Chapter 440 Annihilation

Captain Tomiho Haruki gently covered the eyes of his warhorse with one hand, and with the other, he drew his command knife and slashed fiercely at the warhorse's throat.

The warhorse struggled violently, then quickly fell silent.

Captain Tomiho Haruki bid farewell to this unfortunate warhorse.

As the column continued to advance, in less than five meters, there was more than just one warhorse on the ground.

There were also knights!

Now Captain Tomiho Haruki no longer needed to bid farewell to these things.

Because they were all corpses, these corpses were still flowing with blood, indicating that they had just died not long ago.

The soldiers of Tomiho Haruki's infantry battalion gasped in surprise as they moved forward.

They saw that the entire road ahead was covered with the corpses of warhorses and soldiers.

The muddy road was filled with blood mixed with rainwater, filling every pothole on the road.

The corpses on the road were shocking!

Captain Tomiho Haruki ordered, "Halt the advance!"

He really couldn't understand what kind of blow the cavalry battalion had suffered that not a single one had survived.

Tomiho Haruki carefully dispatched two squads to search to the left and right.

These two squads searched as far as a hundred meters away, but found no enemies.

Still uneasy, Captain Tomiho Haruki ordered one squad to continue searching forward.

He stayed in place with the main force.

Squad Leader Tomifuku Dai and his fifty-three soldiers cautiously searched forward.

All they saw along the way were corpses, the corpses of warhorses and the corpses of imperial soldiers.

The more they searched, the more frightened they became.

Military orders are like mountains!

No matter how afraid they were, Squad Leader Tomifuku Dai had to continue forward.

The entire main force behind them was completely out of sight, but the artillery positions in front were a little clearer.

The cannons were still firing non-stop!

Chen Sichuan watched the squad that had reached the innermost circle.

He secretly lamented, "The Japs aren't all fools!"

Chen Sichuan was still very dissatisfied with only fifty or so Japs.

In Liu Laopao's words, it was like preparing a big dish but only being served a small plate.

He could only look at the rest.

In any case, fifty or so Japs were still a dish!

Chen Sichuan gently made a gesture, and the two directional mines less than twenty meters in front of them were detonated.

Squad Leader Tomifuku Dai felt a loud noise in his ears, and his whole body suddenly felt as if it had been deflated, feeling cold all over.

Chen Sichuan shouted, "Fire!"

There were ten people in this position, including Li Xian, and ten guns immediately began firing.

The muzzle flashes immediately exposed their position.

Captain Tomiho Haruki, who was waiting in the distance, had been paying attention to the squad he had sent out.

Seeing the two balls of fire in front, he knew that the squad had been ambushed again.

Then came the dense gunfire.

Captain Tomiho Haruki pointed to the location of the muzzle flashes, "Grenade launchers!"

The grenade launcher operators, who had been ready to act, immediately began firing.

By the time they opened fire, Chen Sichuan and the others had stopped.

Seeing the muzzle flashes in the distance, Chen Sichuan immediately ordered, "Move the position forward two hundred meters!"

As they moved forward, the ten of them not only avoided the Jap grenade launchers, but also replenished the two mines they had just used up.

As for Squad Leader Tomifuku Dai and his squad, who had fallen into the trap, they were all cleaned up by the passing First Squad.

Hua Deze, Chen Xing, Zhao Long, Lang Ziji, and Kang Youjie now believed that this team had really destroyed two Jap airfields.

In just a short while, they had killed at least several hundred Japs.

This team really didn't leave any survivors. No matter if the Japs lying on the ground were corpses or wounded, the soldiers of this team would first stab them with bayonets, then search their bodies.

Just as these five organizational backbones were sighing, a series of fiery lines suddenly rose from the artillery positions behind them.

The target was the location where the grenade launchers had just fired.

Lin Fan had always arranged for Wu Xiaobao, Zhao Long, and the others to watch in all four directions.

As soon as they detected signs of Jap artillery, they would bombard them.

Tonight, Lin Fan was going to use up all the poison gas shells he was carrying.

Captain Tomiho Haruki didn't expect that his battalion would be bombarded with poison gas shells in this place!

