Chapter 22 Break Out!

Shells fell like raindrops, and the hard winter soil was churned over and over by the Russian bombardment. Not a single tile remained intact in the entire hamlet. Not only the unfinished tunnels, but also many of those excavated and used by the bandits for processing were blown apart by the Russian artillery fire!

The bandits hid inside the tunnels, stuffing pieces of cloth into their ears, yet they were still left dizzy and disoriented by the concussions. When the Russian twenty-minute artillery barrage finally ended, many of them were actually unable to stand up! Numerous bandits had to rely on the support of others just to walk out of the tunnels. Yang Xiaolin took a quick glance and saw that while the enemy charges had not caused them heavy casualties, these two rounds of shelling had cost them over three hundred brothers!

Especially the Russian heavy artillery; even when a shell landed without piercing a tunnel, it still made the people inside feel as if their heads had been struck by a heavy hammer. Fortunately, earth-penetrating bombs were not yet in use, and as long as the air circulation inside the tunnels remained unblocked, no one would suffocate from air pressure.

Yang Xiaolin looked at the swaying tunnels, knowing that they would not hold up against a third round of shelling. His own body felt somewhat unsteady. Emerging into the open, he pulled the cloth out of his ears and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Quick! Prepare for battle!"

When he shouted the first time, many of the bandits showed no reaction. It was not until he yelled it three times that they finally shook off the shock of the bombardment, picked up their rifles one by one, and rushed back to their positions. By this time, the Russians had already launched a new wave of charge, committing even more troops than before—the vanguard of this charge alone numbered over five hundred men!

Yang Xiaolin shook his head. Crouched inside the trench, he still had the illusion that the Russian cannons were endlessly pounding away. Seeing that the eyes of the brothers around him were somewhat unfocused, he knew they must be feeling the exact same way.

"Suibing! Bring out the iron barrels! Damn it, it's my turn to blast them!"

Yang Xiaolin had just discovered a major advantage of this makeshift mortar: its resistance to enemy fire was exceptionally strong! The regiment had possessed a total of ten such cannons. Under the fierce Russian artillery barrage, all the standard Russian cannons in the hamlet had been smashed to pieces, yet three of these iron barrel mortars had survived!

Three were enough. The bandits set the iron barrels upright behind the line, and Yang Xiaolin watched the distance of the charging Russians, calculating silently in his mind.

The Russians down below were as frantic as ever. They undoubtedly believed that under such fierce artillery fire, the bandits, even if not blown to pieces, must have lost all combat capability. Thus, their morale was soaring, and they were simply waiting to rush in and finish the fight.

"Ura...!"

As the arrogant expressions of the Russians grew clearer and clearer, Yang Xiaolin felt a twinge of anxiety about the situation on Nirel's end. Once his makeshift mortars repelled the enemy's charge, he intended to launch a counter-offensive. Would Nirel be able to take out the Russian heavy artillery by then?

He let out a long breath and shouted, "Get ready!"

Not far away, Major General Gregorievich also let out a long breath. "Gentlemen, these people will undoubtedly try to counterattack once more. However, their counterattack will be effortlessly shattered by us. I believe the battle is nearing its end."

Those Russian officers deeply agreed with him. Just as someone was about to offer a few flattering remarks, they suddenly heard a tremendous explosion echo from the rear, making the ground beneath their feet tremble! Major General Gregorievich, who had been full of confidence just a moment ago, was greatly startled. He hurriedly turned his head to look behind him, only to see flames soaring into the sky from the direction of the Russian heavy artillery position! Then, one deafening explosion after another reverberated through the air! The major general's face instantly turned pale!

Of course, Yang Xiaolin also saw the towering flames at that moment. Those successive explosions filled him with excitement. "Hahaha! Perfect timing! Brothers, follow me and charge out!"

Three explosive packs were launched from the makeshift mortars behind the bandits, landing right in front of the charging Russians. The blast instantly tore three giant gaps through the formation of five hundred men. Viewed from the sky, the Russian charging line looked as if three large circles had been punched out of a sheet of white paper!

The charging Russians, already stunned by the massive explosion in their rear, were struck by this sudden attack and seized with panic. Their surging fighting spirit was instantly cut short! Before the lieutenant colonel could react, the bandits had already closed in. The first rifleman pulled his trigger, dropping two Russian soldiers in a single shot!

"Charge!"

Suibing led his squad leaping straight into the Russian formation, engaging them in close-quarters hand-to-hand combat!

In all fairness, the Russian army had learned their lesson well this time. Before setting out, Commander Kuropatkin had already instructed Lieutenant General Kondratiev that the bandits of Gulu Mountain were exceptionally skilled in cold-steel combat and told them to make proper preparations. Therefore, every Russian soldier had come equipped with a bayonet. Seeing the bandits charge, the Russians fixed bayonets and rushed into a chaotic melee.

They believed that neither in terms of physical build nor physical conditioning would they lose to these yellow-skinned people in a bayonet fight. But once again, they were wrong!

