Chapter 1: The Lone Reinforcement

  Shanghai, 1932.

  As one of the most prosperous coastal cities in China at the beginning of the 20th century, Shanghai had many concessions and was the city with the most contact with the world except Guangzhou.

  However, at this moment, this prosperous city is in the smoke of gunfire.

  The famous 19th Route Army Headquarters.

  "These bastards, at this critical moment, still don't send a single soldier, do the lives of us people not matter?" The commander of the 19th Route Army slammed down the phone and said angrily.

  "Commander, the enemy's artillery fire is fierce. If reinforcements are not sent from above, our army will have difficulty standing alone. Now more than half of our troops have been sacrificed and almost everyone is wounded." The chief of staff saw the commander hang up the phone and knew that the request for support had failed again.

  He was also anxiously holding his right hand, which was injured when he led the dare-to-die corps to recapture the warehouse.

  "Tell the brothers, they must hold on! Bring all the reserve troops from the military department. All logistics personnel are fully equipped with guns and prepare to go into battle." The army commander said hastily while looking at the map.

  More than half of the black marks have been marked on the military map of Shanghai hanging on the wall, and the meaning of the black marks is that these places have all been occupied by Japan.

  "Yes!" The Chief of Staff gritted his teeth, saluted and walked out of the military department.

  "Everyone get down your guns, all personnel including the women from the Health Department bring up your guns, everyone prepare for battle."

  At once, the whole army department was in a hurry to gather in a sudden rush of footsteps.

  "Old Cai, at this time, the chairman still refuses to send a single soldier. Can't he see that if Shanghai falls, he won't have good days in Nanjing? Although Shanghai is only one-tenth the size of Northeast China, its strategic significance is extraordinary." The deputy commander-in-chief, who had been silent all along, sorted through the casualty reports from each brigade and frowned at the commander.

  "I don't believe it, we might as well all die together. It's a worthy death, if Shanghai is lost in the end, I, Cai, won't be to blame." The general was clearly furious, grabbing his own hat.

  Just then, the phone rang.

  "Could it be that they've changed their minds upstairs?" The deputy commander looked at the phone, a glimmer of hope igniting in his eyes.

  The general heard this and his eyes, which had been somewhat downcast, suddenly shone with a glimmer of hope.

  He rushed forward with a single step and answered the phone: "Hello, is it Minister He?"

  "What's going on, Minister? General, I'm Zhang Yuwang. The Japanese army has sent another brigade, my division has lost two-thirds of its men and now there are less than a thousand people left. We can't hold on any longer, please send reinforcements quickly."

  "What? Another brigade has been added?" General Cai was somewhat disheartened when he heard that the phone call was not from Nanjing. However, upon hearing that the casualties of his subordinates had already exceeded his own estimates, he couldn't help but ask anxiously again. It's worth noting that at this moment, the Japanese army that had been deployed to the battlefield was Japan's regular division, also known as the 16th Division of the famous Type A division.

  A regiment can have nearly 4,000 people. Compared to the Japanese army's regiment, the 19th Route Army had only a little more than 4,000 people in one division. So, with the originally advantageous number of people and firepower, the Japanese army added another division's strength. This really made General Cai feel very difficult.

  "Yes, General Cai, if you don't send reinforcements soon, I, Zhang, will really die for the country today." Zhang Youwang was an old man from the second batch of Huangpu, 46 years old this year, three years older than General Cai. He and General Cai, also from the second batch of Huangpu, had a good private relationship, so he could call himself "old Zhang".

  "Old Zhang, you must hold on, I'll immediately send all the troops from the military department to you, and also transfer two more regiments from the Third Division." General Cai made the decision in an instant.

  "Okay, then I..." A loud explosion was heard on the other end of the phone, followed by a burst of gunfire, and then the line went dead.

  "Hello? Hello!" Cai Jun shouted loudly several times, but when there was no response from the other end, he knew that the signal on the phone had been lost.

  He hung up the phone somewhat dejectedly.

  Just then, the Chief of Staff assembled his troops and came to the Ministry of War to report.

  "Reporting to the Army Commander, Deputy Army Commander. Our Second Division Headquarters was bombed by the Japanese air force, and all members of the division headquarters sacrificed their country!" The Chief of Staff was reporting, but saw that Cai Jun Zhang, who was known for his iron-like demeanor, had tears streaming down his face at this moment.

  On the other side, the deputy commander made a gesture of silence to the chief of staff, and the chief of staff also stopped what he was about to say.

  "Ding ding ding......" The phone rang again.

  Cai Junlang looked at the ringing phone, but he no longer had the mood to answer it.

  Deputy Commander picked up the phone: "19th Route Army Headquarters, Jiang Guangding."

