Courtyard Houses: Longevity Since the War of Resistance

The main gate creaked open—oh wait, I opened the wrong one. I opened the west gate, not the brigade commander's gate. Hopefully, he won't be angry...

This puzzled the allied forces below the city. The commander, holding his binoculars, hesitated for a long time before asking, "What's going on? Are the Japanese going to come out of the city for hand-to-hand combat? Or is it a trick?"

An officer in Chiang Kai-shek's army drew his pistol: "Prepare for battle! The Japanese are definitely up to something!"

But after waiting for a long time, the door opened, but nothing came out.

"Damn it, we can't worry about that now!" The commander of the 18th Route Army threw down his binoculars. "Such a good opportunity, even if there's an ambush, we have to charge! Sound the bugle!"

The bugle sounded, and the soldiers rushed into the gate with their guns at the ready. The one at the front slipped and almost fell as he squeezed through the gate.

Looking down, the ground was covered with Japanese corpses and blood, each with a bloody hole in their forehead.

"Who...who did this?" The soldiers were all dumbfounded.

"Forget everything else, charge in!" the regimental commander roared from behind. "All battalions, seize the key points!"

The six regiments at the west gate split into more than a dozen groups, advancing in different directions. Street fighting began, the most brutal form of combat. Every street, every house, had to be fought for with blood and lives. Gunfire, explosions, and screams mingled together, turning Taishi into a giant meat grinder.

After the west gate opened, I quickly flew to the north gate where the brigade commander was, otherwise I would easily be scolded after the war.

The Japanese machine guns on the north gate wall were firing down like they were free, pinning the attacking troops down hundreds of meters away, unable to raise their heads. I went around to the side of the gate, took out four grenades, and threw them up.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

All four machine gun positions went silent, and I took advantage of the chaos to rush into the city gate, picked up my Type 96 pistol, and fired a burst.

The Japanese soldiers guarding the gate were riddled with bullets. They pushed open the heavy city gate with all their might. The hinges creaked and groaned as the north gate opened.

The bugle sounded, and the soldiers jumped out from behind their bunkers, yelling as they charged into the city. I ran up the path beside the city wall, where a dozen or so Japanese soldiers were still throwing grenades down.

How could I let them harm my comrades? Bullets flew like dragons, slaying the little devils.

The Japanese soldiers on the city wall were cleared away, and the troops at the north gate successfully stormed into the city.

I didn't wait for the brigade commander there; I turned and plunged into a narrow alley. Opening the door was just the beginning of the battle; urban warfare was the real showdown. Victory with minimal casualties—that was what I wanted.

As soon as we turned into the alley, we heard a burst of gunfire ahead. A company of soldiers was trapped at the corner, and the Japanese soldiers on the other side had set up a machine gun on a two-story building, the bullets sweeping the road until it was smoking.

A company commander was jumping up and down in frustration: "Damn it, if we can't take down this crappy building, the whole company will be stuck here!"

I activated my clairvoyance and scanned the building. There were more than twenty Japanese soldiers inside. The windows on the first floor were filled with sandbags, and two Type 96 light machine guns on the second floor were firing in a crossfire pattern, blocking the entire street. Charging in head-on would be suicide.

"Tell your men not to move, I'll take care of it for you," I shouted to the people behind me.

The company commander was taken aback: "Who are you?"

"Suppressing ghosts," I didn't explain further, and went around to the back of the building.

Behind this building was a dead end, blocked by a high wall. I used three steps to climb over the wall and jumped into the backyard.

He sneaked into the building through the back door. In the lobby on the first floor, eight Japanese soldiers were firing at two machine guns, completely unaware of what was behind them.

I pulled out a flower-shaped mechanical weapon that I had picked up earlier from the system space, and started rattling away!

The eight Japanese soldiers died without understanding where the bullets came from. Blood splattered all over the wall. I stepped over their corpses and rushed up to the second floor. There were ten Japanese soldiers on the second floor. Four of them were firing wildly at the street with two light machine guns. Six of them were crouching on the stairs, on guard. I slipped out from the stairwell and started firing from both sides.

