Chapter 1 November 21, 1937, Morning

The piercing air raid siren blared over the entire Jiangyin Fortress, echoing throughout Jiangyin City.

Following drills, the city's residents began to evacuate.

Soldiers at the eight gun emplacements of Jiangyin Fortress also quickly prepared for air defense.

Lin Fan led his Special Forces Detachment of over a thousand men, gathering at the Xiaoshan gun emplacement. His detachment still possessed only the one cannon Commander Xu Kang had initially assigned them.

The officers and soldiers worked diligently and systematically according to regulations.

Observers and rangefinders began their work.

Distant black dots could already be seen flying in the sky.

This time, all the anti-aircraft fire over the entire fortress would resolutely hold fire until the enemy planes flew closer.

They were waiting for the most opportune moment to fire.

Today, the attacking enemy planes were the most since the start of the war.

All two hundred and ten planes from the four aircraft carriers of the Japanese Navy's First and Second Fleets, and one hundred and eighty army planes, were concentrated on the Xicheng Line.

The most strategically important position on the entire Xicheng Line was Jiangyin Fortress, because it controlled the entire Yangtze River access channel.

The Shanghai Expeditionary Army's Tenth Army Corps strongly demanded an attack on Nanjing and had already launched an offensive without waiting for orders.

This made Commander Matsui Iwane determined to bomb Jiangyin first!

The entire Shanghai Expeditionary Army and the Tenth Army Corps that had landed on Hangzhou Bay were now collectively known as the Central China Area Army.

This time, all the planes of the Central China Area Army and the Japanese army stationed in Shanghai were concentrated to bomb the defenders on the Xicheng Line.

More than fifty enemy planes were flying towards Jiangyin.

This time, the Japanese army mainly bombed Jiangyin County, Ligong Textile Factory, schools, and hospitals, which became the main targets.

The defenders on the fortress watched as the enemy planes did not fly over the fortress at all.

The planes deliberately avoided the fortress's anti-aircraft fire; they did not enter this airspace at all.

The fortress's anti-aircraft guns could only watch helplessly as the enemy planes wreaked havoc on the nearby Jiangyin County.

Zhu Jiayue was twenty-three years old this year, a native of Jiangyin. Through acquaintances, she got a job as a textile worker in Ligong Textile Factory.

In Jiangyin County, being a textile worker was a very good job. It meant that these workers not only did not have to work hard in the fields facing the loess soil.

They could also have a higher income than ordinary people.

Zhu Jiayue already had two sons and lived a happy life.

During these days, she always heard her man come home and talk worriedly about the difficulty of the war.

Zhu Jiayue, a small woman, didn't know about national affairs. She only knew that the textile factory's business had been better these days.

They also received more wages in hand.

A few days ago, the county magistrate held several air raid drills. As the leading enterprise in the county, Ligong Textile Factory

had to be the first to do everything.

Today, when everyone had not received any prior notice, the air raid siren suddenly sounded.

The director of the textile factory's production workshop quickly asked everyone to stop the machines.

Whether it was a drill or real, it was right to stop the machines first.

The unannounced siren kept ringing.

Zhu Jiayue and the other female workers took advantage of the machine downtime to sneak out of the factory building for a while.

As soon as these female workers ran out of the factory building, they saw black dots flying in the sky like sparrows.

"Airplanes! Airplanes!" These people had all seen airplanes before.

They had all seen the Jiangyin Fortress being bombed by Japanese planes a few days ago.

They weren't too scared about this: there were more planes last time than this time.

They all went to bomb the gun emplacements and would not pay attention to Jiangyin County, which was next to the gun emplacements.

It was just that the direction of these Japanese planes was different today.

They were not heading towards the gun emplacements, but seemed to be coming directly towards the county.

Factory Director Ke Tianyi was also among a group of female workers when he saw that the Japanese planes seemed to be flying in his direction.

He shouted loudly, "Scatter! Scatter and hide!"

