The company moved forward in a scattered formation. With the men grouped in threes, every squad was at least guaranteed one serviceable rifle. Most were old "Old Sleeves," though there were a few Hanyang rifles; one, however, had such worn-out rifling that it was little more than a noise-maker. Accurate shooting was out of the question. Even these meager arms had been painstakingly begged from other veterans by Hu Youming one by one. For this company, these were precious treasures, never to be handed over lightly. Many men were left with nothing but large machetes, not even a decent "fire stick" to their names.
"Company Commander, trouble! We spotted Japanese soldiers up ahead!"
The scouts Lin Feng had dispatched scrambled out from a mountain col, looking frantic. Seeing this, Lin Feng knew immediately that they must have encountered the Japanese infiltration squad mentioned in the Simulator.
"Damn it! Battalion Commander, your predictions are truly godlike—there really are Japs up ahead!"
Hu Youming, hearing the report, was furious, and a cold shiver of fear ran down his spine. If they hadn't met Lin Feng, they would have marched blindly toward the hospital. They would have walked straight into the Japanese, trapped between wolves in front and tigers behind. At that moment, Hu Youming’s admiration for Lin Feng reached new heights. He was truly elite; he could anticipate the enemy’s moves before they even made them. To follow such a man was the greatest fortune of his life.
"Old Hu, get the wounded settled. We have a tough fight ahead of us," Lin Feng said slowly, gripping his Chiang Kai-shek rifle tight. On the battlefield, only the gun in his hand could offer any real comfort.
"Understood! I'll see to it right now!"
As a company commander, Hu Youming was efficient and seasoned; he immediately trotted off toward the group of wounded soldiers. Lin Feng, meanwhile, took the scouts and called over the mortar team to follow him toward the high ground on the hillside.
It was dusk, and the sun was already touching the mountaintops, ready to dip below the horizon. The sunlight hit the clouds, casting the vibrant colors of the sunset. The scouts quickly led Lin Feng and the others to the top of the hill, where they crawled forward and pointed ahead.
"Battalion Commander, there must be dozens of them. Look over there!"
The Songhu Battlefield was mostly flat plains, with few mountains. What they called a "high mountain" was, in reality, just a hilly mound. Lying on the crest, Lin Feng easily spotted the Japanese. It was nearly dark, and the Japanese had stopped to rest in place. After carefully scanning the surrounding environment, Lin Feng’s "Sharpshooter" mastery allowed him to quickly identify the optimal attack position. As for the mortar team he had brought, he knew that after firing a test round to get a feel for it, his mastery would be enough to make him an excellent gunner.
"Go tell Old Hu to bring the team up. The shooting squad will provide precision fire from the high ground. The rest will move in three-man cells along that small path to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Wait for my mortar fire as the signal!"
Lin Feng finished his instructions, pointed out the direction, and clarified the route to the scouts.
"Yes, sir!"
Receiving the order, the scout immediately headed back down the slope.
"Mortar team, with me!"
With that, Lin Feng rose and led the five soldiers carrying the mortar toward the ideal position. When they arrived, they were barely three hundred meters from the Japanese encampment. If it weren't for the vegetation cover, they would surely have been spotted by the Japanese sentries.
Lin Feng had no other choice. While it was called a mortar, it was actually a grenade discharger. The effective range of the Type 89 grenade discharger was only about three hundred meters; any further, and accuracy would drop significantly.
"Once the shelling stops, stay close to me," Lin Feng whispered. The men around him wore grim expressions, clearly unnerved by the dozens of Japanese soldiers ahead.
They carefully set down the wooden crates. When opened, the two boxes contained two full units of ammunition—exactly twenty rounds. That should be just right to bombard the Japanese squad, Lin Feng calculated. He then began adjusting the mortar. After about half a minute, he had a good feel for it and glanced at the man beside him. A shell was taken from the ammunition box and handed to him. Everyone held their breath, hands gripped tight on their weapons, their breathing ragged.
*Thump!*
The first shell flew out of the grenade discharger with a crisp sound. A heartbeat later, an explosion erupted in the Japanese camp!
"Nani?!"
Matsushita Kimura, the Japanese squad leader, had been holding his field rations, hoping to enjoy some peace during the infiltration mission, but he was jolted by the sound of the blast.
"Report, Squad Leader! That sounded like our own grenade discharger!"
The sergeant beside him was just as bewildered, but as a member of a Grade-A division, he possessed the necessary military instincts. The first shot had been a ranging round and hadn't caused any fatalities, though a sentry with bad luck had taken shrapnel to the thigh.
"Baka! How did the Chinese get their hands on our grenade discharger?!"
Matsushita Kimura quickly organized his men to take cover while ordering his own mortar team to locate the source of the fire.
Meanwhile, having fired the first round, Lin Feng’s sense for the weapon grew sharper. After a quick readjustment, he prepared to fire again.
*Rat-tat-tat!*
Back on the high ground, Hu Youming and his men heard the mortar fire and immediately opened up with their own weapons.
"Matsushita-kun, we've been discovered! Quickly! Machine gun cover!"
The Japanese sergeant saw fire erupting from the distance, and men in his squad were already starting to fall.
"Baka! Push forward!"
Matsushita Kimura was furious. This infiltration mission was an opportunity he had waited a long time for. The Gan Country forces were being beaten back in the Songhu Battlefield; if he succeeded in locating the field hospital, the Air Corps would surely bomb it, and he would become a great hero—perhaps even promoted from squad leader to company commander! In peacetime, such a rapid promotion was unthinkable. But now, that chance was slipping away, and their mission was exposed. The only way to complete it was to wipe out this attacking force entirely.
Matsushita thought this to himself, but the heavens had other plans. Hu Youming’s group only had one light machine gun, but the Japanese fire was quickly suppressed by Lin Feng’s relentless bombardment. The Japanese infantry scrambled to rise and charge, hoping to annihilate them.
*Whoosh—boom!*
Lin Feng was close enough to see every move the Japanese made. His mortar was no idle toy. Of the twenty shells, nineteen remained after the first test shot, and Lin Feng sent them all raining down. He paid special attention to the two Japanese machine guns, landing shells directly next to the gunners. The once-aggressive Japanese squad was decimated by the barrage, most of them lying still on the ground.