Starting from 1950

Chapter 120: Planning to Blow Up the Plane!

Although there was no holiday this year, it didn't dampen everyone's good spirits.

Most importantly, the front lines have won one victory after another!

The sound of firecrackers in Shenzhou City continued from before the Lunar New Year until the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. Layers upon layers of firecracker debris littered the streets, causing great hardship for the sanitation workers.

On the seventh day of the first lunar month, after finishing lunch, Su Yang went into the broadcasting room.

Wu Xinxue glanced at Su Yang, who was lying on the floor with his eyes closed, and loosened her grip on the pen, afraid that the scratching sound of her writing would disturb him.

Even Little White, who is usually quite mischievous, obediently lay down next to Su Yang, its bright blue eyes fixed on him. It stuck out its tongue as if it subconsciously wanted to lick Su Yang's face, but in the end it just lowered its head and licked its own paw.

Su Yang's attention was now focused on the battlefield on the peninsula.

The 40th Army had arrived at the designated attack position northwest of Hengcheng two days ago.

In the flower fields and the mountains north of Guangtian, all are silent in the cold winter.

Icicles hung from bare branches, and snow covered the rugged ground. Only the occasional startled crow broke the deathly silence.

The soldiers of the 352nd Regiment, like stubborn stones embedded in the frozen soil, were scattered in their respective hidden positions, having been lying in wait for two days and two nights.

Cold is the greatest enemy, even harder to endure than hunger.

The sub-zero temperatures of over twenty degrees Celsius penetrated the thin cotton clothing like countless steel needles piercing the bone marrow.

Even the toughest veterans have teeth chattering uncontrollably.

The soldiers huddled in makeshift shelters constructed from withered branches and snow, their breath condensing into thick frost on their eyebrows and hat brims.

For the sake of concealment, starting a fire was absolutely forbidden; they could only rely on body heat and the meager warmth from being pressed close together to endure the cold. Their single-layered shoes had long been numb with cold, and some people quietly took off their foot bindings, only to find that their toes were swollen and bluish-purple from the cold.

Li Weixin leaned against an old pine tree whose crown had been half-shaved off by artillery fire, broke off a small piece of the frozen cornbread, and slowly thawed it in his mouth.

Most of the soldiers around him closed their eyes to rest, conserving every bit of their energy.

"Deputy Platoon Leader, how long is this incubation period?" A hoarse, suppressed voice rang out. It was the new communications soldier, his face still bearing the innocence of youth, but now filled with exhaustion and confusion. "I'm almost frozen stiff..."

'

Li Weixin's gaze was sharp as a knife as it swept over Xiao Li's face, which was blue from the cold.

"How long? Until the order comes down! Think of the 50th Army brothers on the south bank of the Han River, they withstood ten days of air and artillery fire! We've only had two days!" His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable authority. "Lie still, that's fighting!"

"Conserving energy is victory! Anyone who moves recklessly and exposes our position will be court-martialed!"

Xiao Li shrank back, not daring to say another word.

Zheng Ergou suddenly chimed in, "I wonder what Su Yang and Xiaoyu are up to these days. The day before yesterday, he suddenly brought me a letter asking me to give Xiaoyu a 'canned grenade' model, and then we haven't seen them since."

When the topic turned to Xiaoyu, it was probably because the other soldiers were too cold to bear and wanted to chat to boost their spirits, so many people around them started talking.

"Xiaoyu has been flying above us for the past few days during our march; I've seen her several times."

"I wonder how Su Yang is doing at the flour factory in Shenzhou. He must be eating dumplings for the New Year, right?"

"Sigh, if that kid were still here, I could charge forward without worry when the battle starts."

"His invention, the 'Defend the Country Noodles,' was really delicious, but unfortunately, the production was too low. We only ate it for a week before the rear could no longer supply any more."

"Don't mention noodles, it makes my stomach rumble again."

After everyone had chatted for a while, Li Weixin sternly spoke up to stop them: "Alright! Stop chatting, and don't forget battlefield discipline!"

The soldiers immediately fell silent and continued to lie in wait.

"Xiaoyu! Throw it away!"

"One more time!"

Su Yang had no idea that the soldiers of the 352nd Regiment were talking about him again.

He was directing Xiaoyu to conduct special exercises over a dozen miles north of the Li Si Shi Army's hiding place.

He had been anxious ever since the 50th Army fought against the enemy's planes and artillery with their own flesh and blood at the forefront of the western front last month.

Later, seeing his comrades from the 352nd Regiment struggling to get enough to eat and wear, and having to march every day, while he was enjoying meat and alcohol in the rear, he was constantly plagued by guilt.

