Chapter 1 A Shot Rings Out!

A gunshot rang out!

The lamp that Lin Fan had targeted in the distance fell down at once, under the gaze of everyone.

Everyone cheered!

This time, even the idlers in the British Concession across Suzhou Creek, leaning by the river to watch the excitement, shouted loudly.

When Lin Fan pointed out the lamp in the distance just now, his voice was deliberately a bit loud, so the people across the river could hear it too.

Lei Xiong opened his mouth, and it took him a while to close it. "What marksmanship!"

He immediately wrote down the equipment that Lin Fan had just requested, and called a soldier over. "Send this to the battalion commander."

The weapons of the thirty-odd men under his command were more than enough, but the ammunition could still be replenished.

After all, who knew how much ammunition would be needed in the next seven days.

The soldiers in Lin Fan's company had personally witnessed their cheap company commander, from so far away,

being able to break the lamp cord with one shot. Was this still human?

Someone ran towards that direction in big strides, and it took a while before he came back carrying a lamp.

Lei Xiong looked at the end of the wire and couldn't tell the difference between a bullet breaking it and scissors cutting it.

The surrounding soldiers all crowded over to see the lamp.

Seven hundred meters, severing a wire!

These soldiers had never heard of such a thing.

They had never even heard of hitting a person at seven hundred meters.

Now, the soldiers' eyes showed a hint of respect and admiration for Lin Fan!

Without letting the soldiers rest for too long, Lin Fan shouted again, "You've rested enough, keep working!

Pile this up earlier, and dig some trenches at the gate."

Lei Xiong watched Lin Fan directing the soldiers to build circular fortifications one by one at the gate.

He asked, somewhat puzzled, "Are these fortifications meant to stop the enemy outside?"

Lin Fan pointed to the upper floors of the Four Banks Warehouse. "Build more of these circular fortifications here, so we can keep the Japanese out when we use them.

When the Japanese attack, we just need to throw bombs into each of the fortifications.

They won't be able to escape!"

The soldier Lei Xiong sent to deliver the message quickly arrived at the battalion command post, with the supply list from Lei Xiong.

Yang Ruifu just asked about it briefly, and then added a lot of ammunition to it, before calling to request supplies.

Sun Yuanliang didn't skimp on this team that would be fighting alone, and ordered the quartermaster to resupply them immediately.

The entire army was retreating, and some equipment was difficult to take away.

The Four Banks Warehouse was big enough to hold it all!

The officers in the division headquarters were all clear about what Yang Ruifu's battalion was supposed to do.

Two hours later, four military vehicles drove into the Four Banks Warehouse.

They delivered not only the equipment that Lin Fan's company had requested.

They also delivered half a truckload of compressed biscuits and military canned goods that they hadn't requested.

It could be said that the Eighty-eighth Division was really putting its heart into ensuring that this battalion could defend the Four Banks Warehouse.

Lin Fan directed the soldiers of his company to line up and began distributing the equipment, one squad at a time.

Twenty machine guns, some squads were assigned three, some two. Lin Fan also assigned two machine guns to the fifteen men directly under his command.

Lin Fan placed all four heavy machine guns at the windows.

Lin Fan himself controlled the only mortar.

Looking at the soldiers, each carrying a gun and holding the newly issued clothes and shoes,

Lin Fan ordered, "Dismissed! Ten minutes to change, then gather again."

The reassembled team looked a bit more presentable. Lin Fan asked the soldiers, "Heavy machine guns, does anyone know how to use them?"

Hearing his words, Lei Xiong, who was going upstairs, almost fell headfirst:

They were asking for four heavy machine guns, even though they didn't know if they had any heavy machine gunners.

It was also because they had caught this opportunity, otherwise these people would never have been able to get such good equipment at any time.

Looking at the soldiers in his company, not one of them made a sound.

Lin Fan didn't mind. "Machine guns! Who knows how to use machine guns?"

This time, Xiao Dongbei raised his hand.

Lin Fan was happy. "Xiao Dongbei, you teach these people how to use machine guns, and how to maintain them. Everyone must learn how to use machine guns, heavy machine guns, and rifles!