He had two choices before him: retreat or advance!

He didn't dare retreat, so he could only advance.

Captain Tomiho Haruki pointed forward with his command knife, "Charge! Charge!"

He coughed as soon as he shouted.

The taste of poison gas shells was not pleasant.

This also made him feel a little hurt in his heart: it affected his encouragement.

At this time, no soldier noticed their captain's encouragement.

The soldiers of the Tomiho Haruki Battalion, who had originally been scattered and running in all directions,

Had a direction all of a sudden when they heard the captain's order.

They all desperately charged towards the artillery positions in front.

Captain Tomiho Haruki fired several flares into the sky.

Now he could see clearly: there were several figures running three hundred meters ahead!

There were only these few people?

He was a little disbelieving, but also a little happy.

He still had more than a thousand soldiers under his command, and these few people in front were completely螳臂当车 (idiom: like a mantis trying to stop a chariot – to overrate oneself and attempt something impossible).

In any case! It was a good thing that there weren't many people blocking the way!

Captain Tomiho Haruki waved his knife forward again, "Charge! Charge!"

This time, he had already rushed out of the poison gas circle, and this order was shouted with complete energy and momentum!

Encouraged by Captain Tomiho Haruki, the soldiers of the entire battalion no longer focused on the muddy, bloody road and the corpses lying on the road.

All of their eyes were on the ten people in front.

Only ten!

This made the team members, who had been in the reserve team for so many days, very excited.

Although there weren't enough people to go around, it was also easy to bully them since there were so few!

Obvious victory was right in front of them, charge! Kill these ten people in front of them, then charge into the artillery positions, and it would all be over.

Captain Tomiho Haruki had already seen that the people opposite him were wearing the same uniforms as them.

Why would these people, who were imperial soldiers, attack imperial soldiers?

That was a question!

Li Xian and Chen Sichuan quickly lay down when they saw so many Japs charging up.

They also told the warriors behind them to lie down.

Now that the Japs had begun to charge, there was no need for them to take the initiative to provoke them.

The ten members of the Special Company watched as another batch of Japs entered the bombing range.

Captain Tomiho Haruki ordered two more flares to be fired into the air.

This not only clearly illuminated the hiding positions of the ten soldiers of the Special Company,

But also illuminated the ranks of the Tomiho Haruki Battalion.

Chen Sichuan whispered, "Retreat!"

If he couldn't take out more of them at once, he would feel the pain of so many Japs.

Li Xian obviously understood what he was thinking.

Li Xian had also actually participated in the airfield attack.

Without saying a word, he crawled backwards.

The charging soldiers of the Tomiho Haruki Battalion saw the ten people in front charging towards them.

When they discovered that there were many people on their side, they quickly ran backwards.

That was the normal thing to do!

The charging soldiers of the Tomiho Haruki Battalion sped up.

Chen Sichuan and the others could only retreat behind the second line of defense and could retreat no further.

They were crawling backwards, but the Japs chasing them were standing and charging.

The speed difference was too great.

Watching these Japs charge, Chen Sichuan calmly ordered, "Machine guns ready!

Bombs ready!"

To be safe, he specifically instructed, "The machine guns must fire after the bombs detonate."

The Tomiho Haruki Battalion finally charged to within thirty meters of them, under the expectant gazes of the ten members of the Special Company's First Squad.

At this distance, none of the ten had fired a shot.

This made the Japs of the Tomiho Haruki Battalion extremely happy. In another three or five breaths, they would be able to charge in front of these people.

These people were already frightened, and they didn't dare to fire a single shot! Chen Sichuan shouted, "Detonate!"

Four balls of fire suddenly burst out twenty meters in front of them.

These were the second set of directional mines they had set up two hundred meters away.

At the same time, the four mines set up at three hundred meters, four hundred meters, and five hundred meters away also exploded.

All of these mines had been set up in sets of four.

After the bombs exploded,

Hua Deze, Chen Xing, Zhao Long, Lang Ziji, and Kang Youjie raised their guns, wanting to shoot at the Japs in front.