In his shouts, the screeching sound of the planes diving could be heard in the sky.

Bombs were dropped on these people one by one.

The attack planes following the bombers dived down, and the machine guns under their bellies kept spitting out tongues of fire.

Zhu Jiayue never thought that the things her man worried about at home would happen around her.

She heard the "chiu chiu chiu!" sound of the machine gun bullets constantly ringing in her ears.

She was so scared that her body trembled, and she didn't dare to move.

She just heard the screams and groans of her fellow workers around her.

Just as the first plane rushed past, another plane came down. They either dropped bombs or strafed with machine guns.

When Zhu Jiayue finally dared to open her eyes, she saw that the fellow workers who had just been gathered together talking and laughing were running and falling.

At least a dozen female workers had fallen to the ground, and Factory Director Ke Tianyi, who had just shouted for everyone to hide, had also fallen to the ground.

A small stream of blood flowed from under his body.

The factory building they had just run out of was now half collapsed, and a fire was burning in the collapsed factory building.

Zhu Jiayue shouted meaninglessly and ran towards her home.

There were still two children at home.

The anti-aircraft guns on Xiaoshan gun emplacement had the experience of shooting down planes last time. Now, the anti-aircraft guns on the fortress no longer fired blindly.

These anti-aircraft guns waited until the enemy planes entered effective range.

At this distance, even heavy machine guns could pose a threat to the enemy planes.

Pilot Haneda Yuzo was flying an attack plane, diving and strafing from east to west.

In the radio, he didn't quite understand the captain's order: why couldn't he leave the airspace of the county, especially not fly to the riverside.

Today's mission was the least challenging. Neither the previous bombing nor the strafing of the attack planes

encountered the slightest resistance, which also made Haneda Yuzo feel very relaxed.

In the radio, hearing Captain Haneda's happy laughter, pilot Haneda Yuzo finally asked his question: "Why can't we bomb Jiangyin Fortress?"

Captain Haneda was very friendly to this newly added pilot.

The last joint attack on Jiangyin Fortress seemed like a century ago.

Those disastrous defeats, the Imperial Air Force, Army, and Navy never let it be reported.

Just silently replenish the lost pilots and planes.

Within the flight squadron, Jiangyin Fortress was a taboo, and no one ever mentioned it.

Today, this new pilot raised this question, and many pilots must want to know.

Captain Haneda cleared his throat: "This! We must obey the orders of our superiors.

The orders from above are for us to bomb and attack Jiangyin County. As executors, we must, of course, strictly follow the requirements.

Of course, there is a somewhat powerful gunner on the gun emplacements of Jiangyin Fortress.

When we bomb him, we may suffer some losses.

Anyway, just don't get close to that airspace."

Haneda Yuzo controlled the plane, turned in the air, and dived down again to strafe.

While carrying out the mission, he promoted the spirit of not letting go: "Then we should pull out that nail even more!"

Captain Haneda's voice immediately became stern: "It is a soldier's duty to obey orders!

Whatever the orders from superiors are, we must complete the mission without compromise.

Why are there so many suggestions?"

The relaxed and enthusiastic conversation of the entire flight squadron suddenly fell silent.

Every pilot knew that Jiangyin Fortress must be a fortress with a story.

Now they didn't dare to continue asking Captain Haneda, but that didn't mean they couldn't privately ask those older veterans.

The Japanese planes clearly avoided this airspace in a planned and organized manner.

Making all the anti-aircraft fire on Jiangyin Fortress helpless, only able to watch helplessly as the Japanese planes shuttled in the distant sky.

Constantly diving and strafing, constantly dropping bombs.

Yuan Youren, the county magistrate of Jiangyin and deputy commander of the martial law headquarters, had previously organized air raid drills for the citizens.

Now, when the Japanese planes really started bombing, the order in the entire city was in chaos.

Anyway, some citizens were still able to follow the previous drills and run to the several air raid shelters in the city.

