Chapter 78: Cannon
Because of lack of sleep, Wang Ye rested for two days.
Two days later, when Wang Ye rode his warhorse again and arrived at the outskirts of the Huting stronghold under the moonlight, he was dumbfounded.
Damn it, do you have to be so cruel? I haven't been to Kuroshima Morita for two days. This old devil has also carried out a wave of infrastructure outside the base, cutting down and burning all the trees?
Within two kilometers, there is flat yellow soil.
The area from two to three kilometers is full of bare mounds of earth.
This is embarrassing. There is no place to hide the war horses. How can we hide them three kilometers away?
Only a fool would do this. How is this different from seeking death? The devil's cavalry would chase them and they would be finished.
Previously, Kuroshima Morita had filled in all the ditches and cleared all the vegetation within a two-kilometer radius of the stronghold, which had greatly restricted his movements. He was only able to escape that night by relying on camouflage and reverse thinking. After that, he didn't even dare to approach within two kilometers of the stronghold and detonated his earth gun from a distance.
What I am afraid of is being exposed in an open area without any cover.
A cold-weapon-level physique can be immune to damage from cold weapons, but not to bullets!
But now, Kuroshima Morita has cleared even the vegetation within three kilometers, which makes things even more difficult.
Put yourself in his shoes. If he were Kuroshima Morita, he would not just clear the vegetation. He would also ambushed a large number of sentries in the wilderness outside the stronghold.
These secret sentries don't have to do anything else but give warnings.
As soon as they found him approaching within a thousand meters, the sentry would immediately fire a warning shot.
By then, the Japs in the stronghold would fire flares into the sky and send out cavalry to chase and kill us. We wouldn't even have time to find a place to hide and could only engage in a cross-country race with the Japs' horses.
If a man competes with a war horse in a cross-country race, isn't that asking for trouble?
No one would be stupid enough to do this unless they were insane.
Thinking of this, Wang Ye gave up decisively and prepared to return to Yang Village.
However, just as he turned around, Wang Ye suddenly changed his mind.
Since we are here, we can't make a wasted trip, right? We have to get some benefits.
In Li Yunlong's words, as soon as the gunfire sounds, you have to bring something back for me, food, drinks, and daily necessities, I'm not picky, but I can't do business that loses money.
Even if we can't hit the devils in the stronghold, we can still look for the secret sentries outside. Maybe we can find a few of them? Even if we only find one, this trip won't be a loss.
At that moment, Wang Ye hid his horse in a valley three kilometers away and turned back to search for the Japanese's secret sentry.
The search lasted more than five hours. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. However, they did find one. So Wang Ye quietly pulled out his bayonet and quietly moved closer.
A few minutes later, the Japanese sentry had his throat slit.
…
The night passed quickly in Yang Village.
The independent regiment's artillery company was also formed yesterday.
The artillery company consists of three mortar platoons and one ammunition platoon.
Each mortar platoon consists of 10 people and is equipped with two Type 97 81mm light mortars.
The ammunition platoon consists of 15 people, equipped with 15 mules and horses. They are responsible for carrying artillery shells to the three artillery platoons. When necessary, they can also be transferred to the mortar platoon to serve as deputy gunners.
Because the artillery didn't need to fight the devils face to face with bayonets.
So all the soldiers assigned to the artillery company were new recruits.
Wang Chengzhu didn't care about this, he actually liked the new recruits more.
Because the old soldiers are arrogant and refuse to be disciplined, they are difficult to teach.
New recruits have a natural respect for veterans, and they take whatever you say as their truth.
Facing 45 new recruits divided into four rows, Wang Chengzhu felt a sense of pride in his heart. Damn, I am now the company commander commanding 45 people.
"Listen to me, damn it."
Wang Chengzhu cleared his throat and shouted.
"To become a qualified artilleryman,"
"First you have to learn how to measure distance. Do you know how to measure distance?"
"If you don't know how to measure distance, or if you measure distance inaccurately, the bullet's impact point will be off."
"If the bullet doesn't hit the right spot, not only will you fail to hit the damn Japs, you might even blow up your own people. Isn't that ridiculous? So if you want to be an artilleryman, you must learn how to measure distance."
After saying that, Wang Chengzhu used charcoal to draw a straight line on the playground behind him, extending from where he had just stood to the base of a white wall, and then drew two parallel vertical lines on the wall.
