Chapter 69

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

Boom—!

An aircraft flew overhead; it was a friendly aircraft squadron arriving.

The aircraft squadron had no professional bombers, nor professional aerial bombs, and could only fly over the city wall, dropping explosives such as dynamite from the cockpit to intimidate the enemy.

Artillery Battalion Commander Chen Cheng ascended Fei'e Ridge, concentrated all shells, and provided cover for the assault troops.

Outside the North Gate, the soldiers soaked damp straw in kerosene, lit it with matches, and in an instant billowing thick smoke surged toward the North Gate.

Dududududu~

The bugler sounded the charge.

Chen Mingren, commander of the Fierce Brave Team's First Echelon, followed the plan, taking advantage of the rolling thick smoke, leading his one hundred and fifty men, and launched the first charge.

This was roughly the first time the National Army executed joint operations of infantry, artillery, and aviation.

This low-budget joint operation, used against the rebels inside Huizhou City, was still quite effective.

The rebels on the city wall, seeing aircraft flying and circling overhead dropping bombs, were all panic-stricken.

"That... is an iron bird!"

"It's an immortal......"

Some superstitious rebels even kowtowed and knelt before the aircraft in the sky.

Boom boom!

The aircraft squadron dropped bombs, which exploded around the city wall; although they caused no effective casualties, they indeed stunned the rebels, and emotions of awe and fear spread through the army.

Rebel Commander Yang Kunru flew into a rage, grabbed his bolt-action rifle, and fired at the aircraft in the sky: "What are you standing there for! Fire at my command! This aircraft is made of wood; it is the enemy, not some damn immortal!"

The rebels came to their senses; the city wall was again fiercely bombarded by Chen Cheng's artillery unit, and the Storming Brave Team's First Echelon was charging rapidly.

Seeing that the First Echelon had already charged to the center of the battlefield, Lv Muzhi stood at the head of the row: "I declare once more the Revolutionary Army's collective liability law; anyone who retreats in the face of battle will be shot on the spot, and all privileges revoked!"

"Charge at my command!"

At the order, the Storming Brave Team's Second Echelon also launched an attack toward the North Gate.

In the air, aircraft circled and shells glided; on the ground, the Revolutionary Army's infantry assaulted.

Compared to yesterday, the offensive was clearly much stronger.

The Fierce Brave Team's First Echelon, Second Echelon, Third Echelon, Second Division Fourth Regiment, First Division First Regiment, Second Regiment, with the Third Regiment as reserve, in this order, launched a total attack on Huizhou City's North Gate.

In the Fierce Brave Team's Second Echelon, Zhang Fei served as Flag Bearer, following Lv Muzhi in the forward assault.

Du Yuming, Guan Linzhen, Hu Gongnan, and others in the ranks held their flower-mechanism rifles and charged forward without hesitation.

Lv Muzhi charged at the head of the row; in his vision there was only the towering city wall ahead, and the further forward he attacked, the more he felt the city wall was incomparably tall, and the more he felt himself insignificant.

The oppressive feeling of the city wall...

Bullets flew through the air; members of the Fierce Brave Team either fought with their lives for their future prospects, or acted to carry out the revolutionary ideals in their hearts.

Since crossing over, Lv Muzhi had gained a deeper understanding of this.

Compared to the mundane life of his previous life, after experiencing a series of battles and the strange and unpredictable events of the August assassination of Liao Zhongkai, this time, whether remaining unknown or achieving historical fame, it all depended on a single thought of his own.

Ah~

Lv Muzhi was pulled back to reality by a scream; he saw that the Flag Bearer of the First Echelon ahead had already fallen, and his successor picked up the flag and continued charging forward.

Looking closely, the successor was precisely Chen Minren, commander of the First Echelon.

The First Echelon suffered the most fierce firepower attack; Chen Minren held the war flag high, charging at the very front, looking somewhat lonely.

Lv Muzhi called on his Second Echelon to disregard the firepower on the city wall and rush to the foot of the wall at the fastest speed.

Fortunately, there was rolling thick smoke, plus cover from the heavy machine gun positions of the regiments in the rear; Chen Cheng's artillery battalion expended all its shells and successfully sent the First Echelon and Second Echelon to the foot of the city wall.

The Third Echelon was already in the center of the battlefield; the soldiers of the Second Division Fourth Regiment, encouraged, followed closely and launched an attack, while other regiments were arranged in the next echelon according to need.

At the foot of the city wall, Chen Minren of the First Echelon held the war flag and ordered his subordinates to immediately set up the cloud ladders.

Lv Muzhi of the Second Echelon also had a cloud ladder, and he set it up closely following Chen Minren of the First Echelon.

