LRAB Chapter 23: Times Change the Rules of War!
Chapter 23: Times Change the Rules of War!
Chen Zijun sat in the temporary command post at the front of Ma'anshan, with a topographical map of Luoyan Valley spread out in front of him.
The communications officer has just delivered the latest telegram.
"Reporting to the Young Marshal! The engineer company reports that all 1,500 S-shaped bounding mines have been laid. Eight MG34s are in position on the ridge. Commander He's 6th Independent Mixed Brigade has arrived at the southern exit of Luoyan Valley and completed the blockade."
Chen Zijun placed the telegram on the table, picked up his enamel mug, and took a sip of cold tea.
"The trap of Luoyan Valley has been set."
Shen Li stood behind him, looking at the narrow valley circled in red on the map, and a chill ran down her spine.
1,500 bounding mines. Eight heavy machine guns. A fully-equipped mixed brigade blocked their retreat.
Six thousand Fengtian cavalrymen are about to embark on this path of death, and they are still completely unaware of it.
"What time is it now?" Chen Zijun asked.
"1:20 a.m.
"Based on intelligence calculations, the vanguard of the Fengtian clique should have already entered the valley."
Before he could finish speaking, a muffled explosion suddenly came from the distant night sky.
boom!
Then came the second tone, and then the third tone.
Then, the explosions turned into a terrifying chain reaction, like a string of firecrackers being lit at the same time, but each "firecracker" was powerful enough to tear a living person apart.
Chen Zijun slowly put down the enamel cup.
"here we go."
Luoyan Valley.
hell.
The moment the first S-shaped bounding mine was stepped on by a soldier in the vanguard of the Fengtian clique, the mine was ejected from the soil and shot more than a meter high with a "whoosh".
The soldier didn't even have time to look down.
boom!
The bounding mine exploded in mid-air, sending 360 steel balls flying out in a fan shape in all directions.
The three closest Fengtian soldiers were instantly riddled with bullet holes. One had half his head smashed open, blood and sweat splattered everywhere. Another had more than a dozen bloody holes torn in his chest, and he fell while still clutching the horse's reins.
The warhorse let out a mournful neigh, its front legs buckled, throwing the rider off.
The rider who was thrown off landed right next to another bounding mine.
boom!
A chain reaction has begun.
The terrified warhorses bolted wildly in all directions. Each hoof strike could land a bouncing mine buried within three meters.
Boom! Boom boom boom!
Within ten seconds, the entire bottom of Luoyan Valley transformed into a hellish storm of steel balls.
Bounding mines were triggered one after another. Each one bounced into the air before exploding at waist to chest height. Shrapnel sliced downwards and swept from left to right, leaving nowhere to hide in the narrow valley.
Zhao Duzi's one eye glared wide in the firelight.
"Landmines! Landmines! Everyone dismount! Dismount—"
No one listens to him anymore.
Because the horse beside him instinctively bolted into a gallop, it stepped on three bouncing mines in quick succession. The steel balls rained down like a storm, turning everything within a two-zhang radius of Zhao Duzi into sieves.
His right arm was ripped apart at shoulder level by a steel ball, and his entire arm, along with the revolver, flew off.
Zhao Duzi let out a scream that sounded inhuman.
He tumbled from his horse, landing on the muddy ground littered with bits of flesh and blood. His one eye stared at the dark sky, blood foam escaping from his mouth.
This is not a battle.
This is a meat grinder.
He couldn't see anything. He couldn't see the enemy, he couldn't see the gun barrels, only the endless explosions beneath his feet and the screams of his comrades being torn to pieces.
five minutes.
Just five minutes.
The bottom of Luoyan Valley has become a deathly silence.
It wasn't quiet. The howling had almost stopped.
The vanguard of over two thousand men and hundreds of warhorses were repeatedly ravaged by more than a thousand bounding mines in the narrow valley. No more than three hundred survived.
The three hundred people stumbled, crawled, rolled, and ran desperately toward the valley entrance.
They wanted to escape this hell.
But they didn't know that hell had only just begun its second layer.
On the ridge, eight machine gun positions that were already in place opened fire simultaneously.
Da da da da da!
Eight MG34 general-purpose machine guns, firing at a rate of 800 rounds per minute, unleashed a dense hail of bullets into the valley.
Flames swept across both sides of the ridge. In the darkness, the red trails of tracer bullets, like two scissors, cut off every figure trying to climb out of the valley.
A platoon leader from the Fengtian clique led a dozen men to the steep slope at the mouth of the valley. He had climbed less than three meters when a burst of bullets swept across from his side. He tumbled down the slope like a log, landing with seven or eight bleeding holes in his body.
Another group of remaining soldiers turned and ran to the other end of the valley.
They felt that as long as they left the valley, there was still a glimmer of hope.
I ran about 300 meters.
Dozens of searchlights suddenly lit up ahead.
The beams of white light illuminated them, making them visible in every detail.
He Maofeng stood behind a makeshift roadblock, holding an MP18 submachine gun. Behind him was an entire reinforced regiment of the 6th Independent Mixed Brigade, all of them pointing their guns toward the valley entrance.
He Maofeng's face was expressionless.
He fought alongside the Chen family for twenty years, in hundreds of battles, large and small.
But he had never seen such a... one-sided massacre.
To be precise, this doesn't even qualify as a massacre.
These people have no ability to resist at all.
When the remnants of the Fengtian clique saw the searchlights and the dark mass of gun barrels ahead, the leaders immediately knelt down.
"Stop fighting! Stop fighting! We surrender!"
He Maofeng released the safety on his submachine gun.
