December 23, 1937, 2:17 PM:

Captain Yuteng Kakushu, who was organizing his troops to attack Deqing, suddenly noticed an imperial aircraft flying overhead.

This aircraft didn't strafe or bomb the Nationalist soldiers.

Instead, it strafed his own attacking troops and dropped bomb after bomb on the Jiang Jiandou Eishi tank battalion that was currently attacking.

Captain Yuteng Kakushu, hidden in his command post some distance away, watched the Jiang Jiandou Eishi tank battalion, which had been specially dispatched by Division Commander Ushijima Sadaharu to support the breakthrough in this direction, struggle in the bombing.

His heart trembled. In the past few days, they had suffered great losses against the Nationalist army's tanks.

Although the Nationalist army's tanks were eventually bombed back by the imperial artillery and aircraft, Yuteng Kakushu's soldiers had already developed a psychological shadow.

Today, the division commander had sent a tank force to the battlefront to boost the morale of the entire front-line combat troops.

In fact, the Jiang Jiandou Eishi tank battalion was also very effective, having broken through two lines of Nationalist defense since joining the battle today.

Just as Yuteng Kakushu's soldiers were pursuing their victory and about to capture Deqing, the Jiang Jiandou Eishi tank battalion suffered a devastating blow.

In fact, the Nationalist army defending Hangzhou had Krupp 176mm heavy artillery, which was perfectly capable of dealing with the Japanese tanks.

However, through days of fighting, the Japanese had figured out the position of the Nationalist army's heavy artillery and deliberately kept their tank force away from it.

Using their strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses!

The Jiang Jiandou Eishi tank battalion had always been at ease on the battlefield, never encountering an opponent.

Today, without knowing anything, Jiang Jiandou Eishi’s tank was hit on the roof by a bomb from the sky.

The power of the explosion caused the shells inside the tank to detonate.

The consequences of the detonation not only killed Battalion Commander Jiang Jiandou Eishi inside the tank, but also caused heavy casualties among the infantry of Yuteng Kakushu's battalion who were cooperating with the tanks.

And it wasn't just one tank that detonated; several tanks experienced the same situation.

For the infantry of Yuteng Kakushu's battalion attacking Deqing County: happiness came too suddenly and left too quickly.

They had not been able to advance an inch in the past two days, but today, with the help of the Jiang Jiandou Eishi tank battalion, they had broken through continuously.

Just as they were pressing on,

An accident occurred: their own bomber poured all its bombs and machine gun bullets on top of them.

This sudden bombing destroyed all the tanks of the Jiang Jiandou Eishi tank battalion.

It also caused great trauma to the infantry of Yuteng Kakushu's battalion.

The Nationalist officers and soldiers of the 106th Division, who were defending Deqing County, had lost two lines of defense today.

They stood trembling on the city wall. If it weren't for the strict orders of their superiors, they would have run off the city wall and fled.

The Japanese tanks, aircraft, artillery, and infantry were cooperating to attack. Simple infantry like them couldn't resist at all.

Now, suddenly, they saw the Japanese aircraft starting to attack the Japanese.

This kind of infighting among the Japanese had never happened on the battlefield before.

These Nationalist soldiers were extremely excited.

They were no longer afraid of exposing themselves, stood up, and cheered on the city wall.

Cheering and encouraging the aircraft!

Captain Yuteng Kakushu watched the bomber fly away and then return to strafe the area.

He was so depressed that he wanted to bang his head against the wall. His troops had guns and artillery.

But the guns were only rifles, machine guns, and heavy machine guns. They didn't even have a single anti-aircraft machine gun.

They had artillery, but only mortars and Type 92 infantry guns. They didn't have a single cannon that could hit aircraft.

Therefore, he could only watch helplessly as the aircraft wreaked havoc on the battlefield.

This was not a good feeling.

Xiao Jianying saw the cheering and jumping Nationalist soldiers on the city wall and felt full of pride and honor.