Many of the citizens who did not go to the air raid shelters stayed at home, waiting for the Japanese bombing to end.

One situation that County Magistrate Yuan had not considered was that he never thought that the Japanese would bomb Ligong Textile Factory and schools and hospitals.

You must know that these three places were the most densely populated places in the entire county, except for the military camp.

Ligong Textile Factory now had more than two thousand workers.

County Magistrate Yuan saw that just as the bombing started, a raging fire had already started in that direction.

This must be a fire in the workshop inside the textile factory.

This was a big deal.

Ignoring the enemy planes diving and strafing overhead.

He immediately organized the fire brigade to go to Ligong Textile Factory, ready to help put out the fire.

Ligong Textile Factory also had its own fire brigade, but now the Japanese planes were targeting the textile factory for attacks, completely treating it as a military base for bombing.

Making the textile factory's self-rescue activities impossible to carry out. A plane with four machine guns under its belly flew over the textile factory.

The houses and walls on the ground could be penetrated, let alone the bodies of ordinary people.

The school was also a disaster area. The students who were in school were doing the same as the county magistrate's drill. When the air raid siren sounded.

The teachers took the students to the air raid shelter. After all, the students were not soldiers and could not carry out orders and prohibitions.

Nor could they gather in formation and enter the air raid shelter in an orderly manner in a few minutes.

The teachers could only let the students stay in the school classrooms, letting the Japanese strafe and bomb, not letting the students run outside to become targets.

The Japanese planes wreaked havoc over Jiangyin County, but never came to Jiangyin Fortress.

Now that the Japanese planes were not coming, Lin Fan could only go over.

If the mountain won't come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain!

When Lin Fan fired his cannon, Niu Dongxing and the others saw the true strength of their company commander.

A few days ago, they had seen Lin Fan's performance of using a mortar to shoot down planes, which had already shocked them.

Today, Lin Fan saw that the Japanese planes were not flying in the direction of the fortress.

After waiting for three minutes, he had already seen that the Japanese planes really did not want to cross the border.

This was not a good thing. Lin Fan would rather they all run to the fortress to drop bombs.

In any case, the fortifications and fortresses on the fortress were specially reinforced, and more importantly, there were soldiers on the fortress.

Soldiers had the awareness of sacrifice. The people in the county were all ordinary people. The Japanese were bombing ordinary people like this, wanting to destroy the foundation of the war of resistance. They were also afraid of the defenders on the fortress, only daring to bomb the defenseless county.

Lin Fan immediately ordered: "Everyone, change positions."

Staff Officer He Hesong had been following the Special Company, or rather, the current Special Forces Detachment.

He saw that the air raid siren was still ringing, and Lin Fan and the others were going to dismantle the cannon.

He immediately rushed out of the air raid shelter: "Company Commander Lin! What are you doing?"

Lin Fan pointed to the smoke-filled Jiangyin County: "I'm going to shoot down planes!"

"You..."

Staff Officer He Hesong looked at so many planes circling over Jiangyin County.

For a moment, he didn't know what to say.

Lin Fan ordered loudly: "Move quickly!"

He was going to drive the cannon he was responsible for to Jiangyin County.

"Bring enough shells!" Without Lin Fan's order, Chen Sichuan was already shouting.

With an order, the effect of the entire team's training these days began to be tested.

This time, the First Squad carried out the mission. Jia Chengbi quickly drove the car over.

Lin Fan saw that there were two soldiers in the driver's seat of the car.

This was what Lin Fan required: each car should have at least three drivers, so that there could be replacements in case of any situation.

Chen Sichuan's First Squad moved quickly. The training results of these days were still there.

In less than three minutes, the cannon had been changed from combat state to marching state.

When Xiang Liguo got out of the car, he immediately hooked up the tow hook and put the traction frame on the car.

In the roar of the car, it drove down the mountain quickly with the cannon.

The entire Special Forces Detachment of more than a thousand people followed behind the car and ran quickly towards Jiangyin City.

