Chapter 928

On this day, as people began their new day of production and life, every media channel in the country—whether newspapers or radio stations—broadcast the same message.

The Vietnamese regime has repeatedly provoked border incidents, seriously harassing the daily lives and production activities of Chinese border residents. China has issued warnings time and again, but the Vietnamese side has turned a deaf ear and persisted in its own course. Under circumstances where it could no longer be tolerated, the Chinese government was forced to launch a border self-defense counterattack to punish Vietnam.

The headline in the People's Daily read: If this can be tolerated, what cannot?

At this moment, our army had been fighting from midnight until dawn. Facing the stubborn defense of the Vietnamese army, our troops fought with their lives to storm the strongholds, fully breaking through the first and second lines of defense on the north side of Xiao Cao, gathering to break through to the south, and annihilating the remaining enemies in the village.

At the same time, they provided support to our troops on the south side of Xiao Cao, or attacked the Vietnamese army stubbornly holding the high ground...

"Company Commander! I'll draw their fire from the front! You attack from the flank!"

Listening to Wang Yan's words, a soldier, his face so covered in grime that his features were indistinguishable, spoke with determination.

"Isn't that just sending yourself to your death?"

Wang Yan waved his hand, then waved at the people nearby, "Spread out a bit. We've exposed our position; if they drop a shell on us in a moment, we'll all be wiped out. Don't lose your heads in battle; you've all been trained. Pay attention to security in all directions. Right now, the Vietnamese monkeys in the village are scurrying like rats; don't let them sneak up on our backs."

Without paying them any more mind, Wang Yan smoked a cigarette, loaded bullets into his Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, and circled to the other side to observe the terrain of this high ground.

Over a hundred meters apart, the sky was brightening, and the people on the mountain could not be seen clearly. They were all firing blindly based on direction and approximate range.

This was a ridge, with the high ground located on a gentle slope halfway up the mountain. Behind this high ground, there were even higher peaks, suppressing downward and providing mutual support. These mountain bunkers were very useful, relying on favorable terrain to build fortifications and gain an advantageous offensive and defensive position. In the fighting against the Vietnamese army, there were a large number of bunkers, trenches, tunnels, and so on, which were extremely difficult to deal with.

Looking up at the sky, Wang Yan thought it would be a good day.

He threw away the cigarette butt, crushed it with his black Liberation shoes, and called out: "Instructor, Deputy Company Commander."

"Here!"

The two of them came over, and Wang Yan ordered: "Send people to both sides to fire shots and draw their fire. I'll try to see if I can take a few of them out."

"It's over a hundred meters..."

"Hurry up. At most, it's just wasting some bullets; it's better than trading lives for the position."

After speaking, Wang Yan climbed directly onto the roof and even set up a sandbag to mount his rifle.

The instructor and the deputy platoon leader didn't dally, immediately arranging a three-man team each, equipped with one Type 56 assault rifle and two Type 56 semi-automatic rifles. In fact, from the start of the fighting until now, the soldiers had become quite fond of the Type 56 assault rifle. There was no other reason than that it was fully automatic; just hugging the trigger meant *rat-tat-tat*, and the fire suppression was very strong. It wasn't like the Type 56 semi-automatic, which couldn't form a powerful web of fire.

Very quickly, the two groups separated and, using cover, fired single shots at the hilltop from a distance of over a hundred meters.

Unsurprisingly, the hilltop responded as well. Although the bullets couldn't hit them, they still fired back. This indicated one thing: their ammunition was very plentiful.

Wang Yan aimed simply, found the feel, pulled the trigger, and *bang-bang-bang-bang* emptied the ten rounds of the Type 56 semi-automatic.

Then there was no more movement; no matter how our soldiers fired, the other side did not respond.

"Communicator." Wang Yan jumped down from the house and gave the communicator the coordinates for three groups: the hilltop in front, the hilltop higher up, and a hilltop on the east side. "In five minutes, shell these three hilltops. No need for more, twenty rounds per hilltop, attacking simultaneously."

"Yes! Company Commander!" The communicator responded crisply, using the walkie-talkie to contact the artillery in the rear.

"Instructor, Deputy Company Commander." Wang Yan looked at the two of them and ordered, "You move upward from the east and west sides. Do not force the attack; there may be landmines or tunnels, so be sure to be careful. You can be slow, but you cannot be reckless. I will lead the first platoon in a frontal attack. Follow my lead; once I've taken them out, we will simultaneously take the two hilltops on the east and west. Do you understand?"