Lin Fan, He Haiqing, and Zhu Qingmao were having a great time, two operating machine guns and one throwing bombs.

They didn't notice the cheering Nationalist soldiers in the distance.

Amidst the cheers, there was also the sound of shutters clicking from time to time.

For the troops on the city wall: happiness had come too suddenly.

They had experienced great joy and sorrow today. In the morning, the front line they had defended for two days was suddenly broken through by the Japanese tanks.

The second line of defense also failed to withstand the Japanese steel torrent.

Although the brothers of the 106th Division had made full preparations on the second line of defense.

However, the second line of defense was breached by the Japanese after only two hours under the combined bombing and attack of Japanese aircraft in the sky, tanks on the ground, and many artillery pieces.

This situation made the officers and soldiers of the entire Nationalist 106th Division very frustrated. They had already been defeated once on the Songhu battlefield.

Although they hadn't participated in the defense of Nanjing, the fall of the capital had also greatly impacted their soldiers.

Today, these Nationalist soldiers were severely attacked by the Japanese again.

The morale of the army was shaken! These soldiers were already afraid.

At this moment, they suddenly saw a Japanese aircraft destroying all the attacking Japanese tanks.

Then it waggled its wings three times and flew towards the sea.

Waggling its wings three times to say hello was something Xiao Jianying had learned from Lin Fan.

He had been piloting the aircraft ever since they landed.

Through these flights, dives, level flights, and bombings.

He was becoming more and more skilled in operating it. Lin Fan felt that once this young man learned to take off and land, he would be ready to go solo.

Now, Lin Fan began to issue new tasks to Xiao Jianying: Next, we're going to bomb those warships we just saw parked at sea.

When Lin Fan issued the order, Xiao Jianying, He Haiqing, and Zhu Qingmao immediately remembered:

When the company commander took them to practice on the sea, they had specifically flown over the Japanese warships.

Hearing what Lin Fan said, all three soldiers became excited.

Lin Fan casually drew the distribution of the fleet that he had just memorized on a piece of paper.

Pointing to the larger black block in the middle, he said: This is the largest warship in that fleet.

I've observed it. Only this warship in the entire fleet has a runway.

When we fly over, we have to fly lower and fly directly towards that warship.

Pretend that we are going to land on the runway.

We have to act like it, and the bombs should also look like they fell off due to an accident.

Don't open fire with the machine guns for the time being.

After the largest battleship is bombed, when we fly back and fly towards the warship on the left, only start firing when we get close.

I saw it just now on land. You guys were firing from too far away.

The effective range of this machine gun is over two thousand meters, but the accuracy is only within five hundred meters.

When you guys shoot later, you must enter within five hundred meters before firing.

Is the order clear?

"Clear!"

The entire cabin immediately echoed with a neat response.

Xiao Jianying, He Haiqing, and Zhu Qingmao were all veterans of the special operations company.

They had followed the company commander in many major battles, fierce battles, and victorious battles.

But it was the first time they had fought such a continuously satisfying battle.

Today, they had been fighting the Japanese in the aircraft, and the Japanese hadn't even been able to fight back.

This kind of battle was so enjoyable!

The company commander was now going to attack the Japanese warships.

Xiao Jianying hated Japanese warships to the core.

Before joining the special operations company, his own company was wiped out by a Japanese warship's cannon in one shot.

Xiao Jianying was frightened by that tragic scene, which was why he ran away and became a deserter.

He hid with a group of deserters in the Four Lines Warehouse until Lin Fan forcefully recruited them.

Being able to follow the company commander to bomb Japanese warships today was also considered revenge for the old company commander.

Although the old company commander usually scolded and beat him, he was still the company commander, who had given him a bowl of rice and fed him for several years.

The aircraft deliberately limited its speed and didn't fly fast.

Lin Fan also taught Xiao Jianying to keep shaking, pretending to be injured.

The soldiers of Meng Baoguo's company charged out of the trenches and into the pile of Japanese soldiers a hundred meters in front of the position.

