65: Chapter 65 Near-Detonation Fuse! Total Annihilation!
Following Li Yunlong's command to fire, twelve 85mm anti-aircraft guns opened fire simultaneously!
The next moment—
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!!!"
The twelve 85mm anti-aircraft guns let out a deafening roar almost at the same instant!
Muzzle brakes spewed massive flames and thick smoke, and the immense recoil caused the heavy gun mounts to jerk backward violently!
Twelve slender 85mm anti-aircraft shells, equipped with proximity fuzes, whistled toward the Japanese bombers.
However, just as the shells rapidly approached the formation—
A bizarre and shocking scene unfolded!
Those shells did not require a direct hit or a pre-set detonation point like conventional anti-aircraft fire; instead, when they were still dozens of meters away from the planes, they seemed to be triggered by an invisible force—
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!!!"
Massive fireballs exploded violently within the Japanese formation without any warning!
The large amount of high explosive packed inside the 85mm anti-aircraft shells was perfectly detonated by the proximity fuzes at that moment.
Thousands of pre-formed fragments, centered on the explosion point, created an absolute death zone with a radius exceeding fifty meters!
At this moment, the Japanese pilots in the sky were still immersed in the excitement and contempt before their dive-bombing run.
Kobayashi Futo even had his hand on the bomb release button, calculating where the first wave of bombs would look the most spectacular.
They had no idea what they were about to face, or rather, they didn't believe those "hillbillies" on the ground posed any threat at all.
"baka! What is that?"
One Japanese pilot only managed to let out half a terrified scream before his aircraft was completely engulfed by the storm of fragments!
"baka! Is that artillery fire?! How is that possible..."
Kobayashi Futo was instantly stunned!
He subconsciously tried to yank the control stick to evade, but it was already too late!
"Boom—!!!"
A fireball erupted violently less than twenty meters from the left wing of his aircraft!
The violent shockwave instantly knocked the plane off balance, and immediately after, countless high-speed fragments tore through the wings and fuselage as easily as a hot knife through butter!
The next second, the entire plane turned into a fiercely burning fireball in the sky!
One, two, three...
Ten in total!
In this death zone woven by twelve proximity-fuzed shells, all of them were destroyed!
Everything happened too fast!
Almost in an instant!
The Japanese didn't even have time to drop their bombs!
The ten tons of aerial bombs they had intended to pour onto Yang Village had now become the very things that blew them up and sent them to their graves!
Ten bombers, every single one of them, were blasted into fragments in just a few short seconds.
Twelve shells, ten enemy planes shot down!
The hit rate was as high as 120%!
However, this was not the end!
The total of ten tons of ammunition detonated one after another at low altitude, and the resulting combined shockwave slammed violently into the ground!
"Rumble—!!!"
Even though they were over a kilometer away, the loose soil on the ground was shaken high into the air.
Many soldiers were blown back, staggering, their ears ringing, temporarily losing their hearing!
Yet, everyone stared blankly at the sky!
Even though the shockwave made their cheeks ache!
Li Yunlong's mouth was wide open, unable to close it.
He didn't even notice that some sand and dust had blown into it.
He stared blankly at the ten black smoke clouds in the sky that hadn't yet fully dissipated, with only one thought repeating over and over in his mind:
Ten planes!
One volley! Ten whole Japanese bombers! They actually shot every damn one of them down?
Is this for real?
Could it be a hallucination before death?
On the other side, Kong Jie, Ding Wei, and the others were no better off.
They were all dumbfounded; the impact of the scene before them was greater than that of ten tons of explosives!
And the Brigade Commander, who was watching the battle from the rear, had completely lost his composure.
Ten planes!
Ten whole bombers!
In their entire 386th Brigade, from its founding until now, they had been through countless battles, big and small, and had killed thousands of Japanese soldiers, but had they ever shot down ten Japanese planes?
They could probably count them on their fingers!
But today, right before his eyes, in that brief instant, ten heavy bombers, symbols of the Japanese absolute air superiority, had been wiped out just like that, as easily as swatting flies!
If this battle result were spread, it would be enough to shake the entire Second War Zone!
No, it would shake the entire Chinese battlefield!
That is no exaggeration at all!
In this era, shooting down any Japanese plane was a monumental event!
The Brigade Commander turned his head and looked deeply at Shen Wang.
Is this... the power of the proximity fuze?
Shen Wang was actually a bit stunned himself at this moment.
He knew the proximity fuze was awesome, but he hadn't expected the effect to be this exaggerated—wiping out an entire flight squadron in a single volley!
He rubbed his chin and carefully recalled the situation.
"Brigade Commander, the reason we were able to achieve such results this time is largely because the Japanese were too arrogant and careless, flying at too low an altitude!"
At an altitude of over a thousand meters, even a rifle has a chance to shoot one down!
"If the Japanese were to increase their flight altitude to three or four thousand meters, then, with the longer shell flight time and increased difficulty in aiming, I'm afraid it would be difficult to have such a terrifying hit rate again."
The Brigade Commander came back to his senses; what Shen Wang said was indeed not without reason.
"Mr. Shen is right! The Japanese aren't fools; they will definitely learn their lesson, but—"
"Even so, this proximity fuze is truly remarkable!"
"It has completely changed the mode of anti-aircraft warfare! It has turned shooting down enemy planes from a low-probability event into a predictable, organized tactical operation! This... this is of such great significance!"
The Brigade Commander's heart was pounding uncontrollably.
He instantly realized that the strategic value of such disruptive technology was likely even greater than that of the heaven-defying 107mm rockets from before!
If the Eighth Route Army could equip a few more such Anti-Aircraft Battalions and establish an effective regional anti-aircraft network, would the Japanese planes dare to be so arrogant in their low-altitude strafing and precision bombing?
By then, the operational space and initiative of the Eighth Route Army would see a qualitative improvement!
As for the offensive of the Japanese ground troops—
With those 2,000+ machine guns, 14 invincible heavy tanks, and 20 107mm rockets...
Perhaps they might be stretched thin on the offensive, but they would have more than enough for defense!
Enough to establish a base area!
At this moment, the Brigade Commander thought again of the arsenal that Shen Wang had brought this time...
"Hiss—!"
Could this young man have considered all of this?
To establish an arsenal, one must have a stable base area, and to have a stable base area, one needs to defend against Japanese attacks!
Whether it's an attack from the sky or an attack from the ground!
If it were before, the Eighth Route Army really couldn't have done it!
But now...
The Brigade Commander's heart was burning with excitement!
However, after the excitement and thrill, the Brigade Commander was instantly troubled again!
Previously, those fourteen tanks alone had almost drained all the liquid funds the headquarters could mobilize, along with the antiques they had captured.
Now, Shen Wang had brought such heaven-defying technology, what could they use to trade for it?
107mm rockets, proximity-fuzed anti-aircraft guns, three Anti-Aircraft Battalions, two artillery battalions, four infantry battalions, over two thousand Type 56 submachine guns, hundreds of light machine guns, and that strategic-level arsenal...
"No, I must contact headquarters!"