  "Jiang Guangding, I am Jiang Zhongzheng!" The voice on the other end of the phone, speaking in the Fuzhou dialect, made Jiang Guangding, the deputy commander of the 19th Route Army, tremble with fear.

  "So it was the principal, what instructions does the principal have?" Jiang Guangding and Cai Tingkai are not of the same character. They have a way of handling things quite smoothly, which is also the complementary effect of their two personalities.

  "I know you're having a tough time fighting the Japanese at the front, but the government also has its difficulties. The country is still in a precarious situation, and there are difficulties everywhere. For now, it's not suitable to engage in an all-out war with the enemy, so we haven't sent large reinforcements to support you, don't harbor resentment." Apparently, the Chairman understood his subordinates' thoughts and offered some comfort first.

  "Principal, please be assured that as soldiers, we will certainly shed blood on the battlefield and serve the party and country." Jiang Guangding stood up straight and guaranteed. He knew that the principal would definitely have more to say.

  "However, you and Tingkai are both my students, and also loyal and brave warriors. How could I, Jiang, not rescue you? I have already ordered He Yingqin to send 100,000 silver dollars to support your troops."

  "Are you saying that 100,000 silver dollars are needed to take action? Are you inviting the concession troops?" Jiang Guangding said with some confusion. Although the various warlords in the country still have some reservations about the national government, most of them still nominally respect Nanjing as the largest.

  "No, I wouldn't do something as despicable as sending in a vanguard to lure the enemy in and then having them ambushed by a rearguard. The troops He Yingqin has invited are a mercenary army, don't underestimate them, they have considerable strength."

  "Oh, I see. How many reinforcements are there?" Jiang Guangding didn't have any extra thoughts at this time, as long as there were reinforcements, he didn't care what method they used to get them.

  Cai Tingkai, who was grieving on one side, also perked up his ears and listened carefully at this time.

  "Alone!" The person on the other end of the phone also seemed to hesitate for a moment.

  "One person!" Jiang Guangding was shocked and somewhat disappointed upon hearing this, almost throwing away the phone. What kind of nonsense is this? Not sending reinforcements is one thing, but to fabricate a lie about 100,000 silver coins?!

  "Yes, don't underestimate him, it's almost here, just hold on."

  "Yes!" Jiang Guangding still mustered up his spirit and hung up the phone.

  "Damn it!" Cai Tingkai was also furious, directly grabbing the rifle on the wall and pointing at the still waiting Chief of Staff, "Everyone follow me to the Second Division's position!"

  "Yes!" The chief of staff stood up straight and followed Cai Tingkai out in a huff.

  Jiang Guangding also expressed dissatisfaction with the Central Government's phone call and ordered the 3rd Division to withdraw troops.

  The warehouse is now almost empty of people.

  Just this delay had already left less than two hundred people.

  "Er Gouzi, can we still go back to Sichuan?" Qian Mazi asked Er Gouzi, who was sitting next to him with blood still on his thigh.

  "Alright, maybe the ashes can return." Er Gouzi wiped away blood and fired a machine gun at the cautiously advancing Japanese army.

  "Maybe even the ashes can't go back." Qian Ma Zi slightly moved his left arm, which was only half remaining, holding a long string of bullets, and his right hand continuously supplied bullets to Er Gou Zi's machine gun.

  They were fellow villagers from a village in Sichuan, and since joining the army, they had been together through thick and thin. Qian was two years older than Gou, so he often took care of him.

  "Let him go, anyway it's all like this, the superiors have already left, we can die with our superiors on the same battlefield and burn incense for our ancestors. Let's kill a few more devils to avenge our superiors." Er Gouzi looked at the front line, constantly dodging the attacking Japanese army, his eyes seemed to shine brighter.

  "Brothers, the commander-in-chief has personally brought reinforcements!" Just then, Deng Qi, the deputy commander of the First Brigade of the Third Division, which had the highest remaining military rank, shouted loudly.

  Everyone turned around and looked at the military flag standing behind them.

  "Brothers, we must hold our ground! I, Cai Tingkai, will fight alongside you all to the death!" Cai Tingkai shouted loudly.

  "Two dogs, the army commander has gone to the front line!" Qian Ma Zi couldn't see Cai Ting Kai's appearance clearly because his left eye had been blinded by the enemy again, and the pain made his vision very blurry. He could only rely on feeling to continuously hold the bullet clip.

  "Yes, the battalion commander has also gone to the front line. To be able to fight alongside the battalion commander is a blessing in this life." Er Gouzi remained calm and took every opportunity to fire at each Japanese soldier who showed their head. As the only machine gunner in the entire company, he couldn't afford to lose focus.

  The fierce battle is still going on, and **'s casualties are also increasing continuously.