"Understood!"

"First platoon, everyone, spread out. There is a fifty-meter open space ahead. I will rush out first to draw fire; you follow closely. Machine gunners, provide fire suppression."

Wang Yan quickly loaded his bullets, shouted once, and after confirming that everyone else was ready, he didn't say another word. He fired one shot *bang*, then flashed out from behind the wall and headed toward the foot of the mountain.

Unsurprisingly, bullets rained down like rain. From this, it could be seen that the ten shots Wang Yan fired earlier must have killed people, which is why they were playing dead. Now that Wang Yan was charging, they were pouring out bullets for dear life.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the machine gunners behind began *rat-tat-tat* firing at the hillside. At the same time, the soldiers of the first platoon followed behind Wang Yan, running for their lives toward the foot of the mountain.

The men's 50-meter world record was 5.56 seconds, set by a foreigner in '96. The soldiers were well-trained and it was a time to fight for their lives, so even though they were carrying some weight, they weren't very slow, basically around seven seconds.

Also at this time, the *whoosh-whoosh-whoosh* sound of shells piercing the air rang out again. The artillery lived up to expectations, and according to Wang Yan's instructions, the shells fell in a swarm. It was also taking advantage of this time that Wang Yan displayed his speed, hunching his waist, dodging back and forth, and rushing toward the mountainside at high speed.

The soldiers behind weren't useless either; while running hunched over, they didn't forget to take the time to fire shots, suppressing the opponent and providing opportunities for the Company Commander.

Wang Yan never disappointed people. In the short time of the artillery suppression, he had already crawled to the outside of the bunker on the hillside. After the flying debris stopped, he threw a hand grenade inside.

After the explosion, he flipped inside and immediately pulled out the Type 54 pistol at his waist, firing at close range at the few Vietnamese soldiers who had luckily been shielded from the explosion's damage. There were more than ten corpses here, a squad's configuration, and now they were all killed. That's not accurate; there were still five people groaning and waiting to die. Wang Yan didn't give them relief; he even took the time to take a photo, and then took a bunch more of the soldiers behind him.

Purely from the perspective of a frontline war reporter, Company Commander Wang also did an excellent job. He didn't believe anyone had photos more exciting than his...

Immediately, his movements didn't stop. He piled up sandbags, tilted the heavy machine gun, and *rat-tat-tat* fired at the hillside behind. Undoubtedly, the higher position was more necessary to attack first. The soldiers who followed him up didn't stop either; they consciously separated. One squad joined Wang Yan in fire suppression, one squad attacked the higher ground, and one squad moved toward the other hilltop for a flanking maneuver.

The machine gun team in the rear also carried their machine guns up, set them up on the other side, and began *rat-tat-tat* firing at the hilltop on the east side. Coordinating with the soldiers of the other two platoons, they launched an attack on the two high grounds simultaneously.

Wang Yan also handed the machine gun to other soldiers, and he went back to taking photos with his camera, capturing the heroism of the soldiers.

Of course, he still felt that he had to write a report after the war, discussing the gains and losses of this battle in detail.

If this were decades later, a single shell could directly penetrate the bunker for precision strike and damage, which would only cost a few hundred thousand. By comparison, using this money to trade for more than ten enemy lives and zero casualties for our own soldiers was very cost-effective. After all, once war starts, money is no longer money. Or even cheaper, send a suicide drone to precisely rush into the trench, *whoosh-pop*, and it's done.

He wanted to take the opportunity of participating in this battle to talk about it in more detail. Of course, he was speaking from the perspective of a frontline soldier, discussing how the war should be conducted.

He didn't even need to write his own more long-term thinking; as long as he showed the appearance of the army forty years later, and removed some of the complex explorations, then as long as the time was stretched out, the change to the overall military process would already be quite significant...

The instructor led more than thirty soldiers of the second platoon, spread out horizontally for several dozen meters, attacking the high ground from all directions. The high ground he was attacking was the higher one. The enemy's machine guns kept sweeping, and the bastards even threw incendiary bottles to set fires, not letting them hide in the grass.

"Instructor, I'll go up, you follow."

