Chapter 58: The Ghost's Sniper

  Qingteng smiled slyly and asked in a low voice: "Tell me everything you know!"

  The lieutenant nodded and sighed, saying: "Your people have angered General Shouichi in the temple. Your rebellion this time has made the general very angry. The imperial army does not allow the appearance of rebel troops, you should know that! So the goal of this mission is to annihilate you, leaving no one alive! Including all armed forces around Yangcheng!"

  "Are those unarmed villagers included too?" Qingteng Yimut furrowed his brow!

  "The purpose of the General is to make the Chinese remember that they cannot afford to provoke the army of the Great Japanese Empire, and also to let all the soldiers of the empire remember the fate of the rebels. Therefore, the General has mobilized the 24th Division, a crack troop that often fights on the front line, to come and execute the task!" The lieutenant looked at Seiichi Aoi with some convulsions, excessive blood loss making him feel very tired.

  "Twenty-fourth Division?" Qingteng Yimutu couldn't help but furrow his brow, no wonder their combat strength was so tenacious. He didn't expect the Empire to be so ruthless in its invasion of China! "How many of you have come?"

  "The entire 24th Division has been deployed, with around 5,000 to 6,000 men, and about 3,000 of them have gone to Magou Village! The original plan was to thoroughly eliminate the armed forces surrounding Yangcheng and then surround you, but we didn't expect you to deploy troops so quickly. It seems that we've encountered the main force of the Eighth Route Army. From the start of the battle until now, although our firepower is strong, we've suffered heavy casualties due to our unfamiliarity with the terrain!" The lieutenant let out a long sigh, finding it hard to understand Qingteng Yimut's betrayal. A major general, who could have been promoted to lieutenant general with just a bit more luck, had given up his official position and turned against the empire. Anyone would find this incomprehensible!

  Qingteng was about to report to Shan Yixuan, but Shan Yixuan squatted down and waved his hand, saying: "I've already heard everything. I didn't expect your army to be so ruthless. This time, you invested so much just to annihilate you and your troops!"

  "The Empire's regulations, never allow the word 'rebellion' to appear in the Imperial Army's dictionary! In other words, what we've done has indeed made the generals at headquarters furious! However, this war has brought great disaster to the villagers around Yangcheng!" Qingteng Yimou sighed, thinking of the villagers lying dead in the village head, his heart was filled with anger. As a formal soldier, shooting unarmed villagers was an insult to the two words "soldier", and it was also shameful! How can the Empire achieve the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere with such troops?

  "Ah, I didn't think they could do something so inhumane!" Shan Yixuan said with some indignation: "For now, it's impossible to confirm if there are any survivors. The most important thing is how to repel the enemy. It seems that relying on our weak firepower, protecting Yangcheng from invasion will be somewhat difficult. The Eighth Route Army's ammunition is clearly not abundant, we need to think of a way to retreat to Yangcheng."

  "Can we let the Snow Fox Independent Brigade's brothers join the battle?" Qingteng Yimut looked at Shan Yixuan, knowing that they wanted to completely annihilate the enemy was impossible, and in the end, there might not even be a chance for retreat!

  Shan Yixuan glanced at Shao Wei and then looked towards Qingteng Yim.

  Qīngténg didn't hesitate, pulling out his pistol and aiming at the struggling lieutenant. Two shots rang out, "bang bang", and the cold bullets pierced the lieutenant's chest. The Japanese lieutenant died on the spot.

  Shan Yixuan nodded in satisfaction and said, "The Snow Fox Independent Regiment is now our only straw. Let's hold on for a while longer unless absolutely necessary!"

  Shan Yixuan picked up the binoculars and looked towards the 8th Route Army's position. From the time Shan Yixuan's Linghu Strike Team opened fire, Zheng Wenzhen's troops had been pressing on for nearly half an hour. What were they doing? Were they just watching the excitement? Shan Yixuan couldn't help but curse the two men in his heart.

  Not far from Zhaojiazhuang, on a small mountain peak, two tanks were parked on the road of the mountain peak, and several military vehicles were parked behind the tanks. Tohei Kenichi held binoculars to watch everything that happened in Zhaojiazhuang. Behind Tohei Kenichi stood a team of about 1,000 people. Dozens of Japanese soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms stood behind Tohei Kenichi. They were different from ordinary soldiers in their camouflage uniforms and the lieutenant colonel epaulets on their shoulders. In the eyes of ordinary soldiers, they were kings of soldiers, gods of guns, and their lieutenant colonel ranks were exchanged for thousands of people's heads.

  The 24th Division's ability to thrive on the front lines, winning victories with ease every time a major battle is imminent, is largely due to their efforts. They are a group of hidden assassins lurking 100 meters away. They are Watabe Kenichi's trump card for turning the tide of battle!

