cicada

Chapter 1513 What a tragic pair of lovers!
At the foot of the mountain where Zuo Chong and his group were located, a group of armed men appeared out of nowhere. They blocked the mountain road and immediately launched an attack.

Unlike the gunmen who ambushed the convoy, the former were a motley crew, while the latter were highly professional, their actions displaying a strong military style.

In addition to various long and short firearms, the enemy also carried several Type 31 60mm mortars and a strange machine.

As soon as the operation began, an armed man started the machine. At the same time, a Kuomintang agent on the mountain reported a message to Zuo Zhongda.

"Sir, the radio is jammed and we cannot contact headquarters."

This news surprised Zuo Zhong quite a bit. Although radio jamming equipment had existed for a long time, the equipment in the enemy's hands was definitely not ordinary, as it was capable of suppressing the high-powered military radios used by the Military Intelligence Bureau.

In fact, after the machine was activated, not only the location where Zuo Zhong and others were, but also the mountain city dozens of kilometers away were affected to varying degrees.

The next second, a mortar shell landed on the mountaintop, and amidst the booming explosion, shrapnel flew everywhere, blasting nearby plants and the mountainside to pieces.

The Type 31 60mm mortar was based on the French Brandt mortar. It was successfully copied by the Nationalist government's 50th Arsenal in 1941 and mass-produced and distributed to Nationalist army platoon-level units in the same year.

This type of mortar has a short range but great power and high accuracy, making it very suitable for use in mountainous and jungle areas.

Therefore, after just one round of shelling, the mountaintop was left in ruins, and most of Xu Enzeng and Zheng Tingbing's men who came with them were killed or wounded, a truly horrific sight.

Xu Enzeng wanted to go to Zuo Zhong's bunker, but was driven away by a pistol and had no choice but to hide in the nearest artillery shelter, where he squatted down with Zheng Tingbing, trembling with fear.

Looking at the firelight outside, Zuo Zhong smiled and commented, "Yi Jun, it seems that this enemy is very cautious and knows me quite well."

He Yijun nodded slightly, recalling the question she had asked earlier: would the enemy discover that the two of them had jumped out of the car?

The co-pilot replied that it was unlikely, but if the other party was prepared, they might send someone to secretly monitor them.

What has happened now proves that the enemy may have thoroughly understood Zuo Zhong and his style of doing things, and had planted a large number of informants along the way, which is why a second group of gunmen appeared.

At this point, the third round of shelling ended, and the sound of orders and whistles came from the foot of the mountain, signaling that the enemy was about to launch a ground offensive.

However, Zuo Zhong did not let the little spy leave the bunker. It would take at least ten minutes to get from the foot of the mountain to the top, and leaving a little later would not affect the defense. He was worried that the enemy would play tricks.

Sure enough, two minutes later the cannon fire suddenly rang out again, and Zuo Zhong softly uttered a few words: "Xu Jin's barrage!"

As early as the last European war, European and American countries began experimenting with creeping barrages, which involved using artillery shells to form a continuous line of explosions to cover infantry attacks.

In this great war, Britain, the United States, Germany, and Russia all used this tactic extensively, but the country that used it the most was undoubtedly the United States.

With its deep pockets and excellent communication capabilities, the U.S. military possesses all the necessary conditions to implement a creeping barrage—except for the combat skills of its soldiers, which is precisely the core of creeping barrage tactics.

For infantry, if they move too slowly in coordinated infantry-artillery fire, they will be killed by the enemy; if they move too fast, they will be killed by their own comrades.

Therefore, Zuo Zhong was not in a hurry. Not to mention a group of gunmen bought off by the Americans, even the elite troops of the Central Army could not achieve perfect coordination, and the shelling would soon stop.

Two minutes later, the cannon fire stopped abruptly, and the shouts of the enemy could be faintly heard from the mountainside. The real battle was about to begin.

The Kuomintang secret agents jumped out of their bunkers and, using the fallen trees and rocks as cover, opened fire down the mountain, and the scene was immediately filled with gunfire.

Zuo Zhong and He Yijun moved to a relatively safe location to watch the battle silently. After watching for a while, Zuo Zhong discovered that this group of gunmen was exceptionally elite, even among the Guo army, they were a top-notch force.

He witnessed an enemy soldier being shot, who hastily bandaged his wound amidst the hail of bullets and continued his attack without pausing his tactical maneuvers.

Zuo Zhong was speechless. He really didn't know what he had done to deserve such a wrath from both heaven and man that he could attract such a group of fearless elites who wanted to kill him.

"You bastard! Did you already know the Americans had a backup plan?!"

Covered in dust and dirt, Xu Enzeng crawled out of the bombardment bunker and shouted angrily. The recent shelling had terrified him, and his short legs were still trembling.

Zuo Chong glanced at his former biggest adversary, too lazy to answer, and continued watching the battle between the junior agent and the enemy.

Despite the spies' desperate resistance, the enemy continued to approach and was about to break through the defenses, as the attacking gunmen outnumbered them.

Zheng Tingbing patted the dust off his clothes and said in a hoarse voice, "Deputy Director Zuo, you're playing with our brothers' lives!"

He knew very well that Zuo Zhong had foreseen the attack, but the other side pretended not to know and chose the most cruel way to lure the enemy into a trap.

If nothing unexpected happens, there must be an elite unit of the Military Intelligence Bureau lying in ambush nearby, waiting for the enemy to tire before launching a surprise attack from behind.

