Siheyuan, Shazhu: I have both parents in this life

Chapter 124 The Opponent, the 'White Tiger Unit' Pseudo-First Division

After the mission was assigned, the company began to reduce its load, selecting the best guns and carrying the maximum amount of bullets that would not affect the march.

The rest were sent to the regiment, and in return they received two grenade launchers and 72 grenades.

Originally, they couldn't be exchanged because there was nowhere to get bullets after the guns were issued. However, they handed over the two 60mm mortars. Although they didn't have any shells, other companies had captured some of these things. If they were divided up, each mortar could be equipped with five shells, which would be much more useful than guns. At critical moments, firing a few shells might just turn the tide of the battle.

Why switch to grenade launchers? They're lighter, and the grenades are lighter too. Liang Jian still wants to be in the lead. Don't underestimate them just because they're outnumbered; they have plenty of firepower.

The current configuration of the company is as follows: each platoon has one BAR, all assault soldiers are equipped with M1s, each grenade launcher is equipped with 24 grenades, all ammunition handlers are equipped with M1s, and gunners are equipped with M1911A1s.

They learned this from the first platoon and first squad; that's how they were configured. The second and third platoons followed suit. Of course, the platoon leader and company commander still preferred to carry their Mauser pistols, only noticing that everyone had an extra M1 rifle.

He Yuzhu's panel flashed a few times. He Yuzhu clicked on it and saw that the first battle was over and the system was about to settle accounts for him.

[Mission Rewards: Tank Driving (Proficient), English (Advanced), Korean (Advanced)]

It seems this is to help him adapt to the battlefield in the future, which is good.

On the night of November 22, He Yuzhu's company arrived at the designated location. It was another blocking mission, another small hill, but it was very low at 87.6 meters and still close to the road (in the early stages of the war, the enemy was all mechanized troops and had not yet started mountain warfare, so the hill was fought back and forth).

This time, however, the company was no longer fighting alone. It was much better than last time, with the entire 141st Regiment nearby and other regiments from the division not far away.

He Yuzhu was a little disappointed that the mission wasn't at Changjin Lake; he also wanted to see how different it was from the Changjin Lake depicted in the movie.

Of course, the main purpose is to see if it's realistic enough, and whether the 1st Marine Division of the United States is tough enough.

Once on the battlefield, they started digging trenches. In November, the soil on the northern peninsula was frozen harder than stone. After digging for about an hour, they gave up because they simply couldn't dig any further.

This was because their company had a few entrenching tools, and some soldiers took them after the hand-to-hand combat because they saw how sharp they were.

Trenches couldn't be dug, so they could only dig foxholes. The foxholes were only deep enough to crawl in. The soldiers then laid their marching blankets and thin military blankets (He Yuzhu had reminded the company commander to bring one for each of them when they returned to the unit) on the ground and curled up in their foxholes.

I thought that sleeping overnight would soften the soil below, making it easier to continue digging.

Fires cannot be lit, so many soldiers huddle together in pairs or groups to keep warm, otherwise they will freeze to death. This has already happened to many other units.

The situation was much better for the first company because they had more cotton-padded clothes. However, the soldiers who were assigned later had their feet frostbitten because they didn't have cotton-padded shoes. In the end, the company commander had to take cotton out of their clothes and stuff it into their shoes to prevent non-combat casualties from freezing.

At 5 a.m., the sentry on night duty woke everyone up. News came back from the reconnaissance company of the regiment that the enemy was coming.

After the soldiers got up, they rubbed their faces with snow and then ate fried noodles with the snow. They couldn't bear to eat things like compressed biscuits, because those things could save their lives in critical moments.

He Yuzhu has gotten used to fried noodles over the past month. How should I put it? If you mix it with hot water to make a paste, it's fine, but if you eat it directly, it can choke you to death.

The problem is that if we can't start a fire, where will we get hot water? We did have a few confiscated aluminum lunch boxes, but they're just for show now.

So when eating, they usually drink some water first and then eat in small bites. Now, to save time, the soldiers just mix snow with their food.

You ask me about the cook squad? They've all been put into combat service. They're all carrying dry rations and can't cook. They don't even carry pots. The cook squads were basically wiped out in World War I.

Other companies are in a similar situation; there's nowhere to replenish their ranks, so having one more soldier who can fight is always a good thing.

At 7:20, He Yuzhu and his men spotted the enemy's marching column in the distance.