Today, you guys learn how to use machine guns first.

My team doesn't raise trash. Anyone who can't use a machine gun can only charge into the enemy lines."

All the soldiers knew that charging into the enemy lines was never a good thing, as they would be the first to die.

Lin Fan pointed and selected four strong men. "You will be the main heavy machine gunners."

He also selected three assistants for each heavy machine gun. "You twenty people, learn from me how to disassemble and assemble the heavy machine guns, and how to clean and maintain them."

The company that Lei Xiong brought was a machine gun company, and those soldiers watched with amusement as this company, which had just gotten its hands on machine guns, gathered together to learn.

Before seven o'clock, Yang Ruifu had already led his battalion into the Four Banks Warehouse.

By the light of the lamps, he saw that the outside of the warehouse was full of fortresses and fortifications.

He said to Lei Xiong, who came out to greet him, "Old Lei! Well done."

Lei Xiong said somewhat embarrassedly, "I didn't do it alone. Company Commander Lin has a lot of men, and they did most of the work.

When I got here, they had already done almost everything."

Lin Fan raised his hand. "Lin Fan, company commander of the Anti-Japanese Special Forces Company, leading one hundred and fifty-six soldiers, is stationed at the Four Banks Warehouse, awaiting Battalion Commander Yang's instructions!"

Yang Ruifu was somewhat puzzled. He had not received any orders about such a company cooperating here.

But now that he only had four hundred or so men under his command, it was a good thing that more than one hundred and fifty men had come to support him.

He immediately returned the salute. "Do as planned!"

Before Yang Ruifu's battalion could settle down, Xie Jinyuan, the deputy commander of the 524th Regiment, had already arrived.

The entire defense command here was concentrated in his hands.

Now that it was dark, there wasn't much that could be done, or rather, there shouldn't be.

Lin Fan took the initiative to say, "Battalion Commander Yang! You've been fighting all day, you must be tired. Let us take care of the outer perimeter!"

Xie Jinyuan looked at Lin Fan, nodded, and said to Yang Ruifu, "Leave the outside to Company Commander Lin. You also need to arrange sentries inside to prevent accidents."

Hearing Regiment Commander Xie say this, Lin Fan immediately said, "I've set up a hidden bunker on the fifth floor, specifically watching the gate. I'll leave that to Battalion Commander Yang."

He knew that his Anti-Japanese Special Forces Company was "three-nil": no designation, no history, no fame.

It was normal for people not to trust them.

It was just that the heavy machine guns he had just arranged at the windows had to be withdrawn.

Fortunately, the outer perimeter fortifications had been well-built in the afternoon.

Going out now would allow them to immediately establish a line of defense.

With Lin Fan's order,

the soldiers of his Anti-Japanese Special Forces Company reluctantly began to move outside.

Xie Jinyuan shook his head as he looked at the state of the team. "What a pity for the equipment that was issued today to such a team."

He only hoped that they could hold on tomorrow and not collapse at the first touch.

Lin Fan stood at the gate of the Four Banks Warehouse and said to the soldiers inside the warehouse, "It's dark! Don't go out. Our soldiers only recognize the password, not people."

Returning to his company, Lin Fan said in a low voice, "Pass it on, tonight's password: Anti-Japanese! Victory!"

Lin Fan was able to stay outside the Four Banks Warehouse with the entire company, which was somewhat touching to some of the soldiers in the company.

An officer like him could have been lying inside the Four Banks Warehouse, sleeping soundly.

After arranging two sentry posts and four hidden posts,

Lin Fan finally found a place to rest.

Everything today had been more surreal than the previous twenty-seven years of his life:

Lin Fan had never imagined that he would come to the Songhu Battlefield.

Even more so that he would guard the Four Banks Warehouse.

A good man should have ambitions all over the world. Since he had come to this era, of course he had to do something for this era.

Thinking that tomorrow's battle would definitely be very intense, Lin Fan immediately gathered his thoughts.

He needed to rest for a while first.

He woke up quietly at four o'clock in the morning and began to patrol the sentry posts.

This was the time when people were most tired.

