Chapter 130 Water Gate Bridge: Bloody Battle and Bridge Demolition

The night was so dark it was almost impenetrable, and the biting wind, carrying snowflakes, felt like knives cutting into your face.

Wu Wanli gripped the grenade tightly in his hand, his knuckles turning white from the force. He moved closer to Wu Qianli, lowered his voice, and spoke with a hint of youthful urgency.

"Bro, this grenade is only really effective when it's right up against the enemy. I'll charge in with you later, I promise I won't hold you back!"

Wu Qianli turned his head and glanced at his younger brother in the dim light of the day. His eyes were full of solemnity. He reached out and patted Wu Wanli's shoulder, his voice very low.

"Remember, stick with the group, don't be reckless, and don't use grenades unless absolutely necessary. We need to be careful with every step we take now."

Despite the talk of moving forward, no one dared to stand up straight. They crawled along the cold, muddy ground, their elbows and knees scraping against the frozen earth, feeling cold and painful, yet no one dared to make a sound.

The enemy's searchlights were like the eyes of death, their pale beams sweeping across the ground. Wherever the light reached, even the rubble on the ground was clearly visible. They were now barely huddled on the edge of the searchlights' beams.

If you move forward even a little bit, you will be instantly exposed to the light. You can only stare at the beam of light that moves back and forth, and wait for the spotlight to turn so that you can move forward even a tiny bit.

"Company commander, that big water pipe..."

A soldier silently crawled up to Wu Qianli's side, his voice filled with barely concealed frustration.

"The water pipes we were supposed to use were destroyed by enemy artillery fire; the entire pipe system collapsed, and we can't pass through at all!"

Wu Qianli frowned, muttered a curse under his breath, but there was nothing he could do.

"Understood. Proceed as planned, crawling forward, and wait for He Yuzhu's signal."

The enemy's searchlights were so densely packed that there were almost no blind spots. The alternating beams of light made the advance of Wu Qianli's Seventh Company as slow as a snail's pace. Every inch they moved required them to hold their breath and proceed with extreme caution.

He Yuzhu lay prone behind a nearby earthen slope, his eyes fixed on the enemy's movements on the bridge, his finger lightly resting on the trigger.

He was waiting for the perfect opportunity. He needed to wait until the soldiers of the Seventh Company got closer enough to launch an attack and break through in one fell swoop, minimizing casualties. Otherwise, in open terrain, they would be sitting ducks for the enemy.

"Closer, just ten more meters would be perfect..."

He Yuzhu silently muttered to himself, his gaze fixed on the swaying searchlights and enemy firing positions.

But fate had other plans; the enemy's searchlights seemed to be deliberately working against them.

A beam of light swept across and instantly fixed on the crawling soldiers, illuminating their figures in stark white light!

"Enemy sighted! Heavy machine guns, prepare!"

The enemy's sharp roars came from the bridge, and a heavy machine gun mounted at the bridgehead quickly turned its muzzle.

The dark muzzle of the gun was pointed at the soldier on the ground, and the machine gunner had already pulled the trigger, about to unleash a deadly tongue of fire!

At this critical moment, He Yuzhu's sniper rifle fired first.

"Bang!"

A crisp and sharp gunshot pierced the silent night sky.

The heavy machine gunner on the bridge didn't even utter a sound before a burst of blood erupted from his forehead, and he fell straight to the machine gun position.

"Someone's attacking! Cover their position!"

The assistant gunner reacted quickly, immediately lunging towards the heavy machine gun to take over the gunner's position, but his hand had barely touched the machine gun grip when...

"Bang!"

Another shot, perfectly aimed, and the assistant gunner also fell to the ground, lifeless.

Immediately after that, He Yuzhu's gun never stopped firing.

He moved with agility, like a cheetah in the dark, quickly changing positions to avoid being locked on by the enemy while pulling the trigger, gunshots ringing out continuously.

Every gunshot took the life of an enemy.

In just a few dozen seconds, he emptied a magazine of bullets. He quickly and efficiently replaced the ammunition, and his eyes swept across the battlefield. He had already eliminated three key enemy firing positions and destroyed two searchlights that were so bright they made it impossible to open one's eyes.

"Well done!"

Wu Qianli was overjoyed when he saw the searchlights shining in his direction go out completely. He could no longer wait for the other lights to go out, so he stood up abruptly and shouted loudly to the soldiers behind him.