Climbing up to the company commander, He Yuzhu borrowed the commander's binoculars to take a look. The equipment was exactly the same as that of the Bald Eagles, Asian faces, tiger head armbands—was this the South Korean 1st Division? (Don't ask, it's just captured equipment. After wiping out several companies, how could they not even capture a pair of binoculars?)

Seeing the strange expression on He Yuzhu's face, Liang Jian asked, "Zhuzi, is there a problem?"

"No, it's just that their armbands are quite interesting."

"An arm patch? Let me see, I didn't notice it before."

"Okay." He Yuzhu handed the binoculars back.

"Oh, it's a tiger's head. I wonder if it can actually fight."

"You'll know once you've fought it," He Yuzhu said.

"That's true. I've dealt with North Korean soldiers in the Fourth Field Army back in China. Those guys are quite capable fighters. I just don't know how strong the South Korean soldiers are. If they're all like the North Korean guys I've met, then this battle will be tough."

Even after losing two-thirds of his company in the battle with Big Nose, Liang Jian did not acknowledge Big Nose's combat capabilities. The enemy's weapons were truly superior, and they could call in artillery fire at any time.

The only fortunate thing for the company was that the 24th Division knew there weren't that many enemies and didn't call in aircraft, otherwise things would have been even worse.

"Hmm!" He Yuzhu didn't know what North Korea's fighting strength was, but from books, TV, and movies, he knew that South Korea only had a few tough units, and the rest were weak. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to his foreign father because he couldn't beat North Korea.

"Go tell the comrades to prepare for battle."

"Yes." He Yuzhu crawled over to inform the platoon leaders.

They weren't even the first echelon on the defensive line this time. The task assigned by the regiment was to block the fleeing enemy. They were actually the reserve force. They were responsible for clearing out any who slipped through their lines.

The company commander even went to the regimental commander about this, and the regimental commander asked, "Can your platoon do the work of an entire company?"

"can."

"Even if you could, I wouldn't dare let you go. This isn't a small-scale operation; it's a large-scale battle. If something goes wrong, who will be responsible?"

Then the company commander returned with a dark face. He was holding his breath. Last time the enemy escaped, but this time he had no intention of letting any enemy get away.

When the enemy had fully entered the ambush area, the battle on all the hilltops broke out almost simultaneously. Only the First Company was in a rather awkward position. The enemy troops had not even reached them for at least a mile before being blocked by the Second Company next door.

"Damn it, doesn't Wei Erlengzi know how to give us some? Doesn't he care if he gets too full?" Liang Jian slammed his fist on the ground, sending up a flurry of snowflakes.

All the soldiers in the company actually shared his thoughts, especially the few from the guard company. They had heard enough of the old soldiers from the company recounting the events of that battle; their ears were practically calloused from hearing it all.

However, they all shared a common idea: to see just how awesome He Yuzhu, the deputy squad leader of the first platoon, really was on the battlefield. The soldiers had practically been praising him to the skies.

Being tough in ordinary times is very different from being on the battlefield, so they still want to see it for themselves.

The opportunity soon arrived. A small group of enemies, about a company's worth, split off from the road and headed towards He Yuzhu's inconspicuous hill.

It seems they wanted to seize a small hill to cover the troops following behind; otherwise, being constantly chased and attacked from behind would surely lead to their defeat.

"Prepare for battle," the company commander ordered.

Everyone checked the guns again; it was too cold that day, lest they freeze.

Zheng Shuanzi and other grenade launcher operators quickly took out the grenade launcher tubes from their pockets and installed them. During previous training, there had been instances where the tubes shrank due to the cold, making it impossible to load the grenades.

So all the grenadiers in the first company did this before the battle. The company commander also noticed this. I don't know how the other companies did it, but it should be roughly the same.

The captured M1s were all without scopes, so He Yuzhu could only achieve headshots at 2-3 meters. Even if he could hit people at a greater distance, it was impossible to know which part of the body he hit.

So He Yuzhu wasn't showing off, and besides, what if the enemy discovered there was a sniper and got scared away?

When the enemy was only 100 meters away, the company commander ordered: "Open fire."

He Yuzhu was the first to fire; he had already aimed at an officer, a lieutenant.

"Bang!" A shot to the head.

"Bang bang bang, rat-a-tat-tat," everyone on the position opened fire, except for the grenade launchers. The company commander had said that they could only fire when given the order.

