Chapter 59: Three Promotions in a Row

...As modern people, did we not know that certain places of interest and historic sites are precious legacies left to us by our ancestors, and that once destroyed by the flames of war, the loss would be irrecoverable?

Of course we knew! Yet that still did not stop us, when necessary, from tearing down those exquisitely carved and ornate architectural materials to construct our defenses.

Because we believed that even the ancestors who originally built these historic sites...

Would rather have these structures reduced to crumbling ruins, leaving them as a reminder of shame for future generations to muster their courage and strive for redemption, than have them become exquisite spoils in the hands of invaders after the nation fell.

Pointing at our bones and saying: Look! These are slaves...

...Excerpt from Hubiao's diary collection "Hubiao's Nonsense"...

In the time that followed, the surviving members of the Third Company shared a can of beef between every two of them. After slightly filling their stomachs, they began to busy themselves with various tasks.

Almost as soon as they started, however, they ran into an unexpected problem.

Mainly because when Hubiao and his men were at Position Number Seven, they had encountered no issues whatsoever while digging trenches. They had instinctively assumed that the soil conditions around the Shanghai area were similar, and that they would be able to dig trenches at Dunwu Temple.

And the result? Perhaps Dunwu Temple was too close to the Yunzaobang Creek, resulting in a much more abundant groundwater system.

Scarcely had they dug forty centimeters down when the ground began to show faint signs of seeping water. By the time they reached a depth of seventy to eighty centimeters, the seepage was already quite pronounced.

Faced with the seeping groundwater, AT, who was responsible for setting up the flying-mortar positions, was not heavily impacted.

Acting on Hubiao's orders, he immediately called over a few soldiers and trotted toward the cotton field directly behind them.

Because before the charge, the oil tanks they had painstakingly carried all the way, along with the explosive charges meant for launching,

As well as the Third Company's reserve ammunition, had all been temporarily dumped in that cotton field.

It should be noted that a weapon like the flying-mortar absolute cannot be used the way it is depicted in movies—simply supporting an iron drum with a rack in an open field and firing it directly.

If they were to actually do that, the thin layer of iron plate would never be able to withstand the chamber pressure upon launch.

More likely than not, the explosive charge would fail to launch and instead detonate in a burst barrel, killing their own men.

The correct method of use required digging a slanted circular pit, just large enough to accommodate the iron drum; this method reduced the chamber pressure and recoil during launch.

The range was between 150 and 200 meters, and however wide the iron drum's caliber was, that was how immense its destructive power would be.

The intense explosive shock generated by the massive explosive charge would blast away bunkers, men, and horses wherever it passed; many of the fallen enemies would bear no external wounds whatsoever, yet bleed from all seven orifices, having been directly concussed to death.

Because of this characteristic, this weapon, which functioned like an explosive-charge projector, was dubbed the "heartless mortar." There was no need to doubt its destructive power, provided it could hit the target.

During the process of AT leading the men to dig the pits, they quickly discovered the groundwater seepage.

Fortunately, for the entire slanted circular pit, they only needed to dig a length of seventy to eighty centimeters, which was basically usable despite some minor seepage that had no significant impact.

However, Huang Ahdi, the newcomer responsible for the fortifications, was facing a massive headache.

Faced with the seeping groundwater, he had first gritted his teeth and dug a one-meter-deep individual foxhole, before even getting around to connecting two adjacent foxholes into a trench.

He helplessly discovered that the standing water at the bottom of the foxhole had already reached a depth of ten-odd centimeters.

He was certain that before long, this foxhole would turn into a small pond.

More crucially, the terrain around Dunwu Temple was quite flat, making the idea of digging drainage ditches to channel the water away completely impossible.

Water flows downward—he still understood such a simple principle.

In short, under the current soil and geological conditions, it was impossible to dig the anticipated trenches, bomb shelters, and various firing points.

He finally understood why the Japanese devils' positions had felt a bit strange during the earlier charge.

There wasn't a single proper trench; all their fortifications were piled up entirely using sandbags. As it turned out, digging downward was simply out of the question.

