Chapter 48: Sealing the Grand Canyon
Chapter 48: Sealing the Grand Canyon
Wu Ze, who was currently on the mind of Li Yunlong, had now arrived at a grand canyon.
Taking shelter from the rain beneath a massive boulder, Wu Ze held a pen and continuously calculated equations on a sheet of paper.
Sun Desheng and the others stood nearby in silence, not daring to disturb Wu Ze prematurely.
Over the past five days, Wu Ze had led them on a trek through the wilderness.
Along the way, Wu Ze had repeatedly pulled out his pen to write and sketch on paper, as if keeping some kind of record.
Wu Ze was a man of intellect, an intellectual.
Sun Desheng and his companions were roughnecks and frontline soldiers; they had no mastery over the pen and could not comprehend whatever Wu Ze was writing and sketching.
Several times, Sun Desheng and the others had almost burst out asking, but since Wu Ze offered no explanation, they had to suppress their curiosity and keep their mouths shut.
Finally, Wu Ze finished his calculations. He put down his pen and stretched his neck.
"Brother Sun, come over here for a moment," Wu Ze said, gesturing to Sun Desheng.
"Wu Ze, do you have any orders?" Sun Desheng hurried to Wu Ze's side.
"See the two ends of this canyon?" Wu Ze pointed toward the extremities of the canyon for Sun Desheng.
"Yeah, I see them," Sun Desheng nodded.
"Arrange for the sappers to dig caves at both ends of the canyon, plant explosives, blow up the ends to collapse them, and seal off the canyon," Wu Ze instructed.
What? Plant explosives at both ends of the canyon and seal it off? What did that even mean?
Hearing this, Sun Desheng was completely baffled, scratching his head in utter confusion.
From the sound of it, was Wu Ze planning to set up an ambush here?
This place was already far away from the New First Regiment's territory; it was impossible to lure the Japanese and puppet troops, who were currently hunting the New First Regiment, all the way out here.
Even if the Japanese and puppet troops were somehow lured here, anyone with eyes could tell this place was suited for an ambush.
Once someone entered the canyon and both ends were sealed off, they would be like turtles in a jar.
The puppet troops weren't stupid, and the Japanese were even less foolish.
Besides, Wu Ze wanted to seal the grand canyon in advance—this made no sense whatsoever.
If you sealed the grand canyon, even if the enemy got lured here and wanted to play the role of turtles in a jar, they wouldn't even have the chance.
"Wu Ze, I don't understand what you mean..." Sun Desheng said to him.
"You'll understand later. Just do as I say for now," Wu Ze interrupted.
"Wu Ze..." Sun Desheng still wanted to ask.
Wu Ze interrupted him again: "Do it!"
Right now, he simply had no way to explain too much to roughnecks like Sun Desheng.
"Alright," Sun Desheng stopped asking and immediately arranged for the sappers to start digging caves and planting explosives.
The soil here wasn't hard; on the contrary, it was somewhat loose. The caves were quickly dug, and the explosives were planted inside.
Boom!
Boom!
Two thunderclaps roared across the sky, and the demolition crew immediately used the cover of the thunder to detonate the charges. Both ends of the canyon were blasted into collapse, sealing the grand canyon shut.
"Dig another cave at this location, plant thirty kilograms of explosives inside, and prepare the detonation mechanism," Wu Ze inspected the sealed ends of the canyon. Satisfied, he found a new spot within the canyon and ordered the sappers to dig and plant more explosives.
The sappers asked no further questions and immediately complied; thirty kilograms of explosives were successfully planted.
"Set the detonation point on the opposite bank," Wu Ze told the demolition specialist.
"Wu Ze, can't we set the detonation point on this side? Is the blast safety radius..." the specialist asked.
"Just do it," Wu Ze cut him short.
"Fine," the sapper obeyed without further argument.
"Sun Desheng, leave a few men behind to keep watch here. Make sure nobody discovers the explosives and detonating cords we've planted," Wu Ze instructed once the new explosive site was arranged.
