Inside Zhangmuqiao Town,

Hoshino Hyuga, the first battalion commander of the Japanese Ninth Regiment, watched the continuous stream of wounded Japanese soldiers being carried in, his face growing increasingly grim.

Judging from his experienced eyes, these soldiers, even if they recovered from their injuries, would be unable to fight again.

Their wounds were far more severe than those sustained during normal combat.

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga was a seasoned veteran. He had risen through the ranks from a junior officer, earning his position through battlefield merits.

He had seen countless wounded soldiers, but these men today stirred in him a reluctance to even treat them.

Even if they were saved, they would be unable to fight. So, what was the point of saving them?

"Useless trash!" he muttered, looking at the wounded soldiers with resentment.

The wounded being brought in now were all victims of directional mines and artillery shells. Those injured by directional mines were especially gruesome, each soldier bearing three or four wounds.

His battalion's existing medics were overwhelmed by the sheer number of casualties.

For now, they could only gather them together and apply bandages to the wounds.

Further treatment would require transferring them to the rear or having more doctors sent from the rear.

With hundreds of casualties at once, it was worth requesting doctors.

"Someone!"

Despite his deep reluctance, Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga issued an order.

"Report to the regimental commander: my battalion was suddenly bombarded by an unidentified force, suffering over seven hundred casualties. We urgently require medical assistance!"

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga did not believe his battalion needed infantry support. He was only trying to get some doctors for the wounded.

His voice was loud and clear, audible to many of the wounded Japanese soldiers on the school grounds.

They showed expressions of gratitude and tears.

Some of the lightly wounded even struggled to salute him.

These grateful soldiers brought a sliver of joy to Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga.

He was about to say some words of encouragement to the wounded when "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Gunshots rang out, unhurried, steady, and powerful.

Then he heard the cries of Japanese soldiers stationed in the school's high guard posts:

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

Several dark figures fell from the fortified positions.

"Bang! Bang!" The sound of heavy objects hitting the ground echoed.

It was the sound of the bodies of the fallen Japanese soldiers hitting the ground.

At the same time, more gunfire erupted.

Throughout Zhangmuqiao Town, inside and out, gunshots echoed.

This time, it was no longer isolated shots.

"Tuk-tuk-tuk!"

"Tuk-tuk-tuk!"

...

The familiar sound of the Type 92 heavy machine gun.

All the Japanese soldiers were familiar with this sound.

It was the sound of their heavy machine guns firing, but these heavy machine guns were now in the hands of the soldiers of the three companies of the Special Brigade's First Regiment.

The enemy, long sought after by the soldiers of the Hoshino Hyuga Battalion, suddenly appeared before them.

The moment the two sides met, gunshots rang out everywhere, from outside the town to inside, and people charged out from every direction.

Just now, the soldiers of the entire Hoshino Hyuga Battalion had carefully searched the town, finding no one.

Now, these people were launching an attack while they were focused on cleaning up the battlefield and moving the wounded!

This Chinese army was dishonorable!

The close-range attack caused another large number of casualties.

Upon hearing the gunshots, Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga immediately ordered: "Defend! Defend!"

His entire battalion now had only about four hundred soldiers capable of fighting.

They were scattered inside and outside the town, most of them carrying the wounded, collecting weapons and ammunition.

There were less than thirty soldiers who could take up arms and fight at the school, while more than three hundred wounded lay on the field.

But these wounded, let alone fight, even if they could and wanted to fight, their weapons were still on the battlefield, not yet recovered.

Five small carts were pushing towards the school gate, firing continuously.

Throughout the rest of the town, shouts of battle echoed:

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

The shouts shook the sky as countless soldiers emerged from their hiding places, charging towards the few Japanese soldiers still standing.

Today, Junior Officer Zhushou Shiro watched as the number of soldiers under his command dwindled from over fifty to over thirty, and then to over ten.

Even these ten soldiers had been mostly killed in this sudden attack.

Now, his entire squad, including himself, was reduced to only five soldiers.

The force charging towards them was at least a platoon.

