Chapter 22: Reinforcements Arrive

  The train sped all the way and soon arrived at the Liutiao River. The train driver announced, "The railway ahead is still damaged and has not been repaired! The train can only go as far as here!" Upon hearing the train driver's words, Lieutenant General Tieno Rokuro, commander of the 15th Brigade of the 2nd Division, reluctantly ordered: "Everyone get off the train and assemble!"

  After hearing the order, the two battalions of Japanese troops on the train quickly jumped off and gathered on the spot. At this time, ten snipers who had been hiding near the willow river saw the Japanese troops jumping off the train and all became excited at the same time, starting to look for their prey with guns!

  After a while, Tanino Rokuro and Chief of Staff Mei Ye Guangxia watched the troops complete their formation under the train. As soon as they got off the train, two groups of snipers hiding by the lake simultaneously pulled the trigger. The 15th Brigade Commander Tanino Rokuro and Chief of Staff Mei Ye Guangxia fell to the ground at the sound of the shots. Seeing the two top commanders fall to the ground, the two regiments of the Japanese army that had just completed their formation suddenly became chaotic. They rushed towards Tanino Rokuro and Mei Ye Guangxia in a flurry, and at this moment, three other groups of snipers also pulled the trigger! After three gunshots, the commander of the 16th Regiment and two battalion commanders fell to the ground with shots to the forehead.

  Seeing this scene, the commander of the 4th Brigade, Tahei Maruno, knew that this was not a place to stay for long and immediately ordered: "The 103rd Battalion of the 4th Brigade will stay behind to be on guard! The rest of the troops follow me to depart for Da Ying Camp in the north!"

  After hearing the order of Otahei Maruno, the 4th Brigade set off first! The 16th Brigade without a commander can only follow behind. After the Japanese army left, snipers hiding in the dark all simultaneously installed silencers and started to "play" with the Japanese army responsible for guarding this brigade.

  About twenty minutes later, ōhira said after merging with two brigades and the troops that were ambushed and battered at Sayama-guchi: "Colonel Tsune of the Tsune Detachment, Colonel Mayer, Chief of Staff, and Colonel Saigō, Sixteenth Infantry Brigade Commander, have all been killed in an ambush on the bank of the Ryūjō River!"

  When Ota Hiramaru heard this, Hirata Hiroaki said seriously: "Ota-kun, it's up to you now! The troops that attacked Koyama-guchi last night were almost all crippled! The Chinese army's firepower is extremely fierce!"

  "Got it! Thanks, Hirata-kun! I'll be careful!" He then turned to his chief of staff and said: "Order the howitzers to lay down suppressive fire on the Chinese army's positions! Order the Yamano detachment to launch an attack on Jiaoshanzi!"

  After receiving the order, the fourth and sixteenth battalions' mortars simultaneously launched an attack on Jishanmiaozi. Hua Lieyang, who was dozing off, woke up to the sound of cannons and said: "Damn it! The little devils are disturbing me even when I'm taking a nap!" Looking at his watch with a smile, he said: "It must be the arrival of the little devils' reinforcements! Otherwise, they wouldn't be so fierce!"

  Ma Longhai, who was on one side, heard Hua Lieyang's words and laughed, saying: "General, why don't you go down and sleep for a while? I'll hold out here!"

  Hua Lieyang shook his head and said, "To have no desire for life, one must have the determination to die! Only then can we drive out the Japanese invaders from our homeland and not disappoint Grandfather's expectations of me!" Upon hearing Hua Lieyang's words, Ma Longhai smiled and nodded, saying, "General, I didn't think you'd become more and more like Commander Yang!"

  Just then, Yang Chunting shouted from the side: "General! The devils are coming!" Upon hearing Yang Chunting's shout, Hua Lieyang raised his sniper rifle and said: "Brothers, let's put the little devils to death!"

  Not long after, when the devils appeared in groups of three or five not far from the blocking position, Hua Lieyang decisively pulled the trigger and said: "Fire!" Suddenly, a strong flame burst out of the shooting hole! Suddenly, the Japanese army fell down like cutting wheat, piece by piece.

  In the rear command, ōmura saw the continuous fall of soldiers in the telescope and immediately ordered: "The 233rd Brigade launched a counterattack! Artillery increased firepower to suppress!"

  After a while, Hua Lieyang numbly pulled the trigger and said: "Ma Shu, call Liu Shu over! At this rate, we'll be exhausted to death before we can wipe out those little devils!"

  "Alright! I'll go call him right away!" Ma Longhai said, turning around and leaving. Two or three minutes later, Ma Longhai and Liu Changgeng arrived at Hua Lieyang's side. Hua Lieyang looked at Ma Longhai and Liu Changgeng and said: "Uncle Ma, Uncle Liu, this is a reinforced regiment with four battalions! Uncle Liu, you take two battalions down to rest for two hours first, then come back and switch with Uncle Ma and the other two battalions to rest for four hours! Then we'll start rotating every four hours!"

  "Alright! Let's do it this way!" Ma Longhai said seriously. When Liu Changgeng led his men down to rest, Ma Longhai asked seriously: "General, we have cannons, why don't we open fire?!"

  Hua Lieyang smiled, pulled the trigger and killed a Japanese lieutenant, saying: "The enemy's heavy artillery regiment hasn't arrived yet! How can we expose ourselves by firing first?!" As he spoke, Hua Lieyang pulled the trigger again.

  Hearing Hua Lieyang's words, Ma Longhai thought for a moment and said: "General, if you make that thing public, Generalissimo and the commander-in-chief of the Nanjing government will not let you go! We must be careful in the future!"

