Chapter 294: Iron Duel

He Yuzhu and Wu Qianli came down from the mountain after observing the enemy camp's situation and immediately gathered the squad and platoon leaders to formulate an operational plan.

He Yuzhu first gave a brief introduction to the basic situation of the camp: "The camp is pitched in a narrow mountain gully, forty to fifty meters wide at its widest, only seven or eight meters at its narrowest, and stretches for over two li. There are no patrolling soldiers, but there are people inside the tanks; they are watching the surroundings through observation ports. It is hard to be discovered. When we go in, we must pay attention to the people in the tanks at all times." As He Yuzhu spoke, he drew a sketch.

"Most of the tanks have people in them, which clearly shows they have made full preparations. Once the battle starts, they will start the tanks to fight us. This surprise attack will not be easy!" Wu Qianli added.

Yu Congrong said excitedly: "Why worry so much? We have forty Bazooka rocket launchers; attacking the tanks from the high ground on the right slope is not difficult at all."

Instructor Mei Sheng retorted: "The tanks that aren't hit will definitely counterattack. Those tank guns are not to be trifled with! We must come up with a contingency plan."

"That's easy to handle," Wu Qianli took over the conversation, "We will organize a twenty-man assault team; if the tanks dare to counterattack, we'll greet them with Explosives! The road here is narrow, it's difficult for tanks to turn, and plus it's night, making it hard to distinguish friend from foe; the tanks' utility is very limited!"

"That makes sense!" Lei Gong said.

He Yuzhu drew a circle on the north slope of the sketch with a twig: "Yu Congrong and I will take men up the north slope to destroy these tanks with rocket launchers. Once we fire the Rockets, the Fifth Company Commander can lead his men in."

"It would be great if we could send a team to block the enemy's retreat!" Shi Lei said.

Wu Qianli shook his head: "Surround three sides but leave one open; we must leave the enemy a way out. If we push them into a corner and they fight us to the death, we won't be able to handle it."

He Yuzhu thought for a moment and nodded: "That makes sense, I agree."

Late at night, the assault detachment split into two groups.

He Yuzhu and Yu Congrong led a forty-man rocket team and quietly crept toward the north slope.

Before they even got up the slope, He Yuzhu pulled Yu Congrong back and said: "See that? There's someone behind that rock!"

"What? How did you see that?" Yu Congrong looked astonished.

He Yuzhu didn't explain and immediately ran toward the mountain like an ape.

Relying on the cover of the night, he quickly reached the mountainside and silently approached the sniper curled up behind the rock.

Perhaps because the weather was too cold, the sniper had drunk quite a bit of alcohol; in his drunken haze, he heard movement and hurriedly turned to raise his gun—but it was already too late.

Two Flying Knives arrived, piercing the air; one struck the center of his chest, and one hit him right in the throat.

He didn't even let out a groan before he went limp and fell to the ground.

He Yuzhu waved to the bottom of the mountain, and Yu Congrong immediately led the team to follow.

At the bottom of the mountain, Wu Qianli led over a hundred soldiers lurking in the darkness, all Submachine Gun safeties clicked off, their eyes fixed on the movement in the gully.

"Boom!"

He Yuzhu's first Rocket tore through the night sky and struck the turret of a Patton Tank.

Immediately after, forty trails of fire lunged toward the gully simultaneously, the sound of the explosions shaking the earth.

In the blink of an eye, over thirty tanks and dozens of tents were engulfed in a sea of fire.

The camp was like a burning anthill; the US Military soldiers who hadn't been killed by the explosions rushed out of their tents in a panic, scrambling to climb into the tanks.

In the chaos, a white man punched a black man who was trying to climb into a tank hatch in the face, cursing: "You son of a bitch are infantry, what are you doing getting in a tank!"

The black soldier had no choice but to retreat sullenly, grabbing his gun and running forward. There were many people like him; as soon as they saw they couldn't get into a tank, they retreated.

There were also US Military soldiers in a few tanks who reacted extremely quickly; they turned their tanks around rapidly and fired at the mountain where the Rockets were being launched.