He remembered what Chen Zijun had said to him on the radio before he set off.
"Uncle He, if these people enter Luoyan Valley, they won't have the option of surrendering. They're here to kill me. Let them taste what it's like to be killed."
He Maofeng slowly raised his submachine gun.
"Brothers."
"Fire."
Da da da da!
A reinforced regiment unleashed its firepower in an instant.
The hundreds of remaining Fengtian soldiers who were still standing fell down in rows like stalks of wheat cut down by a sickle.
It took no more than ten seconds.
1:45 a.m.
Less than twenty minutes had passed since the first bounding lightning bolt detonated.
Luoyan Valley was completely quiet.
There were no gunshots, no shouts, not even the neighing of horses.
The valley floor was thick with the smell of gunpowder and blood. The ground was littered with shattered corpses, broken horses, scattered old Beiyang rifles, and saddles that had been blown out of shape.
Six thousand people.
Two fully equipped independent cavalry brigades.
Within twenty minutes, they were wiped out by the firepower of 1,500 bounding mines, eight machine guns, and a reinforced regiment.
Not a single one left Luoyan Valley alive.
dawn.
Shen Li led the inventory team into the valley.
He stopped after walking less than fifty meters.
It's not that I don't want to walk anymore. It's that I can't walk anymore.
The ground was littered with bits of flesh and entrails, making a squelching sound underfoot. The stench of blood in the air was so strong it was nauseating. Several young staff officers who had come with them squatted down by the roadside and vomited.
Shen Li gritted his teeth and forced himself to see everything clearly in front of him.
This is the power of an S-shaped bounding mine.
Launched into the air, it explodes at the waist, causing damage from every angle.
With a density of three meters between the two sides, not an inch of ground in the entire valley is safe.
He found Zhao Duzi.
Or rather, he found the upper half of Zhao Duzi's body.
The single eye was still staring, the mouth wide open, and the face showed an expression of unresolved death. He probably never understood what kind of weapon it was, even in death.
Shen Li squatted down and expressionlessly took the military flag of the 7th Independent Cavalry Brigade of the Fengtian Clique from beside Zhao Duzi's body. The golden "Feng" character embroidered on the black gauze was soaked in blood and turned dark red.
"Wrap up his head and this flag," Shen Li said to his adjutant beside him. "Pack them together with all the captured military tags and unit number plates. Load them onto an armored train, transport them by rail, and send them to the Fengtian Army's forward command post in Bengbu as quickly as possible."
The adjutant was stunned.
"Send...send it to the Fengtian clique?"
"The young marshal's exact words."
Shen Li stood up and patted the mud off his knees.
"Let them know that this is what happens to those who mess with Chen's army."
Ma'anshan Forward Command Post.
Chen Zijun stood by the window, watching the sky in the distance slowly brighten.
Shen Li's battle report has been delivered.
More than 5,800 enemy soldiers were killed. More than 400 warhorses and more than 3,000 rifles were captured. Our casualties: zero.
zero.
Our casualties: zero.
Chen Zijun folded the battle report and put it in his pocket, a slight smile playing on his lips.
These are the rules of modern warfare.
You think you're fighting a war, but you're actually just walking into a slaughterhouse that was tailor-made for you.
Intelligence dominance, firepower dominance, tactical dominance.
The result of three crushing blows combined was a one-sided massacre with zero casualties.
From the very beginning, the Fengtian clique had no chance of winning this battle.
He turned around and looked at Shen Li.
"Send a message to Moranchi and Su Guiying saying I'm very happy!"
Shen Li nodded.
"in addition."
Chen Zijun walked to the table and drew a large circle around the location of Ma'anshan on the map.
"Notify the construction team. The Luoyan Valley matter is finished. The site selection and exploration for the Ma'anshan Coal and Steel Complex will officially begin tomorrow."
Shen Li saluted and was about to leave when a communications soldier rushed in.
"Reporting to the young marshal! A telegram has just arrived from Bengbu!"
Chen Zijun took it and glanced at it.
It was sent by the Fengtian clique's forward command. The telegram contained only one line:
"Your troops have committed such a disastrous act; Commander Zhang will surely lead an army of 400,000 south to punish you!"
Chen Zijun smiled after reading it.
He turned the telegram over and wrote eight words on the back:
"We're ready anytime. No matter how many come, we'll wipe them all out."
Bengbu. Headquarters of the Fengtian Clique's Frontline Command.
Zhang Jialiang sat in a grand chair, with a large bowl of tea on the pearwood wooden table in front of him.
He was in a good mood today. The plan for two cavalry brigades to advance south and encircle Ma'anshan had been underway for two days, and based on the timeline, good news should arrive tonight.
Chen Zijun was captured alive.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but take a sip of tea.
An adjutant hurriedly pushed open the door and entered. His face was deathly pale. He was carrying a wooden box in his hands.
"Young...Young Marshal, a military train from the south has just arrived at Bengbu Railway Station. There's only this on board."
The adjutant placed the wooden box on the table.
Zhang Jialiang frowned as he opened the box.
There was a human head inside.
One eye. His face still bore the expression of someone who died with his eyes wide open.
Next to it lay a black military flag soaked in blood. The golden character "奉" (Feng) was no longer recognizable.
Thousands of military license plates and unit number plates were pressed under the military flag. There was also a note.
The note had eight characters written on it:
"No matter how many come, destroy them all."
The teacup in Zhang Xinmin's hand crashed to the ground with a loud bang and shattered into powder.
Tea splashed all over me.
His face was ashen as he stared at the one-eyed head, a hoarse sound escaping his throat:
"Chen Zijun, how dare he?... "