The sun rises and the moon sets, the moon sets and the moon rises. Several days and nights later, at dusk on the 23rd, a battalion was crossing the Nu River.
Although Codonopsis and Rhodiola rosea pills were taken in advance, the effect can only be said to be better than nothing. Most of the soldiers suffered from altitude sickness one after another. Fortunately, they could take oxygen in time, so they persisted until the symptoms relieved themselves after three days.
A few dozen soldiers with severe symptoms, or even worsening into pulmonary edema, were also transferred to the medical team for full care. Fortunately, their lives were not in danger.
"Sir, how are you doing now?"
"It's okay, I feel better."
After answering the lieutenant's question, Zhou Changfeng, whose face was still a little swollen, stood on the side of the road, watching the dozens of trucks that followed carefully driving onto the rickety steel cable suspension bridge.
This is not a cable-stayed bridge, but a suspension bridge in the literal sense - a total of eighteen thumb-thick steel cables are lined up, with steel plates riveted together laid on top.
This steel cable suspension bridge is 160 meters long and spans both sides of the Nu River. The turbulent river below can be said to be the choke point of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway. It is of extremely important significance, so a platoon of defenders is stationed there all year round. .
After all, if this was destroyed by someone with ulterior motives, the Sichuan-Tibet Highway would be shut down.
Some names are engraved on a stone tablet standing at the head of the bridge on the west bank. In order to build this simple bridge, more than a dozen people died. Most of them fell into the river and died, leaving no bones.
Since it was almost time to rest, Zhou Changfeng ordered him to rest where he was after crossing the river, and make his own arrangements for eating, drinking, sleeping, and eating.
At the same time, on a winding road eight or nine miles away on the east coast, a Yuanhang brand car and two Maifeng brand trucks were parked on the side of the road, and a dozen "civilians" wearing heavy-duty modified jackets were moving around. Keep your body healthy, eat something and drink some water from time to time.
A nimble figure jumped down from the nearby hill, then walked to the car and reported: "Sister Shuling, they are crossing the bridge."
"Oh, got it."
"Then when are we going to do it?"
"Don't be impatient. We'll talk about it after they set off and are far away." Shuling said lightly with her back leaning on the seat.
Shuling was very dissatisfied with the task assigned by her superiors because the risk was too great.
She knew exactly how many pounds her men had, and it was okay to hide in the city to find out some information, but to do such a thing now was to make things difficult for them.
Fortunately, the superiors also sent help - a pair of exiled Junker nobles pretending to be "Von-Hoffmann" and their six followers.
As agents who have received additional combat training, their overall quality is much better than those like Shuling who have only received basic intelligence training.
Mr. Hoffman said with a relaxed look: "There is only one platoon guarding the bridge. If our cooperation goes smoothly, we will definitely succeed."
"Maybe." Shuling, who was not interested in this, replied coldly, "Maybe." At the same time, she complained softly about the hardships she had suffered along the way.
They have been following the marching battalion, stopping and walking, and they have endured a lot of hardships along the way, and they have to worry about being overtaken by the H3 Brigade behind them.
As night falls, the altitude of 2,700 meters here is already lower than the previous place of 3,000 or 4,000 meters. However, the temperature at night is still less than ten degrees, and it feels slightly cold.
After staying up until midnight, at four o'clock in the morning, they, fully armed, walked along the road towards the Nujiang Steel Cable Suspension Bridge.
Two-quarters of an hour later, the first battalion on the other side of the river finished its rest. The engines sounded one after another, and the car lights illuminated the still dark environment.
Shuling's men all changed into black night clothes, but the Hoffmans and others did not change their clothes.
The convoy gradually moved away, and they waited patiently for a few more minutes. They estimated that the convoy had moved beyond the range of the gunshots before they prepared to take action.
"Plan A, let's go!"
Two squads of Ming troops were stationed on the east bank of the steel cable suspension bridge. There were huts, sentry boxes, sentry towers, horses, barbed wire, and sandbags arranged here; there were about six or seven soldiers on duty at the moment.
Shuling, who pretended to be limping, slowly walked over and was immediately stopped.
"Stop! What are you doing?"
Several soldiers were very puzzled. The Sichuan-Tibet Highway was inaccessible, and usually only convoys transporting supplies would pass by. Now it was still dark, and a lone woman appeared when the surroundings were pitch black?
Because this was so abnormal, the soldiers aimed their guns at her.
"My car is broken down and my foot is sprained, right over there..."
"What?"
Soon enough, when Shuling turned around and pointed her hand in the distance, she took out her Browning M1910 from her arms, then turned around and fired immediately.
"Bang bang—bang bang—"
At the same time, the men on the left and right who had quietly approached also opened fire. Several soldiers on guard were shot and fell to the ground before they could react.
The soldier on the guard tower had just time to fire a shot when he was hit in the head by a flying single-point bullet.
Mr. Hoffman held the M1897 shotgun in his hand and shouted: "Up! Up! Up!"
More than a dozen people quickly moved forward. Someone took out a Mills grenade and threw it hard at the shacks and sentry boxes.
After the defenders woke up from their sleep and realized that it was an enemy attack, they quickly got out of bed, rushed to the gun rack, grabbed their rifles and rushed out.
"Boom - boom -"
The first few soldiers who ran out were immediately knocked down by grenades that fell on the ground, and they screamed on the ground.
"You son of a bitch, do a sneak attack!"
"There are so many people?!"
"do not know!"
Some of the other soldiers continued to rush out, while others chose to climb out of the window.
Mrs. Hoffman held an MP28 submachine gun and fired two long bursts from a half-kneeling position, knocking down two soldiers who had just raised their guns and were about to fight back.
"call out--"
The defenders on the other side of the river also reacted quickly. A flare was instantly launched into the air, and a small parachute hung the luminous tube below. The pale light spread over a few hundred meters in an instant.
After being hit by another grenade, the eight or nine remaining soldiers here panicked. After throwing a smoke grenade, they began to retreat towards the bridge.
The soldiers on the west bank had just set up their machine guns, but they found thick smoke rising from the opposite side, and several remaining soldiers were crawling and running towards this side.
Mr. Hoffman shouted excitedly to the other agents: "They're retreating! Come over here and plant the explosives!"
Shuling, with a stern look on her face, picked up a light machine gun from the sandbag bunker and said while inspecting it: "We will cover you!"
As a second-line garrison unit, the Ming army here is still equipped with old weapons, namely Lebel rifles, Chauchat light machine guns, and Hotchkiss heavy machine guns that were imitated decades ago. In all aspects, they cannot be compared with the equipment of other field units today. .
Several of Shuling's men also struggled to lift a heavy machine gun, turned it around, and then took out a metal bullet plate from the ammunition box and inserted it into the ammunition supply port. The sound of "click-click-click" gunfire resounded across both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Due to the low visibility and chaotic scene, the Ming army on the west bank could not determine the number of attackers for a while, so they chose to defend passively.
Not daring to take any risks, the second lieutenant leaned against the sandbag bunker and shouted sternly at the top of his lungs: "It's too far! The convoy can't hear the gunshots! Set off flares!!!"
