Chapter 1 The Opportunity

The other regiment coordinating with Ning Hezhi's group finally found a chance and charged toward Sato Rintaro's squadron from the adjacent mountain peak.

Shi Yi had been lurking with his regiment at the foot of the slope for quite some time, and the traps were set.

But now he saw a team suddenly rush into the Japanese artillery position, engaging them in bayonet combat.

The Japanese who were attacking hurriedly returned to support, eager to join the melee.

In this situation, with Ning Hezhi's regiment joining in, and his own regiment also joining, a force of three thousand men would be fighting bayonet-to-bayonet against fewer than a thousand Japanese.

No matter what, their side was sure to win! Regiment Commander Shi Yi, who understood the situation perfectly, immediately ordered his entire regiment to attack.

The two regimental commanders of the 66th Army both saw the opportunity to annihilate this group of Japanese soldiers, but the team that ambushed the Japanese artillery was a bit small, only about six or seven hundred men, and might not be able to withstand the attacks of over a thousand Japanese.

If they could delay the Japanese for ten minutes, these Japanese would be finished. That precious ten minutes would require the team that rushed into the Japanese position from behind to suffer heavy casualties to achieve, right?

Regiment Commander Ning Hezhi now had only one thought: to make his soldiers charge faster, and to join the battle before the opposing Nationalist army team collapsed.

As long as his regiment tangled with the Japanese, and Shi Yi's regiment rushed in, today's victory would be sealed!

With this thought in mind, Regiment Commander Ning Hezhi felt a fire burning in his heart, and his urging became even more insistent.

The soldiers of the 66th Army charged quickly, and the Japanese Sato Rintaro squadron also charged quickly.

The Japanese of the Sato Rintaro squadron were much closer, and they joined the bayonet fight first.

This immediately put considerable pressure on the three companies that were fighting bayonet-to-bayonet with Tanaka Keisuke's battalion.

According to the Sato Rintaro squadron's plan, their few hundred Japanese soldiers would join the battle and defeat this Nationalist army team in minutes.

Although the team that rushed out from behind outnumbered him by a factor of two, Battalion Commander Tanaka Keisuke was only surprised at first.

He immediately reacted: when it came to bayonet fighting, his battalion was not afraid.

Although Tanaka Keisuke's battalion only had three hundred or so Japanese soldiers, they always had to wear clumsy protective suits when they fought, charging into positions filled with poison gas to fight.

In that situation, the most common form of combat was bayonet fighting. These Japanese soldiers, wearing full protective gear, fought bayonet-to-bayonet with Nationalist army soldiers who had no protection in the poison gas.

The Japanese of Tanaka Keisuke's battalion certainly had the advantage. The Japanese had the advantage in a battlefield filled with poison gas.

Despite the advantage in equipment, only those with particularly good physical fitness were suited for this battalion.

Otherwise, just charging up the hillside wearing those heavy protective suits would be enough to exhaust Japanese soldiers with poor physical fitness.

Such a team, now without wearing protective suits, fighting bayonet-to-bayonet with Nationalist army soldiers, Tanaka Keisuke didn't think there would be any problem, even if it was one against two Nationalist army soldiers.

This was not just the one-sided thinking of Battalion Commander Tanaka Keisuke, but the shared sentiment of all the Japanese soldiers in the battalion.

Sergeant Major Rikuoku Ryota also thought so. He was the first Japanese soldier to react. Seeing the Nationalist army soldiers rushing up, he immediately thrust out his rifle, with quick, precise, and ruthless movements.

Company Commander Shi Junxia, who was at the forefront, was also stopped by this sudden attack from the Japanese soldier.

He was charging forward and didn't have time to retreat. Company Commander Shi also quickly thrust the rifle in his hand toward the chest of this Japanese soldier.

This was a lose-lose strategy. When Sergeant Major Rikuoku Ryota's bayonet pierced Company Commander Shi's chest, he would also suffer the same blow.

Rikuoku Ryota certainly didn't want to trade his life for that of an ordinary Nationalist army soldier.

He could only slightly change the direction of his thrust, striking the rifle that was thrusting toward him from the side. The two rifles collided with a "bang."

Both rifles quickly separated to the side, and both men were shocked: the other's strength was so great.

Company Commander Shi had now stabilized his stance and immediately entered the bayonet-fighting ready position.