The soldiers of this platoon charged from afar, sweeping away all the Japanese soldiers in their path, stabbing and overturning them.

Some were charging in front, while others were collecting weapons in the rear.

Thanks to the Japanese soldiers gathering the weapons of the wounded while transporting them, many guns were stacked in piles, and ammunition belts were also piled together.

The Chinese soldiers charged to the weapon piles, each carrying several guns and leaving.

It was extremely convenient, without any delay.

They then charged to the ammunition belt piles, each carrying several belts on their bodies.

Junior Officer Zhushou Shiro did not die this time.

He was only stabbed in the chest during a bayonet fight with an opponent, and then half of his right hand was chopped off.

Lying on the ground, Junior Officer Zhushou Shiro watched as this force rushed into the battlefield like the wind, each carrying several guns and ammunition belts.

He discovered that these Chinese soldiers were surprisingly strong.

Most of them took five guns from the pile and carried five ammunition belts.

Adding their own weapons, each person carried six guns, weighing nearly a hundred pounds.

What kind of force was this?

What kind of people were they?

Like a whirlwind, they stabbed and wounded all the Japanese soldiers within sight, and like the wind, they carried away all the weapons and ammunition.

If his severed arm were not gone, he would have wondered if it had all been an illusion.

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga failed to defend the school.

It was not that the twenty or so soldiers under his command were not fighting hard, nor that they were not brave enough.

It was simply that this force charging straight ahead was too powerful.

They never stopped their advance, charging directly in from the gate.

They bombarded the fortified positions he had set up in the high places with artillery shells, and then swept the school grounds with heavy machine guns.

Even Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga was unable to escape.

His luck was clearly bad.

He was hit in the chest by several heavy machine gun bullets.

Even Amaterasu Omikami could not save his life.

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga, along with hundreds of his subordinates, returned to the embrace of Amaterasu Omikami.

Gui Wen and Wu Long received orders from Chen Sichuan to conduct guerrilla warfare, holding up the Japanese advance.

Their three companies had set up an ambush in this area.

Originally, they only wanted to bomb the Japanese soldiers a little, then bombard them from afar, and let this Japanese force vent its anger.

However, the rocket artillery company launched a bombardment against the main force of the Japanese battalion behind them.

The rocket artillery could hit targets more than ten kilometers away.

Just now, they had bombarded the second and third battalions of the Japanese Ninth Regiment from thirteen kilometers away.

Four 12-tube rocket launchers firing simultaneously sent forty-eight rockets flying at once.

Such firepower was, of course, fierce.

It also led to a misjudgment by the Japanese, who believed that a Chinese heavy artillery regiment was ambushing nearby.

They even thought that there might be a Chinese army ambush in Shucheng.

Even if the second and third battalions knew that the Hoshino Hyuga Battalion at the front had been attacked, they could not send reinforcements at this time.

They were preoccupied with their own troubles.

In less than ten minutes, these two battalions had endured five rounds of rocket artillery bombardment, with a total of two hundred and forty rockets hitting their heads.

Their casualties quickly exceeded a thousand, and each battalion lost half its strength.

Brigadier General Kusaba Akito was stationed in Huoshan.

Yesterday, his entire brigade had proceeded smoothly.

This made him very happy and very relaxed.

This morning, he even had the leisure to ride his bicycle around Huoshan City.

When he returned to the command post, sweating and feeling refreshed, he casually looked at the map.

The triangular flags marking the current positions of his two regiments seemed a little asymmetrical.

He reached forward and moved the Ninth Regiment's flag forward.

The Ninth Regiment had already moved to Zhangmuqiao Town.

They would be able to occupy Shucheng today and spend the night there.

At that moment, a signal soldier suddenly rushed in, covered in sweat. He handed over a letter he had just received.

It was an urgent message sent back by Regiment Commander Kobayashi Noriaki of the Twentieth Regiment:

"My regiment has been suddenly subjected to intense heavy artillery bombardment by the Chinese army.

In ten minutes, casualties have exceeded one thousand.

Please send a transport team immediately to move the wounded!"

