Chapter 53: Republic of China: Starting from Whampoa Phase One Chapter 53: Breaking into Danshui

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

Bullets in place, grenades distributed among everyone, rifles fitted with bayonets, ready to charge into the breach and fight the enemy to the death.

Soldiers threw grenades into the breach, while some soldiers threw them directly over their heads, over the city wall and inside.

Grenades spun in the air, accompanied by a whistling sound as they tore through the air.

After Lv Muzhi took two deep breaths, the sound of grenade explosions rang out.

"Charge!"

Before the smoke and dust from the grenade explosion at the breach had cleared, three Flower Mechanism guns had already fired a large number of bullets through the smoke and dust.

Lv Muzhi, Chen Geng, and Song Xilian slowly emerged from the smoke, then quickly dispersed to find cover.

Following this, wave after wave of Fierce Brave Team members rushed from outside the breach into the city.

The rebel commanders were drawn in by the firepower of the Flower Mechanism guns, and before they could react, the Fierce Brave Team members charged at them with bayonets fixed.

This was clearly a charge straight into close-quarters combat!

Seeing such a fearless force charging in, the rebel commanders near the breach had no bayonets, only some carrying broadswords on their backs, and they were already beginning to feel afraid.

Coupled with the sustained fire of the three Flower Mechanism guns, which made the rebel commanders think these were the enemy's heavy machine guns, they immediately felt their strength failing.

The soldiers of the Fierce Brave Team engaged the enemy in close-quarters combat, and bayonets poked hole after hole in the remaining rebel commanders.

Lv, Chen, and Song swept the rebel commanders who had not joined the close-quarters combat with gunfire; intimidated by the momentum of the Fierce Brave Team, the rebel commanders guarding the breach were forced to retreat.

"Charge toward the city gate! Take the city gate!" Lv Muzhi shouted, and Chen Geng and Song Xilian followed closely behind.

At the city gate, a rebel heavy machine gun was firing at full power; any Fierce Brave Team member appearing inside the gate opening would be shot dead by the heavy machine gun.

"The breach is lost! The enemy has charged in!" a rebel commander shouted.

The rebel machine gunners hurriedly turned their gun barrels to the right to suppress, but before the shooting angle was in place, they were riddled with holes by the three Flower Mechanism guns of Lv Muzhi, Chen Geng, and Song Xilian, and the enemy's Maxim Heavy Machine Gun position was cleared out at once.

"Hold the city gate!" Lv Muzhi shouted.

Chen Geng directly took over the heavy machine gun position and swept fire at the city wall battlements, while Song Xilian led men to provide cover.

Lv Muzhi rushed outside the city gate, picked up a red flag on the ground, and waved it widely, signaling to everyone that the city gate had been taken.

The main force of the First Regiment saw a red flag flying over the city gate, morale soared, and they swarmed into the city gate.

Liu Zhi also led the Second Battalion in a personal charge toward the city gate; upon reaching the city gate, he discovered it was Lv Muzhi waving the red flag, and rejoiced: "Good kid! You've brought glory to our Second Battalion!"

Besides the Second Echelon launching an attack, the Principal had also prepared a Third Echelon; this was truly a decision to fight to the death.

The Principal sent all the Second Phase and Third Phase students who had accompanied the army on campaign to the front lines as the Third Echelon.

The Second Phase and Third Phase students had originally been observing and learning in the rear, but when dispatched to the Third Echelon for combat, they were all overjoyed.

Among them, the Whampoa Third Term had enrolled in January and had not even officially started school, yet they were also dispatched to the front lines for combat.

All Whampoa students were mobilized; the junior students followed in the footsteps of their seniors, rushing toward the Southern Gate of Danzhou City which had already been taken.

Wang Bolin led the Second Regiment to join forces with Zhang Mingda's Second Division of the Guangdong Army, also making major progress northwest of Danzhou City; with both fronts advancing, the capture of Danzhou City was within sight.

Xiong Lve inside Danzhou City saw that the situation was hopeless and began fleeing with his main force through the East Gate, leaving only a few hundred men in the city to cover the rear.