In this area that had been strafed and bombed by the aircraft.

There were a large number of wounded Japanese soldiers and a small number of uninjured Japanese soldiers.

Before these Japanese soldiers could react from the bombing, they encountered the charge of the Nationalist soldiers.

They immediately turned around and fled!

There weren't many Nationalist soldiers charging, only forty or so.

There were also more than twenty surviving Japanese soldiers on the battlefield.

According to the Japanese's usual habits: more than twenty Japanese soldiers would not be afraid of the charge of an entire Nationalist regiment at all.

These Japanese soldiers had full confidence in their combat squads. They believed that they could each handle three Nationalist soldiers alone.

If they formed a three-man combat team, they would dare to fight a squad of Nationalist soldiers.

But today: these Japanese soldiers had no intention of continuing to fight.

They just wanted to get away from the battlefield as soon as possible. The aerial bombs that the aircraft had dropped made these Japanese soldiers understand that under the bombing of artillery shells.

Their bushido spirit, which they had always adhered to, still could not resist the impulse of fear in their hearts.

They were frightened by the aircraft just now.

Zhu Kangshun, who had wanted to withdraw from the battlefield just now, was at the forefront this time.

He was at the front, not to chase down those Japanese soldiers.

While still far away, he discovered a good thing.

This time, being at the front, he of course went straight for that thing.

Zhu Kangshun struggled to pick up a Type 92 heavy machine gun: "Company Commander! Pheasant!..."

"Pheasant..."

Zhu Kangshun was too excited. He had captured a Japanese Type 92 heavy machine gun, and he couldn't even speak smoothly.

It also had a common name "Pheasant Neck," which came from the fact that the gun had many heat sinks on the barrel, like the layers of feathers that stand up on a pheasant's neck when it fights.

Zhu Kangshun was so excited that he couldn't speak smoothly.

The Nationalist army also had its own heavy machine guns, which were even better than the Japanese ones.

But for the 53rd Division, which had been constantly suppressed by the Japanese, as long as they could repel the Japanese attack.

They were already displaying superhuman abilities. Being able to have such a capture today was the first time for the entire Meng Baoguo company.

Meng Baoguo said with a smile: "Take the guns and ammunition. The wounded? Take them too!"

They were the Nationalist army, and there were at least thirty wounded in this area.

Zhu Kangshun hugged the machine gun and ignored the wounded.

Squad Leader Xiang Wenshan said to the company commander with some difficulty:

"Company Commander! We only have forty-odd people. There are over thirty wounded here. We can't take them all!"

Meng Baoguo thought for a moment: "Then use the medical kits they brought themselves to bandage them."

The company commander's order was still executable.

Some of the soldiers bandaged the wounded Japanese soldiers, while others were nervously cleaning up the battlefield.

The aircraft that had helped them fight these Japanese soldiers returned again from a distance.

Company Commander Meng Baoguo was stunned: What to do in this situation?

The entire company was exposed in the open. If this aircraft came for a strafing run, less than ten people in his company would survive.

It was too late to let the soldiers run.

He could only bite the bullet and order: "Continue doing what you're doing. Don't pay attention to it!

This is our own aircraft!

It won't attack us."

Squad Leader Xiang Wenshan was a little puzzled: "Company Commander! When did the Japanese aircraft become our own?"

Zhu Kangshun immediately said: "If it wasn't our own aircraft, what did the company commander say just now?

He would have done something. Why?

Right! Company Commander!"

Company Commander Meng Baoguo said: "Yes! That's right.

It flew over there and bombed the Japanese warships at sea."

Whether it bombed the warships or not, they couldn't see it from here.

In this situation, these soldiers were already satisfied.

Xiao Jianying piloted the bomber and flew out over the land.

From a distance, he saw the warships on the sea.

On this sea,

The sailors on the warships also saw the aircraft swaying in the distance.

Er Shenyangda, an observer on the "Aoba" heavy cruiser, was the first to spot the aircraft.

