Chapter 27: The Battle of Gui Xi (3)

  The sky brightened up, the rain stopped, and the Gui Creek River changed its gentle appearance, becoming a raging torrent.

  Muto's main force had just switched positions with Yufei, and ran to this side of the river. One day on the east bank, one day on the west bank. Even Muto couldn't understand how in two days, Yufei's troops wanted to surround and devour him.

  Why does Mokutō have such an awareness? Looking around, there are signs of troop activities everywhere, and even a fool can understand the current situation. Moreover, in the distant and nearby forests and ravines, every place seems to be hiding Chinese troops. Yūhi, how did he manage to organize so many troops? Just yesterday, 500 soldiers were killed by poison gas, and today he's ambitious enough to want to devour an entire Japanese army unit? Isn't he afraid? Why aren't the Chinese people who are helping him intimidated by the Japanese military power?

  Mato was somewhat indignant about his bad luck, just as he wanted to deeply breathe in the sweet Chinese morning air, something that made Mato even more furious began with the dawn light shining on the earth.

  All kinds of Chinese armed personnel from all sides, at 8 o'clock sharp, when the enemy was halfway through their deep breathing exercise, launched a simultaneous attack on the enemy's position. In an instant, guns and cannons roared in unison, with rifles, bird guns, box cannons, Type 99s, Model 38s, infantry guns, and mortars firing away. The Chinese abandoned their past habit of conserving ammunition and wildly poured out their firepower. Wave after wave of soldiers crept forward, crouching low to the ground, closing in on the stunned enemy.

  "Alright! Fall back and regroup! Defend, defend!"

  Commander Mu Teng first jumped into the trench, angrily directing the devils to cope with the chaotic attacks from all sides. Such a chaotic attack looks grandiose, but its power is extremely limited.

  The devils were indeed well-trained, and they quickly organized a complete defense system. The bullets whizzing overhead didn't even make them frown. Muto was very satisfied with his soldiers' reaction.

  Suddenly, the gunfire stopped. The Chinese army, which had surged forward like a tide, retreated in the same manner.

  From the first gunshot to the restoration of silence, it was exactly five minutes.

  "#%※×※×#%#^%&^……" A loudspeaker hidden in a large tree shouted out a string of Japanese words. People on the Chinese side couldn't quite understand, but the Japanese soldiers listened clearly: "Fellow comrades, I am Tofu Kisho. Your Captain Tofu. I've been treated very well by the Chinese. The Chinese army welcomes you to surrender. It's pointless to sacrifice yourselves for the Japanese army. China is so vast, unless every single person doesn't resist, Japan will never win. But the Chinese people have already awakened. China has never lacked brave men..."

  Tofu's words this time were more fluent than what he usually said in the devils' military camp, and there are two reasons for this. Firstly, Tofu was afraid of death and wanted to say something good. Secondly, You Fei had asked He Tianhao to prepare a speech draft for him, which he translated and read out loud. As Tofu read aloud, the more he felt that these words made some sense, and he couldn't help but get into it, his voice filled with emotion.

  "Comrades, soldiers and officers, we all have wives and children, we all have parents. When the Chinese fall before our guns, let's think about it: if they treated our loved ones like this, would we be happy? The Japanese government says we're here to help the Chinese people. If such 'help' were applied to us, would we accept it? No! We wouldn't, and neither will the Chinese. Just look at these people in front of us - we should already know that Japan won't win..."

  In the usually strict and disciplined army of the devils, a whispering sound arose. Mokoto angrily called over the devil's first-class shooter: "Kill him for me! Hurry up and shoot! Shoot!"

  Bang! Bang! Bang! The sound of the rifle did not stop Dou Teng's speech. The devils' snipers couldn't see their target, they looked for Dou Teng but couldn't find him, they looked for the loudspeaker but could only hear a general direction, it wasn't that easy to shoot him down. They didn't hit him and it wasn't that cheap either, they immediately attracted the attention of the 259th Brigade's snipers, Bang! Bang! The rifle shots came back, although they were in the midst of surrendering, the Leng Feng squad's snipers did not have a habit of being polite.

  The bean paste is still very enthusiastic, with a tendency to be endless. A bandit from a certain mountain laughed loudly at the interesting scene, and Mokuto could even hear it. He wasn't too worried about the ideological problems of the Japanese soldiers, but rather, Tofu's actions made Mokuto feel that the face of the entire Japan was lost by this large unit. Naturally, the enemy's blocking hands increased. On the other hand, there were still only a few people on the side of the fierce wind, and the number of shots fired was very small.

  The two sides exchanged fire, emphasizing quick position changes and one-shot kills. Although the few people in Lie Feng hadn't reached the level of one-shot kills, they fired fewer shots and moved positions after shooting, while the enemy had to frequently shoot at the trumpet hidden among the leaves, thus giving Lie Feng an advantage.

