Watanabe Takumi, the company commander, was originally at the rear of the entire battalion, holding the line, when he received the latest orders from Battalion Commander Yamada Jukinosuke.

He immediately ordered the entire company to turn around and charge back the way they had come.

As his company was at the very end, Company Commander Watanabe Takumi had a clearer picture of the situation behind them: the two regiments of puppet infantry that had been following his battalion had not kept up.

This could only mean one thing: the soldiers of the two puppet infantry regiments had all fled.

Such a result would not surprise any of the Japanese soldiers. That's just how those puppet troops were.

If the Japanese hadn't been ambushed, they might have observed for a while to see who had the upper hand.

If the Japanese were winning, those puppet troops would desperately charge forward and attack, fighting even more bravely than the Japanese.

But if the enemy had the advantage, those puppet troops would immediately flee, disappearing without a trace.

Today's situation was quite special. Normally, even if the Japanese were ambushed, they wouldn't change their attack direction so easily.

Company Commander Watanabe Takumi grumbled inwardly: Was Battalion Commander Yamada frightened by the enemy? How else could he be making such contradictory orders?

Changing the direction of attack so quickly in the midst of battle would be very damaging to the morale of the Japanese soldiers.

Of course, Company Commander Watanabe Takumi hadn't personally seen the fortifications erected by the Lunan Detachment blocking the road.

Those fortifications, as solid as fortresses, had already extinguished the desire to attack in the two companies that had charged forward.

As for courage? It had been completely worn away by the continuous barrage of heavy machine-gun fire.

Kato Yuto of the Miki Juro Company had initially been at the front of the charge. Later, seeing the heavy machine-gun bullets pouring down like rain,

he felt a secret fear in his heart: He had been too reckless to lead the charge just now.

Then he secretly rejoiced: I am truly a chosen one, today is my lucky day, I can't be hurt no matter what.

Sergeant Major Nikko Daisho of the Kobayashi Takeo Company had mocked the Japanese soldiers who were crawling on the ground, afraid to charge, when he first arrived at the front lines.

He had only charged ten meters further before humiliatingly lying down in the endless hail of bullets.

Once he was down, Sergeant Major Nikko Daisho no longer had the courage to stand up. The whistling bullets constantly flew past his ears.

The "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" sounds terrified him, and he didn't even dare to lift his head.

All he could do in that position was fire his gun forward. This already made him one of the bravest Japanese soldiers in the Kobayashi Company.

There weren't many soldiers in the entire Kobayashi Company who were still firing their guns under these circumstances.

Even though this kind of firing was completely inaccurate, it at least gave the battlefield an atmosphere of battle, right?

After they received Battalion Commander Yamada Jukinosuke's order to retreat, every Japanese soldier began to move.

Those Japanese soldiers who were slightly further away, like those in the Ninomiya Uemon Company, only needed to lie on the ground, turn around, and crawl another ten meters before they could hunch over and quickly walk away from the range of the machine-gun fire.

Only Sergeant Major Nikko Daisho, who had charged the furthest, and the soldiers of the Kobayashi Company near him,

needed to crawl at least fifty meters before they could stand up and hunch over to escape.

As Sergeant Major Nikko Daisho turned his head, his leg was suddenly grabbed by a pair of cold hands: "Please! Carry me back!"

A sinister voice said behind him.

Battalion Commander Yamada's order was for all Japanese soldiers to retreat, to retreat the way they had come.

There was no specific order about whether to take the wounded or not, and Company Commander Kobayashi didn't specifically require that the wounded be taken away when he issued the order.

Under the enemy's dense hail of bullets, it was already very difficult for these Japanese soldiers to escape themselves, let alone carry the wounded.

If they did, they wouldn't need to escape at all. They could just wait here to die.

Therefore, when these Japanese soldiers retreated, not a single one was willing to drag the wounded along.

Sergeant Major Nikko Daisho was now in a dilemma: his thigh was already being held by Shichijo Jiro, and he couldn't shake him off no matter what.

He had to make up a kind lie: "Shichijo-san! Let go, I'll retreat and drag you along."