"Company Commander! Let me go up first!" Zhang Fei shouted.

Lv Muzhi looked at the men beside him, hesitated not, took his flower-mechanism rifle, and climbed the cloud ladder using both hands and feet.

However, Lv Muzhi was not the first to mount the cloud ladder; on the other cloud ladder, Chen Minren of the First Echelon had already climbed halfway.

What surprised Lv Muzhi was that this fellow held a war flag in his hand, not a weapon.

As expected, Chen Minren was the first to climb onto the city wall, but was immediately attacked by several rebels.

The rebel closest to him was about to strike Chen Mingren with a rifle butt; Chen Mingren had no time to draw his pistol, so he waved the war flag in his hand and swept the rebel before him off the city wall.

Several rebels a dozen meters away, seeing this, were about to raise their guns and shoot Chen Mingren.

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

Lv Muzhi happened to be the second to mount the city wall, and used his flower-mechanism rifle to relieve Chen Mingren's siege.

"Thank you!"

Chen Mingren expressed his thanks, stuck the war flag in his hand into a sandbag; the war flag fluttered in the wind, then he drew his bolt-action rifle from his waist and engaged in a shootout with the enemies on the city wall.

The soldiers attacking below saw this and all thought that our army on the city wall had already gained the upper hand, and their fighting enthusiasm rose even higher.

On Fei'e Ridge, the Principal held binoculars and felt incredulous: "Who is the one who planted the war flag on the city head? He is so brave!"

He Yingqin smiled and said: "It is Chen Minren."

Liu Zhi also hurriedly followed up: "The one who closely followed Chen Mingren onto the city wall and opened fire to cover him is our regiment's Lieutenant Colonel Company Commander Lv Muzhi."

Principal was overjoyed: "Good~ good! Whampoa Students all vie to be first; in this battle for Huizhou, these two have earned no small merit. When we return, I'll report both of them for commendation!"

After Chen Mingren and Lv Muzhi scaled the city wall, the other members of the Fierce Brave Team also scrambled onto the wall one after another.

The four regiments behind them also raised cloud ladders and launched a full-scale assault against the city wall.

Chen Geng, leading the charge for the Fourth Regiment on the cloud ladder, was shot in the right foot by rebel rifle fire; Chen Geng endured the pain, climbed onto the city wall, and continued fighting.

Seeing this, Lv Muzhi immediately rushed forward to cover him, discarded the flower mechanism whose bullets were already spent, picked up an enemy rifle with a bayonet fixed, parried the bayonet thrust at Chen Geng, then thrust forward and stabbed that rebel to death on the spot.

Chen Geng sat on the ground, pulled out the bullet with his hand, picked up his rifle, and continued fighting on the city wall.

Fighting until three o'clock, the rebel flag finally fell from the northern city wall, replaced by the Revolutionary Army's war flag.

This battle annihilated over two thousand enemies, captured over one thousand prisoners, and some rebels who had stationed no troops at the East Gate fled in haste.

The First Army also suffered heavy casualties; at the cost of nearly a thousand casualties, they took Huizhou City.

The soldiers charging at the front almost all bore wounds; Chen Geng's right foot was injured, and he sat on the city wall to rest. Fortunately, the bullet wound was not deep, and after some rest it would be no great problem.

Jiang Xiangyun led from the front in the assault on the West Gate and was wounded in three places; Lv Muzhi also had a knife wound on his arm.

Chen Minren walked over, half-squatted on the ground, and continued thanking Lv Muzhi: "Thank you, Muzi; otherwise I might have been wounded too."

Chen Geng, meanwhile, kept praising Chen Minren's bravery and said he had earned the merit of being first to scale the wall.

The four sat together on the city wall, watching the war flag flying atop the wall, while corpses of comrades lay everywhere above and below the wall.

Lv Muzhi exhaled: "The great king's flag changes atop the city head... I watch as comrades become new ghosts."

Chen Geng found it interesting: "Where did you learn that? I've never heard it before, but it's quite fitting."

Chen Mingren: "You're aware; I almost became a 'new ghost' myself."

Jiang Xiangyun: "I've never heard it either, but is our war flag really a great king's flag? Shouldn't it be a revolutionary banner?"

Lv Muzhi was stunned for a moment, then realized this was something Mr. Lu Xun would create six years later, so he laughed and gave a perfunctory reply, hastily ending the topic.

——————————————

Oh no, I couldn't hold back and wrote three chapters at once; carrying the Zhongzheng Rifle can only wait until the next chapter. I haven't finished writing yet, and might need to post it at one o'clock. Everyone, go to sleep early. Consider it four chapters tomorrow...