Chapter 78: Return You A Life

  Dong Li Mao looked at the camera on Elizabeth Terry's chest and said, "Miss Terry, you'd better catch up with them. I think we'll meet again." He had a feeling that the photo of Tai Ye was taken by this blonde blue-eyed beauty reporter.

  Elizabeth Terry didn't mean to leave, she shook her head and said: "I'll use a gun, give me one, I want to fight the Japanese with you!"

  Dong Li Mao looked up at the mountain ridge, where the gunfire was getting denser and denser. He said to his brothers scattered around on guard duty: "Deputy Commander Zhu and the others are in trouble, follow me!" After finishing speaking, he took out the pistol from his waist holster, cocked it, and handed it to Elizabeth Terry. He thought this way was good too, with her following him, Zhang Taigong's photo wouldn't be left unattended.

  Zhu Yongsheng and his men encountered not a small-scale Japanese counterattack, but two or three hundred enemy soldiers. When he saw the Japanese troops charging towards their position from the road, he turned around and glanced at the church wall behind him, seeing that people were still running forward. If he retreated with his comrades now, Dong Li Mao and others would definitely be blocked by the Japanese devils here. So he gave a death order to all soldiers: "Without my permission, no one is allowed to retreat! We can't let the little devils jump over our defense line, brothers, calm down, don't move for now, wait until they get close, and then beat them hard, this group of dog-like bastards!"

  Perhaps the Japanese army realized that this battle was not to break through their defensive line, but to rescue people in the church. Therefore, reinforcements from the front and both sides of the church did not increase, but instead surrounded the church from behind, attempting to trap the rescuers inside as well. As a result, pressure on the front and both sides of the church was significantly reduced.

  When Kou Hao and his men fired their last mortar shell, they went downstairs and guarded the right side to ensure that the rescued journalists and missionaries safely entered the British defensive area. Fortunately, there were no Japanese troops rushing up on the right side, so they hardly had to make any resistance. However, when Kou saw the last batch of British soldiers coming out of the woods without seeing Dong Li Mao and others, he stopped the interpreter and asked: "Why haven't the company commanders withdrawn yet?"

  The interpreter only thought of escaping back to the British front line as soon as possible, simply saying: "Deputy Commander Dong led his men to intercept the Japanese on the hill." After finishing speaking, he ran away.

  Zhu Yongsheng and others waited until the Japanese army climbed halfway up the hill, about 50 meters away from the top of the hill. He gave a loud order: "Kill!"

  Two machine guns rattled and swept towards the bushes at the foot of the hill, a piece of bushes was cut down like a knife, and the first row of devils in front fell down, machine guns, submachine guns, strings of bullets filled with hatred, densely suppressed the Japanese army under the hill, crawling in the bushes, unable to lift their heads.

  That was the intense gunfire from the hillside that Dong Li Mao and his men heard.

  Dong Li Mao brought a group of brothers and journalist Tai Li, rushed to the hillside just in time to encounter the Japanese army's second wave of charge. This time, the Japanese army fired mortars from across the road.

  Shells whizzed past their backs, exploding one after another in the cemetery, perhaps because of the trees blocking the view, affecting the accuracy of the Japanese mortar team's judgment, the first round of shells did not explode on the top of the hill.

  Dong Li Mao ran to Zhu Yong Sheng's side, looking at the dense Japanese army climbing up the hill below, and said: "Old brother, we can't fight a protracted war. You lead the men to retreat quickly, and let us block the little devils!"

  "No! This time you listen to me, take the men and get out of here quickly!" Zhu Yongsheng shouted to Dong Limao after throwing a hand grenade downwards.

  Tai Li cowered at the root of a pine tree, pinned down by bullets fired from below, unable to lift her head or return fire with the gun in her hand. She was terrified, her head pressed tightly against the tree trunk as she wailed and cried out.

  Dong Li Mao saw Taili being frightened and at a loss, got up to run over, just then, a mortar shell whizzed by, Zhu Yong Sheng took a look and thought it was not good, jumped up, flew over, pressed Dong Li Mao to the ground, just as the shell landed behind him.

