Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 159 Encounter
"Quickly...get down...get down quickly..."

Wang Fugui was the first to jump off the truck, then pulled open the partition and shouted at the soldiers.

After the soldiers got off the vehicles, the surrounding soldiers began to assemble, and soon their entire company was assembled.

Their company commander was a dark-skinned man in his thirties. He gathered all the officers of the rank of squad leader and above in the company and began to assign them their tasks.

"Our mission is to launch an attack on Xiangding County. It would be best if we could take it, but it doesn't matter if we can't. The most important thing is to make a big splash so that the Japanese won't have the energy to deal with other things. Do you all understand?"

"Understood!" everyone replied in unison.

"Our company's mission is to launch an attack from the right flank. When the fighting starts, you need to pay attention to maintaining your formation and avoid clustering together. Each squad and platoon leader must maintain their formation."

Alright... the attack will begin in ten minutes. Everyone, go and prepare."

Wang Fugui returned to the classroom and waved to everyone, "Come here, everyone!"

After the whole class came over, he looked around at the group of new recruits and said, "Let me emphasize battlefield discipline again. Once the fighting starts, you must move within 3 seconds of exposing your position, otherwise the Japanese will not show any mercy."

Second, take reasonable risks. Do not attempt rescues unless absolutely necessary. Unnecessary bravery will only cost you your life (many recruits have died from blindly trying to save others).

Third, learn from the veterans around you as soon as possible and imitate their behavior; this will increase your chances of survival.

The recruits nodded solemnly; it was a matter of life and death, and no one dared to be careless in such a matter.

"Alright, let's begin inspecting the weapons and ammunition."

Following Wang Fugui's order, the soldiers began to check their weapons, ammunition, and equipment, and Wang Fugui was no exception.

After he finished checking his weapons, he turned around and saw a new recruit attaching a bayonet to his Garand rifle.

He quickly stopped him.

"Kid... take the bayonet off. Trust me, you'll regret it if you put this thing on."

Most importantly, by the time you use it to fight the Japanese in hand-to-hand combat, you'll probably be dead already.

Wang Fugui was like a nagging old woman; after making his rounds, he started nagging incessantly, even cursing.

"boom……"

Suddenly, a deafening explosion rang out in the distance, followed by more explosions. Shells then rained down on the outer city walls, and several Japanese strongpoints were instantly blasted to the ground by M101 107mm howitzers.

The massive explosion sent debris flying into the sky, and the flames rising from the breach in the city wall illuminated the tense faces of the soldiers.

Wang Fugui and his platoon of soldiers remained motionless in their hiding place when suddenly a shell exploded not far away, making his eardrums ring and the flying dirt slammed against his helmet.

The artillery barrage lasted for more than ten minutes before it stopped.

"Beep beep beep..." The bugle sounded.

"Brothers... charge!"

As the bugle sounded, the company commander gave the order to charge.

Wang Fugui was the first to leap up. Just as he stood up, a bullet whistled past his ear, and a soldier in front of him suddenly fell like a sack of potatoes, the spray of blood appearing eerily orange-red in the sunlight.

Without hesitation, he stepped over the body and charged toward the city wall.

He covered the distance of over 200 meters in just a few dozen seconds.

The breach in the city wall was just inches away, and wisps of smoke were rising from some of the cracks in the bricks. Suddenly, his gaze sharpened as a Japanese soldier emerged halfway out of the rubble. Without hesitation, he turned his gun and pulled the trigger.

"Da da da……"

The Thompson submachine gun's astonishing rate of fire was thoroughly demonstrated; in just a few seconds, the fifty-round magazine was emptied. The Japanese soldier was instantly riddled with bullets.

Wang Fugui suddenly shouted, "Grenade!"

As he spoke, several soldiers following closely behind him pulled out MKII grenades and threw them toward the city wall.

"Boom boom boom..."

With a few screams, the gunfire on the city wall stopped instantly.

"Well done!" came the platoon leader's hoarse roar from behind, his voice seeming to come from a great distance: "Keep charging! Don't stop!"

…………

"Da da da……"

Amid the gunfire, a Japanese soldier who had just turned to retreat was hit in the back by more than ten Colt pistol bullets. The spent cartridges bounced around his feet like popped soybeans. The Japanese soldier wearing round-framed glasses fell from behind the crenellations, his head hitting the brick wall with a dull thud.

"Quickly... everyone follow!" came the platoon leader's voice from the right.

Just as Wang Fugui was about to call the new recruits behind him to follow, a bright arc suddenly streaked across the sky, followed by a muffled clap of thunder overhead.

"Rumble..."

"Oh no... it's going to rain." A sense of annoyance flashed through Wang Fugui's mind; after all, nobody likes fighting in the mud.

Before he could speak, large raindrops began to pour down from the sky, and the sky darkened instantly, reducing visibility from clear to extremely low.

The heavy rain continued to fall, and the bloodstains on the city wall and ramparts were blurred by the rain, meandering into dark red streams.

"Everyone, keep up! Don't fall behind!" Wang Fugui shouted to everyone behind him, but when he turned around, he found that the platoon leader and the others were gone.

"grass……"

Wang Fugui cursed under his breath and led his class to run along the right side. He vaguely remembered that the platoon leader and the others had chased after them from this point.

After chasing for a while, he still couldn't see anyone. Just as he was getting anxious, a sharp-eyed soldier suddenly pointed ahead and shouted, "Squad leader... there's someone ahead!"

Following Wang Fugui's gaze, he saw several figures turning a corner and heading towards an arrow tower ahead.

Without thinking too much, he waved his hand and quickly chased after them.

As the group caught up, they realized that the three men were much smaller than themselves, and that the helmets they were wearing were also different.

Before Wang Fugui could react, he saw the three men suddenly start shouting. The shortest soldier at the back suddenly turned around, raised his gun, and thrust it at him. The long bayonet drew a bluish-white arc in the rain.

Wang Fugui's rich battlefield experience and the automatic weapon at his disposal saved him, and he pulled the trigger without hesitation.

"Da da da da..."

Amidst a sharp gunshot, the Japanese soldier was sent flying by a bullet due to the close proximity.

Because the two sides were too close, the other two Japanese soldiers were also not spared. After a fifty-round drum magazine was emptied, the three Japanese soldiers were riddled with bullets. It wasn't until the firing pin of his submachine gun hit the empty air that Wang Fugui finally sat down on the ground with a thud...

(End of this chapter)