Brigadier General Kusaba Akito was furious:

"Baga! You are too careless.

What is the First Battalion, leading the way, doing?

They can't even find the Chinese army's heavy artillery positions?

Where is the First Battalion?"

The signal soldier, panting heavily, heard the brigade commander's question and quickly replied loudly:

"The First Battalion was attacked by an unidentified force in Zhangmuqiao Town.

The entire battalion has suffered heavy casualties.

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga has fallen!"

How could this be possible?

Brigadier General Kusaba Akito looked at the triangular flag he had just moved to Zhangmuqiao Town.

It felt so glaring.

"How many combat personnel are left in the First Battalion?"

"Reporting to the brigade commander, the First Battalion has no combat personnel left.

There are only five hundred wounded!

Awaiting treatment!"

"What about the Chinese army that attacked them?

Which unit is it?"

"Reporting to the brigade commander! No traces of any unit have been found."

"You didn't see the enemy who came to attack?"

"The wounded soldiers of the First Battalion saw the enemy, but they had no insignia!

They only know that it was a unit wearing Chinese army uniforms.

They were using the same weapons as us!"

Upon hearing the last sentence, Brigadier General Kusaba Akito immediately knew what unit had ambushed them:

"Special Brigade!" he said through gritted teeth.

Although he was now extremely angry, there were more than a thousand wounded soldiers at the front.

He had to bring them back.

Now he could only ask for help from Division Commander Fujie Keisuke.

With more than a thousand wounded, not only would the transport regiment need to be dispatched, but the division would also need to send doctors.

Division Commander Fujie Keisuke was furious when he heard Brigadier General Kusaba Akito's report.

He slapped Kusaba Akito a dozen times, then said:

"Your unit is at the front, and you still set up your command post in the rear.

The situation on the battlefield changes rapidly. If you don't go to the front, how can you command the battle?

The Second Army has just transferred from the North China Front Army to the Central China Expeditionary Army.

It has been fighting bravely and achieving great merits all these days, but all these merits have been wiped out by the losses your brigade suffered today.

You are simply a disgrace to the Second Army!"

"Hai!" Brigadier General Kusaba Akito stood at attention after being hit.

Now, listening to the division commander's reprimand, he could only stand at attention and listen.

Seeing that his attitude was still correct, Division Commander Fujie Keisuke then ordered:

"The transport regiment will immediately advance to Zhangmuqiao Town.

Transfer all the wounded to Hefei.

The First and Second Field Hospitals will go to Zhangmuqiao Town together.

You must take good care of those wounded warriors.

We cannot let the warriors bleed and then be ignored."

"Hai!

This subordinate will immediately go to Zhangmuqiao Town.

After the wounded are transferred, I will immediately set off for Shucheng.

Three days! If I fail to capture Shucheng within three days, I will offer my head!"

Brigadier General Kusaba Akito made a military pledge in front of Division Commander Fujie Keisuke.

"Yoshi! Your courage after knowing shame, I await your victory in the rear."

"Hai!" Brigadier General Kusaba Akito immediately went out and quickly ordered his command post in Huoshan to be dismantled.

He chased after the Ninth Regiment.

At this time, he secretly blamed himself:

"The division commander is stationed in Huoshan.

I should have realized long ago:

A mountain cannot contain two tigers.

I should have left with the unit long ago.

I was too careless, thinking that this time there were eight infantry battalions attacking Shucheng.

It was completely like catching a turtle in a jar, a sure thing.

I didn't expect that before even reaching Shucheng, we would suffer such heavy losses."

At this time, he did not know that another regiment under his command had been subjected to artillery bombardment again.

After the long-range bombardment, the rocket artillery company of the First Regiment immediately moved towards Hefei according to Chen Sichuan's orders.

All the units of the entire First Regiment were advancing towards Hefei.

The plan that Chen Sichuan proposed to Lin Fan was for everyone to exchange cities.

The Second Army, which had been stationed in Hefei some time ago, had all been dispatched.

The rear was empty. Since the Japanese had sent a division to attack Shucheng, he would abandon Shucheng and attack Hefei.

