Chapter 1 The Fleeing

The fleeing puppet soldiers in the distance all saw the Japanese soldiers who had just rushed up being bombarded by artillery shells.

One by one, they gasped, filled with lingering fear. They immediately thought: if they hadn't been quick-witted enough to escape from the front line, they would have been the ones getting bombed.

He Yushu looked at the billowing smoke not far away, and then at the occasional dismembered limbs flying into the air, interspersed with streaks of blood splashing in mid-air. He felt extremely frightened.

His legs trembled, and he could barely take a step. Fan Jinglue and the others also slowed down. Seeing He Yushu's state, they smiled and said, "Don't worry! We'll be safe when the Japanese come up.

They're here to fight the Japanese. Now that the Japanese have appeared, even if they continue to bombard, they'll be bombing the Japanese."

"Artillery shells don't have eyes. What if one falls on us?" He Yushu was very afraid.

"That's fate, no one can save you," Fan Jinglue said with a smile.

After saying this, he stopped running and stayed in place, carefully watching the Japanese struggle in the barrage.

If the puppet soldiers had to choose who they hated the most, they would definitely choose the Japanese. This was because the Japanese were the ones who could manage them in every way in the occupied areas.

Any Japanese could point fingers at them or beat and scold them at will. And the Japanese often did so, venting their superiors' anger on the puppet soldiers.

Now that these puppet soldiers could watch the Japanese struggle in the barrage from outside the battlefield, they couldn't be happier.

Captain Yoshikawa Jiro was leading his team in the middle of the entire battalion when the Eighth Regiment's first round of howitzer bombardment caused heavy casualties in his company.

Faced with the sudden bombardment, Captain Yoshikawa Jiro immediately ordered a full evacuation. Although the Japanese soldiers in the entire company moved quickly, the Special Brigade's subsequent rockets came even faster.

After another round of artillery bombardment, more than half of Captain Yoshikawa Jiro's company had been killed or wounded.

How could they fight like this? The Japanese soldiers under his command were desperate. In this situation, there was nowhere to hide and no way to escape. These were unbearable days.

And the bombardment was still going on.

Battalion Commander Mizukane Ichiro rode his horse to the front and stood on high ground, looking ahead, his heart filled only with anger.

The entire Nakamu Yosuke company, which was at the forefront, was completely under the Special Brigade's artillery fire.

The enemy has heavy artillery! The Yusuke Kamino Guard Commander actually didn't remind him of such important news.

Unforgivable!

Now that the Nakamu Yosuke Battalion had fallen into the Special Brigade's artillery bombardment, Battalion Commander Mizukane Ichiro could do nothing but watch helplessly.

Further away, he could see a long defensive line, with many collapsed bunkers. That must be the second line of defense in Tianjia'an.

Now, many Special Brigade soldiers had rushed into that line and were beginning to reinforce the defenses, set up firing points, and prepare to hold fast.

Looking at how the enemy had already entered the fortifications and everything was ready, and then looking at his own team struggling in the barrage.

Battalion Commander Mizukane Ichiro finally ordered, "Retreat!"

His order was quickly conveyed to the Nakamu Yosuke Battalion, which was struggling in the artillery bombardment.

Battalion Commander Nakamu Yosuke quickly revoked the order he had just issued and issued a new order.

Two completely contradictory orders left the Japanese soldiers who were charging somewhat at a loss.

Such details were not important. The artillery shells made them understand that retreat was the best choice!

Just then, a "buzzing" sound came from the sky.

The Special Brigade's aviation squadron had arrived. In yesterday's battle, the reconnaissance had not found any Japanese troops deployed in the fortifications, so the aviation squadron had not received orders to attack.

Today was different. According to the reconnaissance intelligence, a large number of puppet soldiers were also deployed in the traffic trenches and fortifications outside the bunkers.

These planes were here to deal with the puppet soldiers. Lin Fan had only guessed the beginning: the Eighth Regiment had destroyed all the Japanese bunkers.