"Comrades, charge!"

At a command, the soldiers who had been lying prone on the ground immediately stood up, bent over, and charged toward the bridge like arrows released from a bow.

Footsteps crunched rapidly on the muddy snow, and everyone pressed forward with all their might towards the bridgehead.

He Yuzhu quickly put the M1 rifle in his hand into his personal storage space.

The next second, a Springfield sniper rifle was in his hand. He quickly set up the rifle, aimed at the remaining searchlights on the bridge, and shouted to the machine gunner behind him at the same time.

"Machine gun squad, provide full covering fire and suppress enemy fire!"

"receive!"

"Da da da, da da da!"

Three light machine guns opened fire simultaneously, spewing forth bursts of fire as bullets rained down on the swaying enemy figures on the bridge, instantly suppressing the enemy's first counterattack.

The enemy troops on the bridge reacted quickly, opening fire with all kinds of guns. Bullets whistled through the air, weaving a dense network of fire.

Compared to the gunfight on the Seventh Company's side, the battle on the Sixth Company's side not far away was much more intense and brutal.

First came a series of violent explosions, with flames shooting into the sky. The enemy tank at the forefront was accurately hit by a bazooka rocket launcher from the soldiers of the Sixth Company. The thick armor was blown apart instantly, and the entire tank burst into flames. The enemy soldiers inside the tank screamed in agony, but soon fell silent.

Immediately afterwards, the sounds of mortars firing and shells exploding on the ground followed one after another. The whooshing sound of shells cutting through the air and the loud bangs of explosions made the ground tremble slightly.

"Da da da!"

"Rat-a-tat-tat!"

"Bang bang bang!"

The sounds of various gunshots, grenade explosions, and soldiers' shouts mingled together.

The silence of the night echoed as the entire battlefield was engulfed in flames and smoke.

The enemy troops on the bridge were all eliminated by He Yuzhu because the first exposed firing positions and sentries were all eliminated.

At this moment, all the firepower was focused on the light machine gun position of the 7th Company. Bullets rained down on the ground around the machine gunners, splashing up mud and snow.

Although the soldiers of the Seventh Company were all experienced in combat, and Wu Qianli had repeatedly given them instructions before the battle.

Machine gunners must not hold a single position and fire. The machine guns must be spread out and deployed, and after each round of fire, they must immediately change positions to avoid being locked on by enemy fire.

The soldiers followed orders strictly, setting up the machine guns in a crossfire pattern. After each magazine was emptied, they immediately got up and moved to a new position with incredible speed.

Even so, the enemy's firepower was too fierce. The first round of fighting had just ended when two of the three machine gunners were hit and fell. The assistant gunner immediately took over and continued firing the machine gun. The ferocity of the battle was evident.

With only a sniper rifle, He Yuzhu was ultimately unable to deal with the large number of enemy troops swarming forward.

But the machine gunners had already successfully completed their covering mission—the assault team from the 7th Company responsible for blowing up the bridge had successfully reached the area below the bridge under the cover of fire.

"Rush!"

At the command of the assault squad leader, a dozen submachine guns opened fire simultaneously. The dense bullets instantly swept down a large number of enemy soldiers at the bridgehead, catching them off guard. They could only retreat hastily into the bridge and dared not show themselves easily.

"Machine gun squad, quickly move to a new position and take cover!"

Upon seeing this, He Yuzhu immediately shouted loudly, before he could finish speaking.

He was already carrying his M1 rifle with a new magazine, and he charged toward the bridge. As he ran, he kept pulling the trigger, and his bullets accurately hit the enemy soldiers who showed their faces along the way. Not a single shot missed.

This time, taking advantage of the space, He Yuzhu secretly activated the "cheat device". After firing all the bullets in his M1 rifle, he didn't need to change the magazine on the spot. He directly took out a fully loaded rifle from the space and continued firing without any interruption.

In his hands, a semi-automatic rifle could achieve the rate of fire of a machine gun, yet with several times the accuracy. Any enemy soldier who dared to peek out would be instantly killed with a single shot.

On the other side, Yu Congrong and his demolition team were already busy under the bridge piers, quickly installing explosive charges.

After working for a while, he frowned and shouted at the soldiers beside him.

"Simply blowing up the bridge piers won't work! This bridge is a steel structure; blowing it up won't cause it to collapse. Someone has to climb up to the top of the bridge to install the explosives!"