Shucheng could be temporarily abandoned, but Tongcheng would be defended.

As long as Tongcheng could be defended for a day, the Third and Fourth Regiments would be able to arrive.

More units would arrive later.

Taking advantage of their familiarity with the terrain of Tongcheng, they could fight a good battle with the Japanese here.

The unit sent out by Ye Dadan had already found an ambush position and set a trap, waiting for the Japanese to enter.

However, the distance from Huoshan to Tongcheng was one hundred kilometers. The Japanese would not be able to arrive in a day or two.

Division Commander Fujie Keisuke was definitely not a Japanese soldier who would let things go after suffering a loss.

After the Ninth and Twentieth Regiments were bombarded by Chinese heavy artillery, he immediately applied to send airmen to search.

Although heavy artillery had great power and a long range, it also had a very fatal flaw:

It was slow! The speed of transferring positions was extremely slow.

An aviation squadron took off from Hefei. The road of dozens of kilometers only took twenty minutes.

Ueno Yuji's flying squadron, which had been circling in the air for three circles, still did not find any movement of the Chinese army unit below.

Chen Sichuan, hiding in the dense forest, watched the plane above his head, circling and not leaving.

He immediately ordered Xiao Jianying's aviation squadron, which had advanced to Tongcheng, to attack.

If the Japanese planes were not driven away, the First Regiment's next actions could not be carried out.

At this time, Lin Fan was marching rapidly towards Tongcheng with the Third and Fourth Regiments.

On the way, he received news that the First Regiment had annihilated the Japanese vanguard battalion in Zhangmuqiao Town, and had also inflicted heavy damage on the main force of the Japanese attacking Shucheng.

He was also very happy and encouraged the First Regiment to continue its efforts.

Lin Fan supported the First Regiment's plan to attack Hefei.

He had already notified Chen Sichuan that the Special Brigade would send a unit to meet them later.

At the same time, Lin Fan also issued an order to Li Xianxia in Jurong:

"The Special Brigade's flying regiment in Jurong will prepare a fleet of thirty-six ground attack aircraft to fly from Jurong to Tongcheng tonight."

Tomorrow, he would use these attack aircraft to give the Japanese attacking Tongcheng a good look.

At the same time, Lin Fan also ordered Xiao Jianying's flying squadron in Tongcheng to transfer back to Qianshan Airport before 8:00 p.m. tonight.

At this time, no planes in the world could fly at night.

The main reason was that they could not find their location at night.

The pilots of the Special Brigade were not much stronger than others.

All they could do was practice more.

Lin Fan specifically asked them to practice night flight more.

At the beginning, they flew from Guangde Airport to Jurong Airport.

After they became proficient, they flew from Guangde and Jurong to the areas controlled by the Chinese army.

Every pilot had to remember the star map in the sky in every season on any starry night.

This was the most basic operation for pilots of the Special Brigade.

Only by firmly remembering the star map in the sky could they avoid getting lost at night.

After receiving Chen Sichuan's order, Xiao Jianying's squadron set off immediately. Thirty-six fighter planes soon appeared over Shucheng.

At this time, Ueno Yuji's flying squadron was still working hard to find the Chinese army's heavy artillery positions.

Division Commander Fujie Keisuke had made it clear:

The Chinese army had a heavy artillery regiment near Shucheng.

There were at least forty or more large cannons with a caliber of one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty.

So many cannons should have been a very obvious target.

However, the entire Ueno Yuji squadron had been searching in the air for forty minutes, but was still empty-handed.

They used the Second and Third Battalions of the Ninth Regiment Infantry as the origin and searched within a radius of twenty kilometers.

They had not found anything.

The Twentieth Regiment was the last to be attacked.

The Ueno Yuji flying squadron also used the location where they were attacked as the origin and searched hard around, but in the end they were still empty-handed.

At this time, a group of planes flew from afar.

At the first glance, the Japanese in the Ueno Yuji flying squadron felt relieved:

The planes flying towards them were exactly the same as theirs.