All six Japanese soldiers had bruises between their eyebrows, so the fate of the remaining four was naturally not good.

I walked to the window and shouted to the soldiers in the alley, "Go on!" The company commander still wanted to bring his men up.

"Stop dawdling! Hurry up and push forward with your men. There's still a small Japanese squad guarding the street corner ahead. If we delay any longer, they'll have to redeploy their defenses."

They left. I stood on the roof and glanced southeast with my keen eyes. My heart skipped a beat. Lei Dachui's group had been cornered.

Two streets away, there was a tiled house. Zheng Dapao leaned against the door frame and fired his gun outwards, Lu Yuan lay at the window and fired sniper shots, and Lei Dachui held a light-handled gun and guarded the corner of the house.

Outside the house, more than thirty Japanese soldiers blocked both ends of the alley. Two machine guns were mounted on the opposite courtyard wall, and bullets clattered into the tiled houses, sending brick fragments flying everywhere.

There were about a dozen Japanese soldiers lurking behind the tiled house, trying to climb in through the back window.

"Damn it!" I cursed, and charged towards the scene. Being close, I could hear Zheng Dapao yelling from inside the house, "Not many bullets left!"

A Japanese soldier peeked out from the corner of the wall, trying to sneak forward.

Lu Yuan's gun was fast; with a bang, the Japanese soldier's forehead exploded. But the machine gun on the other side immediately swept over, forcing Lu Yuan to keep his head down.

I flew to the rooftop closest to the tiled house and looked down. Two Japanese soldiers were climbing up the back window in a human ladder. I could hear Bai Su shouting from inside the house: "Back window! There are people at the back window!"

There was no time to hesitate. I took out the Flower Mechanism from my system space and fired two bursts at the two Japanese soldiers at the back window.

Ta-da!

The two Japanese soldiers fell off the human ladder without even uttering a sound. Inside the house, Lei Dachui heard the commotion, turned around, saw it was me, and his eyes lit up: "Captain!"

I ignored him; I still had to clean up the trouble outside.

The Japanese soldiers in the alley spotted someone on the rooftop and their guns snapped shut. I didn't dodge at all; I aimed my machine gun at the shadowy figure in the alley and unleashed a burst of fire. The gun had a high rate of fire; one burst took down five or six men.

The machine gunner on the opposite wall turned his gun to shoot me, but I was faster. Holding the gun in one hand, I pulled a grenade from my waist with the other, bit off the pin with my teeth, and threw it over.

With a loud bang, the machine gun and the people inside were blown up.

I jumped off the roof, and as I landed, I did a forward roll. As I got up, the flower mechanism spewed out tongues of fire again.

Da da da da!

Bullets chased after the Japanese soldiers, and blood splattered everywhere in the alley. In less than a minute, all twenty-odd Japanese soldiers in the alley were lying on the ground. I changed to a new magazine and kicked open the door of the tiled house.

The room was filled with smoke, and Lei Dachui and the others were leaning against the wall, panting. Bai Su was squatting in the corner, with an old woman lying at her feet, her chest covered in blood, and a boy of about fourteen or fifteen years old curled up in the corner, trembling with fear.

"What's going on?" I glanced around the room.

"The Japanese devils wanted to take over this house as a machine gun position," Lei Dachui said through gritted teeth, his arm bruised and blood soaking through the cloth. "They opened fire as soon as they came in. The old lady was sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed) when we happened to be passing by. We heard the noise and rushed in."

I glanced at the old woman; she was already...

"We can't stay here. Japanese reinforcements could arrive at any moment. Zheng Dapao, carry the old lady on your back. Lei Dachui, protect the child. Lu Yuan and Bai Su, I'll cover your retreat."

"Captain, outside," Bai Su glanced at the doorway.

"It's all cleaned up outside," I interrupted her. "Let's go."

Zheng Dapao carried the old woman's body on his back, and Lei Dachui helped the child up. I went out first, and Hua Jiguan pointed to both ends of the alley. After confirming it was safe, I waved to them.

"Go to the west of the city to meet up with Ye Qiao; we have more troops there."