"Wow!"

"I'll go!"

Several soldiers immediately responded and began to climb up the bridge pillar.

At this moment, the commotion under the bridge finally alerted the enemy troops on the bridge.

The enemy commander went completely berserk. Ignoring He Yuzhu's accurate shooting, he frantically ordered his soldiers to rush to the bridge and fire wildly at the people below, throwing grenades and even bringing out flamethrowers!

"Flame-breathing soldiers, step forward and burn them to ashes!"

A pillar of fire suddenly shot down from the bridge, with an astonishingly high temperature.

The soldiers of the Seventh Company were already hiding in the narrow space under the bridge, with nowhere to hide. Instantly, several soldiers were hit by the flames, and their bodies were engulfed in flames.

They rolled and howled in agony on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames on their bodies, but the fire, fueled by the wind, burned ever brighter and was impossible to put out.

Even more cruelly, these burning soldiers, struggling on the ground, became the most conspicuous targets for the enemy troops on the bridge. The enemy's bullets shot at them mercilessly until they breathed their last.

Even after they died, their bodies continued to burn, and the flickering flames became the enemy's illumination, allowing them to more clearly aim at the soldiers of the Seventh Company below the bridge.

Seeing their comrades die tragically, the soldiers of the Seventh Company all had bloodshot eyes, their eyes were about to burst, and the anger in their hearts was about to burst out.

However, the enemy's firing and grenade throwing on the bridge never stopped. The dense firepower made it impossible for them to raise their heads. Helpless, the remaining soldiers could only huddle in the narrower gaps under the bridge to temporarily avoid the fire.

As He Yuzhu watched this scene, his heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by a giant hand, and a surge of rage welled up within him, but he knew...

At this moment, we must not act impulsively; anger will not solve any problems.

He was also suppressed by enemy fire, with bullets whistling around him and making "thud" sounds as they hit the ground.

He could only roll, run, and dodge to find openings to shoot, and because of this, he shot much less frequently than before.

As soon as the enemy flamethrower soldiers appeared, He Yuzhu immediately changed his shooting target. He no longer prioritized aiming at the enemy soldiers throwing grenades, but instead locked onto each flamethrower soldier. These flamethrower soldiers posed too great a threat to his comrades under the bridge and had to be eliminated first!

Finally, taking advantage of the enemy's reloading, He Yuzhu found an excellent shooting angle. His eyes were cold, he held his breath, and his finger slowly pulled the trigger.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Three well-timed gunshots rang out, each bullet hitting the flamethrower soldier on the bridge with perfect accuracy.

The flamethrower soldiers carried fuel canisters, which instantly caused violent explosions when hit by bullets. Several huge fireballs exploded on the bridge with a series of booming sounds, and scalding fire rained down from the sky. A series of mournful howls immediately echoed across the bridge.

Immediately afterwards, several people engulfed in flames tumbled down from the bridge, which was more than ten meters high, and crashed heavily to the ground. They were already dead without needing any follow-up shots.

Screams echoed across the bridge. The flames from the gasoline fire could not be extinguished simply by rolling around on the ground. The flames burned the flesh, and the pain was unimaginable.

The enemy commander, a bald eagle, stood on the bridge, listening to his men's heart-wrenching screams. His face was ashen, and his eyes were filled with cruelty.

He couldn't bear to see his men suffer like this (actually, he was afraid it would affect morale), so he gritted his teeth and gave a stern order to the soldiers around him: "Fire! Give them a quick death!"

At a command, the enemy soldiers on the bridge raised their guns and opened fire on their burning comrades. The screams gradually subsided, but the atmosphere on the bridge grew increasingly tense.

Soon, in order to pinpoint He Yuzhu's location, the enemy began firing tracer rounds in his direction—one, two, three…

A dense barrage of tracer rounds shot into the sky, illuminating the entire night sky as if it were daytime, instantly exposing He Yuzhu's figure to the enemy's view.

"Enemy sniper spotted. Open fire!"

The enemy's roars rang out, and bullets rained down on He Yuzhu in an instant.

He Yuzhu was prepared. The moment the tracer rounds lit up, he grabbed the grenade launcher next to him, quickly aimed at the bridge, and "thump, thump!" the grenades were launched instantly.

As the grenade was fired, He Yuzhu didn't dare to stop for a moment. He leaped and rolled down the side slope, bullets raining down on his figure.