After drawing the three lines, Wang Chengzhu said, "The two lines on the wall are one meter apart, and the line on the ground is ten meters long. The error will not exceed one centimeter. If you don't believe me, just measure it."
One of the new recruits didn't believe it and actually took a ruler to measure it.
It turned out that the error was indeed within one centimeter.
The recruits sitting on the ground applauded enthusiastically.
"How is it? Are you convinced?" Wang Chengzhu smiled and said, "But it's no big deal. As long as you are willing to practice according to what I say, you will be able to basically learn it within half a month."
"I can't say it's as accurate as mine, but it can be almost accurate."
The new recruits clapped even more enthusiastically, and each of them was eager to try.
Wang Chengzhu was just about to continue teaching the thumb distance measurement method, but he saw Li Yunlong and Wang Ye coming over, so he quickly trotted over to Li Yunlong.
"Report to the regiment commander, the artillery company is conducting range-finding training, please give instructions."
Li Yunlong casually returned the military salute, then turned back to Wang Ye and said, "Xiao Wang, tell Zhuzi."
"Yes." Wang Ye agreed, and took a step forward and said to Wang Chengzhu, "Captain Wang, I want to borrow a mortar from your artillery company."
"No." Wang Chengzhu refused without asking the reason.
Wang Ye had already expected Wang Chengzhu's reaction, so he asked Li Yunlong to come as well.
Li Yunlong was really angry and cursed: "Zhu Zi, what's wrong with you? Xiao Wang asked you to lend him a gun, why didn't you lend it? You look so stingy, it's not like you're not going to return it."
"Who knows?" Wang Chengzhu muttered, "What if he doesn't pay it back after a year?"
"That won't happen." Wang Ye said, "I'll just borrow it for half a month and return it after I defeat the Huting stronghold."
"Then we can't lend it to you," Wang Chengzhu said. "You're not an artilleryman. If we lend you the artillery, not only will you not be able to use it, but it might even fall into the hands of the Japanese. Our artillery company will suffer a great loss."
Li Yunlong became impatient and asked angrily, "Will you lend it to me?"
"No." Wang Chengzhu stiffened his neck and said, "I just won't lend it to you."
"Hey, you greenhorn, you dare to talk back to me?" Li Yunlong was furious, "Be careful or I'll beat you up."
"I won't lend it to you even if you kill me," Wang Chengzhu said, "unless you remove me as the company commander, no one can borrow even one cannon from our artillery company."
Li Yunlong was extremely angry, but he didn't do anything in the end.
Instead, he put on a smiling face and said to Wang Ye helplessly: "This kid is also a stubborn person, he is a donkey, so let's just follow the second method you mentioned."
"Second method? What?"
Wang Chengzhu was a little confused. What was going on?
Wang Ye then said, "Captain Wang, you don't want to lend me the gun because you don't trust me, right?"
"Yes." Wang Chengzhu said, "First, I'm afraid you won't be able to use it, and second, I'm afraid you'll lose the cannon."
Wang Ye said again: "That's it, you come with me, now you feel relieved, right?"
"Let's go together?" Wang Chengzhu asked, "Where to go? What for? Why do I feel like something is not right?"
"It's nothing, actually. We just go to the Huting stronghold and fire a few rounds every night." Wang Ye said, "It adds some fun to the lives of the Japanese in the stronghold. Otherwise, they will be too bored."
"So that's what it is? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
When Wang Chengzhu heard about the artillery fire, he nodded repeatedly.
Li Yunlong teased, "Look at this bastard. He got so excited when he heard that he could have sex. Damn, he's even more excited than a breeding bull."
Wang Chengzhu just smiled foolishly after hearing this.
This guy is content with everything as long as he has a gun.
…
Another peaceful day passed and night fell.
Kuroshima Morita and Nishi Takeichi came to the rooftop of the artillery tower and looked out into the distance.
Although it was already dark at this time, a bright moon was hanging high in the sky, so the bare hills around the stronghold were still faintly visible.
"Xizhu-kun, what day is this?"
"On the fourth day, the Tubalu had not attacked us for three days."
"Yoshi, if you don't come today, you probably won't come again."
"This is also an expected result. Commander, you have already ordered the removal of all vegetation within a three-kilometer radius outside the Huting stronghold. Even the ditches and pits within a two-kilometer radius have been filled in. Moreover, there are our hidden sentries everywhere. If the Eighth Route Army dares to come again, they will be courting death."
