August 29, 1938, night.

Lin Fan led the Third and Fourth Regiments into Tongcheng.

They had marched a long distance during the day, from Taihu Lake to Tongcheng.

The soldiers were all very tired.

However, now was not the time for the Fourth Regiment to rest.

They still had to travel overnight.

The Fourth Regiment needed to reach Shucheng before dawn.

Chen Sichuan led the First Regiment, still hurrying anxiously on the road.

They were to reach Hefei before dawn.

According to Chen Sichuan's plan,

the First Regiment was to attack Hefei city simultaneously,

and also destroy the Hefei airport.

Chen Sichuan had been happy ever since they seized the aircraft from Tianzhu Mountain Airport.

During the day,

seeing the planes they had captured shoot down twelve of the Japanese devils' planes,

Chen Sichuan felt excited.

Of course, Chen Sichuan also had ideas about the planes at Hefei Airport this time.

But this time, the First Regiment had no understanding of the situation at Hefei Airport.

How many Japanese devils were at the airport?

How many Japanese devils were there in Hefei?

Chen Sichuan knew none of this.

Due to the insufficient troops at his disposal,

the First Regiment's plan was temporarily to destroy the airport,

destroy all the planes inside,

and blow up the airport's fuel depot.

At the same time, they also had to attack Hefei.

Such a mission was a very arduous task for the First Regiment.

Why was it necessary to attack Hefei?

This was because the Japanese Second Army departed from Hefei.

Its entire Second Army had four divisions,

a full 100,000 Japanese devils,

plus their support personnel,

which amounted to at least 150,000.

So many Japanese devils and puppet troops,

their logistics and supplies were all in Hefei.

The First Regiment didn't need to capture Hefei.

Simply bombing Hefei city

would keep the commander of the Second Army, Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, awake at night.

Chen Sichuan's plan

received high approval from Lin Fan.

Even the Brigade Commander came personally to meet them for this plan,

which Chen Sichuan had not expected.

Initially,

he was just thinking of swapping the cage.

The Japanese devils would attack Shucheng, and the First Regiment would attack Hefei.

Each would fight their own battle.

The First Regiment's attack on Hefei was to strike where the Japanese devils would surely come to the rescue.

Shucheng was not so important to the Special Operations Brigade.

Besides, Shucheng was inanimate.

Even if it was occupied by the Japanese devils,

it could be retaken in the future.

Therefore, in Chen Sichuan's plan,

they were prepared to abandon Shucheng.

During the day, the First Regiment launched a sneak attack on the Japanese devils.

The Japanese devils suffered the loss of almost three infantry battalions.

This result greatly exceeded Lin Fan's expectations

and surprised Chen Sichuan as well.

A Japanese infantry brigade had a total of eight infantry battalions.

This one attack had caused them to lose almost half their strength.

Since the Japanese devils were so easily defeated,

Lin Fan also changed the battle plan accordingly.

There was no need to abandon Shucheng.

He would send a regiment to defend Shucheng.

On the one hand, when the Japanese devils retreated,

they could immediately pursue and take another bite out of them.

On the other hand, Shucheng was not far from Hefei,

making it easier to meet the returning First Regiment.

Most importantly, this time, the Japanese devils

were much less capable in combat than the previous ones.

According to Lin Fan's new plan,

two regiments would march urgently from Taihu Lake.

The Third Regiment would replenish in Tongcheng,

cooperating with Ye Dadan's Sixth Regiment to intercept the Japanese devils attacking Tongcheng.

The Fourth Regiment would advance overnight, heading to Shucheng,

striving to defend Shucheng for two days.

Once the news of the First Regiment's attack on Hefei spread,

in order to relieve Hefei,

the Japanese devils would definitely withdraw the troops coming to attack Shucheng and Tongcheng.

Because these were the only two places where they currently had large forces that could be withdrawn.

The small number of troops in the other county towns

would be of no help even if they were transferred to Hefei.