The snowflakes pelted the ground behind him with a "plop plop plop" sound, splashing up puffs of snow and mud. If you weren't careful, you would be riddled with holes.

"Boom boom boom!"

Several violent explosions rang out on the bridge, as grenades landed precisely in the enemy ranks, instantly killing a large number of them.

The soldiers of the Seventh Company below the bridge, upon hearing the familiar explosion, were initially stunned, then realized: "It's a grenade launcher! It was He Yuzhu who fired it!"

"Great! We have reinforcements!"

The enemy commander had no idea that there would be a grenade launcher attack from below.

He had always assumed the enemy only had rifles. Moreover, the bridge was more than ten meters above the ground and fifty or sixty meters away from where the enemy was hiding. It was impossible for grenades to be thrown up there. He was completely unprepared.

Seeing the soldiers fall instantly, he panicked completely, thinking that the soldiers of the Seventh Company under the bridge had already climbed up, and immediately shouted frantically at his subordinates.

"The enemy is charging! Quick, drive them back! We can't let them get near the explosives!"

At this time, the Seventh Company's light machine guns were still firing intermittently, but of the original three machine guns, only two remained, and the firing rhythm was intermittent, with firepower greatly reduced.

He Yuzhu lay prone behind the earthen slope, listening to the machine gun fire, and instantly understood.

The machine gunners must have all been wounded, and with the frequent shifts in positions and mutual cover, their combat effectiveness dropped so quickly.

It has to be said that He Yuzhu was extremely lucky. The bullets kept chasing him, but they never managed to hurt him in the slightest. Not even a scratch was broken. However, as he rolled down the slope, he was covered in snow and almost turned into a big snowball, looking rather disheveled.

After finally rolling down the slope, He Yuzhu watched as the tracer rounds in the air gradually disappeared. He immediately shook off the snow and mud, took out his M1 rifle again, set up the scope, looked towards the bridge, and estimated the distance to be about four hundred meters.

However, the current shooting angle is too poor to accurately hit the target.

He Yuzhu immediately got up and, taking advantage of the darkness and the terrain, ran quickly, searching for a suitable sniping position.

Gunfire continued fiercely from the direction of the bridge, along with the continuous explosions of grenades and even a few loud mortar shots.

He Yuzhu's heart skipped a beat, guessing that Mei Sheng must have seen that the battle was not going well on the bridge side and decisively ordered the artillery to provide support and help them share the firepower.

While running, He Yuzhu glanced back at the direction of the Sixth Company and his heart sank.

The tanks that had been hit by the bazooka had been extinguished, leaving only black wreckage. The entire battlefield was illuminated by the fire from bullets, shells, and grenades, with flames shooting into the sky, as dazzling as fireworks in later generations. But behind this dazzling display was endless fighting and sacrifice, which was enough to imagine how tragic the battle was.

In fact, the Sixth Company was now at a critical juncture of life and death. More than one-third of the combat personnel had been lost, and the political instructor had been grazed by a bullet and was slightly wounded.

The third platoon leader died a heroic death in the fierce battle just now, and one of the company's only two heavy machine guns was destroyed by enemy artillery fire, greatly reducing its combat effectiveness.

The terrain where the Sixth Company was located was already extremely unfavorable. The battle started suddenly, and there was no time to dig complete trenches. The soldiers could only hide in makeshift foxholes, and some could even huddle in the craters created by enemy artillery shells, completely exposed to enemy fire without any cover.

If the troops hadn't been equipped with advanced weapons and equipment, the Sixth Company would have been unable to hold out against the enemy's tanks and concentrated firepower with its old equipment. The firepower of the two sides was completely unequal.

In the past, when encountering enemy tanks, soldiers could only rely on carrying explosive packs and grenades, using their own flesh and blood to fill the gaps. However, the power of grenades was limited; at most, they could break the tank tracks, but they could not completely destroy the tank, resulting in huge casualties.

But things are different now. With the bazooka rocket launcher, the morale of the soldiers of the Sixth Company soared, and they destroyed two enemy tanks in the first round of combat.

They subsequently destroyed a tank and an armored vehicle, greatly dampening the enemy's arrogance and strengthening their resolve to hold out until the Seventh Company destroyed the bridge!

Of course, every soldier in the Sixth Company, from the moment they set off, was prepared to die and had long since disregarded life and death.

