Chapter 34: Republic of China: Starting from the First Class of Whampoa Chapter 34: White Blade In, Red Blade Out

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

After rolling off the roof, Lv Muzhi flopped on the ground a few times, quickly stood up, and patted himself all over to check if he was missing any parts.

He Yingqin and Liu Zhi also stepped forward to check him over.

Fortunately, there was nothing serious—just a graze on his left arm from a bullet, whose impact had knocked Lv Muzhi off the roof.

"You brat, you've really got a charmed life! If the Merchant Corps soldier opposite had shaken even a little while firing, he might have hit your vitals!" Liu Zhi said, relieved that the danger had passed.

Clatter-clatter~

The heavy machine gun on the roof ridge, along with Li Zhilong, Gui Yongqing, and Zheng Dongguo, all slid down, taking a large patch of tiles with them.

The Whampoa Army's heavy machine gun had fired too long on the roof and had drawn the enemy's attention, with concentrated firepower aimed at it.

They couldn't stay on the roof any longer, so the three-man machine-gun crew simply shifted their fire.

Li Zhilong came down and, seeing Lv Muzhi was all right, felt much more relieved.

"Report to Chief Instructor He! The Worker-Peasant Corps Army has broken through the Merchant Corps Army's front defensive line and torn a huge gap!" a communications soldier rushed over to report.

"Good!" He Yingqin had no time to hesitate, drawing his Browning Pistol: "Students! Colleagues! Anyone who can move, charge with me!"

Having spoken, He Yingqin led over a dozen Whampoa Students and instructors in launching a charge as well.

Lv Muzhi's left arm had been temporarily bandaged by a classmate and could still move.

Seeing his classmates charge one after another, he remembered Huang Wei being shaken by a machine gun while serving as a human gun mount, and remembered many classmates and Worker-Peasant Corps soldiers falling one by one at the frontline, leading from the front.

Lv Muzhi's fighting spirit was also ignited; he took down the Mosin-Nagant Rifle from his back, fixed the bayonet, and charged up.

At the Merchant Corps Army's frontline position, the central part had already been breached by over two hundred vanguard troops of the Worker-Peasant Corps, led by none other than Wu Instructor.

The Merchant Corps soldiers were stunned; this group of mud-legged peasants didn't know what chicken blood they'd taken, and under machine-gun cover, they charged straight over.

The Merchant Corps Army troops originally holding the middle of the defended position, seeing the enemy so reckless, actually scattered and avoided them, allowing Wu Instructor to lead part of the Worker-Peasant Corps Army across the frontline of Huangsha Avenue.

But what surprised the Merchant Corps Army even more was that the Worker-Peasant Corps Army, after breaking through the defensive line, did not continue toward Xiguan; instead, under Wu Instructor's leadership, they charged back recklessly, occupied the residential houses north of Huangsha Avenue, and struck the Merchant Corps Army from behind.

The Merchant Corps Army's position fell into instant chaos; as soon as the Worker-Peasant Corps Army charged in, like a catfish breaking the battlefield's balance, panic began to spread through the Merchant Corps Army's center.

"Kill!"

The Whampoa Students holding fire on the left and right flanks saw the Merchant Corps Army's formation in chaos, and under the instructors' rallying cry, they all charged forward heedless of death.

The Whampoa Students charged while fixing bayonets to their rifles.

The gleaming white bayonets flashed a terrifying cold light in the sunlight.

Seeing this, the Merchant Corps Army instantly grew nervous—the Merchant Corps Army had no bayonets!

Chen Geng charged forward while firing his rifle, and together with the students, rushed into the left side of Huangsha Avenue and engaged the Merchant Corps Army.

At the same time, the main force of the Whampoa Student Army and the Worker-Peasant Corps Army on the front also charged into Huangsha Avenue and engaged in close-quarters combat with the Merchant Corps Army.

In this battle, both sides' weapons were mainly bolt-action rifles, supplemented by extremely limited heavy machine guns.

The Merchant Corps Army was at a disadvantage in every respect: on one hand, the Merchant Corps soldiers had received no professional military training; on the other hand, the Merchant Corps Army was unprepared—having guns but no bayonets, once engaged at close quarters, relying only on single-shot rifles put them at a great disadvantage; lastly, the Merchant Corps Army's combat will was extremely weak, and they were mercenaries linked to Chen Lianbo by money.

Except for a few diehards still fighting to the death, most of the Merchant Corps Army had fled toward Xiguan or thrown themselves to the ground to surrender.

Lv Muzhi charged into Huangsha Avenue with his bayonet leveled; a burly Merchant Corps man came toward him, holding his gun upside down, raised it high, and tried to smash Lv Muzhi down with the rifle butt.

Lv Muzhi sidestepped; the rifle butt whistled past his cheek, and the burly man's kidney was exposed before him.

Seeing the man was so ruthless, Lv Muzhi also hardened his heart, raised his bayonet, and stabbed at the man's kidney!

Pfft!

The white blade entered the flesh three inches; the burly man screamed, and Lv Muzhi clearly felt the resistance of the white blade entering a human body.

