the boat and ordered: "Mortar ready, three rounds of continuous fire!"

Tom.

As soon as the sound came out, a mortar shell was fired.

I think the gunner must be getting green with envy from waiting.

Snapped.

The shells hit near the Japanese motorboat.

Although the shell did not explode, it still scared the Japanese second lieutenant on the ship.

I didn’t expect that during this raid, the enemy actually had mortars.

It is obvious that the opponent is definitely Tubali’s main force!

The ferocious-looking second lieutenant became extremely excited and ordered the gunners of the gunboat: "Speed ​​up the shooting, shoot! Shoot!"

The Japanese observer holding a telescope suddenly noticed.

The shells fired by the enemy's mortar began to smoke from the place where they landed.

The effect of smoke bombs is greatly reduced after entering water.

"What? Smoke bomb?" The Japanese second lieutenant was stunned when he heard the observer's report.

Were the three consecutive shots fired by Tuba smoke bombs?

And all fell into the water?

The second lieutenant, who was a little worried before, immediately laughed out loud: "The artillery is so bad, the one firing must be a local 8th Route Army soldier."

The Japanese observer continued searching the river with a telescope for a while, but found nothing unusual.

Then he shook his head and said, "Only a stupid enough Tubalu could fire a smoke bomb over the river!"

After dusk, wisps of fog slowly rose from the canal.

The smoke was mixed in with the fog, and the river surface around the speedboat became only slightly hazy.

The light is getting dimmer.

In the reeds just east of the Japanese motorboat.

More than a dozen men who were very good at swimming were staring at the Japanese speedboat about 300 meters ahead, and could only vaguely see its outline.

"Be careful not to make any splashes, only expose half of your head to breathe, and quietly approach the enemy ship."

After saying this, he hid half of his face behind the floating water plants and began to move towards the Japanese motorboat.

After half a face, more faces began to float on the canal.

Li Xiang's sight fell between the Japanese motorboat and the east bank.

Faces were moving towards the Japanese motorboat.

He turned to the mortar gunner and asked, "How many smoke bombs are there?"

"The ten rounds I brought with me have all been used up."

"Machine guns, keep firing!" Li Xiang said, his eyes once again falling on the faces in the water: "Whether we can get the shells this time depends entirely on you!"

It's getting darker.

The Japanese second lieutenant on the motorboat finally sensed something was wrong.

The distance to the enemy ship was too far, and the random firing of heavy machine guns and mortars seemed to be of little use.

Moreover, the transport ships that could have been sunk earlier were now all on shore.

He gritted his teeth and gave the order: "Increase the throttle and get closer to the enemy ship!"

The Japanese navy has basically played no role in this land except transporting troops to China and transporting supplies back to their homeland!

It is even more impossible to drive into the shallow water area of ​​the canal.

The Japs on the motorboat are an army with ships, not a navy at all.

Otherwise, the Japanese navy gunners who valued training very much could sink Li Xiang's small boat, which was only about a hundred meters away from the east coast, with only three shots at most! (End of this chapter)