Company Commander Xiong Jie and Political Instructor Huang Liwen were somewhat surprised by the current situation. Without air support, these usually arrogant and domineering enemy troops were not so effective in combat.

He Yuzhu ran for an unknown amount of time before finally finding a embankment with a wide field of vision and excellent concealment. Here, he could avoid the enemy's frontal fire and have a clear view of the bridge.

He immediately crouched down, fully loaded both the M1 rifle and the Springfield sniper rifle, and without hesitation, pulled the trigger.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Gunfire rang out in quick succession, crisp and clean. He fired thirteen bullets in one go, each one hitting its mark. An entire enemy squad on the bridge was wiped out in an instant, lying haphazardly on the bridge surface.

The enemy troops on the bridge finally realized that the Chinese sniper who had caused them heavy casualties was still alive and hiding nearby, and began to fire at them relentlessly.

To their despair, the unit stationed on the bridge had no professional snipers or sniper rifles, making it impossible for them to effectively counter He Yuzhu.

Left with no other option, the enemy had to deploy mortars and heavy machine guns, firing wildly in the direction of He Yuzhu, attempting to suppress him with concentrated firepower and prevent him from raising his head to fire.

Just as the two sides were locked in a critical standoff, He Yuzhu suddenly heard a sharp whistle, urgent and clear—it was the retreat whistle that the Seventh Company had agreed upon! This meant that all the explosive charges had been installed, and the Seventh Company's mission to blow up the bridge was about to be completed!

The enemy troops couldn't understand the meaning of the whistle, but they had a deep-seated fear of this sharp sound, especially those who had fought against our large-scale forces before. They would instinctively panic when they heard the whistle.

In their eyes, the whistle was a signal to attack, a nightmare for them.

"Quickly, set up the new searchlights and lock onto them!"

The enemy commander shouted angrily and ordered another round of tracer rounds to be fired, determined to find the retreat route of the Seventh Company and leave them all behind.

But before the enemy could even turn on their newly set-up searchlights, He Yuzhu shot them off, extinguishing the lights instantly.

As for the tracer rounds, He Yuzhu had no way to completely eliminate them, so he could only fire with all his might to cover the retreating soldiers of the Seventh Company.

Even though He Yuzhu's firing rate was incredibly fast and he was constantly suppressing the enemy's firepower, the enemy's numbers were simply too great, and the bullets were densely packed.

As the Seventh Company retreated, soldiers continued to fall. Some struggled to their feet, but after running only a few steps, they were shot again and fell, never to rise again.

Watching his comrades fall one by one on the retreat route, He Yuzhu's eyes turned red and bloodshot. He felt a mix of anger and grief, and he wished he could rush up and fight the enemy to the death.

Just as he emptied another magazine and was preparing to reload.

"Boom! Boom!"

Three deafening roars followed one after another, causing the entire ground to tremble violently.

Looking through the sniper scope, He Yuzhu saw that half of the bridge was instantly blown up, the steel bars twisted and broken, and the stones and steel frame collapsed with a crash. The enemy soldiers on the bridge who had no time to dodge rolled down with the collapsed bridge body, struggled in the ruins, and eventually went silent.

Looking at the remaining soldiers of the Seventh Company, they had already disappeared completely into the vast night under the cover of the explosion, successfully escaping the enemy's fire range.

He Yuzhu dared not relax at all. The Seventh Company was safe, but the Sixth Company was still surrounded by enemy fire. Now that the bridge had been blown up, all the anger of the enemy reinforcements would be vented on the Sixth Company, which would surely be in an even greater crisis!

He Yuzhu quickly loaded the bullets into the two guns, got up and ran towards the Sixth Company, the snow under his feet crunching under his feet.

He had only one thought in his mind: hurry, hurry, we must help the Sixth Company break through!

At this moment, the Sixth Company was indeed facing its most critical situation. Upon learning that the bridge had been destroyed, the enemy was instantly enraged and once again mobilized tank reinforcements. Pushing aside the wrecked tanks and armored vehicles on the road, they pressed closer and closer to the Sixth Company's position. The tank tracks rolled over the ground with a deafening roar, their imposing presence overwhelming.

To make matters worse, the sixth company was carrying bazooka rockets.

