Chapter 40

  If he can't get out of here, in a moment, the explosives will blow up the armored train and he and several soldiers will also die here. Although Li Bin is not afraid of death, but the devils have not been driven away yet, he is not willing to sacrifice himself like this. How should he escape?

  Suddenly, Li Bin had an idea and he called Jiang Bo, Fang Jun Tian's deputy, and gave him a command.

  Jiang Bo led more than 40 soldiers who had not changed into the enemy's uniform, leaving the station and soon disappearing into the forest outside the small town.

  An hour later, a snow-bright light pillar came from the distant rail track, piercing Li Bin and others who were standing on the platform wearing devils' clothes. Seeing the devil's armored train return, Li Bin hastily raised the red signal lamp in his hand and shook it several times. On the railway, the red signal lamp means to enter the platform and stop the car.

  The armored train puffed heavily and slowly entered the platform with a "rumble rumble" sound.

  Suddenly, several ear-piercing gunshots came from the nearby woods. Li Bin, disguised as a Japanese military officer, hastily drew his command knife and pointed in the direction of the gunfire.

  A large group of warriors wearing Japanese uniforms rushed towards the direction where the gunfire sounded, and for a time, the snowfield echoed with incessant gunfire.

  "Enemy attack! The Chinese are coming to raid us! Get into the station quickly!" The Japanese trainmaster gave the order.

  The infantry devils on both sides of the armored train accelerated their speed, dropped the armored train and chased in the direction where the gunfire sounded.

  Li Bin and the others who were chasing the Chinese soldiers quickly disappeared into the woods. As the armored train's machine gun car and artillery car slowly passed over the tracks where explosives had been set, a soldier hiding in the woods pressed down on the detonator.

  Two hundred kilograms of high explosives detonated in an instant, a blinding fireball burst out from the bottom of the carriage, and with a deafening roar that shook the earth, the heavy artillery car weighing over 100 tons was tossed into the air like a toy, flipping over several times before crashing onto the roadbed. The machine gun car and steam locomotive as well as the troop cars behind were lifted up one by one by the fireball, twisted and deformed from the blast, rolling about in all directions. The shattered wreckage tumbled onto the platform and roadside, beginning to burn fiercely.

  The ammunition in the car was detonated, causing a fierce explosion. A white light flashed, and a huge mushroom cloud rushed into the sky. Tens of tons of ammunition instantly flattened the entire TianTaiZhuang railway station, and more than 100 devils on the train and over 200 devils around the platform were all buried in the sea of fire and burned to ashes.

  The Japanese soldiers who rushed out of the platform to chase after the "Chinese bandits" were startled by the explosion behind them, and they turned their heads to see the train station blown to smithereens: this time, the station was completely destroyed, an armored train was blown up, and countless Japanese troops were killed or injured. More seriously, the railway line was interrupted, although the military train that arrived early the next morning could stop outside TianTaiZhuang Station, but two powerful armored trains could not be deployed to attack GouBangZi and DaLingHe due to the interruption of the railway line.

  The sky gradually brightened, and Honjō Shigeru, who had rushed from Fengtian overnight after hearing the news, was furious at the sight of the railway line that had been bombed and would take ten days to recover. The Jinzhou campaign, which was scheduled to start today, had not yet officially begun, but several hundred elite "Imperial Warriors" and an armored train had already been lost, and the interrupted railway line blocked several other armored trains outside Tiantai Village, greatly reducing the firepower of the "Yellow Army".

  "The railway line has been severely damaged, should we postpone the attack on Jinzhou? Wait until this section of the railway is completed before attacking the Goubangzi defense line?" The Kwantung Army Commander-in-Chief Honjō Shigeru was at a loss for a moment, and he asked several senior officers beside him.

  His suggestion was opposed by Kwantung Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Tada Hayao and Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Ishiwara Kanji, with the former saying: "We don't have a few armored trains to fight? But we have bombers in the sky, 24cm heavy artillery and tanks on the ground, and our powerful Kwantung Army! On September 18th, we defeated nearly ten thousand people with just a few hundred men. Today, we have an army of tens of thousands, and we can take Mukden, Jilin and Heilongjiang in one go. Are we still afraid of the Chinese?"

  Ishihara Kanji strongly advocated for not changing the plan: "The destruction of the railway is a delaying tactic by the Chinese! They are trying to gain more time to solidify their defenses! Our homeland and several tens of thousands of troops from Korea who have been mobilized are already prepared to meet up with us at Goubangzi, now postponing the battle plan would be inappropriate!"

  Under the urging of two senior staff officers, Honjo decided to stick with the original plan and launch a massive all-out assault five hours later.

  Although Li Bin was unable to stop the time of launching a general attack on Jinzhou, he had already quietly changed a bit of history: originally, the troops were scattered in various strongholds such as Datigershan, Panshan, Tiantai Village, Raoyang River and Hujia Wopu, now Li Bin has withdrawn most of his troops to Gou Bangzi, this strategic location, cutting off the connection between the Japanese Second Division, 20th Division, 3rd Brigade, Mixed 8th Brigade, Independent Mixed 39th Brigade and Independent Mixed 38th Brigade, if the two routes of Japanese army want to meet, they must have a bloody battle with the defending troops in Gou Bangzi.