  Kanichi Watabe's shoulder badge shone in the sunlight, and when he re-entered the Chinese battlefield, he was just a specially trained lieutenant colonel. As one of Terauchi Shūichi's most outstanding students, he didn't use his privilege to open a back door for himself. Everything today is the result of his own efforts! He really doesn't take all the armed forces in Yang City seriously!

  "It seems I've seen a familiar face!" Toba Keiichi said with a cold laugh.

  As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of lieutenant colonels behind Watanabe Ken stood up and raised their guns towards Zhaojiazhuang.

  They were not holding Type 38 rifles or Zhongzheng rifles, but sniper rifles like the Mauser 98K in Xiao Feng's hand. Dozens of people saw the shadow of Qingteng Yimu through the sniper scope of the Mauser 98K.

  "General, let's go take them down!" a major said disdainfully.

  Watabe Kenichi shook his head and said, "Let them exhaust their supplies and lose hope before you attack. Don't underestimate your enemy, they're not ordinary opponents!" Watabe Kenichi had been paying attention to this small team since Tanaka Hiroshi and others joined the Zhaojiazhuang stage, and their marksmanship and armed strength made him exclaim in admiration.

  "General, we don't take a few Chinese seriously!" A lieutenant colonel saw Watabe Kenichi letting himself not underestimate the enemy and was very dissatisfied. Each of them had at least a thousand people's battle achievements on their body, which was their capital for boasting. As a major general, Watabe Kenichi didn't have much temper with these dozens of people, although he didn't like their arrogance, but they could always turn the tide of war when it was about to end, and such elites Watabe Kenichi didn't restrain them too much.

  "Haha, I know you guys didn't take them seriously, but they also didn't take you guys seriously!" Watabe Kenichi paused for a moment before continuing: "Facing my entire army, both sides only sent out this many people, isn't that clearly a provocation? Have you forgotten the general's words? Cut the grass and eliminate the roots!"

  "Roger!" The soldier behind him, holding a sniper rifle, nodded respectfully in response.

  "Xuan Ge, look quickly, the devils are retreating!" Liu San said with a frown as he watched the devils gradually withdrawing.

  Shan Yixuan immediately picked up the binoculars, and the devils around him were slowly moving backwards. Many of the devils who had charged forward were now out of the range of Shan Yixuan and Zhao Wenzhong's independent regiment's firepower. "Sly guys!" Shan Yixuan put down the binoculars and continued to say: "This time, the devils suffered heavy casualties, they are now withdrawing from our firepower attack range, they must have come up with a way to deal with us! Let the brothers count their ammunition, rest for a while! The devils may launch another attack soon!"

  "Yes!" Everyone left two sentries behind and the others quickly sat down on the ground to reload their ammunition!

  "Team leader, take a look!" Gaofei handed the binoculars to Zhao Wenzhong. Zhao Wenzhong was stunned, took the binoculars and looked in the direction Gaofei pointed, the devils had already withdrawn from the firing range of the Eighth Route Army Independent Regiment. "Why did the devils withdraw?" Zhao Wenzhong asked puzzledly after putting down the binoculars.

  "Is it because the devils saw that their casualties were severe and retreated?" Gaofei also looked at the devils who were organizing a retreat with suspicion.

  "It's impossible, the devils must be plotting something or preparing for a more powerful charge, letting our comrades rest and get ready for battle!" Zhao Wensing had an ominous premonition that the devils' charge would be even fiercer than last time! "There are too many devil soldiers, can the radio operator contact the regimental commander?" Zhao Wensing didn't want to wait until they were in a desperate situation before asking for help. Since the devils had given them a chance to catch their breath, he should report the situation at Zhao Family Village.

  "Report to the team leader, radio contact with the instructor's department!" The radio soldier crawled forward and said beside Zhao Wenzhong.

  Zhao Wenxing picked up the receiver and said: "Commander of the 115th Division's Independent Regiment, Zhao Wenxing, requests to speak with the division commander!"

  "I am the commander of the 115th Division, Hu Yan. Speak!" Commander Hu Yan hastily picked up the phone and said urgently. The scout reported that there was a large-scale military operation in Xuzhou, and a large number of Japanese troops were moving towards Yancheng, which made Hu Yan very worried about the safety of the Independent Regiment. The communication soldier had shaken the radio many times, but still couldn't contact the Independent Regiment.

  "Commander, we've encountered a large number of devils at Zhao Family Village and have repelled their attacks five times already. We expect them to launch another attack soon! The Independent Regiment requests reinforcements... The devils have mobilized approximately 3,000 to 4,000 troops this time, our biggest problem is ammunition. Single Yixuan from Qinglongzhai and his brothers are fighting alongside us... The devils' firepower is extremely fierce, requesting...". Zhao Wensing's words were cut off as a shell landed nearby, and the radio went silent. Zhao Wensing furrowed his brow, "Hello? Hello?"

  "Beep...beep...beep..." The merciless echo sounded in the receiver, and Zhao Wenzhong only then noticed that the radio had started smoking. The previous shell had disrupted the radio's circuitry, rendering it unusable.