Chapter 24: The Legend of the Sniper God

  At that moment, both Honten Kenjirō and Tamon Jirō were stunned. After a while, Honten Kenjirō, who had come back to life, said seriously: "Tamon-san, I think we should cooperate! I'll gather the good shooters in the unit, and have the ordinary soldiers charge forward to cover the snipers behind them. What do you think?"

  "Let's go west! It seems that this is the only way!" As soon as he said that, Tamonjiro immediately ordered his staff to select! Just as Hokenjiro and Tamonjiro were selecting sharpshooters, the 8th Division arrived from Korea. The commander of the 8th Division, Yagyu Takaki, looked at the map and said: "The whole army will bypass Beidaying, and directly occupy Fengtian!"

  After hearing the order of Yagyu Takashi, the Japanese 8th Division quickly changed its marching route. After a while, a soldier from the scouting party ran to Yagyu's front and said: "Division Commander, according to the introduction of the engineer in front! The Chinese have laid large-scale mines on the road ahead! Now the engineers are still clearing the mines!"

  "Hachi-gara!" Ryota Yagyu exclaimed in anger after hearing the soldier's report: "Order the entire engineer corps to mobilize! Speed up the mine clearance!"

  After receiving the order, the engineering brigade of the 8th Division immediately ran forward with mine detectors. At the same time, snipers lurking near the willow river began their hunting action!

  Yang Chunxiao was constantly searching for valuable targets with his sniper rifle, when Yang Chunlei, who was in the same group as Yang Chunxiao, suddenly said: "At 12 o'clock direction, a Japanese army lieutenant colonel has been found!" As soon as Yang Chunxiao heard Yang Chunlei's words, he immediately adjusted the sniper scope and found the target. At this time, Yang Chunlei reported: "The target is 600 meters away, with an east-southeast wind of 3 meters per second."

  According to Yang Chunlei's report, Yang Chunxiao quickly adjusted the sniper rifle in his hand. Just as the Japanese lieutenant colonel turned around, Yang Chunxiao pulled the trigger. A "bang" was heard, and a bullet accurately exploded the Japanese lieutenant colonel's head! (Note: Hu Lieyang taught all soldiers how to make dum-dum bullets during peacetime training!)

  The Japanese army near the Japanese lieutenant colonel immediately fell into a panic, firing indiscriminately in all directions. After shooting for a while, the Japanese army cleaned up the body of the Japanese lieutenant colonel and immediately returned to its original state.

  Just as the Japanese army relaxed its vigilance, the sound of rifles firing in succession rang out. After each shot, a Japanese soldier fell to the ground. Suddenly, the atmosphere among the Japanese soldiers along the railway became tense. Yang Chunxiao saw that there were no targets worth attacking and immediately sent signals to his comrades around him!

  After receiving Yang Chunxiao's signal, the ten snipers quickly withdrew from Liutiao River. In a forest not far from Liutiao River, the ten snipers gathered together. Yang Chunxiao opened up the map and took a look before saying: "Let's head in the direction of Fushun now! Who knows, we might run into some good prey!"

  Everyone agreed with Yang Chunxiao's words and marched towards Fushun! An hour later, Yang Chunxiao led his men to the only way from Fushun to Fengtian. Looking at the busy Japanese engineer soldiers, Yang Chunxiao smiled and said: "I didn't expect there would be so many prey here!" He immediately ordered: "Each combat unit is free to find its own prey! Eliminate the Japanese engineer soldiers while selecting officers!"

  Upon receiving Yang Chunxiao's command, the various attack groups immediately dispersed. As soon as they were in position, Yang Chunxiao found her target! After adjusting the sniper scope, Yang Chunxiao said: "Chunlei, your angle of fire is just right! The target is at two o'clock, a major general, with a northeast wind blowing at 4 meters per second!"

  Upon hearing Yang Chunxiao's words, Yang Chunlei quickly adjusted the sniper rifle in his hand and found the target. After finding the target, Yang Chunlei did not hesitate to pull the trigger of the sniper rifle. After shooting, without waiting for the results, Yang Chunxiao immediately took Yang Chunlei to relocate their position. Just after they relocated, a hail of bullets flew over the place where they had originally been hiding.

  Just as Yang Chunxiao and Yang Chunlei were relocating, Yang Chunming pulled the trigger in another hidden location. Suddenly, after being ambushed by Yang Chunxiao's sniper team, the commander of the 8th Division, Liu Shengduo, angrily cursed: "What a bunch of cowards! They really dare to fight us with real swords and guns!"

  Snipers hiding in the dark heard the shouting of Yagyū Mutō and suddenly came to life! Because they knew that at this time, only high-ranking commanders of the Japanese army could shout loudly! Next, a sniper rifle began to search for the source of the sound, starting to hunt for prey.

  About ten minutes later, the target finally appeared. Yang Chunxiao looked at the target and said faintly: "The position here is not ideal! How about you?" Yang Chunlei replied softly: "Not good either! But I hit a major general next to him, the position is very good!" After hearing Yang Chunlei's words, Yang Chunxiao thought for a moment and said: "When the guns at other positions start firing, you also open fire!"

  "Got it! Don't worry!" Yang Chunlei said seriously. As soon as Yang Chunlei finished speaking, a crisp gunshot rang out. After hearing the gunshot, Yang Chunlei decisively pulled the trigger. Then, through the sniper scope, Yang Chunxiao saw that both targets had fallen to the ground.

  The surrounding soldiers reacted quickly and surrounded the two wounded Japanese officers. Then they started firing indiscriminately in all directions!

