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

The Type 92 heavy machine gun by the roadside is still roaring.

Two soldiers from the 219th Regiment lay prone behind their rifles, one holding the butt down and the other feeding the magazine; their faces were covered in mud, but their hands were steady. After the muzzles were turned around, the Japanese troops east of the bridge who tried to regroup were like soldiers running into a red-hot iron wall, their heads being pushed back into the smoke as soon as they appeared.

The major wiped his face and waved his hat at the city wall.

"Brothers in Wanping! The Japanese artillery has retreated towards Fengtai again! Can you see their new artillery positions from the city wall?"

The deputy battalion commander lay prone behind the parapet and scanned the area with his binoculars. All he could see through the lens was smoke, dust, and figures running around.

"I can't see! The smoke is too thick!"

Zhao Weiguo tucked the scorching hot Mauser pistol back into his waistband and grabbed the Japanese binoculars with the cracked lens. He didn't lean out; he simply pressed the binoculars into the crack between two city bricks.

The system's blue light overpowered the gunpowder smoke.

[Initial Tactical Simulation: Initiation]

[Topographical data entry: dilapidated houses east of Lugou Bridge, moat, dirt road towards Fengtai, remnants of temporary Japanese artillery positions]

[Enemy march trajectory simulation in progress]

Blue lines unfolded layer by layer before his eyes. The ruined walls behind the dilapidated houses east of the bridge, the overturned carriages, and the dirt road leading to Fengtai all seemed to be etched into the black curtain by a knife tip. Several red dotted lines emerged from the smoke, bypassed the bomb craters, and stopped behind a dirt slope.

Zhao Weiguo pointed to the right front outside the city.

"Thirty paces behind the earthen slope, there is a cannon."

The deputy battalion commander gritted his teeth.

"Out of ammunition."

Zhao Weiguo looked at the ammunition boxes that had just been delivered.

"Where are the mortar shells?"

The young soldier lifted the lid of the box, and inside lay four mortar shells, covered in yellow mud on the tail fin.

"These were delivered by the 219th Regiment, only four rounds!"

The deputy battalion commander grabbed the gunner.

"Set up the cannons!"

The gunner dragged the small mortar over, his knees bleeding from the scrapes. He looked up at Zhao Weiguo, his Adam's apple bobbing twice.

"Mr. Zhao, where are you hitting?"

Zhao Weiguo pointed to the new design drawn on the city bricks with charcoal ash.

"The first shot should hit the front of the earthen slope to force them to move. The second shot should hit five paces behind. Save the third shot, and the fourth shot as well."

The gunner was stunned.

"Two more shots left to fire?"

"On the night of July 7th, the Japanese used the pretext of missing soldiers to search Wanping and started shelling in the middle of the night. On the morning of July 8th, they were negotiating while simultaneously redeploying troops. Now they're not stopping after one round of fire; they're testing our ammunition."

The battalion deputy's face darkened.

"You mean they're going to use negotiations to buy time?"

Zhao Weiguo stared at the few red lines in the smoke.

"That soldier went back to his unit a long time ago. But the artillery fire hasn't stopped."

The soldier surnamed Meng cursed under his breath and raised his gun.

"Then don't be polite with them."

Zhao Weiguo raised his hand.

"Don't fire randomly. Let the artillery speak first."

The gunner fired the first shot into the muzzle.

thump.

The shell flew out and landed at the edge of the earthen slope, creating a wave of dust. Several figures immediately emerged from the smoke, dragging an infantry gun backward.

The eyes of everyone on the city wall turned red.

"They really have cannons!"

Zhao Weiguo's voice suppressed the roar.

"Second shot, five steps to the back."

thump.

The second shot landed right next to the breech of the cannon. The cannon wheel flipped over, throwing two Japanese gunners into the ditch. The cannon lay askew behind the embankment, its barrel embedded in the mud.

The major on the roadside saw the artillery position explode and swung his gun sharply.

"Second platoon! Charge behind the stone lions at the bridgehead! Don't let the Japanese drag the cannon away!"

Soldiers from the 219th Regiment leaped out of the ditch and pressed forward along the stone railing of the Lugou Bridge. The stone lions on the bridge, blackened by artillery fire and missing pieces of their heads, still squatted on the railing like a row of gritted-teeth old soldiers.