But he didn't guess the ending: Lin Fan thought that the puppet soldiers would hold on in the fortifications for a while, at least symbolically.

But the puppet soldiers had already started running away simultaneously when the bunkers were being shelled.

Now, the second line of defense that the Japanese had deployed in Tianjia'an had been completely occupied.

There were still many Japanese soldiers in the distance. Although they had been bombarded by artillery fire, it was clear that there were still many of them, and many Japanese soldiers were fleeing backward.

This was not allowed by the Special Brigade!

Those who stand tall can see far, and those who fly high can see even further. Mao Wenxing saw the Taro Usata Battalion, which was two miles behind the Nakamu Yosuke Battalion, in the air.

He immediately notified Chen Sichuan and Feng Junya of the information, reporting the detailed direction and distance.

Further away was the Japanese artillery unit, which had stopped advancing and was waiting for orders on the highway.

Mao Wenxing immediately reported this discovery to Xiao Jianying. This was a good opportunity.

The Japanese closest to the First Regiment were being shelled, and the ground attack aircraft just happened to have nothing to do. Now that there was a new target, the entire aviation squadron was excited.

Xiao Jianying flew in the front. In fact, he was flying a fighter plane, and ground attacks still had to be left to professionals and dedicated ground attack aircraft.

The first batch of ground attack aircraft roared past, lowering their altitude, and the four machine guns under their wings spat out streams of fire, sweeping across the ground.

As they strafed along the way, the Tenth Independent Mixed Brigade's direct artillery team was immediately scattered.

When had the Japanese army ever been attacked like this by the air force? The Nationalist army's air force didn't even have time to deal with the Japanese air force, and even if they occasionally attacked, they would go after the Japanese navy's ships, never dealing with such low-value items as Japanese infantry.

This time it was different. The plane designed by Lin Fan was only for dealing with Japanese infantry, and a large wave of planes strafed the Japanese artillery in turn.

Forcing Captain Ueda Yozo to order, "Temporarily abandon the cannons and evacuate into the fields."

This was a difficult decision. For the Japanese, cannons were like their second life. Now that their first life was under great threat, Captain Ueda Yozo had no choice but to evacuate all the Japanese soldiers.

He originally had a sense of the Japanese soldiers and the cannons being together, but after the first ground attack aircraft strafed past, seeing the bodies of the Japanese soldiers falling on the entire highway.

Captain Ueda Yozo could no longer hold on. If the Japanese soldiers under his command did not evacuate, they would probably be wiped out.

Such a realization made him very sad. The warriors of the empire had reached the point where they were being suppressed and beaten by the Nationalist army's air force. Sad! So sad!

Lin Fan never paid attention to the Japanese army's sorrow, and neither did Feng Junya. When the Eighth Regiment had just bombarded the Nakamu Yosuke Battalion, they had only fired two rounds before the First Regiment's Twelfth Company stole the show.

Now that the Eighth Regiment had a new target, they began to bombard the Usata Taro Battalion that was following behind under the guidance of Mao Wenxing.

Si Fangtang Dun and Bian Biaobiao, the two commanders on the second line of defense who were still standing in place watching the battlefield situation, felt that their eyes couldn't keep up.

The Special Brigade soldiers who had just rushed into the second line of defense were reinforcing the fortifications and setting up firing points at the beginning.

In the blink of an eye, they began a new charge after the previous artillery bombardment ended.

The target of this charge was much smaller, no longer a charge in all directions, but only those soldiers facing the Japanese were launching a charge.

They launched the charge immediately after the artillery bombardment had stopped.

The cannons that had just been bombarding had already shifted their targets to behind Si Fangtang Dun and Bian Biaobiao.

They could both see explosions constantly coming from not far behind them, and bursts of smoke rising into the sky.

Further away, there were planes constantly flying low and circling. Although they couldn't hear gunshots, they didn't think those planes were just flying around for fun.

A Japanese and a puppet soldier, the two commanders looked at each other, and this time they reached a consensus: Run! Run quickly!