Because the bandits of Gulu Mountain had evolved beyond pure bayonet tactics during close combat. When the Russian soldiers rushed forward with fixed bayonets, they discovered that the bandits operated in groups of five: the front three engaged them with bayonets, while the two in the back shamelessly hid behind their comrades and sniped at them with pistols!

This was different from the Japanese bayonet fighting style, where soldiers fought in pairs, mutually covering and protecting one another. Yang Xiaolin's troops had learned their stabbing techniques from the Japanese, but he had not stopped progressing at that stage.

This truly caused the Russians immense distress. Just as a soldier thrust his bayonet forward fiercely, the opposing bandit would merely parry it, and before the soldier could even attempt a second thrust, a bullet came flying straight at him! The distance was so close that there was simply no time to dodge! Even if one miraculously managed to evade the shot and twist their body aside, the bandit's bayonet would immediately counter-thrust right back!

When the pistols of the two rear bandits ran out of ammunition, they reloaded instantly. If there were too many enemies around and no time to reload, they would step forward with bayonets while two of their front-line companions stepped back—since those two companions had fully loaded pistols, continuous and uninterrupted firepower was maintained.

Behind every two combat squads followed six more brothers. These men belonged to the heavy machine gun crew; they were responsible for carrying the heavy machine gun, while also serving as the reserve combat force for the forward squads. The moment any casualties occurred among the front-line brothers, someone immediately stepped in to fill the vacancy.

The division of labor among these six men was also quite clear: four men carried the gun, while a sharpshooter and a rifleman flanked them to protect the gun-bearers. At the same time, the sharpshooter constantly scanned the enemy ranks for commanders, and when the enemy in front became overwhelming, the rifleman would boldly push to the very front, dropping multiple targets with a single shot!

The Russians caught directly in the front of this charge had no idea how to counter such a tactic. Although they appeared tall and sturdy, within a single exchange, over a hundred men were knocked to the ground by the bandits, who advanced almost at the speed of a sprint!

Afterward, Major General Gregorievich compiled the statistics: over eight hundred Russian soldiers were killed in the bayonet melee. About half of them were shot dead by pistols, over a hundred were killed by rifles, and several more were eliminated from afar by grenades or rifles. The number of Russian soldiers actually killed by bayonets was fewer than two hundred!

Yet at the moment, he could not see these details. The battlefield was a chaotic cacophony of gunfire. All he could see was the Russian formation colliding with the enemy and falling backward in neat rows like tall grass beaten down by a fierce wind. Shocked and horrified, the major general shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hold them! Stop them!"

The Russian artillery began to shell, but by this time their heavy artillery position had already been silenced, and the light cannons around them were utterly incapable of halting the bandits' advance. Yang Xiaolin charged at the very forefront, leading by example. Seeing their commander risking his life and realizing the Russians seemed unable to stop them, the veteran brothers grew more and more spirited. Over eight hundred bandits fought with increasing valor; regardless of how the surrounding Russian units tried to entangle them, they broke through with a single surge of momentum!

Panicked, Major General Gregorievich hurriedly mobilized his troops, attempting to set up a defensive line ahead of these bandits to prevent their prey from escaping. He selected a hill over a hundred meters high, which happened to sit squarely in the path of the bandits' advance.

A squad of Russian soldiers sprinted toward the hill, but before they even reached the summit, gunfire erupted from the top, beating back the Russians who attempted to seize the high ground. Nirel had arrived just a fraction of a step ahead of the Russians! After blowing up the Russian artillery position, he had rushed to assist Yang Xiaolin in breaking out of the encirclement. Running at top speed the entire way, he covered eight kilometers in less than twenty-five minutes! His troop of just over a hundred men was strung out over two miles along the trail, but the moment Nirel reached the hilltop, the Russians were only halfway up the slope.

Most of the brothers behind had not yet caught up, and even the heavy machine gun had not arrived. Nirel and the few men who could run the fastest engaged the Russians right then and there. If those Russian soldiers had possessed enough nerve to continue their charge, they likely could have driven Nirel off the hilltop and even killed the Black man who served as a Chinese bandit leader.

Yet war is unpredictable. After losing seven or eight men upon discovering an ambush on the hill, the leading Russian squad immediately stopped and waited for the main force to arrive for a coordinated assault. They waited for only two minutes, but in those two minutes, more bandits rushed up the hilltop from the other side. By the time Nirel was joined by over forty brothers and a single heavy machine gun, the Russians could no longer take the hill by force.

This development served as yet another shot in the arm for the breaking-out bandits. Even though the Russians had mustered over a thousand men to block their front, the sight of hope drove the bandits into a frenzy. With an unstoppable momentum—crushing anything in heaven or on earth—they forced the Russians to retreat step by step.

The arrogant "Ura" cheers could no longer be heard, replaced entirely by the angry roars of the bandits! Five minutes later, they stormed down to the base of Nirel's hill. With the bandits on the mountain and below striking in a pincer movement, the blocking Russian force completely collapsed.