Courtyard House: A System Connecting Two Worlds, Resources for the Nation

Battalion Commander Leng lay prone inside the defensive fortifications, peering out through the firing port. He clicked his tongue twice and muttered, "Damn it, do these bombs have eyes? Look at those vehicles, they destroyed them so cleanly."

A young soldier beside him, his face flushed with excitement, asked, "Battalion Commander, Battalion Commander, when are we going to break out?"

"What are you rushing for?" Battalion Commander Leng glared at him. "Can't you see there are still a few vehicles moving around? Those iron turtles' cannons aren't to be trifled with. Just wait!"

As they were talking, they suddenly heard a rumbling sound behind them.

The sound was different from that of the Russian tanks; it was deeper and more muffled.

When everyone turned around, they saw several iron objects emerging from the woods behind them.

"That is..."

"Our tanks!"

Someone shouted something, and the entire fortification erupted in chaos.

The soldiers peered out through the firing ports, their eyes wide open.

Then, tanks emerged from the woods, their bodies painted grass green and covered with camouflage netting. Their gun barrels were thick and long, and each side of the vehicle had five pairs of road wheels, leaving deep ruts in the snow.

"Five pairs of wheels!" one veteran recognized it immediately. "59!"

"No, no," a new recruit next to him blinked, "Why does this look different from the Type 59 we've seen before? The gun barrel seems thicker, and the hull is a bit taller..."

"Who cares if they're the same or not, they're ours anyway!" The veteran slapped him on the back of the head. "As long as they can beat up those Russians!"

The tanks drove out of the woods, but instead of rushing forward, they lined up in a row on the bank, their cannons all pointing towards the river.

At this moment, the few remaining T-62 tanks of the Russians on the other side also realized that something was wrong.

The turret of the lead tank turned around, seemingly sizing up the new adversary.

"Battalion Commander, Battalion Commander, can our tanks beat the Russians?" a soldier asked nervously.

Battalion Commander Leng remained silent; he himself was unsure of the outcome.

The Type 59 against the T-62—he wouldn't have dared to even dream of that before.

What is a T-62?

That's the Russians' latest main battle tank, with a 115mm smoothbore gun capable of firing fin-stabilized discarding sabot armor-piercing rounds, and its armor is frighteningly thick.

Our Type 59 rifle... it's not that it's bad, but compared to others, it's a whole generation behind.

But then I thought about it again. Those anti-tank missiles and bombs dropped by those planes, didn't they all beat the Russians to a pulp?

It seems like everything sent from Beiping (Beijing) works perfectly.

"Just wait and see," Battalion Commander Leng said. "Those tanks of ours are probably not ordinary stuff either."

Although he didn't know the details, his prediction was pretty close to the truth.

The Type 59 is what later military enthusiasts jokingly refer to as having five pairs of road wheels.

However, the five pairs of road wheels that Zhou Feng brought to the Siheyuan world were not the basic Type 59, but the final modified version of the Type 59D, which only began to be equipped by the army in the 90s!

If the Type 59, a basic copy of the T-54A, was insufficient in firepower against the Russian T-62 and even had to rely on anti-tank mines to fight back, then the Type 59D was a pure dimensional reduction attack against the T-62 at that time!

Although they all share the same five pairs of road wheels, these two types of tanks are products from different dimensions.

No sooner had Battalion Commander Leng finished speaking than the Russians on the other side of the river made their move.

Among those T-62s, the lead one suddenly spewed out a plume of black smoke, its tracks whirring as it began to move forward on its own.

The cars behind hesitated for a moment, then followed.

"Hey, getting cocky now!" Battalion Commander Leng chuckled. "Haven't you had enough of a beating yet?"

On this shore, the 59D tanks remained motionless, their gun barrels steadily pointing forward.

800 meters.

Six hundred meters.

500 meters.

The soldiers' palms were sweating.

Just then, the lead 59D tank suddenly spewed a burst of fire from its gun barrel.

boom--!

The sound was different from that of a regular tank cannon; it was crisper and louder, making people's ears ring.

Before the smoke from the cannon had even dissipated, a burst of sparks exploded on the turret of the lead T-62 on the opposite side.

"Hit!"

The soldiers jumped up with shouts.

But what happened next stunned everyone.

The T-62 was hit by a shell, and there was a clear hole in the turret, with black smoke billowing out.

But it didn't stop; it kept moving forward, the cannon barrel still spinning, as if it were about to retaliate.

"This...this is made of iron?" one soldier exclaimed in disbelief.

Just then, the second Type 59D opened fire.

boom--!

This time, the gun was fired at the side of the car.