Perhaps they were planes coming from Nanjing, coming to support after hearing that there was a situation here! But we haven't even found the enemy! What's the use of you coming?

Squadron Leader Ueno Yuji sneered in his heart.

The opposite fleet of planes flew a little higher.

Could it be that they were just passing by?

This was the only way to explain it! The Japanese soldiers in the Ueno Yuji squadron found a reason for the large fleet that had flown over.

When Xiao Jianying led the entire flying squadron to the top of the Japanese soldiers' heads, he ordered: "Everyone keep an eye on the target and don't miss a single Japanese plane. Attack!"

There were twelve Japanese planes.

Xiao Jianying and his men had thirty-six fighter planes, a three-to-one advantage.

Such a battle was of course easy to fight.

Xiao Jianying had already learned from Chen Sichuan that there were twelve Japanese planes when he set off.

But he still pulled out the entire squadron.

Better safe than sorry. He never felt that there was anything wrong with fighting with more against less.

The Japanese soldiers in the Ueno Yuji squadron watched as the fighter planes, which should have been high in the sky, were actually pressing down on their heads.

While they were cursing each other, the fighter planes above their heads opened fire.

Completely unprepared, the Ueno Yuji flying squadron, which had been schemed against by Xiao Jianying and his men, had no chance to resist.

When they were attacked, their first reaction was to dive down, trying to get rid of the suppression from above.

However, under the three-on-one attack, not a single Japanese plane had a decent counterattack.

Regiment Commander Katagiri Taro and Regiment Commander Kobayashi Noriaki both saw the air battle with their own eyes.

They only saw fire snakes flying in the air, and then fighter planes fell down.

Both sides in the air battle were the same planes.

Who was hitting whom, and who was being hit down, the infantry on the ground did not know.

Soon they all knew:

The thirty-six fighter planes in the air were obviously not satisfied with the battle just now.

As soon as they opened fire, the Japanese planes fell down.

Now these fighter planes had plenty of ammunition.

They all swooped down and strafed the Japanese soldiers who had stopped on the road.

The planes that had been circling in the air for more than forty minutes had not shown any hostility to the ground infantry.

They suddenly launched a crazy attack on them.

The Japanese soldiers in the two regiments could not accept this at all.

Although these Japanese soldiers had never been attacked by Chinese planes like this, their instincts still made them scatter like birds and beasts.

They quickly rushed to both sides of the road, trying to avoid the attack from the air.

Xiao Jianying and his men strafed these Japanese soldiers back and forth three times before flying back to Tongcheng.

Tongcheng was closer to the battlefield. Although Lin Fan ordered them to retreat to Qianshan Airport, that was before 8:00 p.m.

Before that, they still had to defend Tongcheng and be ready to provide support to the front at any time.

After Xiao Jianying and his men appeared in the air, the First Regiment began to walk out of their hiding places.

They marched towards Hefei.

At this time, Squadron Leader Ueno Yuji saw that there was really a Chinese army unit hidden on the ground.

But until his death, he did not find the heavy artillery regiment that Division Commander Fujie Keisuke had asked him to find.

Division Commander Fujie Keisuke received news that the flying squadron he had sent out had not only failed to find the Chinese army's heavy artillery regiment, but had also failed to find any trace of the Chinese army.

Most importantly, an entire flying squadron, twelve fighter planes, had all been shot down.

Today was truly a dark day.

It was the darkest day since the establishment of the 16th Division.

Division Commander Fujie Keisuke mourned silently in his heart, but he still had to complete the mop-up mission.

The experience of the 9th Infantry Brigade was immediately sent to the 30th Infantry Brigade.

Brigadier General Sasaki Yūshō looked at the intelligence that was sent over and was also secretly surprised.

He was most alert to the news that the Chinese army had a heavy artillery regiment.

The key was that until now, he had not found out where the heavy artillery regiment was.

If his brigade was hit by the Chinese army's heavy artillery regiment like this, at least a day would be wasted.

Thinking of this, he ordered:

"Each battalion must send out reconnaissance teams to investigate the situation within a ten-kilometer radius of the road.

