Chapter Fifty-One: Slaughter

  At this time, the sky on the north bank of the river is very red, and the afterglow of the setting sun hangs on the treetops of the forest. If there was no war smoke, it would be great to have such a peaceful time!

  Ma Zhan Shan felt somewhat hot and dry as he entered the front-line trenches.

  On the battlefield, he saw the bodies of our soldiers and enemy soldiers lying on the unswept battlefield. This tragic scene made it clear that a fierce battle had taken place here just a few minutes ago.

  The gunfire had temporarily stopped. The garrison was busy clearing the battlefield, rescuing injured soldiers, and hastily burying dead soldiers, but Zhao Xiaofeng's order was: Immediately seize the enemy's abandoned guns and ammunition!

  Ma Zhan Shan felt a pang of sorrow in his heart: these soldiers were all young, if it weren't for the invasion by foreign enemies, they might be sitting together with their parents and children enjoying family bliss at this time. Now their blood was spilled here, their lives also buried here. The two days of fighting made him suddenly realize that war is tragic and cruel, it is won at the cost of countless unfortunate lives. Chinese soldiers are good, they use their own blood, their own deaths to exchange for the awakening of a stupid government.

  At midnight on this day, the telegram sent by the Japanese army to the highest commander of the Kwantung Army read: Our troops launched a fierce attack on the Chinese army's front-line position at Daxing Station at dawn today. After several hours of bitter fighting, we reached the first line of defense of the Chinese army. The Chinese soldiers had built extremely strong positions in the Daxing position and organized a firepower network with a large number of heavy machine guns and nearly 100 Czech-style light machine guns. After I occupied the Chinese army's position, the Chinese troops organized a dare-to-die team on the front line, while simultaneously launching a counterattack from both wings with a large number of cavalrymen. Deputy Chief of Staff Tayanaka Shinichi and other officers and soldiers were killed in battle. Due to the intense firepower of the Chinese army, reinforcements could not be sent up, so we had no choice but to withdraw from the Daxing Station position that had been breached. We will attack again at dawn tomorrow, and as long as the artillery cooperates effectively, our regiment is fully confident of capturing the Chinese army's Daxing Railway Station position.

  On November 5, the Japanese army retrieved more than 110 trucks of wounded soldiers and corpses in this battle. The Hamamoto Brigade paid an unprecedented price in casualties. After the war, the Japanese side announced that in this campaign, 3,617 Japanese troops were killed and over 1,600 injured; Zhang Haipeng's puppet army had more than 700 casualties.

  The battle on the 5th shocked not only the Kwantung Army but also Japan domestically. The Japanese broadcasting station suddenly changed its tone, saying that the Jiangsu provincial military equipment was outdated and vulnerable to attack just a day before, but then claimed that Ma Zhanshan had new-style armaments and Soviet support, etc., and reports about Ma Zhanshan suddenly increased sharply.

  The commander of the Kwantung Army, Honjō Shigeru, was shocked and rushed to suppress Ma's momentum by urgently dispatching reinforcements from Suiyuan Road overnight and allocating five aircraft for a larger-scale attack.

  "That damned Moron can find ten thousand reasons to shoot him!" Ben Zhuang was furious.

  Although the Japanese army invested nearly 30,000 troops, they still failed to break through the Daxing Railway Station position, which had been flattened by artillery fire. After the artillery fire passed, the defending troops would quickly dig out new trenches and hold their ground like moles.

  Honjō Shigeru's Kwantung Army invaded Jiangqiao, and for two consecutive days, his subordinates suffered heavy casualties. The commander of the multi-divisional army that attacked Jiangqiao was a meritorious minister under Honjō, who had achieved great military exploits. At that time, this devil-like army burned, killed, and looted, as if there were no people in the world, leaving only one or two houses intact wherever they went, and were known as "Devil King Tomen". Therefore, Honjō Shigeru entrusted the heavy responsibility of advancing to northern Manchuria to Tomen. On that day, Tomen held his head high, with a complacent expression: "Guaranteeing the occupation of half of northern Manchuria within a month." Unexpectedly, Tomen's army of 50,000 men was unable to occupy the small Jiangqiao, and nearly 10,000 Kwantung Army officers became ghosts in a foreign land.

  Ben Zhuang Fan's face turned red with anger, and he also turned against Duo Men, ordering him to commit all military forces to take down Jiang Bridge, and telling him that reinforcements would soon be sent from Tao Nan to meet up with him at Jiang Bridge for battle.

  Many doors lost face in front of their superiors and vented their anger on the commander of the 6th Brigade, Hamamoto. The Hamamoto Brigade was the main force attacking Jiangqiao, but he failed to capture Jiangqiao and instead lost almost all his troops at Jiangqiao.