The left side armor of the T-62 was blown open, and the contents inside fell out with a whoosh. The tank suddenly stopped, the track broke with a crash, and the entire vehicle tilted to the left, completely paralyzed and motionless.

Immediately afterwards, the third and fourth 59D tanks opened fire in succession.

Boom boom boom—!

The cannons roared, and the river was ablaze with fire.

Some of the Russian T-62s had their turrets blown off, some had their hulls pierced, and some were blown into fireballs.

The remaining vehicle, seeing the situation was not good, hurriedly reversed to try to escape, but its tracks ran over a shell crater on the ice, causing the vehicle to tilt and the cannon barrel to pierce into the ice, making it unable to move.

The entire battle lasted less than five minutes.

Inside the fortifications, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

The soldiers stared wide-eyed at the burning scrap metal on the river, mouths agape, and remained silent for a long time.

Battalion Commander Leng was the first to react, slapping his thigh and exclaiming, "Damn it!"

He rarely swears, but this time he just couldn't hold back.

"Is that a Type 59?!" He stared wide-eyed at the tanks on the shore. "Who told me that's a Type 59? Does a Type 59 have this capability?"

A staff officer next to him swallowed hard. "Battalion Commander, when I came here I heard... this time they sent an improved model, called something like 59... 59 something?"

"Type 59D!" a soldier shouted from behind. "I remember now, I heard it was the Type 59D before we came! They said it was equipped with a 105mm high-pressure rifled gun, all modified from the Type 59!"

"105 millimeters?" Battalion Commander Leng gasped.

He knew what this meant.

The Russian T-62 had over 240 millimeters of thick frontal armor, making our old Type 59 100mm rifled gun feel like it was just a tickle.

This 105mm gun can penetrate the turret of a T-62 with a single shot.

"Come here, tell me, what else can this 59D do?" Battalion Commander Leng grabbed the soldier.

The latter scratched his head: "I... I only heard about it. It seems like they added something like a laser rangefinder, night vision goggles, and a two-way stabilizer for the artillery, so we can fire while moving without stopping... I only heard them talking about it on the way here, so I didn't really remember much."

"Fighting while moving?" Battalion Commander Leng's eyes widened even more. "Isn't that the T-62's specialty?"

"We...we have it now too."

Battalion Commander Leng was stunned for several seconds, then suddenly burst into laughter, tears welling up in his eyes: "Good! Good! Excellent! Let those Russians be so cocky! Let them be arrogant! Now they know how powerful we are!"

On the river, those 59D tanks began to move forward.

The tracks crunched and creaked as they rolled over the ice.

The road wheels on both sides of the vehicle turned slowly, leaving neat tracks in the snow.

On the opposite side, the Russian positions were in complete chaos.

The battle those last few minutes had completely stunned them.

Inside the command post, a burly Russian colonel stared through his binoculars, his hands trembling: "Impossible...this is impossible...what kind of tank is that? A Type 59? How could a Type 59 possibly penetrate the frontal armor of a T-62?"

A staff officer beside him cautiously said, "Colonel, could it be...China's new tank?"

"New?" The colonel slammed down his binoculars. "What new stuff are they talking about? The Type 59 is a copy of our T-54A! Our T-62 is a whole generation more advanced than the T-54A! How is that possible…"

Before he could finish speaking, another loud noise came from outside.

He rushed out and saw that his prized T-62s were all broken down.

One of them was still burning, its turret tilted to one side, and the ammunition inside had been detonated, crackling and popping incessantly.

The remaining vehicles had broken tracks, pierced bodies, or were blown to pieces, scattered on the ice, billowing black smoke.

Meanwhile, the tanks from the Dragon Kingdom were still moving forward.

"Fire! Fire!" the colonel shouted frantically.

The artillery on the position began to bombard.

The shells landed on the ice, exploding into clumps of ice and mud.

But those 59D trucks didn't even try to dodge; they just kept driving forward at a leisurely pace.

Occasionally, shells would land nearby, sending up shrapnel that would clang and clatter against the vehicles, but the vehicles were unharmed.

"This...this armor..." The colonel was completely dumbfounded.

Little did he know that the armor of the Type 59D was far superior to that of the Type 59, representing a technology that was nearly thirty years ahead of its time.

Not only was it fitted with composite armor on the front, but it also had reactive armor on both sides, so the T-62's 115mm smoothbore cannon could only make a sound when it fired at it.

At this moment, the lead vehicle, 59D, suddenly stopped.

The cannon barrel was slightly raised, aimed at a Russian firing point on the shore.

boom--!

The firing point went straight into the sky.

Concrete fragments flew everywhere, but the machine gunner inside didn't even utter a sound.

Immediately afterwards, the second and third vehicles also began to have their roll calls taken.

