Chapter 100: The Extremely Difficult Battle (6)

  I listened to Chen Jing's words, and my heart "thudded" with a bad premonition. If more of the enemy's elite troops were to arrive, our small group of thirty or so people would truly have no hope left.

  Death is a minor matter, but if the base loses its protection, it's hard to say whether it will be breached by the enemy. The base's defense is very strict, but even with strict defense, there are still loopholes that exist, and if the enemy is determined to breach the base, they will always find a way.

  After hearing what Chen Jing said, I no longer dared to delay and returned to the battlefield to tell the soldiers: "Just received news that a group of unidentified people are rushing towards us. We don't know if these people are enemies or friends, nor do we know their purpose. So now we need to make some preparations, everyone should not rest, hurry up and re-arrange the defense line, there may be another fierce battle soon."

  The warriors dragged their tired bodies to set up the defense line again, moving many hand grenades and incendiary bombs to their sides, ready to blow up and burn the enemy to death at any time.

  "Comrade instructor, we still have some heavy weapons in our warehouse. Shall we send a few people over to use them to heavily attack the enemy when necessary?"

  I frowned and said: "There are too many enemies, our manpower is already insufficient, if we disperse again, it's uncertain whether we can hold this place."

  He hesitated for a moment, as if he had something to say but didn't say it. I asked him directly: "If you have anything to say, just say it."

  A tall row looked at me and said, "Commander, I think if we continue to defend here, we will eventually be annihilated. Why not take a risk and send some people to infiltrate the enemy's internal, and make an inside out attack? What do you think?"

  I thought for a moment, shook my head and said: "Although the enemy has been repelled by us many times, their military strength is still dozens of times more than ours. The number of warriors we sent out will not be too many, at most ten people. Not to mention whether these ten people can mix into the enemy's team, even if they are mixed in, once they take action, they will be surrounded by the enemy and there is no difference from being sent to death. I cannot agree with your proposal."

  "I'm willing to go forward," said a tall man with a loud slap on his chest, "death is nothing to be afraid of. Even if I die, I will make the enemy pay a hundred times the price."

  I shook my head: "You can't go even more. As a squad leader, you are responsible for commanding the battle of a row, how can you take risks easily? Don't mention your proposal again, I will never agree."

  He let out a long sigh and said, "I understand the instructor's thoughts, and I know my method is too risky, but for now... I really don't think defending this place to the death is a good idea, Instructor. Think about it some more and see if we can come up with a better plan."

  I nodded: "I'm thinking." As soon as the words came out, I suddenly had an epiphany and said: "Why not do this, take advantage of the darkness, we'll all retreat from here, then circle around to the enemy's rear and launch a counterattack on them."

  "After some thought, he suddenly slapped his chest and said: 'This can be done, this is the Empty City Strategy, catching them off guard, attacking where they are unprepared, it should have a surprising effect.'"

  I nodded: "You go quietly tell the warriors, bring enough weapons and ammunition, we leave here immediately. Remember to inform the chief of staff."

  One row of soldiers immediately ran away, and I observed the outside enemy again. The enemy seemed to be repairing and had no intention of attacking us immediately. So we quietly brought together our weapons and ammunition, left a few disguised soldiers at the window, and then exited the small building to the courtyard wall where the second row was originally stationed.

  A warrior went to scout quietly and didn't find any enemy here, so we all crawled over the wall quietly and came to the outside of the base.

  One of the soldiers went to reconnoiter again and came back to tell me and Chen Jing: "Director, Chief of Staff, the enemy is having a meal and resting in a place 500 meters away from here. Shall we sneak up on them and give them a few blows?"

  I nodded slightly: "Take a row of warriors to circle around the enemy's back, lay down enough landmines and scatter mines, prepare incendiary bombs. When we start fighting with the enemy on this side, the enemy will definitely flee in your direction. At that time, you take advantage of the situation and attack the enemy from behind. We'll make a joint response. Take our incendiary bomb as a signal, don't start attacking prematurely."

  One row of soldiers immediately responded in a low voice "yes", and took his warriors away. We waited for about ten minutes before slowly approaching the enemy.

  At this time, the firelight around us gradually extinguished, and the sky was dark without light. Our movement had not been discovered by the enemy yet. When we were less than 100 meters away from the enemy, I whispered to the squad leaders of the second and third squads: "Prepare incendiary bombs, each person in charge of a region, strive to use incendiary bombs to block the enemy's road, surround them. Leave only one direction open for the first squad, and use sufficient incendiary bombs everywhere else. Start attacking after one minute."