His feet were positioned one in front of the other, with the bayonet about a foot in front of his forehead, staring intently at the Japanese soldier in front of him.

Sergeant Major Rikuoku Ryota only felt that the Nationalist army soldier opposite him was strong and unafraid of death. He had not yet witnessed Company Commander Shi's bayonet-fighting skills.

He had the initiative from the beginning and also took the initiative to change his move. The speed of his hand increased again, and with a shout, he thrust again toward Company Commander Shi's chest.

This time, Company Commander Shi wouldn't be willing to die with him. The previous move was a helpless act when there was no other choice.

Now, Company Commander Shi quickly guided the rifle in his hand diagonally forward. Sergeant Major Rikuoku's rifle slid to the side accordingly. He was shocked and quickly retracted his rifle.

Company Commander Shi's rifle had already followed the Japanese soldier's rifle, thrusting over like a shadow.

This time, Sergeant Major Rikuoku could only parry hastily. Again, there was a "bang," and this time Sergeant Major Rikuoku felt the opponent's strength was even greater.

The impact forced his body to take a step back. As the Japanese soldier retreated, Company Commander Shi shouted, "Kill!"

He took a step forward with his left foot, coordinating the rifle in his hand to make a sudden thrust forward. This time, it was both fast and urgent.

Sergeant Major Rikuoku was now regretting it to death. If he had known it would be like this, he should have traded a blow with the Nationalist army soldier just now.

At this time, even if he wanted to exchange injuries for injuries, or lives for lives, he no longer had the chance.

He could only parry once more. This time, his retreating steps were somewhat staggered, and his center of gravity was unstable. Just as Sergeant Major Rikuoku was panicking and preparing to regain his footing.

Company Commander Shi had already taken two steps forward and thrust out with another rifle. Sergeant Major Rikuoku watched helplessly as the shining bayonet, like lightning, pierced his chest, and the rifle even rotated ninety degrees.

This small action completely broke Sergeant Major Rikuoku's heart, and the strength of his whole body relaxed.

He could no longer hold the rifle in his hand. When Company Commander Shi retracted his rifle, Rikuoku's rifle had already fallen to the ground, and his body also fell backward, face up.

Company Commander Shi rushed up, stepped on the Japanese soldier's body, and quickly thrust the rifle in his hand toward another Japanese soldier in front of him.

The first Japanese soldier he fought was very good, able to parry for three rounds.

What Company Commander Shi did not expect was that the second Japanese soldier was also very good, with both strength and skill.

At this point, he also understood: this Japanese team was an elite, definitely an elite among the Japanese.

Even if they were the Japanese elite, they could only fight the soldiers of the Second Regiment a few more times; their fate was already sealed.

Battalion Commander Tanaka Keisuke discovered that after his Japanese soldiers actually engaged this suddenly appearing team, they were actually at a disadvantage in one-on-one combat.

"This is impossible!" When his subordinates fought with ordinary Nationalist army soldiers, they could really take on three or even more enemies at once.

Today, they couldn't even manage one-on-one. Battalion Commander Tanaka Keisuke saw that all the Japanese soldiers falling on the battlefield were his subordinates.

Very few of the Nationalist army soldiers opposite were injured, and there was no one taken off the battlefield due to injuries.

He saw a soldier with a waist injury simply lifting up his clothes, wrapping a bandage around a few times, and then immediately charging up again.

"What kind of team is this? Why haven't I seen them before?" Battalion Commander Tanaka Keisuke wondered in his mind.

But his hand was wielding the command saber as he charged forward, heading toward Company Commander Shi, who was charging at the front.

He had already seen Company Commander Shi kill three Japanese soldiers: this was an expert!

Battalion Commander Tanaka Keisuke certainly had to take down the opponent's expert in order to save the lives of more Japanese soldiers.

As he charged forward, the fastest of the Japanese soldiers in Sato Rintaro's squadron also joined the battle.

The number of Japanese soldiers had changed from an initial disadvantage to a numerical advantage.

This did not change the battle between Battalion Commander Tanaka Keisuke and Company Commander Shi Junxia.

The special operations brigade's soldiers had concluded through a large amount of actual combat on the battlefield that the bayonet was more useful than the command saber in melee combat.