Even if the Japanese devils did not withdraw troops from Shucheng and Tongcheng to Hefei,

the Fourth Regiment only needed to defend for two days.

The Second, Eighth, and Fourteenth Regiments, having completed the transfer of defenses in the Taihu Lake area, would arrive successively.

At the same time, a logistical team of 6,000 people would also arrive.

They would also be able to concentrate their forces to eliminate one of the two Japanese forces coming to attack.

Then, they would clean up the other Japanese force.

Night fell, and tonight was destined not to be peaceful.

Jurong Airport, Li Xian was seeing off a flight squadron.

This was a flight squadron of forty attack aircraft.

They were taking advantage of the darkness to cross the Yangtze River,

flying to Tongcheng to support the Jiangbei base area.

These aircraft were all manufactured in the aircraft factory that had recently been relocated to Guangde.

Saying "manufactured" was actually somewhat of an exaggeration.

The Special Operations Brigade was currently only able to produce some of the steel and wiring.

The engines and tires were all imported from the United States.

For the entire aircraft, the engines and tires were all imported.

The remaining aspects had already been self-produced,

especially the four machine guns under each aircraft.

This was a weapon specially designed by Lin Fan to deal with infantry.

Two machine guns were arranged on each wing of the aircraft.

In the center of the belly, a thirty-millimeter cannon was arranged.

This cannon was actually modified from an anti-aircraft gun.

Its fast rate of fire was its only advantage.

The aircraft designed by Lin Fan had only one use:

to deal with infantry!

Therefore, its flight speed was slow, with a maximum speed of only 270 kilometers per hour.

The slowest it could go without falling was 100 kilometers per hour.

This was the result obtained after multiple tests by the pilots.

In the aircraft textbooks, the Special Operations Brigade required the aircraft to maintain a minimum speed of over 110 kilometers per hour.

Of course, such an aircraft could not be used in aerial combat with the Japanese devils' fighter planes,

but it was a divine weapon for dealing with infantry.

This flight squadron of forty aircraft

was going to Tongcheng to fight.

According to Lin Fan's instructions,

during this period, the Special Operations Brigade had been stepping up the import of engines and tires from foreign countries.

Lin Fan knew that in the days to come,

the War of Resistance would become increasingly difficult.

Many materials would become increasingly difficult to purchase.

He needed to stock up on some goods.

Although Li Xian didn't understand these things,

for his current position,

as long as Lin Fan's faith remained unchanged,

all his orders had to be obeyed.

After all, it was wartime now.

Everything had to serve the front lines.

Moreover, Lin Fan was good at fighting wars.

Making money seemed to be even better than fighting wars.

Some time ago, he had robbed more than fifty Japanese banks in one go,

bringing huge wealth to the Special Operations Brigade.

It was precisely because of this large sum of money

that the Special Operations Brigade had the capital to import a large amount of materials.

Li Xian had also discovered a phenomenon.

Having money in hand could really accomplish many things.

Like the other day, Germany and the Japanese devils had already formed an alliance,

but their alliance was immediately severed under the Special Operations Brigade's golden offensive.

The eighty-eight-millimeter anti-aircraft guns that the Special Operations Brigade wanted to import from Germany

were said to have been completely produced.

All the procedures had also been completed,

and they were about to be loaded onto ships and transported.

The more engines and production equipment the Special Operations Brigade imported from the United States,

the better the attitude of the American liaison officer stationed in Jurong became.

Given the Special Operations Brigade's increasing demand for fuel and chemical products,

the Americans had decided to build an oil refinery between Nanjing and Ma'anshan.

The location of this oil refinery was somewhat awkward.

It was located within the Special Operations Brigade's actual control line,

but it was also within the Japanese devils' attack range.

As long as the Japanese devils wanted to destroy this oil refinery,

they could do so very conveniently.

For merchants, war, right, and wrong were not problems.

This oil refinery had privately promised the Japanese devils that half of the products produced

would be transported to Nanjing for sale,

and half would be sold locally.