He was afraid of this newly formed team. The quality of the soldiers was really not optimistic.

Three of the four hidden sentries that Lin Fan had arranged were sleeping.

The two sentry posts were also hiding in the dark, also secretly sleeping.

Lin Fan gently woke up these sentries.

Seeing the company commander personally checking the sentry posts, and thinking that he had shot people for violating military law at the slightest disagreement yesterday,

the sleepiness of these soldiers vanished in an instant, and they listened to Lin Fan's instructions with trepidation: he told them to be careful and vigilant, and not to let anyone take advantage of the situation.

When did the company commander become so easy to talk to?

Nothing happened overnight!

After dawn, Xie Jinyuan stood on the roof of the Four Banks Warehouse, looking at the surrounding situation.

He saw a passage made of sandbags from the Four Banks Warehouse to the iron bridge entering the concession.

He couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Who did this?"

Lei Xiong immediately reported, "Company Commander Lin did it with his men. He said it would be convenient to contact the concession in an emergency."

Xie Jinyuan looked at the circular bunker group on the side of the main gate and immediately saw the mystery.

He couldn't help but nod. "This bunker group is well-built!"

At noon on the 26th, Matsui Iwane personally saw one of his own company completely annihilated in less than ten minutes.

He immediately ordered a halt to the offensive, and ordered the artillery to take good care of those Chinese soldiers hiding in the bunkers.

The Japanese army did not launch a single attack that day.

Matsui Iwane returned to the command post and ordered an adjustment to the offensive sequence, sending out tanks and armored vehicles the next day.

On the morning of October 27, the Japanese armored units rushed into the Zhabei Railway Station, encountering no resistance.

When the news reached the headquarters of the Shanghai Expeditionary Force, Matsui Iwane could hardly believe it.

He came to the battlefield again and personally walked into the Zhabei Railway Station, which was completely in ruins.

Only then did he believe that the railway station, which had been fought over for two months, had finally been taken.

The news immediately spread throughout Shanghai.

Good news came from all the Japanese army positions in Shanghai: the Chinese army had retreated and abandoned Shanghai.

The citizens of Shanghai were suddenly dejected. Although they were in the concession, they felt as if they had been abandoned.

The excited Matsui Iwane ordered the entire army to attack quickly, immediately seizing the entire city of Shanghai to prevent the Chinese army from having any other intentions.

Fujita Susumu, the commander of the Third Division, and his chief of staff, Tada Riko, who accompanied Matsui Iwane on the inspection, had regained the face they had lost yesterday.

Fujita Susumu, the division commander, ordered in front of Commander-in-Chief Matsui Iwane: "The entire army will attack and take over all of Shanghai."

Matsui Iwane added with a smile, "We must not disturb the concession! We are qualified, polite, and true soldiers!"

Katayama Riichiro, the major general of the Fifth Infantry Brigade of the Third Division, commanded his two infantry regiments, one advancing along the north bank of the Suzhou River and the other searching along a road further away.

The vanguard of the Sixth Regiment launched a rapid突击 (tūjī, assault).

They soon arrived at the Four Banks Warehouse. Kudo Yujo was a farmer from Nagoya.

For generations, his family had been the lowest level of farmers.

In his generation, thanks to the Empire, Kudo Yujo went to school.

Not only that, but he also went to the NCO Academy.

In the NCO Academy, the peasant's inherent spirit of hard work and obedience to his superiors made him

excel in the entire NCO Academy.

After graduating from the NCO Academy and returning to the army, he became a squad leader.

Today, Squad Leader Kudo Yujo led a fully manned squad of fifty-four men, cautiously advancing three kilometers along the north bank of the Suzhou River.

Everything was peaceful along the way, without encountering any resistance.

There was only a silent ruin, which was in stark contrast to the bustle on the opposite side.

Xie Jinyuan crawled on the roof, looking through his binoculars at a team of Japanese soldiers searching from a distance.

He said softly, "A squad!"

Lin Fan stood on the roof, looking at the team of Japanese soldiers coming from the west, with a standard squad configuration, three grenade launchers in the middle of the team, and a machine gun in each squad, at the front.