The command saber, which had no practical use, was abandoned by the special operations brigade's soldiers.

Company Commander Shi thrust straight at the Japanese soldier charging toward him. Battalion Commander Tanaka Keisuke blocked it with a slash of his command saber and swung it horizontally at Company Commander Shi.

Company Commander Shi stepped to the side with his left foot, avoiding the frontal attack, and the rifle in his hand that had just been blocked came at Tanaka Keisuke head-on.

The rifle thrust forward again. The command saber in his hand was still rotating outward at this time, and Battalion Commander Tanaka Keisuke, unable to parry, could only take a step back.

One step back led to step after step back! The rifle in Company Commander Shi's hand, like a spirit snake, was fixed on Tanaka Keisuke's chest.

Constantly pursuing, Tanaka Keisuke, who had retreated three steps, finally staggered, and his body naturally reacted to steady his center of gravity.

At this moment, the rifle in Company Commander Shi's hand, like a flying sword from the heavens, suddenly pierced the chest of the Japanese soldier with a flash of white light. Using the same old trick, the fierce light in the Japanese soldier's eyes instantly dissipated, and the command saber in his hand also fell.

What Squadron Commander Sato Rintaro did not expect was that he had returned to the rescue as quickly as possible, but by the time his subordinates returned,

Less than half of the three hundred or so Japanese soldiers in Tanaka Keisuke's battalion were still alive. Even Battalion Commander Tanaka Keisuke was dead.

The Japanese soldiers who had just had a numerical advantage now had their forces reduced to the same level.

Those Japanese soldiers in Tanaka Keisuke's battalion were even more shocked than Squadron Commander Sato Rintaro: although they were artillerymen, they operated poison gas shells, a rather special nature.

Therefore, the requirements for the physical fitness and combat skills of the Japanese soldiers were much higher than those of ordinary artillerymen. Even in peacetime, the treatment of his Japanese soldiers was much higher.

As a result, such an elite team was unable to gain any advantage in melee combat.

They did not know what kind of team they had encountered. In fact, it was already very remarkable that this Japanese team could withstand a few moves from the Second Regiment's soldiers before dying.

When these Japanese soldiers saw that Battalion Commander Tanaka Keisuke was dead, their morale suddenly dropped.

These Japanese soldiers began to look around, preparing their escape routes. Under such circumstances, the combat effectiveness of the Japanese soldiers suddenly decreased.

A lot of Japanese soldiers of the 27th Division were killed on Kirin Peak in the past two days without even being able to withstand a single move.

When Regiment Commander Ning Hezhi led his team to join the battle, many Japanese soldiers of the Sato Rintaro squadron had already died.

Regiment Commander Ning also clearly saw the situation of the bayonet fight in front.

At this time, Regiment Commander Ning's heart had settled down: these Japanese soldiers could not escape.

Being able to defeat this group of Japanese soldiers and seize their supplies would already be considered completing the task of cutting off the Japanese supply line.

In fact, he did not have the idea of annihilating all the Japanese soldiers. It was very obvious: the Japanese soldiers were attacked from both sides, and they were immediately confused. They immediately wanted to bypass the Nationalist army team blocking their retreat and escape.

What neither the Japanese soldiers on the scene nor the soldiers of the Sixty-sixth Army expected was that the team that had just launched a surprise attack on them would not allow these Japanese soldiers to escape.

Some of the Japanese soldiers tried to bypass this team from the side. They obviously did not want to go around to attack from behind, but wanted to escape.

As a result, this suddenly appearing team actually sent out some soldiers to stop the Japanese soldiers who were trying to escape. This was not giving the Japanese soldiers any chance to live.

The Japanese soldiers who had nowhere to escape could only fight desperately. A trapped beast would still fight, and even a rabbit would bite when cornered. How could the team on the opposite side not know this?

At this time, letting some Japanese soldiers run away would cause the Japanese soldiers still on the battlefield to have divided loyalties. This would be able to reduce one's own casualties.

Regiment Commander Ning thought this way in his heart, feeling a bit resentful toward the friendly army across the way for their fierce style. Even though they had broken into the Japanese artillery position from behind and saved his regiment, he still felt that it was time to let some Japanese soldiers escape.

Just as Regiment Commander Ning was wondering why the other side was doing this, and what kind of people they were.