The resource-strapped Japanese devils were using their gold reserves every day to purchase strategic materials such as oil and steel.

At this time, it was proposed that the currency used to purchase these fuels should be settled in their own currency.

The Americans proposed that the price should be increased by 20%.

Both sides had their own plans and finally reached an agreement.

Lin Fan knew that this kind of cooperation between them

could not last long.

In the future, the Japanese devils would eventually attack Pearl Harbor, and that would be the end of the cooperation.

Many American businessmen were still betting on the Japanese devils.

They believed that the Japanese devils would definitely be the final victors of the war.

This world was never a place for reason or morality.

Especially in the struggle between countries,

the winner always took all, and the loser lost everything.

The Jurong base area under the rule of the Special Operations Brigade

was a thriving scene.

It not only had people and money,

but also a peaceful environment, the best public security in East Asia at the moment,

and stable supplies.

From any point of view, this was the best place to make money

and the best place to live.

Many of those who used to make money in Shanghai

were now flocking to Jurong.

The explosive increase in the population

was a great worry for Li Xian.

During these days,

Li Xian had tripled the number of security personnel in the various county towns

and had also greatly expanded the security teams in the county towns and villages.

The purpose of doing this was, on the one hand, to increase manpower

to ensure the security of the base area,

and on the other hand, these people would all participate in military training

to reserve reserve soldiers for the Special Operations Brigade.

Howard Hughes' diesel engine factory had started construction,

but it had not yet officially gone into production.

This factory was the one that Lin Fan valued the most,

even more than the weapon production line.

Lin Fan knew that when two armies fought,

it was not just the soldiers fighting on the battlefield,

but also a competition of logistical supplies.

Just imagine, if a team was chronically unable to eat its fill, unable to keep warm,

and unable to supply weapons and ammunition,

could such a team persist through one battle,

let alone continue to persist?

If the Special Operations Brigade could produce its own engines,

it could produce various small transportation tools,

which would be extremely convenient, whether for production or for transporting supplies to the troops.

Lin Fan had a special feeling for the small tractors of later generations.

He believed that in the current situation,

they could be made even smaller.

For example, the Special Operations Brigade's current rocket launchers were towed by such diesel engines.

Lin Fan had many ideas,

and there were even more things in the base area.

Li Xian had to worry about all these things.

During this period, Li Xian had lost another circle of weight.

He had too many things to do.

He had to manage the entire Special Operations Brigade's production.

He also had to manage the reception and management of refugees.

As the grain imported by the Special Operations Brigade from foreign countries continuously arrived at the port,

Jurong finally completely relaxed the restrictions on receiving refugees.

Not only that, Li Xian also specially asked people to promote in the newspapers:

"If you want to eat, go to Jurong!"

"If you want to eat your fill, go to Jurong!"

"Don't worry when you get to Jurong,

someone will take care of your food and clothing!"

...

These were all Lin Fan's requirements.

Lin Fan knew that population was the root of everything.

If the base area wanted to be strong,

it first had to have a strong population base.

Once there was a population base,

everything was possible.

During this period,

there were hundreds of factories under construction in Jurong at the same time.

New factories were starting construction every day,

and these all required a large population.

According to Lin Fan's requirements,

during this period, the Special Operations Brigade

merged the maps drawn by the various regiments in the various counties,

searched for suitable places for reclamation from the middle,

militarized the management of those new refugees who had arrived in Jurong, and sent them to various places for reclamation.

The Special Operations Brigade temporarily lent them grain and tools,

helped them build houses,

and after they had produced something,

they would return the grain, tools, and livestock at a discounted price using the produced materials.

For those who had escaped from the Yellow River flood area,

being able to have food and shelter at this time

was like meeting the blue sky.

Not to mention that in Jurong, they could also have their own houses

and be allocated land.

Although these lands were all wasteland,

they were still land!

Li Xian had already distributed these refugees to places outside the base area.

