Chapter Ninety-Five: Fighting Fire with Fire

“Brothers, give it to them hard! Kill every last one of those filthy Japanese bastards!”

Seeing the enemy charge forward, a burly, whiskered machine gunner roared and called on the soldiers to open fire together. Bracing his own weapon, he raked the Japanese ranks with a torrent of bullets.

Wherever the bullets passed, Japanese soldiers fell in swathes, like grass beaten down by the wind.

After firing for a while, the gun barrel was already glowing red. The machine gunner hurriedly stopped, and a helper beside him immediately used tongs to remove the searing barrel, then tossed it into a bucket of water prepared long ago.

Sizzle...

The moment the red-hot barrel was plunged into the water, a sharp hiss rang out, and white steam billowed up.

This was for rapid cooling of the barrel.

As everyone knew, a machine gun had a very high rate of fire, especially a heavy machine gun, whose firing speed was terrifying. Because of that relentless rate, bullets kept flying from the barrel without pause, rubbing against it as they passed through. Over time, the barrel would heat up and become scorching hot, and eventually it could even jam, making it impossible to continue firing.

At that point, the barrel had to be removed and plunged into water for rapid cooling.

Only then could a machine gun withstand such sustained, heavy use.

While this machine gun was being rapidly water-cooled, another heavy machine gun a few meters away saw the situation and immediately opened fire, spraying bullets at the Japanese troops.

Among the forces of the Independent Brigade, when fighting the Japanese, machine guns were generally operated in two shifts unless the situation was extremely grave.

One team fired while the other stood by to take over.

In this way, the unit’s machine-gun fire could continue without interruption.

Under the Japanese assault, all the soldiers were firing at the enemy, and the machine guns took turns blazing, never ceasing.

Under this barrage, the attacking Japanese kept falling, one after another dying where they stood.

Yet for some reason, the Japanese did not retreat. Instead, they kept sending men forward in wave after wave, as if they cared nothing for their losses.

Seeing this, Long Zhi, the battalion commander defending the left flank, frowned.

The Japanese behavior was highly abnormal.

By past experience, the Japanese army absolutely could not bear such losses; once casualties became too heavy, they would certainly halt the attack, then dig in and wait for reinforcements.

But now the Japanese seemed possessed, acting in a manner completely unlike themselves.

They must have some scheme.

While Long Zhi was frowning in thought, an officer came running over and said, “Battalion Commander, our ammunition is being consumed far too quickly. We have less than a third left now!”

“Wait.”

At those words, a flash of insight suddenly struck Long Zhi. Staring intently at the officer, he said, “You’re saying we have less than a third of our ammunition left?”

“Yes.” The officer, failing to notice Long Zhi’s reaction, said bitterly, “The Japanese have been attacking nonstop, and to drive them back, the soldiers have burned through ammunition far too fast. The rounds we brought are nearly gone!”

“At this rate, I’m afraid that in less than half an hour, we’ll be completely out of bullets!”

Hearing this, Long Zhi not only felt no worry, but instead let a smile spread across his face. Looking at the Japanese still pressing forward, he murmured, “I understand now. I understand.”

“No wonder the Japanese have kept attacking without pause. So this is how they plan to rapidly exhaust our ammunition.”

Long Zhi muttered to himself.

No wonder each Japanese reinforcement was no more than a company or so. Although the attacks never stopped, their intensity was not especially strong.

So the Japanese intended to keep up unbroken pressure and quickly drain their ammunition.

Once he grasped this, Long Zhi immediately ordered, “Hurry and send word down the line. Tell all the machine gunners to stop firing gradually, one by one, creating the illusion that we are running short of ammunition. Make the Japanese think we are nearing our limit.”

“But all the machine guns that stop firing must be kept fully loaded. Wait until the Japanese have all committed to the assault, then suddenly open fire together and suppress those damned Japanese hard!”

“Yes!” The officer now had a rough understanding of the reasoning and nodded at once.

Then Long Zhi thought for a moment and continued, “Wait.”

“Send a few men immediately to the artillery battalion’s position and have them prepare. As soon as our machine guns have all opened fire, they are to shell the Japanese position at once.”

“Remember to tell the artillery battalion: once they fire, they must strike with everything they have and wipe out those Japanese bastards completely.” Long Zhi instructed.

“Battalion Commander, I understand!” The officer nodded, then turned and went to relay the orders.

Watching the man crouch low as he left through the trench, a glint flashed in Long Zhi’s eyes. He had a feeling this might be a tremendous opportunity.

This could well be the chance to wipe out this entire Japanese regiment.

The Japanese were consuming their ammunition, certainly intending that once the defenders were nearly out of bullets, they would launch a forced assault, seize the defensive position, and then dig in there to wait for reinforcements from the rear.

So once the defenders showed signs of weakening, the Japanese would absolutely increase the intensity of their assault and try to break the position.

That was an opportunity for the Japanese.

But for the defenders, it was not necessarily any less of one.

Long Zhi had already seen through the enemy plan. All they needed to do was gradually reduce the machine-gun fire and create the illusion that their ammunition was nearly exhausted. Once the Japanese believed the defenders were running out of strength, they would surely throw in all their troops at once, hoping to take the position in a single wave.

Then, at that very moment, every machine gun would open fire together, and the Japanese would certainly be dealt a devastating blow.

And after that, if the artillery battalion unleashed a fierce bombardment, the Japanese would have nowhere to run.

In that case, perhaps...

Perhaps the two infantry battalions and one artillery battalion could really wipe out this entire Japanese regiment.

The moment he thought of that, Long Zhi could hardly contain his excitement.

If this truly could be accomplished, would that not put him on the same level as the brigade commander, achieving a feat unprecedented in history?

Although the brigade commander had done it with less than a battalion’s worth of troops, he would be accomplishing the same feat with less than a regiment’s strength. Such merit would never be small.

As Long Zhi excitedly imagined this, his orders had already reached every machine gunner.

The gunners who received the command did not know why the battalion commander had given such an order, but obeying orders came first. One by one, they consciously began to reduce their fire bit by bit. When the current ammunition belt was spent, they stopped shooting altogether.

They waited for the battalion commander’s next order.