On the southern city wall, the Whampoa Cadet Army was already locked in fierce combat with the remnants of the rebel commanders.

Lv Muzhi was now also leading the Fierce Brave Team up the city wall via a walking ladder from inside the city; as soon as he got on the city wall, he saw people packed together, grappling like twisted dough,

a rebel commander with bloodshot eyes charged at Lv Muzhi wielding a broadsword; Lv Muzhi raised his gun to fire, but before he could pull the trigger, he heard a bang, and that rebel commander fell directly to the ground.

"Platoon Leader, I'm here!" Squad Leader Zhang Fei of his subordinates rushed over and shot dead the rebel commander who had just been about to hack Lv Muzhi with his bolt-action rifle; the other subordinates in the platoon also gathered around.

Lv Muzhi glanced around; his platoon was missing a few faces; it seemed they had been sacrificed.

Clap!

A bamboo ladder was set up on the battlement right beside Lv Muzhi; immediately after, Hu Gongnan, Zheng Dongguo, and others climbed up the ladder, fixing bayonets and fighting the enemy in close combat.

Lv Muzhi took a Mosin-Nagant Rifle with a bayonet fixed from a subordinate's hand, and together with the soldiers in his platoon, joined the close-quarters combat on the city wall.

On the hill outside the city, the Principal held up his binoculars: "Excellent! He Yingqin led the First Regiment and the Storming Brave Team to first breach the southern city wall, and Wang Bolin led the Second Regiment to also cooperate with the Guangdong Army Second Division to enter the city from the west; Danzhou City is already in our pocket!"

The old hairy military advisor General Galun nodded, very satisfied with the performance of the Whampoa Cadet Army: "Principal, I can tell you truthfully that the Whampoa Military Academy has been run very successfully; the courage and tactical level of its graduates are truly remarkable—even our Red Army fighting the White Bandit Army back then was no better than this!"

The Principal appeared unmoved on the surface, but was actually delighted inside; he feigned modesty and said: "It is all thanks to your country's advisors teaching well, and the officers and men fighting to the death."

Chief of Staff Ye Jianying of the Guangdong Army Second Division pointed at the Whampoa Student Army on the city head: "You can't say that, Principal; this Storming Brave Team that doesn't cost a single silver dollar—I've never seen such a thing in my life; Principal and Grand Marshal having such a cadet army, the Eastern Expedition has hope! The Northern Expedition has hope!"

After the main force of rebel commander Xiong Lve fled, the remaining soldiers in the city were soon purged.

The last Whampoa Second Phase and Third Phase students to rush into the city had no more battles to join; their seniors had left them nothing but a ground full of rebel corpses.

Qiu Qingquan of the Second Phase, furious, slapped his thigh: "Just a little more and we would have caught up!"

Dai Anlan and Wang Yaowu, Third Term students who had just entered the academy, saw the cruelty of the battlefield for the first time today, and cast admiring glances at their seniors on the city wall.

Danzhou City had been taken, and the Storming Brave Team naturally disbanded on the spot; Lv Muzhi counted his platoon—originally thirty-three men, now only twenty-five remained, six of them wounded, and one squad was wiped out.

All the Storming Brave Team suffered over a hundred casualties, with over seventy killed in action; the casualty rate had reached half, among whom ten Whampoa First Phase students were killed.

Lv Muzhi walked down the walking ladder on the city wall, preparing to arrange his troops, and happened to meet Qiu Qingquan running toward him.

"Senior, oh no, Lv Instructor, how were the battle results? Were our casualties heavy?" Qiu Qingquan was obviously very anxious, having longed for combat for a long time.

Lv Muzhi said nothing, looking at a platoon behind him.

Before the Eastern Expedition, Qiu Qingquan often came to Lv Muzhi's platoon to ask questions about terrain, and while watching the soldiers drill, also got to know some of the men in Lv Muzhi's platoon.

Seeing several missing faces, he already understood.

Squad Leader Zhang Fei patted Qiu Qingquan's arm: "Go back, little Qiu; we still have new missions!"