Munitions Empire

Chapter 606: Attack of the 565 Paratroopers

“Xiang Ziyu, cover our retreat!” the squad leader called out to Xiang Ziyu beside him after assigning the tasks.

He was protecting this soldier in the best way he could. This soldier had already performed exceptionally well during the landing, having earned much merit.

Under such circumstances, medals would be awarded at the end of the battle to recognize his achievements; such an outstanding soldier should not be put at risk again.

Xiang Ziyu understood the squad leader’s care for him and had no objections. On the contrary, he thought that it wouldn’t be fair for one person to take all the credit—what about his comrades?

So Xiang Ziyu nodded, picked up his Thompson submachine gun, and followed behind the other paratroopers, climbing out of the trench that had already been captured for some time.

Inside the trench, paratroopers from two companies were assembling the equipment that had been dropped with them. It was a simple telegraph machine with an independent and advanced power supply.

Yes, this device was very reliable and secure. It consisted of two asymmetrical crank handles… a hand-crank generator.

To ensure a stable power supply, there was another identical device, and they worked together to power the entire telegraph machine, requiring four people to operate simultaneously.

That’s right! Four people operating at the same time! Two people were responsible for holding down the two hand-crank generators to keep them from shaking.

The other two put effort into cranking the handles hard, making the device start generating electricity—then the real telegraph operator could use the telegraph machine to send messages, establishing contact with other troops.

“Are we through yet?” the company commander of the paratroopers looked anxiously at his men operating this very primitive-looking device from within the trench.

Actually, it was very advanced: To make it portable for the paratroopers, the set was made as compact as possible while still being stable and reliable, almost a marvel of technology.

“We’re sending messages now, but it’s going to take time for the other side to respond!” the telegraph operator, holding the headphone to his ear, lifted his head to explain, “Gunfire might interfere with the transmission!”

“Stop complaining! I can’t make the Qi Country troops put away their guns!” the company commander impatiently pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket, took one, put it in his mouth, and then struck a match to light it, continuing to ask anxiously, “Did they receive the message?”

“I’m sending it for the fifth time! No feedback, I really don’t know if they got it or not!” the frustrated telegraphist explained again.

Xiang Ziyu, following behind a paratrooper from his squad, both of them crouching, passed through a thicket of bushes and were startled by the sight ahead—a deer carcass lying on the ground, apparently dead for two or three days given the state of decay.

The smell of rot was all around, and swarms of flies were buzzing chaotically. The two had to squint as they moved through this grim scenery.

“I don’t want to end up like this if I die,” the leading paratrooper said to Xiang Ziyu behind him. “If I’m gone, I hope someone buries me.”

“You’d better not die!” Xiang Ziyu followed behind, as the sound of gunfire grew clearer. They were nearing the outskirts of the manor and saw some Qi Country troops mounting an attack on the Tang Country paratroopers across from them.

The Qi Country soldiers charged into the woods only to be repelled by the paratroopers, who had set up defenses using the woods and shrubs.@@novelbin@@

Neither side had the support of heavy firepower, so the paratroopers, equipped with a large number of submachine guns, clearly had the advantage in firepower, and the enemy couldn’t even get close.

The Qi Country troops weren’t even supported by Maxim heavy machine guns anymore; those weapons had been stationed on the outskirts and had just been taken out by the paratroopers.

There was no way, after all, that any genius would dare to pile up sandbags on the king’s rooftop and mount a Maxim heavy machine gun there—that would be asking for trouble.

To ensure the king’s safety, under normal circumstances, automatic weapons and heavy firepower were stationed around the perimeter. The closer you got to the central circle, the lighter the weapons like handguns became, and even in the most central areas, carrying weapons at all was not allowed.

This led to a serious problem: the machine guns in other directions couldn’t be moved for fear of an attack from other Tang forces, while the machine gun positions in the direction already attacked by the Tang Army had just been completely lost.

Without machine gun cover, the Qi Army soldiers, armed only with Shireck Model 1 rifles, could only engage in close combat with the Tang Army troops equipped with Thompson submachine guns.

The most despairing thing was that, over time, the Tang Army’s heavy firepower arrived! At the other end of the woods, the sound of the MG-42 “buzzsaw” suddenly erupted, instantly quieting the shouts of the Qi Army.

“Tatatatata!” After a brief pause, the distinctive sound of the “buzzsaw” started again, bullets breaking branches, stripping bark, and completely suppressing the Qi Army.

“Now’s the time! Go!” the squad leader whispered the attack command to his men.

