Chapter 93: Republic of China: Starting from Whampoa Phase One Chapter 93: Battle to the Death

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

Zheng Junyan was shaken awake by his personal guards in his sleep; the artillery position painstakingly operated by three divisions was raided at night by a small enemy detachment, over twenty cannons were all destroyed, and he nearly vomited blood from rage on the spot.

"A great shame... a great shame! Immediately notify the friendly forces to attack the city overnight, and make the Revolutionary Army pay blood for blood!"

Deng Ruzuo, Zheng Junyan, Yang Genghe, Xie Hongxun and others discussed overnight; losing the cannons meant losing the most effective means of breaching the city, and news came from the Zhangshu direction that Northern Expedition reinforcements could arrive at any moment, time was running out.

The four finally reached an agreement, determined to take Nanchang City at any cost and at the fastest speed.

Deng Ruzuo assembled his officers and mobilized them before the operation: "It is said that under a great reward there must be a brave man!

The whole army presses forward, main attack on the southeast corner breach of the south city!

The first to charge onto the city head will be rewarded five thousand silver dollars and promoted three ranks!

Kill one Revolutionary Army soldier, reward fifty silver dollars, cut off a pair of enemy ears as proof!

After breaching the city, you are allowed to act without restraint within the city and take the property of the city's common people for two days! Gold, silver, horses, houses—those who are capable can take whatever they want, whoever grabs it keeps it!"

This order was indeed a highly effective stimulant, causing many Beiyang soldiers whose military discipline was already corrupt to have greedy ferocity flash in their eyes.

The soldiers looked at each other and decided to fight to the death without fear of life or death.

Soon, a death squad driven by great rewards and fearless of death was organized, while more troops gathered like a tide, their target pointing directly at the huge breach in the southeast city wall that had been blown open during the day.

Lv Muzhi had just finished counting the casualties of the night raid team and had not yet had time to let Guan Linzhen, Zhang Fei and others rest properly, when the enemy army outside the city erupted into shouts like mountains roaring and seas surging.

Scattered torches accompanied the dark mass of the enemy army, surging toward the city wall like a raging tide once again, and this time, Deng Ruzuo's Beiyang Army's assault momentum was more frenzied than ever before.

"Everyone enter combat positions! Focus defense on the southeast breach!" Lv Muzhi did not have time to look back at Zhang Fei and Guan Linzhen's eyes before heading to the breach to supervise the battle.

Without cannons, the breach was absolutely the enemy's main attack point.

The breach was east of Jinxian Gate, and Song Xilian was commanding heavy machine guns to fire fiercely at the enemies below the city wall.

The enemy was frenzied,

even facing the Revolutionary Army's machine gun sweeping fire, with large numbers of enemy soldiers falling, the enemies behind would immediately fill in, without the slightest fear.

The Beiyang soldiers almost charged forward stepping on their comrades' corpses; under great rewards, brave men indeed appeared!

The promise Deng Ruzuo gave was extremely tempting, especially being able to freely loot for two days.

Although the Revolutionary Army in Zhangshu was advancing, whether the Beiyang Army would have time to loot after entering the city was truly unclear, but the ordinary soldiers did not care about these things.

Holding sharp weapons and with killing intent naturally arising, the Beiyang soldiers, having lost the restraint of military discipline, were now no different from beasts.

Song Xilian commanded the soldiers to throw incendiary bottles, forming walls of fire below the breach, but even this could not stop the enemy's advance.

The death squad charging at the front caught fire and let out shrill screams.

But there were simply too many enemies; the Beiyang soldiers were prepared, using sandbags and even their comrades' corpses to smother the flames, while officers behind waved and shouted loudly, driving the soldiers forward into the fire.

The slope at the breach was originally a death passage, but as enemies kept falling at the breach, the originally steep slope gradually became gentle.

Piling up human corpses to take Nanchang City—now it seemed absolutely not an empty boast!

The enemy not only focused on the breach, but over twenty cloud ladders also rushed over, clattering as they hooked onto the city wall.

The heavy machine gun approached the city wall under cover of night, firing at the Revolutionary Army soldiers behind the battlements.

