Chapter 7: The Bloody Battle of Kōmon (Part One)

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  Wang Changhai's 217th Regiment was racing along the mountain road, and Xifengkou Town was already in sight.

  Soldiers from the 19th Regiment of Wan Fuku Rin's division came running back in an endless stream, dragging their rifles behind them, wearing their hats askew, and with the leggings on their feet all loose and sloppy.

  He grabbed a military officer and asked: "What's going on ahead? Why are you retreating?"

  That soldier glanced at the company commander with a slanted gaze, chuckled and said, "How would I know? Others ran, so I followed suit. If your 29th Army can make it, then you go ahead!"

  After finishing speaking, he broke free from the long arm that had been holding his arm and ran far away.

  Staring at his back for a long time, he spat viciously on the ground: "Pfft, scum!"

  Wang Changhai rode up on horseback from behind and asked: "What's the situation?"

  He shook his head and cursed, "This Wan Fu Lin's turtle grandson's troops are really nothing. We haven't even arrived yet and they've all run away. If the devils come up now, we'll be in trouble!"

  Just then, a rumbling sound came from afar, starting out faint but growing clearer and closer.

  Wang Changhai took the binoculars from the guard and looked in the direction of the sound. Through the binoculars, he could see a thick cloud of dust rising high on the mountain road in the distance. Underneath the dust, something seemed to be approaching quickly. Behind it, there seemed to be a large group of moving objects following.

  The rumbling sound grew louder and the ground trembled slightly, and in Wang Changhai's binoculars, it was already clear what was under the dust.

  "Armored vehicle!"

  Wang Changhai took a sharp breath in.

  They had expected that even if the devils came to Xifengkou, under the resistance of Wan Fulin's troops at Mengzi Ridge, they would still have half an hour to take over. Unexpectedly, Wan Fulin's troops had already retreated before they arrived. The devils occupied Mengzi Ridge unimpeded and approached the mouth and Xifengkou fortress earlier than expected by half an hour.

  "Hurry up! Faster!" Wang Changhai roared, leading the charge towards Xifengkou Town.

  On the mountain road, Wan Fukuin's troops swarmed like locusts, densely packed and surging backwards, occupying seven or eight tenths of the narrow mountain road. The 217th Regiment led by Wang Changhai was blocked on the road, making it extremely difficult to advance, and could only slowly move forward in the crowd.

  The Japanese armored vehicle came to a halt, its black cannon muzzles slowly turning to aim at the fleeing soldiers.

  "Bang!"

  A dull thud, the armored vehicle's cumbersome body suddenly lurched backward, a fiery glow spewing from the muzzle as the shell landed amidst the fleeing crowd.

  "Boom!" Within a range of over ten square meters, the shockwave swept away everything. The massive explosive force sent more than a dozen crowded fleeing soldiers flying into the air, where they disintegrated into mangled body parts.

  "Run!" The troops retreating down from Wan Fulin's position were frightened out of their wits, crazily rushing to the rear. Anyone who was in front, even comrades in the same trench, would unhesitatingly swing their rifle butts, and for a time many people were trampled to the ground, then instantly stomped into a bloody pulp by numerous feet.

  Dozens of armored vehicles' cannons started firing, and the Japanese artillerymen also rushed forward, setting up 60mm mortars on the ground, skillfully adjusting the rangefinder, aiming at Chinese soldiers in the distance.

  Wang Changhai furiously roared, snatched a light machine gun from a nearby machine gunner, and fired a burst at the retreating fleeing soldiers in front of him, and seven or eight soldiers fell to the ground.

  The fleeing soldiers were all stunned, standing there in a daze, staring at the submachine gun in Wang Changhai's hand, his face full of anger.

  Glaring at the group of deserters who had brought shame to China, Wang Changhai shouted sternly, "All of you retreat from both sides of the road and give us way in the middle. Anyone who blocks our advance will be killed without mercy!"

  They looked at the light machine gun in Wang Changhai's hand, and then at the soldiers of the 217th Regiment who had raised their guns behind him. The fleeing troops hesitated for a moment, automatically moved to the side of the road, and ran back.

  With the vanguard setting an example, the retreating troops behind also felt that they had been given a way out, and Wang Changhai's advance speed increased significantly.

  The Japanese army rushed towards Xifengkou Town, and the vanguard had approached within less than 500 meters outside Xifengkou.

  Wang Changhai looked around at the terrain, turned around and shouted: "The 3rd battalion 11th company, you immediately rush to the Xiaojifengkou outside the mountain pass on the north of the town highway, I want you to pin it down!"

  "Squad leader, rest assured, even if we're down to the last man, I won't let our position fall!" The company commander responded with a single word, then shouted to his soldiers: "Everyone, throw away everything you're carrying except your guns and ammunition!"

  At one time, backpacks flew wildly, warriors carried guns and followed the company commander to rush towards Xiaoxifengkou.

  "9th Company, rush to Taoshan west of Xifengkou and occupy the Great Wall positions there."

  "10th company, you will be stationed at the Tucheng Fort in Xifengkou Town!"

  "Commander of the First Camp, the defense of Iron Gate Pass is now in your hands. If it's lost, you're the one to blame!"

  Under the arrangement of Wang Changhai, each battalion quickly took action and ran to their respective positions. Wang Changhai led the remaining company to take charge of several collapsed sections of the Great Wall between Iron Gate Pass and Xifengkou.

  For a time, the battlefield was filled with smoke and people's heads were crowded together.

  Zhao Dengyu and Qin Yang arrived outside the command post, gazing out at the distant battlefield.

  Qin Yang knew that the brutal battle of Xifengkou had broken out, and in the near future, countless bodies would fall on this Ji North fortress, and hot blood would dye this land red.