  During the Japanese army's sweep, ten snipers took advantage of the Japanese gunfire as cover and retreated behind thirty or forty laborers. Yang Chunxiao gave the signal to retreat! Upon hearing the signal, the ten snipers slowly crawled out of the range of the Japanese firepower. As Yang Chunxiao and the other snipers left, a Japanese military doctor ran to the side of the commander who had been shot, looked at him, shook his head, removed his hat, and said calmly: "The division commander and chief of staff have been killed!"

  After hearing the military doctor's words, the 31st Brigade Commander, Kobayashi Shōji, who was on the side, angrily drew his pistol and pointed it at the military doctor's head, saying: "You quickly save the Division Commander and Chief of Staff! Otherwise, you'll die!" The military doctor, hearing Kobayashi Shōji's words, scornfully said: "You failed to protect the Division Commander and Chief of Staff, this is your dereliction of duty! You should commit seppuku as atonement!"

  Kobayashi Shōji heard the military doctor's words and hung his head in shame, walking like a zombie to an empty place. After a while, Kobayashi Shōji faced east, knelt on the ground, pulled out his command knife, and prepared to commit seppuku. Fujiwara Masatoshi, the commander of the 17th Brigade, rushed over and stopped him, saying: "Kobayashi-kun, what are you doing?! The division commander's and chief of staff's deaths have nothing to do with you! It was just that the Chinese army was too cunning! You still want to avenge the division commander and chief of staff!"

  Kobayashi Island was suddenly awakened by the words of Tōjū Fujishima, and he said to Tōjū Fujishima with shame: "Thank you, Mr. Fujishima!" After hearing Kobayashi Island's words, Tōjū Fujishima nodded and said: "I have already sent a telegram about this matter to General Honjō Shigeru, the commander of the Kwantung Army!"

  Just as Tōjō Masanobu was talking to Kobayashi and Shima, Honjō Shigeru received a telegram from Tōjō. Looking at the telegram, Honjō said calmly: "How many divine marksmen does the Chinese army have?!" Hearing Honjō's words, Ishiwara Kanji seriously said: "Commander, it's not about how many divine marksmen the Chinese army has now, I think you should report this to Tokyo immediately! Let Tokyo dispatch a new commander and chief of staff for the 8th Division! Otherwise, the combat effectiveness of the 8th Division will definitely decline!"

  "Thanks to Ishihara's reminder, I almost made a big mistake!" Saying that, Motozuka Shigeru called his secretary into the office and said: "Send this telegram directly to Tokyo as it is!"

  After the Imperial General Headquarters received a telegram from Honma Masaharu, they immediately convened a meeting. Half an hour later, War Minister Tojo Hideki walked into Emperor Hirohito's study with documents in hand and said: "Your Majesty, the commander and chief of staff of the 8th Division were killed in action in China! This is our list of candidates for the new commander and chief of staff of the 8th Division!"

  Emperor Hirohito looked at the Minister of War, General Sadao Araki, with a blank expression and said: "In just a few days, our empire has lost so many excellent military officers! Now it's another division commander and chief of staff!" Hearing Emperor Hirohito's roar, General Sadao Araki lowered his head and let Emperor Hirohito scold him.

  After a while, Emperor Hirohito slowly picked up the document handed over by Kudō Kyūichi on his desk and said after reading it: "I agree to appoint Yokoyama Seizaburō as the commander of the 8th Division and Kakuno Takeshi as the chief of staff of the 8th Division!" After signing the imperial edict, Emperor Hirohito said: "Let them go to China immediately to take office!"

  "Hey!" Kōdō Kiichi turned around and left with the imperial edict. At the same time, the commander of the 6th Division, Hontani Kenjirō, looked at the fortifications in front of him at Sayama-zaki and said after thinking for a moment: "Tamon, have you seen the high ground on the left?" When he heard Hontani's words, Tamon Jirō immediately picked up his binoculars and observed for a while before saying: "Hontani-san, I think we can make good use of that place. If we use howitzers to attack the fortifications of the Shanhai Pass from there, maybe we can open up the road to Fengtian soon!"

  Just as the Japanese army was considering using the terrain to attack Jishan Miaozi, Hua Lieyang used binoculars to observe the surrounding situation and said: "Ma Shu, I think the little devils have thought of using the high ground on our right flank to suppress our firepower!" When Ma Longhai heard Hua Lieyang's words, he smiled and said: "Don't worry! We've buried a lot of landmines there! If the little devils want to stand on that successfully, they'll have to pay a heavy price!"

  After a while, Liu Changgeng walked to the side of Hua Lieyang and Ma Longhai and said: "General, our casualties have started to increase over the past two days! If we continue to fight like this, our casualties will increase!" When he heard Liu Changgeng's voice, Ma Longhai looked at Hua Lieyang and asked: "How many losses?!"

  "We have a total of 1,200 people in our reinforced battalion! Now the number of casualties and those seriously injured who cannot fight has already reached one-fifth!" Liu Changgeng said calmly. Upon hearing Liu Changgeng's words, Hua Lieyang thought for a moment and said seriously: "Uncle Liu, we are holding on now, and the little devils (Japanese) are also holding on! As long as we get through this period of time, we will have the initiative in all aspects!"

  "We all know that! But we're afraid these brothers will be wiped out! You don't have the capital to make a comeback!" Liu Changgeng said worriedly. At this moment, a soldier shouted: "The devils are coming from behind us!" Upon hearing the shout, Hua Lieyang picked up the sniper rifle beside him and ran towards the back with his men.