Even in the remote mountains and wildernesses of Suzhou and Changzhou,

there were reclamation groups composed of thousands of people.

These wastelands originally belonged to the government.

The puppet Reformed Government, which had just been established in Nanjing, could not manage the countryside at all.

The Japanese devils now had no energy to manage the peasants in the countryside.

Therefore, along the Shanghai-Nanjing line,

there were reclamation groups newly arranged by the Special Operations Brigade everywhere.

These reclamation groups did not argue with the locals

or steal the local people's jobs.

On the contrary, the people in these reclamation groups

often bought things from the locals.

This kind of thing that allowed the locals to make money

shut many people's mouths.

Some of them were very envious of these outsiders

who could reclaim wasteland and, after a few years,

a portion of the reclaimed wasteland could become their own fields.

The locals also tried to compete with these outsiders.

However, those who dared to come forward were ultimately in the minority.

The people in the reclamation groups, when they first arrived in a new place,

had the most important grain supplied by the Special Operations Brigade.

Although small vegetables were not important, they were also necessary.

It was not feasible to find wild vegetables every day.

Especially since almost every family in these reclamation groups

had someone working in a factory in Jurong.

The money they brought back

could be used to buy some things from the locals.

Where there were people, there was trade.

The more people there were, the more trade there was.

As one reclamation group after another was set up,

there were more and more people in these places.

Some people with flexible minds

had already started traveling around to do business.

The Special Operations Brigade was now maintaining a state of external relaxation and internal tightness in its control over the base area.

Security teams from various places were responsible for checking the people coming and going on the various transportation routes every day.

In each reclamation group in the enemy-occupied areas, there were personnel from the Special Operations Brigade.

They would monitor the movements of the Japanese devils and puppet troops in the enemy-occupied areas.

If there was any disturbance, they could report it to the base area.

Mobilize the masses and let every member of the masses participate in the War of Resistance.

This was what Lin Fan had learned in school.

Tonight, a squadron of forty ground-attack aircraft came to Tongcheng.

At this time, Lin Fan had already continued to advance towards Shucheng with the Fourth Regiment.

At the same time, four companies of the Sixth Regiment were also marching urgently.

Brigade Commander Ye Dadan's long-planned attack on the main force of the Japanese devils

was to be carried out tonight.

The plan was very simple: the First, Second, and Third Companies would protect the Rocket Launcher Company,

advancing to the position they had scouted during the day overnight.

They had to enter the position before five o'clock in the morning.

The reconnaissance teams from the First, Second, and Third Companies had each sent a reconnaissance team to lurk around the Japanese devils' camp to guide the bombing.

These three companies' reconnaissance platoons had already lurked into position.

They were now just escorting the Rocket Launcher Company forward.

The Rocket Launcher Company had originally entered the position in the morning.

Everything was ready, waiting for the Japanese devils to advance another five kilometers before they could be bombed.

As a result, Sasaki Yūshō, the Brigade Commander of the Japanese 30th Brigade, ordered everyone to stop advancing.

Not only that, he also sent out dozens of reconnaissance squads to scout everywhere.

The Rocket Launcher Company had no choice but to retreat.

This retreat was fifteen kilometers.

It was precisely because they had retreated fifteen kilometers

that none of the reconnaissance squads sent out by Brigade Commander Sasaki Yūshō had discovered them.

In the evening, when the Japanese devils' reconnaissance squads all shrunk back,

the Rocket Launcher Company set out again.

This time, they were not advancing fifteen kilometers,

but twenty-five kilometers,

to establish a position in a new location.

This position allowed them to bomb three of the eight infantry battalions of the Japanese devils stationed in four different places without moving,

only by slightly adjusting the firing direction.

In order not to attract the attention of the Japanese devils,

the last ten kilometers of this march

could not be towed by the tractors developed by the Special Operations Brigade.

It had to be towed entirely by manpower and animal power.

In any case, the three infantry companies and one rocket launcher company

used one company to tow one rocket launcher in the last ten kilometers.