They could only see that the original pale light of the flares on the battlefield had turned into a red mist.

There wasn't a single Jap standing in the area that their eyes could clearly see.

Chen Sichuan shouted, "Hua Deze, Chen Xing, Zhao Dalong, Lang Ziji, Kang Youjie,

Clean up the battlefield.

Pei Xueyi, Xiang Liguo, Gan Huaxing, continue to reset the mines."

He wanted to continue fighting in this way.

After giving the order, he was the first to stand up, pick up his rifle, and charge forward.

This time, Chen Sichuan had intentionally buried two more mines on each line of defense.

The effect was extraordinarily good. There were very few Japs groaning on the battlefield.

He led Hua Deze, Chen Xing, Zhao Dalong, Lang Ziji, and Kang Youjie to finish off all the Japs.

At this moment, nine more people rushed down from the artillery positions. These were reinforcements sent by the Fifth Squad.

As soon as they came up, they immediately joined the ranks of cleaning up the battlefield.

Hua Deze stepped on the Jap in front of him, who was still groaning, and asked Chen Sichuan, "Squad Leader! Are you going to use the same trick a third time?"

Chen Sichuan laughed, "No matter how many times I use it, the Japs will die as soon as they charge up at night.

They only get to experience it once. If it works, I'll use it more!"

Chen Xing also asked, "Squad Leader! Who came up with such a good method?"

Chen Sichuan was happy that he had blown up the Japs twice tonight, "Company Commander, the Company Commander taught us everything."

Chen Sichuan instructed, "There's not enough time tonight. Everyone replenish your ammunition.

There's no need to search the bodies."

Xiao Dongbei, who was guarding the east side, was in the same situation as Chen Sichuan.

After wiping out a Jap cavalry squad, another squad of Jap infantry charged up ten minutes later.

Charging towards them was a battalion from the 56th Infantry Regiment.

The Oyasu Naoya Battalion had suffered heavy casualties in the attack on the 128th Division's position yesterday and had originally retreated to rest.

Tonight, they were bombarded by artillery fire again and suffered considerable losses.

Only because this battalion was closest to the 18th Mountain Artillery Regiment's position did Division Commander Ushijima Sadayoshi send them to clean up the mess.

After all, how strong could an artillery unit be in ground combat?

Even an incomplete infantry battalion could completely take care of them.

When the Oyasu Naoya Battalion finally fell, they didn't understand: how could all seven hundred of their men have fallen in the blink of an eye?

The battles on the east and west sides were in full swing, but no Japs came to the north and south.

This made Liu Laopao and Jia Shusheng, who were guarding the north and south, very unhappy.

Lin Fan looked at the time. It was already 3:40 AM.

They had to retreat.

Lin Fan gave the order, "Retrieve the directional mines set up by each squad, leaving only two tripwires at the final position.

Assemble at the artillery positions at 3:50 AM!

Prepare to retreat."

Since no Japs had come to attack in the north and south, they would choose one of the north or south directions and circle back.

The order was relayed by Wu Xiaobao, Zhao Long, Ji Wudi, and Ji Wuming.

The squads quickly acted on the orders they received.

Chen Sichuan immediately had his men retrieve eighteen of the twenty mines they had set up.

Only two mines were left nearby, and the tripwires were set up.

The other squads were doing the same thing.

The soldiers of the Special Company quickly concentrated at the artillery positions.

Lin Fan ordered, "All artillerymen, load the shells, then pour dirt into the muzzles."

This order was a bit puzzling!

But it didn't affect the soldiers' execution.

The soldiers of each squad quickly carried out Lin Fan's task.

Lin Fan ordered again, "The entire company form up, each squad report the number of personnel! Report the wounded!"

Chen Sichuan reported, "First Squad should have twenty-one men, twenty-one present, two wounded, not affecting action! Report complete."

Liu Laopao reported, "Second Squad should have twenty-one men, twenty-one present, no one injured! Report complete."

...

Xiao Dongbei reported, "Fourth Squad should have twenty-one men, twenty-one present, three wounded, one wounded in the leg, two wounded in the arms. Report complete."

...