  Furiously angry, Domen shouted at Binbōtan: "You! Are a damned fool! Slap!" A slap on the ear.

  "Hi!"

  "Get out! You're a stupid pig!" Slap!

  "Hi!"

  "Your land! Is a mess! Slap!" Another slap.

  "Hi!"

  Hamamoto is now like a wooden puppet, being beaten by multiple doors and falling all over the place.

  Many doors were fired enough, and then he was angry: "Tomorrow, I will add 10,000 troops to you. If the Daxing Station is still not captured on the 6th, it will be handled by military law!"

  "Hey!" The timid Hamada finally secretly let out a rough breath, knowing that his head wouldn't fall off for the time being.

  However, military orders are like mountains, and Binben knows that Duomen is a killing devil. If he can't take down Daxing Station on the 6th, what awaits him will no longer be Duomen's scolding, but military law enforcement. That bastard Duomen will not let him off.

  Himeno shivered at the command of the blood-red-eyed multitude. His intuition told him that not fighting would mean death, and only victory could give him a chance to survive.

  The next morning, the commander of the Tomen Division personally went to the front line to direct the battle.

  He called Hombu again to the command center: "Mr. Hombu, do you know who is the commander of the Chinese army?"

  "Ma Zhan Shan, Commander of Heihe Garrison in China." Binmoto didn't understand the implication of the division commander's words and responded like this.

  "Hmph! Ma Zhan Shan, a military man from the green forest, has actually conquered you!" The commander of the Doorman Corps couldn't help but sneer at Commander Hinomoto, "If you can't take down the defensive position on the north shore of the bridge today, what will be waiting for you won't be a shining rank, I'll reward you with a seppuku sword, hmph!"

  "Yes!" Losers will always be the target of ridicule.

  Actually, last night, Binben almost didn't close his eyes. He mobilized all kinds of military weapons, long and short-range artillery, armored vehicles, and wanted to smash Daxing Station before attacking.

  At 5 am, the sky was just bright, and Binben began his cruel plan: to divide the 30,000 troops under his command into six teams, all of which were thrown into the fierce battle for Daxing Station.

  Under the support of 400 large cannons, 6 aircraft and 20 armored vehicles, he ordered soldiers to urge the captured civilians to set up a pontoon bridge by force, and those who were slightly slow would be stabbed to death with bayonets. At the same time, the Japanese army mobilized more than 10,000 reinforcements from the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, gathered more than 3,000 Zhang Haipeng's puppet troops, and used new-style weapons to launch a fierce attack on the defenders' main position at Jiang Bridge in the direction of Daxing.

  In the sky, only a dozen or so fighter planes were constantly bombing the positions on the south bank of the Yangtze River; On the ground, artillery fired at its strongest intensity, firing one shell every three minutes, pounding the defenders' positions like a string of pearls; On the river surface, more than 50 transport ships loaded with Japanese troops, crossed from both wings in a pincer movement, and pontoon bridges were also built under the bayonets of the Japanese army.

  This was the most intense bombardment since the 4th.

  After an hour of fighting, more than 10,000 Japanese reinforcements from the Fourth Route Army had arrived at the north bank of the river and merged with Zhang Haipeng's hastily assembled troops of over 3,000 as a follow-up force to launch a strong attack on the Chinese defenders. Despite the defenders' desperate fight, they were unable to stop the Japanese from setting up a pontoon bridge, and the enemy poured onto the defenders' positions from the bridge. The planes in the sky were bombing wildly, and the artillery on the ground was pouring shells into the defenders' positions, making the situation extremely critical. Upon hearing this, Zhao Xiaofeng immediately dispatched people to transmit his orders:

  1. The artillery battalion will immediately annihilate all enemy aircraft! All troops are not allowed to retreat without orders, and those who do so will be subject to military law;

  Secondly, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Tang Fengjia was in charge of the left wing, and Chief of Staff Jin Kui Bi was in charge of the right wing.

  Third, the suicide squad must blow up the floating bridge!

  "Fire!" With Huang Yuehai's order, the remaining 35 mortars, more than 60 artillery pieces and over a hundred anti-aircraft machine guns immediately let out a thrilling roar.

  In no time, the six Japanese planes that were originally extremely arrogant disappeared completely in the sky above the position. When the defenders learned that the remaining enemy planes had escaped, the morale of the troops was immediately boosted. Although the entire line of positions was almost destroyed by artillery fire, the officers and soldiers did not retreat half a step, engaging in close combat with the enemy, fighting desperately, and the battle situation was extremely brutal.

  There are constant reports from the battlefield. Zhao Xiao Feng asked Xu Bao Zhen: "How much longer can our army hold out on the front line?"