They finally arrived at the designated position at four o'clock in the morning.

Company Commander Mei Xingxian of the Rocket Launcher Company was very familiar with this position.

Around Tongcheng, Company Commander Mei Xingxian had marked eighty-one such positions.

If they had been in Tongcheng longer,

he would have recorded even more positions.

In the afternoon, he had already silently established a three-dimensional map in his mind of the Japanese devils' current location and the position he was about to enter.

He had also determined the location of the Japanese devils on the sand table according to the coordinates Mao Wenxing had said.

Now, the four rocket launchers he was leading only needed to adjust according to the parameters determined earlier.

They were about to start bombing.

Ten minutes later, everything was ready.

The First, Second, and Third Companies all set off to ambush at various strategic high points.

Their task was to ensure the safety of the Rocket Launcher Company from firing to safe withdrawal.

If any Japanese devils' troops rushed towards this position,

these three companies would need to stop them!

The time came to five o'clock!

"Fire!" Company Commander Mei Xingxian ordered loudly.

"Boom!"

"Boom!" The sound of artillery fire awakened the silence of the mountains and forests.

Those early-rising birds

had just woken up.

They were using the faint light of dawn

to search for those nocturnal insects in the mountains and forests.

The early bird gets the worm!

Today, before they had eaten a few insects,

they were frightened by the thunderous sound and flapped their wings to fly away,

far away from their homeland.

Forty-eight rockets, dragging long trails of fire,

cut through the clear dawn sky and flew towards the distant target.

The reconnaissance platoon of the First Company had been lurking on the top of the mountain all night.

The darkest moment before dawn had just passed.

Platoon Leader Mo Wen suddenly felt the air trembling,

and a strangely sharp sound impacted his eardrums.

He looked towards the Japanese devils' garrison not far away.

Countless shells, dragging trails of fire,

were all falling into the Japanese devils' camp as if they were rushing to a fair.

He quickly grabbed the radio microphone:

"Falcon One reporting! Direct hit!

Falcon One reporting! Direct hit!"

A response came from the radio:

"Eagle's Nest received!"

Then there was no more sound.

But the rockets, dragging long contrails,

were still gathering towards this place non-stop.

Each time, it was forty-eight rockets.

Listening to Xie Wu's report, Mei Xingxian excitedly roared to the entire company:

"These are the parameters!

Continue firing!

The message from the front:

Direct hit!"

The entire Rocket Launcher Company was in an uproar.

The first round had hit! This was the best reward for their training these days

and for scouting the terrain.

Company Commander Mei Xingxian said loudly:

"Three consecutive rounds of bombing,

switch to the next target!"

They were not here to completely annihilate one target today.

They were here to inflict the greatest possible damage on the Japanese devils.

They would bomb as many targets as they could hit.

Yūkei Noda, the commander of the 33rd Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Army,

was sleeping soundly at dawn.

Suddenly, he was awakened by a violent explosion.

Sleeping in bed, he felt the entire bed was like a small boat sailing on the crest of a wave,

bumping incessantly.

His guards rushed in at this time,

helped the regimental commander up, and rushed outside.

Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei was taken out of the house without even putting on his clothes.

He stood on the flat ground,

looking at his camp at this dawn.

Smoke was rising everywhere, and many places were on fire.

"What direction did the attack come from?" he asked loudly.

A Japanese soldier pointed to the east: "It came from the east!"

"Send out troops, immediately search to the east!

We must find the Chinese army's heavy artillery regiment!"

Yesterday, the 19th Brigade said that they had encountered an attack by the Chinese army's heavy artillery regiment.

No Japanese devils believed it.

Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei looked at the shells flying from the eastern sky,

at least dozens of them.

So many cannons firing at the same time,

what else could it be but a heavy artillery regiment?

At this time, his guards urged:

"Sir! Find a place to hide!"

Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei pointed to the shells that had just landed:

"Such bombing! Where can we hide?"

His face was calm and composed, as if he didn't take such bombing seriously.