Blood from the burly man flowed out along the blood grooves on both sides of the bayonet.

Lv Muzhi breathed heavily, pulled the bayonet out while easing his force, and kicked the man in the back with his left foot, sending him flying.

The burly man fell to the ground, his gun long since dropped from his hand, muttering in his mouth: "Diu lei lao mu..."

Slowly, he made no more sound in the pool of blood.

But Lv Muzhi had already left the scene, not hearing the man's dying curses at all; there were still many more Merchant Corps soldiers he needed to deal with.

Jiang Xiangyun and Song Xilian stood back-to-back holding their rifles, surrounded by seven or eight Merchant Corps soldiers; unlike other Merchant Corps soldiers, these men had large broadswords in their hands, from who knows where.

Jiang Xiangyun and Song Xilian had originally been operating a Maxim Machine Gun, but helplessly, the Maxim Heavy Machine Gun jammed at the critical moment; the bullets in their rifles were long spent, surrounded by Merchant Corps soldiers, the situation was critical, and the two could only cover each other.

Bang!

Not far away, a gunshot rang out, felling one of the Merchant Corps soldiers surrounding Jiang Xiangyun and Song Xilian.

Turning to look, it was Lv Muzhi arriving to help.

Bang!

In another direction, another shot rang out—Chen Geng firing in support.

Rat-tat-tat~ rat-tat-tat~

The sound of a heavy machine gun suddenly rang out; Li Zhilong placed the tripod-less heavy machine gun on the ground and opened fire on the Merchant Corps Army preparing to encircle and kill Jiang Xiangyun and Song Xilian, quickly resolving the danger for Jiang and Song.

After escaping danger, Jiang Xiangyun and Song Xilian immediately grouped with Lv Muzhi and Chen Geng to jointly deal with the Merchant Corps Army.

After the battle continued for half an hour, it finally ended.

Of the two thousand Merchant Corps soldiers defending Huangsha Avenue, over five hundred were killed or wounded, over one thousand captured, and over three hundred fled.

Meanwhile, the Workers' Corps Army, Peasants' Corps Army, and Whampoa Student Army lost nearly two hundred men in this battle.

Especially the Whampoa Students, who hadn't even graduated yet, lost over thirty men in this battle.

The big waves winnow the sand; there are many more battles to come. The Merchant Corps Incident counts at most as a midterm test—only those who survive are true elites!

After the blood cooled, Lv Muzhi first went to check on that Merchant Corps thug.

The thug had already lost all color in his face; it was obvious he was dead.

Looking at him, this Merchant Corps thug was no different from ordinary people, and in the end he died directly under his own bayonet.

"What are you thinking about?"

Someone patted Lv Muzhi on the shoulder from behind; he turned around and saw it was Wu Instructor.

Seeing the corpse stabbed to death on the ground, and then looking at the somewhat dazed Lv Muzhi, he probably understood something.

"He doesn't look like a bad person, does he?" Wu Instructor asked, then squatted on the ground and picked up the Mauser Rifle beside the thug's corpse.

Lv Muzhi did not answer, and the other students gathered around.

Wu Instructor looked around at the students, raised the Merchant Corps Army's rifle, and slowly said: "Everyone, look at what Chen Lianbo has done—he has money to buy guns, but is unwilling to spend another cent on bayonets; this is the virtue of these big merchants, squeezing even their own armed forces!"

As for the Merchant Corps soldiers killed by you students, perhaps they were merely hired by Chen Lianbo and are not great villains; once they take off the Merchant Corps Army's clothing, they might be ordinary people when they return home, but please remember, what your bayonets are pointed at is not the individual Merchant Corps soldiers, but the forces behind them—counter-revolutionary capital compradors, counter-revolutionary landlords, imperialism......

Lv Muzhi's strike just now was not about showing off ferocity, but part of the revolution.

The Three Principles of the People—nationalism, democracy, and people's livelihood—proposed by the Grand Marshal are not slogans written on paper for you to recite and sing in school; they must be fought for with our guns and knives.

Without democracy, warlords will forever ride on the heads of the common people; without people's livelihood, workers and peasants will forever go hungry; without national independence, Xia Guo will forever be oppressed.

And the bullets they fire are not meant to kill you, but to kill the revolution.

All of you students showed bravery in today's combat, worthy of your identity as revolutionary soldiers; this is the first battle of the Whampoa Student Army, a meaningful battle, and you should all remember exactly what you are fighting for, and in future battles......

"Good! Well said!" Before Wu Instructor finished his political education, the Principal's voice came from behind, and he kept applauding. "Everyone must keep Wu Instructor's words in mind; all who obstruct us are our enemies and must be resolutely eliminated!"

It turned out the Principal had heard good news from the frontline and had come over impatiently to take a look.

"Muzi Ah..." the Principal looked toward Lv Muzhi: "I heard everything from He Yingqin; you fought very valiantly, no need to think too much about a Merchant Corps soldier's life—the ins and outs here are actually simple, it's just you die or I live... you must keep striving and build new achievements!"

Lv Muzhi's head was buzzing, and he simply replied: "Yes."