Upon hearing Zheng Tingbing's question, Zuo Zhong finally reacted. He slowly turned his head and asked in return, "Otherwise what? Before the Americans even make a move, do you think I would proactively target my allies?"

When the word "allies" was mentioned, Zuo Zhong's face showed a mocking expression. Given the Nationalist government's tendency to bully the weak and fear the strong, if he dared to take action against the Americans, someone might have to execute Ma Su with tears in their eyes.

Zheng Tingbing was speechless. After stammering for a while, he asked for a rifle for self-defense. They had come to gain credit but did not expect to be attacked, so they only brought their own sidearms.

Zuo Zhong waved his hand, and the junior agent immediately brought two weapons. He bent down, picked up one of them, a machine gun, and handed it to Zheng Tingbing. "Deputy Director Zuo, I want one too," Xu Enzeng said, his eyes gleaming with envy, and hurriedly asked for the weapon.

"Okay, okay, we have them all."

Zuo Zhong placed the remaining Type 24 rifles into Xu Enzeng's arms. Although the firepower of the rifles was not as good as that of the Type 24 pistols, they were still better than that of the pistols.

Zheng Tingbing pulled back the bolt to test if the bolt was working smoothly, then casually asked, "Deputy Director Zuo, you gave us the rifles and machine guns, what will you use yourself?"

"Oh, I'm fine with anything." Zuo Zhong said, reaching out to the junior agent, who handed him a Czech-made rifle.

Xu and Zheng looked at the junk in their hands, then at the Czech-style gun on the left, and almost got so angry they were practically spitting out their noses.

"You, surnamed Zuo, you..."

"Stop talking, the enemy is charging."

Just as Xu Enzeng was about to curse, Zuo Chong interrupted him, and after Zuo Chong finished speaking, he led He Yijun to the scene of the firefight.

Zheng Tingbing took a step forward, ready to follow, but his sleeve was tugged, and he instinctively turned around.

"Shh! Old Zheng, let's find a quiet place, or we might fall into another trap."

Xu Enzeng put a finger to his lips to make a shushing gesture, then pointed to a position with less gunfire and whispered.

Zheng Tingbing's heart skipped a beat. He glanced at Zuo Zhong out of the corner of his eye, silently apologized, and tiptoed after Xu Enzeng into the distance.

He Yijun noticed their actions and was about to speak up to remind them when Zuo Zhong waved his hand.

"Let them go. Tell the brothers to hold on for five more minutes. Make sure to lure out all the enemies and achieve victory in one fell swoop!"

A merciful general cannot command an army. Zuo Chong used his own life and the lives of everyone else as bait, naturally aiming to annihilate the enemy while simultaneously preventing the Americans from having an excuse to retaliate.

If we miss this opportunity, it will be difficult to eliminate the traitors who have sided with the Americans; at least, we can't carry out such a blatant crackdown.

Upon receiving his orders, the struggling agent once again unleashed his formidable fighting power, managing to withstand the enemy's frenzied attack. In a short period of time, both sides suffered heavy casualties.

Zuo Chong struck an enemy who was charging up the mountain. He glanced at his watch, made sure five minutes had passed,, and nodded to He Yijun.

He Yijun pulled out a signal gun, aimed it at the air, and pulled the trigger. Three signal flares slowly rose into the sky. The attacking enemy realized something was wrong, but by then it was too late to retreat.

Wu Chunyang and Song Minghao led their elite military intelligence team to appear quietly. The outermost enemy had no time to react and more than ten of them were killed instantly.

Facing attacks from both sides, the gunmen's commander remained calm. He knew that it would be difficult for them to leave alive today, but as long as they completed the mission, the OSS would not mistreat their families.

This was certainly the best outcome, but the Americans might refuse to admit it. The gunman's commander gritted his teeth and issued his final order.

"Attack the summit with all your might, abandon defense."

After making the decision, the masked commander rushed to the front of the column, attempting to risk his life for his family's future.

Seeing this, Wu Chunyang sneered and adjusted his deployment accordingly, preparing to concentrate his forces to open a gap and allow the co-pilot to evacuate.

Bullets rained down on him, and Xu Enzeng cursed inwardly, thinking he must have lost his mind. He knew that the man surnamed Zuo was not easy to deal with, so why did he still try to steal credit?

He fired a bullet haphazardly and shouted at Zheng Tingbing, "Old Zheng, hurry up and find Zuo Zhong, let this bastard take us away."

A bewildered Zheng Tingbing nodded repeatedly in agreement, but when the two turned around, Zuo Zhong was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh no! Where is that person surnamed Zuo?"

Xu Enzeng panicked and ran to the other side on his short legs to look down the mountain, but he could only see two figures gradually disappearing into the distance.

Zuo Zhong, who had already met up with the support team, sensed something and turned to look at the mountaintop, only to see two furious fat men and a ball of fire.

"Alas," he said with a look of regret, "what a tragic couple."

With Zuo Chong safely out of danger, the Kuomintang agents launched an attack with even greater impunity, unleashing a barrage of light and heavy firepower at the enemy, the flames turning the sky red.

(Montage shot)

In the Temasek market, Gui Youguang cleaved a watermelon in half with a knife, and the blood-red juice splattered onto his face. Margaret smiled and handed him a handkerchief.

(End of this chapter)