After the eight squads reported, Lin Fan knew the situation. There were five wounded in the entire company, four of whom could walk on their own.

One needed help.

Lin Fan ordered, "One wounded from the Fourth Squad on a stretcher! The remaining equipment of the wounded will be shared by their squadmates.

Everyone tie strips of cloth on their right arms.

Prepare to depart in three minutes to the northeast.

Second Squad will be the vanguard, scouting the way ahead. Remember that we are disguised as Japanese soldiers.

Third Squad follows, First Squad follows behind Third Squad, Fourth Squad follows.

Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and the Direct Support Squad follow in order.

Everyone pay attention to the comrades in front and behind, and do not fall behind.

Ji Guohang! Be bold when encountering Japs, answer with confidence, and if you can't fool them, take action.

Take action if you have nothing to say!

Take action if you're about to be exposed!"

Ji Guochou replied loudly, "Yes!"

Lin Fan's three "take actions" caused a burst of laughter in the entire company.

Lin Fan said, "Each squad watch your own men, and don't get lost from now on."

Then he said to Feng Junya, "Go and fire all the cannons one by one!"

Lin Fan only sent one person, because he was afraid that sending too many people out at night would be a pity if someone got lost on the battlefield.

The cannons with blocked muzzles were destroyed one by one.

When Feng Junya ran back to report, Lin Fan ordered, "Depart!"

Bombs had been set under all the shells on the position of the 18th Mountain Artillery Regiment of the Japanese 18th Division.

As the Special Company soldiers left, Feng Junya lit the fuse.

The Special Company soldiers had been moving into the darkness for more than two hundred meters when the artillery positions behind them began to explode continuously.

This was the sound of the shells being detonated.

Since the Special Company and his Second Battalion had set off, Gu Jiaqi had been waiting for news from the front.

An hour passed, and there was no news from the front. An hour and a half, two hours passed.

There was still no news from the front.

Unable to bear it any longer, Gu Jiaqi walked out of the headquarters, stood in the open space outside, and looked up at the front.

He suddenly saw streaks of fire in the night sky in front.

These were the trajectories of artillery shells flying through the darkness.

As a general who had been fighting all the time, he knew at a glance that this was not a bombardment of his own troops.

Who was it?

They were pounding the Japs' camp!

Gu Jiaqi's mind immediately started working!

If this was a friendly force, supporting his artillery fire, he could ask them to cooperate tomorrow, and his troops could completely counterattack and charge back to Fengjingbin.

He was too far away to hear the sound of the artillery shells landing and exploding in the distance.

However, the red lines piercing through the night had never stopped.

After half an hour, the soldiers on the front line reported, "The Second Battalion has returned."

"Let He Shaowu come to the division headquarters!" Gu Jiaqi had only this one order.

He Shaowu quickly ran to Gu Jiaqi's division headquarters.

In the darkness, only the lanterns hanging under the eaves of the surrounding houses emitted a faint light.

Gu Jiaqi ordered, "Give him water!"

He Shaowu took the bowl and drank it down in one gulp.

He wiped his mouth and said, "Division Commander! We did a great job tonight!

We ran into a Jap ambush tonight.

The Japs had ambushed a full battalion outside the barracks."

Gu Jiaqi didn't interrupt, listening to He Shaowu's contradictory words.

"As soon as we made contact with the Japs, all the people they had ambushed ran out.

I was in a hurry at the time and led my men to meet them.

Those Japs were also good tonight. They didn't fire their guns, they just fought us with bayonets.

They weren't a match for us in bayonet fighting, but there were a bit too many Japs.

The Special Company that was following us was good.

They were fiercer than me in bayonet fighting, and more ruthless than the Japs.

Those people, when they were fighting with bayonets, they were in groups of three, like some kind of formation.

When they charged, they were even faster than us.

If it weren't for them tonight, my Second Battalion would have been lucky to have a hundred men come back.

Division Commander! The Japs first surrounded us, and I led my brothers, plus the brothers from the Special Company,

We fought our way through the encirclement.

We sent the brothers from the Special Company out.

Then we turned around and fought the Japs for the second time."

作者：大飞骑唐僧