He quickly reported to the captain: "Commander Zengbuchuan Naoya! A damaged imperial bomber is flying in from the direction of Hangzhou.

What should we do? Please instruct!"

Commander Zengbuchuan Naoya saw the swaying bomber at a glance.

He immediately ordered: "Clear the runway! It must be a damaged bomber.

It wants to make an emergency landing on our warship!"

The piercing alarm immediately sounded on the "Aoba" cruiser.

The broadcast also began to play: "Attention all crew members, a bomber is preparing to land on our ship.

Repeat: A bomber is preparing to land on our ship."

The sailors on the cruiser took emergency action.

They took their positions and prepared fire extinguishers, water hoses, and medical stretchers.

This kind of emergency landing wasn't the first time it had happened.

The soldiers didn't feel anything wrong!

The deck had been cleared and was ready for landing.

Since it was an emergency landing, some of the sailors had nothing to do.

They crowded on the deck's gangway, watching the bomber flying in from not far away.

"Its belly is open."

"That's the bomb bay! It must have been stuck when it was dropping bombs.

Or it was damaged.

No wonder it's been flying unstable. That must be the reason."

Xiao Jianying nervously operated the aircraft to dive towards the warship.

According to the company commander's instructions: all his actions had to be like a real landing.

If you want to deceive the enemy, you must first deceive yourself! This time, Xiao Jianying was really treating it as a landing. He just kept remembering that the speed couldn't be reduced too much.

If the speed was too slow, it would really be courting death.

Zhengrongcheng Sada watched the bomber. Although the speed was a little slow, it was still too fast.

He couldn't help but shout: "Pull up! Pull up! The speed is too fast."

If the speed was too fast, it would rush out of the runway. If it didn't pull up into the air in time.

The next thing that would happen would be crashing into the sea.

When the aircraft's wheels were less than three meters away from the deck, the pilot seemed to know that his emergency landing wouldn't succeed this time.

He suddenly increased the speed. Everyone on the "Aoba" cruiser heard the sudden roar of the engine.

At this moment, two huge aerial bombs fell from the bomb bay that had never been closed.

Even after dropping two aerial bombs, the aircraft's speed didn't increase much.

It still flew forward swaying.

Commander Zengbuchuan Naoya became nervous when he saw the two aerial bombs falling from the belly of the aircraft:

"Is this a special mission to bomb me?"

He observed the aircraft with questions. There was no sign of a quick escape after a successful bombing.

The aircraft's speed had increased a little, but it was still not fast.

It didn't look like it was fleeing the scene.

The most important thing was that the two machine guns on the aircraft had never fired from beginning to end.

Commander Zengbuchuan Naoya finally didn't order to shoot down the aircraft.

He just thought: This was an accident.

This was a big accident!

Two bombs, each weighing more than four hundred kilograms, accurately landed on the deck of the "Aoba" heavy cruiser.

Although these two bombs didn't have the inertia of being dropped from a high altitude, they didn't drill into the lower levels of the warship to explode.

However, these two bombs still penetrated the top deck at once.

The two aerial bombs disappeared under the deck.

No one knew how many layers they had penetrated for the time being.

When a burst of exploding flames and fragments that suddenly bulged up and flew around appeared on the deck.

The entire "Aoba" heavy cruiser also made a piercing creaking sound.

Commander Zengbuchuan Naoya watched nervously as two columns of thick smoke rose from the position where the bombs had just fallen.

His feet could clearly feel the entire warship shaking and vibrating.

The "Aoba" was not immediately blown into two pieces.

This was good news!

Even so, the two bombs had created two large holes with a diameter of more than six meters in the middle of the warship.

No one knew which layer these two large holes had penetrated down to.

Commander Zengbuchuan Naoya no longer had the mind to pay attention to where the swaying bomber had flown to make an emergency landing.

Just let it crash into the sea!

A bomber almost destroyed his flagship.

Commander Zengbuchuan Naoya's attention had been drawn by the fire and continuous explosions on his own warship.