In reality, he was regretting it in his heart,

very much regretting it.

Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei was reviewing himself:

"When we were stationed here yesterday,

we should have properly reinforced the headquarters.

We couldn't be comfortable and directly occupy the houses of ordinary people as headquarters."

Such houses were comfortable,

but they had no defensive ability at all when shells fell.

Just as he was secretly reviewing himself,

a shell exploded not far away.

The blast wave pushed down the flower wall on the left.

Two staff officers standing next to Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei suddenly screamed,

and fell to the ground with a "thump."

Another guard, clutching his throat,

was "wooing" and "wooing."

Blood flowed from his clutching hand.

This time, Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei finally changed color.

His voice changed:

"Don't panic!"

He was telling the Japanese devils standing around him not to panic,

not to let the protective circle be scattered.

With the regimental commander's order,

Japanese devils immediately stood in the newly vacated positions,

and his guards strengthened the outer three layers.

Now Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei could only gamble,

gambling that the shells would not directly hit his position.

Just at this time, another batch of shells with contrails flew over from afar.

They seemed to have found the right position,

exploding in this camp.

In fact, although Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei was here,

only two battalions were stationed in this camp.

Fortunately, this was the third round of shells landing.

This time, five more Japanese devils guarding Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei on the outside fell.

Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei was pressed to the ground by several Japanese devils.

After a full ten minutes,

no more shells fell.

These Japanese devils guarding Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei stood up

and pulled up the regimental commander who had almost been crushed.

Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei looked around.

Dawn was gradually arriving, and he could see much more clearly.

He saw that the two battalions stationed here were now unrecognizable.

There were broken walls and ruins everywhere.

There were fires everywhere, and there were painful groans.

He had no time to care about these,

and asked loudly, "Have the search teams been sent out?"

"The First Battalion sent out the Kōdō Makoto Company."

Only then did Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei have time to care about the casualties of these Japanese devils stationed here.

He stepped on broken bricks and tiles, walked out of the headquarters,

and saw that throughout the garrison, there were corpses and wounded soldiers everywhere.

Many Japanese devils were pressed under collapsed courtyard walls and houses,

revealing a hand or a thigh.

Some Japanese devils could still move their hands and feet.

These Japanese devils needed to be dug out first.

The other Japanese devils who were not moving

were temporarily left alone.

The more Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei walked, the more alarmed he became.

Just now, in this wave of three rounds of bombing,

the two battalions here had suffered more than half their casualties.

This was not the most important thing.

The most important thing was how many healthy Japanese devils would be needed to send so many wounded soldiers back?

Thinking of this, his heart could not help but ignite:

Why couldn't these wounded soldiers carry forward the spirit of Bushido:

and just commit suicide after being injured!

This would save the empire medical expenses and reduce my burden.

After firing three rounds of rockets, Company Commander Mei Xingxian

ordered loudly:

"Everyone in the company, direction southeast fifteen degrees three,

elevation thirty-six degrees seven,

propellant one, subtract three,

propellant two, subtract one."

He was reporting the parameters to the four rocket launchers in the entire company,

so that they could quickly adjust

and prepare to bomb the next target.

"Number One adjusted!"

"Number Two adjusted!"

"Number Three adjusted!"

"Number Four adjusted!"

As the commanders of the four guns reported

that they had all completed the adjustment, this further training Mei company commander continued to issue orders:

"Everyone! Load the bombs!"

Forty-eight rockets were loaded.

Each gun position began to report.

"Fire!"

The mountains and forests here were silent for ten minutes,

and then became noisy again.

Xie Wu, the platoon leader of the Second Company's reconnaissance platoon,

led his squad of riders.

Yesterday, they had wiped out a squad of Japanese devils.

They immediately penetrated through this gap

and had been staring at the distant Japanese devils' camp.

There were two infantry battalions of Japanese devils in that camp.

All night long,

Xie Wu had seen the Japanese devils' patrol teams holding torches around the camp without stopping for a minute.

