Chapter 49 Attack
Lu Mingfei and more than 30 of his soldiers were hiding in the woods on the left bank of the Meuse River, closely watching the opposite bank, waiting for the order to attack.
The sunlight filtering through the leaves cast mottled shadows on the ground. The soldiers held their breath for fear of making the slightest sound.
"What's going on? Why haven't the artillerymen fired yet?" Paul complained impatiently. He held the rifle tightly in his hands, and beads of sweat oozed from his forehead.
They had been squatting here since early morning preparing for the attack, but now it was noon and there was still no sign of an attack.
"I heard that those artillerymen were bombarded by the French army when they were moving here. I wonder how much artillery fire can provide us with cover later." Kropp said nearby. As he spoke, he tapped his legs, which were numb from squatting, trying to get the blood circulating again.
"Damn it, are we going to have to cross the river under machine guns and artillery shells?" Paul cursed, with obvious fear and anger in his voice.
"I also heard that the French discovered yesterday that we might attack in this direction and have deployed four divisions in front of us. Mr. Lieutenant, do you think we can cross the river successfully?" Hill asked Lu Mingfei, who was staring at the opposite bank, his voice full of anxiety.
"Don't worry, I will definitely get you there successfully." Lu Mingfei stared at the other side of the river with a serious expression. His sickle-weasel detected a lot of heartbeats on the high ground on the opposite bank, but as the leader of these people, he had to say something that could boost morale at this time.
Hearing Lu Mingfei's affirmative answer, the others' originally nervous mood relaxed a little. They believed what Lu Mingfei said. After all, Lu Mingfei had led them out of danger time and time again, and they believed that he could do it this time as well.
Suddenly, a tiny whistling sound streaked through the sky and landed on the French position on the other side of the river. A horrible loud noise broke out, and at the same time, more and more whistling sounds streaked through the sky and landed on the French position.
Terrible explosions continued to sound in the French positions on the other side of the river. Trees began to break and the soil rolled like boiling water.
The Prussian bombardment was more intense than Lu Mingfei and his men had expected. This time the bombardment was even more severe than the artillery fire they fired at the Corey Woods on the first day of their attack.
Each explosion seemed to leave a deep wound on the earth. The firelight reflected on the soldiers' faces, making their expressions even more severe.
The terrifying artillery bombardment continued for nearly two hours. Lu Mingfei detected that the heartbeats on the high ground on the other side of the river were rapidly decreasing, and the troops behind the French defense line were also suppressed by the artillery fire and dared not move forward.
"Now!" Lu Mingfei shouted at the moment the bombardment stopped, and then rushed out of the woods and ran to the other side of the river. Now there were only a few scattered French defenders still alive, and the troops behind had not yet filled up. This was the perfect time to attack.
Paul, Hill and the others followed closely behind Lu Mingfei and ran towards the other side of the river. The other Prussian soldiers in the woods saw someone launching an attack and followed suit.
For a moment, the gray Prussian uniforms filled the Meuse River, and the originally turbulent river water began to seem gentle in front of so many people.
When Lu Mingfei crossed the icy river and stepped onto the swampy riverbank, a shrill sound streaked across the sky again. However, this time it was no longer an artillery attack from the Prussian army, but a counterattack from the artillery positions in the Brey Woods behind the French army.
The French artillery predicted the time when the Prussian army would cross the river, and then fired a rain of shells at Lu Mingfei and his men.
But there was one thing that the French artillery had not anticipated at all. When the shells they fired fell into the swampy mud on the other side of the river, they did not explode. Only a few unlucky people were hit directly by the shells, which caused the explosion. However, the effect of the explosion was not satisfactory, and the shock waves were all absorbed by the mud.
Lu Mingfei and his men breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the shells were like stones thrown by catapults, but the mud under their feet greatly affected their forward speed.
They struggled to pull their feet out of the knee-deep mud and slowly moved towards the French positions on the other side of the river.
Due to the slow speed of their attack, the French reserve troops had begun to fill the gaps in the front line of defense. The roar of machine guns was like the call of death. The Prussian soldiers in the front fell one by one, and their blood dyed the mud red.
Lu Mingfei had to stop and start shooting at the French positions not far away to provide fire cover for the soldiers who were still advancing.
He pulled out his Artillery P08, a more accurate gun than the regular P08 and equipped with a 32-round drum magazine, and began firing at the French positions.
He pulled the trigger quickly and fired all 32 bullets in a few seconds. Each bullet hit a French soldier and silenced the most lethal machine gun.
However, more and more French troops filled the front line of defense. Even if Lu Mingfei turned the firepower of his pistol into that of a machine gun and made the barrel red, it was still insignificant to the French defense line.
