Chapter 155: God Bless
“When did you get shot? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“No, I ran into a patrol on the way here,” Lao Qiang indifferently wiped the bloodstain from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, “I didn’t pay attention when jumping off the train and scraped my back.”
He lifted the hem of his clothes, revealing the wound roughly tied tight around his waist with wire, “I won’t die, I can still take out a few more Japanese devils.”
Luo Jiang gasped, hurriedly calling for the medic.
He Hansheng exchanged a glance with Luo Jiang; they both understood that Lao Qiang fighting in this condition was tantamount to suicide.
“You’re in charge of the detonator.” He Hansheng unceremoniously stuffed the detonator into Lao Qiang’s hands, “From the safest position.”
Lao Qiang wanted to argue, but was interrupted by a more violent bout of coughing.
At this moment, the messenger Xiao Chen hurriedly ran up: “Captain! The observation post reports the train has arrived!”
He Hansheng’s expression hardened, “Prepare to act.”
Eight fifty, Qinglong Gorge, the K-5245 train loaded with materials from Shanghai appeared in everyone’s sight?
Railway Guerrilla Squad member Bi Hu clung to the railway track bridge pier like a gecko, just like his name.
This former Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway maintenance worker could climb any vertical surface with his bare hands; at this moment, he was installing Luo Jiang’s specially made “trigger mine” at the steel beam joint.
Two hundred meters downstream, Luo Jiang was personally adjusting the detonating cord.
This homemade mine wouldn’t damage the railway track, but the explosion would hurl up a large amount of gravel, and with the rainy weather obscuring visibility, it was enough to make the Japanese Army mistake it for a large-scale ambush.
“Captain, searchlight!” The lookout post suddenly whispered.
The train approached at a steady speed, the distant railway track beginning to tremble slightly.
Luo Jiang narrowed his eyes and saw a glaring beam of light appear at the gorge bend; the armored reconnaissance vehicle’s searchlight was methodically sweeping the railway track left and right.
“Prepare.” Luo Jiang raised three fingers, and all team members immediately moved to their preset positions.
The train’s rumbling grew louder; the armored locomotive at the front spewed black smoke, its rooftop machine gunner vigilantly scanning the cliffs on both sides.
Luo Jiang held his breath, watching the locomotive wheels roll over the position they had previously marked…
“Detonate!”
The instant the detonator was pressed, the trigger mine exploded beneath the rail, flying gravel pummeling the armored vehicle shell like shotgun pellets.
Almost simultaneously, the guerrilla team members ambushed on both sides opened fire together, deliberately using different models of guns to create the illusion of a large-scale ambush.
The armored reconnaissance vehicle immediately sounded the alarm, its rooftop machine gun spewing fire.
Luo Jiang saw the door of the second car suddenly fly open, more than twenty fully armed Japanese Army soldiers jumping down and fanning out under the officer’s command.
“Follow the original route, withdraw!” Luo Jiang ordered, and the guerrilla team members swiftly retreated along the predetermined route, deliberately leaving behind a few military caps and an old-style rifle as bait.
Just as they expected, Nishiyama Ken dispatched the armored reconnaissance vehicle and half his escort to pursue the “fleeing” guerrilla team.
When the train restarted, the escort strength had already been halved.
The train advanced slowly; He Hansheng, ambushed in the middle section of Qinglong Gorge, lay behind damp rocks, and the train’s silhouette finally appeared in his binoculars.
Compared to the previous tight formation, the escorts now were clearly much sparser.
But he noticed that the escorting Japanese Army had stationed shooters on the roof of every car, and all the doors and windows of the gasoline barrel cars had been reinforced with steel plates.
“Lao Qiang, confirm the third car.” He handed the binoculars to the intelligence officer beside him.
Lao Qiang’s breathing had grown heavy, but his hands remained steady: “Look at the vent below the car door. Yes, right there, gasoline evaporation traces.”
“Hmm, something’s wrong with the ammunition crates—no, it looks like they’ve tampered with them.”
He Hansheng hurriedly grabbed the binoculars and adjusted the focus. Sure enough, through the side window of the car, he could see the artillery shell crates arranged in a special “well” character formation, with some kind of cushioning material padded between the crates.
“That’s an anti-cookoff measure,” He Hansheng breathed a sigh of relief, “It shouldn’t be aimed at us, just for safety.”