  Hua Lieyang smiled and said, "I've already thought this through when I wrote it!" As he spoke, Hua Lieyang picked up the submachine gun beside him and pulled the trigger, saying, "After a while, I plan to go to Nanjing! Assassinate the Commander-in-Chief! Anyway, he won't come looking for me, so I'll have to go find him!" Upon hearing Hua Lieyang's words, Ma Longhai shook his head helplessly and said, "General, you're not afraid..."

  Before Ma Longhai finished speaking, Hua Lieyang laughed and said: "The Commander-in-Chief is a white-eyed wolf! We, the people of Northeast China, swallowed our anger and accepted General Zhang's decision to compromise with Nanjing and change flags. But we didn't expect that old Chiang would immediately hand over our entire Northeast to little Japan! It's really infuriating!" As he spoke, Hua Lieyang removed the empty shell from his drum and continued fighting.

  When Ma Longhai heard Hua Lieyang's words, he cursed in a low voice: "Zhang Shao is really selling his ancestors' graves without feeling any pain!"

  In the blink of an eye, two battalions of the Japanese Fourth Regiment were also crippled! Looking at the few remaining soldiers, Obara said in a tone that he dared not accept: "How many troops does the Chinese army have here?! Why is their firepower so strong?!"

  Hirata Yukihiko heard Ota Maruno's words and smiled wryly, saying: "The commander in front of us is a 13-year-old kid! However, we estimate that he has at least one regimental force in his hands! Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many machine guns!" (Hirata Yukihiko mistook the improved Sten submachine gun for a machine gun!) After hearing Hirata Yukihiko's words, Ota Maruno thought for a moment and said: "Request artillery support from the heavy artillery regiment!"

  It wasn't long before! The Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army, Honjō Shigeru, received a telegram from ōi Shigemoto, and angrily said to Tōhei Toyonari, Sakai Takashi and Ishiwara Kanji: "A small North China garrison has used so many troops but still can't take it down! How am I supposed to report back to Tokyo?!"

  Hearing Honjō's words, Ishiwara Kanji thought for a moment and said: "Commander! It's our fault that we didn't reconnoitre thoroughly beforehand! However, things have come to this point now. Please give the order to dispatch the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment from Haicheng or the Heavy Artillery Battalion from Ryojun to provide reinforcements! Only then can we take Fengtian as soon as possible!"

  "You take care of it! I'm getting old, and from now on, it's your young people's world!" Honjō Shigeru said calmly. After hearing Honjō's words, Tōyama Kakudō, Itagaki Seishirō, and Ishiwara Kanji looked at each other, then Tōyama Kakudō smiled and said: "Commander! Don't worry! We definitely won't disappoint you!" As he spoke, Tōyama Kakudō gave a glance to Itagaki Seishirō and Ishiwara Kanji, then continued: "Commander, since we have nothing better to do now, let me accompany you for a game of chess!"

  "Let's go west! I heard that Tsuchihara-san's chess skills are not bad! So I'll come and learn from him!" said Hontani Shigeru with a smile. Upon hearing Hontani Shigeru's words, Itagaki Seijirō and Ishihara Kanji chimed in unison: "General, give me! We'll take our leave first!" After saying that, Itagaki Seijirō and Ishihara Kanji smiled and left Hontani Shigeru's office.

  Twenty minutes later, the heavily armed troops stationed in Dalian received the order and immediately headed north to Beidaying. Just as the Japanese artillery troops were rushing to Beidaying, the fire of the Battle of Beidaying, which had lasted for nearly seven hours, finally subsided. Exhausted, Hu Lieyang dragged his tired body to the phone and connected with Yang Chongsheng, asking: "Uncle Shuang, what's the situation in Fengtian now?"

  "Don't worry! There's basically nothing going on in Fengtian now! Yang Chun has already set off with two battalions of soldiers to escort the goods!" Yang Chun said seriously. Upon hearing Yang Chun's words, Hua Lieyang thought for a moment before saying: "Uncle Yang, send some reliable brothers to scout around Fengtian! I'm afraid those little devils might come from another direction and we'll end up losing out!"

  "Alright, General, don't worry!" Yang Chun said after thinking for a moment, "General, what about those little devils locked up in the prison?"

  "Hua Lieyang thought for a moment and said: 'Execute them all! Do it cleanly!'"

  "Got it!" Yang Chun hung up the phone.

  Malong Hai, who was beside Hua Lieyang, smiled and said: "General, you go rest first!" When Hua Lieyang heard Malong Hai's words, he came back to his senses and said: "Then I'll leave this place to you, Uncle Ma!" After finishing speaking, Hua Lieyang turned around and left.

  Looking at Hua Lieyang's receding back, Ma Longhai shook his head slightly and said: "If in an ordinary family, a child of this age would still be spoiled in their parents' arms!" Before Ma Longhai finished speaking, Liu Changgeng, who had walked to Ma Longhai's side unnoticed, expressionlessly interjected: "This kid Jingting is not simple at all!"

  In the evening, the sound of cannons rang out! Hua Lieyang was awakened from his sleep by the cannon fire. After waking up, Hua Lieyang hastily took his sniper rifle and walked to Malonghai's side, asking: "Uncle Ma, what's the situation now?!"

  "The little devils have made a big investment this time! I reckon they've brought in an entire battalion of heavy artillery!" Ma Longhai said seriously. Upon hearing Ma Longhai's words, Hua Lieyang thought for a moment and said: "The devils probably transferred the heavy artillery battalion from Dalian over here!"

  "Should we open fire and counterattack?!" Ma Longhai asked seriously. Hua Lieyang nodded and said: "I've been waiting for this moment, let's push out all the hidden artillery and let the devils taste the flavor of being bombed!"