Commander Xu Kang stood beside Staff Officer He Hesong.

He Hesong: "Commander! They..."

"I saw it! Order the other cannons on the mountain to pay close attention to the enemy's movements. If they enter the defense line, fire immediately."

"Yes!" He Hesong knew that the commander was letting the artillery on the gun emplacements provide cover for the team that rushed down the mountain.

In less than ten minutes, the Special Forces Detachment had run out of the Jiangyin Fortress defense zone. Here, Jiangyin County could already be protected.

Jia Chengbi stopped the cannon car on the road. This position was slightly higher and could protect most of Jiangyin County.

As soon as the car stopped, Chen Sichuan rushed up:

"Quick! Untie the binding! Unfold the gun mount, fix the gun body.

Prepare ammunition!"

Orders were given in an orderly manner.

Lin Fan had already stood in the firing position at this time.

He shook the elevation machine and began to aim through the sight.

Li Xian looked at the time. From Lin Fan giving the order to now, fourteen minutes and thirty seconds had passed.

More than a thousand people watched the cannon that everyone placed their hopes on, and the barrel finally stopped at the designated position.

The car drove away to hide, and the cannon quickly changed state.

Lin Fan was quite satisfied with the current speed of the Special Forces Detachment.

In the sky over Jiangyin County in the distance, there were still more than fifty enemy planes diving, bombing, and strafing.

From their position, they could only see smoke billowing over the county, and they could no longer see the buildings inside the county.

More than a thousand people watched the cannon, and under Lin Fan's operation, it roared angrily.

A shell rushed out of the muzzle.

The cannon operated by Lin Fan fired.

Yukikaze Shotaro had just graduated from the Imperial Aviation School with excellent grades.

He had just graduated and had only trained in the rear for three months when he caught up with the shortage of front-line pilots and suffered too many losses.

He was immediately added to the First Fleet Air Force.

Being among the first to be sent to the battlefield for actual combat was what he was most proud of.

It was also what his classmates envied.

He had been in Shanghai for more than ten days. He had driven a fighter jet and had already carried out more than ten attack missions in this airspace.

Each time, he successfully completed the mission. Today, Yukikaze Shotaro still drove his attack plane to dive towards the ground as before.

From his perspective, he could clearly see that the target of the attack was an ordinary county.

As the plane got closer and closer to the ground, he could also see the people running around on the ground.

They were all ordinary people wearing various clothes. There was not a single soldier among them.

As a newcomer who had just entered the army from school, he had never doubted his superiors' orders.

The superiors' orders did not need to be questioned, only executed.

Yukikaze Shotaro pressed the machine gun firing button.

Two strings of fire tongues spewed out from under his belly. He looked at the two trails of smoke and dust that appeared on the ground, and the smoke and dust extended not far ahead.

A woman was dragging two children, one in each hand, and running away in a panic in one direction.

A sense of pleasure after destroying something beautiful welled up in his heart.

In just five seconds, the bullets fired by his plane would catch up with those three people.

Zhu Jiayue ran out of Ligong Textile Factory. Her home was in a small alley not far from the textile factory.

She ran into her home and only saw her mother-in-law walking with small steps, trembling, and shouting: "Dabao! Erbao! Come home!" (Dabao and Erbao are the names of Zhu Jiayue's sons)

"Dabao! Erbao! Where are they?" Zhu Jiayue asked anxiously.

"They ran out early in the morning after eating. Now that the world is in chaos, I don't know where they ran to."

"Mother-in-law! You hide in the house first, I'll go find them!" Zhu Jiayue wanted to help her mother-in-law into the house.

"This old woman's life is not important. Hurry up and find Dabao and Erbao.

They are this old woman's heart and soul." The old woman didn't appreciate it at all.

Pushing away Zhu Jiayue's hand, she shouted loudly.

Zhu Jiayue immediately turned around and rushed out of the door to the other end of the alley, to the place where the children usually liked to play, to find her sons.