Someone in his team shouted excitedly, "Squad Leader Shi! It's Special Operations Brigade Squad Leader Shi!"

Shi Junxia was still a squad leader in Jurong, and he knew the soldiers in this team.

Someone on the opposite side immediately roared, "Hey there, Little Guangdong, you're a company commander now, don't call him that!"

Because of his surname, when Shi Junxia was a squad leader, people always joked that he should remove the "squad" in the middle, and he would directly be a division commander, how impressive!

Therefore, even among the friendly army, there were many soldiers who knew him, mainly through this Shi surname.

The reply from the other side immediately verified a fact: the team that rushed into the Japanese position was the Special Operations Brigade.

For the soldiers of the Sixty-sixth Army, their understanding of the Special Operations Brigade was quite profound: this was a team that was always victorious.

Having fought with the Japanese for so long, the soldiers of the Sixty-sixth Army always thought about how great it would be if they could join forces with the Special Operations Brigade to fight the Japanese again!

They missed the days of fighting alongside the Special Operations Brigade, missed the Special Operations Brigade's ability to fight, missed the Special Operations Brigade's ability to eat, and especially missed the Special Operations Brigade's big meat buns in the morning.

Seeing that the soldiers on the opposite side were from the Special Operations Brigade, their morale increased greatly, as if they had taken a reassurance pill, and their offensive against the Japanese became even more fierce.

This time, these soldiers of the Sixty-sixth Army did not plan to let a single Japanese soldier escape. Not letting a single Japanese soldier escape was a tradition of the Special Operations Brigade, and the friendly army all knew this.

Regiment Commander Ning Hezhi was a later transfer, and he usually heard the soldiers and officers in the regiment talk about the days of fighting with the Special Operations Brigade.

Today was the first time he had seen them in person. Watching those Special Operations Brigade soldiers, each one was like a proud dragon soaring through the clouds, like a fierce tiger descending the mountain, fighting horizontally and vertically in the Japanese ranks, killing the Japanese and causing them to fall to the ground one after another.

None of the Special Operations Brigade soldiers had fallen. This was a miracle! Fighting bayonet-to-bayonet with the Japanese, only injuries and no deaths, fully demonstrated the strength of this team.

The Sixty-sixth Army had always attached great importance to bayonet fighting. Regiment Commander Ning Hezhi knew this before he came, but today he saw the soldiers of the Special Operations Brigade fighting bayonet-to-bayonet.

Only then did he find the gap: his regiment was far behind their level.

Another regiment of the Sixty-sixth Army rushed up. Shi Yi's regiment was farther away, so they arrived on the battlefield later.

This area was suddenly crowded with their two regiments and three companies of the Special Operations Brigade, so many people dealing with fewer than four hundred Japanese soldiers.

The Japanese soldiers of the Sato Rintaro squadron suddenly felt the pressure. The Japanese soldiers of Tanaka Keisuke's battalion had just tried to escape from the battlefield but were intercepted.

Now, the Japanese soldiers of his squadron did not even have a chance to escape. The retreat of the Sato Rintaro squadron was tightly blocked by thousands of soldiers from the Sixty-sixth Army, and the front was blocked by three companies of the Special Operations Brigade.

These hundreds of Japanese soldiers had no other choice but to fight desperately. What made all the Japanese soldiers desperate was that no matter how hard they fought, they could not shake the soldiers blocking the way in front of them.

On the contrary, those soldiers on the opposite side were still moving forward, and the Japanese soldiers were falling one after another.

There was no suspense in such a bayonet fight, and the battle ended quickly.

Regiment Commander Ning ran over and introduced himself, "I am Ning Hezhi, the regimental commander of the Fourth Regiment of the Sixty-sixth Army."

Shi Junxia said with a smile, "We are all old friends. Regiment Commander Ning may not know me, but many people in your regiment know me. I even heard someone calling me just now when we were fighting bayonet-to-bayonet."

A Nationalist army soldier immediately shouted, "Company Commander Shi! I was the one who called you, I'm Little Guangdong!"

Company Commander Shi asked with a smile, "You always wanted a command saber, did you find one? If you didn't find one, I just killed a Japanese battalion commander and picked up an officer's saber, do you want it?"

