You were tasked with guarding the Sihang Warehouse, and you brought out a Tiger tank?

"That's it, that's it!"

Xie Heizi's henchmen hurriedly nodded and bowed, flattering him loudly, wishing they could praise their leader as the reincarnation of Zhuge Liang and possessed by Xiang Yu.

"With the chief's brilliant strategies, our Black Cloud Stronghold is an impregnable fortress."

"And our village gate."

Xie Heizi stomped his heavy foot on the wooden plank with a smug grin, pointed at the tightly closed gate, and his face, full of fat, gleamed:

"This is iron birch wood that I spent a lot of money to get from the deep mountains and forests of Northeast China."

Do you know what ironwood is? That stuff is harder than iron; it sinks instantly in water. Forget those security guards' crappy rifles; even if you blasted it with a grenade, it'd only leave a white mark at most.

"Even if they manage to climb up by sacrificing lives and stepping over corpses, this door will keep them out. When they're on higher ground, we can smash them into mincemeat and scald them bald, even if we throw stones or pour molten gold."

Xie Heizi became more and more smug as he spoke, as if he could already see the government troops lying dead on the ground and rivers of blood flowing, while he himself was stepping on Lin Feng's head, counting the silver dollars and guns he had stolen.

Opening champagne halfway through a match is a major taboo in any era, commonly known as "setting a flag" (or "making a promise").

"Pass down the order: tell the brothers to be alert. When these hotheads come to their deaths, we can skin them alive, seize their guns, and then have some fun around Qing County."

"Alright, Boss, you're awesome!"

The bandits burst into laughter, rubbing their hands together, their eyes filled with greed and cruelty, completely unaware that death had already laid its scythe on them.

----

Down the mountain, at the newly erected temporary command post.

"Reporting to the commander."

The reconnaissance platoon leader crawled into the tent, his face painted with black and green greasepaint, and a few withered grasses hanging from his body, making him look as if he had just grown out of the ground.

He took out a simple hand-drawn topographic map:

"We've figured out the situation. The mountain road in Black Cloud Mountain is indeed treacherous, with only one winding path leading up the mountain."

The bandits had deployed a large force at this location halfway up the mountain, which they commonly called "the place where even ghosts dread."

The platoon leader drew a circle on the map with his finger:

"There's a raised natural stone platform here, offering a commanding view. The bandits set up two Czech-made light machine guns and a dozen rifles on it. The location is extremely cunning, perfectly covering the zigzag mountain path below."

"The worst part is," the platoon leader paused, his brow furrowing slightly, "that if we were to launch a normal uphill attack, this stone platform would be located right to the flank and rear of the attacking force."

In other words, when the brothers charged forward, their backs were completely exposed to the muzzles of their guns. This was an excellent position for machine gun fire from behind.

Lin Feng looked at the hand-drawn diagram and nodded repeatedly.

Although Xie Heizi was a bandit, he had a rather shrewd eye for choosing battlegrounds.

This "counter-attacking of strongpoints" is a classic defensive tactic in military terms.

If the attacking side charges head-on, they will be mowed down like wheat by machine guns from the flanks and rear, and they won't even be able to find cover.

"If it were the old security regiment, or a regular army with only rifles and grenades, they would have had to pay with their lives to take this bite out of them."

Lin Feng sneered, tapping his fingers lightly on the table: "Unfortunately, times have changed."

He looked up at the reconnaissance platoon leader:

"Can you handle this? Can you snipe the machine gunner?"

The reconnaissance platoon leader's lips curled into a confident smile, a pride befitting the system's elite:

"The bandits aren't particularly vigilant; we can easily get within 300 meters. At that distance, with good visibility, it's like firing from a stationary target for our snipers. Mission accomplished, sir."

"good!"

-----

Halfway up the mountain, there is the "Ghost's Sorrow" stone platform.

The terrain here is indeed treacherous, with a huge rock protruding from the mountain like an eagle's beak, hanging above the mountain road.

