Chapter 24

Lin Yuan was in a state of great anxiety in the Qing army's camp. Ye Zhichao just wouldn't issue the order to advance! The heavy rain pouring down like a deluge had cut off all air support. The one hundred soldiers in the fortress could only rely on light weapons and a few artillery pieces to fight against an enemy forty times their number!

Chen Fei, inside the fortress, could clearly sense that the Japanese troops were not to be underestimated. They formed a triangular attack formation, either upright or inverted, with a well-spaced and well-organized structure to avoid concentrated firepower. They crouched low and advanced quickly, which was completely different from what he had seen in movies and TV shows. Not a single Japanese soldier shouted or spoke.

At the foot of the mountain, over a dozen artillery pieces were deployed, operated by well-trained personnel. The shells seemed to have eyes, flying over the advancing Japanese troops and landing inside the fortress. In the forest, five Gatling guns, set up in temporary shelters made of branches and sandbags, fired at the fortress to cover the advancing Japanese troops.

The five Gatling guns fired in a crisscross pattern, leaving almost no blind spots on the fortress walls. Chen Fei and his men were pinned down by the Gatling guns, unable to raise their heads. These guns used 20mm ammunition, and a single shell was enough to shatter a brick in the fortress wall. Chen Fei took a quick look at the positions of the five machine guns, which were about 1500 meters away. This distance was too far, and with the heavy rain, it was impossible to hit the gunners from the wall.

Chen Fei and his men hid behind the battlements. When the artillery fire stopped, they knew the Japanese soldiers were close, and the real battle was about to begin!

Chen Fei suddenly poked his head out and saw dozens of Japanese soldiers carrying ladders rushing up from 100 meters away. Behind them, hundreds of Japanese soldiers raised their guns and fired at the fortress walls. Chen Fei signaled to his men to use grenades. The 82-type handleless grenades, with a kill radius of about 15 meters, had a tremendous destructive power.

The marines threw grenades from behind the battlements. Most of their throws were about 50 meters, and when the grenades landed, they exploded right above the advancing Japanese troops. The grenades exploding in the air left no blind spots on the ground, and the brave soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army were instantly riddled with bullets.

The ladders were also destroyed, and the subsequent Japanese troops rushed to the base of the wall, starting to climb up the bullet holes in the wall. At this moment, the various machine guns on the fortress opened fire, and the dense hail of bullets mowed down the Japanese soldiers who were firing from behind. The Japanese soldiers providing cover quickly retreated. Just as Chen Fei was directing his men to clear the Japanese soldiers from the wall, the Japanese artillery opened fire.

Chen Fei was taken aback. There were still Japanese soldiers on the wall! They had fired without regard for their own men. The first few shells exploded outside the wall, and the high-explosive shells shredded the Japanese soldiers on the wall with their shrapnel. The marines on the wall didn't have time to dodge, and a shell exploded on the wall, causing one marine to fall.

The marine was hit in the chest by shrapnel, which severed the blood vessels near his heart. Blood spurted out of his chest, and his heart continued to beat tirelessly, pushing the blood out of his body.

Due to the massive blood loss, the marine's brain was deprived of blood. He looked down at his wound and lost consciousness. The nearest soldier was about to rush over, but Chen Fei pulled him back, as he heard the sound of the next shell approaching. They watched helplessly as the soldier was blown to pieces by the Japanese shell!

Finally, the smell of blood filled the air. War means death!

Chen Fei felt a sharp pain in his heart, watching his comrades, who had fought alongside him, die before his eyes. No one could bear such pain!

Before Chen Fei could grieve, a greater crisis emerged. Their ammunition was running low, and the machine guns were almost out of ammunition. How could the remaining dozens of automatic rifles hold off such a large number of enemy troops?

At that moment, a shell exploded on the wall, causing a large section to collapse. The Japanese troops cheered loudly with the explosion.

If the Japanese troops breached the fortress, these nearly one hundred soldiers would have no choice but to fight to the death!

In the Qing army's command post, Lin Yuan paced back and forth. The sounds of gunfire and artillery fire felt like they were hitting his heart. The more urgent the situation, the calmer he became, which was one of his strengths. He took a deep breath, and soon a bold plan formed in his mind.

At the same time, on the Beijing warship, Political Commissar Han Mingguang was also in a state of great anxiety. Although they knew the location of the enemy's artillery positions, the extreme weather made it almost impossible for the carrier-based aircraft to carry out strikes. The cloud layer was only a little over 200 meters high, and flying at this altitude was extremely dangerous.

Xu Feng was patrolling the nearby airspace at this time. Through the integrated battlefield perception system, he also knew about the困境 of the marines in the Mudan Platform fortress. He decided to take a risk and fly through the cloud layer.

Xu Feng pulled the control stick and slowly passed through the dark clouds. Seeing the occasional lightning flashes around him, he wasn't too worried, as the large metal body of the plane acted as an electromagnetic shield, protecting the people inside from lightning. The greatest threat from lightning was to the plane's communication and radar equipment, but modern planes were widely designed to be lightning-resistant.

Xu Feng stabilized the flight speed at 450 kilometers per hour. This speed was neither too fast nor too slow. If it was too fast, the plane might not have time to handle any unexpected incidents when it emerged from the clouds. If it was too slow, the plane might stall due to insufficient lift from the wings.

When Xu Feng emerged from the clouds, he broke out in a cold sweat. It was too low! He thought, the plane was less than 100 meters above the ground!

At this height, any slight mistake would leave the pilot no chance to adjust, and the plane could crash directly to the ground. The air currents at this altitude were also very turbulent, which could cause the plane to stall. At this height, the pilot wouldn't even have a chance to parachute.

Xu Feng immediately flew to the Japanese artillery positions. Due to the heavy rain, laser-guided bombs couldn't be used, and TV-guided bombs were also not ideal. Xu Feng came up with a risky plan: using his superior flying skills, he would drop the bombs in a free fall directly onto the artillery positions.

Xu Feng circled over the artillery positions and entered the attack position. He dropped six bombs at a distance of 500 meters from the artillery positions. This distance was quite imprecise, as the air resistance was unknown during the calculation. Despite this, the six 500-kilogram bombs were enough to destroy the artillery positions.

Xu Feng's attempt was not in vain. One of the bombs grazed the edge of the artillery position, causing a massive explosion that instantly engulfed the artillery position.

The other bombs landed directly on the heads of the advancing Japanese troops, causing heavy casualties. This significantly reduced the pressure on Chen Fei and his men.

Seeing the successful attack, Xu Feng felt a surge of joy and quickly withdrew from the combat airspace. As he flew through the clouds, he suddenly felt the plane sink. Xu Feng's heart sank, thinking, "It's over, the plane is going to stall!"