He waved his hand and the seven or eight soldiers who had already spread out followed him in a charge forward. Xiang Ziyu also began to run; as he took strides, the distant manor walls came into his line of sight.

Xiang Ziyu could even hear his own heavy breathing. He wore grenades and cartridge belts, and the weighty Thompson Submachine Gun firmly in his hands, the backpack on his back swinging with each step of his run.

“Hey!” Straight ahead, a Qi Country soldier spotted the approaching Tang Country Paratroopers and screamed in terror, attempting to alert his nearby comrades.

Providing cover fire, Xiang Ziyu knelt on one knee, raised his submachine gun, and aimed at the Qi Country soldier who had spotted them.

He pulled the trigger, a short burst of fire, two bullets flew out of the barrel, passing over the paratroopers in front, and struck the Qi soldier in the chest.

The enemy fell back, nearly at the same moment, the paratroopers at the front began to scatter. Two on the left started veering left, two on the right started heading right.

“Ratatat!” Xiang Ziyu took aim with his weapon, suppressing the Qi Country soldiers who had climbed up on the wall to open fire.

One unfortunate head burst open, the rest shrunk back, it was unclear if they had fled.

The squad leader of the paratroopers who had neared the wall raised his fist, gesturing a throwing motion. Then he raised his weapon, keeping watch over the wall.

The paratrooper beside him pulled out a grenade, removed the pin, released the safety, and after pausing for a second, gently tossed the metal objects over the wall.

Not far away, another group of paratroopers did the same, they were far too familiar with such an assault rhythm—one person aiming a gun for covering fire, another pulling out grenades to deal with problems.

“Grenades!” Backpedaling two steps, the squad leader knelt with his back against the enemy, sharply reminding his subordinates.

Everyone slightly moved away from the wall, taking a simple protective stance. The next second, on the other side of the wall, two consecutive, massive explosions sent dust flying into the air.

The situation was pretty good, at least the wall was sturdy, blocking the grenade blast and not collapsing from the shockwave.

“Ratatat!” Another group of Tang Army soldiers cleaned up five or six Qi Country soldiers who had rushed over from the flank as the grenades exploded.

By now, Qi soldiers near this side of the manor walls had mostly been taken out. The gunshots were some distance away, and amidst the chaos, it seemed the enemy had not realized the Tang Country Paratroopers had come so close to the walls.

“Breach the wall!” The squad leader shouted to the cover team that had caught up.

The paratrooper previously left by Xiang Ziyu to handle the situation sprang forward, digging at the wall’s corner with his dagger, then stuffed a stick of dynamite into the hole and lit the fuse.

“Dynamite!” All paratroopers retreated to either side of the wall, everyone knew this was far more dangerous than the grenades.

Moreover, if the wall got damaged by the explosion, flying debris was inevitable, and no amount of caution was too much. So everyone gave a wide berth, much more cautious than when using the grenades.

“Boom!” Accompanied by a thunderous blast far more severe than the previous grenade explosions, a section of the wall shattered, filling the air with dust, and reducing visibility at the breach.

However, such smoke was excellent cover for the attacking force. Squinting their eyes, all Tang Country Paratroopers shouldered their weapons and charged forward.

It was no joke—before setting off, their mission had already been made clear: the King of Qi Country was hiding inside! Capturing him would be a great achievement. Who didn’t want to become famous and receive promotions? Everyone had joined the army, risking their lives for the chance of winning battles and earning glory for themselves and their families.

“Kill!” A Tang Country paratrooper with his submachine gun at the lead, stepped on the surrounding rubble and charged into the breach in the garden wall.

The ground was littered with fallen ladders, shattered jars, and chairs and tables tossed aside—the Qi soldiers must have relied on these to climb the wall.

All the Qi soldiers here had already been killed by the two grenades and the subsequent dynamite explosion.

The second paratrooper who charged through the breach tripped over a Qi Army corpse, stumbling nearly to the ground. He struggled to regain his balance, barely managing to stay on his feet.

The paratrooper following him saw his awkwardness, but before he could mock, a bullet flying straight at him struck his head, and he fell down stiffly.

“Ratatat!” The fourth paratrooper to enter saw his fallen comrade and immediately started firing in the direction of the incoming bullet.

More paratroopers poured in, some darting to the sides as they entered, clearing space, others began firing right away, covering their incoming comrades.

Xiang Ziyu leaned against the wall at the breach, continuing his cover fire. He would wait for all his comrades to charge inward before following up to finish the job.

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