The second level where the last bomb had been dropped was the ammunition depot of the entire "Aoba" cruiser.

Explosions were now coming from inside the ammunition depot.

The entire ammunition depot was filled with various shells for all the guns on the ship.

The smallest caliber was, of course, rifle bullets.

The largest caliber torpedoes were also considered ammunition and were stored in the ammunition depot.

There were also many various types of shells stored inside. Even aerial bombs like the ones that had just exploded were stocked there.

Now, those shells had become the warship's weakness. If those large-caliber shells exploded!

This warship would sink to the bottom of the sea. There would be no other way.

Commander Zengbuchuan Naoya ordered his soldiers to rush into the ammunition depot quickly.

No matter what, they had to rescue the twenty-four torpedoes stored in the ammunition depot.

If even one of those torpedoes exploded, even his heavy cruiser would not be able to withstand it.

As the fire chief of the "Aoba", Matsuo Yusuke, had been waiting on the deck with his twenty-odd soldiers.

After the two bombs exploded, without waiting for Commander Shouchuan Zhiye's order, he had already led his squadron to find the location of the fire.

Although there were two large holes with a diameter of six meters on the deck, it was impossible for them to go down from that location.

Squad leader Matsuo Yusuke rushed to the front and rushed from the port side of the deck to the first floor below the deck.

In many places on the floor, the lights were flickering, and the smoke was filled, making it difficult to see.

These trained firefighters all bent down and walked forward.

They quickly extinguished several sporadic flames they encountered along the way.

After walking hundreds of meters winding on the second floor, there was no way forward.

The steel structures around the big hole in the distance were all deformed, and they could not pass through.

And flames were already coming out of that big hole.

"Find the source of the fire and prepare to extinguish it!" Captain Matsuo Yusuke issued the order calmly.

While these Japanese were busy inside the warship.

Xiao Jianying had been maintaining a shaking appearance as he flew over the "Aoba."

He wobbled back, like a dying man unwilling to let go of any straw.

This time, he avoided the "Aoba" heavy cruiser.

Because the runway on this warship had been blown out with two large holes, and flames were already coming out of those two large holes.

The aircraft flew past the port side of the Aoba. Lin Fan ordered loudly: "Fire!"

He Haiqing and Zhu Qingmao each operated a machine gun and began to fire at the destroyer parked next to the "Aoba."

This destroyer, called the "Yugiri," was built in 1929. This warship had a displacement of 2,077 tons, a length of 119.03 meters, and a width of 10 meters.

It had a draft of 3.76 meters, a main engine power of 50,000 horsepower, a maximum speed of 35 knots per hour, and a endurance of 5,000 nautical miles.

It was equipped with six 127 mm guns, thirteen 25 mm guns, and eight 610 mm torpedo launchers, with a crew of 225.

At this time, most of the officers and soldiers on this warship were standing on the deck watching the "Aoba" put out the fire.

Some soldiers also saw the bomber that had just caused the disaster flying back, swaying.

Natsuki Ueki was a gunner on the "Yugiri." He operated the 25 mm gun on the warship.

He was now aiming at the bomber flying in, swaying, waiting only for the captain's order.

Just now, the "Aoba" had been severely damaged. It could have completely destroyed the bomber, but Commander Zengbuchuan Naoya had not ordered to fire.

Katamari Rikan, the captain of the "Yugiri", couldn't directly destroy the warriors of the empire either.

From the aircraft's current unstable flight state, it could be seen that it must have participated in the battle and been injured in the battle.

Because the warships parked by the sea had the closest landing site, it was struggling to fly over to land.

Bombing the "Aoba" was not its original intention either.

The "Yugiri" did not fire.

He Haiqing and Zhu Qingmao received Lin Fan's order and immediately fired at the Japanese on the deck.

Lin Fan also began to drop bombs on the warship below.

The first to bear the brunt was the "Yugiri" destroyer.