There was still some distance between them and the Special Brigade's infantry, but seeing the heroic and high-spirited charging pace of the soldiers on the opposite side, the Japanese and puppet soldiers standing around them felt the danger.

Bian Biaobiao, the puppet army commander, was now a little regretful. He regretted that the location he had ordered to gather the troops was not good, too close to the front line.

But the number of guards around him was small, only thirty or so. After thinking about it, he still sent a guard to run out and notify the entire team that the assembly point was set at Tianjia'an Railway Station.

This would be safer. Seeing the guard rush out, Bian Biaobiao felt a little relieved.

In contrast, Commander Si Fangtang Dun was much more relaxed. The Japanese soldiers of the Aikang team that he had brought to the front line were all dead.

There was no need to worry about gathering them. Of the entire Aikang team, which originally had more than 5,000 Japanese soldiers, only one battalion was left in Tianjia'an to help maintain order, and he didn't need to worry about it.

Commander Si Fangtang Dun started the mode of leaving as soon as he said he would. He took more than 20 guards around him, stopped staying, and quickly ran backward on horseback.

The Japanese soldiers of the Taro Usata Battalion were stunned by the artillery shells that suddenly fell from the sky: they were not prepared to withstand the bombardment at all.

These Japanese soldiers were still speeding up their pace to rush forward. They had not received the order from the Mizukane Ichiro Battalion for long.

It was only passed down to each squad level by level, and then they began to be bombarded.

First, there was the bombardment of large-caliber howitzers, followed by the all-round coverage bombardment of rocket artillery.

Battalion Commander Mizukane Ichiro looked at how the artillery fire that had just been bombarding the Nakamu Yosuke Battalion had now shifted to the Usata Taro Battalion.

The palm of his hand and the back of his hand were all flesh, all Japanese soldiers in his battalion. How could he not feel heartache?

Battalion Commander Mizukane Ichiro was so heartbroken that he couldn't breathe, and his eyes couldn't keep up.

On the one hand, he had to see the extent of the Usata Taro Battalion's bombardment, so as to estimate how much combat power they could still have.

On the other hand, he had to pay attention to the retreat of the Nakamu Yosuke Battalion, which was at the front line. Now it seemed that the retreat of the Nakamu Yosuke Battalion was very unsatisfactory.

The main reason was that the Japanese soldiers in the entire battalion had been charging all the time, and now they suddenly had to turn around and run, and many Japanese soldiers couldn't turn the corner.

The Special Brigade soldiers on the front had already rushed up, and the closest teams on both sides had already engaged in close combat.

This cast a shadow on the retreat of the Nakamu Yosuke Battalion. The fastest teams had already engaged with the Special Brigade.

In this situation, forcing a retreat would definitely come at a high price.

Company Commander Gui Wen was leading his team, chasing after the Japanese soldiers.

They had seen with their own eyes that the Japanese soldiers had been charging just now, but now they were running backward.

This sudden turn on the battlefield greatly exceeded the imagination of the officers and soldiers of the First Company.

They had all been prepared for a bayonet charge with the Japanese soldiers, and the bayonets had been mounted.

But the Japanese soldiers turned around and ran. How could they let them run away like this?

The entire company was holding back a burst of energy, wanting to catch up with these Japanese soldiers and rub them on the ground.

Captain Yoshikawa Jiro was also very depressed! First they were asked to charge, and now they were asked to retreat. The Special Brigade soldiers had already engaged his company with bayonets. How could they retreat?

He had no choice but to order the Hada Taro squad to turn back and block the pursuers, covering the retreat of the entire company.

More than half of the Japanese soldiers in the Hada Taro squad had already been killed or wounded in the previous bombardment. Letting them, less than thirty Japanese soldiers, block a company of the Nationalist army.

This was not a difficult task, and Captain Hada did not think of this task as very difficult.

But he fell as soon as he came into contact with the pursuing Fourth Company. Captain Hada Taro's dead fish-like eyes were wide open, looking at the gray sky.