"However, let the 1st Cavalry Squadron prepare for the attack."
"Don't worry, Commander. The 1st Cavalry Squadron is always ready and on standby."
"Yoshi." Kuroshima Morita nodded happily and said, "The moonlight tonight is so beautiful."
It was a rare occasion that Kuroshima Morita was interested in appreciating the moonlight tonight. When Nishi Takeichi was about to recite a few poems about appreciating the moon to join in the fun, he seemed to see a faint flash of red light in the distance from the corner of his eye.
Kuroshima Morita also saw it, and suddenly turned around and asked, "Xizhu, did you see it just now?"
Just as Xi Zhuyi was about to answer, a sharp whistling sound suddenly came from above his head. It was the whistling sound of a shell flying through the sky. A shell was flying towards the artillery tower where they were!
"Artillery shells, be careful, commander!"
Xizhu leaped forward, but missed.
Because Kuroshima Morita's reaction was faster than his and he fell to the ground.
Then, a short, sharp whistle almost passed over their heads.
The next moment, a loud bang was heard on the playground behind the artillery tower.
Immediately, a dazzling red light suddenly burst out, extremely brilliant.
It turned out that on the playground behind the artillery tower, there were a dozen Japanese soldiers singing and dancing around a bonfire, and the shell happened to fall right in the middle of the bonfire.
The explosion also burst the bonfire.
…
Two kilometers away, on top of a bare little mound of earth.
Wang Chengzhu stretched his neck and looked towards the Huting stronghold.
"What happened? Why is there such a big noise? This shouldn't happen."
After saying that, Wang Chengzhu turned around and looked at the box of ammunition at his feet.
That's right, this is an 81mm caliber mortar shell, not a 90mm caliber mortar shell, but why is the noise produced by the explosion louder than that of a 105mm caliber grenade?
Looking at the flames rising to the sky, there should be a lot of Japanese soldiers killed, right?
Wang Ye, who was hiding in a pile of ash dozens of meters away, was also puzzled. Something must have gone wrong on the Japanese side, otherwise there wouldn't be such a big fire.
At this moment, two flares squeaked into the sky.
With the strong light of the flares, the Japanese sentry nearby finally saw Wang Chengzhu.
The incident just now happened suddenly and they were unprepared. It was impossible for them to direct the firing range of the heavy machine guns in the stronghold. But now they can see it very clearly.
Three Japanese sentries pulled the trigger at the same time.
Wang Chengzhu was also a veteran. As soon as the flares went up into the sky he knew something was wrong. He shouted "Oh my God" and picked up his equipment and ran back. Immediately three tracer bullets were fired at him.
The next moment, four dazzling tongues of fire swept over.
Fortunately, Wang Chengzhu had already rushed to the back of the hill.
The heavy rain of bullets sent smoke and dust flying all over the front of the hill, but did not even hurt Wang Chengzhu.
Wang Ye took this opportunity to lock his gun on a secret sentry of the Japanese. When he fired tracer bullets to guide the target for the heavy machine gun in the stronghold, these secret sentries were also exposed to Wang Ye's gun.
Facing a top sniper like Wang Ye, being exposed means death.
Wang Ye raised his hand and fired a shot, and the first Japanese sentry was shot in the head.
The second secret sentry was shot dead before he even discovered Wang Ye's sniper position.
After two of his comrades were shot dead in succession, the third Japanese sentry finally discovered Wang Ye's sniper position, but this Japanese sentry had lost the courage to confront Wang Ye.
The Japanese sentry suddenly jumped up.
He immediately ran towards the Huting stronghold.
Wang Ye sneered, raised his rifle again, and locked the Japanese sentry from behind.
There was another muffled sound of "puff", and the third Japanese secret sentry also fell in a pool of blood.
In just a dozen seconds, the three Japanese sentries who exposed their positions were all shot dead by Wang Ye.
However, at this time, the gate of the Huting stronghold was also opened, and a large number of Japanese cavalry were pouring out of the gate. From a distance, one could even see the cold light reflected from their sabers.
Seeing this scene, Wang Ye decisively turned around and ran back.
I ran to the back of the mountain and saw Wang Zhuzhu still lying there.
Wang Ye became anxious and yelled, "Captain Wang, run quickly!"
"The Japanese cavalry is chasing us. If we don't run away now, we will be in trouble!"
"You are here, so why should I be afraid?" Wang Chengzhu said he was not afraid, but his body was very honest.
