Chapter 1 A.D. November 28, 1937:

Hasegawa Kiyoshi, commander of the Japanese Third Fleet, stood on his flagship, watching the smoke-filled Jiangyin Fortress ahead.

The empire's naval, land, and air forces were simultaneously bombing this fortress, yet they had managed to send a detachment to raid him.

The fortress was still returning fire, and his side had already lost a destroyer and five torpedo boats. The losses weren’t significant.

But they were incredibly insulting to Commander Hasegawa Kiyoshi of the Third Fleet.

His entire fleet possessed over a thousand cannons with calibers of 100mm or less, and yet they had been ambushed at close range by the defenders.

Carelessness!

Utter carelessness!

If he were fighting a naval battle against a major power, he would never have made such a mistake.

This enraged Commander Hasegawa, who had always considered himself a military strategist: "All cannons with calibers under 100mm, target Jiangnan and fire at the Hengan Wharf."

He paused for a moment. "Conduct reconnaissance bombing of all suspicious targets along both banks of the river."

Commander Hasegawa Kiyoshi could not allow himself to make such a mistake again, which was why he decided to bomb all suspicious areas along the riverbank.

Li Xian was strictly following Lin Fan's instructions: from the moment he ordered the cannons to fire, he nervously watched his watch, and frequently checked the situation of the Japanese warships on the river.

The Japanese warships on the river were still bombarding the fortress.

They did not react to the sudden attack from Hengan.

Only the destroyer "Yugiri," which was taking a beating, fired a few shells towards the shore.

However, these shells were far from accurate.

Li Xian watched as a row of large holes were blasted into the side of the destroyer.

At that moment, he knew, "That Japanese destroyer is going to sink."

Two minutes after the order to fire was given, he commanded the soldiers of the First Detachment and the Direct Command Team who were waiting for orders, "Start all the vehicles. Leave as soon as the artillerymen are on board."

He then ordered other soldiers, "Enter the artillery positions and await orders."

Ji Wudi went into a frenzy as soon as she received the order to fire.

She controlled herself, not allowing herself to make any mistakes.

Yet she didn’t want to fire off any fewer shells than possible.

Lin Fan had calibrated the cannons perfectly. Ji Wudi only needed to load the shells into the breech, then wait tensely for the "whoosh" as the shell fired.

Then she immediately loaded the next shell.

She didn’t have time to look at the results of her shots, and focused on tensely and mechanically firing.

Ji Wudi only wanted to fire as many shells as possible in the shortest amount of time.

As for the results, she could look at them after the battle.

Lin Fan was also somewhat nervous about this ambush, or rather, sneak attack. He wasn't afraid of missing, but rather of the Japanese reacting too quickly.

The three-minute theory was something Lin Fan had learned in school in his later life.

It stated that in modern warfare, an artillery battery could only fire for three minutes before it had to move.

In three minutes, the enemy's artillery radar could pinpoint their location, and then the enemy's artillery would rain down.

Lin Fan didn't know if the Japanese reaction speed would be faster than artillery radar.

But he had to gamble that the Japanese of this era were not as advanced as later artillery radar.

When the first shell he fired exploded on the side of the "Yugiri" destroyer...

The second shell had already left the barrel.

Lin Fan first fired ten shells below the waterline of the "Yugiri" destroyer.

Then he concentrated all his fire on the mid-to-aft section of the warship.

He wanted to blow the warship apart in the middle.

Obviously, he didn't achieve this goal in the end. After the "Yugiri's" ammunition depot was ignited by the shells he fired...

Lin Fan still had time to adjust the cannon and fire five more shells into the "Ren" next to the "Yugiri."

These five shells all hit below the waterline on the side.

The effects had not yet become apparent.

Three minutes passed, and Li Xian shouted, "Three minutes are up! Retreat!"

After receiving the order, Lin Fan immediately unloaded the shell that was already in the cannon.

The soldiers of the Direct Command Team, who had been waiting on the side, swarmed forward.

They lowered the barrel, attached four wheels, and hitched it to a tractor.

The whole process was smooth and efficient. All four wheels were attached simultaneously.

The vehicles, which had been warming up, sped away.

Looking at his team, which had truly achieved: strike fast, retreat fast.

