Chapter 38: A Shocking Explosion (Three)

  Compared to the deputy commander of the garrison in Yeefeng Town, Kiyo Matsumoto, the first deputy commander of the devils, Ishii Masami, was not as shrewd. He was originally a university professor of physics and although he was also a supporter of the holy war, he was not enthusiastic about the war and sometimes showed kindness to Chinese students. He appeared to be very benevolent and indeed had a kind heart, under his restraint, many civilians were spared from slaughter, but he himself also received a lot of criticism and attack.

  He was reading the "Shu Er" chapter of Confucius' "Analects", when gunfire came from a nearby village, Creek Village. He put down his glasses, which he used to read with one hand holding the book and the other holding the glasses, a habit formed after years of teaching. A few steps out of the house, he listened carefully for a while before ordering the guards to investigate what was happening. When the guards returned with reports from the sentries outside the village, he picked up the book on his desk again.

  Upon hearing this, he wasn't particularly surprised. The closer he got to China's classical culture, the more he felt that this nation was terrifying - an unbeatable nation, because it possessed both the unyielding spirit of warriors and the gentle elegance of Confucian scholars. With firmness came the courage to stand up and shed blood; with gentleness came the meticulous command of brushstrokes. He ordered one large team to support Xi Li Village, while the rest waited for orders, preparing for battle.

  Yang Jie and his men heard intense gunfire coming from the north of Dongjia House as they approached. It was Fu Mali's unit and the quick reaction force from Ye Feng Town exchanging fire. Matsuda no Suketaka did not expect to encounter so many enemy troops in this triangular encirclement. A company-sized quick reaction force was caught between two fiercely powerful special forces units, with predictable results. After Yang Jie and Yun Zesheng met up, they immediately sent someone to inform Fu Mali and Wang Guixi to prepare for withdrawal. Although it took less than 15 minutes to annihilate the company, it gave the Japanese from Ye Feng Town time to regroup. By the time Kang Nianshan arrived, large numbers of Japanese troops had already poured in from Ye Feng Town and Xiliu Village. The Japanese at Dongjia House had been frantically charging into the breached "hutong" from the start, as the special forces' defense was quite scattered.

  If Yang Jie and his men had arrived five minutes later, the entire special forces elite squad would have been buried in Dongjia Village. Perhaps all of the special forces units would have ceased to exist.

  Just as the Iron Blood Regiment, which was under the most pressure, was about to collapse, the arrival of Yun Ze Sheng and Yang Jie not only dealt an unprecedented blow to the devils, but also made the hearts of the special warfare soldiers suddenly relax, and their combat methods immediately became lively. Earlier, it was necessary to fight to the death to defend this passage. Seeing that their captain was safe and sound, the soldiers immediately entered the role of special warfare, three people in a group, firepower, throwing grenades, sniping, suppressing firepower, grenade-throwing hands directly threw hand grenades onto the devils' heads and exploded, while the sniper followed up with precision kills on devils preparing to counterattack.

  Li Ying followed behind Yang Wei, seeing him quickly withdrawing to the outside of the village, without even firing a shot. He hastily ran to his side and vigilantly surveyed the surroundings. Li Baoguo and Nan Weiren led their special forces troops to disperse and annihilate the devils. Hu Yi and Li Shi brothers were following on Yang Wei's other flank.

  Yang Jie arrived at the village entrance and saw Zhou Shicai, Yu Qinghuai, the deputy commander of the Special Operations Team, and Zhu Dongqin, the political commissar, who had been waiting there all along. Zhu Dongqin was a woman, the only one from the Political Work Group in Yan'an who knew martial arts, and Yang Jie had taken a liking to her, keeping her with the Special Operations Team. Zhou Shicai had been suppressing the demands of various team leaders to charge into the Dong family compound, as they could all hear that the battle at the Dong family compound was not just intense, but also not as easy as they had thought. If Yang Jie didn't come out in three minutes, Zhou Shicai would really have to change all his plans and send troops to join this chaotic battle. He knew it was easy to get into a fight, but to emerge unscathed from such chaos was impossible, and not only could the battle plan not be achieved, but there was also the danger of being wiped out by the enemy.