"Captain, what about you?" Lei Dachui asked.

"Me?" I looked at the black smoke floating in the sky above Tai City. "There are still many Japanese ambush points in the city. I have to go and clear the way for the troops."

Lei Dachui opened his mouth, but in the end he just nodded emphatically. He understood that in this kind of urban warfare, taking down one more machine gun position could save dozens of his brothers from dying.

I handed two magazines to Lei Dachui, saying, "Use them sparingly. When you get to Ye Qiao's place, you'll have to follow orders."

"clear!"

Watching them carry the old woman and protect the child until they disappeared at the end of the alley, I turned around and climbed back onto the roof. My eyes were wide open; two streets to the east, twelve Japanese soldiers were hiding in a half-collapsed two-story building, firing their rifles down into the street below. One of our platoons of soldiers was pinned down there, unable to lift their heads.

Three hundred meters to the north, at the corner of the alley, there was a grenade launcher squad. Japanese soldiers were crouching against the wall, specifically targeting charging soldiers.

The southwest was even more troublesome. A company of Japanese soldiers and puppet troops were huddled in a brick factory. The walls there were thick and the windows were small, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. Two squads had already been wiped out outside the factory.

"One at a time." I licked my chapped lips and started to make my way from the rooftop toward the two-story building to the east.

The Japanese soldiers inside the building were completely focused on the street and didn't hear anything from the roof. I climbed in through the broken window, and there were twelve Japanese soldiers with their backs to me, shooting out with their buttocks sticking out.

When the flower-shaped machine swept past, the Japanese soldiers' heads turned into popcorn, chicken nuggets, and rotten chrysanthemums.

I walked to the window and waved down at the street below.

The platoon leader below, seeing that the Japanese soldiers inside the building were gone, paused for a moment, then reacted and shouted, "Charge! Charge in!"

The soldiers crouched low as they rushed across the street. I watched them disappear into the alley opposite before turning and leaving.

The next target is that grenade launcher squad.

Using my light-footed skills, I circled around to the rooftop behind them. The Japanese soldiers were crouching against the wall, loading and aiming. I pulled out two grenades, pulled the pins, silently counted to two, and threw them down.

The grenade exploded almost directly above their heads, blowing the Japanese soldiers and their grenade launchers to smithereens.

The most troublesome place was the brick factory, where more than a dozen civilians were being held captive in a corner. The troops attempted to charge twice, but were driven back by machine gun fire both times.

I quietly approached the brick factory and started working intimately, asking, "Old tiles, where are the thinnest tiles in this factory?"

A lazy voice echoed in my mind, "The west corner wall was soaked by last year's heavy rains; the bricks are all crumbling. Remember to be gentle when demolishing the house; these old bones of mine can't take any more damage."

"Alright, you can go and rest now."

I activated the Illusion Kid and locked onto the two machine gunners in the factory.

Inside the workshop, the machine gunner, who was aiming at the front door, suddenly saw more than a dozen Eighth Route Army soldiers charging towards them outside the sandbag bunker, yelling! He was startled and pulled the trigger, firing wildly: "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

The assistant marksman next to him was stunned. There was clearly no one outside, but he rubbed his eyes and it seemed like there really was a shadow moving around.

The gunner of the other machine gun was even more outrageous. He saw a huge rat with fangs dart out from the corner of the wall and lunge straight at his face!

"Baka!" Startled, he turned his gun around and fired wildly at the open space.

Inside the factory, some Japanese soldiers shouted, "Enemy attack!" while others yelled, "Monster!" Right now, I kicked the corner of the west wall, and a large section of the wall collapsed with a crash.

"Hey kid, be gentle!"

I rushed through the hole with the flower-shaped device in my hand, shouting, "Back wall! The back wall is broken!" A Japanese soldier screamed.

The workshop was in complete chaos. I moved and fired simultaneously, my light-footed skills allowing me to dart and weave between brick stacks and kilns, the Japanese bullets always a beat too slow. Occasionally a bullet would hit me, but my immortal body would instantly heal the wound, barely letting any blood bleed.

