Chapter 292: FIERCE BATTLE

He Yuzhu looked at those Tank wrecks, feeling very uneasy inside.

When it came down to it, it was still because he hadn't been able to warn everyone about the risks in advance.

The comrades around him always thought that hiding inside a Tank was foolproof, not knowing that without infantry coordination and cover, these "Iron Turtles" were just iron coffins on the battlefield.

Coupled with the soldiers' unskilled operation, the Tank's firepower advantage couldn't be brought into play at all, making it inevitable that they would be picked off one by one by the enemy.

He now only hoped that the brothers who had been in the Tanks at the time had managed to abandon their vehicles and evacuate in time.

When he arrived at the second Tank defensive line, his hanging heart finally settled.

He saw the soldiers sitting around a fire, using bayonets to heat canned food over the flames, the aroma of food drifting through the air.

However, when counting the headcount, He Yuzhu's heart sank again.

There were only twenty-five people left around First Platoon Leader Wang Tieshan—he had originally been given sixty men to command, though half of them had been wounded.

"Company Commander, I've let you down." Wang Tieshan stepped forward quickly, his voice choked with emotion as he said: "The first defensive line didn't hold. The soldiers weren't skilled in operation, and the Tank's advantage wasn't brought into play at all..."

He Yuzhu waved his hand to interrupt him: "The US Military sent over a thousand men; it's already not easy for you few dozen brothers to have fought like this."

"It's all thanks to those friends of yours." Wang Tieshan pointed to Martin and the others who were tucking in heartily, "They fire the cannons many times faster than we do. If it weren't for them, the second defensive line wouldn't have held either."

He Yuzhu watched Martin and the other four black brothers eating the canned food in big mouthfuls, then walked up and asked kindly: "Brothers, how are you feeling?"

Martin put down his can and said excitedly: "Hey! Brother! You know what? I originally thought killing US soldiers would give me a psychological burden, after all, we came from the same place, but when the fighting actually started, I didn't feel a thing! We treated them like the bad guys who bully us on the streets; watching them fall one by one was just too satisfying!"

"They are bad guys to begin with!" He Yuzhu said, "Not living a good life in their own country, they insist on stirring up trouble everywhere, fearing nothing but peace... They are all puppets of the capitalists! For their own selfish interests, those capitalists would rather let hundreds of millions of people be displaced and unable to live a good life..."

He Yuzhu spoke on and on in English, finally moving Martin and the others to tears.

Martin said excitedly: "Zhuzi, I understand completely now! I also want to dedicate my life to the great cause of proletarian liberation!"

He Yuzhu nodded with satisfaction.

Wang Tieshan, standing to the side, watched He Yuzhu keep "speaking bird language" and even making those few people cry, so he also crowded over to hear what it was about, but no matter how he listened, he didn't understand a single word.

He Yuzhu was parched from talking and felt today's "speech" was enough, so he pulled Wang Tieshan aside: "Tieshan, tell me the truth, can we hold the next wave of attacks?"

Wang Tieshan nodded firmly: "We still have twenty-five people, two people guarding one Tank, no problem!"

"I believe you!" After saying this, He Yuzhu left to inspect the situation at the Machine Gun positions.

"Zhuzi, what are you doing? Why did these bastards suddenly retreat? If they had attacked for a while longer, we wouldn't have been able to hold on! You don't know, these guys' marksmanship is accurate as hell!" Ershuan came up to meet him and said.

"I took out the enemy's logistics base!" He Yuzhu said.

"I thought so! At critical moments, I still have to count on you; following you into battle makes me feel secure!" Ershuan said with a smile.

"How are the casualties here?" He Yuzhu asked Xu Jian, who was walking over.

"Fifteen people sacrificed, and almost everyone among the remaining twenty-five is wounded." Second Platoon Leader Xu Jian said with low spirits.

He Yuzhu patted Xu Jian on the shoulder: "The enemy won't attack again during the day, have a good meal. They will definitely sneak attack at night—because they already know we don't have many people left."

Xu Jian nodded.

He Yuzhu finally returned to the anti-aircraft gun position; the situation here was much better, with no one injured.

Of course, these twenty-three people were the core strength of this company.

He Yuzhu would not let them take risks unless it was absolutely necessary.

Shi Lei stuffed canned meat into his mouth while asking unclearly: "Company Commander, the first and second platoons sacrificed quite a few people, how is their morale?"

"It's alright, the first platoon has twenty-three left, the second platoon has twenty-five left, and you guys also have twenty-three; the number of people in each platoon is quite even now!" When He Yuzhu said this, it was as if he were reminiscing, and also as if he were blaming himself; tears couldn't help but flow down.

"Company Commander, we didn't lose! The enemy's death toll is dozens of times ours!" Shi Lei hurriedly comforted him.