  Xu Baozhen looked at Zhao Xiaofeng and said, "Daxing Station is surrounded by enemies on three sides. The defenders' positions are constantly being breached by the enemy, and after several intense hand-to-hand combats, they were recaptured by the defenders. However, the Japanese army has an obvious advantage, and the defenders have suffered heavy casualties."

  The situation was extremely critical, and on the smoky front line, two infantry regiments led by Wu De-lin had been added to the original cavalry regiment of Salipu, the Guards Regiment, and two battalions of the 2nd Infantry Regiment that started the battle at Jiangqiao. Under Zhao Xiaofeng's command, the morale of the officers and soldiers was greatly boosted, and they fought desperately with the Japanese army.

  Many doors are also crazy today: "If we don't take down Daxing Station, we will not withdraw our troops." He has put all his combat troops on the front line, and he does not believe that the Chinese soldier's position is a copper wall and iron wall.

  The Japanese artillery fired at the position of Daxing Station in a mountain-shaking manner.

  "The artillery fire is too intense!" Zhao Xiao Feng was pushed into the trench by Colonel Sali Bu. The deafening bombing sound made it impossible to hear each other's voices even if they were close, Sali Bu shouted loudly: "The enemy's artillery fire is too strong, infantry may be approaching our position, I'll take the cavalry to deal with them!"

  It was nearly 10 am, and the Japanese army had a slight advantage. Zhao Xiaofeng immediately assessed the situation and thought about how to suddenly attack the weak points of the enemy army to relieve the pressure on the main position.

  "Good!" Zhao Xiaofeng thought for a moment and ordered the cavalry to be the vanguard, circling around to surround the Japanese army at Jiang Bridge.

  Sari Bulu led his troops to swiftly bypass the enemy in front, seeing the enemy soldiers swarming to the front of the Daxing array, drilling into the pocket, and quietly cutting off the enemy from the side wings, and ordered the cavalry to be ready to attack at any time.

  At this time, hundreds of dare-to-die troops rushed out, many people pulled the fuse of the explosive package in advance, and perished together with the invading Japanese. Finally, under the cover of machine gun positions, they opened a gap, blowing up the pontoon bridge that the Japanese had just built.

  "Good!" Upon hearing this news, Zhao Xiao Feng slammed his hand on the table and said: "Tell them to go and never come back!"

  After Saribai left, Zhao Xiaofeng immediately ordered the infantry and artillery to cover and cooperate with Saribai's cavalry regiment. As soon as he finished arranging, Wu Delin's team brought the captured "tongue" to the front of Zhao Xiaofeng, led by the guard reconnaissance platoon leader.

  "Bang," the reconnaissance squad leader of the guard troops threw the Japanese soldier carrying a radio transmitter in front of Zhao Xiaofeng. Zhao Xiaofeng immediately interrogated him in Japanese.

  Xie Ke was shocked standing beside him, he couldn't believe what this young commander had in his mind, why did he seem to know everything! But the Japanese soldier didn't say a word.

  He suddenly turned around and, before others could understand what was happening, violently smashed his head into a large rock. Instantly, his skull shattered, and red and white things gushed out. Zhao Xiao Feng shook his head regretfully at Xie Ke and said: "Just found someone who can breathe, and he's gone to be a martyr."

  Xie Ke asked the reconnaissance team leader: "How did you catch him?"

  The scout squad leader said: "It was Wu Delin, the regimental commander, who sent him over. They said this little devil was squatting in a smoke-filled place sending messages and got caught, Commander Wu asked to have him brought here for you to interrogate personally."

  Zhao Xiaofeng suddenly realized: "No wonder the enemy's artillery is so accurate! I heard that our own artillery position has also suffered losses."

  Zhao Xiaofeng immediately ordered the reconnaissance platoon leader to report to Wu Delin and Xu Baozhen, the regimental commanders, that the enemy artillery had guides, their guiding group was hiding in our army's position with a radio station, and immediately sent scouts to search.

  At this time, the northern guard army's position suddenly shouted and killed, shaking the sky and earth. The defenders launched another charge, the artillery blocked the river surface, suppressing the enemy's firepower on the other side, and the infantry quickly surrounded the pseudo-army that had crossed the river under the cover of both wings. Zhang Haipeng's pseudo-army was not worth fighting? After a few minutes of hand-to-hand combat, more than 3,000 Japanese troops retreated to the edge of the river bridge, but the pontoon bridge had been destroyed and they had no way to escape.

  Sari Bo led hundreds of cavalrymen, suddenly appearing in the rear and on the flanks of the Japanese army, instantly throwing the enemy into disarray. Turning around, they hastily countered the surging war horses and swords. At this time, the front-line troops of the defending army also sprang up from the dust that had been thrown down, and for a moment the entire battlefield was filled with the sounds of killing.