The Courtyard House: The Little Red Devil Returning from the Peninsula

The garrison commander surnamed Meng selected three men.

One was thin, one was short, and one was as muscular as a door bolt. All three had dust on their faces, but their eyes kept glancing at the rope in Zhao Weiguo's hand.

The skinny soldier swallowed hard.

"Mr. Zhao, is it really raining?"

Zhao Weiguo tied the grenades together in pairs with strips of cloth and stuffed them into their arms.

"If you want to keep the Type 92 heavy machine guns on the city wall for strafing, that's fine too."

The skinny soldier immediately shut up.

The deputy battalion commander dragged over the broken door panel, which still had half a bolt attached. He lowered his voice.

"There are quite a few Japanese soldiers outside the city. Tonight they're just testing the waters, but their firepower is real. If something happens to you, how am I supposed to explain it to Company Commander Zhou?"

Zhao Weiguo wrapped the rope around his waist.

"Don't confess. You hold the city walls."

Old Xu leaned against the sandbag and reached out to grab Zhao Weiguo's trouser leg.

"Kid, don't try to be a hero. A heavy machine gun isn't a broadsword."

Zhao Weiguo glanced at the bandage under his ribs, which was bleeding.

"If you speak again, the wound will reopen."

Old Xu couldn't curse, so he just shoved a grenade into his hand.

"Take it. I've touched it, it'll explode loudly."

The soldier surnamed Meng patted his pistol.

"Mr. Zhao, I'll keep you in check from upstairs. If you yell, I'll hit you."

"No need to shout, those Japanese are too clever for their own good; they can guess even if they don't understand."

Zhao Weiguo smeared lime on his face, leaving only his black eyes visible.

"Watch the flashes. Three short flashes followed by one long flash, then you throw your grenades. Not too early, not too late."

The deputy battalion commander waved to both sides of the city wall.

"Machine guns ready! Fake fire on the right, don't let the Japanese show their faces!"

Outside the city, the Type 92 heavy machine gun finally roared.

Da da da da—

The bullets ripped across the city wall like iron saws. Bricks along the crumbling walls were shattered into dust, and sandbags that had just protruded halfway out instantly leaked yellow earth. Several defenders rolled along the ground behind the parapet, their teeth grinding together.

"That son of a bitch!"

The deputy battalion commander's face was cut by a piece of broken brick, drawing blood.

"They've blocked our path!"

Zhao Weiguo didn't look up. He pushed the broken door panel to the edge of the gap and used a rope to secure the two corners of the door panel.

"put."

The two soldiers let go.

The door panel slid down the slope of the collapsed wall, rolling outwards with mud and ash. Zhao Weiguo lay prone behind the door panel, his entire body pressed against the shadow of the wooden plank, like a black tile that had fallen from the city wall, silent and unnoticed in the darkness.

The bullet flew over my head.

*Slap.* *Slap.* *Slap.*

Several holes were punched through the city wall, and stone dust rained down on his face. He didn't stop; he grabbed the broken bricks with both hands and slid to the base of the wall.

The Meng-surname garrison commander above lowered his voice.

"The person has gone down!"

The deputy battalion commander roared.

"Fire on the right!"

Suddenly, the light machine gun on the right side of the city wall opened fire, its flames sweeping towards the moat. The Japanese heavy machine gun immediately turned half an inch, its bullets chasing after the flashes of fire.

Using this half-inch of cover, Zhao Weiguo led three guards into the shadows at the base of the wall.

The water in the moat wasn't deep, but the mud was thick. As soon as the men stepped in, a stench rose from the mud. The short soldier almost vomited, but Zhao Weiguo quickly pressed him down on the back of the head.

"Swallow it back."

The dwarf soldier almost cried.

About thirty paces ahead, a heavy machine gun position was hidden behind a truck. Japanese soldiers had positioned the truck at an angle, using it as partial cover. The Type 92 heavy machine gun was mounted on a mound, and the assistant gunner was kneeling to pass ammunition, with two riflemen squatting beside him.

Further away, the outline of a Type 92 infantry gun was visible in the shadows of the trees, its muzzle lowered as it was being adjusted.

A blue line flashed before Zhao Weiguo's eyes.

[Enemy firing position: Heavy machine gun emplacement]

Threat Level: High

Secondary threat: Infantry artillery

[Recommendation: Destroy the ammunition handler first, then destroy the gun mount]

When the soldier saw the cannon, his voice went hoarse.

"They also have cannons..."

Zhao Weiguo pulled out the grenade that Lao Xu had given him and hooked the pin with his thumb.

So don't let it ring.

The skinny soldier's teeth were chattering.

