Chapter 11: Bloody Battle of Nanjing! Begging for Recommendation Tickets!

  At night, inside Nanjing City. Zhang Mingyu, who was directing soldiers to set up city defense works, suddenly heard a woman's sobbing coming from behind a building. Zhang Mingyu brought several guard soldiers and followed the sound to the front of the building, went in and found that on the sofa in the living room, a girl curled up at one end, quietly crying. Zhang Mingyu walked forward, "What happened to you? Why are you alone here?"

  The girl lifted her head and looked at the handsome man in military uniform in front of her, tears streaming down again. She suddenly threw herself into Zhang Mingyu's arms and sobbed loudly: "My brother is dead! My brother is dead! He said he would come back to take me away from Nanjing... He died in battle!"

  After inquiring, Zhang Mingyu learned that the beautiful girl in front of him was named Du Yue. Her brother was a company commander in the Central Instructional Corps and had heroically sacrificed himself in battle just a few days ago! She no longer had any other relatives, and having relied on her brother since childhood, she was heartbroken after losing her only family member and refused to leave this once-familiar home. At this moment, Du Yue suddenly developed a high fever due to catching a chill and was muttering deliriously.

  "Li Gang, take Miss Du to the command center and take good care of her. Also, go to the safe zone and ask a doctor to come over," Zhang Mingyu ordered.

  "Yes! I guarantee the completion of the task." Li Gang and several guards lifted Du Yue up and hurried away.

  The sky gradually brightened, and Zhang Mingyu's side had basically completed the meticulous deployment in the city. At this time, the Japanese army outside Guanghua Gate did not know that the Chinese army outside the city had retreated to the city, began to gather heavy artillery, and the Japanese naval fleet also arrived on the Yangtze River. The powerful vitality of the fleet's heavy artillery, carrier-based aircraft, and ground-based heavy artillery blasted the position outside Guanghua Gate into a mess.

  Looking at the Chinese military position with raging fire and rolling smoke, Major General Hiraguchi put down his binoculars and smiled at the division commander Toshihiko Kaya who came to supervise the battle, saying: "Division Commander, now not even a single mouse can survive on the Chinese position! Even if they hide in underground fortifications, our 41-centimeter heavy artillery will still shake them to death!"

  Yes! What a concept is a 410mm heavy artillery? A single shell weighs one and a half tons, dropped from high altitude, even the most solid fortifications are flattened. There are also 365mm heavy artillery, 152mm heavy artillery and 127mm destroyer guns, a fleet of ships bombarded for two hours, plus an aircraft carrier's planes desperately bombing. If Zhang Mingyu hadn't ordered the withdrawal to Nanjing City, I'm afraid that by now more than four-fifths of the Chinese soldiers on the battlefield would have been lost!

  After the naval gunfire ceased, Japanese infantry began to advance on our positions. In groups, the enemy soldiers, with bayonets fixed on their Type 38 rifles, climbed up onto the devastated and fragmented defensive position, only to find that this ruined position was already empty!

  Ku Shibao was furious and scolded the reconnaissance plane pilots for being blind, but in fact, it's not their fault. Zhang Mingyu's position was designed with multiple layers, and when retreating, they left some people behind to confuse the enemy. When the Japanese devils' reconnaissance planes arrived, they pretended to be flustered and looked for cover everywhere, trying to deceive the enemy's reconnaissance planes.

  Taniyama walked up to the cratered position, which looked like a moonscape, and cursed loudly: "Baka! The Navy's bunch of good-for-nothings! Wasting so many precious shells for nothing!" However, when Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Nagumo heard about this, he burst out cursing the Army: "Baka! Wasting so many Imperial Navy shells on an empty position!"

  Takahashi Sanro was heartbroken for those shells! Just the 410mm shells fired nearly a thousand rounds! And other various caliber shells, plus aerial bombs dropped by planes, all made of steel! You know Japan lacks resources, and steel is imported from countries like the US. If every battle was fought like Nanjing, how could Japan afford it?