Nikko Daisho's tone at this moment was very sincere, so sincere that Shichijo Jiro completely believed him: he knew that holding onto someone's thigh like this really wouldn't allow them to drag him back.

Shichijo Jiro didn't want to do this either. He had only rushed to the front after hearing Nikko Daisho laugh and mock those Japanese soldiers in the Miki Juro Company, wanting to fight alongside Nikko Daisho.

As a result, he had just charged up when he was hit by two bullets and fell to the ground, and he hadn't dared to move since. He had patiently waited for the Japanese soldiers to capture the fortifications in front, and then come to rescue them.

Now, hearing Company Commander Kobayashi convey the order to retreat, to retreat the way they had come, he knew that rescue wasn't coming. He could only save himself.

How was he going to save himself? If he could crawl back, he would have already crawled away. Therefore, he could only grab a thigh.

As luck would have it, he grabbed Nikko Daisho's thigh. Hearing Nikko Daisho's promise, Shichijo Jiro let go, adjusting his posture to make it easier for the other man to drag him along.

What he never expected was that Nikko Daisho was as cunning and vicious as a snake. Taking advantage of the opportunity when he let go, his body quickly slipped away.

He had maliciously tricked him into letting go so he could escape. Shichijo Jiro's anger instantly filled the entire world.

He now had only one enemy in his eyes: Nikko Daisho.

"If you don't take me, and I can't leave, then I'll make sure you can't leave either." Shichijo Daisho bitterly set up his Type 38 rifle and aimed.

In reality, he was less than ten meters away from Nikko Daisho, and he could hit him without aiming.

However, Shichijo Jiro wasn't an ordinary Japanese soldier. He had his limits. He couldn't kill Nikko Daisho.

So his first shot hit Nikko Daisho's left leg, and his second shot hit his right hand.

Nikko Daisho heard the gunshots behind him, and felt pain in his leg and hand. He knew he had been injured.

He had to stop and bandage his wounds. When he turned his head, he saw Shichijo Jiro lying on the ground, actually showing an excited expression as he fired a third shot at him.

The third shot hit Nikko Daisho's right hand. Nikko Daisho was furious: "Baga! Shichijo, do you know what you're doing? Attacking your teammates like this will get you court-martialed."

Shichijo Jiro's hand didn't shake, and he didn't panic. His fourth shot hit Nikko Daisho's right leg as well.

Only then did he shout loudly: "Come on! If you want to court-martial me, you'll have to get me off the battlefield first!"

Nikko Daisho was speechless! Now both his hands and feet were injured, and he could no longer leave the battlefield. He could only lie there.

Glaring at Shichijo Jiro, he asked: "So many Japanese soldiers crawled past you, why didn't you ask them to save you?"

"They're not as fast as you. You were running in the front when you charged, and you were shot by Kitakaze Jiro this morning, but the bullet was blocked by your canteen.

Originally, I was in the middle, but I heard you mocking the Miki Juro Company, so I thought about rushing to the front, and then I got shot.

I was shot and injured because of you, so it's only right that you save me.

Who knew you would be so vicious, deceiving me with lies.

I'm going to make you pay a price, a price you'll never forget for the rest of your life."

Nikko Daisho had never imagined that his ridicule of the Miki Company would cost him his life.

In his current state, he definitely couldn't retreat. The whistling of bullets constantly flew past his head and body, and he might be shot and killed in the next second.

But before he died, he had to avenge himself! Thinking this, Nikko Daisho began a difficult movement.

With both his hands injured, it was still difficult for him to move his rifle and aim at Shichijo Jiro.

Shichijo Jiro, who had been staring at him, immediately understood his intentions. He moved the rifle he had been holding in his hand, and this time he aimed at his head and fired.

With one shot, he blew Nikko Daisho's head apart. Only then did he put down his gun and say bitterly: "Kitakaze Jiro, Shichijo Jiro, we're both ranked second. In the end, your life was still taken by number two."

The grudges between Nikko Daisho and Shichijo Jiro on the battlefield were just a detail in the Japanese soldiers' retreat. Even their company commander, Kobayashi Takeo, didn't know about it.