"Yes! Company Commander Shi! We're not as fierce as you guys, it's hard to think about picking up an officer's saber on the battlefield." Little Guangdong said as he squeezed over here.

This soldier happily ran up and gratefully accepted the command saber used by Battalion Commander Tanaka Keisuke from Shi Junxia's hand.

There was a time when these command sabers were also the favorite collectibles of the Special Operations Brigade soldiers.

Later, after using them more often on the battlefield, the soldiers discovered that when fighting bayonet-to-bayonet, a rifle was faster, and an inch longer was an inch stronger. This was definitely not a lie.

The pursuit of Japanese command sabers was no longer so enthusiastic. In the past year, the Special Operations Brigade had killed many Japanese battalion commanders, and their command sabers were no longer so precious.

The other soldiers of the Sixty-sixth Army looked enviously at the soldier nicknamed Little Guangdong, and ran over to see the Japanese officer's saber.

Company Commander Shi said to Regiment Commander Ning with a smile, "We still have tasks to do, so we'll leave soon. The battlefield here is up to you brothers."

Regiment Commander Ning was overjoyed and said repeatedly, "It's not hard! It's not hard! We guarantee to clean up the battlefield according to the standards of the Special Operations Brigade."

He had heard of how clean and thorough the Special Operations Brigade was when cleaning up the battlefield. This time, dozens of mortars were seized on the battlefield, which were good things.

However, he was a bit troubled by those poison gas shells. Company Commander Shi obviously saw this and asked, "You don't want to use these shells?"

Regiment Commander Ning said with a bitter smile, "The superiors don't allow us to use the seized poison gas shells, saying that this violates the Geneva Conventions."

Shi Junxia immediately reported to Liu Laopao. Regiment Commander Ning looked enviously at the Special Operations Brigade's company commander who could immediately contact the regiment in this place.

With such convenient things, the regiment could command the company at any time, and no longer needed to send messengers to run for a while before the order could be delivered.

At the same time, the company could also report its location and situation to the superiors at any time. Such a team, when fighting, a company could be used as two companies.

Liu Laopao heard that there were seized poison gas shells and that the team of the Sixty-sixth Army did not dare to use them, and immediately said, "It is our duty to help our brothers, just exchange them for our shells."

Regiment Commander Ning heard clearly on the side. After the call ended, Company Commander Shi really said, "Exchange them for our ordinary shells! Anyway, we will return these shells to the Japanese soon."

Regiment Commander Ning was shocked. The Special Operations Brigade wanted to return the shells to the surrounding Japanese?

There were indeed Japanese in the surrounding area, only at Mahuiling! He immediately asked, "Are you going to attack Mahuiling Railway Station?"

"Yes!" Company Commander Shi didn't care.

"Mahuiling Station is the logistics supply location for the Japanese 106th Division, storing a lot of ammunition and supplies, but there are also a lot of Japanese soldiers there.

Our military commander has also thought about attacking it, but ultimately gave up. We can still take on two thousand or so Japanese soldiers, but the key is that the main force of the Japanese army only needs half an hour to come by train from Jiujiang.

To attack Mahuiling, you must first cut off the railway."

Shi Junxia said with a smile, "It's okay, we are the ancestors of attacking stations. We have attacked several times during the Battle of Taierzhuang.

But you said that the Japanese have a lot of supplies, that's a bit difficult."

"What's the difficulty? If there's anything brothers can help with, we will definitely help!" Regiment Commander Ning said immediately.

"After taking Mahuiling, we have to take all those ammunition and supplies away. In the past, there were civilians around, and we asked the civilians to help us. No matter how many supplies there were, we could move them all.

It's different now. All the civilians around have run away. We have no way to transport so many supplies!"

Hearing Shi Junxia worry about such difficulties, Regiment Commander Ning immediately said, "Leave this matter to your brothers, you fight the Japanese in front.

We will take care of transporting the supplies! If two regiments are not enough, I will ask the military commander to send two more regiments over."

After Regiment Commander Ning reported the situation, Military Commander Ye Zhao was in his command post, and had just heard the report that two regiments had intercepted a team of Japanese soldiers transporting supplies to Wanjialing.

Half an hour later, he received a message that with the help of three companies from the Second Regiment of the Special Operations Brigade, the entire Japanese supply team and the Japanese poison gas team had been annihilated.