  The squad leaders of the second and third squads were killed, and I whispered to Chen Jing: "The enemy is very close to us, we will fight soon, you hide behind me, don't expose your head easily, be careful not to get hurt."

  Chen Jing said in a low voice, "I know, so stop reminding me all the time and focus on commanding the battle. The enemy has many people, if this move goes wrong, it's likely to end in total defeat."

  I knew Chen Jing's worries were normal, so I explained in a low voice: "The enemy can't think that we will counterattack them at this time, and they must be slack in their defense. Our chances of winning are very high. Don't worry, even if we fail, we'll fight the enemy together." After a pause, I continued: "It's time to attack, be careful."

  As soon as my voice fell, I saw a dazzling flame rising in the distance. Immediately afterwards, several flames flashed almost at the same time, and the area in front of me was all raging fire. The area illuminated by the flames formed a huge semicircle, encircling all the enemies within the semicircle.

  The panicked enemy immediately shouted, many people were holding guns and sweeping randomly, without even seeing our people there. The gap left in the row became the direction for many enemies to escape, and the enemy swarmed towards that gap with a very shocking momentum.

  But there were rows of freshly laid landmines and claymores, the enemy rushed over, immediately someone stepped on a landmine, triggering more explosions, instantly killing a large number of enemies. Immediately after, more enemies triggered the claymore, the explosion killed or injured many enemies, the wounded and dead bodies mixed together, instantly forming a wall of human flesh, blocking the remaining enemies within the ring of fire.

  A row of warriors had been waiting on one side, seeing this situation, immediately threw out incendiary bombs, and also sealed the last retreat of the enemy.

  "At this time I loudly ordered: 'Everyone use cluster grenades and incendiary bombs to attack the empty space in the middle.'"

  The warriors immediately took action, throwing bundles of hand grenades at the enemy, mixed with incendiary bombs, which exploded together on the enemy's last position.

  Under the raging flames, I saw that all the enemies had given up their counterattack and were fleeing in disarray, trying to break out of the fire circle. Unfortunately, this fire circle was not formed by ordinary sparks, with extremely high temperatures, as soon as a person came into contact with it, they would be ignited immediately. All the enemies who tried to rush out of the fire circle were burned to death. Coupled with the damage from the hand grenade explosion, the enemy's mournful cries echoed through the sky, a true hell on earth, too horrible to behold.

  Almost a thousand enemies were surrounded by the fire circle and attacked by hand grenades and incendiary bombs thrown by our warriors. In less than twenty minutes, they were all annihilated. The last few enemies tried to use their own corpses to extinguish the fire circle and then jump out of the fire circle to escape, but unfortunately, those corpses ignited a large fire as soon as they came into contact with the fire circle, and the enemies who stepped on them could not escape either, and all died miserably. Even the corpses were burned by the big fire, leaving only some ashes and a small amount of unburned bones.

  Faced with such a result, I was stunned and felt uneasy and introspective deep down. What made me uneasy was that we had killed so many people at once, although they were our enemies, but they were also human beings, just like us. It's not killing pigs, even if it is killing pigs, killing too many would make your hands shake, let alone now, when we've killed over a thousand people at once!

  Chen Jing didn't dare to look again, scared and hiding behind me, not knowing what to do. I quietly reached out and held Chen Jing's hand, feeling it shaking violently, as if she was frightened by our previous brutal actions. I softly comforted her: "It's okay, they are our enemies, if we don't kill them, they will also kill us. And even more harm will be done to other ordinary people in our country. Do you think what I said is reasonable?"

  Chen Jing nodded slightly and said: "But even so, we...we killed too many people this time, I...I'm very scared..."

  I looked at Chen Jing and whispered: "Don't be afraid, I'm here!"

  Chen Jing looked at me and suddenly leaned on my shoulder, saying: "Then what should I do if you're not by my side in the future?"

  I smiled: "Who knows what will happen in the future, you're thinking too much." What I actually wanted to say was that I would always be with you, so you wouldn't feel scared again. But now is wartime, and it's not good for me to say this, so I had to find a way around it.

  Chen Jing looked at me and suddenly said softly: "After things are over here, I want to go back to Beijing, you... are you going back to Beijing?"

