Chapter 1 Just After Nightfall, November 1st, 1937

Just after nightfall on November 1st, 1937, the south bank of the Suzhou River was packed with citizens.

These were people who had learned that the eight hundred brave warriors defending Sihang Warehouse that night would be retreating into the concession, and they had come spontaneously to welcome them.

People were discussing the miracles these warriors had created in recent days.

Darkness fell.

The lights on the south bank of the Suzhou River came on. Across the river, everything was the same as in the past few days, except for the faint lights inside Sihang Warehouse.

There wasn't a single other light; everything was immersed in darkness.

Those faint lights on the other side came from torches and candles.

Time passed minute by minute, finally approaching eight o'clock in the evening.

The gates of Sihang Warehouse opened silently, and a team of dark figures quietly emerged from the warehouse.

When this team silently appeared on the iron bridge over the Suzhou River, a bridge known as Garbage Bridge,

the people on the south bank erupted in warm applause!

They welcomed the heroes who had defended the isolated island on the opposite bank for five days with their applause.

Commander Xie was the first to walk across the iron bridge, followed by teams of soldiers, and finally, eight tanks.

Sensitive reporters were constantly taking pictures of the eight tanks moving forward.

They also keenly sensed that this team was far short of eight hundred men.

A reporter asked, "Commander Xie, what are the casualties among the soldiers since you started defending Sihang Warehouse?"

Xie Jinyuan said with a painful expression, "We have nearly a hundred soldiers who were wounded or killed. They fought bravely for the victory of the war of resistance.

Here, I propose that we observe three minutes of silence for these fallen warriors!"

After three minutes, a reporter asked, "There aren't many people entering the concession tonight. Were there really eight hundred brave warriors defending Sihang Warehouse?"

Xie Jinyuan said solemnly, "We are members of the eight hundred brave warriors!"

Although he was unwilling to directly answer whether there were eight hundred soldiers, the reporters had already heard: the soldiers defending Sihang Warehouse numbered less than eight hundred.

Everything was out in the open tonight, and reporters immediately began to calculate meticulously.

That night, no!

It should have been at one o'clock in the morning on November 2nd that Matsui Iwane received a report in his command headquarters that only a little more than three hundred and sixty Nationalist soldiers defending Sihang Warehouse had entered the concession.

Adding in the casualties of less than a hundred men that Commander Xie had personally admitted to,

the entire garrison of Sihang Warehouse consisted of only about four hundred and sixty men, no matter what, less than five hundred.

Five hundred men!

Caused more than eight thousand Japanese soldiers to die!

Such a loss ratio frightened Matsui Iwane.

He was afraid! He called Kojima Junichiro that night: "Kojima-san! No matter what method you use, you must disarm this team.

Keep this team firmly in the concession.

No matter what, you must not allow them to appear on the battlefield again!"

Kojima Junichiro looked puzzled: "Why is that?"

Kojima was very puzzled: he had used every ounce of his strength to get this Nationalist army into the concession, and now this.

What would the powers in the concession think?

They were not dogs raised in his own home!

"Why? Because they were less than five hundred men, yet they caused eight thousand elite soldiers of the Empire to perish.

If such soldiers return to the battlefield, they will be the Empire's nightmare."

Diplomat Kojima Junichiro understood: the commander-in-chief of the Empire's Shanghai Expeditionary Force was afraid.

He was afraid that these people would return to the Nationalist army, and each one would be a seed.

Every Nationalist soldier who had slaughtered imperial soldiers like chickens and dogs would return to the front line and inspire a large group of people to resist.

"Hai! Commander-in-chief! Kojima will definitely handle this matter well!" Kojima Junichiro gave his assurance.

It was too late now, and the big shots in the concession all had their own nightlife.

Tomorrow! Tomorrow he would discuss it carefully with those big shots.

Kojima Junichiro was still very confident about such issues: he had sent nearly twenty million in cash to these big shots in the concession through his hands these past few days.

He fully understood how to deal with these big shots.

As long as the money was in place, it wouldn't be impossible to get these big shots to bark like dogs.

Such principled big shots were truly good big shots!

The officers and soldiers of the First Battalion of the 524th Regiment, who had just entered the concession's barracks, did not know the crisis they would face after the exposure of their strength.

Xie Jinyuan was directing the soldiers to set up sentry posts in the rear camp, with four of the eight tanks placed in four directions to guard the area.

The First Battalion also learned from Lin Fan and hid the other four tanks.

Preparing to use them as a surprise force.

The concession had water, electricity, and light.

All of this gave all the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion the ability to work at night: under Commander Xie's orders, they built fortifications and trenches overnight.

Although obeying the orders of his superiors was Xie Jinyuan's bounden duty,

protecting the soldiers under his command was also his mission.

Therefore, he ordered the officers and soldiers to build fortifications overnight, just in case.

While the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion were shedding blood and sweat to build fortifications and trenches,

a team of White Russians surrounded the barracks from the outside.

These White Russians were losers in the battles in their own country. After failing to make a living in their homeland, they fled to the concession.

