Chapter 45: The Bloody Battle of Liu Jipao

  The warriors of the Second Regiment jumped out of the trenches one after another, holding their guns and shouting: "Kill! Kill those little devils! Charge!" More than a thousand warriors poured out of the trenches in a steady stream. The devils saw the Chinese jumping out of the trenches and hastily pushed out bullets, preparing to engage in close combat with bayonets. But the Chinese soldiers in front of them were still firing their guns as usual, and the devils who were caught off guard were immediately knocked down in large numbers.

  Just as all the devils were cursing: "The Chinese are cunning!" What made them even more furious was that the Chinese who had been approaching them suddenly had two pistols in their hands, and the snipers held a pistol in each hand, firing left and right, knocking down the devils one by one at close range.

  When the warriors fired all forty rounds in their hands, at least two hundred devils died. The devil officer scolded the Chinese for being despicable and shameless, using a pistol team to launch a sneak attack, resulting in his own brave warriors losing more than half before even contacting the enemy. However, the warriors didn't care about the devil officer's abuse. After the pistol team members finished firing their bullets, they immediately retreated, and the warriors holding big knives quickly rushed up and engaged in close combat with the devils.

  However, at this time, the Japanese army that could still stand was less than two hundred people. The soldiers were often three or five to one K, and the little devils were beaten by the soldiers with a knife, crying and shouting for their fathers and mothers. Soon, more than a hundred devilish remnants were all KOed! The soldiers cheered loudly, and the devil's officer was shot into a sieve by Lai San with a machine gun.

  "What! You're saying the entire attack squadron was annihilated?" Lieutenant Commander Miyano leapt three feet into the air.

  "Hai, just a moment ago the forward observation post sent a message that Lieutenant Colonel Shō's unit has launched an attack on the Chinese position and is engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Chinese. However, not one soldier from Lieutenant Colonel Shō's unit has returned, while all the bodies on the battlefield are those of Chinese soldiers."

  "What the...! How can those Chinese become so formidable?! Over 400 brave warriors were annihilated in less than two hours?! Impossible!" Lieutenant Colonel Miyano roared.

  "Captain Nakano! This is a fact! Kobayashi has been completely destroyed, and now there are less than two hours left before General Iseya's deadline to capture the Chinese position of Liuzijie. Please, Mr. Miyano, prioritize the overall situation and lead the troops in a general attack on the Chinese, striving to capture their position before nightfall."

  Colonel Miyano, having heard this, struggled to suppress his anger and loudly ordered: "I command the 2nd and 3rd squadrons to launch a general attack on the Chinese position in two hours' time. Request artillery support."

  "Ah, yes!" The two lieutenants beside Kiyono bowed their heads in unison.

  "What's the withdrawal to the back slope? Why? We've already beaten the devils until they're scattered and fleeing, our warriors have paid so much in casualties, just to hold onto the front slope position. Why are we now going to hand it over to the devils?" Lai San was perplexed when he heard Zhang Mingyu's order for him to lead the second battalion to retreat to the back slope of Liuzhai.

  "The commander said that those who disobey orders will be dealt with according to military law. Commander Lai, don't make things difficult for the brothers, the commander has his reasons for ordering a retreat." said Li Gang, who was in charge of transmitting the order.

  "Alright! I'll follow the commander's orders, everyone retreat!" Lai San shouted loudly.

  When the soldiers heard that they were going to retreat, they didn't understand, but still followed orders, carrying ammunition boxes and heavy machine guns down the hill. A battalion commander ran over and asked: "Commander, why are we retreating? Didn't we just wipe out a company of devils? Why do we have to retreat?"

  "Scram! Don't bother me with this nonsense, I don't know why we're retreating, but if the commander says so, it's an order. Even if he tells us to go jump off a cliff or into a fiery pit, I'll do it, got it?!" Lai San bellowed loudly.

  "Yes!" The company commander stood at attention with a loud "Crack".

  "Carry out the order!" Lai San continued to bellow.

  Just after Lai San's second battalion withdrew to the rear slope position, the devils' artillery fire began. This time, in order to coordinate with Miyano's detachment to take down Liu Jicun's position, Lt. Gen. Segawa assembled a heavy artillery battalion to assist Miyano's detachment in attacking, 160mm heavy artillery, 120mm cannons, and 85mm howitzers all opened fire on the front slope of Liu Jicun's position.

  Looking at the front slope of the position, it has already become a sea of fire; Lai San Zhang opened his mouth wide and secretly thought in his heart: "Damn, if Master didn't let us retreat, with the enemy's fierce artillery fire, I'm afraid our second regiment would have been completely roasted."

  Many warriors also thought so, looking at the front slope position now turned into a sea of fire, one soldier said to another: "Brother, fortunately the officer let us pull back, otherwise brothers this time would have been blown to pieces by the little devils."

  "Yes! The devils' intense artillery fire, not to mention humans, even a mouse can't survive! Fortunately, our commander is wise and it's reassuring to fight with such a leader." Another soldier deeply agreed.

  Lieutenant Colonel Miyano saw the rolling thick smoke and intense explosions of shells on the front slope position through his binoculars, constantly seeing the bodies of devils being blown into the sky, seeing limbs and arms flying in the air, Lieutenant Colonel Miyano burst out laughing: "Ha ha ha! My Great Japanese Empire's fierce artillery fire has already blasted the Chinese to the sky, look at how arrogant the Chinese are now!"

  An aide next to him also said, "Yes, under the fierce artillery bombardment of our Great Japanese Empire, not even a mouse can survive, let alone those Chinese people. This time it's their turn to taste the ferocity of our Imperial Army's firepower. Look at these foolish Chinese still daring to oppose the Imperial Army."

  In the midst of the intense provocation by the two men and the Japanese military officers, the enemy's artillery fire finally ceased. The continuous bombardment for nearly an hour had exhausted the enemy's ammunition. It can be said that in order to retake the Liujizhai position, General Shigeru Iida had invested heavily this time. If Major Miyano's unit failed to retake the Liujizhai position, it is estimated that this old devil would be so angry that he would vomit blood.

  When the devils were about to rush up to Liujizhen in a group, no Chinese soldiers had fired a single shot or bullet. The devil officer shouted loudly with excitement: "The Chinese have been completely annihilated by our artillery fire! Brave warriors, charge!" The devils who had quietly approached earlier rushed towards the Liujizhen position after hearing this.

  The first devil who rushed up was stunned, standing upright at the edge of the trench. The devils behind him also rushed up and stood there. Lieutenant Colonel Miyano, seeing his "braves" suddenly stop moving, hurriedly ran up, and the tragic scene that entered his eyes made Lieutenant Colonel Miyano also stunned there for a moment.

  The trench was filled with the bodies of Japanese soldiers, some of whom had been blown to pieces by artillery fire, leaving only a severed leg, half a body, or a head. The entire trench was littered with the bodies of Japanese soldiers, without a single Chinese soldier's corpse in sight. The situation was roughly as Major Miyano had imagined, with the trench filled with corpses, but these were not the Chinese corpses he had envisioned, but rather those of his own countrymen.

  After a while, Lieutenant General Miyano's pig-like scream rose: "Bakayarou! Why is it like this, cunning Shina people, Bakayarou! Abominable Shina people......"

  P.S: Tears of blood for votes! Rolling on the ground for votes! Asking for collection! Brothers, please give me more power!