Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 142 Attacking the County Town
Seeing the soldiers cleaning up the battlefield at the Shizui Village stronghold several miles away, Li Yunlong immediately realized the seriousness of the situation.

Before he could come up with a solution, he heard hurried footsteps behind him, followed by a panting voice.

"Commander...out...My God, the Shizui Village stronghold has been captured!"

Without turning his head, Li Yunlong cursed, "Zhang Dabiao, keep your voice down, are you afraid others won't hear you?"

Zhang Dabiao shut his mouth in grievance, thinking to himself, "Your voice is louder than mine. Besides, we're several miles away from the Shizui Village outpost. No matter how loud you shout, they won't hear you."

But faced with the commander's imposing presence, he could only lower his voice, "Commander... how come we've never heard of those troops wearing German uniforms before?"

"Who knows? I reckon it just came from out of town. It's a dragon that has crossed the river."

Li Yunlong's military acumen was unparalleled. Pointing to the troops below the mountain, he said, "Do you see those tanks and trucks full of soldiers heading in that direction?"

"Holy crap... that's the road to Wutai County..." Zhang Dabiao exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be that they're going to attack Wutai County?"

"nonsense!"

Li Yunlong sneered, "If I had this equipment, I'd dare to attack Taiyuan!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dabiao was startled. He knew his commander all too well; he was a lawless man.

Hearing this, she quickly grabbed his arm: "Commander... what are you trying to do? Don't forget, we're ordered to garrison Xiaoyang Village, not Wutai County!"

"You little brat, let go of me right now." Li Yunlong slapped his hand away in disgust, then his expression changed and his voice softened: "I just followed them to see if I could help in any way. After all, those Nationalist soldiers look like they just came from out of town. We're all compatriots, so I should help them if I can."

Zhang Dabiao was a company commander under Li Yunlong back when the Red Army crossed the grasslands, so he knew his own commander's character all too well.

Don't be fooled by his righteous words; he's just after other people's spoils.

It should be noted that Wutai County is a large county. The Japanese army stationed there consisted of a company of Japanese soldiers and a battalion of puppet troops, totaling more than 600 people. If they could really take it, just getting a little bit of what the Nationalist army was doing would be enough to feed their newly formed regiment.

"Tiger...pass on my order: the whole regiment should quietly follow behind that group of Nationalist soldiers. We're going to rob them too."

Su Yaoyang was of course unaware that an Eighth Route Army unit was eyeing his spoils of war.

After assigning tasks, he led the Second, Third, and Fifth Battalions and the Artillery Battalion to Wutai County at a normal marching speed.

Just as he had traveled halfway, the battle in Wutai County had already begun.

Knowing in advance that a Nationalist army unit was heading towards the county town, Shinzo Nagano had already ordered his troops to prepare for battle. However, when he saw the Chaffee tanks rumbling towards him from the low city walls of the county town, he couldn't help but feel despair.

Normally, in battles, the Imperial Army would bully others with their tanks, heavy artillery, and airplanes, but now the situation has reversed, and it's their turn to be bullied.

The enemy has a full nine chariots. Can they really withstand them with their low city walls and those broken guns?

Seeing the tanks rumbling towards the city, the Japanese soldiers on the city wall were all stunned. The company commander ran to his side and asked in a trembling voice, "Commander, the Chinese tanks are here. What should we do?"

"What do we do? What else can we do?" Shinzo Nagano, having gone all out, gritted his teeth and shouted, "Prepare the explosives immediately and organize the suicide squad!"

"Hai!"

The lieutenant also knew that for them, who had no anti-tank firepower, this was their best and only option.

With a series of creaking metallic scraping sounds, three Chaffee tanks stopped 300 meters from the city wall. "45 degrees to the left, 300 meters away... High-explosive shells ready!"

John's roar exploded on the radio.

"Target: Japanese troops on the city wall!"

"Dangdang!"

The loader skillfully loaded the shells.

After reconfirming the target, gunner Zhuang Xiaoman pressed the fire button.

"Boom..."

The recoil of the main gun made the scene in the observation scope tremble.

A ball of fire, a mixture of black and red, rose from the breach in the city wall. A Japanese officer wearing a steel helmet fell to the ground, his sword tip drawing a blinding silver arc in the rising sun.

This single shot killed three Japanese soldiers, including a second lieutenant. Seeing how powerful the Chinese tank guns were, the remaining Japanese soldiers quickly retreated behind the city wall and dared not show their faces again.

"Is the 'Stand-up Team' ready yet?" Seeing that the enemy had killed three of his men with just one shot, Shinzo Nagano felt a surge of nameless rage.

"Sir, we are ready," the lieutenant beside him quickly replied loudly.

Shinzo Nagano didn't speak, but drew his command sword. As the tip of the sword pointed at the roaring steel behemoth in the distance, his wrist trembled almost imperceptibly.

Seeing Nagano Shinzo's actions, four Japanese soldiers carrying explosive packs climbed over the crenellations and crouched down, using the surrounding cover to sneak towards the four tanks in the distance.

Standing on the city wall, Shinzo Nagano could even see the white cloth strips tied to their foreheads being lifted by the air currents, like four moths struggling for their lives.

Suddenly, the soldier running at the back seemed to step into a crater, stumbled, and the explosive pack in his arms grazed the charred locust tree stump, with bark falling all over his shoulder.

As the two sides drew closer, the metallic scraping sound of the tank tracks grew louder. The sergeant at the front suddenly roared, and with his roar, his spittle sprayed onto the explosive pack in his arms.

Inside the Chaffee tank, the turret was filled with the pungent smell of engine oil mixed with gunpowder.

John's pupils contracted sharply in front of the periscope, and beads of sweat trickled down his chin and into his collar.

To the right front, several figures in khaki military uniforms broke through the smoke, their white headscarves gleaming sickly in the blazing sun.

Without hesitation, he shouted, "Situation spotted to the right front! Gunners, fire on him with the coaxial machine gun!"

"Two o'clock... 100 meters away!" Gunner Zhuang Xiaoman also spotted the approaching Japanese assault team through the M4 main gun's observation scope.

He quickly cranked the turret, aimed it at the attacking Japanese troops, and pulled the trigger.

"Da da da……"

The roar of the M1919 coaxial machine gun made everyone's eardrums ache. The copper casings from the jumping ammunition belts flew everywhere in the compartment, and many red-hot casings rolled to the side of the loading hands and feet.

(End of this chapter)