Seeing that their artillery positions were exposed, the Japanese soldiers immediately turned their heavy machine guns toward the bridge.

Da da da da!

Two soldiers from the 29th Army were pinned behind stone lions at the bridgehead, bullets flying stone chips everywhere.

A red light flashed before Zhao Weiguo's eyes.

[Crisis Warning: Bridge Blockade by Firepower]

[Risk of friendly casualties: High]

[Recommendation: Suppress enemy heavy machine gunners]

He grabbed the Type 38 rifle and chambered a round.

"Brother Meng, right side of the heavy machine gun on the east side of the bridge, ammunition handler."

The garrison soldier surnamed Meng lay prone behind the battlements.

"It's blocked by smoke."

"Waiting for the wind."

A gust of wind swept by, and a crack appeared in the white smoke.

Zhao Weiguo pulled the trigger.

Snapped.

The assistant gunner next to the heavy machine gun tilted his shoulder.

The Meng-surnamed garrison soldiers immediately followed suit and opened fire.

Snapped.

The ammunition handler threw himself onto the ammunition box.

The major on the bridge seized the moment and stood up halfway.

"Charge! Get the ammunition into the city!"

Two soldiers ran frantically carrying a crate, bullets whizzing past their feet, making the crate bounce violently. One of them was shot in the leg and staggered, while the other gritted his teeth and held on to the crate straps.

Inside the city gate, Li Shuanzi rushed out to provide backup.

"Give me!"

He braced his shoulder against the ammunition box and pushed the wounded soldier into the doorway.

"People, come in first!"

The soldier, covered in sweat from being shot, clung tightly to the straps of the box.

"Put the crates in first! We'll be waiting for our meal on the city wall!"

Li Shuanzi's eyes reddened, and together they dragged the box into the doorway.

On the city wall, the deputy battalion commander pried open the new box. Inside, besides bullets, were two packs of compressed biscuits and several rolls of bandages.

The young soldier was stunned.

"Is there any food left?"

Zhao Weiguo glanced at the packets of biscuits blackened by gunpowder smoke, and his system space trembled slightly. The high-calorie military rations he had previously stockpiled were still lying quietly in the space, completely still, without any dampness or musty smell.

Using the ammunition box as cover, he flipped his hand over, and a few pieces of military rations fell to the bottom of the box, mixed in with the packets of biscuits.

"Give it to the wounded first."

The deputy battalion commander didn't see where the things came from, assuming they were stuffed in by reinforcements, so he grabbed two pieces and threw them to the people inside the gatehouse.

"Eat! Swallow it even if you can't! You need to be alive to fight!"

Old Xu took a piece, took a bite, and his eyes suddenly stopped.

"This pancake...is filling."

Zhao Weiguo didn't reply. His gaze returned to the east side of the bridge.

The system panel was coldly lit.

[Enemy kills in this battle: Confirmed x30]

[Life energy extraction in progress]

Zhao Weiguo was stunned for a moment; the system actually had this kind of hidden benefit.

Immediately afterwards, a thin stream of heat spread from his chest and into his limbs. The pain from his shoulder hitting the cannon breech lessened by half an inch, and the red blisters on his palms stopped throbbing.

The garrison soldier surnamed Meng grinned when he saw him grip his gun again.

"Mr. Zhao, doesn't your hand hurt?"

Zhao Weiguo pressed the gun muzzle back into the seam of the barbed wire.

"If it hurts, say less."

After the smoke cleared east of the bridge, Japanese bugle calls suddenly sounded.

It's not a bugle call.

It was a short, sharp bugle call signaling the troop regrouping.

The deputy battalion commander gripped his pistol tightly.

"They want to talk again?"

Outside the city, a translator, holding a white cloth, peeked out from behind a dilapidated house, his voice trembling and distorted.

"A ceasefire has been reached! Japan demands continued negotiations!"

The major cursed from the side of the road.

"They were firing cannons just now, and now they're negotiating?"

Zhao Weiguo watched the red dot moving behind the white cloth and pushed the third mortar shell to the gunner's feet.