Chapter 1 9:45 AM, December 14, 1937

Li Zhize, the company commander, sent out Li Heyu's squad to scout in the direction of Nanjing and discovered that the main force was only six kilometers away from Chunhua.

He immediately turned his horse around and led his thirteen soldiers back.

Liu Wan, Liu Yong, Li Zhize, and Zhen Danxiao were the four main officers who had taken Chunhua.

When they heard that the Japanese devils were indeed coming and were only six kilometers away,

Zhen Danxiao became excited: "Fight!"

Liu Wan was a little worried: "What if we can't win?"

Zhen Danxiao first sent the communication soldier, Gan Dexin, back to report, saying to him, "Report to the company commander: We have already captured Chunhua and annihilated a small Japanese squad of fifty-four men.

We captured Xia Yuankui's puppet army battalion, seizing fifteen Type 92 infantry guns, thirty-six heavy machine guns, and fifty light machine guns.

A lot of ammunition.

Now the Japanese devils coming out of Nanjing city are six kilometers away from Chunhua.

We are preparing to snipe them."

After saying that, he took out a small notebook, wrote a few sentences, and drew a schematic diagram of the trenches dug by the current teams in Chunhua on the notebook.

He also specifically marked the location where his squad had buried directional mines.

Zhen Danxiao dispatched a communication soldier in front of several officers, immediately reminding Liu Wan and Liu Yong.

They also sent a communication soldier to report to Army Commander Ye Zhao.

Only Li Zhize had no one above him!

After Zhen Danxiao sent the communication soldier out first, he said, "The four of our teams should concentrate our artillery fire.

We have more than twenty infantry guns, including those we each own and those we captured today.

We also have more than fifty mortars. If that's not enough, we have heavy artillery support behind us.

Even if there are a lot of Japanese devils, we can't kill them with so many cannons and machine guns.

We still have a way out and can retreat!"

Liu Wan finally spoke: "Then let's fight a little and see."

Company Commander Li Zhize wanted to say something, opened his mouth, but suddenly became apprehensive.

In the end, he said nothing.

Zhen Danxiao said, "Each team's own cannons have artillery operators.

I propose that all the newly captured cannons be used by Company Commander Li's soldiers.

They are from the training corps and have good soldier quality.

They should be familiar with the use of various weapons!"

Liu Wan and Liu Yong looked at each other, but did not speak.

Company Commander Li Zhize had already spoken: "Our soldiers in the training corps are required to be proficient in the use of every kind of weapon.

Firing cannons is a basic operation. Not only must we be able to fire, but we must also be accurate."

Speaking of this, he saw the worries of the two regimental commanders, Liu Wan and Liu Yong.

He continued, "Our company will only temporarily use the cannons captured today to fight the Japanese devils.

After the battle, we will return them and let Company Commander Lin and Army Commander Ye worry about how to distribute them!"

With this statement, the expressions of the two Regimental Commanders Liu clearly relaxed.

Zhen Danxiao continued, "So many heavy machine guns and light machine guns, the two Regimental Commanders Liu,

if your teams can equip them, use them as much as possible.

Weapons are inanimate, people are alive.

When fighting the Japanese devils, it is good if these weapons can kill one Japanese devil."

Regimental Commander Liu Wan immediately said, "I will equip each company with one heavy machine gun and two light machine guns.

This will definitely greatly improve the team's firepower.

I will also borrow twenty heavy machine guns and forty light machine guns first."

Regimental Commander Liu Yong had to say, "That's what I thought too. Since you said it first, brother,

then I will have to be a little wronged and distribute the remaining machine guns!"

The two Regimental Commanders Liu finally showed smiles on their faces. Now the equipment of their two regiments is even better than that of the Central Army's Class A regiment.

Of course, they were happy.

The two Regimental Commanders Liu said a little embarrassed, "The Japanese devils came too fast, and the planned trench network has not been dug yet."

Zhen Danxiao said with a smile, "The battlefield situation changes rapidly, and the plan can't keep up with the changes.

There is no way to do it. We can only accept it.

Let the soldiers set up the heavy and light machine gun emplacements first.

When fighting the Japanese devils, it is best to let them get closer before firing."

Liu Wan smiled: "I have a small trick for the Japanese devils here.

Half of the soldiers will lie in ambush in the trenches, and half of the soldiers will retreat when the Japanese devils come.

Retreat three hundred meters in front of the Japanese devils.

Then go back along the communication trenches."

Li Zhize said with a smile, "Regimental Commander Liu's trick is good."

At this time, Zhen Danxiao began to feel uneasy in his heart: "He was afraid that the directional mines he had people bury on the road were too ruthless.

It would be bad if the Japanese devils were too afraid to come up."

He also said, "That's good! Now Regimental Commander Liu has enough firepower.

Even if only half of the soldiers are left, equipped with more than twenty heavy machine guns and more than one hundred light machine guns.

They will definitely be able to give the Japanese devils a hard time."

According to the route of the attack, when defending, Regimental Commanders Liu Wan and Liu Yong will also guard the front.