They had been patrolling around the camp,

and he didn't know how many hidden sentries these Japanese devils had set up around the camp.

Fortunately, their mission was not to sneak in.

Their mission was to wait here,

and when the Rocket Launcher Company bombed the Japanese devils' camp at dawn,

they needed to guide the Rocket Launcher Company's bombing.

If the bombing area deviated,

it was their time to guide.

The eastern clouds already had a faint color.

The sun was about to rise.

Just at this time, it was as if a batch of sharp arrows had flown in from the horizon.

Dozens of shells with long flames accurately landed in the Japanese devils' camp.

Xie Wu immediately reported: "Eagle Two reporting: direct hit!

Eagle Two reporting: direct hit!"

"Eagle's Nest received!" Mei Xingxian said these four words.

His face was already beaming.

He said loudly to all the officers and soldiers of the company who were looking at him with expectant eyes:

"Direct hit!

Everyone!

Load the bombs!"

"Load the bombs!" the commanders of the four rocket launchers shouted loudly.

Their voices echoed in the valley,

and the sounds of loading, loading continued to come back.

The soldiers of the Rocket Launcher Company

were all suppressing their excited mood at this time.

Their hands were steady,

their movements were fast,

stable and accurate, completing each step in one go.

Forty-eight rockets had all entered the ready-to-fire position.

Each commander reported that they were ready.

"Fire!"

Company Commander Mei Xingxian ordered loudly.

Two consecutive rounds had hit the target on the first shot.

Such a result was rare in actual combat.

This not only saved forty-eight rockets.

For such bombing,

the killing effect was the best when the first round accurately hit the target.

Because the target was completely unprepared

during the first round of bombing.

Caught off guard,

the shells landed on their heads and exploded.

The Japanese devils didn't even have time to react.

The lethality to the Japanese devils was the strongest at this time.

It was also when the Japanese devils died the most.

If the first round of bombing didn't hit the target,

giving the Japanese devils time to react,

during the second round of bombing,

some Japanese devils could find shelter.

Even if there was no shelter,

they could quickly escape outwards,

disperse, and possibly escape the subsequent bombing.

After all, as long as they were not hit in the first round,

they had plenty of reaction time.

At the same time, if the shells did not land on their heads or explode near them,

their reactions were the most timely and effective.

But all this would change greatly after the first round hit.

When people were afraid,

most of them were unable to make rational judgments.

Subsequent wrong behaviors

would only cause them to suffer even greater harm.

Er-Ye Dadi, the captain of the Second Battalion of the 33rd Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Army, was also awakened by the explosion of rockets.

When he saw the firelight coming from outside the window,

he felt the house shaking.

The whole house was rattling,

as if it were about to collapse in the next moment.

Captain Er-Ye Dadi quickly put on his clothes,

rushed into the yard,

and saw that the entire yard was already blood red from the firelight.

"What direction did the shells come from?"

His reaction was the same as Regimental Commander Noda Yūkei.

He didn't ask about the wounded first, but asked what direction the bombardment came from.

"East! The shells came from the east!"

"Ogi-Kyō Kento Company immediately searches and advances to the east,

and must find the attackers' artillery position."

Captain Er-Ye Dadi knew

that the degree of bombing just now

could only be possessed by the main heavy artillery regiment of the Chinese army.

It would take at least six hours or more for the heavy artillery regiment to deploy.

After they finished fighting, if they wanted to retreat, it would take at least three hours at this time,

or even more.

Since the Chinese army could use a heavy artillery regiment to bomb themselves,

their main force might be nearby,

and they would launch an infantry attack immediately.

Captain Er-Ye Dadi ordered loudly: "Defense! Establish a defense and prepare to meet the enemy's attack."

Although these Japanese devils were not afraid to fight against the Chinese army,

these Japanese devils even liked to fight against the main force of the Chinese army very much.

Because they won every battle,

the more Chinese troops came, the greater their battle achievements would be.

