Mang Sheng Yojie, a sergeant, and Komura Kazuma, a private first class, held their rifles and cautiously walked towards the front defense line, their backs hunched over.

Their path of attack was difficult. They were met with gunfire from five hundred meters away, and now, at two hundred meters, they were still under fire.

Of the thirty or so members of the Chiyomaru Yuma squad, less than twenty remained at this point. The rest had fallen on this road.

Liu Xinhou, the first platoon leader, saw that there were few Japanese soldiers charging up, only a dozen or so. The directional mines he had buried in front of the position were now useless.

The soldier Fu Yutang asked loudly, "Platoon leader! Do we charge?"

During the first round of the charge, he had been fast, preemptively stabbing a Japanese soldier to death. Now, he wanted to repeat that glory and launch another charge like before.

Ma Yuqing, the squad leader, looked at the Japanese soldiers still a hundred meters away and responded loudly, "If we're going to bayonet the Japanese, we have to wait until they're within fifty meters.

If we charge from too far away, the Japanese rifles will only fire once, and we'll become targets."

The squad leader patiently explained to Fu Yutang. The soldiers under his command were new to actual combat and still needed to be taught the basics of battlefield tactics.

Gui Junxiong, the first company commander defending Xiangfu Temple, believed that the battle was getting easier. The first platoon had repelled three Japanese attacks in a row on the front line.

Judging from the number of Japanese soldiers retreating after the last attack, the three attacks had crippled two Japanese companies. There were at least three hundred Japanese corpses lying in front of the position.

The first platoon leader had already sent a squad of soldiers to clear the battlefield, collecting all the weapons and ammunition scattered around.

There was no time to collect other supplies yet. A Japanese soldier approached waving a white flag, shouting that they wanted to send some soldiers to drag those who had died on the battlefield away.

They hoped the defending troops wouldn't shoot them. Company Commander Gui agreed to let them send twenty unarmed Japanese soldiers to carry the corpses.

There couldn't be any living Japanese soldiers on the battlefield that had already been cleared by the soldiers.

Soon, Company Commander Yamada Kenichi arrived with the remaining soldiers from his company. Unlike their previous charge, they had no weapons this time.

But they had a white flag waving, and a dozen or so Japanese soldiers were busy. They dragged seven carts, loading the corpses onto them. Once a cart was full, they quickly ran back.

Captain Yafang Yosuke watched from afar as the corpses were dragged back, directly to a newly erected fire pit. The corpses were placed on it, piled high. When they couldn't pile any higher, they poured oil on it and set it on fire.

Company Commander Miyabayashi Yuta didn't know how many fires they had lit today. Anyway, his company had been busy the whole time. Even when the Special Operations Brigade's planes came, they didn't strafe them.

They were allowed to continue collecting corpses. Now, the newly delivered corpses were finally wearing clothes. Thinking about how they had passed through this section of road this morning, they hadn't expected to become corpses themselves!

Thinking this way, the Japanese soldiers of Miyabayashi Yuta's company were happy: they had been tired all morning, but they were safe.

Although they had been dragging corpses and the smell was terrible, they were safe!

Unlike these corpses in clothes, who had been alive and kicking just now, now they were corpses that would turn into ashes in two hours.

Yafang Yosuke watched Yamada Kenichi's company collecting the fallen Japanese soldiers in front, and the trails of smoke rising in the back. He knew: those were coming from the bonfires burning the corpses.

The smell of burning corpses drifted with the wind, and it was terrible.

His battalion had stopped attacking. Without reinforcements, he didn't want to continue the attack today.

The Japanese had stopped attacking, but the Special Operations Brigade's troops didn't stop. The Second, Third, and Fourth Regiments were still marching rapidly.

They each had their own tasks to complete. The Second Regiment's target was to attack Gao'an, while the Third and Fourth Regiments were stationed in Dacheng, providing support.

When Ji Wudi followed the Second Regiment on their rapid march to Dacheng, he received a report from Company Commander Gui Junxiong: "Repelled three Japanese attacks, eliminating more than three hundred attacking Japanese soldiers."

Today, two battalions had set out from Fengxin together and were marching towards Dacheng.

The Twelfth Company of the Second Regiment quickly built an artillery position behind Xiangfu Temple. The launching position for the rocket launchers was very easy to build: a flat area only two meters wide and four meters long was enough for one rocket launcher.

Company Commander Su Fei carefully checked whether the tripods of the twelve rocket launchers were firmly placed, and whether each of the components was properly installed.

Although the rocket launcher company was also on the battlefield for the first time, the battlefield was similar to a training ground for them. After all, they didn't need to directly face the Japanese soldiers.

They also didn't suffer Japanese artillery bombardment or face a hail of bullets. Relatively speaking, actual combat had less impact on them than on ordinary training.

Now, the twelve rocket launchers had been deployed and the firing parameters had been set. They were just waiting for the launch order.

Ji Wudi had led the five infantry companies from the Sixth to Tenth Companies and had already ambushed in Chigang Village, waiting for Regiment Commander Shi Junxia to arrive with the First to Fifth Companies.

The regimental commander's report came from the walkie-talkie: "Five companies have entered the attack position. Launch the attack on the Japanese artillery position at 10:15."

Ji Wudi immediately ordered the rocket launcher company: "Bomb the Japanese infantry battalion at 10:15."

Shi Junxia looked at the Japanese artillery position not far away. Twelve field guns were lined up in four rows along the roadside, and about four hundred Japanese soldiers were busy in the position.

There were also about a hundred Japanese infantrymen building fortifications on the hillside, clearly protecting the artillery position.

He pointed at the Japanese infantry on the hillside and ordered Jing Liquan: "The First Company will seize the hillside and wipe out the Japanese protection force.

The Second and Third Companies will charge directly into the Japanese artillery position. The Fourth Company will cut off the passage between the artillery and the infantry. The Fifth Company is the reserve!

The Second, Third, and Fourth Companies' mortars and infantry guns will attack the Japanese artillery, protecting the cannons. We want them.

The First and Fifth Companies' mortars and infantry guns will bombard the Japanese on the hillside. Don't save anything!

All troops will attack at 10:15!"

The regimental commander's orders were very simple. Each company immediately acted according to the orders. This time, he was following the Second Company.

The regimental commander was eyeing the Japanese's twelve field guns. He was preparing to take them all, which was why he ordered them to protect the cannons.

At 10:15, the five companies' mortars at Sanqiao Village opened fire at the same time, firing at their respective targets.

The Second and Third Companies did not hesitate, rushing out from their hiding places. Twelve heavy machine guns were pushed onto the highway, directly charging towards the Japanese artillery position.

Captain Yafang Yosuke had been looking at Xiangfu Temple with binoculars early in the morning. There was a pain in his heart there.

While he was looking at the defense line, he was surprised to see a row of fire rising from behind Xiangfu Temple, flying diagonally into the air, and slamming down on his battalion camp at the foot of the mountain.

"When did they get artillery?" As this thought arose, explosions had already sounded throughout the Yafang Yosuke battalion's camp.