One by one, the firing points were destroyed, and one by one, the positions were overthrown.

The Russian soldiers fled in panic, some throwing down their guns and running into the woods, while others lay on the ground pretending to be dead, muttering something unintelligible.

"They've taken them down!" shouted the soldiers inside the fortifications. "The Russian firing positions have all been destroyed!"

"Charge!" Battalion Commander Leng waved his hand. "Follow me!"

The soldiers charged out with a roar, and the snipers behind them found their positions and began calling out names in the direction of the Russians.

On the river, the 59D tanks had stopped, their gun barrels pointing towards the opposite bank, ready to fire at any moment.

Battalion Commander Leng led his men past the tanks and chased after the Russians, firing at them relentlessly.

The battle raged until nightfall.

When the gunfire finally stopped, dozens of tank and armored vehicle wrecks lay scattered across the river near Zhenbao Island.

The Russians', ours—no, none of ours were lost.

Those 59D trucks were parked intact on the shore, with only a few patches of paint missing.

The soldiers cleaning up the battlefield wandered around the wreckage, looking at this and touching that, marveling at it.

"This one has a huge hole in its turret; one shot pierced it!"

"This one is even worse; it was blown to pieces!"

"Hey, come look here, there's an old Russian in this vehicle, burned black as charcoal..."

Battalion Commander Leng stood beside the wreckage of a T-62, a cigarette dangling from his lips, squinting as he examined it for a long time.

There was a large hole in the left side armor of the tank, the edges of which were curled up, and the contents inside were completely burned.

"105 mm..." he muttered to himself, "One shot through the front of a T-62... This is something I never dared to dream of before."

A soldier nearby leaned over and asked, "Battalion Commander, what's the name of our tank again? Type 59D?"

"Yes, 59D."

What does the "D" mean?

Battalion Commander Leng thought for a moment: "It probably means... 'father'?"

The soldier was taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter: "Right, right, right! Be the father of those Russians! Let them know who the real father is!"

The news spread throughout the entire front line early the next morning.

They destroyed eleven T-62 tanks and more than twenty armored vehicles, killed or wounded more than five hundred Russian soldiers, and captured more than thirty.

On the Dragon Kingdom's side, five people were killed, twenty were wounded, and there were zero tank losses.

In the command post, the commander-in-chief held the battle report, his hands trembling.

"Zero losses...zero losses..." He checked it over and over again, afraid he'd misread it. "Eleven T-62s, and we didn't lose a single one?"

"Not a single one was lost!" The staff officer reporting was flushed. "Those Type 59D tanks didn't even have a scratch! The Russian shells hit them like it was nothing!"

The commander-in-chief was stunned for a long time, then suddenly slammed his hand on the table: "Good! Excellent! Let's see if they dare to be so arrogant now!"

He stood up, walked to the map hanging on the wall, stared at the location of Zhenbao Island for a while, and suddenly asked, "What about those tanks? Are they still on the island?"

"Yes, sir. Battalion Commander Leng said he'd like to ask whether we should push forward?"

"Push it forward?" The commander-in-chief thought for a moment. "Push it! Push it all the way to the riverbank! Let the Russians take a good look, let them know what our Chinese tanks look like!"

"yes!"

That afternoon, the 59D tanks drove to the riverbank, lined up in a row, their gun barrels pointing directly at the opposite bank.

On the Russian side, all was quiet.

Forget tanks, there wasn't even a soul in sight.

Occasionally, a few heads would peek out from behind the cover, glance in this direction, and then quickly retreat back inside.

Battalion Commander Leng stood next to a Type 59D tank, a cigarette dangling from his lips, squinting as he gazed at the opposite bank.

A group of soldiers surrounded him, asking him all sorts of questions.

"Battalion Commander, can our tank get to the other side?"

"Why drive there? To invite the Russians for tea?"

"No, I'm just asking, is it possible to drive through?"

"We can," Battalion Commander Leng took a puff of his cigarette, "but what's the point of driving over there? We're in the right, driving over there would make us in the wrong. We'll just stand here and let them see that we're not incapable of beating them, we just don't care to."

The soldiers nodded in agreement.

Just then, someone shouted, "Look! Someone's coming out from the other side!"

Everyone looked up and, sure enough, saw several people emerging from the positions on the opposite bank.

Holding a white flag, they carefully walked towards the riverbank.

"Is this... a negotiation?"

"Negotiation my foot! They probably just want to see what our tanks look like."

Battalion Commander Leng thought for a moment, then waved his hand: "Let them come over. Perfect, let them see for themselves where their T-62s are inferior to our Type 59Ds."

After crossing the river, the Russian soldiers led them to the 59D tanks.