It was just that the Chinese army's shells were more fierce today.

The captain of the Fourth Battalion, Funamura Akira, who was camping with the Third Battalion,

issued the same order.

He sent a company of Japanese devils to search for the Chinese army's heavy artillery position.

Then he ordered the Japanese devils to evacuate,

quickly occupy the various high grounds,

and prepare to meet the Chinese army's main force's attack.

The two Japanese companies who were going to search for the artillery position were still nervously gathering their troops.

At this time, many more shells dragging flames flew over at high speed from the east.

"It's coming again!"

Captain Er-Ye Dadi, who was running away quickly, had to jump into a crater that had just been blasted out.

This crater was a full one and a half meters deep.

It was very suitable for him to hide in.

The staff officers who were running with him also jumped in quickly.

Although the crater was large, it could not hold all the Japanese devils who were running with him.

Those guards who were running with Captain Er-Ye Dadi

could only lie on the edge of the crater,

listening to the shrapnel exploding not far away whistling past their ears.

Some unlucky Japanese devils

could never get up again.

As soon as the explosions stopped,

Captain Er-Ye Dadi immediately ordered:

"Quick! Rush out quickly."

His height was not enough, so climbing this crater was very difficult.

Fortunately, there were other Japanese devils in the crater.

Some were holding up his feet, some were pushing his buttocks,

and some guards above were reaching out to grab him.

Captain Er-Ye Dadi climbed out of the crater,

and ran away. Now was not the time to be humble.

Only by running out of the Chinese army's heavy artillery bombing area one second earlier

could he be safe one second earlier.

These Japanese devils,

ran all the way, and along the way saw many Japanese devils being crushed by collapsed courtyard walls.

When they saw Japanese devils running past,

they shouted for help: "Save me!"

"Save me!"

There were also Japanese devils whose feet were crushed by fallen tree trunks.

While struggling to push the tree trunk,

they shouted loudly: "Help me!"

"Help me!"

Captain Er-Ye Dadi turned a blind eye to these situations,

and turned a deaf ear.

Without saying a word, he just ran past these Japanese devils quickly.

But when he ran past the Japanese devil whose foot was crushed by the tree trunk,

this Japanese devil suddenly let go of his hands pushing the tree trunk.

He grabbed Captain Er-Ye Dadi's thigh:

"Captain! Help me!"

There were as many as forty or fifty Japanese devils running with Captain Er-Ye Dadi.

If they were willing, they could pull this Japanese devil out in five seconds at most.

However, Captain Er-Ye Dadi didn't dare to delay for even a second.

How could he be willing to delay five precious seconds for such a small soldier?

The Japanese devil who was hugging his thigh shouted:

"Er-Ye! We are from the same village!"

Of course Captain Er-Ye Dadi recognized him.

However, he just ordered the guards beside him:

"Let him go!"

The Japanese devil who was lying on the ground hugging his thigh

did not hear the order he wanted to hear the most.

What he heard was to let go.

His hands hugged the thigh even tighter.

The guards beside Captain Er-Ye Dadi pulled and tugged,

delaying for at least ten seconds,

but they still couldn't pull the Japanese devil's hands off his thigh.

Captain Er-Ye Dadi was furious,

and drew out his Type 92 pistol.

All the Japanese devils thought he was going to shoot the villager to death.

They didn't expect that Captain Er-Ye Dadi very pityingly held the barrel of the gun,

and smashed the butt of the gun on the back of the neck of the Japanese devil who was hugging his thigh,

knocking the little soldier unconscious.

Only then did he pull his hands off his thigh.

The Japanese devils who were running with Captain Er-Ye Dadi

all praised him.

"Captain is so benevolent!"

"Captain really loves his soldiers like his own sons!"

"Captain is unwilling to carry out military law in such an emergency.

He is too benevolent."

...

These Japanese devils,

while running away desperately, kept trying to please Captain Er-Ye Dadi.

Just at this time, those shells dragging long flames came