When the situation is unclear, the entire brigade will camp on the spot."

He did not want to advance rashly!

Ye Dadan received news from Mao Wenxing:

"The Japanese attacking Tongcheng have stopped.

They have sent out many small teams for a comprehensive search."

Ye Dadan understood that the Japanese were frightened by the ambush of the First Regiment.

However, this would not affect the Sixth Regiment's plan.

The Sixth Regiment had not originally planned to use directional mines against the Japanese.

Since the mountain would not come to me, I would go to the mountain.

Ye Dadan asked Mao Wenxing to mark the current position of the Japanese in detail.

If the Japanese did not move at night, then the Sixth Regiment could take action tonight.

The plan of Sixth Regiment Commander Ye Dadan was very direct and rude.

He just wanted to bombard the Japanese with rocket artillery from a long distance.

Since it was a long-range bombardment, of course he wanted to bombard the most concentrated camp of the Japanese.

That was why he asked Mao Wenxing to give him a detailed position.

Mao Wenxing was circling in the high sky.

He not only had to give the Sixth Regiment several bombing targets, but also had to plan out a rough marching route for the Sixth Regiment.

Ye Dadan listened to Mao Wenxing's account of the situation on the radio.

He kept comparing and gesturing on the map.

Ye Dadan also sent people to check the route that Mao Wenxing gave him on the ground.

Anyway, the rocket artillery company needed to move at night.

There was no problem sending out teams to reconnoiter at this time.

The Sixth Regiment also sent out more than a dozen reconnaissance teams.

Xie Wu, the reconnaissance platoon leader of the Second Company of the First Battalion of the Sixth Regiment, received the order just issued by the regimental commander with thirteen soldiers:

Reconnoiter a route that the rocket artillery company can march on.

Platoon Leader Xie immediately explored according to the route pointed out by the regimental commander.

They walked along this road for about three kilometers.

Nong Xingbang, who was walking in the front, suddenly lowered his body and made a pause gesture to the back.

Then he stretched out his left hand and gestured, indicating that they had found a Japanese reconnaissance team in front of them, the same thirteen Japanese soldiers.

Xie Wu quietly touched the front to observe.

Looking at the position fifty meters in front, a team of Japanese soldiers was swaggering along the path.

These Japanese soldiers were humming songs as they walked.

Brigadier General Sasaki Yūshō of the 30th Brigade ordered each battalion to send out reconnaissance teams to carefully search the situation within a ten-kilometer radius.

This made the Japanese soldiers under his command suffer.

The higher-ups said a word, and the lower-level ran their legs off.

However, for the reconnaissance team of Yamamoto Tatsuya, the squad leader of the 1st Battalion of the 33rd Regiment, this was nothing.

Squad Leader Yamamoto Tatsuya led his team and walked along the path in the direction designated by the battalion commander.

These lowest-level Japanese soldiers did not know what happened to the Ninth Brigade at noon today.

The Japanese have always blocked such morale-damaging news, so it was normal for these grassroots Japanese soldiers not to know.

Otherwise, they would probably not dare to go out.

It was precisely because of ignorance that these Japanese soldiers in Yamamoto Tatsuya's team were fearless.

They regarded this reconnaissance as a pleasure trip.

In their opinion, with a brigade dispatched, the Chinese army had already fled in the wind.

It was impossible for them to stay in place to defend the city, let alone dare to take the initiative to attack.

A small county town like Tongcheng, which had no strategic significance, did not actually need tens of thousands of troops to attack.

This was completely a waste of troops.

Sergeant Iriguchi Yūemon hummed a song he had learned in Hefei a few days ago.

A few days ago, the Second Army thought that the battle between the Japanese and the Soviets would expand rapidly.

They were about to go to the northern battlefield.

Therefore, there were all kinds of activities to comfort the troops every day.

Those high-quality women who were sent from the country and who used to only serve senior officers, this time they went deep into the various battalions and companies to perform.

This made Sergeant Iriguchi Yūemon very fascinated.

Although he could not have a taste of the beauty, he still gained something.

His gain was that he learned the song sung by the beauty.