He Yuzhu nodded and said: "As long as we get through tonight, reinforcements might arrive. But tonight won't be easy; the enemy will definitely sneak attack, and we must come up with a way to counter them."

Shi Lei pondered and said: "The only way I can think of is to bury Landmines in front of the positions."

He Yuzhu nodded: "My opinion is to withdraw everyone and just guard this anti-aircraft gun position."

Shi Lei mused for a moment and said: "Concentrating firepower to defend... that's not impossible. I'm just afraid they'll surround us, and we won't even have a path to retreat."

He Yuzhu pointed to the high mountain and said: "If it really comes to it, we'll just go over the mountain."

"How is that possible?"

"Let's not discuss that for now; what I'm worried about is the enemy sending planes to drop incendiary bombs; no one in those two positions will be able to hide." He Yuzhu said.

Shi Lei opened his eyes wide in surprise: "You're saying the enemy planes will bomb us at night? Why haven't we encountered that before?"

He Yuzhu explained: "Before, we were always fighting on the move and didn't have fixed strongholds, so they naturally couldn't find targets. Now it's different."

Shi Lei fell into silence.

"I judge that the enemy has two goals for the night raid: first, to wipe us out under the cover of darkness; if they can't do that, they will mark the area around our positions to guide targets for subsequent bombing."

Shi Lei couldn't help but exclaim: "Zhuzi, what do those marker flares look like?"

"The kind that can emit red smoke!" He Yuzhu said.

"I really didn't expect that someone like you, who hasn't been on the battlefield much, would know more about the ways of fighting than an old soldier like me!"

He Yuzhu just smiled faintly, "I like reading books; I've studied the tactics of the US Military during World War II, so naturally I can anticipate their methods."

"I agree with your view!" Shi Lei said.

After obtaining the approval of the smartest platoon leader in the company, He Yuzhu immediately began the deployment.

Once everything was arranged properly, the sky had already darkened, and He Yuzhu took out two hundred cans and stewed them together with vermicelli.

Because He Yuzhu had many seasonings, this meal allowed the soldiers to have a full meal.

Even Martin and the five others felt it was very delicious.

Afterwards, everyone rested in the Cave where a fire was burning; the warmth inside the cave formed a sharp contrast with the bitter cold outside.

Night fell, and the bright spots on He Yuzhu's Radar appeared again, totaling nine.

Just at this moment, red signal flares appeared at several locations in the valley.

He Yuzhu shouted into the Walkie-talkie: "Special forces have already entered the valley; those signal flares were dropped by them. When you take action later, watch out for snipers."

The roar of bombers approached from afar, and He Yuzhu looked up to see it was B-29s dropping bombs from high altitude again.

He Yuzhu immediately issued the order: "Attention everyone, retreat to the Cave immediately! Retreat to the Cave immediately!"

The soldiers acted swiftly, moving all weapons and equipment back into the Cave.

Just as He Yuzhu pushed the last Anti-aircraft Gun into the Cave, incendiary bombs descended from the sky one after another.

The entire valley was instantly plunged into a sea of fire; flames soared into the sky, and the snow on the ground melted at a speed visible to the naked eye, sending up patches of white mist.

He Yuzhu gazed at the sea of fire outside the cave, knowing in his heart that today's battle would likely be unprecedentedly difficult.

About half an hour later, the enemy's offensive began.

Tanks roared as they drove into the mountain pass, followed by a dense mass of infantry, numbering fully two thousand.

However, as soon as they entered the mountain pass, they triggered the Anti-tank Mines.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The dozen or so tanks at the very front were instantly blown into scrap metal, and the more than two hundred enemy troops following closely behind were also blown to pieces, leaving no remains.

Seeing that the tanks could not advance, the enemy actually drove their infantry to launch a frantic charge.

It seemed they could no longer bear the losses and were determined to go all out today to wipe out this group of Chinese.

When the US Military charged to a distance of about five hundred meters from the position, dense infantry Landmines were triggered one after another.

For a time, the sounds of explosions rose and fell, and severed limbs and arms flew everywhere.

Just as this group of American soldiers was in chaos, He Yuzhu gave the order: "Fire!"

More than forty Machine Guns and Heavy Machine Guns on the hillside spat tongues of fire simultaneously, forming a dense web of fire.

The enemy fell row by row like wheat being harvested, and fresh blood soon stained the snow red.

As time passed, the weakness of He Yuzhu's side having insufficient troops was gradually exposed completely.

The US Military launched wave after wave of charges regardless of casualties, and the Volunteer Army soldiers on the position kept falling during the fierce battle.

By the time they repelled the enemy's attack once more, He Yuzhu looked around and discovered that there were fewer than forty brothers left who could still fight.

However, the enemy at the foot of the mountain was still gathering continuously, and a new round of the offensive was clearly about to arrive.