  I thought for a moment, took a look at the warriors of the Hu Long Lian who were still on high alert, and slowly shook my head: "You go back to the capital first, I still need to deal with things here. By the way, when you go back, remember to bring the warriors from here along. This time, many of the warriors were killed or injured, and the Hu Long Lian was also hurt. You take them back and have a good talk with Old Chen about the situation here."

  Chen Jing looked at me quietly, grasping my hand with a slight force: "If you don't go back, I won't go back either."

  I let out a quiet sigh and put down the reluctance in my heart, saying: "You'd better go back to Beijing, it's safer there, I'll feel more at ease too."

  Chen Jing shook her head: "I've decided, wherever you go, I'll go too. I... I don't feel at ease with you being alone outside. The brothers of the Hu Long Lian will have someone to take them back, I... I'd rather stay by your side."

  I feel strange, very happy, yet also very unexpected, and a bit sad and sorrowful. This is because we just sacrificed over a hundred comrades, and I'm deeply grieved in my heart. But Chen Jing's few words are exactly what I've been longing for, so I'm also a bit happy. In short, everything feels strange, as if my heart can't calm down again.

  Fortunately, at this time a row of soldiers led by him came over and heard him say loudly: "Instructor, the enemy was completely annihilated, not one left!"

  I nodded: "I know! This time we take a risk and win, it's also revenge for our comrades who sacrificed before! Let's check if there are any injured comrades?"

  The three rows of troops counted their personnel one by one and finally said in unison: "There are injuries, but none of them are serious, they can still fight!"

  I'm somewhat delighted, unexpectedly annihilating over a thousand enemies without any casualties, and we're just thirty-odd people. It seems that tactics are sometimes more important than personnel, wisdom can withstand thousands of troops and horses.

  But this time we were also lucky, under the circumstances that the enemy was too careless, we had the opportunity to destroy them at once. If the enemy sent out a portion of their men to be vigilant, we might have been destroyed by the enemy instead.

  Since ancient times, evil has never overcome justice. It seems to be true this time, and it's really the heavens helping us out. I quietly gaze at the dark sky, silently praying while also feeling a bit of lingering fear.

  At this time, the big fire caused by the incendiary bomb gradually went out, and numerous large and small pits appeared on the ground. A stench like burnt hair wafted over, and many soldiers couldn't help but feel nauseous. This was the stench emitted by those enemies who had been burned to death in the big fire. After smelling it, I also felt like vomiting for a long time.

  Chen Jing had been prepared and covered her mouth with her sleeve. However, the smell was too strong, and soon she couldn't help but start backing away, wanting to leave this place.

  I ordered all personnel to return to base and prepare for the arrival of that mysterious group, who may be our enemy. The battle has not really ended yet, and our current victory is only limited to those enemies we faced before. To truly win, it may require more effort from us.

  However, after this battle, our enemies will also be frightened and dare not attack our research base openly. After all, our 200-strong Dragon Guard Regiment has eliminated more than a thousand enemy troops, which is also one of the greatest military miracles in world history.

  Back at the base, we hastened to repair and replenish our supplies. During this time, we once again contacted Old Chen and the military department, reporting on the situation here while also inquiring about the whereabouts of that group of unidentified people.

  Those people are now less than five kilometers away from us, and they seem to be preparing to stay overnight in a small village on the outskirts of Wuhan. They will take action again after dawn tomorrow.

  It was already 1:50 in the morning, to put it bluntly, those people would start acting after dawn today. We still don't know their identities and backgrounds, we can only be vigilant and beware of being taken advantage of by the enemy.

  Now that I've figured it out, I finally have time to rush to Master Yu Cheng's defense zone. For so long, the martial artists led by Master Yu Cheng have been holding off the Japanese pirates and the Wàn Lóng Huì with all their might, and they must be exhausted. I brought a team of ten soldiers who volunteered to join the battle to Master Yu Cheng's defense zone on the west side of the base, just as he was sitting on the ground catching his breath. There were dozens of people around him also catching their breath, looking like they had just been through a fierce battle, and everyone needed to take a moment to recover before they could move again.

  Our arrival was a great shock to several martial artists who were standing guard nearby, and they immediately shouted: "Who goes there!"

  The light at night was too poor, they couldn't recognize me. So I said loudly: "It's me, Jin Cang. Master Yu Cheng, are you all well?"

  Master Yu Cheng slowly opened his eyes and smiled slightly: "Fortunately, we didn't disappoint our orders. The Japanese pirates have retreated, and for now, we are safe."