This sky was mixed with gunpowder smoke and dust raised by artillery shells, and it was no longer a blue sky with white clouds.

Captain Hada Taro died with his eyes wide open! Just now, he had fought with a charging soldier, and the other party took advantage of his unpreparedness and made a sudden thrust. He couldn't parry it and was hit.

Then the other party stabbed him twice in a row, directly stabbing him down. This was too unchivalrous and not spirited enough.

Huang Xuguang, who had stabbed Captain Hada Taro to death, did not know that the Japanese soldier had such a big resentment, but this was not important.

He had already started chasing the fleeing Japanese soldiers again. This group of Japanese soldiers was also funny: only more than 20 of them dared to turn around and fight them with bayonets. Wasn't this like holding a lantern next to the toilet - looking for death (shit)?

Captain Yoshikawa Jiro ran while glancing back in a hurry, checking on the Hada squad who had been left behind to serve as a rearguard.

When he had only run more than ten meters forward, and looked back again, all the Japanese soldiers in the entire Hada squad were gone, and the pursuing soldiers had not changed at all, and it seemed that even the formation had not been disrupted.

This made him very terrified: the morale of this charging team was high, and their assassination skills seemed to be very good!

After running more than ten meters, Captain Yoshikawa Jiro looked back again and found that his understanding was wrong. This team in the back was the fastest at running away.

In such a short distance, they had already closed half the distance. If they ran another thirty or fifty meters, the other party's bayonets would be on their backs.

Captain Yoshikawa Jiro could no longer ignore this, and he could only order: Everyone, turn around and fight them!

The remaining sixty or seventy Japanese soldiers in his company had to stop after receiving the order.

They were panting and waiting in place. This time, Captain Yoshikawa Jiro ordered the entire team to gather together. He wanted the entire company to twist into a rope, become a whole, kill the Nationalists who had caught up, and then continue to escape.

Seventy or eighty Japanese soldiers were all gathered together. This was the method used by the infantry to deal with the cavalry charging into the formation. Now, the Yoshikawa Jiro company was squeezed together, and the exposed bayonets were dense.

There was a feeling of swords shining like snow and spears like a forest. This feeling made Yan Yuanbai, the company commander of the pursuing Fourth Company, deeply touched.

These Japanese soldiers formed a whole, and at this time they no longer ran away but instead welcomed the Fourth Company.

Seeing that the distance between the two sides was less than twenty meters, Company Commander Yan Yuanbai shouted, "Grenades!"

The soldiers at the front stopped, holding their guns in their left hands and taking out the grenades from their waists in their right hands, pulling them out and throwing them.

A distance of less than thirty meters was very easy for them. If the company commander hadn't reminded them, they might not have used grenades.

Now that the company commander had reminded them, how could these soldiers not know: grenades were the best weapon to deal with this group of Japanese soldiers gathered together.

Of course, at this time, it would be even better if an artillery shell came.

Huang Xuguang threw out the first grenade, which was of course not enough. The second and third grenades were thrown out one after another.

The explosions of "Boom! Boom! Boom!" kept going on, and Captain Yoshikawa Jiro was almost so angry that he vomited blood.

These pursuers were too cunning. They left a squad behind to cover their retreat, and they fought with bayonets; they led the entire company to fight them with bayonets, and they threw grenades. Did they have any Bushido spirit?

The soldiers at the front of the Fourth Company were originally the food that Captain Yoshikawa Jiro had set his sights on. He was preparing to take the entire company up with lightning speed and drown these Special Brigade soldiers.

As a result, the entire company was crushed by the other side: more than a dozen grenades exploded in the Yoshikawa Jiro company, and some grenades exploded in mid-air, collapsing the entire formation of the company.

The most effective way to avoid grenades was of course to lie down on the spot, which was also the experience that the Japanese soldiers had gained from long-term training and on the battlefield.

As soon as the grenades exploded, all the Japanese soldiers in the entire company lay down, and when they realized that the Nationalists on the opposite side were only ten meters away.

