Chapter 23: Destroying Tanks

  "Good!" Ma Longhai turned and left. Not long after, the three 240MM fortress guns installed by Hu Lieyang in the fortification made by the German Krupp company began to suppress the Japanese artillery position with firepower! After being shelled, the commander of the Japanese heavy artillery battalion, San Kōtarō, angrily scolded: "When did the Chinese have fortress guns?! Why didn't we receive any news beforehand?!"

  Just as Mikazuki Tarō was shouting, three more shells came down and instantly destroyed the remaining heavy artillery. The blast wave blew Mikazuki Tarō to the ground. After a while, the cannon fire gradually stopped, and Mikazuki Tarō slowly got up with the support of two soldiers and walked in front of ōhira no Maru and Hirata Yutaka, saying: "You fought for a whole day and night without discovering that the Chinese had heavy artillery?!"

  ōhiramaru and Watanabe Kōkō shook their heads upon hearing Mitamura's words. After a while, ōhiramaru said: "We were all equipped with rifles, but the Chinese army was using fully automatic weapons! When we got to within 100 meters of the enemy lines, preparing to exchange fire with the Chinese, a large number of our men had already fallen!"

  Mikazuki Matsumoto shook his head and said, "It seems that the Chinese are well-prepared! Otherwise, they wouldn't have deployed heavy troops in this place! And the firepower is so fierce!" After thinking for a moment, Mikazuki Matsumoto said, "I think we should send a detailed telegram to the commander about the situation here. If we continue to fight like this, we will definitely not be able to defeat the Chinese!"

  "It seems that's all we can do!" ōhira and Hata agreed in turn. Just as they were about to send a telegram to the Kantō Army Commander-in-Chief Honjō Shigeru, Lieutenant General Mutō Sukeyoshi, commander of the 2nd Division, arrived at Beidaying. Looking at the troops that had already collapsed, Mutō asked angrily: "What's going on?!"

  After hearing Futami Jirō's words, Mikazuki Matatarō and ōhira Maruno simultaneously looked at Hirata Yukihiko. Hirata Yukihiko sighed helplessly and said: "The Chinese seem to have been prepared for our attack! And the firepower is so strong that it doesn't seem like what Takaoka no Fumio told us, that the Chinese army has retreated!"

  "Hakka ya rou! This damn Tofu Hiroshi! This stupid pig!" Tatemon Irao cursed angrily. After a while, Tatemon Irao, who had calmed down his emotions, asked seriously: "How many troops do we have left now?!"

  "Hirata looked at the map and said, 'We still have a little more than one brigade's worth of troops! All our heavy artillery is destroyed! We only have 20 howitzers left!' After hearing Hirata's words, Tomenosuke looked at the map and said, 'Since we've already fought to this point, order the 30th Brigade in Lushun to dispatch two battalions to join forces with the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment in Haicheng and the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Gongzhuling to launch a surprise attack on Mukden!' Tomenosuke then said to Hirata, 'Hirata, I'll give you one brigade and 10 howitzers to ambush the Chinese troops coming from Beidaying to reinforce Mukden!'"

  Hirata Yoshihiro bowed and said, "Thank you for your trust in me, Captain Tamada!" With that, Hirata Yoshihiro turned around and left with his troops.

  At the same time in Tokyo, inside the Imperial Palace. Emperor Hirohito sat upright in the center and asked: "What is the current situation in Manchuria?!"

  Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi said: "The battle is still ongoing! The situation is unclear! However, I heard that the Chinese are resisting very strongly!"

  "Send them to the west! Since that's the case, let's send the 6th and 8th divisions resting in Korea to Manchuria!" Emperor Hirohito said calmly. Upon hearing Emperor Hirohito's command, Tanaka Giichi respectfully replied: "I will immediately go and issue the order!"

  In the Kwantung Army headquarters in Dairen, Honjō Shigeru handed the telegram from Tokyo to Ishiwara Kanji and said: "If we can't take Mukden I'll have to cut my belly open and apologize!" Hearing Honjō's words, Ishiwara took the telegram and looked at it before saying: "Your Excellency the Commander! If we can't take Mukden, we'll accompany you in apologizing!"

  He nodded and waved off Ishihara Kaito. After Ishihara left, Motomura Shigeru closed his eyes, shook his head and said: "You're really young and vigorous!"

  At the same time, Yang Chunshuang in Fengtian received a call from Hua Lieyang and felt more and more uneasy. He ordered people to take out more than 10,000 landmines from the military depot in Fengtian and bury them overnight on the roads that must be passed through from various parts of Manchuria to Fengtian, with a density of about one point per kilometer, scattered a little bit!

  Not long after the last landmine was buried, the Japanese cavalry's second brigade, which was preparing to raid Fengtian, stepped into the minefield! A series of explosions rang out. Yang Chunshuang, who was in the city, heard the explosion and laughed, saying: "I didn't expect the devils to take the bait so quickly!" He immediately ordered: "Let the people in the city leave overnight! Tell them that only by running to Guan Nei can they be safe!"

  Not long after Yang Chunsong's order was issued, the entire city of Fengtian began to bustle with activity. Under the orderly command of Yang Chunsong's troops, the civilians calmly and unhurriedly started fleeing the city towards Shanhaiguan. About three hours later, the entire city of Fengtian became a deserted city.

  Looking at the empty and desolate Fengtian City, Yang Chun's eyes deeply sighed and faintly said: "Tell the brothers! Get ready, use bullets, hand grenades and shells to welcome the little devils!"