"How do we get there?"

Zhao Weiguo pointed to a row of fallen reeds along the moat.

"Crawl. Whoever lifts their ass will die first."

Four men shuffled forward, skimming over the muddy ground. The heavy machine gun was still firing at the city wall, the sound of gunfire making their sternums ache. The Japanese machine gunner had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, his shoulders trembling slightly with the rhythm of the firing.

Fifteen paces from the position.

A Japanese rifleman suddenly turned his head, as if he had heard the sound of muddy water.

Zhao Weiguo stopped, and the stone in his hand flew out, hitting the broken tile on the left.

Snapped.

The rifleman immediately looked to his left.

The short soldier lunged forward and covered his mouth tightly with both hands. The strong soldier thrust his short knife under his ribs with a muffled sound, like stabbing into wet cotton.

Another Japanese soldier sensed something was wrong and had just raised his gun.

Zhao Weiguo's pistol fired.

Snapped.

The bullet struck the man in the throat. He clutched his neck and fell to the ground, kicking over an ammunition box.

The machine gunner turned around abruptly.

Zhao Weiguo had already pulled the pin on the grenade.

"one."

He rolled the grenade under the machine gun tripod.

"two."

The assistant gunner's eyes widened as he reached out to pick it up.

"Get down!"

All four of them plunged into the mud at the same time.

boom!

The heavy machine gun position was blown to the side, one leg of the gun mount flew off, the ammunition plate was blown to pieces, and the machine gunner was half-lying on the gun, with a cigarette still stuck to the corner of his mouth.

On the city wall, the Meng-surname garrison saw the fire and immediately roared.

"Three short and one long! Throw it!"

The grenade fell from the city wall, passed over Zhao Weiguo and his men, and landed next to the truck.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The truck's fuel tank exploded, and flames licked up from the bottom of the vehicle. Japanese infantrymen hiding behind the truck were blasted outwards, and as soon as they revealed themselves, light machine guns from the city wall snapped at them.

The deputy battalion commander's voice came down from the city wall.

"Fight! Clear the way for Mr. Zhao!"

Zhao Weiguo, however, did not return to the city.

He grabbed a bent gun rack leg from the ground and charged toward the infantry gun.

The skinny soldier's eyes were practically bulging out.

"Going again?"

Zhao Weiguo didn't even turn his head.

"The cannon is still there. If we don't deal with it, there will be another breach in the city wall."

Two Japanese soldiers were dragging the breech of an infantry gun, trying to turn the muzzle towards the flash. A sergeant drew his sword and gave orders, shouting in Japanese.

Zhao Weiguo closed in to within ten paces, raised his gun, and knocked the loader to the ground. A burly soldier burst out from the side, crashing onto the gun wheel and knocking the sergeant backward. The sergeant flashed his blade, slicing open the burly soldier's shoulder.

The soldier roared in pain.

"I'll kill you!"

Zhao Weiguo didn't look at the sergeant. He tied the last two grenades together, inserted them into the breech, pulled the pin, and turned to pounce on the short soldier.

The sergeant saw it, his face changed, and he reached out to grab it.

late.

boom!

The infantry gun's breech exploded, the breechblock turned into several pieces of black iron, the wheels tilted, and half of the gun barrel smashed into the mud.

The sergeant was thrown to the riverbank by the blast wave and tried to climb back up. The garrison soldier surnamed Meng held his pistol steady on the city wall.

Snapped.

The sergeant ducked and fell into the moat.

The heavy machine gun fell silent.

The infantry guns also fell silent.

There was a brief moment of silence on the city wall, followed by shouts from the 29th Army that erupted from the Wanping city wall.

"Mr. Zhao blew up the cannon!"

"The Japanese machine guns have fallen silent!"

The deputy battalion commander grabbed the parapet and shouted himself hoarse.

"Use this cover now, engineers, fill the gap! Move sandbags! Quickly!"

Zhao Weiguo stood up from the mud, his ears ringing. He saw the system panel light up briefly.

Destroy enemy strongpoints

[Our city wall suppression lifted]

[Recoverable military equipment seized: fragments of a Type 92 heavy machine gun, and steel fragments from an infantry gun]

The skinny soldier dragged the strong soldier with his injured shoulder, their faces covered in mud and smiling.

"Mr. Zhao, shall we go back?"

Zhao Weiguo picked up a hot piece of breechblock fragment and wrapped it in a rag.

"Take it with you."

The short soldier was stunned.

"Still picking up scrap metal at a time like this?"

Zhao Weiguo glanced at the sandbags that had been re-piled up on the city wall.

"This is excellent steel."