These days, he had been humming this song every day, and he had been in a state of excitement.

There were thirteen Japanese soldiers in their group, walking in this wilderness.

As far as they could see, everything was lush and green, and they could not see a single person.

Although they could not see anyone, these Japanese soldiers continued to walk forward.

If they turned back now, they would definitely be seen through by the cunning battalion commander.

Therefore, they needed to walk forward for another hour before they could turn back.

The group of Japanese soldiers walking on the hillside did not pay attention to searching for the enemy at all.

They could not be blamed for this. The Japanese soldiers' attention was also limited.

It was impossible for them to keep focusing on one thing.

Xie Wu determined as soon as he saw the Japanese soldiers that these Japanese soldiers would definitely walk along the path.

"Directional mines!

Withdraw!"

After two gestures were made, Xie Wu and his men did not retreat far.

They just retreated about twenty meters back in this position.

Two directional mines were placed on one side of the road.

They could not go to the other side for fear of being discovered by the Japanese.

Ru Wende gently pulled the rope in his hand, waiting for the Japanese soldiers to enter the ambush circle.

Xie Wu and his thirteen men were all paying attention to the Japanese soldiers who were coming from the hillside, talking loudly.

The Japanese soldiers in Yamamoto Tatsuya's team were talking loudly about how they would completely occupy this country within three months.

At that time, they could move their families from the island to this country.

The empire would allocate a large area of good farmland to them, and also allocate dozens of farmers from this country to them as laborers, just like they had been doing these days, arresting those prisoners and strong people who they liked and sending them to the country to work as free laborers and let them go down the mine to mine.

It would be better for those people to be slaves in their own homes than to mine.

Thirteen Japanese soldiers were all fantasizing about their happy lives in the future when there was a loud explosion, which woke them up from their dreams.

Countless iron bullets hit their bodies.

The severe pain pulled them back to reality from their beautiful fantasies.

At the same time as the two bombs exploded, Xie Wu, Ru Wende, Nong Xingbang, Pan Ruicheng, and the other thirteen people rushed out like tigers descending from the mountains.

The distance of twenty meters was reached in less than five seconds.

Xie Wu and his men were silent and began to stab the Japanese soldiers who were rolling on the ground and wailing in pain.

Yamamoto Tatsuya, Iriguchi Yūemon, and the other Japanese soldiers, without exception, none of the thirteen Japanese soldiers escaped.

Some of them had already fallen to the ground and had no breath.

The remaining Japanese soldiers who still had breath were stabbed by Xie Wu and his men and all died.

After collecting the weapons of these thirteen Japanese soldiers, Xie Wu and his men did not strip off their clothes this time.

They still had a mission to go, and it was really not good to set off with too many things.

Xie Wu and his men were afraid that the explosion just now would attract the other Japanese soldiers.

They picked up their weapons and ran.

They quickly left here. When they ran to another hill, they saw another team of Japanese soldiers appeared.

This team of Japanese soldiers still had thirteen people.

It seemed that there were many reconnaissance teams sent out by the Japanese, and they were all sent out according to the number of a squad.

The entire Yamamoto Tatsuya squad was killed.

Such an incident was not an isolated case.

The entire 30th Brigade sent out a total of twenty-four reconnaissance teams.

By the afternoon, only nineteen squads had returned, and five squads were missing and were listed as missing persons.

However, the Japanese soldiers in Yamamoto Tatsuya's squad were already dead.

The squad that found them was unwilling to carry back the bodies of these Japanese soldiers in Yamamoto Tatsuya's squad.

So they chopped off the right hands of these Japanese soldiers in the entire squad.

Thirteen right hands could represent their bodies.

After cremation, they were put into pottery jars.

Then they were sent across the ocean to the families of these Japanese soldiers.

They could be considered to have returned to their homeland.

These days, the Japanese were always sending back this kind of pottery jars.

Those families who had Japanese soldiers fighting on the front lines were most afraid of being called to領陶罐回家 (receive the pottery jar home).

For these families, if there were still men in the family, they would immediately send one to the front lines.

