The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 267 Capturing the Flag (Part 6) [Bonus Chapter 13 for AT]

"Hurry, load the ammunition!" Mo Shuiyan shouted at the top of his lungs to a brother who was assisting with the firing; his voice cracked because he was too excited.

Even so, he remained crouched in place, not daring to move an inch.

Especially his left hand, which was supporting the grenade launcher, dared not even tremble.

The reason for this was that Mo Shuiyan and the wizard hadn't recovered from the surprise of accurately hitting a small melon grenade on the top of the mound and successfully killing several Japanese soldiers.

Then we saw the firelight on the mound and the sound of thick smoke rising.

And then a number of Japanese soldiers rushed toward the spot where the explosion had just occurred.

Before they could react, a Japanese regimental flag had already been set on fire, but there should still be a chance.

There's another side remaining where the grenade landed.

So what they need to do now is to use grenades that keep landing precisely in place to take down all the Japanese soldiers who are rushing over, until they are dead and they kill their way there.

Fortunately, it doesn't seem too difficult to do this.

Because the final landing point of a grenade launcher depends mainly on the angle of the launch tube and the length of the screw; adjusting these details requires considerable experience.

However, as long as you adjust them properly, find the correct angle and length, and don't touch them afterwards, you can still ensure that subsequent grenades will land in roughly the same spot as the previous one.

This is why Mo Shuiyan, despite being extremely anxious, didn't dare to move an inch.

Because if it moves, even a slight deviation in the angle of the grenade launcher will cause the grenades to fly off somewhere.

And so, urged on by Mo Shuiyan, the grenade launcher opened fire at full speed.

Another grenade flew out and landed about half a meter away from the spot where the previous grenade had exploded.

The shockwave from the explosion, along with the flying shrapnel, knocked down all the Japanese soldiers who had just rushed over and lit their matches.

What's even more amazing is that the wizard on the sidelines saw that he had been busy for a long time but still couldn't find the right spot to land.

He simply threw down the grenade launcher in his hand and led his brothers to help Mo Shuiyan, speeding up the firing rate of the grenade launcher.

With their help, the rate of fire of the grenade launcher operated by Mo Shuiyan increased even further.

It reached a rate of about twenty-two or twenty-three shots per minute.

That means that every three seconds or so, a grenade would land near the regimental flag of the Japanese 10th Regiment.

Their continuous explosions created a death zone that was impossible to approach.

Despite the Japanese soldiers risking their lives to charge forward, all of Seya Kei's men were blown up.

After killing more than a dozen people in a row, Kei Seya stood helplessly to the side, looking at a regimental flag not far away, but unable to get close at all.

So now it all depends on whether Mo Shuiyan can maintain this posture.

And before their melon grenades are completely used up, will Hu Biao and his men be able to reach the top of the hill in time...?

******
Even years later, when Hu Biao and his companions recalled the next minute, they couldn't help but sigh deeply, feeling a lingering sense of fear.

At 17 seconds, Hu Biao was only twelve or thirteen meters away from the top of the mound.

He killed a Japanese soldier in front of him by trading blows, and just as he was about to take a step forward, he noticed a muffled groan coming from behind him.

Unable to resist turning his head, he saw that Annie had been stabbed in the slender waist with a bayonet.

Although the Japanese soldier who attacked her had been killed by Annie, the bayonet was still stuck in Annie's body, causing the girl to be in great pain and barely able to stand.

Instinctively, Hu Biao wanted to turn around and help Annie up.

The girl shook her head vigorously and shouted, "Don't worry about me! Keep charging! We must capture the Japanese regimental flag. Our brothers cannot die in vain."

Upon hearing this, Hu Biao bit his lip hard, raised his large sword, whose blade was now jagged and riddled with nicks, and charged forward...

At 29 seconds, a grenade fired from a grenade launcher landed about six meters in front of Mo Shuiyan.

These grenade launcher attacks are something the Japanese have now realized.

A Japanese grenade launcher squad, under the fierce cover of their comrades, positioned near the top of the mound, fired a 50mm grenade down at Mo Shuiyan's location. These Japanese soldiers were far more accurate in comparison.