  At 10:00, the assembled Japanese army was about to launch a fierce attack. Two Type 88 reconnaissance planes flew over Gou Bangzi to conduct reconnaissance and provide coordinates for artillery.

  Li Bin in the command post heard the sound of Japanese planes, he decisively issued an order: "All units pay attention! The Japanese reconnaissance plane has arrived, they will soon be shelling us, please all units take cover!"

  After receiving the order, except for a small number of observation posts still left in the trenches waiting, all the officers and men entered the artillery shelters to avoid the impending intense bombardment.

  The Japanese army's artillery, including 75mm mountain guns and field guns, 105mm howitzers and field guns, 120mm cannons, 150mm howitzers and field guns, and 240mm heavy howitzers, bombarded the positions of the defenders at Goubangzi with intense fire. Dark red shell holes flew through the air like a swarm of locusts, whizzing towards the positions of the Righteous and Brave Army and the Northeastern Army.

  "Day after day, tons and tons of shells came crashing down to the ground, causing the earth to shake violently as if a strong earthquake had occurred. Large and small fireballs rose from the ground. Amidst the flames and thick smoke, the ice and snow on the ground melted away piece by piece, and the snowflakes that were blown into the air turned into a rain of water falling to the ground."

  Trench after trench was buried under the falling mud, and some individual bunkers were hit by shells and blown entirely into the air.

  The air was suddenly filled with the choking smell of gunpowder, and some unfortunate bunkers that were directly hit by heavy artillery shells collapsed with a loud crash, their soldiers' flesh and mud merging into one.

  The painstakingly constructed fortifications were blown to pieces, and it is unknown how many brave warriors' bodies disappeared into the black earth amidst the baptism of iron and fire.

  The warriors at the observation post have almost all fallen, and the few remaining warriors still stubbornly stand in the trenches, paying attention to the Japanese movements at any time.

  However, the underground tunnels crisscrossing saved many warriors' lives. Li Bin's tireless efforts over a month saved many Righteous and Brave Army soldiers and Northeastern Army soldiers' lives.

  Soldiers hiding in the trenches, listening to wave after wave of explosions, couldn't help but curse in their hearts: "Damn little devils! Are you done yet? If only we had that many heavy artillery too!"

  The intense bombardment lasted for more than half an hour, and finally gradually subsided. Perhaps the Japanese also considered that as an island nation with scarce resources, all steel had to be imported from the United States, and they really did not want to waste any more shells.

  The Japanese army first launched a charge, the 29th Infantry Brigade, which "made great achievements" in the September 18 Incident, and the First Independent Guard Battalion, as well as the Third Battalion of the Fourth Infantry Brigade of the Second Division.

  Major Hirata, in charge of the infantry attack, drew his commander's sword and swung it: "Kill!"

  More than 4,000 Japanese troops serving as the vanguard of the attack attempted to tear open a hole in the regiment's defensive line and then allow their main force to pour through this gap and defeat the Chinese defenders.

  The devils with good bayonet rifles emerged from the attacking formation in groups, charging towards Li Bin's carefully arranged trench defense line.

  After the Japanese artillery fire stopped, Li Bin was the first to walk out of the bunker and enter his forward command post. He picked up a pair of binoculars and calmly watched as the Japanese troops approached the defensive positions step by step.

  The warriors emerged one by one from the artillery cave, crouching and entering their respective positions. The soldiers responsible for guarding the second trench came out with stools, propped them up after entering the blocking position, and pointed the black muzzle at the front.

  A small number of grenadiers quietly entered the first trench through a narrow communication trench.

  Each individual foxhole, sniper position, sharpshooter position, single soldier bunker, and heavy machine gun fortified strongpoint has already been occupied by combat personnel, who are now ready for battle.

  The devils are getting closer and closer. When they were 400 meters away from the first trench, Li Bin gave a low order: "All units remain calm, no one is allowed to open fire without my command!"

  At a distance of 300 meters, 250 meters, 200 meters, 150 meters, the warriors guarding the fortifications can already see the ferocious face of the devils and the cold light flashing on the bayonets.

  There are still 100 meters left! Li Bin yelled into the phone: "Fire!"

  Orders were transmitted along telephone lines to lower-level command posts, and company commanders issued "open fire" orders.

  Upon receiving the order to open fire, sniper Huang Hua, hiding behind the third line of defense, was the first to pull the trigger. A Japanese lieutenant, who had already been in her sights, had a burst of dirty blood spurt out from his head, and with a jerk, he fell heavily onto the snowy ground.

  The formerly silent company position suddenly erupted in a fierce fusillade, with all the rifles in the second trench opening fire at once. Although these volunteer soldiers were not very accurate with their shooting, they still managed to knock down dozens of enemy troops.

  A small number of Czech-style machine guns also roared, and the gunners fired short and long bursts, knocking down one after another devils in the snowy ground.

  A row of guns rang out, the warriors pulled the bolt, and the second row of bullets continued to shoot towards the enemy, and dozens of devils fell in the snowy ground.

  Snipers and god-guns hiding behind calmly shot out deadly bullets, every time the steel gun in their hands rang out, a devil fell to the ground.

  However, these devils were indeed a group of well-trained Japanese troops, and they quickly organized snipers, grenade launchers, mortars, and light artillery to counterattack.