Every time he killed a French soldier, another one would take his place. And his continuous shooting attracted the attention of the French soldiers, who began to focus their fire on Lu Mingfei, intending to kill this terrifying gunman who could turn a pistol into a machine gun first.
At this time, Lu Mingfei didn't have many bullets left. He had a total of five magazines. He had used up four of them in the past two or three minutes, and now only had one magazine left.
As for why he didn't bring more, he was able to take five drums at once because of the Crown Prince's face, while others could only take one or two drums at most.
Semi-automatic weapons were still very rare in the Prussian army, let alone semi-automatic weapons that could fire terrifying fire. Just when Lu Mingfei thought he was going to be shot a few times, the rumble of a train passing through the tracks sounded behind them. An armored train actually drove over the tracks in front of the woods where they were before.
Before, Lu Mingfei was wondering why they chose this place as the attack location, but now it seems that it was probably because of the railway track.
After the Prussian army seized the railway, it was never used because the French position was not far away. The French saw that the Prussians did not use the railway and did not blow it up, so they probably thought they could take it back and use it themselves.
The armored train stopped at the position where Lu Mingfei and his men launched the attack and began to shoot at the French positions. The four machine guns on the armored train fired at the same time, and the terrifying firepower instantly suppressed the French positions. This was not something that the small pistol in Lu Mingfei's hand could compare to.
The French positions began to concentrate their fire on the armored train, but the bullets were completely unable to penetrate the armored train's hard steel plates. Instead, they were strafed by the armored train's machine guns and caused heavy damage.
The Prussian army continued to advance, but of course the armored train was not invincible. The black smoke it emitted was discovered by the artillery in the Braewood forest behind it.
The shells that could not explode in the mud began to roar on the armored train. The armored train was immediately severely damaged and began to withdraw from the battlefield, but its mission had been accomplished.
The Prussian army had crossed the swamp along the river bank and rushed towards the French positions on the high ground. Lu Mingfei used up the last drum of ammunition and created a gap in the French defense line.
Lu Mingfei put the pistol back into his waist and pulled out the engineer shovel. He stomped hard on the ground and rushed out like a cheetah.
His speed on flat ground was terrifying. Before the French soldiers could fill the gap, Lu Mingfei rushed into the trench.
The engineer shovel in Lu Mingfei's hand was wielded like the wind, constantly taking the lives of French soldiers in the trenches. Other Prussian soldiers also poured into the trenches through the gap he opened and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the French soldiers.
Lu Mingfei was as terrifying as a god or demon in the trench. Every French soldier who looked into his golden eyes trembled like a sieve. The short engineer shovel in his hand was like a painted halberd. Blood kept splattering on his body, dyeing him red.
The remaining surviving French soldiers looked at Lu Mingfei, who was covered in blood with golden light in his eyes, and shouted "monster" and began to flee.
The first line of defense was breached.
After all the French soldiers fled, Hill saw Lu Mingfei still standing there looking in the direction the French soldiers fled, and couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.
"Mr. Lieutenant, what's wrong?"
"Nothing..." Lu Mingfei heard Xi Er calling him, turned his head and replied.
Hill first saw Lu Mingfei's blood-stained profile. When Lu Mingfei turned around completely, he saw the pair of golden eyes that had not yet extinguished. A biting chill immediately spread from head to toe. His breathing began to slow down, and he felt as if he was being stared at by a ferocious beast. The genes engraved in his bones were calling for him to leave here quickly.
Soon Lu Mingfei's golden eyes went out, and the feeling of being targeted by a top predator disappeared. Hill's tense body began to relax, and then he gasped for breath, as if he had escaped death.
Lu Mingfei patted Hill, who seemed to be a little abnormal, and asked.
"Are you okay?"
"fine."
Looking at Lu Mingfei who had returned to his original appearance, Hill shook his head and said.
"Well, then check your equipment and eat something, we will continue the attack later." Lu Mingfei patted Hill on the shoulder twice and then walked towards the other soldiers.
Hill still felt a little scared as he watched Lu Mingfei leave. It was not before he had seen Lu Mingfei with his golden eyes, but this was the first time he looked him in the eye with his golden eyes.
After a while, Hill calmed himself down. He walked over to Lu Mingfei who was reloading the magazine and sat down.
"Mr. Lieutenant, what exactly are half-bloods? And what is the Council of Elders that the Crown Prince mentioned before?" He finally mustered up the courage to ask the biggest question that had always been in his mind.
I was so stupid that I cried. I was really too busy today. I will see if I can update more tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)