“In that case…”
He Hansheng pondered for a moment, then gritted his teeth: “Plan change—switch to segmented detonation. First detonate the gasoline cars to create chaos, then concentrate fire on the artillery shell cars. Send someone with a satchel charge to approach the car and detonate the explosives at close range.”
“Lao Qiang, you stay here and operate the main detonator.” He Hansheng pressed down the intelligence officer who wanted to stand, “That’s an order.”
“Yes, Captain,” Lao Qiang replied softly, his tone full of reluctance.
“Clang, clang,” when the train had fully entered the ambush zone, more than a dozen figures suddenly appeared on both sides of the gorge.
The Japanese Army machine gunners hadn’t reacted yet when the first wave of explosives detonated beneath the third car.
A soaring inferno instantly engulfed the entire car, burning gasoline flowing along the railway track to form a wall of fire.
“Fire!” He Hansheng’s Boxer pistol fired three shots in succession, shattering the glass of the seventh car.
The guerrilla team’s concentrated fire poured down on the artillery shell cars like a rainstorm.
Nishiyama Ken clearly hadn’t anticipated this move and hurriedly gathered soldiers to protect the rear cars.
At that moment, Lao Qiang suddenly leaped from cover, clutching a satchel charge as he rushed toward the railway track!
“Lao Qiang, are you trying to get yourself killed?” He Hansheng shouted, but the ensuing machine gun sweep forced him to instinctively duck down.
“Machine gunner, cover him!” He Hansheng said helplessly.
Lao Qiang snaked through the bullet rain, crawling the final ten meters almost flat against the ground to reach the car position.
But his figure had already been locked by the enemy.
Boom—the grenade launcher exploded not far from Lao Qiang, the massive shockwave hurling him aside.
By now, Lao Qiang’s chest was riddled with bullet holes, his lower body likewise drenched in blood.
But he still struggled to get close to the car, then decisively pulled the fuse on the satchel charge in his hand.
“Boom—”
A shockwave more violent than any previous explosion shattered the rocks on both sides of the gorge.
The chain cookoff of two thousand artillery shells tore the entire car to pieces, burning metal components raining down like meteors.
Everyone’s ears went deaf simultaneously under the massive blast wave…
“Lao Qiang,” He Hansheng cried out in grief, leading his team out of cover.
At this point, the Japanese Army squad had been hit by the enormous blast force of the artillery shells; most were killed, the scene a total mess.
Squad commander Nishiyama Ken lay amid a pile of corpses, covered in blood and filth.
He Hansheng stood before the shattered car as several guerrilla team members ran up and shouted, “Captain, no materials found—this car only had gasoline and artillery shells. Looks like our intelligence was wrong.”
He Hansheng feigned surprise: “What? Never mind, no time—they’ll have reinforcements soon. Let’s go.”
As his words fell, the group hurriedly left, but at that moment, Nishiyama Ken’s body in the corpse pile twitched slightly.
The next day, Shanghai, Southern Transportation Department.
Chen Yang had just arrived at the office and hadn’t even set down his briefcase when he saw Li Ningyu rushing in frantically.
“Sir, something happened—the 106 Division ammunition supply train under Section Chief Matsushima’s responsibility was raided by Red Party Guerrillas at Qinglong Gorge. The escort squad had nineteen killed, four seriously wounded, seven lightly wounded.”
“All ammunition was destroyed, and Section Chief Matsushima has been taken away by the Special Higher Police Affairs for investigation.”
Chen Yang asked suspiciously, “Taken away Section Chief Matsushima? Why?”
Li Ningyu whispered, “I heard that Transportation Captain Major Nishiyama personally overheard the enemy locking onto the train’s target as robbing the 101 Division’s supplies.”
“That means the vehicle transportation information leaked three days ago.”
“You temporarily requested swapping the 101 Division supplies for the 106 Division’s ammunition.”
“The enemy clearly didn’t know and ended up destroying the 106 Division’s supplies.”
“Luckily, this shipment wasn’t under your responsibility, or the Special Higher Police Affairs would have taken you away by now.”
Chen Yang frowned slightly: “Didn’t Major Nishiyama boast about having a knack for dealing with Red Party Guerrillas?”
“How could he screw up so badly?”
“How is he now?”
Li Ningyu said slowly, “God bless, he’s lucky and managed to keep his life.”
Chen Yang asked puzzled, “What do you mean ‘managed to keep his life’?”
Li Ningyu said expressionlessly, “I already said, God bless…”
“But he didn’t bless the left—his left hand and left foot were both blown off, only his right hand and right foot still work.”
Holy crap, some God bless…