The soldiers of the Fourth Company who were following behind had already rushed up. Now they didn't use grenades, they just rushed up.

The Japanese soldiers in the Yoshikawa Jiro company who had not been killed or wounded by the grenades could only get up in a hurry, and before they could even put on a pose, they had already been rushed up to close range, and the bright bayonets were aimed straight at their chests.

Depressed! Too depressed! The Japanese soldiers of the Yoshikawa Jiro company died in depression. Although Captain Yoshikawa Jiro escaped the devastation of the grenades, he did not escape the stabbing of the bayonets.

When his command knife was slashed down with force, it was parried by a Special Brigade soldier with a rifle.

Then, next to this soldier, there was a soldier who swept past and actually stabbed him from the side, directly piercing Captain Yoshikawa Jiro's ribs.

This was not what angered Captain Yoshikawa Jiro the most. What killed him was a word that came with it, a light word: "Free gift! You're welcome!"

Huang Xuguang had just parried the Japanese soldier's command knife and had not even launched a counterattack when the Japanese soldier was stabbed by Li Tianyou, who was passing by, and he said, "You're welcome!"

This kid just likes to joke. What's there to thank for killing Japanese soldiers?

Among the dead Japanese soldiers, there was another Captain Yoshikawa Jiro who died with his eyes wide open.

Mao Wenxing was guiding the Eighth Regiment and the Twelfth Company to bombard the Japanese Usata Taro Battalion in the air, which was completely without pressure.

He was a little hesitant about the Japanese artillery team, which was 2,000 meters away from this battalion: Should he bomb it or not?

The benefit of bombing was of course that the Japanese artillery team could suffer heavy casualties, and the benefit of not bombing was that these cannons could be captured.

Lin Fan and Chen Sichuan both received the latest intelligence from Mao Wenxing: Two kilometers behind the Japanese infantry battalion, there was a Japanese artillery team, and they had now been scattered by the air force. Please instruct the next action.

Lin Fan immediately ordered, "Protect our cannons and don't let the Japanese destroy them."

The ten infantry companies of the First Regiment had five companies still on the second line of defense preparing to meet the Japanese counterattack.

Chen Sichuan issued an order: "The entire First Regiment is on the attack, with the target being the Japanese cannons on the highway five kilometers ahead."

When Li Dazhu went home last night, he brought back a pair of leather shoes, a set of Japanese military uniforms, a dollar, and a can of canned meat.

When he returned home, he saw that his whole family was waiting for him to eat. He smiled and said, "I've already eaten, you eat."

As he spoke, he took out these things for Dafang to see. Before he could speak, his wife's face had changed drastically in fright: "Where did you steal these from? Return them quickly."

"I got these from working for the Special Brigade today," Li Dazhu said proudly.

"Are these things also given to you people?" Dafang pointed to the pile of things. In her opinion, every item in it was excellent, and they would definitely not be issued so easily.

"Could it be! Are you going to be a soldier and eat?" She thought of a possibility.

"Where did you think of going? Don't scare Bao'er and Niu'er. These were all earned from working today. Everyone who went from the village had this can and this dollar.

Only these Japanese clothes and boots were stripped from dead people. Everyone has different things, but everyone has them."

Hearing that they were stripped from the bodies of Japanese soldiers, she didn't care. Li Dazhu said with a smile: "The officers of the Special Brigade taught a method to take these clothes apart, dye them a new color, and change the style to wear them out, and it will be fine.

This canned meat smells so good. Divide it tonight.

We ate it for lunch and dinner today, so you can eat it too."

Bao'er and Niu'er's eyes were already on the canned meat, and they couldn't move them away. Children have a natural instinct for food. They only saw the slices of meat drawn on the outside of the packaging, and their saliva couldn't stop flowing.

Li Dafang also understood at this time that this should be what her man had earned back from being assigned to work today.

She immediately became happy and took all these things up: "Such good things, let's put them away and wait for you to come home before eating them."