Lin Fan was very satisfied.

At least the Japanese bombing hadn't started by the time they retreated.

In the vehicle, Li Xian said to Lin Fan with a smile, "Company Commander! We just struck and ran, without losing a single man.

We sank a Japanese destroyer, damaged another, and sank five torpedo boats.

This is great guerrilla warfare."

Feng Junya said with some regret, "There are still so many Japanese on the river. We didn't fire long enough.

They haven't even reacted yet."

As soon as he finished speaking...

The retreating team heard violent explosions in the distance.

The sound was as dense as firecrackers during a celebration.

The soldiers, who had been so excited just moments ago, looked at each other in dismay.

In fact, they felt the same way as Feng Junya: the Japanese artillery hadn't arrived yet, and they could have held on for a little longer.

Now, hearing such dense artillery explosions, Feng Junya swallowed hard and said, "How can the Japanese have so many cannons?"

Lin Fan said with a smile, "This is the navy! Listen, the artillery fire from Jiangyin hasn't stopped.

The Japanese navy is just using those small-caliber guns to bomb our previous position.

And it's only half their firepower.

The cannons on the right side of their warships can't even hit us."

The soldiers laughed after Lin Fan finished speaking.

Feng Junya's face turned red. "Company Commander! I was wrong!"

Lin Fan said with a smile, "What were you wrong about?"

"I shouldn't have thought that!" Feng Junya said.

"It's better to voice your thoughts than to keep them bottled up inside.

As a soldier, it is your duty to obey orders from your superiors.

Whether you understand them or not, execute them first!

Didn't you just follow the orders?

As for holding on for a few more minutes...

To be honest, I don't know when the Japanese counterattack will come.

But the Japanese have so many warships, and their attack will be very fierce once it starts.

Our artillery position was a temporary position in the wilderness, with no protection at all.

Therefore, we can't stay there any longer.

I'd rather the attack be a little less powerful this time than have the soldiers suffer meaningless losses," Lin Fan said sternly.

"I understand!" Feng Junya said.

Lin Fan said with a smile, "As a commander, knowing yourself and your enemy is the most basic requirement.

If you really don't know the strength of your opponent, then you can only overestimate them, thinking of them as strong and numerous.

Never deliberately belittle the enemy's strength and exaggerate your own abilities.

But this doesn't mean that we should run away as soon as we see the Japanese, afraid to fight any battles.

Take the enemy seriously strategically, but despise them tactically.

Just like what we just did, the Japanese had so many warships and thousands of cannons.

Didn't we retreat unscathed, and achieve such good results?"

Hearing this, all the soldiers laughed again.

Lin Fan and his two platoons retreated three kilometers back to a position where the other six platoons were waiting for them.

This place was not far from Dingshan.

The 618th Regiment of the 103rd Division was stationed at Dingshan.

When Regiment Commander Wan Shi-tong received the order to defend Dingshan a few days ago...

He had carefully studied the strengths and weaknesses of the Japanese and his own position.

Especially after learning that the fort had destroyed more than a dozen Japanese tanks in one shot...

A warning bell had rung in his heart: today there is artillery support from the fort, but what if there is no artillery support? How would his regiment fight the Japanese tanks?

That was the question!

When he saw the drainage ditches in the fields at the foot of the mountain, a flash of inspiration came to him.

He ordered the soldiers to dig trenches five meters wide and two meters deep in front of the position.

This served as the first line of defense for the 618th Regiment, and all the soldiers on this line of defense were given a stool.

Today, facing the Japanese infantry attack supported by tanks...

After fiercely resisting, the soldiers defending the first line of defense at Dingshan...

Faced with the approaching Japanese tank and infantry mixed formation...

At Regiment Commander Wan Shi-tong's command, all the soldiers retreated along the communication trenches to the second trench with their stools.

The rear trench was a normal trench, and was only thirty meters away from the wide and deep trench in front.

When the five Japanese tanks charged into the trench, they were immediately trapped. Their gun barrels could only press against the mud wall in front.

At a height of two meters, the tanks could not climb up at all.

Nor could they retreat.

The Japanese infantry following behind the tanks were immediately dumbfounded.

They didn't know what to do in front of this deep ditch.