Li Zhize on the left flank and Zhen Danxiao on the right flank.

Now Li Zhize on the left flank is going to retreat and become an artillery company.

Regimental Commander Liu Yong's regiment will be deployed to the left flank.

Li Zhize's company, now an artillery company, is also the reserve team for the entire battlefield.

Captain Xia Yuankui and his men had just finished loading the cannons and machine guns.

When they were preparing to depart for Jurong, they were ordered to send the equipment to the north of Chunhua.

With such a sudden change, Captain Xia immediately understood: "The Japanese devils are attacking."

He was just a small puppet army captain, and the Japanese devils would not tell them much intelligence at all.

Captain Xia Yuankui still didn't know that the Shanghai Expeditionary Army Headquarters was in Jurong; Commander Prince Asaka Yasuhiko was trapped in Jurong.

He just didn't understand: Why would the Japanese devils come to Chunhua when they had already broken through Nanjing City?

He was, after all, a person who had been a company commander.

Captain Xia Yuankui could only think that the team that came to attack Chunhua was unlucky.

They had just captured Chunhua and happened to encounter a team of Japanese devils coming from Nanjing City to receive supplies.

Now, what he could guess was that a small team was coming to pick up things.

It must be said that a transportation team of three hundred people was indeed useful.

The two regiments of the 66th Army continued to dig trenches in a hurry.

The heavy machine guns and machine guns that had just been said to be equipped were sent up.

Also sent up were boxes and boxes of hand grenades.

The soldiers of the two regiments of the 66th Army knew that there were two artillery positions behind them today to provide them with artillery cover.

Their morale greatly increased. Now they saw that each company had added two heavy machine guns, and each squad had added a light machine gun.

Now these soldiers were no longer afraid of the ferocious Japanese devils opposite them.

Company Commander Li Zhize built the artillery positions in the town.

He immediately entered a state of combat.

He first test-fired ten or so sand-filled shells.

He found the feeling and determined the firing elements for various directions and different positions.

Now, for the Eighth Company of Li, everything was ready, waiting only for the start of the battle.

It was very advantageous for the artillery to fight a blocking war in this self-set position.

They could measure the amount of bombing needed for each position in advance.

When the front line needed support, they could directly fire the shells according to the pre-measured data.

Such artillery bombardment was: accurate, rapid, and fierce!

It made it impossible for the attacking enemy to defend at all, and could kill the enemy to the greatest extent.

Hui Jianming, who received the intelligence, also commanded the heavy artillery squad at this time and began to adjust.

In front of the forward positions of Chunhua Town, the soldiers who were digging trenches on the front line

saw a shell suddenly fall three hundred meters in front of the works.

It didn't explode!

Zhen Danxiao also saw it, pointing to the location where the shell fell and said, "Regimental Commander Liu, are you relieved now!"

Liu Wan quickly said, "I'm relieved! I'm relieved! I'm relieved to fight the Japanese devils in cooperation with the brothers of the Special Forces Company."

The shell that had just fallen was a test shell fired by the heavy artillery squad of the Special Forces Company.

Li Deben stood high in the air, watching the position where the shell landed.

He said to Squad Leader Hui Jianming with satisfaction, "Accurate shooting! That's the spot."

In the air, he had a telephone that was directly connected to the heavy artillery squad.

The heart of Toyota Tooyama, the regimental commander, finally brightened up a little: the fatigue of the Empire's warriors last night was just an illusion.

That was because they had no goal and no motivation.

Now that they saw the National Army soldiers in front of them, these warriors under his command consciously sped up and chased after them.

The Kotohiro Yasuda Battalion served as the vanguard of this support team.

They were at the very front, and their team rushed through the town of Tuqiao.

Nothing happened!

The whole town was quiet, there was not a single person, not even a dog.

Battalion Commander Kotohiro Yasuda knew that a very fierce battle had been fought here a few days ago.

The people living nearby had all run away.

This made him feel the majesty of the Empire's soldiers on this land.

But he also felt a little inconvenience: If there were ordinary people here, there were normal merchants.

Their team could have had a free meal here.

Fortunately, Chunhua was not far ahead.

There was an Empire supply point in Chunhua, and they would definitely be greeted when they went there.

Private First Class Kitajo Akira had no strength when he left Nanjing City yesterday.

After a night of continuous marching, he had no strength at all now.

He had just been forced to run four or five li with the main force.

Now, Private First Class Kitajo Akira only felt his heart beating very fast, as if it was about to jump out of his chest.

He had never encountered this situation before.

In the past, even if he ran ten kilometers continuously, he would not be like this now.

I'm too tired, I want to rest!

As he thought this, his eyes suddenly went black.

Then Private First Class Kitajo Akira fell straight down.

Sergeant Haeda Hayato next to him quickly squatted down and slapped his face hard.

While shouting, "Kitajo-kun! Kitajo-kun!"

There was no response, not even a little bit of reaction.

Sergeant Haeda Hayato tested his breath with his finger and shook his head, saying to the people around him, "He's out of breath!"