They became mercenaries for the concession, and now their mission was to guard this Nationalist army filled with murderous intent. Da Feng Novel

When the powers in the concession learned that this team actually had less than five hundred men, their shock was no less than that of Matsui Iwane.

They also knew that these people were now tigers, and carelessness could lead to trouble.

There were only two ways to deal with tigers: one was to release the tiger back into the mountains, and the other was to clip its claws and pull out its teeth.

In the current situation, releasing the tiger back into the mountains was certainly the best option, but the Japanese would definitely not agree.

Releasing the tiger back into the mountains would win over the Nationalist army but offend the Japanese. Removing the tiger's claws and teeth might offend the Nationalist army but win over the Japanese.

Without any hesitation, the big shots in the concession had already made their choice!

So what if they offended the Nationalist army? Would they dare to say half a word of disagreement?

Hongqiao Airport:

After Chief of Staff Takaomi Kentaro sent off the last infantry company, he issued an order: "Issue weapons to everyone in the entire airport and prepare for battle."

His order was quickly conveyed. At this time, there were still thousands of people at the airport.

Although these people were not professional combat personnel, they included airport ground crew, transport team members, and various equipment maintenance personnel.

Of course, there were also extra personnel like Miyashiro Yoko.

If everyone took up arms, it would also be a force of thousands of people.

However, the team that Takaomi Kentaro imagined did not actually appear; those people had all gone to the runway.

Those people were all ardent imperialists, and they loved the empire more than they loved themselves.

Their support for the empire's expansionism outweighed their fear of being burned alive!

Regardless of the raging fire and the scorching flames,

they braved the high temperatures that could burn people and dragged out pieces of burning aircraft wreckage.

These people would shower their bodies under the water hoses from the fire trucks and then immediately rush back up.

Lin Fan, who was watching all of this from a distance on the runway, was dumbfounded!

As someone who came from later generations, Lin Fan clearly knew the pain of being burned by fire.

If pain was divided into ten levels, then the pain of being burned by fire was level ten, already at its maximum.

He personally saw a Japanese soldier burning like a torch on the runway. Although his body was on fire, he was still dragging a burning piece of wreckage behind him.

What kind of spirit was this?

He couldn't hear their screams from this distance.

Just watching those people with their bodies on fire, struggling on the runway like they were dancing, he could imagine the pain of being burned.

There wasn't just one torch like that on the runway. In the beginning, there were only one or two.

As the burning plane suddenly exploded, it must have been the fuel tank that exploded.

Sparks flew all over the runway, and the crowd surrounding the plane, dragging the wreckage,

were mostly surrounded by these beautiful sparks. The people who were stained by the sparks all became new human torches.

Even so, these human torches were still persisting in dragging away the burning aircraft wreckage.

Ji Wudi watched the human torches dancing on the runway, her fright far outweighing her appreciation.

She pointed at those people, already speechless.

Lin Fan acted as if the performance of those people on the runway didn't exist, and the work in his hands never stopped.

He didn't stop for even a second.

Lin Fan was racing against time with the Japanese devils at the airport: Lin Fan wanted to blow up all the planes.

The Japanese devils at the airport were trying hard to salvage what they could, to salvage the remaining dozens of planes.

What Lin Fan had to do was to make all the Japanese devils' efforts fall through and destroy all their hopes.

In order to salvage these planes, the ground crew and transport team members at the airport rushed up without any regard for their lives.

They rushed onto the runway, into the fire, and even into the fireballs, just to be able to drag out one more piece of burning aircraft wreckage.

In order to clear a path as soon as possible so that the trapped planes could pass through.

These Japanese devils all wanted to reattach the broken wings to the planes.

Unfortunately, Lin Fan never wanted to give these planes a chance to soar in the blue sky.

One shell after another smashed into the planes that were still struggling.

The sound of each plane being blown apart by shells was like a war drum urging the nerves of the Japanese devils on the runway.

More people went crazy, and they rushed into the middle of the fire sea in groups, recklessly like moths to a flame.

At this moment, one of the airport's artillery positions, which had just been attacked by Lin Fan, mysteriously came back to life.

A shell flew out of that position and landed far behind Lin Fan's artillery position.

This shell was fired by Major Watanabe Saisheng Ichiro.

He completed everything alone and fired it!

Although there was only one shell on the opposite side, Lin Fan did not dare to be careless. His attention had just been focused on those planes struggling to survive on the tarmac.

As for this shell that suddenly flew out, he couldn't find the direction from which it was fired at all.

He couldn't possibly bomb the three Japanese artillery positions again just because of one shell!

"Who saw where the Japanese shell came from?" Lin Fan asked loudly after the mortar shell was fired.

"The shell came from three hundred meters to the left and rear of the tarmac. It's next to the artillery position just now," Ji Wudi's clear voice rang out.

Hearing this voice, Lin Fan felt like he was hearing celestial music and said happily, "Ji Wudi, you really are a good kid!"

Hearing Lin Fan's parental praise, Ji Wudi felt a little bit of resistance in her heart: kid! Did that mean she was small!

Where was she small?

