Chapter 278

Behind Old Mountain, a hundred kilometers away, a certain command headquarters.

"What, Old Mountain has fallen?" Commander Lai Weimi's face changed instantly: "How could this be possible! Old Mountain's fortifications are as solid as gold and soup; we mobilized the entire nation's resources to build them! Plus Elder Brother's aid! Even if they only hold for one day, it would give us ample time to summon reinforcements up there!"

Lai Weimi, in the monkey army, is a commander with an aura like a war god!

Born in 1927, in 1944, at just 17 years old, he joined the underground resistance organization and launched guerrilla warfare along the coast of Beibu Gulf, rising from a private to platoon leader, and quickly becoming the regiment commander of the 238th Regiment, the main force of the Third Joint Area!

If we make a comparison, this old brother is not much inferior to Li Yunlong; the main regiment has 1,500 personnel, and seventy percent of its weapons come from battlefield captures……

After WWII ended, the islanders left, and the French colonists returned; thus he continued fighting in the anti-French war, and in 1952, during the Battle of Nan Ding, he further divided the entire regiment into multiple assault squads, infiltrating the enemy's defenses in batches, a tactic called echelon infiltration; after the war, he received high praise from Supreme Commander Wu Yuanjia!

In 1961, during the Battle of Nan Ta, he incorporated engineers, using explosives to blast out over a hundred concealed caches in the mountain, satisfying the needs of three divisions for several months of combat!

These victories made Lai Weimi famous far and wide; although there were also some setbacks, flaws do not hide the excellence, he remains a valiant general.

When the East used advanced weapons, wearing them down to exhaustion, he was transferred over; originally thought to be a stopgap, he unexpectedly created fortifications even sturdier than French forts, effectively stabilizing the front line!

From top to bottom, everyone believed this line was very solid; unexpectedly, it was taken by the opposing side so quickly, not even lasting a day!

"It is said that someone on the front line saw a mushroom cloud……"

"Hmph, how could that be possible; execute all those rumor-mongers by shooting!"

What a joke; if they really used a mushroom bomb, the people to the north would also suffer; they would absolutely not leave a radiation hazard on their own territory—if a mushroom cloud rose over Hanoi's sky, there would actually be a good chance it's just a mushroom!

Lai Weimi gritted his teeth, issued this order, then went to look at the map.

"Order, 215th Regiment, 218th Regiment……" He mobilized eight regiments' forces in one breath: "Rush to reinforce Old Mountain immediately; no matter the cost, we must retake Old Mountain!"

"Yes!"

Old Mountain, main peak.

The night grew ever darker, yet the soldiers remained full of energy.

"Squad leader, do you think the monkeys will launch a night counterattack?"

"Certainly; we caught them off guard, they won't accept defeat easily, and besides, the southern slope is gentle with few fortifications, so the monkeys might just rush up in one go!"

"Yeah, this Old Mountain really seems to be working against us!"

The north is steep, making a charge from there difficult, while the south is gentle, making attack easy; moreover, the monkeys have never built fortifications here, and now our side has merely hastily erected some machine-gun emplacements.

If the monkeys have enough numbers and sneak up under cover of darkness, this side might suffer heavy losses!

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but go look at the machine gun.

Below is the tripod's support legs, very stable; above is the gun body, with two rear grips, the standard scheme for a heavy machine gun; the barrel front has cooling grooves, the side has an ammunition belt linked to a hundred-round ammo box below.

This is the domestically mass-produced Type 57 heavy machine gun! On the entire battlefield against the monkeys, it is the main machine gun; when laid flat it can hit ground troops, and when fitted with a mosquito-coil-like sighting device it can also shoot down aircraft in the sky.

However……

Now this anti-air sighting device has been removed, with a flat plate-like object hung on it, connected via cable to another object nearby; this object looks like a small television, displaying fuzzy images……

It was installed after nightfall; according to the description, it is a man-portable radar that can detect people sneaking up in the dark beforehand…… but everyone still regards this device with suspicion.

What a joke; could this thing be a night owl? We've already assigned the people with the best night‑vision observation skills as lookouts; upon spotting the enemy they fire flares and report immediately!

Wait a moment!

At that very moment, soldier Kong Lingjun suddenly saw shadows appearing on the screen; though the details were unclear, the crouching posture was unmistakably that of monkeys!

"Squad leader, it looks like the monkeys have come up; the screen shows a distance of 150 meters."

"Impossible; our outposts are posted two hundred meters out……" said Squad Leader Wen Hui, as he gazed outward, his face also changing.

It really does look like it!

Regardless of whether it is, fire first and talk later!

Clatter!

When he pulled the bolt, those shadows paused for a moment; he no longer hesitated and pressed the trigger.

Rat-tat-tat!

Flames spewed from the muzzle; dense bullets swept across, the ammo belt clattered as it continuously fed into the chamber and exited hot on the other side.

A wail instantly rose from the opposite side!

Indeed, the monkeys had sneaked up!

On the other machine-gun positions, the gunners also opened fire, creating crossfire; like harvesting wheat, the monkeys fell in swaths, then surged upward in swaths, only to fall again!

In the darkness, the barrels glowed faintly red!

Opposite side, rear position.

"Regiment commander, perhaps we should pull the brothers back; with this fierce assault, even if our 218th Regiment were wiped out we still couldn't make it up!"

"Damn it, I'm baffled—how did they spot us in this pitch‑black? Our scouts have already taken out their sentries!" Regiment Commander Ruan Deqiang gazed at the battlefield ahead, his eyes full of suspicion.

They are not afraid of death; after fighting for so many years, these veteran oilskins have long regarded death lightly, but…… they harbor a fear of the unknown.

This situation has already surpassed their imagination; could it be that they can see as clearly at night as by day?

"Regiment commander, regiment commander! Those are all veterans who fought the French and the Americans, and they……"

"All right, halt the attack!" Ruan Deqiang said.

This is a great opportunity; their 218th Regiment arrives first, and if they can silently approach and seize the main peak in one go, the 218th Regiment will become famous throughout the Second Military Region, and he too can rise a step to become a Division Commander—no problem!

Therefore, even if his subordinates are expended, he isn't afraid; he very much wants to be the first regiment commander to storm the main peak.

But now, having truly expended everything, it's still impossible!

"First withdraw; after fifteen minutes, crawl forward slowly and sneak up!"