When they rushed to the vicinity of the civilians, five Japanese soldiers were pointing their guns at the trembling civilians, seemingly intending to kill the hostages.

"Look here," I said in R.

The five Japanese soldiers instinctively turned their heads. I smiled at them, swept a burst of bullets, and all five fell down.

"Follow me!" I shouted to the people, pointing to the hole in the west wall.

The civilians ran out, and I stayed at the cave entrance to cover their retreat. A few Japanese soldiers chased after us, and I threw my last grenade, which rolled precisely to the feet of one of them.

What about the puppet troops?

They were so frightened they hid away long ago; when disaster strikes, they all flee.

Amid the explosion, I protected the last old lady and rushed out of the brick factory.

The platoon leader on the street outside saw the west wall suddenly collapse and saw civilians running out. Although he didn't understand what was going on, he immediately organized fire support and handed the civilians over to the soldiers.

Using his Insightful Eyes to scan the entire city, Ye Qiao found only a few Japanese soldiers still resisting. Ye Qiao and his group were already waiting in the city center.

On my way to the city center, there were ruins everywhere and corpses lying everywhere.

The victory in the war was won by the soldiers who risked their lives.

I walked on the broken bricks and tiles scattered all over the street, where soldiers leaned against the walls, panting. In the city center, in front of the Governor's Mansion, soldiers were busy counting and escorting captured prisoners.

Ye Qiao stood in the center of the courtyard, talking to the brigade commander.

The brigade commander was still wearing that overcoat, his hands behind his back. I walked over, and the brigade commander turned around and looked me up and down.

My clothes were torn like fishing nets, covered in bloodstains and holes.

"Li Feng!" The brigade commander's voice boomed, and everyone in the courtyard looked over. "You bastard! Is this how you fight a war? Huh? Twelve men rushed into the city, you opened the city gate, you took down the machine gun position, do you think you have three heads and six arms or something?! You're not afraid at all!" He got angrier and angrier as he spoke, and his finger almost poked my nose.

I didn't say anything. After the brigade commander finished scolding, his voice also lowered: "The casualty statistics are out. In the battle of Taishi, we suffered more than 4,700 casualties."

The courtyard fell silent instantly. There were over four thousand seven hundred living people there, and that was even after I opened both gates.

"But it was worth it." The brigade commander wiped his face, his eyes a little red. "Taishi was taken, the entire Shanxi region was liberated, and the Japanese devils pulled out a nail from North China, and a big one at that."

The brigade commander paused, then looked at me: "Where's Yoshio Shinotsuka?"

"He's gone to visit the Turtle King in a dream."

The brigade commander stared at me for a while, then suddenly raised his hand and patted my shoulder hard, everything was understood without words.

I know the brigade commander scolded me because he was worried about me, and the pat on the shoulder was an acknowledgment of my abilities.

He turned and shouted into the courtyard, "Messenger! Send a message to headquarters! Taishi has been liberated, and the entire Jin region has been recovered! Yoshio Shinotsuka has been beheaded!"

"Yes, sir!" The messenger ran off.

Over the next half day, the scattered resistance in Taishi City was completely wiped out. At dusk, all troops assembled in the city's central square. The square was piled high with captured weapons, and Japanese prisoners squatted to one side, all looking dejected.

The brigade commander stood on a captured Japanese car and spoke through a tin megaphone.

"In this battle, we demonstrated the backbone of the Chinese people and the might of our army!" The brigade commander's voice echoed across the square.

"But don't forget those brothers who fell! They were heroes! Their blood stained the land of Taishi! Their lives brought about today's victory!"

The soldiers below stood ramrod straight, many with tears in their eyes.

"From today onwards," the brigade leader raised his fist, "this land of Shanxi belongs to us Chinese! The Japanese devils, get out!"

"Victory! Victory! Victory!" A thunderous roar erupted in the square. The sound even made the evening glow on the horizon tremble.

Post-war reconstruction began quickly.

While the soldiers rested, they helped the people repair houses, clear streets, and bury corpses. Whether they were our soldiers or Japanese soldiers, they were all laid to rest.