  From now on, the names of Xifengkou and the 29th Army will be forever engraved in the history of the Chinese nation.

  Zhao Dengyu gazed through the telescope at the distant battle, and every time a warrior fell in the smoke and blood, his heart would violently throb.

  He never regarded these soldiers as mere symbols of troops, but treated them as his own brothers, and it was truly heart-wrenching to see them fall in the fierce battle.

  Wan Leng stood beside Qin Yang, standing with his hands behind his back, the long strip of luggage that never left his side slanting across his back. His eyes were filled with shock.

  Although he had also killed many people, it was different from the scene of a war with thousands of people. The cruelty of war was far beyond what could be compared to the killings in the jianghu.

  The scene of bullets flying horizontally, smoke filling the air, and broken bodies flying wildly in the sky is hard for someone who has not experienced it personally to bear at once.

  Wan Lai's voice suppressed the feeling of wanting to vomit in his heart, and he turned back to look at the special forces soldiers behind Qin Yang, not daring to hesitate.

  The special forces soldiers wore special uniforms, helmets on their heads, and SOMI 1931 submachine guns across their chests. They stood there like nails, as if the bloody scene in front of them had no effect on them at all.

  The sound of the crowd was secretly admiring, Qin Yang didn't know how they were trained, these people were simply professional killing machines. He had fought with them several times, although those team members were not as good at hand-to-hand combat as him, but if their tactics were combined, it also made him feel thorny.

  "Brother Zhao, shall I bring a special forces team to provide support?" Qin Yang asked.

  Looking at the fierce battle in the distance, Qin Yang felt that all the blood in his body was boiling, and his soul seemed to be screaming.

  A true warrior always yearns for the battlefield.

  Zhao Dengyu looked at Qin Yang and shook his head, smiling: "It's not time to use you guys yet, you're my trump card, how can I reveal it so easily!"

  Qin Yang had no choice but to put his idea of going to war on hold for the time being.

  The battlefield has already fallen into a white heat.

  The three battalions of the 217th Regiment charged forward like fierce tigers, quickly reaching their own positions, placing various weapons on the fortifications, and transport soldiers putting down boxes of ammunition on the ground, opening wooden crates, distributing hand grenades and bullets to the hands of the fighters.

  "Hurry up, hurry up, be quick about it, the devils are coming right away!"

  Captain Shi Zhen-gang walked back and forth on the battlefield, inspecting the configuration of firepower points while shouting loudly. As the main defensive position at Xifengkou Town, it was definitely a key target for the Japanese army's attack, and would soon face fierce attacks from the enemy. Therefore, every improvement in the defensive deployment gave the soldiers a little more hope for survival.

  The Japanese armored vehicles and mortars below the mountain roared almost simultaneously, shells arcing through the air with a sharp whistling sound, falling on the Ji Fengkou town earthwork like raindrops.

  The entire battlefield was shrouded in shell fragments and smoke for a time.

  Some soldiers who were hit by bullets were almost instantly thrown into the air and then rolled down, their bodies becoming mangled beyond recognition.

  The bombardment lasted for over ten minutes before gradually becoming less intense.

  The cannon fire extended to the rear of the earthwork's two wings, while the Japanese soldiers rushed forward along the slope, yelling and forming a scattered line, with small flags fluttering on their bayonets.

  Shi Zhen-gang lifted his head from the rubble, shaking off the dust on his head. His ears were still ringing from the explosion. He turned to look at the soldiers beside him. During the previous bombardment, the soldiers had been lying flat on the stony ground with no cover whatsoever. In just ten short minutes, a third of them had already been injured or killed.

  He reached out to pull open the machine gunner who had been shot in half, Shi Zhenlei picked up the machine gun and shouted to the surviving deputy shooter: "Load the bullets!"

  The deputy shooter quickly took out the ammunition belt from the ammunition box, stuck one end into the gun's feed port, and then held up the other end with his hand, and stuck the latch of another ammunition belt on this one.

  "Crack"

  Shi Zhen-gang reached out to pull the bolt, loading the bullet, and shouted at the soldiers: "Get them closer before shooting, no one is allowed to fire without my order!"

  The warriors fell silent, their guns trained on the approaching Japanese soldiers.

  500 meters

  ……

  400 meters

  ……

  One hundred meters

  Shi Zhen Gang still didn't move, as if he was a rock lying there.

  There were only eighty meters left, and the warriors could clearly see the sun emblem on the Japanese soldier's helmet. Shi Zhen-gang still didn't fire his gun, and some of the soldiers' palms were sweating with tension.

  Finally, when the devils walked to seventy meters away, Shi Zhen-gang's heavy machine gun fired, angry flames drew a white line, shooting towards the Japanese soldiers.

  At the same time, machine guns on both wings almost simultaneously sounded, and a hail of bullets swept down the mountain.

  The Japanese soldiers fell down like cut rice stalks, and the remaining ones first retreated backward, then shouted and rushed forward again.

  The guns on the position fired together under the signal of Shi Zhen's machine gun, suppressing the Japanese soldiers 50 meters away and unable to move forward.

  Seeing this, the Japanese army's mortar team quickly adjusted the gun distance and carefully loaded the mortar shells.

  The 29th Army's position was again shrouded in smoke and fog, and the machine guns on both flanks fell silent.

  Shi Zhen-gang looked at the Japanese mortar below the mountain, then looked at the increasingly close enemy, drew his big knife from behind and shouted: "Fix bayonets, prepare for close combat!"

  The warriors one after another drew out their big knives from behind, unscrewed the hand grenades beside them, with the fuse rings hanging on their little fingers, staring at the charging Japanese soldiers.

  Something came up today, so this chapter is late, but there's still another one tonight, friends who like it can take a look at that time, remember to collect and recommend!