  Before long, Zhang Mingshan again opened today's record of annihilating the enemy. A Japanese blockhouse hand was shot and killed with one bullet, and just before he died, he also fired a shot, which deformed and flew into the air. The big bird that had just been startled to fly from the forest was hit by the dead Japanese devil's bullet and fell from the sky.

  "Woohoo! Awesome marksmanship!" Cheers erupted from all over the mountain, and there were so many people! They were all hiding well, making it impossible to see their exact numbers. Mokuryuu felt a chill run down his spine as he stayed put. There was even cheering in the midst of battle! This formation... wasn't it just like the legendary Chinese tactic "Playing the Monkey"?

  "Oh! Good——" Cheers erupted again.

  "Wah! Awesome!"

  "Report, one first-class shooter killed three people and injured one person, shall we continue firing?"

  "Shut up, you featherbrained fowl! Cease fire! Cease, I say! Do you know what it's worth to lose the Empire's elite troops for a piece of trash?"

  The little devil Cao replied with a "Hai!" thinking to himself, wasn't it you who told me to blow the trumpet?

  Mato closed his eyes and shook his head fiercely, but Tofu's voice still penetrated his nerves relentlessly. "Baga! Full-scale attack! Noz gives... Wait a minute! Wait a minute!"

  Moto Fujii lowered the drawn command sword, turned his eyes around and re-ordered: "Let the artillery, aiming at that tree, fire five rounds of shells from each mountain gun. If you can't hit the hornet, blow up the connecting line! Pass on the order immediately, first get rid of this annoying fly. Let the brave warriors of the Empire cheer up."

  "Ah-ha!"

  The game of the blocking hand stopped for a few minutes, and the devils' shells whizzed to the vicinity of the trumpet tree. The artillery fire was exceptionally fierce, and finally the tree fell, and the trumpet sound disappeared.

  "Haha! Didn't expect that, did you? Huang Jun's artillery is quite formidable!" Mokuto said with a self-satisfied smile. As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of infantry guns and howitzers firing came over. Strange! They didn't bring those two types of cannons this time! Could it be the Chinese army?

  "Report! Two of our mountain guns have been destroyed by the enemy."

  Muto's legs went soft and he sat down on the ground, muttering: "They, they figured it out, they've been waiting for us to fire."

  "Captain! Lieutenant Commander Mokuto! Please come to your senses! We haven't lost yet! The battle hasn't even started!" The sergeant beside Mokuto tried to help him up. Mokuto shook off the sergeant's hand and jumped up, "Yes! We haven't failed! We are the fearless Yellow Army. Nothing can intimidate us."

  "Captain!" The sergeant stood sternly beside him.

  Affected by the solemn atmosphere, Motofuji lowered his voice and said: "Yes! Let's launch a full-scale attack! The time to witness the bravery of the Imperial Army has come. Launch a comprehensive attack, aiming to clear all enemies around our own riverbank! Attack! Noroshi ga ageru! Kiru ga ageru!"

  The lower-ranking officers of the devils blocked Motofuji's way, barely stopping him from rushing out. The devil soldiers ran out in groups and rushed towards the surrounding bandits.

  The reason why Mù Tiáo did not choose the clearly visible main force troops of Yóu Fēi as the target for a charge even when he was in a state of furious anger, is because the water flow of Guì Xī was too great, and it was fundamentally impossible to ford the river on foot.

  Yufei's idea was just the opposite of Motofuji. The main force of the 259th Brigade rushed to the river bank, they wanted to cross the river. Motofuji on this side of the river wasn't a fool and didn't relax his vigilance against Yufei's unit because of fighting the "bandits" around. Seeing Yufei's unit approaching the river bank, Motofuji was curious about how they would cross the river while preparing two full companies of devils to prepare for an attack at half-crossing. The devils also learned from Chinese military tactics!

  Only 259 brigade soldiers arrived at the riverbank, throwing out bundles of ropes into the river. One person grabbed the rope and jumped into the Gui Creek River, while another held the rope still. The rope swung back and forth in the rapid current, hitting the opposite bank, where the soldiers climbed up using the shore's vegetation. A few who didn't grasp tightly or missed the timing were washed away by the water for a distance but managed to climb up at the bend of the river near the shore. In an instant, half of the company had crossed the river. After crossing, they did not launch an attack but instead picked up packages thrown over from the riverbank, opened them, and found guns, ammunition, and iron shovels inside. They used the shovels to start digging fortifications on the spot.

  Muto saw this and suddenly realized that the Katsuragawa River was swollen, but its width had not increased much. This way of crossing the river is a good method! It's very quick! Yufei can let the troops cross quickly, they are building fortifications, just to prepare for the main force! Can't let Yufei be so leisurely again. At this time, it was the middle of the crossing, and it was time to attack.

  The warriors who had crossed the river were still preparing for battle, but the devils charged over. As soon as the devils showed their heads, the cannons spoke out. The single-sided bombardment crushed the devils, and the devils suffered heavy casualties, but they did not stop.