  "General, our army is left with less than 600 people! What about the reinforcements from the Central Government? Why haven't they arrived yet!" Jiang Guangding looked at the two thousand people he brought along with the original troops on the battlefield, and now there were only six hundred people left. The anxiety in his words was understandable.

  "I'd rather die today than let the Japanese devils get away with it! They're no better than us!" Cai Tingkai looked out at the battlefield littered with the bodies of the enemy, and his spirits soared.

  "Tank!"

  "The Japanese army has deployed tanks!"

  Just then, the Japanese division commander finally ordered a tank battalion to be sent up.

  It was all because of a small warehouse, and yet three thousand elite imperial troops had died without taking it down. It was really infuriating for him to know that this was the Imperial Army's 16th Division, an old-brand division.

  Fifteen tanks in a single column advanced on the warehouse, followed by approximately two battalions of Japanese infantry.

  "Brother Ma, the Japanese tanks are here." Er Gou said, his left hand holding up a clip of ammunition. Beside him, Qian Ma had already bled to death, but his eyes were still open. Seeing that he was dead, Er Gou gently closed Qian Ma's eyes and whispered, "Brother Ma, wait for me to kill a few more devils, then I'll join you in the underworld to fight against the devils."

  Then, with eyes wide open and staring at the tank in front of him, he fired wildly.

  Just as everyone guarding the position was collectively going crazy with their last resistance, a sudden sonic boom sounded in the dark sky!

  A white light was seen shooting from the rear of the formation towards the front.

  "What's that?" Jiang Guangding looked at the flash in the sky and asked Cai Tingkai, who was already pale with a grey face beside him.

  "Is it an arrow?" Cai Tingkai said with some disbelief.

  "Ah!"

  The charging Japanese troops also looked at the white light flashing in the sky and were somewhat lost.

  The man lost his spirit, but the arrow's speed did not slow down by a single fraction.

  Fifteen tanks charged straight ahead.

  "Whoosh!" The arrow hit a tank in the middle.

  The tank suddenly stopped advancing!

  "Boom!" The tank exploded, and many of the infantrymen behind it were also killed by the blast wave.

  At the same time, two tanks within a 20-meter radius of that tank also slowed down by half, just crawling forward, and the tracks were already scarred, apparently still suffering from the fish in the pond.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat!" Another four shots rang out, and the Japanese army's 16 tanks were now down to just one intact vehicle, with five disabled and the remaining ten moving at a snail's pace. The tracks had been severely damaged, and more critically, the tanks could no longer fire their cannons.

  "Hachi-gatsu ya ro!" At this time, the Japanese division headquarters received a report on the front-line situation and couldn't help but rage.

  These sixteen tanks were the most valuable assets of the 16th Division, and it was thanks to Koizumi's personal connections that they had managed to obtain four in the first place. But before they could even be put into action, almost all of them had been destroyed.

  At this moment, on Chinese territory.

  "Am I seeing things? The tank is basically done for?" Jiang Guangding wiped his eyes, saying with some disbelief.

  "Yes, you didn't see it wrong, it seems that the so-called reinforcements really came." Cai Tingkai was also a person who had studied in Japan.

  Naturally knows the ferocity of tanks.

  Right at this moment!

  On the edge of the battlefield, a white tiger suddenly appeared and sprinted forward!

  The white tiger roared and rushed forward, the call of the king of a hundred beasts making the Japanese cavalry units somewhat restless.

  It is not people who are restless, but horses ridden by people.

  And on top of the White Tiger, there was a man wearing a black cloak, holding a bow in his left hand and continuously shooting arrows with white light from his right hand.

  Every time it's five arrows fired simultaneously!

  Each arrow can take away a Japanese devil's soul. Some even penetrate one Japanese devil's head and take away another behind, and some even shoot through three!

  Essentially, every time a man fires, 6-10 devils die on average!

  And men can ejaculate more than three times per second!

  In less than three minutes, more than 3,000 Japanese invaders were killed.

  This is no longer a battle!

  This is **naked slaughter!

  The commander of the Japanese division saw this situation and hastily ordered each department: "Eight grids! The whole body retreats, it's actually this devil!"

  No longer caring about the corpses on the battlefield, they retreated en masse.

  "What's wrong with you all? Aren't you going to counterattack?" The man looked at the troops on the battlefield and saw that they had stopped firing, not even pursuing the Japanese army, and couldn't help but angrily shout.

  The troops on the battlefield were in a state of shock!

  "Ma Zi Ge, you left too early and didn't see the immortal!" Er Gou Zi's right hand finally weakly put down the loot, looking at the corpses in front of him, and said in shock.

  "Lao Cai, am I seeing things?"

  "My eyes are dazzled, and so are yours!"

  ……

  Looking at the shocking battlefield, the man shook his head helplessly and his thoughts went back to when he first came to this world a year ago.