It could be seen that this squad was very vigilant.

Lin Fan aimed at the direction the Japanese were coming from and immediately returned to his command position.

In fact, it would be best to command from the roof of the Four Banks Warehouse.

From above, he could clearly see the situation in several directions.

It was just that his company was entirely composed of deserters. If he, the company commander, was not on the scene to command,

it was estimated that the entire company's position would be empty even before the Japanese launched their attack.

Yang Ruifu stood beside Xie Jinyuan. "Regiment Commander! Do you want me to send a company out?"

Xie Jinyuan shook his head. "Give them a chance! The Nationalist government has issued so much equipment.

Hopefully, they can withstand one wave of attacks!"

According to the Chinese army's experience on the Shanghai battlefield, a small squad of Japanese soldiers required a well-trained reinforced company to hold them back.

Xie Jinyuan said, "They have a company, and we have a battalion supporting them from above. If they still can't drive back a small squad of Japanese soldiers,

then this company is useless!"

Lin Fan didn't know about the discussion on the roof.

He quickly entered the position and began to mobilize his one hundred or so men. "I know that you have all come to Shanghai from all over the country, from thousands of miles away.

What are you here to do in Shanghai?

Not to enter the concession, not to be beaten.

We have all come to Shanghai from afar to fight the Japanese.

I don't care about what you were like before. Today, you are all soldiers under my command.

Then let's all fight the Japanese together.

I will be at the front. If you see me turning around and running away,

anyone can shoot me. Similarly, if anyone among you retreats, the soldiers upstairs can also shoot you.

The Japanese are not far from us now. Without my order, no one is allowed to fire in advance."

Lin Fan's mobilization was over.

He turned around and found a position at the very front of the entire company to lie down.

Beside him were a machine gun, a mortar, and two rifles.

Behind him, two thirteen-year-old signal soldiers, one named Wu Xiaobao and the other named Zhao Long, were趴着 (pāzhe, lying prone).

Lin Fan looked at the Japanese soldiers who had already appeared in sight and said to the two children in a low voice, "You guys just lie here later and don't look up.

Just load my guns."

Both children were afraid, and they trembled as they gave a low answer that Lin Fan could barely hear.

Squad Leader Kudo Yujo looked at the Four Banks Warehouse not far away and pointed at it. "That's the tallest building in the area. Search it first."

Sergeant Osuga Yohei, the leader of the first squad, had always been at the front of the entire squad. Receiving the order, he immediately contracted the line of attack and searched towards the Four Banks Warehouse.

They had seen a lot of the trenches and fortifications in front of the warehouse.

They did not take them seriously.

Even so, these Japanese soldiers still cautiously used the surrounding collapsed buildings as cover, mutually covering each other as they approached.

Regiment Commander Xie and Battalion Commander Yang, who were hiding on the roof to observe the situation, saw that the Japanese had entered one hundred meters in front of Lin Fan's company's fortifications.

They also began to feel nervous. Eighty meters, the lurking special forces company still did not move.

If they had not been able to clearly see the special forces company still in place from their high vantage point,

they would have suspected that the soldiers had already run away.

Fifty meters, Lin Fan still did not speak.

Regiment Commander Xie on the roof was a little flustered. Why wasn't the company below acting yet?

What were they thinking?

At thirty meters, Lin Fan issued the order. "Fire!"

He was the first to open fire with the machine gun in his hand, firing thirty rounds non-stop.

The Japanese soldiers closest to the front of the position were suddenly met with such a fierce attack and immediately began to fall down, find cover, and prepare to counterattack.

What these Japanese soldiers did not expect was that the firepower of the machine gun in front was fierce, and its accuracy was even more frightening.

Every shot bit into flesh, and every bullet hit the body.

Regiment Commander Xie, who was observing from above, saw Lin Fan fire a burst from a single machine gun and knock down all the dozen or so Japanese soldiers charging at the front.

They were really knocked down. After those Japanese soldiers fell, they did not move again.

In one face-to-face encounter, one squad of Japanese soldiers was wiped out. Yang Ruifu looked at Lei Xiong. "Who is this man?"