A Volunteer Army soldier was unfortunately hit by a shell and sacrificed his life heroically.

"Down the mountain!" He Yuzhu shouted.

More than forty people carried their Rocket Launchers and ran down the mountain quickly.

At this moment, Wu Qianli's assault team charged into the camp like fierce tigers, their Submachine Guns spitting tongues of fire, reaping the panicked US Military soldiers.

A Pershing Tank slowly rotated its muzzle and fired in the direction of Wu Qianli's group.

"Watch out!" Wu Qianli tackled his younger brother Wu Wanli; the shell exploded not far from them, splattering them with snow mixed with dirt.

Three heavy tanks drove toward the slope where He Yuzhu was, like angry beasts, charging recklessly.

"Everyone get down, find cover!" He Yuzhu ordered while heading toward the three charging tanks.

The Machine Guns of the three tanks fired at him incessantly, but He Yuzhu's movements were too fast, and he always managed to dodge the strings of bullets.

Reaching the front of a tank, he performed a roll and shoved the Explosive into the bottom of the first tank.

With a loud "Boom," the tank's track snapped instantly.

Following that, he used the same method to destroy the other two tanks in succession.

In the distance, three Seventh Company demolitionists were charging toward a tank that was firing wildly.

The lead soldier was hit and fell ten meters away, and the second was also knocked to the ground by the Machine Gun.

Wu Qianli snatched a Cluster Grenade from a soldier's hand, rolled into a shell crater, and as the tank passed overhead, hung the grenade on the bottom of the vehicle, then immediately rolled into another shell crater.

"Boom!" After the loud noise, this behemoth was completely immobilized.

An American soldier had just opened the bottom hatch to climb out when he was shot dead by Wu Qianli's Pistol.

The surviving tanks at the front saw that the situation was bad and began to flee in a panic along the way they had come.

Seeing that some tanks were about to escape, He Yuzhu jumped onto a Pershing Tank and shouted to Martin and his brothers: "Everyone get on the tanks with me!"

Martin and the others quickly boarded the vehicles and pursued the dozen or so fleeing tanks.

He Yuzhu operated quickly inside the turret, his sights locked firmly on the targets ahead.

"Load faster!" he urged; several black soldiers were loading in a flurry, and they were actually left panting by his fast-paced firing.

Wu Qianli also climbed into another intact tank: "Seventh Company, everyone who can drive a tank, get on!"

A dramatic scene appeared on the battlefield: the Volunteer Army was driving captured US Military tanks to pursue US Military tanks.

"Weren't you acting tough just now? Why are you running!" He Yuzhu cursed while swinging the muzzle.

"Boom!" A Stuart Tank was hit in the rear by him and burst into raging flames.

When the sky began to turn white at dawn, this fierce battle finally came to an end.

He Yuzhu and Wu Qianli quickly reached a consensus that they must clean up the battlefield and withdraw as soon as possible.

After counting the casualties of his team, He Yuzhu found that two had sacrificed their lives and five were injured, which was better than expected.

He immediately directed the soldiers to load the Anti-aircraft Gun and Radar Computer onto the trucks—these important pieces of equipment had to be transported away together.

The battlefield was a scene of devastation, with the wreckage of destroyed tanks blocking the road.

He Yuzhu immediately used the eight US Military tanks on his position that had not been destroyed as obstacle-clearing vehicles, ramming those paralyzed hunks of iron one by one and pushing them to the side of the road.

The steel behemoths collided with a screeching roar, forcibly carving out a passable path through the ruins.

After more than five hours of tense clearing and battlefield cleanup, a road passable for trucks was finally cleared.

At this moment, He Yuzhu knew clearly in his heart that for his unit, which had only thirty-some people left, trying to find Regimental Commander Yang's main force on their own was no longer realistic.

He took the initiative to propose to Wu Qianli that they travel together and march as one.

Wu Qianli readily agreed.

He Yuzhu said, "Our supplies are truly abundant now—tanks, radios, power generator trucks, dining trucks..."

Wu Qianli said with some concern, "Company Commander He, isn't it a bit unsafe for us to be carrying thirteen tanks and these dozen or so vehicles?"