Which eye of yours saw that she was small?

The two soldiers, Wu Xiaobao and Zhao Long, were unhappy in their hearts: "Did you see clearly? We were all watching the air raid, we didn't see it. Why could you see it?"

Lin Fan had no choice but to explain to his two soldiers: men and women are different, and the difference is not just in the different development of their bodies.

Even the eyes of men and women are different.

Humans have been working together in a gendered division of labor since ancient times. In that era that lasted hundreds of thousands of years, men were responsible for hunting;

women were responsible for gathering.

Hunters need to focus their eyes on the distance and be able to spot fleeting prey in the distance.

Men's eyesight is very advantageous for seeing moving individuals in the distance. They can spot fleeting prey in the distance and chase after it.

Therefore, when men look at the world, they focus on the distance.

Women are responsible for gathering wild fruits on trees and mushrooms under trees, which requires a broad vision. They need to see a wide enough area at the same time so that they can find more food as quickly as possible and not go hungry.

Therefore, when women look at the world, they focus on the range.

Just now, although Ji Wudi's attention was on the planes on the runway and the tarmac, her eyes were consciously or unconsciously watching the changes within a certain range around her.

While speaking, Lin Fan blew up another plane.

Now Lin Fan was multitasking, blowing up planes while paying attention to the location pointed out by Ji Wudi.

It wasn't just him who was doing this. Everyone in this artillery position was doing the same: they were reluctant to give up watching the good show on the airport runway, and at the same time, they wanted to verify whether what Lin Fan had just said was true.

Ji Wudi's eyes sparkled in the darkness: she knew she had seen it accurately.

What she didn't expect was that there were so many explanations in it, and it sounded very reasonable.

Where did this kind of knowledge come from?

Why hadn't she seen these things?

Watanabe Saisheng Ichiro pulled the firing cord again, and the second shell carried his hope and his dream into the night sky, flying into the distance.

He looked at the target in the distance, and the flames at that location flickered continuously.

The shell he fired was behind the target location, a little far away!

These were his last thoughts.

Lin Fan, Ji Wudi, Wu Xiaobao, Zhao Long, and Ji Jiahen all saw the ball of fire erupt from the location that Ji Wudi had just pointed out.

That ball of fire was the muzzle flash.

Lin Fan didn't give the enemy any more time and immediately fired three shells in a row.

The bombing of the three shells finally made Watanabe Saisheng Ichiro bear everything.

His body was hit by countless shrapnel, and he could no longer stand.

Watanabe Saisheng Ichiro could only lean on the still standing Taisho 4th Year Type 150mm howitzer.

Slowly stopped breathing and also stopped thinking.

His eyes were still wide open, staring at the place in the distance that was still flashing with light from time to time.

At this time, it wasn't just one person's eyes looking at this position.

The eyes of all one hundred and eighty-four men of the last infantry company that rushed out of the airport: the Yagishita Terutaro Company were all looking at the place that was flashing with light from time to time under the cover of the darkness.

If the eyes could have energy, then the place under the cover of the night would definitely have turned into a volcano by now.

Company Commander Yagishita Terutaro pointed the torch in his hand at the artillery position where Lin Fan was located: "Kill! Kill!"

The voice was shrill, full of hatred, resentment, and indignation!

This artillery position tonight had reduced the Empire's planes in central China by one-fifth.

If the speed of his team was a little slower, the Empire's planes in central China would lose one-third.

All the Japanese devils in the entire Yagishita Company understood how heavy the burden on them was.

They began to run, began to charge, and began to sprint.

However, Company Commander Yagishita Terutaro was not a new commander fresh out of the gate. He was a veteran who had participated in many wars and was also an experienced commander.

He timely stopped this mindless sprint and kept the speed of the team within a reasonable range.

If the team sprinted too hard now, they would be a tired army when they reached the battlefield, and their combat power would be less than 50% of normal.

Lin Fan and the others in this artillery position all saw a fire dragon that was rapidly approaching here.

He calmly instructed the soldiers not far from him: "Pay attention to concealment!"

He was operating the mortar now, so of course he couldn't eliminate the muzzle flashes, so he couldn't conceal himself.

Now the firelight emitted from here was like a lighthouse in the sea, tightly attracting every soldier of the Yagishita Terutaro Company.

They were rushing towards this direction with firm steps.

The soldiers of the Seventh Platoon and the Direct Line Team, who had been lurking in front of Lin Fan's artillery position for quite some time,

had been watching the airport in the distance with its soaring flames, and the Japanese devils' planes exploding and burning one after another.

These soldiers were excited, excited, and happy, and they had a feeling of great revenge: these soldiers had all been tortured to death by the Japanese devils' planes in their original units.

Now that they saw their fate, they were of course unspeakably happy in their hearts.

It's just that these soldiers still had a small regret in their hearts: they couldn't personally participate in such a good thing, and they always felt that something was missing.

It was as tasteless as there was no wife in a wife cake.

Now they finally saw a team of Japanese devils rushing towards this direction with torches.

Rushing towards the minefield that had just been set up!

What good Japanese devils!