The soldiers of the 618th Regiment took the opportunity to fire, and drove all the infantry following behind the tanks back.

After leaving dozens of corpses behind, the Japanese infantry had to retreat quickly.

The soldiers of the 618th Regiment charged into the first line of defense again along the communication trenches.

They killed the machine gunners who were sticking their heads out of the tank turrets to observe the situation.

And threw grenades into the tanks.

The 8th and 9th companies of the 618th Regiment were stationed on the front lines of Dingshan.

Under the command of the regimental commander, the soldiers of the two companies charged out of the trenches and chased after the fleeing Japanese.

After chasing for two hundred meters, Wan Shi-tong feared that they would be ambushed by the Japanese if they continued to chase, so he ordered the bugler to call the two companies back.

They continued to guard the wide and deep trench in front.

Wan Shi-tong jumped into the tanks and saw that there were several Japanese corpses in each tank.

They had been blown to pieces by the grenades, but the tanks were still intact.

He wanted to get the tanks working so that they could be used as turrets and bunkers!

But he didn't have any tank crew under his command.

He called师长 He Zhizhong for reinforcements, but the division commander didn't have anyone who knew how to drive a tank either.

At that time, the entire Nanjing government only had one armored school, and the school only had two old tanks.

And this school was only established in March 1936.

The entire Nanjing government purchased 32 Vickers light tanks from the United Kingdom in June 1933.

They officially formed an armored battalion in November 1934, with Colonel Zhu Xilin as the battalion commander.

This shows how few people in the entire National Revolutionary Army of two million men knew how to drive tanks.

At this time, Lin Fan was leading the Special Forces Brigade towards Baoshan.

It wasn't that Lin Fan hadn't thought about changing position and giving the Japanese warships another volley of fire.

But Lin Fan thought about it from another perspective: if he were a naval commander, would he give his opponent another chance like that after being ambushed once?

This time, as soon as his artillery opened fire, the Japanese naval bombardment would immediately follow.

Faced with the bombardment of more than a thousand cannons, Lin Fan felt that this would be a losing proposition.

So he led the team towards Dingshan.

When he arrived, the Japanese cavalry was bypassing the trench dug by the 618th Regiment.

There weren't many Japanese cavalry. They charged from two directions, and several grenade launchers and machine gunners in the distance were constantly suppressing the National Revolutionary Army's fire.

The soldiers of the 8th and 9th companies of the 618th Regiment had not yet noticed the arrival of Lin Fan.

The Special Forces Brigade's two 20mm anti-aircraft guns had been leveled and began sweeping the charging Japanese cavalry.

This kind of automatic cannon was perfect for dealing with cavalry, like a scythe harvesting rice.

It was powerful and had a high rate of fire.

Lin Fan operated one of the automatic cannons. The first burst of fire swept down a large number of Japanese cavalry on the left side of the Dingshan position.

The remaining cavalry turned around and tried to escape.

The automatic cannon's effective range of two thousand meters left the Japanese no way to escape, and no hope to live.

The Japanese on the right were the same.

When the machine gun knocked down the Japanese cavalry, Regiment Commander Wan Shi-tong realized that reinforcements had arrived.

He was a little strange: the division commander didn't say anything about sending reinforcements!

He sent a signalman to inquire and found out that the Special Forces Company was just passing by and happened to be enjoying themselves.

He immediately laughed.

After Lin Fan repelled the cavalry, he didn't stop there. He chased after the Japanese machine gun positions and grenade launcher positions in front of the position.

The 20mm automatic cannon fired bullets continuously, and quickly tore open the Japanese machine gun position.

He didn't stop until he had destroyed the Japanese machine guns and grenade launchers.

At this time, Wan Shi-tong had already arrived in front of the Special Forces Brigade.

He had come to ask for help. Regiment Commander Wan was not the first time seeing this company of more than a thousand men.

The Special Forces Company had long become a feature of the entire Jiangyin defense area.

It could be said that there was no place in the entire Jiangyin defense area that this Special Forces Company had not been to.

And a company commander commanding a team of more than a thousand men was not much different from his regimental commander.

If they were compared to weapons and equipment, his regiment was not as good as this company.