The leader of their squad, Edogawa Mizuki, said, "Let him rest here for a while!

We continue to move forward!"

Squad Leader Edogawa Mizuki personally dragged Kitajo Akira's body to the side of the road.

Not letting him fall in the middle of the road, affecting other soldiers walking.

The death of Private First Class Kitajo Akira was just a small episode in the entire march.

Now, Regimental Commander Toyota Tooyama had only one thought: "Get to Chunhua as soon as possible!"

Lao Zhiqiang and Ji Yongjun squatted in the dug-out pit, watching the Japanese devils passing on the road.

Zhen Danxiao saw yesterday how Master Yang had blown up two regiments of Japanese devils in one go.

This time, he had arranged more directional mines, starting less than five hundred meters from the town of Tuqiao.

He had been burying them all the way to the front of the 66th Army's defense line in the town of Chunhua.

Zhen Danxiao's order to Lao Zhiqiang and his men was: "Only when the last Japanese devil enters the explosion range of the bombs,

start pulling the rope. Pull it from back to front."

Lao Zhiqiang was now waiting for the last Japanese devil to enter his ambush circle.

There were so many Japanese devils today that he had never seen so many before.

He had clearly seen the Japanese devils passing for more than ten minutes, and he still couldn't see the end of them.

This was of course related to his position.

Lao Zhiqiang was now squatting in the ground thirty-odd meters away from the highway.

This pit was dug out by himself. After squatting inside, he covered the surface with some camouflage.

As long as it wasn't someone who knew in advance, even if they stepped on his head, they wouldn't find him.

Lao Zhiqiang squatted low, so he could see close.

Li Deben was also squatting now, but he could see the entire Toyota Tooyama Regiment clearly.

In the direction of Chunhua, the heavy artillery squad had just test-fired six shells under his command.

He had already measured all the data for the positions outside Chunhua Town that Zhen Danxiao had marked as possibly needing to be bombed.

He was just waiting for a signal from that direction.

Now, Li Deben looked at the long line of Japanese devils and couldn't help but get excited.

At least four thousand Japanese devils, or maybe five thousand or six thousand. It wouldn't be less than four thousand, and it wouldn't exceed seven thousand Japanese devils.

This kind of intelligence was immediately telephoned to Lin Fan's headquarters.

Army Commander Ye Zhao silently put the small flag representing five thousand Japanese devils on the built-up sand table.

Just now, the battle to attack Jurong had already begun.

Whether it was Army Commander Ye Zhao or Army Commander Deng Longguang, they were not interested in the ongoing attack on Jurong.

They were just nervously staring at Chunhua.

"Do you want me to send a team to reinforce?" Army Commander Deng Longguang finally couldn't help it.

Lin Fan smiled and said, "Steady! We have to be steady now. The siege and interception have just begun.

Don't panic!

We have noted Army Commander Deng's kindness."

Army Commander Ye Zhao added, "The 66th Army still has three regiments serving as reserve teams. Do you want to send a regiment over?"

Lin Fan said, "Not for the time being! The teams over there were originally well-equipped.

They have just captured so many cannons and machine guns in Chunhua, and now their firepower is even stronger.

Besides, there is heavy artillery support here."

It wasn't that the two army commanders couldn't be steady, but that they really couldn't be steady.

Whether it was Army Commander Ye Zhao or Army Commander Deng Longguang, in their hearts:

A regiment of Japanese devils had to be ambushed by at least a division, or even an army.

Now they actually wanted to use only two regiments to ambush a regiment of Japanese devils.

This really made people unable to put their minds at ease.

Army Commander Ye Zhao finally couldn't help it, shouting, "Someone! Pass the order: The military headquarters will send thirty communication soldiers to Chunhua.

Send a message here every five minutes."

Lin Fan was silent!

Let them do this kind of harmless thing!

However, if these people do something, they will never be able to settle down if they keep thinking like this.

Steady!

How to be steady?

This was the common thought of Army Commander Deng Longguang and Army Commander Ye Zhao.

They just didn't understand: How could this Company Commander Lin be so steady?

Just at this time, the familiar sound of aircraft engines in the sky came over.

Li Deben's call also came in, "A large group of planes is flying from the north. Flying in front are the National Army planes.

There are Japanese devils' planes behind, attacking the National Army planes.

They are chasing and killing the National Army planes."

Li Deben's voice was a little anxious!

He was worried about the National Army planes!

The call that Li Deben made to report the appearance of enemy planes in the sky was no longer answered by Lin Fan.

At this time, Lin Fan was already on the anti-aircraft artillery position outside the command post.

He was adjusting the cannon, pointing it at the planes in the sky.

Although Lin Fan didn't know whether the planes in the sky were enemy or friend at first,

it didn't prevent him from preparing to shoot down the planes.

The current situation was not easy to deal with: enemies and friends were mixed together.

The other anti-aircraft guns of the Eighth Squad could only prepare to fire.

They needed to give way to the National Army planes before they could fire.