  The Navy and Army were scolding each other behind their backs for being foolish. Ko Itō was enraged and ordered the Navy to return to Shanghai, refusing to support the Army's battle!

  The Japanese army, which had crossed the front line, launched an attack on Nanjing from three directions after three hours of preparation! The Kuki Detachment attacked from Yijiangmen, and the 6th Division separately attacked from Guanghua Gate and Zhonghuamen.

  In the headquarters of Zhang Mingyu in Nanjing city, he calmly stood in front of his hand-drawn map of the Nanjing battle, on which various transportation routes were drawn with red, blue and black pencils, marking out fixed firepower points and locations of forward command posts. His headquarters was connected by phone to each grassroots command post, allowing him to calmly direct each unit to block the enemy.

  "Report to the commander, the devils have formed an attacking formation, they will attack the city immediately!" a soldier came in to report.

  "Pass on the order, all troops enter the city's various blocking points, don't let the devils shell us for nothing from the top of the city wall! We won't defend the city walls, lure the devils into the city and annihilate them with street fighting!"

  The devils launched an attack from three directions, and with a loud command from Lieutenant General Ota Ikuo, who was in charge of artillery command, hundreds of various artillery pieces poured down dense shells on the city head, and the rain of shells fell to the ground like a meteor shower, exploding in the city head. Large and small fireballs rose up on the city wall, and the city tower collapsed with a loud noise in the cannon fire. The city gate was blown open with a big hole. After ten minutes of artillery bombardment, groups of Japanese troops began to attack Nanjing City.

  "How strange, why haven't the Chinese opened fire?" Seeing that his attacking troops had not encountered any obstacles, Tani Hisao felt very puzzled. Suddenly, Tani Hisao seemed to think of something and shouted loudly: "Let each infantry regiment be on guard! The Chinese are extremely cunning! Don't fall into the Chinese trap by any means! Advance steadily step by step!"

  This time, the first to lead his troops into the city was Colonel Morozumi's 28th Infantry Regiment. His troops had suffered heavy losses in the outer defenses of Nanjing and, in order to restore the regiment's former "honor", Colonel Morozumi insisted on taking this opportunity to attack the city, so that his regiment could regain its former glory. The 28th Infantry Regiment, which originally had around 2,000 men, now had only about 1,000 men left after yesterday's battle, plus those who had recovered from their injuries and returned to the unit.

  From eight hundred meters outside the city wall, they charged into the city and all the way to the blown-up city gate without encountering any firepower.

  "Commander of the Second Unit Ikeda Michiaki: 'Commander-in-Chief, will all the Chinese troops escape?'"

  "Hah! Our Great Imperial Japanese Army has already surrounded Nanjing, how can those Chinese escape?" Colonel Hiragawa bellowed.

  "Warriors, advance! The cowardly Chinese must have fled in fear already! Charge!" Having just scolded the **Company Commander, Hiratani Ichirō rallied the troops with these words.

  Those devils all cried out in a bird-like language: "Charge into the city! Kill all the Chinese!"

  "Rush in! Go inside and find Flower Maiden!"

  It wasn't long before only one full-strength battalion of the regiment rushed into the city. After entering the city gate, the Hirakawa Regiment still did not encounter any resistance. "Hahaha! Have the Chinese really run away with their tails between their legs? What solid defense line do they have to stop the brave warriors of the Great Japanese Empire? The Chinese have really fled!" Hirakawa Ichiro burst out laughing.

  However, after advancing about 500 meters, the team felt that something was wrong: the street ahead had been completely transformed, with many brick and earth buildings knocked to the ground, blocking the way. The more solid stone and reinforced concrete buildings had also been modified, with bricks blocking the doors and windows on the first floor. The entire street was eerily quiet, without even a single person in sight, let alone "flower girls".

  Vote for me! Come on, brothers!