But these were not the reasons why Regiment Commander Wan came over: he saw that Lin Fan's company was driving so many vehicles.

He wanted to come over and ask: did they have anyone who knew how to drive tanks?

Lin Fan's eyes lit up immediately: "Of course we do!"

He immediately asked, "How many are there?"

"Five!"

"I want them!"

"No way! I want to use them myself!"

The deal couldn't be made.

Lin Fan looked at Regiment Commander Wan: "Your regiment doesn't even have anyone who knows how to drive tanks. What's the use of keeping the tanks?"

"To use them as turrets!" Wan Shi-tong had already thought about it.

Lin Fan said with a wry smile: "If you use them as fixed turrets in this position, you'll be able to fire at most one round before the Japanese artillery fire rains down.

You'll be blown to smithereens in an instant.

Why don't you give me these five tanks? I can drive them in a counterattack.

Then, before the Japanese artillery fire arrives, I can slip away."

Wan Shi-tong sneered: "You slip away, leaving us to be bombed here."

Lin Fan thought for a while: "Let's go take a look at the goods first! I don't know if we can fix them or drive them away.

But you should withdraw your troops now and abandon the first and second lines of defense."

"Why?" Wan Shi-tong was puzzled.

"The Japanese infantry are retreating. They're going to bomb us next!" Lin Fan said.

He ordered the Special Forces Company to advance, leaving this unsafe place.

Lin Fan didn't hesitate and ordered the soldiers of the Special Forces Company to continue advancing, leaving only Xiang Li-guo, Gan Hua-xing and twenty other soldiers behind.

These people were divided into groups of four, which was a tank squad.

There were five tank squads in total.

Lin Fan said to Wan Shi-tong: "How about this? After we survive the bombing, no matter how many good tanks are left...

I'll take two of them, and I'll leave you with a few squads, depending on how many good tanks you have left.

So that your tanks can really be used."

Wan Shi-tong first ordered the 8th and 9th companies to withdraw from the first line of defense.

Then he said to Lin Fan: "If I have four or more, I'll give you two. If I have less than four, we'll split them in half."

"Deal!" Lin Fan said with a smile.

The deal was done.

Lin Fan said with a smile: "Find some clever people in the regiment and let my tank crew teach them a few apprentices."

"Can they learn in such a short time?" Wan Shi-tong was really stunned this time.

Lin Fan said with a smile: "They'll learn in ten minutes and graduate in half an hour.

Anyway, they just need to be able to drive those iron lumps away.

If they break down, just throw them away. They're not ours, so we won't feel bad."

Wan Shi-tong was speechless.

Lin Fan thought for a while and ordered someone to call Xiao Dongbei over: "Have your 4th Platoon stay behind. Cooperate with Xiang Li-guo and the others to take over the tanks.

After you receive the tanks, drive them back to the foot of Xiao Mountain immediately.

Don't go up the mountain. The Japanese have already discovered the Xiao Mountain Fort, and they'll probably keep an eye on it from now on."

He thought for a while: "I'll leave you with an anti-aircraft gun and three mortars. When the Japanese come up later...

Help Regiment Commander Wan and his men drive the Japanese back.

We can't just take what we want and not help."

Regiment Commander Wan had heard that Lin Fan's company was particularly fierce in battle, but he had never actually seen them on the battlefield.

He immediately smiled and extended his hand: "What's your name, squad leader?"

He was a regimental commander, and although Xiao Dongbei had one hundred and seventy men under his command, his officially recognized position was still a squad leader.

A month ago, a big shot like Regiment Commander Wan wouldn't have even looked at him.

Xiao Dongbei quickly saluted: "Reporting, Regiment Commander! This subordinate is Pu Pengju."

Lin Fan said to Wan Shi-tong with a smile: "My little squad leader will only fight here until dark and then leave. Don't keep him here.

Those tank squads must go back tomorrow night.

Don't blame me for not warning you if you don't let them go."

Wan Shi-tong quickly said: "I guarantee that your men will leave on time."

Lin Fan then said to Xiao Dongbei: "Don't embarrass the Special Forces Company."

"Yes! I won't embarrass us!"

Lin Fan then said to Xiao Dongbei: "Don't embarrass the Special Forces Company."