Su Yang wanted to contribute to the war effort on the front lines.

However, it was clear that the army would not conscript him, and Wu Xinxue also did not want him to go to the battlefield again.

After the start of the new year, he kept thinking about whether he could do something through Xiaoyu.

Xiaoyu has now become a reconnaissance soldier in the 40th Army. Although she can conduct more detailed reconnaissance than ordinary reconnaissance soldiers, she is of great help to the 40th Army.

But Su Yang was not satisfied with just that.

He thought and thought, and suddenly a brilliant idea struck him.

He recalled his first time crossing the river to enter the battlefield, when Xiaoyu was knocked unconscious by the airflow of enemy fighter planes while trying to save him.

By sheer coincidence, Xiaoyu threw a bullet at the airplane window and shot down a fighter jet.

Repeating the same method is definitely not an option; Su Yang cannot gamble with Xiao Yu's life.

He thought of a safer way.

That is to have Xiaoyu fly over the enemy plane and throw grenades downwards to destroy the enemy plane.

In fact, Su Yang had thought about this when he first entered the battlefield. He even fantasized about having Xiao Yu fly over the enemy command post with grenades and blow them up directly above the enemy command post.

But when he actually calculated the details, he found that it wouldn't work.

The wooden-handled grenades commonly used by our army have a fuse delay of about 3.5 seconds.

If Xiaoyu were to throw this kind of grenade down, it would explode at most after falling 60 or 70 meters.

This means that Xiaoyu will have to lower her altitude to 60 or 70 meters.

That's too dangerous; there's a high chance the enemy machine guns will spot it and shoot it down.

Just two days ago, when the 40th Army had just arrived at its designated position, Commander Wen suddenly sent more than a dozen boxes of hand grenades from the Big Brother's side to the 352nd Regiment.

Now that Xiaoyu is by Chief Wen's side every day, Su Yang is able to learn a lot of confidential information.

He learned from a casual conversation between Chief Wen and several staff officers that the Third and Nineteenth Army Corps had now been fully equipped with Soviet-style gear and were ready to join the battlefield at any time.

The frontline units actually have quite a bit of Soviet equipment, but they haven't distributed it on a large scale yet because they're worried that the soldiers won't be familiar with it.

This time, the 40th Army clearly wanted the 352nd Regiment to act as the spearhead, which is why they used the more lethal Soviet-made RPG-43.

More than a dozen boxes of RG-42 hand grenades were delivered.

Weapon experts even came to teach the grenadiers in each company how to use this new grenade.

The grenadiers in each company also took some time to practice using these two grenade models.

The RPG-43 was designed to destroy tanks; it was a contact-bomb type, meaning it would explode upon contact only if the pin was removed.

But if you want to drop it precisely onto the plane...

...that might be a bit difficult.

The RG-42 is a normal delayed-action grenade, known as the king of shrapnel, with up to 1000 shrapnel fragments after detonation!

The grenadiers of the 352nd Regiment even gave this kind of grenade a very down-to-earth nickname—canned grenade!

Because this toy looks like a can.

Su Yang watched the entire learning process of the bombardiers through Xiao Yu's eyes.

That's when the idea of ​​using grenades to blow up airplanes suddenly popped into my head.

If enemy planes bomb our formation from the air, and Xiaoyu quietly flies over the enemy planes and suddenly drops a canned grenade!

More than 1000 pieces of shrapnel exploded in the air—what a scene!

Su Yang felt excited just thinking about it!

The idea is great, but there are many difficulties.

First, the enemy's aircraft flew very fast, and the effective kill radius of the Soviet-made RG-42 hand grenade was only 20 meters.

If the enemy aircraft is not within range when the grenade explodes, then it is useless.

However, Su Yang could control Xiao Yu to try multiple times, and even with a low probability, there would always be a time when she succeeded.

Secondly, the fuse delay time of the Soviet-made RG-42 grenade is also around 3.5 seconds, which means that Xiaoyu would have to fly to an altitude of about 100 meters above the enemy aircraft.

Compared to the ground, enemy aircraft have few means of countering Xiaoyu when she is in the air.

However, this method can only be used once; once the enemy is prepared, it will probably stop working.

Based on his memory, Su Yang recalled that our side seemed to have only suffered one defeat in this war.

So he made up his mind: what if the enemy was prepared? He only intended to do it once anyway.

He then instructed Zheng Ergou to ask Xiaoyu for a Soviet-made RG-42 model grenade, so that Xiaoyu could practice throwing grenades in the air for the next two days.