  Zhang Dali and Zhao Yong heard the sound of artillery explosions and intense gunfire coming from the woods behind the church, knowing that the company commander and his men were definitely blocked by the Japanese army in the woods. However, they had no way to withdraw and support them, so Zhang Dali anxiously shouted: "First squad follow me! Second and third squads continue to block the little devils in front!" After finishing speaking, he stood up first, and a squad of soldiers followed him running towards the right side of the church.

  As Gou Hao watched people coming out of the church and entering the British army's position, he hesitated about whether to go and receive Dong Li Mao and Zhu Yong Sheng. Just as he was wavering, Zhang Da Li came running over with his men.

  "Zhang Pai Zhang, Lian Zhang and Old Zhu are still in the woods!" Gou Hao shouted to Zhang Da Li.

  "Commander, you take charge of this place and don't let the little devils get their hands on this passageway. I'll lead a team to meet up with them!" Zhang Dali knew how crucial this passageway was; if they lost this position, Dong Li Mao and Zhu Yong Sheng might never make it back. After saying that, he led his machine gun squad in a charge towards the woods behind the church.

  Wang Jiagui and his sniper team remained hidden in their positions, searching for targets to take out, mainly focusing on the Japanese machine gun nests and commanders. Their precise shots took out several Japanese machine gunners and a few commanders, providing significant help to Zhang Dali and Zhao Yong. As they watched the people inside the church retreat to safety, Wang Jiagui noticed that Dong Li Mao and Zhu Yongsheng were nowhere to be seen. Instead, he heard gunfire and explosions coming from the woods behind the church. Wang Jiagui knew something was wrong. From his vantage point on the roof, he saw Zhang Dali leading a group of people running towards the right side, joining forces with Gou Hao before heading into the woods. Meanwhile, one of Gou Hao's teams remained in position, guarding the area. Wang Jiagui knew what he had to do - stay put until Dong Li Mao and Zhu Yongsheng were safely out. He adjusted his scope to focus on the woods and saw Zhu Yongsheng pinning Dong Li Mao to the ground. His heart skipped a beat. As the smoke from the explosions cleared, Wang Jiagui took another look and saw Dong Li Mao hugging Zhu Yongsheng's body, shouting something. A sense of foreboding washed over Wang Jiagui.

  Dong Li Mao was heavily pressed down by Zhu Yong Sheng, he turned over from below, saw that Zhu Yong Sheng's mouth and nose were all covered in blood, smiling with his eyes looking at himself, he hugged Zhu Yong Sheng tightly: "Old brother! What's wrong with you! Why did you want to save me! Didn't I tell you I wouldn't die!"

  Zhu Yongsheng's mouth moved, and he coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, barely saying: "Jiacheng younger brother... Cough, cough... This life of mine is yours... Cough, cough... You picked it back for me... Now... Cough, cough... I finally returned it..." Before he could finish speaking, he let out a series of coughs, and blood gushed out of his mouth. His legs kicked out, his eyes wide open with a smile on his face, and he died.

  "Old brother......" Dong Li Mao's heart was in extreme pain. This was the first good brother who died to protect himself after he crossed over and became Tai Gong Ye. In these days of brief interaction with Zhu Yong Sheng, he gradually came to regard him as an older brother, feeling more at ease with him by his side. From some of the things Zhu Yong Sheng said, Dong Li Mao could tell that his relationship with Tai Gong Ye was not ordinary. It turned out that he had died in this battle to protect Tai Gong Ye.

  Dong Li Mao did not shed a tear, but his heart was bleeding. He raised his head to the sky and let out a long, loud howl like a wolf. He put down Zhu Yong Sheng's body, picked up the submachine gun on the ground, stood up and crazily swept the Japanese devils who were rushing up the hill with gunfire. His action made other soldiers follow suit, standing up and firing their guns fiercely at the Japanese devils. This momentum scared the Japanese devils who were charging up the hill, making them run back in all directions. Dong Li Mao seemed to have forgotten that he was a company commander, forgotten his responsibility to safely lead his brothers away from the battlefield. He only thought of avenging Zhu Yong Sheng.