The Special Operations Brigade was moving toward Mahuiling Station, preparing to attack the station, and Regiment Commander Ning wanted to follow to move some supplies back.

Military Commander Ye Zhao had long known that following the Special Operations Brigade would bring profits. He had heard about the New Sixth Regiment changing equipment overnight.

There was no need to hesitate at this time, and he directly ordered, "Four regiments will participate in the attack on Mahuiling Railway Station. Accept the full command of the Special Operations Brigade."

Shi Junxia reported that four regiments of the Sixty-sixth Army wanted to follow the Special Operations Brigade to attack Mahuiling.

Lin Fan suddenly had four more regiments in his hands. Although it was only temporary, that's how you fight the Japanese: the more soldiers, the better!

He heard that the Sixty-sixth Army had ambushed a Japanese supply team with thousands of mules and horses, and many mules and horses had been killed on the battlefield.

Lin Fan's first task for Ning Hezhi and the others was, "Collect all the wounded and dead mules and horses.

These are all meat! The best supplies! The Special Operations Brigade needs them."

Regiment Commander Ning Hezhi and Regiment Commander Shi Yi immediately began to organize their teams to clean up the battlefield. Since there were two more regiments coming to join the operation later.

Company Commander Shi and the others were not in a hurry to leave. They cooperated in cleaning up the battlefield, and it was not until the other two regiments of the Sixty-sixth Army arrived here to join up that they led the four regiments back to the agreed meeting place.

During this time, Platoon Leader Jing Liquan of the First Platoon captured a Japanese lieutenant, a messenger. From this Japanese soldier, he learned the details of the Japanese soldiers stationed in Mahuiling at this time.

On the morning of October 1, the Japanese 106th Division's Mahuiling garrison:

The Third Battalion of the 147th Infantry Regiment had 700 Japanese soldiers. The First Platoon of the Machine Gun Company of the 147th Infantry Regiment had 40 Japanese soldiers, with four machine guns.

The 106th Cavalry Battalion had 450 Japanese soldiers. The Second Field Hospital of the 106th Division had 250 Japanese doctors and nurses.

There were 388 wounded Japanese soldiers in the field hospital. The headquarters of the 106th Division's Sanitation Team and the Second Stretcher Company had 450 Japanese soldiers.

Part of the division's communications team had 40 Japanese soldiers. The headquarters of the 106th Engineer Regiment and the First Company had 300 Japanese soldiers. There were a total of more than 2,600 Japanese soldiers in Mahuiling.

This many Japanese soldiers were completely equivalent to the strength of two full-strength battalions.

The situation was quickly reported to Lin Fan. From a purely quantitative point of view, there were not many Japanese soldiers here.

This time, the number of Nationalist army troops attacking Mahuiling was much larger: the Special Operations Brigade had two regiments with 6,000 soldiers, 3,000 supply troops, and the Sixty-sixth Army had four regiments with 6,000 soldiers.

Adding up to a total of 15,000 troops fighting more than 2,600 Japanese soldiers, there was absolutely no problem in terms of numbers.

The military meeting Lin Fan convened was attended by all the company commanders. Nearly a hundred company-level officers were present and heard the troop strength comparison between the two sides.

Everyone saw the equipment of each company of the Special Operations Brigade. In terms of weapons, their side completely crushed the Japanese.

With such troop strength and weapon configuration, it was already possible to take down Mahuiling well.

The soldiers of the Special Operations Brigade had never doubted that Mahuiling could be taken down. After this meeting, and after seeing the equipment of the two regiments of the Special Operations Brigade, the officers of the four regiments of the Sixty-sixth Army also believed that Mahuiling could definitely be taken down.

Lin Fan assigned the teams. Shangguan Zhiwen's regiment advanced to the front of Mahuiling Station, with the task of intercepting Japanese reinforcements coming from Jiujiang, and also preventing the Japanese soldiers in Mahuiling from escaping along the railway.

Liu Laopao's regiment, the First Company and the Second Company, acted with a regiment of the Sixty-sixth Army. The following companies were the same, two companies acted with a regiment of the Sixty-sixth Army, and the remaining Ninth Company and Tenth Company were used as reserves. The anti-aircraft machine gun company participated in the frontal attack, and the rocket launcher company prepared to bombard the Japanese positions.