  Upon hearing Yang Chun's words, the soldiers quickly pushed out all the artillery and began to set up the artillery formation according to the method taught by Hua Lieyang. After a while, when everything was in order, Yang Chunlei ran to Yang Chunduo and said: "Fifth brother, I found many anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns in the warehouse! Should we take out these weapons and use them?!"

  "I'll call General Shao first and ask him!" Yang Chunshuang picked up the phone on the table, dialed it, and said to Hua Lieyang: "General Shao, we found some anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery in the arsenal! What do you think these weapons should be used for?" After hearing Yang Chunshuang's words, Hua Lieyang thought for a moment and said: "Anti-aircraft artillery and anti-aircraft machine guns are not very effective against enemy planes. I think they would be excellent defensive weapons against the devils' attack! Especially when it comes to attacking the devils' light tanks, just a few rounds can guarantee that the devils' light tanks will be destroyed!"

  Hearing Hua Lieyang's words, Yang Chunsheng smiled and said: "General, I have already turned the entire Fengtian into an empty city! Now there is only one battalion of soldiers in the whole city!"

  "Second Uncle, I'm telling you! From now on, it's up to yourselves! I suggest that you install explosives in the armory, munitions factory and other key locations! Set them off when retreating, I'm afraid there won't be enough time later!" Hualeiyang said seriously.

  "Alright! I'll bring people to handle it right away!" Just as Yang Chunshuang was about to hang up the phone, Hua Lieyang stopped him and said: "Uncle Shuang, if the telephone line is cut off and we lose contact, by September 23rd at 22:00 at the latest, we must withdraw from Fengtian City! We will rendezvous in Rehe!"

  "Got it! Don't worry, Jingting!" Yang Chun hung up the phone.

  After hanging up the phone, Hua Lieyang habitually looked at his watch and said: "Uncle Ma, we still have to hold on for four days! These four days are also the most difficult four days!" Upon hearing Hua Lieyang's words, Ma Longhai thought for a moment before saying: "Don't worry! Even if it's just one person left, we will persevere!"

  "Uncle Ma!......" Knowing what Hua Lieyang was about to say, Ma Longhai interrupted him and said: "I know what you want to say! Just rest assured!"

  The next day at noon, the Japanese army's attack began again! Seeing that the Japanese army came up with heavy artillery cover, Hua Lieyang suddenly understood that the Japanese reinforcements had arrived! Under the suppression of the Japanese heavy artillery fire, wave after wave of Japanese soldiers rushed towards Hua Lieyang and his men.

  Standing not far behind directing the attack, Lieutenant General Hongo Keitaro, commander of the Japanese 6th Division, looked at his troops' wave of attacks and laughed to Lieutenant General Tomenori Banzaburo, commander of the 2nd Division, saying: "Tomenori, how's my 6th Division doing?!" Hearing Hongo Keitaro's words, Tomenori Banzaburo smiled and said: "Hongo, don't be too happy! The Chinese army defending here is not simple! Don't get arrogant!"

  "General Tadamichi, you're overthinking this! Your troops were ambushed by the Chinese as soon as they arrived and their morale was shattered. That's why you can't defeat the Chinese army defending here!" said Kenjiro Honten seriously.

  Just as Hontō Kenjirō and Tomenori Jirō were talking, the Japanese army that had rushed to about 100 meters was beaten back by the troops led by Hu Lieyang. Seeing this scene, Hontō Kenjirō was stunned! After coming to his senses, Hontō Kenjirō saw Tomenori Jirō's schadenfreude and angrily ordered: "Continue to charge for me! Heavy artillery will suppress the Chinese army with firepower!"

  Before Hontō Kenjirō could finish speaking, the concealed Type 3 heavy mortar in the fortification unleashed a devastating blow to the Japanese artillery! Hearing the continuous explosions coming from behind him, Hontō Kenjirō looked at Tomenosuke with suspicion and asked: "Tomeno-san, do the Chinese have heavy artillery?!"

  Tomonjiro glared at the enraged Hontaka Kenjirou and said, "I warned you from the start! You didn't listen!" Tomonjiro looked at the disheveled Hontaka Kenjirou and continued, "I think it's better to send in the tank corps after all. Maybe they'll still be of some use!"

  Hearing Futami Jirō's words, Hontani Kenjirō gritted his teeth and ordered: "Tank squadron, charge!"

  Hua Lieyang, who had just led the troops to repel the Japanese army's attack, sat down on the ground with his back against the fortifications, exhausted. He took out a packet of peanuts from his pocket and started eating them. After eating three or four, he heard Yang Chunjie shout: "The enemy's tanks are coming!" As soon as he heard the shout, Hua Lieyang immediately put the peanuts in his pocket, picked up the binoculars beside him, and said after taking a look: "This is the enemy's 92-style tank! Nothing to be afraid of!" He then ordered Yang Chunjie: "Bring out the anti-aircraft guns and machine guns! Open fire on the enemy's iron beast!"

  As soon as Yang Chun heard Hua Lieyang's words, he immediately led his men to push the hidden anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns to the shooting holes. As soon as they were pushed to the shooting holes, they saw that the enemy tanks had already arrived in front of them. Yang Chun saw this situation without hesitation and pulled the switch of the anti-aircraft gun!

  One after another, the anti-aircraft shells were fired out, and in an instant, the Japanese tanks that were close at hand were shot into sieves. In about twenty minutes, a squadron of Japanese tanks was completely destroyed in front of the position of Dashan mouth.