Having already fought their way through, they now had no effective weapons to retaliate against the enemy's tanks. The only way to stop the tanks from advancing was for the soldiers to carry explosives and use their own bodies to destroy them.

"Comrades, blow up the tanks!"

Sixth Company Commander Xiong Jie's face was ashen as he watched the tanks approaching step by step. He gritted his teeth and gave the order. Volunteers in the company stepped forward one after another. Each of them was covered with grenades and explosive packs. Their eyes were firm, and they were prepared to sacrifice themselves and ready to go at any time.

"Company commander, we're ready!"

The soldiers shouted in unison, their voices strong and clear, without a trace of fear.

At this critical moment when life and death hung in the balance, a rocket with a trail of flame suddenly came flying from the side and hit the side armor of the lead tank with perfect accuracy!

"boom!"

A violent explosion rang out instantly, detonating the shells inside the tank and causing a tremendous secondary explosion. The heavy tank turret was blown away, flying more than ten meters away.

The enemy troops following closely behind the tanks were blown away by the shockwave and debris from the explosion, resulting in numerous casualties.

This was far from over. Immediately afterwards, with a few whooshing sounds, several mortar shells came whistling through the air and landed precisely in the enemy ranks that followed. Explosions rang out one after another, and a large area of ​​the dense enemy force was instantly wiped out.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

"Boom boom boom!"

Without the slightest pause, several more rounds of precise mortar fire completely disrupted the enemy's offensive formation, resulting in heavy casualties. The soldiers of the Sixth Company, seeing this sudden reinforcement, were initially stunned, but then realized: reinforcements had arrived! They were saved!

"Comrades, reinforcements have arrived, let's retreat!"

Sixth Company Commander Xiong Jie reacted quickly, seizing this excellent opportunity and decisively giving orders to his soldiers.

"Second platoon, stay behind to provide cover; everyone else, retreat quickly!"

"Company Commander! Let us stay!" Several wounded soldiers with leg injuries and limited mobility struggled to their feet and shouted loudly to Xiong Jie.

"We can't run anymore. Staying behind will allow us to cover for everyone; otherwise, none of us will be able to escape!"

Looking at his wounded comrades, Xiong Jie's eyes reddened, and he sternly refused, "No! I'm taking you all with me!"

"Company commander, don't hesitate!"

A wounded soldier grabbed Xiong Jie's arm, his voice urgent.

"As you can see, there are too many enemies, including tanks and armored vehicles. If we take them with us, none of us will escape. If we stay, we can buy everyone some time!"

"Instructor, look..."

Xiong Jie was torn with conflicting emotions. He turned to look at his instructor, his voice trembling with emotion. He simply couldn't bear to leave behind any of his comrades.

The instructor looked at the wounded soldier in front of him, then at the enemy troops closing in, his eyes welled up with tears. He wiped his face with his hand and said through gritted teeth to Xiong Jie.

"Old Bear, let them stay. We... really can't take them with us. We can't let everyone be trapped here to die."

"Withdraw! Leave all the machine guns and grenades to the wounded!" Xiong Jie's eyes were red, tears welling up in them, but he still managed to give the order with a heavy heart.

"yes!"

"Get out of here! It'll be too late if we don't leave now!"

Xiong Jie walked at the very back of the column, looking back at the wounded soldiers left on the front lines, watching them silently check their weapons and organize their grenades.

He stopped, straightened his body, and solemnly saluted his comrades who were about to die.

The wounded soldiers on the position raised their heads and returned a standard military salute to Xiong Jie and their retreating comrades. Their eyes showed no fear, only determination and resolve.

Then, Xiong Jie was forcibly pulled by the platoon leader and turned around to run quickly out of the position.

The soldiers of the Sixth Company hadn't run far when they heard a burst of gunfire behind them.

"Da da da, da da da!"

Gunfire was infrequent but continuous; it was the wounded soldiers left behind using their last firepower to hold off the enemy and buy time for the main force to retreat.

Just as the soldiers of the Sixth Company had run a hundred meters away, a violent explosion suddenly came from behind them, and the gunfire stopped abruptly for a moment.

Immediately afterwards, sparse rifle fire rang out again, as the wounded soldiers, having run out of machine gun ammunition, continued to resist with their rifles.

Then, a series of deafening explosions rang out, echoing through the night sky—the wounded soldiers had detonated the grenades on their bodies, taking the charging enemy soldiers down with them.

