Chapter 9: The Collision of Great Han Soul and "Great Harmony Soul" (Part 2)

  When Gao Shiying led his makeshift team to the front of the village, the artillery fire from both sides had thinned out. After such a long battle between China and Japan, neither side had many shells left, so the frequency of the bombardment naturally decreased.

  In fact, there is no valuable target in the front yard of Zhanggou Village anymore. Whether it's the Chinese garrison or the Japanese army, they are all crowded together in a small area the size of a palm, and shells coming in have long since lost their accuracy, so they don't provide any substantial help to the battlefield situation either.

  Gao Shiying had a relatively high estimate of the cruelty of the battle at Qianzhuangkou, but seeing with his own eyes a scene that should not have appeared in human society still shocked him.

  The battlefield has nothing prominent on the ground, not even a complete dry branch can be found, let alone an intact corpse with hands and feet. The entire surface of the earth has been loosened by thousands of shells fired by both sides, and when walking on the ground, people's feet would unknowingly sink into the muddy soil soaked in blood and water. In this less than 5,000 square meter position, more than 800 soldiers from both China and Japan have fallen, but on the ground, there is only a pool of blood and scattered limbs.

  That was the battlefield, and the legendary eighteen levels of hell were nothing more than that. Gao Shiying couldn't imagine how a newly formed team like Cheng Zhi's could withstand such intense fighting for nearly five hours. As he thought about this, a long-forgotten feeling suddenly surged up in his heart, and the song that had once stirred his soul echoed in his ears once again.

  "Muzzle outward, march forward in unison, do not fire at the common people, do not harm our own men. We are an iron army, we are an iron troop, upholding the Chinese nation, forever a free man." (Song of the Northern Expedition Army)

  "It's been a whole decade, what have I been doing in these ten years? The fiery passion of those years, the fervor in the midst of war, I've almost forgotten. In these ten years, I've been muddling along, thinking only of promotion and wealth, living without knowing why, but feeling more and more listless."

  Seeing these brothers fighting to the death with the little devils, Gao Siying thought of the year when he and his brothers were in the Northern Expedition and Eastern Campaign, that kind of blood-soaked earth and the spirit of China.

  For a moment, Gao Shiying felt his whole body filled with that unspeakable power of years ago.

  When Gao Shiying found Cheng Jiaqi, he couldn't believe that the person in front of him, who was covered in blood and mud with a red clay-like complexion, could be the refined and elegant Sixth Master Cheng.

  "Brother Zeemin, (Gao Shiying's nickname for Zeemin, which was given to him by a surnamed Jiang party representative in the Northern Expedition Army back then) have all the people who can be mobilized come up?"

  "Deputy commander, except for the engineering company and logistics department personnel who stayed in Xuzhou, those bastards from the cavalry company still have no idea where they are going. I've brought all the able-bodied men of the detachment to you." Standing upright, speaking with a hard tone, Gao Shiying seemed to have returned to her former self as a member of the Wuhan City assault team.

  Cheng Jiaji looked at his subordinate, who had always been disheartened, but was now rallying on this cruel and bloody battlefield that had made most people lose their color. It seemed that old soldiers were indeed different, no matter how down they were in peacetime, they would immediately show their unique psychological endurance in the face of blood and fire.

  "Chief of Staff, take some men to support Ben San over there, it's more urgent than here." After the battle situation could no longer be effectively commanded, Yu Juncai and Cheng Jiaji divided their labor and cooperated, each responsible for one corner of the battlefield. Cheng Jiaji's side was still okay, at least they could maintain a relatively clear line of defense, while Yu Juncai's side had already become entangled with the enemy in close combat, making it impossible to distinguish between friend and foe.

  Gao Shiying led his hundred or so men to charge towards the western position under Yu Juncai's responsibility, and in a short distance of less than 100 meters, more than 30 people fell down under the dense hail of Japanese bullets. Five or six machine gunners wanted to retreat on the spot, fearing that it would affect others, Gao Shiying had no choice but to shoot them dead on the spot.

  Captain Yamaki had already given up hope of achieving today's combat goals. It was almost five o'clock, and dawn was approaching. Even if the entire Chinese army at Qianzhuang were to be annihilated, Captain Yamaki's battalion, which had been reduced to a mere fraction of its original strength, would not have the power to hunt down those high-ranking Chinese officers who had scattered in all directions.

  "Commander, our battalion should regroup and withdraw from the battle. In another hour or two, the Chinese reinforcements will definitely arrive, and by then our entire battalion will be annihilated!"

  Lieutenant Naito was the battalion's operations officer, and this young officer from a noble family had always been critical of the battalion commander's style of command, which never avoided casualties. Especially today, when the commander was blinded by the huge victory in front of him, he led the troops to fight hard and suffer heavy losses. Lieutenant Naito, who came from a famous family and considered himself an intelligent general, had always looked down on Lieutenant-Colonel Yamaki, who was born into a low-ranking family without a surname before the Meiji era. His dissatisfaction with Lieutenant-Colonel Yamaki had reached its peak. If it weren't for the strict hierarchy in the Japanese army, Lieutenant Naito might have already taken down his "foolish" superior and led the troops to retreat from the battlefield.

  "Kitajou, take the messenger soldier and report the battle situation to Sakamoto. You should understand that it's no longer a question of whether or not we can annihilate the Chinese Third Army Corps headquarters and capture the high-ranking officer sent by the Fifth War Zone commander to inspect the battlefield. It's already a given that he exists." Looking at Kitajou, who still had a puzzled expression, Lieutenant Colonel Kinoshita couldn't help but think with a wry smile in his heart, "The Great Japanese Empire has too many young and radical officers like Kitajou. In their eyes, conquering China would only take three to six months, but once the two armies enter a stalemate, they're always the first to lose patience." But this Kitajou Tsuneo was the second son of an earl's family, and he couldn't afford to die. It was better for him not to cause trouble for Sakamoto.

  "Kotaro, don't you think that here, the souls of two nations are colliding!" Just as Kotaro was starting to understand Yamaki's words, something unfortunate happened to them.

  A low rumbling sound like thunder came from behind the Japanese army, and Hijikata and Yamamoto's faces changed color at the same time. As professional soldiers, they naturally understood what this sound meant.

  This sound can only indicate that behind the Japanese army, a cavalry group of more than 100 people is rushing towards the Japanese army's position!