Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 259 Passing the Gravel Stall
Wang Gensheng, of course, knew that escorting the radio along the way through the Seventh Company would not be an easy task, so he nodded and said:
"Alright! Let your 7th Infiltration Company operate alongside my Marines!"

Upon hearing Wang Gensheng nod in agreement, the leader of the 89th Lions immediately went to call Wu Qianli. You should know that the 89th Lions of the Ninth Army Corps belonged to the Third Field Army. Therefore, during the Huaihai Campaign, they had naturally witnessed the prowess of the Marine Corps led by Wang Gensheng and heard of the formidable reputation of Wang Gensheng, the Navy Commander.

"Wu Qianli, this is our Navy Commander Wang Gensheng. The Marine Corps led by Commander Wang is also going to the front-line command post. So from now until the front-line command post is reached, you must obey Commander Wang's orders, understand?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Qianli did not hesitate and immediately saluted Wang Gensheng, saying:

"Yes! I will obey orders without question!"

And just like that, the protagonist of the movie "The Battle at Lake Changjin" inexplicably became Wang Gensheng's subordinate!

Wang Gensheng frowned as he looked at the thin cotton-padded clothes worn by Wu Qianli and the others. In order to hurry up and enter Chaozhou, most of the Ninth Army Corps did not bring winter cotton-padded clothes. The cotton-padded clothes they were wearing might be fine in the south where it does not snow in winter, but they would be inadequate in Chaozhou.

However, Wang Gensheng's furrowed brows relaxed temporarily. Although they hadn't had time to equip themselves with thick cotton-padded clothes, the American army had them! They could just grab them!

Since they were heading to the front-line command post, Wu Qianli's Seventh Company, which was flanking the main force, naturally couldn't travel in the same line.

Wang Gensheng's marines numbered eight hundred, plus over one hundred men from the Seventh Company, bringing the total to nearly a thousand.

In order to avoid being detected by US military aircraft, the group was spread out.

Wu Qianli's Seventh Company, which had infiltrated the enemy ranks, was positioned in the middle of the formation. Yu Congrong, still somewhat incredulous, asked:
"Company Commander, is that leader really a Navy Si Ling? He looks so young! To become a Navy Si Ling at such a young age, is this Navy Si Ling older than Song Si Ling from our Ninth Army Corps?"

In response to Yu Congrong's question, Wu Qianli replied without turning his head:
"Our Lion Chief told me this himself. As for whether it's Navy's Si Ling Da or our Corps' Song Si Ling Da, I don't know. We haven't learned any military ranks from Lao Jing yet, so there's no way to compare them by looking at ranks!"

However, while they were talking, Wang Gensheng had already led his marines and Wu Qianli's 7th Company to the gravel pit.

Unlike the previous roads, which were sheltered by mountains and forests, this gravel field was completely exposed, as evidenced by the corpses scattered across it, indicating how many people had died there.

Of course, the bodies on this gravel patch are not those of the Chaozhou army, but rather the bodies of Chaozhou soldiers.

This gravel patch, though long, is not very wide either, less than two kilometers in width. If you were running across it on flat ground, it would only take less than ten minutes.

However, considering that the gravel path is not easy to walk on and cannot be run, it is estimated that it will take at least 20 to 30 minutes to get through this gravel path.

After observing the situation through the sniper rifle scope, Baili Xiu said to Wang Gensheng:
"Si Ling, I've taken a look. The bodies on this gravel patch were all killed by large-caliber bullets, probably from strafing by US military aircraft. So, why don't we wait until nightfall to cross over?"

In response to Baili Xiu's suggestion, Wang Gensheng glanced at the time on his watch before replying:
“It will be at least four more hours until dark. We can’t linger here for too long. So, immediately have someone dig three air-raid shelters and use the three heavy machine guns that I, Wei Dayong, and Duan Peng have to set up an air defense network to cover the retreat of the main force!”

After saying that, Wang Gensheng thought for a moment before continuing, "That's right! Set up some mannequins here, make them quite conspicuous!"

Soon, the vertical air-raid shelter that could accommodate machine guns, as well as the dummies around the air-raid shelter, were all completed!
Of course, this dummy was simply supported by a cross-shaped tree branch, and then covered with a coat and a hat. Of course, if you look closely at this dummy, you can see through it at a glance, but the US military aircraft in the sky cannot fly that low.

A procession of nearly a thousand people crossing a gravel field was naturally a huge undertaking, but just as they passed the middle of the gravel field, the roar of US military aircraft engines filled the sky.

Upon hearing the sound of the US military aircraft engine, the people who were crossing the gravel field immediately lay down and pretended to be corpses.

As the sound of the aircraft engines grew louder, two small black dots soon appeared on the horizon.

Upon seeing this, Wang Gensheng immediately opened fire. However, Wang Gensheng did not use the powerful M2 heavy machine gun, but rather the Type 96 light machine gun used by the Japanese soldiers in the Seventh Company.

Wang Gensheng understood perfectly well that the 6.5mm bullets from the Type 96 light machine gun were barely enough to tickle the heavily armored American aircraft.

This was exactly what Wang Gensheng wanted. Sure enough, as soon as Wang Gensheng fired his gun, the two fighter jets in the sky immediately rushed towards him.

There was no other way. With such a conspicuous array of standing dummy soldiers, coupled with the conspicuous gunfire, especially the bullets fired from the relatively weak Type 96 light machine gun, the US fighter pilots wouldn't have dared to come over if it had been bullets from the M2 heavy machine gun from the beginning. But now, the US fighter pilots had no choice but to come over!

As the US fighter jets flew closer and closer, they were now less than a kilometer away when the two US fighter jets opened fire.

When Wang Gensheng reached 600 meters, he began to retaliate with his M2 heavy machine gun. The powerful firepower, combined with the accuracy granted by his mental detection, instantly destroyed the cockpits of both fighter jets.
After destroying the two fighter jets, Wang Gensheng did not linger. He immediately climbed out of the air-raid shelter, grabbed the clothes of the mannequins, and headed towards the gravel beach.

The man who had been lying in the middle of the gravel pile pretending to be dead saw Wang Gensheng rushing over and immediately got up without thinking to continue crossing the gravel pile.

Although Wang Gensheng, Duan Peng, and Wei Dayong only started crossing the gravel pit when the main group had already reached the middle of it, these three were all experts, so they quickly caught up with the main group and were the first to reach the other side of the gravel pit.

Just as everyone had crossed the gravel path and entered the jungle, the roar of numerous airplane engines came from the sky.

Immediately afterwards, a formation of more than a dozen fighter jets roared in and began to bombard the corpses of the Chaozhou soldiers on the rubble.

Then two bombers dropped napalm, burning the bodies to ashes before flying away.

This situation naturally made Wang Gensheng's heart pound, and he was very glad that he reacted quickly and evacuated in time.

(End of this chapter)