Even if other wounded Japanese soldiers on the battlefield saw it, they wouldn't be able to spread such details: The Lunan Detachment wouldn't let any of these wounded Japanese soldiers live to see today.

The Watanabe Takumi Company, which had originally been the rearguard, was now the vanguard. They were tasked with clearing the retreat route for the entire company.

This wasn't a problem in itself. Whether it was Company Commander Watanabe Takumi or Battalion Commander Yamada Jukinosuke, they all believed that the road to retreat was clear.

Because the two puppet infantry regiments had just retreated this way. If there were any obstacles, they should have heard dense gunfire behind them when they broke through.

This reasoning was correct, but the Japanese hadn't taken into account the crimes they had committed on this land. They had never imagined that the Lunan Detachment could let the puppet infantry regiments go, or even leave a chance for the puppet troops to survive in the battle.

Just like Commander Tian Huacai, he first used two directional mines to demonstrate his ability, and then had thousands of soldiers stand up to let the puppet troops know that they couldn't escape. This was how he captured the most puppet troops with the least amount of ammunition.

In reality, Commander Tian Huacai simply didn't want Chinese people to kill each other: he wanted to give these puppet troops, who had gone down the wrong path, a chance to reform.

But for the Japanese, the Lunan Detachment couldn't possibly give them a chance to reform, because the crimes they had committed had reached the point where they could only be appeased by killing them.

The Japanese soldiers of the Watanabe Takumi Company turned around and fled the way they had come.

At this time, the smoke from the explosion of the directional mines had dissipated, and the dust had settled.

In the evening, the setting sun in Lunan was like blood, illuminating this field, making everything appear blood red.

Sergeant Major Takahashi Kawashin of the Watanabe Takumi Company was rushing at the front in a sea of blood red. When they were breaking through towards Huangtuling, his performance wasn't outstanding. He was only in the middle of the line, neither lagging behind nor in front.

When these Japanese soldiers heard Company Commander Watanabe issue the latest order: retreat! Retreat the way they came!

Sergeant Major Takahashi Kawashin erupted. He was the most eager Japanese soldier to retreat in the entire company.

He went from the middle of the line to the very front in one breath. Now he was the vanguard of the entire Yamada Battalion's retreat, the one at the very front.

As he charged desperately, he saw a line suddenly appear across the road ahead in red.

This line definitely wasn't there when they came. Sergeant Major Takahashi Kawashin was sure of this. The setting sun, with the earth all blood red, severely affected the clarity of his vision.

At this moment, many muzzle flashes suddenly appeared from that line in the originally blood-red field of vision.

"Muzzle flashes!" Takahashi Kawashin, who had been fighting on the battlefield for more than ten years, immediately understood.

When the entire team was ambushed this afternoon, he hadn't panicked. He had been fighting on this land for more than ten years, and although he hadn't been ambushed often, it had happened four or five times.

Every time, they had charged through the enemy's blockade head-on, and even turned around to defeat the enemy. Therefore, in the beginning, Sergeant Major Takahashi Kawashin, like most of the Japanese soldiers, was still trying to push forward, preparing to use his ability to clear the way forward as soon as possible and turn around to eliminate this team.

But when Company Commander Watanabe conveyed the order to retreat, Sergeant Major Takahashi Kawashin understood: the breakthrough forward was blocked, and these Japanese soldiers were in danger.

That's why he desperately rushed to the very front of the retreating team, wanting to break through as soon as possible. As a result, he arrived here, and muzzle flashes suddenly appeared in front of him.

In his haste, although he couldn't count how many guns there were, he knew there were many, many.

Then, Sergeant Major Takahashi Kawashin felt as if he had been hit in the chest by a heavy hammer. His entire body stopped obeying his will to fall forward, and instead leaned backward.

This wasn't his intention. When he saw the muzzle flashes, he immediately lunged forward, wanting to lie down to minimize his chances of being hit by bullets, but his movements still couldn't match the speed of the bullets.

Takahashi Kawashin fell to the ground, his chest riddled with machine-gun bullets. This was what Sergeant Major Uchi-gawa Toshiki, who was following behind him, saw.

