Chapter 45: Fallen

  On the snowy wasteland, a white van was speeding along, with a stiff corpse hanging from the window on the right side, shaking constantly with the vibration of the vehicle, just like a legendary hanged ghost.

  Behind them, cavalrymen were scattered all over the mountains, their swords reflecting the cold light of night. The sound of gunfire was as dense as firecrackers on New Year's Eve, shooting out sparks from the cargo cars, and occasionally there would be flashes of explosive flames beside the trains.

  The Japanese cavalry had almost gone mad, they didn't consider anything else, and only thought of retrieving the regimental commander's body, then dragging the people in the car out to be torn apart. They were so enraged that they didn't notice at all, Yang Feng had already led them to the west of Chifeng, pulling away from the main force by more than ten kilometers.

  They were also completely unaware that in the darkness ahead a cavalry force of several thousand was gathering.

  Sun Dianying was not an excellent general, but he was also a veteran who had been on the battlefield for decades. In the Battle of Bozhou, he once resisted Chiang Kai-shek's Huangpu Army for three months, creating a stunning example that left everyone speechless.

  So upon receiving the news that Yang Feng had led a regiment of Japanese cavalry to the west of the city, he immediately assembled all his own cavalry and then dispatched infantry to swap out the cavalry under Feng Zhanhai's command, combining their forces to lie in ambush to the west of the city.

  Yang Feng didn't know this, but with the mentality of teasing the Japanese army, he still slowly led the exhausted Japanese cavalry into Sun Dianying's ambush circle like a stray dog.

  Nearly five thousand vigorous cavalrymen, at the moment they saw the Japanese army, frantically urged on their war horses, like a black wave surging forward. The heavy hooves trampled the frozen ground, making a thunderous sound. The open wings were like the scythe of the god of death, bringing an unstoppable momentum to fiercely crash into the midst of the Japanese army.

  At this time, the Japanese army was already exhausted, and the tens of kilometers of extreme sprinting had reached the physical limit for both men and horses. Now facing these swarming enemies who were five times their own number, they simply didn't have the strength to resist, no matter how well-trained they were. An entire cavalry brigade collapsed just like that.

  Yang Feng has lost interest in the battlefield, under the faint moonlight after the snow, everywhere is a melee of cavalry, Sun Dianying and Feng Zhanhai's subordinates lack coordination, and the bandits who have little cavalry training do not pay attention to formation. Their charge was chaotic and disorderly, and as a result, they also charged the well-trained Japanese army into chaos, this is a real melee, a chaotic and confusing battle.

  "Yang brothers, brother came just in time, right?" Sun Dianying said with a hearty laugh, his pockmarked face blooming.

  "Brother Sun, with this one battle, no matter what you did in the past, there won't be a single person in all of China who dares to say anything bad about you!" Yang Feng said with his thumbs up, and he wasn't wrong. In the original history, Sun Dianying's victory at Chifeng only killed or wounded around 300-400 Japanese soldiers, but it was still enough for him to become an anti-Japanese hero, and everyone forgot about his past treachery. And now they've defeated a whole Japanese cavalry brigade!

  "Hey, Yang brothers, let's speak from the heart. I, Sun Dianying, think that not resisting Japan is not an option! I've even dug up Puyi's ancestral tomb."

  "Come on, Brother Sun, I'll give you another gift!" Yang Feng smiled and pointed to the moguls hanging on the car door.

  "Major General?" Sun Dianying's eyes almost popped out.

  "Otherwise, why do you think the Japanese cavalry is chasing me relentlessly? I've hung their regimental commander here!" Yang Feng said with a sly smile.

  "Yang brothers, you're really awesome! If this were to be publicized in the newspapers, it would truly make your names known throughout the land!" Sun Dianying said with a shocked expression.

  "That would be the end of me, Brother Sun. I'm a businessman, and I have dealings with the Japanese, which will continue in the future. If they find out that I killed one of their generals, how can I still do business with them?" Yang Feng said with a wave of his hand.

  "What do you mean, Brother Yang?" Sun Dianying's face showed a hint of surprise.

  "It's very simple, the 63rd Army held back the main force of the Japanese army in the front, General Sun operated behind the scenes, sending out elite cavalry to launch a night raid on the Japanese command center, killing the enemy commander Mōtsu Jirō and leading the pursuing Japanese troops into an ambush circle, defeating the entire Japanese cavalry brigade." Yang Feng read out the draft he had written earlier.

  "This, how can this be!" Sun Dianying stammered in embarrassment.

  "What's wrong with that? Am I the only one taking action this time? Aren't they all from the 41st Army?" Yang Feng pointed to the eight assault team members who went with him.

  "Hey, Brother Yang, how can I put this?!" Sun Dianying rubbed his head, looking embarrassed and pleased at the same time.

  "Alright, forget it, brothers! What's the point of dragging this on? It's settled then."

  Yang Feng absolutely cannot bear the halo of an anti-Japanese hero, he doesn't want to be remembered by the Japanese every day, doing business is about being harmonious and making money, safely and steadily taking money out of the pockets of the Japanese is the right thing to do.

  The battle between the cavalry did not last long, but the result was extremely bloody, with 5,000 against 1,000, and still 1,000 exhausted Japanese troops. In the end, the Sun-Feng coalition army suffered more than 1,000 casualties, while the Japanese left behind 400 corpses, and the remaining retreated under the support of reinforcements.

  However, the battle that night had already made the Japanese army feel severely injured. Since the Battle of Haradōkou, plus Yang Feng's sneak attack, they had lost nearly two thousand and also sacrificed a lieutenant general.

  In the following days, they became much more honest and not only did not launch a large-scale attack, but also began to strengthen their defense. After all, there was still Yang Feng's abnormal existence here, who could guarantee that when the front line was fighting fiercely, he would not come again to raid the camp.

  But this was meaningless for the Chifeng defenders, as in other directions, the Japanese army remained unstoppable, and in just a few days, more than half of Rehe had fallen.

  Every Northeast Army unit, whether under Tang Yulin or the legitimate Wan Fulin unit of Zhang Zuolin, collapsed at a touch, with only small-scale resistance in Yehe and Jianchang. By March 2, the defenders of Lingyuan fled without a fight, and the Japanese occupied Lingyuan, opening the gates to Chengde.

  Just one day later, the most humiliating episode for China in this war occurred. The Chairman of the Hebei Provincial Government, Tang Yulin, abandoned the city and fled. Japanese troops occupied Chengde, the capital of Hebei Province, with just a single squadron of cavalry without firing a shot.

  The problem now facing Yang Feng, Sun Dianying and Feng Zhanhai is no longer whether to hold Chifeng or not, but whether they can escape the encirclement of the Japanese army.

  On this day, Zhao Dengyu led a battalion of cavalrymen to Chifeng.

  Thank you to book friend 7521 for the reward. In addition, I've been quite busy with work over the past few days and may not be able to guarantee two chapters per day. It's estimated that it will take about a week to return to normal, please forgive me. However, one chapter per day can still be guaranteed.