Upon hearing the explosion behind them, the soldiers of the Sixth Company abruptly stopped. They all turned around, straightened their bodies, and solemnly saluted the former position.

Tears welled up in everyone's eyes, mingling with the mud on their faces and leaving streaks, but no one bothered to wipe them away.

After the ceremony, they didn't linger at all. They turned around and ran towards the designated assembly point, their hearts filled with grief, but they could only carry on with their comrades' last wishes.

After firing three rounds of mortars to cover the retreat of the Sixth Company, He Yuzhu immediately began to withdraw as well. He saw the main force of the Sixth Company successfully break through the encirclement.

But he didn't know, nor did he have the ability, to rescue the wounded who had stayed behind to provide cover. The enemy forces opposite him numbered at least a battalion, with large numbers of reinforcements constantly arriving. Rushing forward would only result in needless sacrifice.

When He Yuzhu ran back to the designated assembly point, panting, all the soldiers of the Seventh Company had arrived. After counting the number of people, the originally full-strength company now had less than twenty people left, including a squad of soldiers from the Sixth Company who had cooperated with the operation earlier.

Just over ten minutes later, the remaining soldiers of the Sixth Company also returned to the assembly point. When they set off, the Sixth Company had a total of sixty men.

But only a platoon of soldiers returned, each one covered in wounds, exhausted, and with eyes full of grief and weariness.

No one had time to discuss the outcome of the battle, nor did anyone have time to mourn the fallen comrades. The most important thing at the moment was to evacuate immediately.

It was already past 2 a.m., and in a few more hours it would be completely light. Once it was light, the enemy planes would take off.

If they cannot evacuate to a safe area in time, they will only be able to wait for bombs, fires, and machine gun fire during the day, resulting in the annihilation of the entire army.

They had to retreat to an area at least 15 kilometers away to barely guarantee their safety. The reason they had to go so far was because yesterday, within a 10-kilometer radius, they had suffered heavy losses from enemy aircraft bombing and burning, and they absolutely could not repeat that mistake.

The team set off immediately, braving the biting cold wind, marching rapidly through the night, running at full speed.

Along the way, no one whispered to each other, no one complained about being tired. Everyone was immersed in the grief of losing their comrades. They just silently followed the leading soldier and ran forward without stopping. The pain in their hearts turned into the motivation to move forward.

They ran like this until dawn broke and the first hint of light appeared in the east, finally managing to escape their perceived safe radius and completely break free from the enemy's attack range.

The troops stopped, and the two company commanders quickly set up sentry posts and arranged for the soldiers to rest on the spot.

The situation in the Seventh Company was relatively better; although the soldiers were exhausted, they could still barely hold on.

The soldiers of the Sixth Company had been marching all day yesterday, and had experienced a fierce battle in between. The night was filled with intense fighting and forced marches, leaving them utterly exhausted. As soon as they stopped, many of them collapsed to the ground, too weak to even lift their hands.

After all the soldiers had rested, Company Commanders Wu Qianli and Xiong Jie, along with two political instructors, sat down together for an emergency meeting to discuss the subsequent combat plan.

"It's impossible to blow up the bridge again now," Wu Qianli said first, his expression grave.

"We saw it last night too. There were at least two enemy companies stationed on the bridge, and countless reinforcements were coming from behind. The road is narrow, so the enemy can't form a complete formation, but we can see at least one battalion with our naked eyes. There must be more troops behind them. With our limited forces, we simply can't get any closer to the bridge."

Xiong Jie nodded and sighed.

"That's right. The Sixth Company has suffered heavy casualties and its weapons and ammunition are almost exhausted. The Seventh Company also only has this many men left, so it is simply unable to launch another attack."

After a brief discussion, the group reached a consensus: to immediately contact the division headquarters via radio to report the current battle situation and await further operational instructions from the division headquarters.

But another unexpected event occurred. They worked through the night to adjust the radio and repeatedly called the division headquarters, but still received no response.

It seems that the division headquarters was also conducting a strategic shift, and in order to avoid revealing their location, they kept their radios silent throughout, which is why they were unable to contact the division headquarters despite calling for a long time.

"There's no other way but to rest here and recharge," Wu Qianli said helplessly.

"We'll try to contact the division headquarters after daybreak. But the situation will be uncertain after daybreak. We could encounter enemy troops at any time. Everyone must remain vigilant and not let their guard down in the slightest."