Chapter 22: Test Firing
Su Yaoyang listened to Li Gaoyuan’s explanation while his mind raced rapidly.
One must know one’s limitations. Su Yaoyang knew well that he was just a young man who grew up in peacetime. He couldn’t say he knew nothing about war, but at best, six of his seven orifices were open. Now, with a rare experienced officer explaining to him, he naturally seized the time to learn.
While listening to the explanation, Su Yaoyang pointed to a ruin on the right front and said.
“I just saw at least one squad of Japanese troops gathered there, only over six hundred meters away from us, completely within our mortar firing range. Why don’t we order the artillery squad to conduct fire coverage there?”
To enhance their own firepower, Su Yaoyang specially redeemed six M2 mortars and five bases（ each base 30 rounds） of shells.
But he overlooked the key factor of gunners. After searching through more than a hundred routed soldiers, except for Li Gaoyuan who knew a bit of basic artillery knowledge, there wasn’t even one soldier who knew how to fire the guns.
Helplessly, Li Gaoyuan could only select twenty smarter soldiers for emergency training, cramming his meager artillery knowledge into them wholesale.
Hearing Su Yaoyang speak, Li Gaoyuan said helplessly, “I know you got six 60 mortars last night, but even I myself am only half-skilled at it. It’s already good if the soldiers I trained can fire the shells. How dare you order fire coverage?”
“It’s already good if they can fire them out. What more do you want?” Su Yaoyang had a different view.
“Having mortars is at least better than having none, right?”
“Firing mortars is just like firing guns; it’s all about practice makes perfect. I just don’t believe that after firing dozens or hundreds of shells, we can’t train even one qualified gunner.”
“Nonsense…” Li Gaoyuan rolled his eyes dramatically.
Who doesn’t know this principle? If you make an ordinary person fire hundreds of bullets every day for two or three months, even the dumbest person would become a sharpshooter. The key problem is who can afford such consumption?
Dozens or hundreds of shells? Do you think shells are free?
Huh… that’s not right… the shells were provided by this guy… if that’s the case, then there’s no problem.
Su Yaoyang patted his shoulder: “Alright, Old Li… don’t feel sorry for those shells. Listen to me, quickly order the artillery squad to conduct covering fire.”
“Alright then.”
Li Gaoyuan nodded, just about to give the order, but then he thought better of it and said to him: “Commander Su… you are the highest commander here. You give the order.”
“Fine!”
Su Yaoyang didn’t think much of it, turned to a soldier behind him and said: “Order the artillery squad, target the ruins five hundred fifty meters to the right front of the church, one ranging shot.”
“Understood!”
One minute later, after the artillery squad received the order and adjusted the coordinates, accompanied by a dull bang, a 60mm high-explosive shell rushed out of the barrel and flew into the sky.
“Boom…”
Accompanied by a violent explosion, a thick plume of smoke rose from a street full of rubble on the right front.
“Idiot… missed.” Seeing the explosion point over a hundred meters away from the target, Su Yaoyang cursed in anger. Beside him, Li Gaoyuan covered his eyes, unable to bear watching. It was way too off.
But while he cursed, such a result was within Su Yaoyang’s expectations. He still ordered: “Order the artillery squad to adjust the range and continue firing!”
“Boom…”
“Boom… boom…”
The artillery squad perhaps knew they had lost a lot of face. After receiving the order, they gritted their teeth and continued firing one after another.
Finally, after firing five shells, on the sixth shot, the shell hit the target.
Seeing this, Su Yaoyang finally let out a long breath.
“See, even a blind cat has a day to catch a dead mouse. The principle of firing mortars is the same; it’s just a matter of probability.”
“Order the artillery squad to quickly conduct fire coverage!”
“Yes!”
The principle of firing mortars is actually the same: conduct ranging shots, and once the precise target is confirmed, all guns adjust to the same elevation and range, set the sights, and then full fire coverage can begin.
After receiving the order, the gunners hurriedly grabbed shells already fitted with fuses and shoved them into the barrels.
“Thud… thud thud…”
On the lawn in front of the church, sunlight filtered through the thin mist, casting faint light that illuminated a scene of chaos and tension.
Six M2 60 mortars were neatly lined up in a row, their barrels pointing to the sky, continuously spewing white gunsmoke.
M2 mortar
The air was filled with thick gunsmoke, the pungent and choking smell lingering. Each time a shell left the barrel, it was accompanied by a low thud of the shell exiting.
More than twenty gunners were busy beyond measure, clumsily transporting shells while shoving them into the barrels.
With a loud bang, shells poured out of the mortar muzzles like raindrops, arcing through the air before crashing heavily onto that ruin, continuously falling and each explosion hurling dirt and debris high up, turning into flying ash once more.
This rhythm seemed endless, dozens per minute, wave after wave without pause.
On the Japanese position, Hasegawa stared with eyes wider than copper bells at the shells continuously falling on the ruins less than two hundred meters from him.
When the first shell landed, Hasegawa was also startled, but when he saw it fall on an empty street, he finally put his heart at ease.
Later, when he saw shells landing aimlessly around, he felt both angry and amused, lowering his evaluation of the Chinese troops garrisoning the church even further:
“Baka, if I were the commander of the Chinese troops in the opposite church, I would drag those gunners over and beat them with twenty military sticks.”
The company commander beside him chimed in: “Colonel is absolutely right. The Chinese are the lowest race. Even if given the finest weapons, they can’t use them well. Now even their capital is occupied by us. It seems their national extinction is only a matter of time.”
“Yo xi…”
Hasegawa nodded, just about to speak, when he saw a shell fall straight into the ruined house where that squad was gathered. Thick gunsmoke accompanied by dust flew everywhere, and there seemed to be a faint scream.
“Huh…”
The smile on Hasegawa’s face instantly froze, and he blurted out.
“Bad… the Chinese gunners opposite are about to salvo!”
As soon as he spoke, a sharp whistling suddenly came from the sky, followed by six shells landing almost simultaneously on that ruin, instantly enveloping the area in a sky full of dust and smoke…
