Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 126 Simple and crude

Wang Fugui squatted in the trench, letting the shells fall around him, kicking up clouds of dust that enveloped the entire position. Every now and then, small clods of dirt and pebbles would hit his helmet and body with a crackling sound.

You can't even swear, because if you open your mouth, countless grains of dust and sand will fly into it.

Shells kept exploding all around, and people in such an environment suffered terribly from eardrum damage.

It emitted a sharp buzzing sound, as if something had been injected into it, but even amidst this cacophony, he could still catch the distant sound of machine guns tearing through cloth.

Wang Fugui wiped his face haphazardly, and clumps of dust on his eyelashes fell off in a flurry. Through his hazy vision, he could see sandbags falling from the edge of the trench, with thin, yellowish-brown streams constantly trickling into his collar.

The sound of artillery fire continued for an unknown amount of time, when suddenly a voice rang out overhead: "The Japanese devils are coming!"

Wang Fugui knew without looking up that it was the monkey on lookout duty giving a warning. He quickly poked his head out of the trench, glanced at it, and then squatted down again.

In less than two or three seconds, he could see the size of the Japanese army on the other side.

He stretched out his left forearm horizontally in front of his chest, palm down, and made a continuous pressing motion with his left hand clenched into a fist, palm facing inward (indicating concealment). Then he quickly opened his five fingers twice in succession, which was to tell his comrades that ten people had arrived.

After instructing the soldiers around him, Wang Fugui ran to the machine gun emplacement next to him, pointed at the enemy in front of him, and then made a trigger-pulling motion.

The machine gunner understood and immediately pushed aside the hidden wooden planks in front of him, revealing ten blurry, scattered figures in the dust.

"Fire!"

As the machine gunner pulled the trigger, the firing pin of the M1917 heavy machine gun struck the primer, and spent cartridge cases bounced around in the mud, the hot cartridge cases landing on the slightly damp soil and emitting wisps of smoke.

When the sound of the M1917 water-cooled heavy machine gun began to roar across the position, the ten figures that had just appeared in front of the position froze for a moment, and then two Japanese soldiers staggered and fell to the ground as if they had been electrocuted.

The sergeant on the left staggered and fell to his knees. He looked down blankly at the blood that had exploded on his chest, staining the thousand needles pinned to his uniform red.

Another soldier behind him gripped his Type 38 rifle tightly, but was too frightened to speak.

Suddenly, a ricocheting bullet grazed his helmet with a piercing clang. He instinctively lunged into the crater, his cheek pressed against the still-warm shell casing, hearing the sound of his teeth chattering amidst the incessant roar of the machine gun.

He vaguely heard the sergeant shouting, "Grenade launcher... take out that machine gun!"

"Boom boom..."

Two minutes later, two Type 91 grenades exploded several hundred meters ahead. These grenades were notoriously loud, and everyone on the entire position could hear them clearly.

After the explosion, the machine gun fire on the other side stopped abruptly, and the sergeant ordered them to continue advancing.

Eight Japanese soldiers reformed into a triangular formation and crept forward, their backs bent as they moved through the ruins, their bayonets gleaming coldly in the twilight.

The sergeant leading the group suddenly raised his hand, and everyone immediately lowered their bodies, their eyes under their helmets fixed on the ruins in front of them, where the machine gun had been fired.

Nobody knows whether any of the firing positions have been taken down.

"Captain... how about we fire a couple more rounds from the grenade launcher and go check it out?" a private first class whispered in the sergeant's ear.

"All right……"

The sergeant waved his hand, and the two grenadiers behind him stepped forward, took out their Type 89 grenade launchers, and slammed the launchers heavily onto the ground.

Dirt splattered onto his leggings, which were covered in gunpowder residue, and the bottom of the tube struck the ground with a sickening metallic clang. Then, he gripped the protractor on the tube with his left thumb, observed the target through the eyepiece, and began adjusting the tail screw regulator.

He then took out a grenade from the ammunition pouch and inserted it into the cannon barrel. A slight "click" sound was heard as the shell slid into the barrel.

"put!"

A hoarse roar burst from the squad leader's cracked lips.

The grenadier pulled the canvas tow rope at the bottom of the tube with a final thud, and the Type 91 grenade flew out of the grenade launcher.

In the flash of the propellant exploding, the grenade traced a dark red arc in mid-air and landed several hundred meters ahead.

"Boom...boom..."

A huge explosion rang out, but the grenadier did not stop. He fired three grenades in succession before stopping. By then, the position in front of him had been blown up and was covered in dust.

After a while, someone asked, "Captain... those Chinese should be dead by now, right?"

The sergeant hesitated for a moment, looking at the smoke-filled position a few hundred meters away. "I don't know either. Let's advance another hundred meters and see."

"go ahead!"

Following the sergeant's order, the Japanese squad finally got within 100 meters of the position when suddenly gunfire erupted from ahead.

Just as the sergeant was about to give the order to charge, the private standing to his right let out a shrill scream. Two rifle bullets pierced his abdomen almost simultaneously, and his intestines hung out of his ripped uniform like torn ropes.

This young man, not yet twenty years old and having joined the army less than three months ago, came from a farming family in Fuzhi Mountain and was still clutching the amulet his mother had given him in his left hand.

Another veteran to his left was equally unlucky; the barrage of BAR machine gun fire pinned him to a dead tree, and 7.62mm bullets ripped open his chest like iron plows.

Amidst the splattering blood mist, one could see white rib fragments swirling in the air.

"Baka Yalu..."

The sergeant's teeth were practically ground to powder; in less than ten seconds, almost all the soldiers in his squad had fallen into pools of blood.

A grenadier who had been following at the very back saw this and tried to reload, but was torn in two by the enemy's crossfire.

The body remained kneeling as it fell, its intestines meandering along the scorched earth like a scarlet centipede.

The brief battle finally ended when the last bullet struck the sergeant.

This battle was being fought all over Taierzhuang, with Japanese soldiers falling and Chinese soldiers dying almost every moment.

At this moment, tactics such as ambush warfare, mine warfare, and stealth warfare all became meaningless under the onslaught of the 16th Division soldiers.

Nakajima Kesago had no intention of playing any tactics with Su Yaoyang. In his view, this small village of less than two square kilometers could be taken with just one charge, and playing so many fancy tricks would be a complete waste.

Therefore, the 30th Brigade's tactics were very direct. Seeing that the artillery bombardment was not gaining any advantage, they immediately launched a group assault.

The objective was simple: to use their numerical and firepower advantages to defeat the defenders of Taierzhuang.

(End of this chapter)