August 29, 1938, Major General Akashi Meishi, who was ordered to lead the 19th Brigade to attack Shucheng,

had been marching with his entire infantry brigade towards Shucheng for a day.

They were now twenty kilometers away from Shucheng.

If nothing unexpected happened, they would reach Shucheng today.

Brigade Commander Akashi Meishi had thoroughly studied Shucheng and Lushan County.

The Special Forces had not occupied these two county towns for long.

According to the information sent back by the spies lurking in these two county towns,

the total number of troops stationed in these two county towns was less than two thousand.

Thinking of this, Brigade Commander Akashi Meishi felt a little regretful:

"When did the courage of the Imperial Army become like this?

To deal with two thousand soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army,

we actually need to use four times the strength!

If the National Revolutionary Army stays in Shucheng for one more day during this mopping-up operation,

it will be a disgrace to the 19th Brigade."

As he thought this, the 1st Battalion of the 9th Regiment, which was the vanguard of the 19th Brigade, could already see Zhangmu Bridge Town.

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga ordered his soldiers:

"Speed up! Rest in Zhangmu Bridge Town for fifteen minutes."

The soldiers, who were already tired from walking,

were immediately energized when they heard their battalion commander's thoughtful order.

For them,

resting in a town and resting in the wilderness

were two completely different concepts.

Even if they rested for an hour in the wilderness,

could they chat with the tree spirits and monsters in the wild?

Or plunder the rats and flies in the wild?

Resting in a town with people was different,

especially in a small town like this.

They could do whatever they wanted! At worst, they would set a fire before leaving

and burn the entire town to the ground.

No one would ever know what they had done.

They had done this many times before

and already had a well-established procedure.

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga watched as his troops, who had just been slightly fatigued,

were encouraged to full strength with just one sentence.

He felt very proud.

Division Commander Nakajima Kesago of the 16th Division was able to be promoted to corps commander of the Fourth Army so quickly

because of the efforts of these soldiers under his command.

Today, they were still in high spirits.

This was very good.

Perhaps if they completed this mission well,

he could become a regimental commander.

If they can be regimental commanders, so can I!

Not a single soldier felt that Regimental Commander Hoshino Hyuga's order

was problematic.

They had not encountered any resistance along the way

and were having extremely smooth sailing!

They also clearly understood the hidden meaning behind this order:

this was a reward for the troops before the major battle,

allowing the soldiers to completely relax and vent.

When they attacked Shucheng next,

they would need to charge forward and attack bravely.

Just then,

the Pig Hand Squad, which was at the forefront, suddenly discovered that the town ahead was eerily quiet.

Although they were still three hundred meters away from the town,

they could not hear the crowing of chickens, the barking of dogs, or the neighing of mules and horses.

Squad Leader Pig Hand hesitated and waved his hand,

stopping the entire squad's advance.

He pointed to Zhangmu Bridge Town ahead, preparing to send a squad of more than ten soldiers to scout ahead.

Just then, Squad Leader Pig Hand heard a series of explosions.

The sounds of "boom, boom, boom" were deafening.

The ground trembled like waves,

and countless black dots flew rapidly towards them.

Accompanied by the whistling sound of "whoosh, whoosh,"

he could even see flashes of fire in the corner of his eye, less than ten meters to his left.

This was not an exclusive service for the Pig Hand Squad.

The entire Hoshino Hyuga Battalion was under the same attack.

As soon as the explosions stopped,

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga shouted:

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!

Take cover!"

In reality, they had not yet seen the enemy's shadow.

The unexpected explosions had also blurred their vision with smoke.

As soon as the explosions occurred, many shells rained down from the sky,

making the soldiers of the Hoshino Hyuga Battalion very upset.

Many soldiers panicked and frantically raised their guns, firing in all directions.

Regardless of whether there were enemies in front of them,

even if it was just air,

they had to fire,

using the sound of their gunfire

to give their frightened hearts a little comfort.

This was not the idea of one or two soldiers.

Many soldiers thought the same way.

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga had not found the enemy's position either.

He could only shout loudly:

"Disperse! Rush out! Rush towards the town ahead!"

With the battalion commander's order, the remaining soldiers of the entire battalion had a backbone

and a goal to move forward! Squad Leader Pig Hand's original plan

was interrupted by the explosions that had just occurred.

Then he received the order from the battalion commander:

rush into the town.

The Pig Hand Squad was only three hundred meters away from the town ahead.

They could enter with a single charge.

The soldiers of the Pig Hand Squad were still charging at the forefront.

Although only half of the soldiers in his squad were still charging,

they finally completed their mission.

They had long since rushed out of the smoke range produced by the explosions.

Squad Leader Pig Hand looked at the desolate town,

feeling somewhat puzzled, but more disappointed.

These soldiers,

having had the experience in Nanjing,

liked to find people to abuse.