"They're up! The enemy is on the city!" Exclamations rose one after another.

Song Xilian was anxious, sweat pouring from his forehead; the special ammunition for his flower mechanism gun on hand was exhausted, so he picked up a Mosin-Nagant with a fine bayonet from the ground.

The enemy death squad charging onto the city head had red eyes and collided fiercely with the defending soldiers rushing to plug the gap, and a brutal close-quarters battle broke out instantly.

Roars, screams, the clashing of bayonets, and the dying cries of the mortally wounded instantly filled the entire southeast corner of the city wall.

When Lv Muzhi arrived, he saw only that the city wall above the breach was packed with people, the Beiyang Army's yellow uniforms and the Revolutionary Army's gray uniforms mixed together, engaged in fierce hand-to-hand slaughter.

Song Xilian was furious, brandishing his bayonet as if to charge forward, but Lv Muzhi grabbed him.

"Don't send anyone over! Bring the machine gun over!"

Under Lv Muzhi's order, a Maxim machine gun was brought over, aimed at the crowd on the city wall where gray uniforms and yellow uniforms were mixed together.

"Muzi, I still have a platoon of brothers inside there, and the platoon leader is our Whampoa Second Phase junior!" Song Xilian shouted.

"They can't be saved; no matter how strong our bayonet fighting technique is, we can't match the enemy's superior numbers. We must prioritize the big picture. Wait until our brothers are worn out, then use the heavy machine gun to fire at the enemy!" Lv Muzhi said decisively.

Song Xilian felt that the Lv Muzhi before him was a stranger; war had changed this person before his eyes.

"Come back! Seventh Platoon! Retreat first!" Song Xilian shouted loudly at the soldiers of the Seventh Platoon engaged in close-quarters combat at the breach, hoping to save as many as possible.

But the sound of gunfire and battle cries clearly drowned out Song Xilian's voice.

On the city wall at the breach, enemies kept squeezing up; truly, one person's spit could drown that platoon's soldiers.

"Go die!" a Beiyang lieutenant shouted viciously, stabbing his bayonet into a Whampoa platoon leader's abdomen, then twisting it like a key, turning the Whampoa platoon leader's insides into pulp.

The Whampoa platoon leader was already wounded in multiple places; now stabbed again, he finally collapsed from exhaustion.

"Hahaha~ Dead!"

Seeing the Whampoa platoon leader fall to the ground, the Beiyang lieutenant hurriedly crouched down and used his bayonet to cut off the platoon leader's ears, trading a pair of ears for the fifty silver dollars promised by Commander Deng Ruzuo.

As for who had actually achieved the feat of being first to scale the wall, no one cared anymore, because the first person to climb onto the city wall had most likely been shot into a honeycomb.

Hiss—

Just as the Beiyang lieutenant was wielding his knife to cut off ears, the fallen Whampoa platoon leader had at some point already pulled the pin on the grenade beneath him.

With a boom, a cloud of blood mist and severed limbs instantly rose up.

Rat-tat-tat—rat-tat-tat-tat—

On the city wall passage, a Maxim heavy machine gun suddenly opened fire.

Lv Muzhi directly took over operating the heavy machine gun; there was no longer time to wait for Song Xilian's platoon to be worn out by the enemy.

Bullets thudded into the pile of flesh; near the breach, any living thing, friend or foe alike, could only resign itself to fall beneath the heavy machine guns.

Song Xilian shouted loudly, grieving and furious, leading several men under the cover of heavy machine guns to approach along the city wall toward the breach, then continuously hurling hand grenades to drive back the Beiyang Army enemies near the breach.

This tactic was somewhat effective; the enemy's offensive near the breach stalled, and Song Xilian led his men to reoccupy the area near the breach.

"Where is the fire oil?" Lv Muzhi shouted.

"It's all used up! The incendiary bottles are nearly gone too!"

Lv Muzhi looked toward the Niu Xing Position on the opposite bank, wishing at this very moment that Liu Zhi could provide artillery support.

But Liu Zhi's Artillery Position was indeed firing, yet its targets were the enemies before the front of the Niu Xing Position, and it had no spare guns to support Nanchang City.