They were going to avenge their dead fathers and brothers and bring honor to the country and their family.

Even if there were no men in the family, they would send women to the battlefield.

They would use the gentleness of women to comfort the brutal hearts of the Japanese soldiers on the battlefield, appease their emotions, and allow them to continue fighting with peace of mind.

Although the lives of these ordinary people were getting worse and worse, they were still able to support the empire's war of aggression with relish.

They fantasized that after the victory of this war, they would be able to live a happy and happy life from now on.

Brigadier General Sasaki Yūshō frowned and carefully examined the positions of the five Japanese reconnaissance squads that had been attacked.

He really could not find a common point from these unrelated places.

He did not even know which unit had killed these Japanese soldiers who had gone out and never returned.

There were as many armed forces of all kinds on this land as there were hairs on an ox.

The overall classification included the Chinese army, guerrillas, bandits, and the private armed forces of various local landlords.

Brigadier General Sasaki Yūshō really did not know which of these units had attacked the Japanese.

Commander-in-Chief Yan Jūnrō of the Central China Expeditionary Force heard that there was a heavy artillery unit of the Chinese army in the Shucheng area.

He was very surprised and a little scared.

The Chinese army's heavy artillery unit must have a main force following it.

In order to verify where the Chinese army's heavy artillery unit was, Commander-in-Chief Yan Jūnrō did not send planes to reconnoiter.

He just sent a telegram to the lurking personnel in Wuhan, asking them to directly inquire in the Chinese army's headquarters.

That's right, there were many officials in Chiang Kai-shek's team who had good relations with the Japanese.

Some of them had already been frightened from the bottom of their hearts.

They had been advocating the idea that the war of resistance would inevitably lead to the country's demise.

If the information they betrayed could allow the Japanese to win the victory sooner, these traitors would definitely be willing to help.

Soon, the Central China Expeditionary Force received a telegram from Nanjing:

The Chinese army did not have a heavy artillery regiment or a main force in the Shucheng area.

Only the Special Brigade of the Fifth War Zone was stationed in Shucheng and Tongcheng.

Yan Jūnrō was clear about this situation.

The purpose of his special dispatch of a division was to annihilate the Special Brigade, which had not yet gained a firm foothold in Jiangbei.

He was afraid that if the Special Brigade continued to stay in Jiangbei, it would develop a base area like Jurong again.

Then it would really be like a thorn in his side.

After receiving the information from Wuhan, it was quickly transmitted to the 16th Division.

The division commander looked at the telegram and said:

"The Chinese army's heavy artillery regiment is all around Wuhan at this time and has never moved."

The source of the news said that this news was 100% accurate.

However, Division Commander Fujie Keisuke believed that the Ninth Regiment and the Twentieth Regiment would not lie.

So, what new type of weapon was the Special Brigade using?

In order to reassure the Japanese soldiers under his command, Division Commander Fujie Keisuke immediately sent down this information to reassure his subordinates and fight well: The heavy artillery of the Special Brigade was not here.

The Japanese soldiers who received the information reacted differently.

The 19th Brigade, which had been ravaged by rocket artillery, cursed the intelligence liars for being liars.

The living facts were right in front of them, but they could not believe it.

They could still reverse black and white and think that there was no heavy artillery!

Did they know what heavy artillery was?

Brigadier General Sasaki Yūshō of the 30th Brigade finally felt relieved.

It was already late today.

Let the army rest here for one night and continue to advance tomorrow.

Anyway, Tongcheng was just there and would not run away.

The Special Brigade had heavy artillery.

Division Commander Inaba Shirō of the 6th Division could testify to this.

As for whether this heavy artillery unit was still in Taihu, he did not know.

These days, his division had been replenished with personnel.

Now the Second Army had also begun to act.

Their line of attack was parallel to the road that the 6th Division had taken all the way from Tongcheng, Qianshan, and Taihu.

What made Division Commander Inaba Shirō and the 6th Division proud was that they had captured it with one division.

Now, the parallel line was to be taken by an entire army.

The difference in combat effectiveness was obvious at a glance!