It was the second platoon leader speaking. As he spoke, he was about to take two soldiers to cross the line of fire, using their bodies to block the gun ports and provide opportunities for others.

"Come back. What did the Company Commander say? You can be slow, don't be anxious. Honestly lie down, retreat a bit, and see if the brothers over there can draw fire."

At this time, they were actually not far from the high ground, only less than fifty meters away. But this fifty meters was like a natural chasm, and they couldn't get up no matter what.

They were counting on the help of the first platoon soldiers on the other side, but they had guessed wrong. The Vietnamese monkeys also had bunkers on this side of the mountain, and the soldiers were caught off guard and suffered a setback.

Wang Yan saw all of this clearly, watching as two soldiers were hit. Fortunately, one was grazed on the arm and one was grazed on the thigh; neither died. The others immediately provided fire suppression and retreated a bit.

"Motherfucker!"

The squad leader who stayed behind threw away the cigarette in his mouth, didn't let go of the trigger of his Type 56 assault rifle, and fired wildly at that side. If Wang Yan hadn't pulled him back, he would have rushed out.

"Don't be impulsive, those two brothers aren't dead yet. Communicator..."

Wang Yan reported two coordinates, one for the mountaintop and one for the bunker on the side of the mountain just now. "Have the artillery bomb immediately. No need for much this time, ten rounds per location is enough."

"Yes! Company Commander!" The communicator hid in the trench, using the walkie-talkie to call the artillery.

Before long, the communicator finished reporting. He said to Wang Yan: "Company Commander, they said we're calling for too much artillery; I didn't dare to scold them."

Wang Yan laughed. The artillery was also extremely busy; there were calls for artillery everywhere, and they had long since become heartless machines for transporting, loading, and firing artillery. Mechanically, according to the artillery techniques they had practiced into their bones in the past, they could adjust the artillery very quickly upon hearing the coordinates, and load the shells even faster with their sore arms, firing in unison according to orders.

From the start of the fighting until now, they hadn't had it easy either. The soldiers were risking their lives on the front line, and they were risking their lives in the rear. The thick calluses they had practiced in the past had even been worn through; no one had it easy.

Even the higher-level commanders who were planning strategies were the same; they were even more cautious, because a single small order from them required the frontline soldiers to execute it with their lives. As for the lower-level frontline command, that went without saying.

Some grumbling was very normal; venting and entertaining oneself, no one stipulated that one had to keep a straight face while fighting.

"Not scolding them is right. Every extra word we scold occupies the communication line and affects other brothers. After the war is over, we'll go back and beat those bastards up."

"We won't be able to find them then." The communicator shook his head and laughed.

After joking for a bit, Wang Yan ordered: "You provide fire suppression to the west side, I'll go take them out. Leave two people; after I go up, drag those two brothers back."

"Yes!"

After giving the instructions, Wang Yan jumped out of the trench on this side and moved toward the higher ground. The distance wasn't far, just seventy or eighty meters. It was first downhill, then uphill.

In the time it took to say these few words, the *whoosh-whoosh-whoosh* of shells came crashing down again. Because they were standing high, the trajectory of the shells could be seen more clearly. For a stronghold, bombing with ten shells was enough to illuminate every inch of the stronghold's land.

Wang Yan had to admit that when the cold bayonet pierced the neck of the bewildered little monkey, he had once again displayed an act of individual heroism. But this could not deny the soldiers' contributions; they were just flesh and blood, not as inhuman as Wang Yan.

If they were swapped, Wang Yan didn't know if he would have the courage to charge with a gun when he was weak. Of course, he could say he had courage, but what couldn't be denied was that when he said he had courage, it was in a beautiful modern city, in peace. If these soldiers had Wang Yan's physical fitness and combat ability, they would definitely not be weaker than Wang Yan; perhaps even stronger, who knows.

They were the protagonists of their own lives, but Wang Yan, this bastard, was a protagonist favored by the Living Father and endowed with destiny.

No one knew that at such a life-threatening moment, Wang Yan was still thanking the Living Father; he had always been the Living Father's good big son.

Wang Yan came up fast, but before him, the soldiers who had launched the charge when the shells exploded were not slow either; they were only a few steps behind Wang Yan. He stabbed one enemy to death here and kicked another down, and the soldiers who followed up were at the edge of the trench, and without a word, fired a burst inside, killing all the Vietnamese soldiers here.