That was only the first shot, and it almost ended the battle.

Fortunately, just before the shells hit the ground, a brother who was loading a grenade into the launcher stepped in front of Mo Shuiyan.

In an instant, the brother was riddled with shrapnel and collapsed to the ground in agony.

Even so, it still couldn't completely stop all the shrapnel flying up after the grenade exploded, and a piece of shrapnel was also embedded in Mo Shuiyan's left arm.

If he hadn't been holding the grenade launcher with both hands and hadn't almost chewed his back teeth to pieces, the grenade launcher might have been tilted at an angle.

"You bastards, hurry up and get on with it!" Amidst the excruciating pain, Mo Shuiyan roared out these words...

At 40 seconds, Mr. Nanze, who was less than ten meters from the top, was hit hard on the head with the butt of a rifle, and he collapsed on the spot while the world spun around.

He didn't die, but he was filled with immense resentment because he was just a hair's breadth away from making it to the top.

Van Gogh was so anxious when he saw this that he jumped up and down, but he was still five or six meters away and couldn't get close enough to kill him...

At 51 seconds, with Akashiba Yaezo pinning him down and his throat gripped tightly, Old Yu, whose brain was severely deprived of oxygen and whose consciousness was beginning to fade, unconsciously groped his body with his right hand.

It's rather frustrating, really, but he knows he's got the strength for it.

Surprisingly, in a one-on-one duel, he couldn't defeat the 46-year-old Akashiba Yaezo.

He was about to be strangled to death, but driven by immense resentment and unwillingness, he wanted to pull the pin on the grenade before he died, taking his opponent with him.

Unfortunately, after much searching, Lao Yu couldn't find the fuse for the wooden-handled grenade.

Luckily, or perhaps miraculously, he instinctively pulled something out of his waist and discovered it was the Leica camera that had been in his calfskin bag.

His original instinct was to use this thing as a brick and smash it against Akashiba Yaezo's head.

But as if possessed, he pressed the shutter, taking a close-up shot of Akashiba Yaezo, who was choking him and whose face was contorted in extreme pain.

Then, poor Colonel Yaezo Akashiba.

What will happen to them after being photographed by this camera that Hu Biao and his group suspected was strangely sinister?
All I can say is that at the same time, some incredible things happened.

In the shockwave of a grenade explosion that was only three meters away, Mo Shuiyan, the wizard, and others were instantly knocked down.

Even as he fell, though the grenade launcher was already at an off-center angle, Mo Shuiyan still pulled the trigger.

Suddenly, a grenade flew out, failing to hit its original spot, but unfortunately, it struck Akashiba Yaezo on the head.

After pulling the trigger, Mo Shuiyan immediately stopped breathing.

The wizard in the next position was not dead, but he couldn't even get up for a moment, let alone pick up the grenade launcher and continue firing.

The Japanese hand grenade, which was usually of good quality, surprisingly became a dud after hitting Akashiba Yaezo on the head.

But it didn't matter, because Japanese officers, especially high-ranking officers, rarely wore helmets; Akashiba Yaezo was hit on the head by a 530-gram Japanese Type 91 grenade and was killed on the spot.

Finally able to breathe freely, Lao Yu lay on the ground, panting heavily...

At 55 seconds, Hu Biao killed Seya Kei with a single blow, staggered forward two steps, picked up the regimental flag from the ground, and raised it high with all his might.

57 seconds later, Van Gogh, along with several blood-covered brothers, rushed over and stood guard over Hu Biao.

At 58 seconds, Annie and Zanana, clutching their backs, also rushed up the damned mound with a few of their men.

One of these brothers was still holding aloft the shroud battle flag of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment.

The person holding the battle flag was no longer anyone from Zhao Family Village; two minutes earlier, the last man from Zhao Family Village had also died in battle.

At 59 seconds, Robert Capa, the foreign journalist, held his camera and pointed it at the top of the mound from a distance.

A close-up shot was taken of people holding two flags aloft, surrounded by corpses...

(End of this chapter)