Gunner Natsuki Ueki became the first Japanese soldier on this warship to die under the machine gun fire of a bomber.

The aircraft swept over at low altitude, and Lin Fan only had time to drop two bombs.

The "Yugiri" was far less thick-skinned than the "Aoba." Hit by two slightly smaller aerial bombs, two large holes with a diameter of eight meters were exposed in the middle of the entire warship.

The "Yugiri" destroyer, which was only ten meters wide, made a harsh "creak" sound.

The warship, which had been strongly connected, could no longer maintain its current state and slowly cracked from the explosion position, with the bow and stern going in different directions.

The Japanese soldiers on the warship who were still alive jumped into the sea in terror like dumplings.

Lin Fan knew that this fighter had only one chance to bomb this fleet.

After all, there was only one bomber, and it was impossible to simultaneously attack all the warships in the entire fleet.

A bomber in this era did not yet have the strength to destroy a fleet at once.

Nuclear bombs didn't even have a plan at this time.

If the bomber he was in didn't run faster, when these warships reacted, their anti-aircraft fire would be much denser than the artillery he had deployed at the airport.

Lin Fan kept dropping bombs. Every bomb hit the warships below.

Xiao Jianying was no longer drifting now. He accelerated the aircraft to its fastest speed.

He wanted to leave the battlefield and fly back as soon as possible.

Along the way, Lin Fan only had time to hit six warships.

How much damage was done to those warships was something Lin Fan couldn't know.

The Japanese would not announce such attacks.

Perhaps this would become a secret forever!

Even if he didn't know how many warships he could sink, Lin Fan would be satisfied as long as he could cause damage to the Japanese.

Being able to injure seven Japanese warships in one go was also good.

This was why Lin Fan wanted to drop the bombs himself: he was accurate.

Commander Zengbuchuan Naoya was awakened from the continuous explosions around him.

Just now, he had always thought that these explosions were coming from the ammunition depot of his warship.

Now, he saw the warships on his left exploding and burning one after another.

The bomber that had been swaying just now, looking like it was about to crash into the sea at any time, was now flying steadily and smoothly.

It was flying towards Hangzhou.

Now, Commander Zengbuchuan Naoya understood: he had been fooled! The aircraft was operated by Nationalist soldiers. They had perhaps captured an imperial bomber somewhere.

Then they disguised it as a damaged aircraft.

The purpose was to attack his fleet.

Commander Zengbuchuan Naoya could only watch the bomber fly away, without even having a chance to fire a shot.

His warship had two aircraft.

But now, there were two large holes in the warship, and the aircraft were still in the hangar, making it impossible to take off.

And whether those two aircraft were still there was already a question.

It had been five minutes since the bomb exploded. Those two large holes had now turned into two large chimneys.

Thick smoke and flames were constantly coming out of the two large holes, rising and rolling upwards!

Zhengrongcheng Sada struggled to drag a water pipe, trying to direct the water column towards the large hole twenty meters away.

He was trying to suppress the flames coming out of that large hole.

Er Shenyangda, an observer on the "Aoba", watched dumbfounded as the aircraft that had bombed the entire fleet flew away.

When it flew over, it flew erratically, as if it were about to crash at any moment.

When it flew away, the aircraft was very stable!

"Too cunning! The Nationalist army is too cunning!"

Although observer Er Shenyangta didn't know which air unit the bomber that had flown over today belonged to.

But he had memorized the large tiger image on the aircraft's belly.

This tiger flew over from the shore, bombed, and then flew back to the shore.

Observer Er Shenyangren stood high and saw far.

He had personally seen how the "Yugiri" next to him was hit, how it burned.

How it cracked!

The "Yugiri" was only the first warship to sink, but it was definitely not the only one.

After the "Yugiri" took the lead, three more warships followed it, all broken in the middle, with the entire ship divided into two pieces.

Such warships didn't even have a chance to be salvaged.

In addition, two warships had huge openings blown out on their sides.