  The warriors by the river fired a round of shots, seeing that they couldn't beat the superior enemy forces, so they repeated their old trick, throwing ropes across the river and coming back. The devils rushed to the riverbank, but were anxious and unable to do anything. The machine guns hidden on this side of the river fired again, and the devils fell in a large heap, hastily hiding under the fortifications that the warriors had just built. Boom! Boom! A few explosions reminded the devils that the tradition of the guerrilla troops was to leave behind landmines for them to step on! The devils became headless flies, unable to charge forward or hide, and for a time they were in chaos at the riverbank.

  "Retreat! Retreat!"

  Moto ordered Kojirō to withdraw and go back.

  You Fei's mind was filled with thoughts of how to completely annihilate these devils. Several old soldiers and that bandit Dong Tianhao gave him a lot of ideas. You Fei adopted some methods to slowly toy with the devils to death. So today's battlefield looks very lively and colorful.

  The devils' machine gun squad, engineer squad and infantry squad also built fortifications by the river. The devils' battalion gradually approached the riverbank. The engineers threw out many ropes, tied them to heavy objects, trees, and rocks on the shore, and then retreated. One of the devils' squads suddenly shouted strangely, grabbed the ropes and jumped into the river with a splash.

  "He Tianhao let out a loud shout: 'Ahh! Big brother! Come quick and look! The devils really jumped into the river!'"

  You Fei and bandit leader Dong Tian Hao squeezed into the observation point where He Tian Hao was, took a look, and You Fei said: "Tian Hao! Liefeng Kai has dismissed you, starting today, come be an advisor instead! What a lot of clever ideas you have! Haha!"

  Dong Tianhao praised and said: "How could the devils have thought that our troops had so many good swimmers, especially you Cantonese people, you are really a good hand!"

  "Haha! Let's watch the excitement! Let's see how the foreigners will end up."

  Matou studied and improved the method of crossing rivers for the flying corps, planning to cross the river and have a decisive battle.

  After the devils jumped down with a loud splash, there was no movement for half a day. Finally, one of them managed to crawl back up onto the shore where they started from. The other devils pulled and tugged at this lucky fellow's swollen belly and managed to revive him.

  "What's going on? What's under the water?"

  "Report... The water is flowing too fast! There are too many whirlpools and it's impossible to land! ...Uh!"

  "Damn it!" Matou yelled, how could he not be furious?! Under his command, more than 500 Japanese devils had jumped into the river, and now only one half-dead guy came up.

  Youfei's troops were actually already in the process of transferring, running around was one of his favorite things to do during battles. Waiting quietly like this was something he had never done before.

  More than 300 devils who attacked the bandits were surrounded, Mokuryuu didn't understand how the bandits' combat power was so strong. In fact, Yūhi just supported two teams to bring the bandits together. The bandits in Sanzan Bazhai had an absolute advantage in numbers.

  Without giving Mó Fēng Guǐ Zǐ much time to think and implement a rescue, Mó Téng discovered that a large group of people were rushing towards him from both downstream and upstream.

  The sound of gunfire and artillery erupted again, this time with more accurate shooting and cannons falling on important positions.

  A small party scattered along the river bank at a distance was also divided.

  Moto knew that in such a situation, any strategy was useless. What he could rely on was only the strong combat power of the Japanese army. There were Chinese troops everywhere, and perhaps now letting his subordinates cause more losses to the Chinese army was all he could do.

  "West! All out, Nuo Zi give you! Nuo Zi give you!"

  To the west, was where the main force of the flying troops was located, and the direction of the breakthrough that Mu Ting chose at this time was still the place where the Chinese army had the most advantage. What he wanted to do was to let the Japanese army, which had been suffocated for several days, fight a battle with all their might, even if it meant death, it would be loyalty to the Emperor.

  The Japanese army charged towards the main force of You Fei, but their strange cries stopped again when they were about 50 meters away. A ghost child rushed to Mokuyou: "Report Lieutenant Colonel! The enemy has set up an artificial swamp in front. More than 200 people are trapped. They are being slowly shot and killed by the Chinese army."

  "Ah!" Mu Ting slapped his forehead, regretting why he hadn't thought of it earlier! Creating a large artificial swamp in the low-lying areas along the riverbank after the heavy rain wasn't a difficult task at all! Moreover, the location for the ambush had been chosen by the Chinese army when they were crossing the river.

  If he were to learn how to fly and go to the swamp to set up traps, first of all, it would be too late, secondly, maybe this is still a trap? Mu Ting's order: "Abandon those who are trapped, all converge on the center, strengthen defense." Abandoning some people was originally his specialty. But how many more people can he abandon? He could only choose to shrink the defensive line and make a final desperate resistance, but it would be a passive beating. The sound of gunfire from all sides was getting closer and closer, an entire battalion was about to be destroyed under his command.

  Suddenly, Mokou burst out laughing and pointed at the Japanese army by the river, shouting: "Haha! Isn't this a desperate battle? With their backs against the unfordable rapid current, they can stir up an unprecedented surge in morale. But all I hear are wails of grief! Haha! I finally understand China's military strategy - it's just a scam to cheat the Japanese!"