Without stopping, Wang Yan continued to attack upward. Since he was strong, he would do more, and the soldiers following him would die less. He was the sharp knife, and the soldiers behind him were no cowards; they were all charging upward against the bullets.

As a matter of course, Wang Yan met up with the instructor on the high ground, and at the cost of four people injured, took the highest stronghold within a few hundred meters. At the same time, the deputy company commander and third platoon leader on the other side lived up to expectations and successfully took the high ground on the west side, with one person seriously injured and one slightly injured.

To summarize, in this assault, six people were injured, one of whom might die, and a total of fifty-two enemies were annihilated, with no prisoners.

At this time, the sky was already completely bright. On the mountaintop, Wang Yan opened a can with Chinese characters written on it, and the other soldiers were the same. There were still quite a lot of supplies here, enough for a squad for three days.

In fact, it wasn't just canned food; the ammunition boxes painted with green paint in the back all had white Chinese characters on them. This was just a corner of the battlefield; one didn't even need to go to the old street. Just in the Xiao Cao village below, there must be a warehouse filled with many supplies, all with Chinese characters on them, and all good stuff.

Why else would they say the Vietnamese monkeys were ungrateful wolves? Eating my food, drinking my drink, using my stuff, and then turning around to hit me, and what they hit me with were the bullets I sent out. If you don't give them a hard slap, it won't work.

Others followed suit, listening to the artillery fire, smelling the lingering gunpowder smoke, and eating and drinking while resting. No one felt sleepy; although it was comfortable now, they were still in danger. Moreover, after the assault all the way, they were all very excited, and even if they hadn't slept all night, they were extremely spirited.

Wang Yan tilted his head at the communicator: "Report our battle results to the Battalion Commander and ask for the next mission."

He saw clearly that the Battalion Commander was down below, lying on the roof and looking back and forth, perhaps looking at the situation with binoculars.

In fact, he could see more than just the Battalion Commander; after all, he was standing high. Now that the sky was bright, although there was some thin mist, it didn't have much impact. The entire combat situation in Xiao Cao village could be seen clearly.

Currently, the fighting inside Xiao Cao village was almost over; the soldiers had already broken through to the south, and only the southeast corner still had fighting.

However, the end of the fighting in Xiao Cao village did not mean the end of the fighting in the overall Xiao Cao battlefield. The gunfire was still intense, and the artillery fire had not stopped. That was precisely the stretch of mountain land on the south side of Xiao Cao, as well as the enemy counterattack toward the old street direction on the west side.

At this time, I have to mention a combat hero who was also in this battle. The 7th Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 118th Regiment held the high ground and repelled four consecutive counterattacks by the Vietnamese army. The Vietnamese army roughly figured out the position of our artillery, avoided the blast points, and organized troops to launch a group charge toward the high ground, coming to a place less than two hundred meters away from our army.

The 3rd Battalion's walkie-talkie soldier, Hai Shuigan, discovered the enemy's tracks but couldn't be sure of their movements. He went to check the enemy situation. At this time, the Vietnamese army was only a few dozen meters away from him. He immediately used the walkie-talkie that had just been repaired to call the rear, "Fire at me!" The Vietnamese army was greatly shocked and used mortars to blow him up and injure him.

Afterward, the artillery in the rear reacted quickly, providing artillery support, causing great damage to the Vietnamese army and repelling this attack. Moreover, the artillery intentionally corrected the trajectory, extending it by a few dozen meters in the direction of the Vietnamese army, so that Hai Shuigan was not affected and was able to be rescued to the rear. After the war, Hai Shuigan was awarded a First-Class Merit and the title of Heroic Walkie-Talkie Operator.

He was called the living Wang Cheng. Wang Cheng himself was a character in the movie "Heroic Sons and Daughters." There were many prototype figures, all heroes of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Among them, Yu Shuchang and Zhao Xianyou were both combat heroes who, when the war was unfavorable to us and the position was in danger, used walkie-talkies to communicate with the rear and shouted "Fire at me." They all sacrificed themselves on the battlefield...

The communicator finished the communication and said: "Company Commander, the Battalion Commander said to let us go support the Second Company; we have people taking over here. That side is where the Second Company is fighting, and the enemy's counterattack is very fierce."