Seawater poured in wildly. The other warships in the fleet only tried once.

They found that it was impossible to salvage them, so they had to settle for second best: rescuing the soldiers who had fallen into the sea.

At this time, there were hundreds of Japanese floating on this sea.

They were trying to float on the sea, waiting for rescue.

Inside the "Aoba" heavy cruiser, fire chief Matsuo Yusuke was leading his soldiers to fight the fire.

They had now found a source of fire: an oil pipeline.

The pipeline had been broken, and oil was constantly flowing out of it.

The raging fire had an endless supply of oil, and it was burning bigger and bigger.

Member Uenoten Take knows that there is a valve on the opposite side of this oil pipe that can be closed.

It's just that from where they are now, if they want to rush to the opposite side, they must pass through the sea of fire.

This is simply an impossible task.

Just diagonally opposite them, a team of soldiers was working hard to transport ammunition.

Captain Matsuo Yusuke knew that the location where those soldiers were was the ammunition depot for the entire ship.

Those soldiers were now risking their lives to transport shells. Even as they were moving the shells.

They could still hear the sound of shells exploding from time to time. He didn't know if those shells had exploded on anyone.

But Captain Matsuo Yusuke also knew that if they didn't close this oil pipe and continued to burn like this.

The entire "Aoba" cruiser would still sink.

The road through the sea of fire still looked clear from here.

There was still a section of road along the edge of the hole that was blown open, which people could pass through.

It's just that this road was now hotter than the sea of fire: those steel plates had turned a dark red color.

It was obvious that they had been burned red by the fire.

If someone wanted to walk over this road, they would have to walk on this section of red-hot steel plate that was more than ten meters long.

Should they go or not?

They must go!

How to go?

These Japanese soldiers on the scene had already made up their minds to die, but if they died without being able to close that valve.

Not only would their deaths be meaningless, but the entire warship would also sink into the sea.

Sergeant Major Shimada Yuta suddenly said: "I used to raise bees in my hometown.

Every winter, all the bees would huddle together to keep warm and overwinter.

When the cold arrived, the outermost bees would die off layer by layer.

Every time spring came, the innermost bees would survive.

The entire bee colony could then survive."

Captain Matsuo Yusuke understood from his words: they were going to send a group of people to send one person over.

Thinking about it, that's what they did: it's just letting a group of people protect one person.

In order to allow the person in the middle to complete the mission.

The members of Matsuo's squad found a wooden board to use as a stretcher and had Uenoten Take curl up on it.

Then, they sent ten soldiers to protect him in the middle.

They formed two layers. The soldiers on the outside layer held some water-soaked wooden boards in their hands.

They hoped that these wooden boards could isolate the flames.

The soldiers in the inner layer carried the stretcher and also had to protect the stretcher in the middle.

They ensured that Uenoten Take could pass through the fiery road completely unscathed.

Each of the soldiers preparing to escort him had a thick layer of cloth wrapped around their feet and tied on a layer of wooden boards.

Their legs and bodies were wrapped tightly with several layers of clothing, and their mouths and noses were covered with towels.

This group of people was already a little less than half of the entire fire brigade.

If they failed to complete the mission, Matsuo Yusuke dared not think about what would happen next.

With all preparations complete,

Captain Matsuo Yusuke looked at the road that was becoming even redder and ordered, "Charge!"

Ten soldiers carried the stretcher, holding the wooden boards, and rushed toward the sea of fire.

Ogotasuke and three other firefighters carried Uenoten Take and followed the team to rush toward the sea of fire.

The place where they had just prepared was very hot.

They had only rushed out two or three meters, and they were closer to the flames.

He immediately felt as if the air was burning.

He couldn't bear it anymore.

But he was still in the second layer.

Hiyori Katai, who was on the outermost layer, was holding a wooden board in his hands. This was what they were going to use to isolate the flames.

Now, they had only rushed out less than five meters, and they could already feel the heat transmitted from the steel plate under their feet.