The South Korean soldiers scattered immediately, each seeking cover before returning fire.

He Yuzhu focused his attention on the machine gunners and officers, but unfortunately the officers all hid immediately, issuing orders from behind.

This was agreed upon before the battle: Hu Sanxi of the First Platoon was in command, He Yuzhu was to fire freely, and Zheng Shuanzi's grenade launcher group was to follow the unified command of the company.

He Yuzhu silenced several enemy machine guns one after another. He Yuzhu then changed his position; otherwise, he would have become a target.

He moved to a different location, and the machine guns below were also taken away during this opportunity.

Once the South Korean army's machine guns were repositioned, the bullets fired became less accurate.

Then He Yuzhu focused his attention on the enemy's heavy machine gun. After He Yuzhu called on it a few times, the heavy machine gun stopped firing. It seemed that the assistant gunner and ammunition handler were all dead, and no one dared to go up and use that heavy machine gun anymore.

The encounter with the heavy machine gunners terrified the South Korean light machine gunners, who would fire a few bursts and then move to a different spot, hiding very cleverly. He Yuzhu had no choice but to switch targets to ordinary soldiers. After this round of fire, the soldiers from the guard company were all impressed, and He Yuzhu, as the deputy squad leader, was truly deserving of his position based on his marksmanship alone.

After exchanging fire for a while, based on the firepower of the first company, it was determined that there were only about a platoon of people on the hill. Under the command of the South Korean officer, the South Korean troops began to slowly move towards the hill.

The speed could only be described as snail's pace; it was the kind of movement where they would advance a short distance and then retreat, only to be forced forward a little more by the officers behind them.

This made everyone except He Yuzhu think of the two words 'puppet army'!
One outspoken soldier even shouted, "These guys down here are just like the traitors we fought back then!"

"You know what, it really does look like it!" a soldier chimed in.

"Is it possible that these guys were once puppet soldiers for the Japanese?" He Yuzhu asked.

“I think it’s the same. It turns out that all the puppet troops are the same everywhere,” the company commander replied.

"Hahahaha!" The soldiers burst into laughter.

"Look, they're running away!" a soldier shouted.

The South Korean troops below the mountain retreated towards the main force like rabbits, getting shot and wounded by the company on the mountain. There were cries of agony on the road, but no South Korean soldiers came back to rescue them.

He Yuzhu clearly heard shouts from below: "Mom!" "Help!" "I want to go home!"

However, he did not fire a follow-up shot, not out of pity, but because he did not believe that the South Korean army would abandon the wounded. If they did, morale would be lost and they would be forced to flee.

"Prepare for artillery fire!" the company commander shouted, and then the pre-assigned observation posts of the company began to move into the prepared bunkers.

The remaining men quickly retreated to the pre-prepared flank positions.

The company commander's premonition was quite accurate.

The whistling sound of shells came from behind.

"Boom boom boom!" The mountaintop was blasted, sending snow, soil, rocks, grass clippings, and wood chips flying everywhere.

The artillery fire stopped after two rounds, presumably because the shells were used on other positions.

After the artillery fire stopped, the company quickly moved into position, and then some soldiers began to expand the foxholes or connect them together, making the land much easier to dig after the shelling.

The soldier responsible for monitoring the area below shouted, "Company commander, the enemy is back, and there are more of them than before!"

The company commander saw that the South Korean soldiers who had fled back had been driven back, their numbers doubled, followed by an armored vehicle, and heavy machine gun fire that sent snow flying behind the infantry.

"Iron turtle!" a soldier exclaimed.

He Yuzhu glanced at the slope of the mountain and then looked down at the armored vehicle. It was a half-track vehicle, and it probably couldn't get up this kind of terrain.

However, the heavy machine gun on the vehicle was a threat, and He Yuzhu regretted not having his comrades carry a few bazookas.

Just as he was thinking of the bazooka, he saw someone from the South Korean army carry one out, pointing it directly at him.

He Yuzhu fired his gun decisively, and then rolled several times on the spot.

When he looked up again, the shooter had already fallen to the ground, and another person was about to fire. Then He Yuzhu fired a shot.

No one picked up the bazooka that landed, perhaps out of fear of becoming the next target, or perhaps because no one around knew how to use it.

With armored vehicles overseeing the battle, the South Korean army charged fiercely, and the first company suffered casualties at the beginning.