After saying that, he turned around, picked up the mortar and ammunition box weighing more than 20 kilograms, and ran forward.
The Northeastern man has a very strong physique. He can run very fast even with a mortar weighing more than 20 kilograms on his shoulder and a box of more than ten kilograms of shells under his armpit.
It was about five hundred meters from the ambush point to where the war horses were hidden.
Wang Ye and Wang Chengzhu arrived there in less than two minutes.
At this time, the Japanese cavalry that had chased out from the Huting stronghold had just reached the previous ambush point.
Two more flares rose into the sky. With the strong light cast by the flares, the Japanese cavalry could see Wang Ye and Wang Chengzhu riding their horses at a glance.
Looking at the Tubalu who had already run 500 meters away,
The Japanese squadron leader decisively stopped the pursuit.
It's night time now, and chasing at night is too dangerous.
Who knows if there are more Eighth Route Army soldiers waiting for them ahead?
…
The explosion site has been cleared inside the Huting stronghold.
Of the dozen or so Japanese soldiers who had been singing and dancing around the bonfire, two were killed on the spot, three were seriously injured, and the rest suffered burns to varying degrees.
Yes, I was not injured.
Instead, he was burned by the flying charcoal.
Looking at the two bodies that had been wrapped in shrouds, and then at the three seriously injured soldiers who had been wrapped like mummies by military doctors, Kuroshima Morita felt unwell.
Is it true that the Eighth Route Army will never stop?
It's not satisfying to shoot from behind, so you're starting to shoot from behind, right?
Do you really think that the Black Island United is easy to bully? They won't fight back if they are beaten?
At this moment, Kuroshima Morita was really on the verge of going berserk.
Xi Zhu saw the danger and advised, "Captain, stay calm!"
"The Eighth Route Army is going to use this kind of harassment tactics to provoke us, then lure us out of our stronghold, and then use the favorable terrain to set up an ambush, severely injure us or even eat us up."
"Instructor Nishitake!" Kuroshima Jiro, who was standing next to him, couldn't stand it any longer and said sarcastically, "You always teach us to be loyal, brave, and fearless. So this is how you are fearless? "
"If we hide in a stronghold, will the Tubalu destroy themselves?"
"If we continue to be patient and tolerant, will the Tubalu surrender of their own accord?"
After a pause, Kuroshima Jiro turned to Kuroshima Morita and said angrily: "Captain, give the order to attack, go to Yang Village to destroy the Eighth Route Army Independent Regiment, and avenge all the comrades who died in battle!"
"Revenge! Revenge!" Many Japanese officers roared.
Nothing else, these days, Wang Ye's endless harassment,
It has successfully aroused the anger of most Japanese officers.
The Eighth Route Army is too arrogant. They must be taught a severe lesson!
Looking at the angry officers around him, Xi Zhu showed an inexplicable worry on his face.
At this time, the sound of rumbling horse hooves came from the direction of the stronghold's gate. When they looked back, they saw that the 1st Cavalry Squadron that had just attacked had returned.
"Have you caught the Tubalu?"
Kuroshima Jiro asked anxiously.
The squadron leader shook his head and said, "No."
"Damn it!" Kuroshima Jiro clenched his fists.
Then he turned to Kuroshima Morita and said, "Captain, please don't hesitate any longer!"
However, to Kuroshima Jiro's great disappointment, the anger in Kuroshima Morita's eyes had completely faded away, and he had returned to his previous clarity.
"no!"
Kuroshima Morita said coldly: "Don't attack!"
"Captain?!" More than a dozen officers also spoke up.
"This is an order!" Kuroshima Morita said in a deep voice, "Everyone go back and rest!"
"The baggage squadron will continue to lie in wait, and the 2nd Cavalry Squadron will take over the night watch from the 1st Squadron."
The dozen or so officers gathered around dispersed one after another, but Kuroshima Jiro still refused to leave.
"What are you still doing here?" Kuroshima Morita yelled, "Go back to the dormitory and sleep!"
Kuroshima Jiro said with a dark face: "Captain, I just don't understand, what is there to be afraid of?"
"Isn't it just a bunch of Eighth Route Army soldiers? Even if they were ambushed, so what? Are we, an entire regiment, afraid of an ambush? We can defeat a division of the Central Army of China, so why should we be afraid of a bunch of Eighth Route Army soldiers?"