Although his hands, which were holding the wooden board, were wrapped in wet cloth strips, he could still feel the heat.

When their feet had just stepped on the dark red steel plate, the leather straps tied to the wooden board emitted an unpleasant leather smell.

They broke.

In the next step, the cloth wrapped around the soles of their shoes began to burn, and the wooden board that Hiyori Katai was holding also emitted flames.

On the side facing him.

The flames kept licking his hands, which were holding the wooden board.

But Hiyori Katai didn't dare to let go at all. He knew that on the other side of this wooden board.

The flames there were burning ten times hotter than here.

Uenoten Take, who was curled up on the wooden stretcher, felt difficulty breathing.

The air here, although it only entered his nostrils through the wet towel wrapped around his face.

But it also made him feel unbearable.

The wooden boards in the hands of the few Japanese soldiers blocking the outermost layer had flames that were three inches long.

They could no longer hold or lift these wooden boards.

They had no choice but to let go and let these wooden boards fall.

As soon as the wooden boards were released, these people immediately regretted it.

The heat in the sea of fire was now radiating towards them without any obstruction.

In an instant, the clothes on these people's bodies started to burn, not a bit shorter than the flames on those wooden boards that they had just thrown away.

Hiyori Katai only persisted in rushing forward for three more steps, and his whole body turned into a torch, burning all over.

Not only him, but all the soldiers standing on the outermost layer were burning.

This team of Japanese soldiers could no longer retreat. This situation was still within the expectations of these Japanese soldiers.

After all, the outermost bees were the first to die when overwintering.

Those on the outermost layer of this team of Japanese soldiers were also the first to die.

The Japanese soldiers in the second layer didn't have wooden boards to protect them. They only had their bodies. The feet of these people had already started to burn.

The steel plate, which had been burned red by the flames, had long burned through all the protection they were wearing.

It had already burned their soles.

Every step these people took was running with their lives.

Those Japanese soldiers in the second layer only persisted for ten more steps than the Japanese soldiers in the first layer.

When the stretcher they were carrying finally tilted.

Uenoten Take jumped up from the stretcher, as agile as a cat, and ran quickly along this red-hot road.

The wooden boards under his feet only ran for three steps before they fell off.

The clothes on his body also quickly caught fire.

When Uenoten Take's soles touched the dark red steel plate, he could hear the sizzling sound of fresh meat being ironed on the iron plate.

Teppanyaki!

This is teppanyaki!

When Uenoten Take finally rushed through the sea of fire, he quickly rolled on the ground several times to extinguish the flames on his body.

Just as he wanted to stand up, his feet only touched the ground and immediately let out a painful howl.

He hadn't felt the pain when he ran all the way over just now.

After rolling twice, Uenoten Take could no longer stand up.

He could only crawl forward like this.

Commander Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke of the Japanese 10th Army finally confirmed a piece of news:

Guangde Airport was lost, and the flight squadron he had sent to support Guangde had been annihilated.

Even the last reconnaissance aircraft sent out had not returned.

This was really a piece of news that made his heart ache.

The news from the front line in Hangzhou stimulated Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke's almost numb heart even more.

He was so shocked that he jumped up.

What? A Imperial fighter suddenly appeared on the front line in Hangzhou and strafed and bombed the Imperial infantry.

It flew towards the sea?

This news was personally conveyed by Lieutenant General Ushijima Sadaharu, commander of the 18th Division.

The tank squadron under Lieutenant General Ushijima Sadaharu had just shown its head and was blown to smithereens by a bomber.

How could he tolerate this!

To this day, Lieutenant General Ushijima Sadaharu still believed that the bomber belonged to the navy.

The navy did it.

He must settle the score with the navy!

Commander Zengbuchuan Naoya was busy trying to salvage his warship and had no time to settle the score with the army.

His flagship had a crew of 632 men.

After sacrificing 167 lives, these sailors finally defended the torpedoes in the fire.

All twenty-four torpedoes were dragged out.

The fire on the warship was also