Uchi-gawa Toshiki was charging behind him. He was also the first to discover that a fortification had been built across the road ahead at some unknown time, completely cutting off their retreat route.

Then he intentionally slowed his pace. When the guns on the opposite side fired, Uchi-gawa Toshiki was behind Takahashi Kawashin. Takahashi Kawashin, eager to escape, silently endured the bullets and protected Uchi-gawa Toshiki.

Uchi-gawa Toshiki was fortunate enough to see the chest of this Japanese soldier, who had rushed to the front, already a complete mess. There was no need to save him.

Besides, he had no intention of saving him. In today's situation, it wouldn't be easy for Uchi-gawa Toshiki to bring himself out alive, let alone save another wounded Japanese soldier. That was impossible.

Company Commander Watanabe quickly learned that a fortification had suddenly appeared on the retreat route.

When he arrived at the front line, the light of the setting sun had already diminished a lot, and he could clearly see the fortifications on the opposite side.

If Company Commander Miki Juro had seen these fortifications, he would have immediately suggested that the entire battalion break through in a different direction.

These fortifications were all made of stacked grass bags, and the firing holes for all the weapons were small openings left between the grass bags.

The advantage of this was that it could protect the shooters inside the fortifications as much as possible. It could be said that the shooters hiding behind the fortifications wouldn't be hit by the bullets of the charging enemy at all.

The only things that could deal with such fortifications were grenade launchers and artillery.

But the entire Yamada Jukinosuke Battalion had already used grenade launchers in the other direction of the road to break through, but it was all in vain and didn't play any role at all.

Company Commander Watanabe didn't know this yet. He was still ordering: Fire! Fire! Suppress them with machine guns! Captain with the sword, charge immediately and break through the fortifications on the opposite side!

From Company Commander Watanabe's perspective, the fortifications on the opposite side looked very thin. Behind the fortifications was the main road.

In such a short period of time, Gu Xiuming's First Company and Second Company could only hastily build a fortification across the road.

However, it wasn't just these two companies blocking the Japanese soldiers in this direction. There were also two companies from the Fei County Security Second Regiment.

Nearly seven hundred soldiers from four companies. The fortification across the road was less than ten meters long. Only six heavy machine guns from the First Company and a squad from the First Platoon were guarding here.

More soldiers were on both sides of the fortification. They were paying attention to the actions of the Japanese soldiers, waiting for the order from Feng Ruili, the company commander of the First Company.

Company Commander Feng Ruili had just separated the puppet troops who had been attacked by the directional mines from those who hadn't when he was charging.

The puppet troops who hadn't been attacked had already fled to the Yi River. The First and Second Companies immediately built fortifications on this road, waiting for the Japanese soldiers to turn around.

Now those Japanese soldiers had turned around, and they were trying to break through the fortifications built by the First and Second Companies like a tide. As a result, they were knocked down by the six heavy machine guns all at once.

After Company Commander Watanabe's order was issued, Captain with the sword Saburo immediately led more than twenty soldiers from his team to stand up and charge.

At the same time, the rest of the Japanese soldiers in the entire Watanabe Company also fired at the firing points in front.

His company also had two grenade launcher operators. They tried their best to play their role, and began to bombard after a little aiming.

Company Commander Feng Ruili saw a small group of Japanese soldiers beginning to charge on the right side of the Japanese soldiers, with a large group of Japanese soldiers providing cover, and there were also grenade launchers in the Japanese team.

How could he allow this?

"Infantry guns! Bazookas, mortars, take out the Japanese grenade launchers! Reduce the burden on the brothers in the front."

He was now commanding not only his own First Company, but also Hou Junnan's Second Company and the two companies of the Fei County Security Second Regiment.

The simultaneous firing of these heavy weapons from the four companies instantly blasted Company Commander Watanabe, who was squatting on the side of the road to direct the attack, into the air.

Although he was squatting in the ditch on the side of the road, this ditch was a natural cover. Although it wasn't deep enough, it was always better than being completely exposed.

But such a cover ultimately couldn't protect Company Commander Watanabe Takumi's safety. At least ten mortars and four infantry guns were targeting such a small area of his company.