Remembering Hubiao's instructions, Huang Ahdi instantly felt as though he had one head growing as large as two.

Fortunately, his two years as a construction site supervisor had not been for nothing.

After coming up with a makeshift solution, he consulted with Hubiao, Chaozi, AT, Black Star, and a few others, and managed to gain everyone's approval.

For instance: trenches still had to be dug, but not too deep.

Digging thirty or forty centimeters, down to the depth where water faintly began to seep, would be enough. Since such shallow trenches were naturally inadequate, they would stack another layer of sandbags around them.

By stacking sandbags to a height of one meter, combined with the thirty-to-forty-centimeter trench, they could reach a depth where crouching soldiers could maneuver without being struck by stray bullets.

Along the way, light and heavy machine-gun nests and sniper positions could be arranged using this same method.

By comparison, building bomb shelters was more troublesome, but fortunately, about two hundred meters behind them stood a temple—the aforementioned Dunwu Temple.

The scale of the temple was neither too large nor too small, and it had survived the previous combat without destruction.

At this juncture, they could completely dismantle its pillars, wooden boards, and even the main ridge beams.

They would lay these timbers across the top of the sandbags as a framework and support, and then pile at least fifty centimeters of earth on top as a buffer.

With such structural strength, it should be able to withstand direct hits from certain calibers of artillery.

As for whether doing this would desecrate the Buddhas worshipped within the temple?

How should they put it? Hubiao and his men reasoned it out this way.

Amidst such a crisis of national subjugation and family destruction, if those Buddhas were truly divine, they certainly wouldn't mind such a trivial matter, and might even bless them to kill more devils.

If they did mind, why should anyone care about the feelings of such vacillating Buddhas...

******

Counting the two platoons temporarily sent by Battalion Commander Xiang to assist, there were now about a hundred and fifty people working together on the central line of positions at Dunwu Temple.

With everyone pulling together and working hard, the progress of the fortification construction was progressing quite well.

Aside from the firing points and bomb shelters—various measures whose effectiveness they themselves could not yet predict—they successfully set up everything one by one.

Throughout the process, the occasional sound of a single gunshot would ring out, followed by a burst of rapid machine-gun fire, or even the thud of a grenade discharger.

That would be Uncle Bo leading a few of his subordinate snipers, draped in mud-stained bedsheets for camouflage, continuously harassing the Japanese positions one kilometer away.

Precisely because of this, knowing that while they were working hard, the Japanese devils wouldn't get a good night's sleep either,

The weary workers on the position found their spirits lifted, and their hands gained an extra ounce of strength.

This situation continued until nearly midnight. At that time, Hubiao and Black Star were carrying a prime piece of nanmu wood forward toward the position.

This piece of nanmu had been dismantled from the roof of the temple's main hall. If it were brought back to the modern plane, turning it into prayer beads would undoubtedly fetch a tidy sum of money.

Right now, however, Hubiao valued it primarily for being sturdy enough; properly constructed, it should be able to withstand large-caliber artillery shells.

Just at that moment, Battalion Commander Xiang showed up again.

Hubiao was just about to free his right hand to render a military salute when Battalion Commander Xiang stopped him: "Carry on. I was just worried about tomorrow's enemy counterattack, so I came to check on how your preparations are going. Hubiao, you truly haven't disappointed me. Among the entire defensive line at Dunwu Temple, your Third Company's position is the only one that looks like something."

You know! This was already Hubiao's second time time-traveling, yet it was his first time receiving such affirmation from a superior officer. For a moment, his heart swelled with considerable joy.

Little did he expect that even better news was yet to come.

After pondering for a moment, as if secretly making up his mind, Battalion Commander Xiang added another sentence:

"By the way! I came here also to incidentally inform you: Hubiao, you are now a major battalion commander. However, the 804th Regiment is currently suffering heavy casualties, so only after we finish this battle will we be able to fill the troop vacancies for your battalion, lad."

Hearing this, Hubiao was utterly dumbfounded:

"Ah? Promoted by one rank a few hours ago, and now promoted by two more ranks—that equals three promotions in a single leap! Is being a soldier and fighting wars in this era really this easy to get promoted..."