  Someone else chuckled and said, "We're doing well too, miss. She's gone after a female ninja, she should be back soon."

  I followed the sound and saw that it was someone from the Nangong family who was speaking, and the young lady he mentioned was indeed Nangong Qianlan. I furrowed my brow and said, "She went after him alone?"

  The Nan Gong family's people laughed and said, "There are also two people from our family who went to chase them together. The female ninja is the leader of the Wokou pirates, she was injured before, Miss said that she must know many secrets of the Wokou pirates, wanting to capture her back for you to interrogate, so as to understand more information about the enemy."

  I slightly put down my heart and nodded: "You hurry up and rest, we'll take over the defense here."

  Master Jade Completion smiled and said: "So it seems, your side has won a great victory."

  I let out a sigh: "To be honest, we barely won. Our comrades in the Dragon Guard were killed or injured more than half, and only over thirty people are left... The enemy was eliminated by us, but we can't be considered victorious either, we just managed to protect our base with difficulty, didn't let it fall into enemy hands."

  "Om Amitabha Buddha, may the deceased warriors be reborn in the Pure Land and live a happy life..."

  Master Yu Cheng then chanted a long Buddhist scripture with the other Shaolin masters, to help the souls of all the fallen soldiers find peace and happiness in their next life. Buddhists believe in reincarnation, which is why Master Yu Cheng and the others were doing this. As I watched Master Yu Cheng chant, I silently prayed for good fortune for my fallen comrades in their next life, and hoped that there would be no more wars.

  I also want to chant scriptures for those enemies who died at our hands and help their souls attain liberation. After all, they are human beings too, just that they did wrong things and received punishment.

  Master Jade finished reciting the Buddhist scriptures, stood up and said to me: "The Japanese ninja is very formidable, we almost lost our hands. I want to send a message to the abbot of Shaolin immediately, let the abbot hurry up and train our Shaolin disciples. One day in the future, we will encounter Japanese ninjas again, I don't want our Chinese people to be defeated by Japanese pirates."

  I nodded: "Please give my regards to the Abbot of Shaolin, Master Fangzhang."

  Yu Cheng nodded slightly and walked to the side. The monks of today are also keeping up with the times, using mobile phones. Master Yu Cheng is going to make a phone call to the abbot of Shaolin Temple.

  The person from the Nangong family said loudly at this time: "Miss is back."

  I had heard someone approaching from this direction and guessed it was Nan Gong Qian Lan's group, so I stepped forward a few steps and said: "Qian Lan, are you all right?"

  Nangong Qianlan rushed over like a flying bird, threw her arms around me and exclaimed loudly: "Are you okay? I was so worried about you!"

  I took a glance at the martial artists and warriors around me and whispered: "Don't be like this, everyone is watching!"

  Nangong Qianlan finally let go, but still said loudly: "What's wrong with you? Are you hurt?"

  I shook my head: "I'm fine. As long as you're fine, I heard that you guys went to catch the Japanese pirate ninja, how was it? Did you catch any?"

  Nangong Qianlan raised her head and smiled: "Of course we caught her, my clansmen are bringing her over right now, she'll be here soon."

  Her words had just fallen when a voice was heard saying: "Miss, the enemy has been brought in. Shall we interrogate him first?"

  Nangong Qianlan turned around and said: "No need. Jin Cang is coming, just hand it over to him."

  The man who just spoke responded with a "good" and brought a person who was unconscious in front of me, directly throwing them to the ground. He made a fist at me and said: "Young master, this is the leader of those Japanese ninja, we were worried she would poison someone so we knocked her out."

  I nodded: "Thank you guys. Will this ninja use poison? That's indeed something to be careful about, or we might get hurt by her."

  Nangong Qianlan said: "Her martial arts skills are very powerful, I am not her opponent... If she hadn't been injured before, the three of us wouldn't have been able to catch her. Although she is my enemy, but her kung fu really makes me admire."

  I nodded again: "The Japanese pirates' kung fu was learned from us Huaxia, but they value it more than we do, so they can cultivate many excellent kung fu masters. If we also valued this ancient skill of kung fu, perhaps in the next few decades, our Huaxia will also produce many masters."

  As soon as I finished speaking, Master Yu Cheng loudly said: "Well said, our Shaolin Temple will start to recruit disciples on a large scale and expand the Chinese martial arts world..."