Several grenade launchers opened fire one after another, but the effect was not very good. The South Korean soldiers' fighting style was very sneaky and completely different from that of the Bald Eagles.

The enemy wasn't clustered together, and the heavy machine guns were too far away, so only a few light machine gun positions were destroyed.

He Yuzhu is now firing and moving around, because if he doesn't move, there will definitely be machine guns targeting him. It seems he's been spotted.

Especially those on the armored vehicles, they were practically targeting him.

While the battle on the First Company was fierce, the Second Company next door was also fighting terribly. He Yuzhu had already witnessed no less than three waves of attacks from the entire company.

The number of rounds of artillery bombardment on the 2nd Company was also much greater than on the 1st Company's side. Clearly, the enemy regarded the 2nd Company as the main force, while the 1st Company was only regarded as a small force supporting the 2nd Company.

The Second Company's attack was unlike that of the First Company. Perhaps knowing that there were fewer people on the Second Company side and that the other side was the main focus, the Second Company's position was attacked particularly fiercely. Recently, the First Company side could hear the shouts of battle from the neighboring hilltop, proving that they had entered hand-to-hand combat. However, the enemy was still driven back because the gunfire did not stop.

As for the more distant mountain peaks, He Yuzhu could only hear the sound of cannons, and it never stopped.

During this time, He Yuzhu also saw planes heading to the battlefields of the other two divisions. He Yuzhu asked the company commander, who said that their division's mission was to fight in mountainous terrain, which was relatively easier to fight.

The other two divisions, having suffered a defeat in the last mission, are determined to avenge their previous defeat. This time, they will not only defend but also attack, as the army's mission is to eliminate the enemy on the other side.

By noon, the fighting had reduced the number of soldiers in the first company by ten, while the enemy's offensive was growing larger and larger.

He Yuzhu had secretly taken out bullets from his spatial storage several times, because the ammunition he carried was empty.

The soldiers even risked going down to retrieve bullets; although no one died, those who returned were all wounded.

Then the company commander gave him a strict order not to leave the position without permission, along with another order: "Conserve ammunition!"

He now understood why the regimental commander looked disgusted when he saw the M1. This thing is a bullet hog, and the soldiers, under high tension, would definitely keep pulling the trigger. A semi-automatic rifle would empty a magazine in just a few shots.

By the afternoon, the intensity of the South Korean army's attacks had decreased considerably, but the artillery bombardment had increased significantly, not only at He Yuzhu's position but at all the positions along this line.

He Yuzhu guessed that this was a delaying tactic, either waiting for reinforcements or waiting for nightfall to make a quick escape.

Orders from the regiment arrived: hold off the enemy to buy time for friendly forces to encircle them.

They also asked if there were any difficulties. The company commander immediately said that they were short of men. The staff officer said that there were no men. Now even the staff officers themselves were out delivering messages and would go back to the front lines. There was no one left in the regiment.

"Then what can you give me?"

"Bullets, grenades."

"Do you have any guns? We can't use the bullets from the regiment, but you can give us more grenades."

"No."

"Then give us grenades, the more the merrier."

"I'll go back and tell the regimental commander." The staff officer left.

Then someone delivered a batch of grenades, and a squad from the supply company stayed behind.

The company commander kept them on because they were carrying their own guns; otherwise, would they have fought the enemy with their fists?

The company commander asked these men what they were good at shooting, and those who weren't were assigned to dig trenches and work as ammunition handlers. The guns were distributed to those who needed them. The soldiers were very conscientious and obeyed orders.

Then the company commander ordered the men who were changing guns to distribute the bullets among the others so that they could hold out for a longer time. When asked, He Yuzhu refused.

He said he still had bullets, but because he was carrying more weight than others, no one really knew how many bullets he had.

The two sides remained locked in this stalemate until nightfall, when the enemy's attack suddenly intensified.

He Yuzhu stopped firing his gun and instead asked for a grenade launcher, hung several grenade pouches on it, and went to provide support in various places.

"Deputy Squad Leader He, that machine gun is firing very fiercely!"

"Whoosh, boom."

"Deputy Squad Leader He, the enemy is charging up."

"Whoosh, boom, whoosh, boom."

"Pillar, find a way to take out that heavy machine gun."

He Yuzhu took off his rifle, and with a "bang," the heavy machine gun misfired.

(End of this chapter)