Of course, the Watanabe Company couldn't withstand it. The vanguard team that was retreating was blocked, which left Battalion Commander Yamada Jukinosuke dumbfounded.

He simply couldn't believe it: Was the Yamada Battalion going to be destroyed here?

As the smoke cleared, he could already see the surrounding situation clearly. Standing on the road, he could see many flashes of light on both sides of the road.

It was afternoon now, and those flashes of light couldn't possibly be sunlight reflected by dew. They could only be light reflected by weapons illuminated by the setting sun.

These scattered spots of light, each point was like a knife, cutting into the heart of the Yamada Battalion.

Those Japanese soldiers who were lucky enough to still be alive also discovered: they were completely surrounded.

A regiment of the Lunan Detachment had twelve companies, and each company had one hundred and seventy people. According to this calculation, a regiment had two thousand people. Adding the similarly organized security regiment, that was four thousand soldiers. Although two companies had driven the puppet troops away, there were three thousand seven hundred soldiers here.

Even when the entire Yamada Jukinosuke Battalion was fully staffed, the Lunan Detachment was still three times its strength.

Now, the Japanese soldiers of the Yamada Battalion were less than thirty percent of their original strength. Most of the Japanese soldiers had fallen to the ground and couldn't move. Less than four hundred Japanese soldiers were still able to fight.

The ratio of personnel on the battlefield was already nine to one. Battalion Commander Yamada Jukinosuke said he was powerless to fight such a war.

The Yamada Jukinosuke Battalion Commander, in a rage of powerlessness, didn't give up. He ordered: "All warriors, immediately gather in the direction we came from."

He was going to implement the pig assault tactic that the Japanese soldiers were best at! This tactic of the Japanese soldiers was learned from wild boars.

The entire team would gather together, keep charging forward, only caring about charging forward with their heads down, not caring whether there were mountains of knives or seas of fire in front of them, nor caring about their own casualties. Anyway, they would keep charging forward.

Either the enemy couldn't hold on and collapsed, or the Japanese soldiers were all dead. Only then would such a pig assault stop.

Battalion Commander Yamada Jukinosuke's order was quickly conveyed: The fact that his battalion had fewer Japanese soldiers was also an advantage.

The speed of conveying the order was very fast. The messenger shouted loudly, and all the Japanese soldiers in the entire battalion received it.

Company Commander Ninomiya Uemon, Company Commander Kobayashi Takeo, and Company Commander Miki Juro were all gathered together by Battalion Commander Yamada Jukinosuke for a speech: "Gentlemen! The survival of the Yamada Battalion depends on this one move. I hope you will all work hard to move forward."

"Hai!" The three company commanders responded together.

They returned to their respective companies and carried out the final war mobilization for all the Japanese soldiers. All the Japanese soldiers were clear: At this time, if they didn't fight desperately, they could only surrender.

But the Yamada Battalion Commander wouldn't surrender, so they could only obey the order.

While Battalion Commander Yamada was planning the pig assault plan with a determined heart, the sword-bearing Saburo squad that the Watanabe Company had launched an assault with had already been completely wiped out.

The assault of more than twenty Japanese soldiers, under the strafing of six heavy machine guns, not a single Japanese soldier charged forward.

The entire Watanabe Company, which had originally had more than forty Japanese soldiers left, had less than ten left alive after being bombarded by concentrated artillery fire.

Now they were no longer important.

Commander Gu Xiuming, who had been watching the battlefield from a distance, saw that the remaining three hundred-plus Japanese soldiers had actually gathered together.

"What are they trying to do?" Commander Gu didn't understand.

But what the Japanese soldiers wanted to do was exactly what they wouldn't allow them to do.

Commander Gu ordered: "Each company, all companies that see the Japanese soldiers gathering, immediately bombard them with artillery fire.

Whether it's infantry guns, mortars, or bazookas, fire at them all. Scatter the Japanese soldiers' formation."

At least six companies could see the Japanese soldiers gathering.

Feng Ruili's First Company could only hear the order, but couldn't see the Japanese soldiers gathering. He could only hear the explosions constantly ringing out, and the smoke not far away rising into the sky again.