Although the sound of the initial blasts had been masked by the thunder, caution was still paramount.
"You few, stay behind," Sun Desheng immediately pointed at several men and ordered them to remain.
"Let's move on," leaving the men behind, Wu Ze led Sun Desheng and the rest away from the grand canyon.
The soldiers left behind were completely bewildered, utterly unable to guess what Wu Ze was trying to accomplish.
Still, they suppressed their inner confusion and dutifully carried out their guard duty.
...
Rumble!
The thunder in the sky continued to roll endlessly, and the rain showed no signs of letting up.
Visibility was reduced even further by the downpour.
Some of Jiang Deshui's soldiers were lying inside tents, while others sat beneath hastily constructed rain shelters, sleeping deeply.
Having been relentlessly dragged through the mud for five days, they were thoroughly exhausted.
The torrential downpour sent by the heavens had granted them a precious window for rest.
Despite the booming thunder above, nothing could stop them from sinking into dreamland.
The puppet soldiers on duty were also exhausted, but duty forced them to muster their remaining spirits.
However, a rainy day was prime sleeping weather.
Even the sentries on duty began to nod off.
Right at this juncture, Zhang Dabiao led the suicide squad, cloaked by the veil of the rain, creeping quietly closer.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
...
Arrows hissed through the air like the tongues of spitting vipers, and the on-duty sentries collapsed.
Yet these were only the outermost sentries; the puppet troops had established two additional inner rings of defense.
Zhang Dabiao had never expected to breach those two lines of checkpoints. His primary objective was harassment—to deny the puppet soldiers a peaceful night's sleep.
Zhang Dabiao led his men a little closer, erecting dozens of giant slingshots fashioned from forked tree branches.
Bundles of grenades were placed into the leather pockets of the slingshots, and the leather straps were slowly pulled back.
"Pull the pins!"
At Zhang Dabiao's command, the pins of the grenades were pulled, and smoke immediately began to hiss from them.
Without waiting for another order, the suicide squad members used the slingshots to hurl the bundled grenades toward the sleeping quarters of the puppet troops.
How far the grenades would fly, or how many puppet soldiers they would kill or wound, was something Zhang Dabiao and his men could no longer worry about.
The moment the bundled grenades were launched, even before they hit the ground, Zhang Dabiao and his team turned on their heels and sprinted back under the cover of the rain.
Boom!
...
Right at that exact moment, a massive bolt of thunder crashed across the sky!
The thunderclap was deafening, sounding like artillery exploding right beside their ears.
Some of the sleeping puppet soldiers were jolted awake, their eyes snapping open.
The moment their eyes opened, their pupils dilated in sheer terror.
They saw bundles of grenades falling right through the tops of their tents, trailing smoke behind them.
"Good god, I must be hallucinating."
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
...
Dozens of bundled grenades detonated simultaneously.
The noise matched the fury of the thunder in the sky, and dozens of fiery explosions blossomed across the puppet troops' encampment.
Amidst the blinding flashes, shredded flesh and blood of the puppet soldiers flew through the air, mixing with mud and splinters of wood.
Unlucky puppet soldiers fell into an eternal sleep.
The wounded puppet soldiers cried out in panic and agony:
"There are enemies! There are enemies! I'm hit! I'm hit!"
"My ears are bleeding! I can't hear anything!"
"Quick, quick, save me!"
...
The puppet army camp descended into utter chaos.
Jiang Deshui had also been asleep. Strictly speaking, he shouldn't have been able to sleep.
Perhaps because a rainy day really was the ideal weather for sleeping, or perhaps because he was profoundly, bone-wearily exhausted, he had drifted off.
The crash of thunder hadn't woken him, but the concussive blasts of the bundled grenades jolted him fully awake.
"Damn it! The rebel Eighth Route Army must be raiding us in the rain!" Jiang Deshui thought, panic gripping his heart.
Publication schedule during the new book phase:
Morning: 8:02
Evening: 20:02
(End of Chapter)