The companies of the Second Regiment of the Special Operations Brigade quickly contacted the companies of the Sixty-sixth Army. The officers above the company level of each regiment of the Sixty-sixth Army were all here.

Everyone quickly introduced themselves and got to know each other. The companies of the Second Regiment immediately set off, went to the Sixty-sixth Army team, and took them all to the pre-arranged combat location. It was already 11:00 a.m.

Except for the rocket launcher company left behind, the other companies of the Fifteenth Regiment had already advanced along the mountain road toward Jiujiang, with their position five kilometers ahead.

When they arrived at the location, they saw a train slowly passing by, heading toward Mahuiling.

After this train passed, Regiment Commander Shangguan Zhiwen ordered the entire regiment to immediately enter the position.

They ambushed along the railway line and sent the Ninth Company and Tenth Company to dismantle the rails.

The First Company and Second Company were deployed at the forefront in the direction of Jiujiang, and the Third Company and Fourth Company were deployed behind them. The anti-aircraft machine gun company was deployed on the top of the mountain to support the First Company and Second Company.

The Fifth Company and Sixth Company were used as reserves, the Seventh Company and Eighth Company defended the direction of Mahuiling, and the Ninth Company and Tenth Company dismantled the rails between the ambush position and Mahuiling. After completing their mission, they joined the reserves.

The preparations of the Fifteenth Regiment were proceeding in an orderly manner. Here in Mahuiling, the five regiments were also quietly approaching the planned offensive positions according to Lin Fan's orders.

At 2:00 p.m., each team reported that they had entered the position. With Lin Fan's order, the rocket launcher companies of the Second Regiment and the Fifteenth Regiment simultaneously launched a bombing of Mahuiling.

After five consecutive rounds of bombing, the five regiments launched an attack on the Japanese from four directions simultaneously.

The Japanese soldiers stationed in Mahuiling were commanded by Battalion Commander Inoue Yuki of the Third Battalion.

For the past two days, he had been worried about not being able to send supplies into Wanjialing. Today, he had just sent the supply soldiers' Sato Rintaro squadron and the poison gas team's Tanaka Keisuke battalion into the mountains together. There was still no news of them, and no news was good news.

It meant that they had entered the depths of the mountains. If they had been intercepted at the edge, they should have returned by now.

When Battalion Commander Inoue Yuki was looking at the map alone in the command post, thinking, a sudden sound of artillery bombing rang out.

"Boom! Boom!" The explosions resounded through the sky. "Where is the shelling coming from?" Battalion Commander Inoue Yuki woke up from his trance and shouted loudly!

Soon there was a phone report: "Battalion Commander! The southern defense line is under heavy bombardment."

"Battalion Commander! The northern defense line is under heavy bombardment, and the railway line has been blown up."

……

Reports of the bombing continued to come in, and Battalion Commander Inoue Yuki did not know whether this was the Nationalist army's harassment or an attack.

Whether it was harassment or an attack, he could deal with it. At this time, Inoue Yuki had Japanese soldiers, so he was not flustered.

What he was thinking in his mind was: all four directions were being bombarded at the same time. Fortunately, a train had just arrived at the station with supplies, otherwise it would have been hit.

Analyzing from the summarized reports, the Nationalist army was only bombing the peripheral defense lines of Mahuiling. Was there any deeper meaning to this?

No matter what the situation, just as the artillery fire was still bombing, Battalion Commander Inoue Yuki had already reported the situation of Mahuiling being heavily bombarded by the Nationalist army's artillery fire to the headquarters of the 11th Army Group in Jiujiang.

The intense artillery bombardment quickly blew the entire outer defense line of Mahuiling into pieces.

Captain Takahashi Yosuke's company, which was defending the railway line, was immediately disoriented.

After the 9th Division occupied Mahuiling, they took over the defense here. They had never been attacked at the station again. The Nationalist army had withdrawn from here to the next defense line.

They would only ambush small stations along the railway line, the kind of small stations occupied by a few Japanese soldiers, ten or so Japanese soldiers.

No Nationalist army had ever dared to attack a large station like Mahuiling, which was garrisoned by thousands of Japanese soldiers. Today was the first time.

Suddenly being bombarded by such intense artillery fire, Captain Takahashi Yosuke had not yet reacted for a moment.