The bandit's second-in-command was sitting cross-legged behind a sandbag bunker, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, a Mauser pistol tucked into his waistband, looking completely content.

Two Czech-made light machine guns were casually propped up on the sandbags of the bunker.

"Second-in-command, do you think those government troops will dare to come up?" A pockmarked bandit next to him asked while wiping his rifle.

"Give them the guts!" The second-in-command spat out the straw in his mouth and sneered. "This place is called 'Ghost's Bane,' and that's not for nothing! If they dare to show their faces, one blast from these two machine guns and it'll be like the King of Hell calling their names—no matter how many come, they'll all die!"

"Hehe, that's right, that's right."

The surrounding bandits joined in the commotion, each wearing their hats askew and carrying guns at an angle. Some were picking their toes, while others were scratching lice; they looked like a complete mob.

They had no idea that, just over 300 meters away in a towering tree, the eyes of death had already opened.

Among the dense foliage, a sniper clad in camouflage netting clung to a tree trunk like a gecko.

The Mauser M1924 heavy-barreled rifle in his hand was as steady as a rock, and the crosshairs of the 4x Zeiss optical sight had already firmly locked onto the head of the second-in-command, who was still swaying and was being praised by everyone and was firmly occupying the center position.

Wind speed, a light breeze.

Distance: 320 meters.

Correction amount, no correction required.

The sniper held his breath and slowly pressed the trigger.

Meanwhile, in two other trees not far away, two more snipers had also locked onto their targets.

"Bang!"

The crisp sound of gunfire echoed through the valley.

The smile on the second-in-command's face instantly froze.

His head snapped back, and a fist-sized hole exploded in the back of his head.

Red and white, mixed with bone fragments, sprayed all over the face of the pockmarked bandit behind him.

"Bang! Bang!"

Two more gunshots rang out, almost in a single line.

The other two bandits, positioned near the machine gun, didn't even have time to scream before their heads lolled to the side and they collapsed onto the sandbags, blood dripping down the machine gun butt.

"ah--!"

It was only then that the surrounding bandits realized what was happening.

"Someone's dead! The second-in-command is dead!"

"Where was the shot fired? Where is the person?!"

"Are the government troops coming up?"

The bandits, who had been bragging and joking, suddenly erupted into chaos, terrified and running around like headless flies.

Some lay on the ground trembling, some covered their heads and crawled into the cracks in the rocks, and there was a slightly bolder bandit leader who, looking at the unattended machine gun, gritted his teeth and wanted to rush over and join the attack.

"Damn it, let's fight them!"

The gunner had just reached out his hand, but hadn't even touched the machine gun handle yet.

"Bang."

Another gunshot rang out.

The cannon's arm jerked violently, and the entire arm was broken off at the elbow, with only a bit of skin and flesh connecting it, hanging there swaying precariously.

"Oh, my hand, my hand!"

A heart-wrenching scream echoed through the valley.

The snipers are watching; whoever touches the machine gun is dead.

At this point, the remaining bandits completely collapsed.

This isn't a war; it's clearly a ghost story!

Before we even saw a glimpse of the enemy, our leader and machine gunner were all wiped out. What's the point of fighting now?

----

Down the mountain, gunshots were the signal.

"First Company, First Battalion, attack!"

"Mortar, three rounds in rapid succession, to cover the infantry."

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

The 82mm mortar, whose parameters had already been set, roared.

The cannonball, with a sharp whistling sound, pierced the sky and landed precisely on the stone platform of "Ghost's Sorrow".

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Flames shot into the sky, and rubble flew everywhere.

The already chaotic bandits were now facing utter annihilation.

On the narrow stone platform, the blast wave sent several unlucky men flying, screaming as they plummeted into the bottomless valley.

The remaining bandits were stunned by the bombing, their ears ringing. They wished they had two more legs and ran towards the back mountain crying for their parents.