A town like this, completely deserted,

would not be much fun even if the battalion rested here for a whole day! As he was feeling disappointed,

many soldiers were still emerging from the smoke behind him,

like a group of devils from hell.

Just then, Squad Leader Pig Hand heard the familiar sound of explosions again.

"Here we go again?" As he was shocked,

his body reflexively fell to the ground.

Although lying on the constantly vibrating ground was very uncomfortable,

it was better than standing and being hit by shrapnel.

He had seen the wounded who had been hit by shrapnel earlier.

Those soldiers had numerous small wounds all over their bodies, but they were extremely deep!

Those wounded soldiers were constantly wailing.

Now, the sound of wailing was even louder.

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga was furious.

In such a short period of time, his battalion had fallen into the same trap twice. How could he not be angry?

What made him even angrier was that

they had not yet discovered a single enemy.

Five hundred meters away from the Hoshino Hyuga Battalion,

Company Commander Gui Wen was quietly speaking into the radio:

"The enemy is in Area Two! The enemy is in Area Two!"

As he finished speaking,

the artillery bombardment that had just stopped

came again, this time targeting the current location of the Hoshino Hyuga Battalion.

The bombardment came quickly and stopped quickly.

In five minutes,

the bombardment stopped!

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga was utterly furious,

but he was still a commander after all.

When he could not find the enemy,

his anger was worthless.

To prevent further artillery bombardment,

he ordered the troops to enter Zhangmu Bridge Town.

From the time he issued the order to enter the town to rest for fifteen minutes

to now, less than twenty minutes had passed,

but only five hundred or so soldiers from his battalion were able to walk into the town on their own.

For the next half hour,

they waited cautiously for the shells that might fall at any time.

But the shells seemed to have never appeared,

and no more shells fell.

The bombs that had terrified the soldiers were also gone.

But Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga did not have the slightest joy.

The encounter just now

had caused his troops to suffer more than 60% casualties.

The key was that most of the 60% casualties

were wounded.

Now his vanguard was simply unable to advance.

Those four hundred or so wounded soldiers were enough to keep the Hoshino Hyuga Battalion busy for half a day.

This was not the only unit of the 9th Infantry Regiment that was attacked.

Behind the 1st Battalion,

the 2nd Battalion and the 3rd Battalion were also bombed by bombs and shells at the same time.

The only difference was that the 2nd Battalion and the 3rd Battalion were more heavily bombarded by artillery shells.

These two battalions were basically crippled.

Chen Sichuan ordered the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Companies to attack and harass the enemy's advancing troops.

The ambush at Zhangmu Bridge Town was carried out by these three companies.

They first placed directional mines outside Zhangmu Bridge Town.

When the enemy entered the ambush circle,

they detonated the directional mines and then used mortars and Type 92 infantry guns to bombard the enemy from two kilometers away.

The people of Zhangmu Bridge Town had quietly evacuated last night.

The entire town appeared to be empty,

but in reality, there were still people there. The infantrymen of the three companies were all lurking here.

Now was the time to attack.

The remaining four hundred or so soldiers of the Hoshino Hyuga Battalion

were now busy rescuing the wounded.

Battalion Commander Hoshino Hyuga set up the triage center in a school in Zhangmu Bridge Town.

His battalion headquarters was also set up here.

Of the four hundred or so soldiers who were still able to move,

he only left twenty or so soldiers to build a simple defensive line around the school.

The rest of the soldiers went to carry the wounded.

There was no one here. They could not even capture a coolie.

They could only do it themselves.

Most of the soldiers were transporting the wounded.

The battalion of soldiers three kilometers away from them

were also busy rescuing the wounded at this time

and also sent out many small teams to search the artillery positions on a large scale.

Thirty minutes later,

the 20th Infantry Regiment, which was following behind the 9th Infantry Regiment, was also subjected to heavy artillery bombardment.

This artillery bombardment was equally fierce.

Dozens of shells fell at the same time.

This bombardment lasted for less than ten minutes.

Hundreds of shells exploded in the middle of the advancing 20th Regiment's troops,

causing heavy casualties

to the completely unprepared soldiers!

Colonel Kobayashi Noriyuki of the 20th Infantry Regiment directed all his anger towards the 9th Regiment.

In his opinion, the 9th Regiment was clearing the way in front

but did not search carefully,

allowing the National Revolutionary Army to take advantage of the situation.

But he also knew that

a unit that could fire more than forty shells in one round

must be a heavy artillery regiment of the National Revolutionary Army.

But how could the National Revolutionary Army's heavy artillery regiment be willing to use it for guerrilla warfare?

Was Shucheng a trap set by the National Revolutionary Army?

Colonel Katagiri of the 9th Regiment had the same doubts.

He had now ordered the troops to stop advancing

and wait for orders in place.