His Japanese soldiers had already participated in battles. When they were bombarded, their first reaction was to lie down and wait for the artillery fire to end.

In the current situation, these Japanese soldiers could not make any more reactions: the shells flew from a distance, and these Japanese soldiers could not make any counterattack against these shells at all, and could only silently endure.

It was not until Captain Takahashi Yosuke saw Nationalist army soldiers pushing carts toward the defense line that he woke up, "Today, there is not only bombing, there is actually a Nationalist army attack."

He ordered loudly, "Get up! Get up! Shoot! Open fire on the Nationalist army."

Captain Takahashi Yosuke kept urging his Japanese soldiers to get up from the trenches and lie on the edge of the trenches to shoot.

There were many charging troops in the distance, like a long dragon, and the end could not be seen.

The soldiers charging in the front were less than 300 meters away from his position, and there were Nationalist army soldiers charging in this direction from a distance.

Captain Takahashi Yosuke took a breath: at least a thousand Nationalist army soldiers were attacking.

Faced with such an offensive, what could he do? He could only order the Japanese soldiers to hold their ground and ask Battalion Commander Inoue Yuki for help.

"Report to the battalion commander! A thousand Nationalist army soldiers have been discovered on the northern defense line, and they are launching an attack on my position. Request the battalion commander to send reinforcements."

Hearing Takahashi Yosuke's report that thousands of Nationalist army soldiers had launched an attack after the bombing, Battalion Commander Inoue Yuki was also very surprised.

"Is this a large-scale counterattack suddenly launched by the Nationalist army?" The battalion commander who received the report guessed in his mind.

It was too early to make this conclusion now. Wasn't the Nationalist army going to use human wave tactics?

Battalion Commander Inoue Yuki sent a machine gun squad to reinforce them. In his view, a machine gun squad was enough to stop thousands of Nationalist army soldiers.

Captain Takahashi Yosuke had asked for help first, so he was the first to receive reinforcements: a Japanese machine gun squad, led by Squad Leader Kato Kazuki, came to reinforce with four heavy machine guns.

Before the arrival of the machine gun squad, the Japanese soldiers of Captain Takahashi Yosuke's company still needed to work hard to hold the position.

Squad Leader Miki Ryosuke shouted hoarsely, "Inukai Kuro! You idiot, stand up and fire."

Inukai Kuro was the machine gunner of his squad. He was frightened by the artillery fire just now and had been lying at the bottom of the trench, unwilling to raise his head and get up.

This time, he was named by Squad Leader Miki, and he reluctantly stood up, muttering in his mouth, complaining, and lying on the edge of the trench to operate the machine gun.

He was being forced to operate the machine gun and was full of reluctance. He cursed at his assistant shooter, Kitahama Takuto, "Don't you know how to shoot? If I die..."

Inukai Kuro's voice stopped there. There was a bullet hole in his forehead, and a big hole in the back of his head, with even brain matter flowing out.

Inukai Kuro fell headfirst into the trench. This time, without him scolding, Kitahama Takuto had to fill in as the main shooter.

Squad Leader Miki Ryosuke did not expect Inukai Kuro to be so unfortunate. He died as soon as he was called up.

However, he did not have the idea of starting to do self-criticism because of this. He was still continuing to urge the Japanese soldiers of his squad to shoot hard.

Captain Takahashi Yosuke was also working hard to urge the three squads under his command to intensify their fire on the Nationalist army troops charging up.

Squad Leader Suzuki Sanjuro discovered a shocking thing: all the bullets fired at the carts being pushed up were bounced off.

The carts pushed in front by the charging Nationalist army were not only machine gun racks, but also shields!

Such a discovery was too terrifying for the Japanese soldiers. This was not Squad Leader Suzuki's individual discovery.

Many Japanese soldiers had discovered it. What should be done in this situation?

Captain Takahashi Yosuke was also very troubled: he could only order the grenade throwers to take out those carts on the opposite side.

While the Special Operations Brigade was attacking on the northern front, the other directions were also charging toward the Japanese soldiers of Mahuiling.

The situation reported from each defense line made Battalion Commander Inoue Yuki suspicious: thousands of Nationalist army soldiers were attacking in all four directions!

He immediately confirmed his judgment: this was a large-scale counterattack organized by the Nationalist army.

Without any delay, he immediately called