He stood up and pointed to a place more than two hundred meters away in the distance, where the fierce fighting could be vaguely seen.

Wang Yan also stood up and took a look. There were some trees on the way, so he couldn't see clearly. He said to the communicator: "Contact the Second Company and ask them if they are on the slope or below the slope. Have the Third Platoon brothers who are sending the wounded eat something and drink some water before coming up. Don't eat too much; just have something in their stomachs. By the way, call all the brothers from that hilltop over. Everyone else, hurry up and eat, check your weapons, and fill your ammunition."

He had only sat down for a short while; he had previously run to treat the wounds of the injured soldiers. The seriously injured one had half his leg swept away by a machine gun and had lost a lot of blood. After treatment, he had the Third Platoon send all the injured soldiers down, and only then did he return to this highest point.

"Company Commander, the Second Company said the position is theirs, and the ones attacking below the south slope are Vietnamese monkeys."

"You guys eat first, pay attention to guarding the south slope. This bunch of Vietnamese monkeys have all been driven into the mountains by us. We are only two hundred meters away from the Second Company, and there must be people nearby. You have the Battalion Commander hurry up and send people to take over the position; we'll leave after people come. If the position is taken back, those brothers of ours will have been injured in vain. I'll fire a few shots first to see. Pay attention to artillery fire; if I aim accurately, shells will come in a moment."

While Wang Yan was nagging and giving instructions, he had already finished a box of canned food. He threw away the can, took a sip of water, picked up his gun, stood up, and walked back and forth for two steps, dodging the trees and looking for a good view.

He held the gun steadily with both hands, fired from a squatting position, aimed, and then decisively pulled the trigger, basically one shot per second. He couldn't see the results, but when he ran back to the trench to reload, dense bullets came flying over. Clearly, the effect was very good.

"Hurry, hurry, hide inside, shells are coming soon." Wang Yan called out with a smile, squeezed inside as well, and reported a set of coordinates to the communicator. "Hurry and call for artillery, tell them it's the back slope, and ask if they can hit it."

As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of shells came crashing in. The Vietnamese army's fortifications were not bad; Wang Yan had called the artillery to bomb twice, and nothing major happened. The Vietnamese army's shells couldn't penetrate either.

For a time, dust flew, covering everyone in dirt and filling their mouths with ash.

"Report another set to them... this should be the Vietnamese monkeys' artillery position. Let them bomb it once to see the situation." Wang Yan had just watched the trajectory of the shells, and in the time he had been bombed, he had already calculated the Vietnamese army's firing position by calculating the trajectory.

This counted as an advanced skill; ordinary soldiers really couldn't do it.

The communicator was dutiful and communicated with the rear.

Before long, the *whoosh-whoosh* sound of shells piercing the air rang out in the sky again. Wang Yan, who had long since taken out his camera, *click-click* took a few photos and even turned back to take photos of the soldiers in the trench. They were covered in dirt, but they were all grinning and laughing.

Wang Yan asked: "Ask the Second Company if they still need support. If not, ask the Battalion Commander for the combat mission."

After giving these instructions, Wang Yan went over to mount his gun and aim at the retreating Vietnamese army in the distance. After the shells fell, the Second Company had already raised their heads and poured bullets wildly at the Vietnamese army below. Wang Yan also took the opportunity to fire and snipe the remaining enemies.

It was precisely at this time that a larger-scale sound of shells piercing the air rang out in the sky, heading straight for the mountains in the distance. That was precisely the position of the enemy artillery position that Wang Yan had provided.

"Company Commander, the Battalion Commander told us to move toward the First Company, eight hundred meters away from us. The First Company is attacking on the north side, and the Vietnamese monkeys there have two companies of firepower, with tunnels and bunkers, and they can't get up. The Battalion Commander is giving us two flamethrowers, letting us pass through the Second Company's position to flank them, eliminate the Vietnamese monkeys' firepower points, and take the high ground."

Wang Yan nodded and took out his camera to take photos of Xiao Cao below. In this short while, the fighting in Xiao Cao had completely ended, and they were simply resting, drinking some water, sending off the wounded, checking weapons and ammunition, and starting to assault the perimeter.

It was rare to see people like Wang Yan and his men who still had the time to eat canned food.

At the same time, more people were coming up the hillside, and Wang Yan and the others replenished their ammunition on the spot, preparing to set off to support the army...