Among the people upstairs, Lei Xiong was the first to meet Lin Fan. Although Battalion Commander Yang had asked about Lin Fan's situation in detail yesterday,

he still felt it necessary to ask clearly now.

While Lin Fan was firing, one of the four heavy machine guns in several firing points behind him fired.

The firepower of the heavy machine gun was fierce. Although the accuracy of this heavy machine gunner was not high, the sound of the heavy machine gun firing startled the entire Japanese squad.

The Special Forces Company had three more heavy machine guns, which finally began to fire sporadically at least two minutes after Lin Fan issued the fire order.

On the other hand, the rifles fired sparsely.

Without looking back, Lin Fan knew that at least one-third of the soldiers under his command had not fired.

At this time, Lin Fan's Zhongzheng rifle had already fired its first five rounds.

Two Japanese machine gunners had already fallen on the opposite side.

However, now, the Japanese counterattack had also arrived.

Sergeant Osuga Yohei fell during Lin Fan's first round of machine gun fire.

His squad of thirteen soldiers had not had time to react and had already suffered heavy losses.

However, Sergeant Osuga Yohei's squad also bought time for the Japanese soldiers behind him to catch their breath.

The second squad, which was following behind Osuga Yohei, had already found cover in the first moment.

Squad Leader Kobun Junichiro shouted loudly, "Machine gun! Machine gun! Counterattack! Counterattack!"

His squad was about ten meters behind Osuga Yohei.

It was less than sixty meters away from the Chinese army position that had suddenly appeared in front of him.

The powerful firepower on the opposite side suppressed his squad so that they could not even lift their heads.

The bullets from the heavy machine gun hit the concrete block in front of Kobun Junichiro, making a bang bang bang sound.

The concrete block quickly fell off, and Kobun Junichiro lay prone, hiding himself even more safely.

Only then did he continue to shout, "Counterattack!"

The machine gunner under his command had just set up his gun when he was shot down by a bullet.

The assistant grabbed the machine gun, but before he could fire, he was also hit by a bullet from a heavy machine gun.

Kobun Junichiro was anxious and shouted loudly, "Grenade launcher! Grenade launcher! Take out the firing point."

It wasn't that Kobun Junichiro was anxious, but if the firing point wasn't suppressed under such intense firepower,

his men would die as soon as they raised their heads.

How could that be?

When all four heavy machine guns of the Special Forces Company fired, the Japanese soldiers who had come to search also found cover one after another and hid.

They began to counterattack!

Regardless of whether the target in front was one or a group,

and regardless of whether the Japanese soldiers had hidden behind cover,

the soldiers in the Special Forces Company, who had only come into contact with machine guns last night, continued to fire as always.

For these machine gunners in the Special Forces Company, who were firing live ammunition for the first time today, there was only one feeling: it was fun!

The machine guns of the Special Forces Company also finally joined in, and twenty machine guns suppressed the Japanese soldiers far and near.

Lin Fan's eyes searched the battlefield in front of him. Although the soldiers in the Special Forces Company lacked combat awareness,

their weapons and equipment were indeed good. Just now, his machine gun had knocked down all thirteen Japanese soldiers at the front.

The Japanese soldiers behind him were also suppressed by the firepower of the entire company.

Now Lin Fan was looking for the grenade launcher squad of this Japanese squad.

The machine gun that had just run out of bullets had been reloaded by Wu Xiaobao and placed in a convenient position.

The rifle had also been loaded with five bullets.

Lin Fan fired the five bullets from the rifle in his hand again.

Seeing that a lot of Japanese soldiers had fallen in front of the position again,

Lin Fan switched to a Zhongzheng rifle with five bullets and spotted a reflection three hundred meters away.

He immediately concentrated his mind, and the surrounding dense gunfire and the noise of the battlefield receded like a tide.

Lin Fan's eyes were only on the area three hundred meters away.

One hand held the mortar tube, and the other quickly threw a shell into it.

Wu Xiaobao and Zhao Long watched Lin Fan's left hand pad a thick wooden board and firmly control the cannon tube.

His right hand kept throwing shells into the cannon tube, and the shells flew out continuously, as if they were strung together.