  Yang Jie's appearance made everyone present breathe a sigh of relief. Zhou Shicai was the first to step forward and tightly grasped Yang Jie's hand, excitedly saying nothing in particular. Since the battle at Xiao Zhuang, Zhou Shicai had an unspoken respect and reliance on Yang Jie and others. Although he himself could hold his own, as long as Yang Jie and the others were at the base, no matter where he was, he felt a sense of security. Tonight, Yang Jie's decision to infiltrate the enemy's lair was originally met with strong opposition from everyone, but Yang Jie's one sentence made them all fall silent: "Who can be more suitable for this special operation than me?"

  Yang Jie is irreplaceable, even Li Baoguo can't sometimes.

  When they returned to the command center, Hu Yizhen went back to the special operations team, and Li's brothers returned to the Sky Battle Team to prepare for battle. Li Ying and Yang Wei held tea cups, exchanged a smile, and this life-and-death situation was already familiar to them. However, every time they came back, their only action was to exchange a smile, then go their separate ways. Li Ying stretched out her hand, tightly grasping Yang Wei's arm, "Just now, I really feared for my life! What about you?"

  "What's wrong?" Yang Jue didn't dodge, he always acted like a gentleman when it came to this. He knew Li Ying truly loved him, despite knowing about Liu Qingqing's existence. Love was just that strange - even though you know you can't have it, your heart still can't let go. Even if it's just a glance, a thought, a word, eye contact, or a light hug, your heart will inexplicably feel happy and relieved. Sometimes he had to indulge Li Ying, otherwise her sadness would bring a lot of trouble, like special forces members sending him emails, or people posting poem-like things online to scold him.

  "I'm afraid we'll both die in this time and space." Li Ying said softly, "I miss my dad a lot, how about you, do you miss her?"

  Yang Jie shook his head, "Qing is a very strong woman, she doesn't need others to worry about her. It's my old mom, I don't know what state she'll be in."

  Li Ying glanced outside, the gunfire was more intense than before, she sat up straight, wanting to speak but hesitated. The command center only had the two of them, Zhou Shi Cai had gone down to the troops, and the guards were all hiding outside at his signal. Li Ying had earned Zhou Shi Cai's respect from the bottom of his heart, a woman who was so capable, and trained special forces soldiers that made those rough-looking men tremble with fear. It was said that some special forces soldiers asked Li Ying to perform a shooting demonstration, but were immediately scolded from behind until their spines hurt, because these special forces soldiers all knew Li Ying's legend - in the Battle of Small Zhou Village, she had shot and killed enemies with her dual guns, every bullet hitting its mark.

  However, he was puzzled by the relationship between Li Ying and Yang Guang. Li Ying loved Yang Guang, which was obvious, but Yang Guang's attitude was too mysterious. Even Chen Zhihao had privately advised Yang Guang not to hurt the girl's heart.

  "The special forces should have withdrawn by now, judging from the sound, it seems like the devils are chasing after them very quickly," Yang Jiong said softly, "come over here."

  "Arrived." A warrior ran over and saluted.

  "Go inform Captain Zhou, use artillery to suppress the devils."

  "Yes!"

  "The devils are bloodthirsty, the more they're beaten, the more it will stimulate their ferocity." Zhou Shicai said as he walked in, "This way, it's easier to lure them into our encirclement." He seemed to be explaining something to his staff officer.

  Commissar Gu Nai Fu was a tall and thin man, wearing a pair of glasses for nearsightedness, with an air of bookishness. He said to Yang Jing and the others, "Captain, the enemy has less than two-thirds of their original strength, but they are not advancing fiercely anymore, and there are signs that they are developing towards both wings."