Chapter 279 The Heavy Artillery Regiment's Doomsday

After reporting the location of the Japanese convoy, he led his squadron in a continued patrol around the airfield.

Jiang Yuanwu's squadron, wary of alarming the Japanese convoy on the ground, maintained a normal patrol altitude, circling back after three minutes.

They began their dive from a distance, avoiding any disturbance to the enemy convoy, a new tactic learned from Yang Tianyi's earlier strike.

The fighters skimmed the ground, rapidly closing on the convoy without alerting a single Japanese soldier.

When the last few vehicles transporting ammunition for the Keelung heavy artillery regiment were hit and exploded, Sergeant Nishikubo Kendou was stunned, his grip on the truck's side loosening in fright.

He stared blankly as a huge cloud of smoke billowed into the sky, one aircraft after another emerging from the haze.

In that instant, Sergeant Nishikubo Kendou seemed to see eagles descending from the clouds, their talons reaching for the chickens scattering on the ground.

Now, he and the other Japanese soldiers of the heavy artillery regiment were those fleeing chickens.

No! They weren't even that. Chickens could at least run. These Japanese soldiers, riding in artillery vehicles moving at high speed, didn't even dare jump out.

Jumping out at that speed would be tantamount to suicide.

In that moment, Sergeant Nishikubo Kendou suddenly gained clarity. He understood: this straight road was a hunting ground carefully chosen by the hunters.

His heavy artillery regiment's speed of 50 kilometers per hour was like a turtle's crawl compared to the aircraft's 400 kilometers per hour.

With no escape, Sergeant Nishikubo Kendou finally decided to fight to the death, taking a brave gamble by leaping from the artillery vehicle, attempting to reach the roadside.

Unfortunately, he couldn't jump far at such high speed.

Stumbling as he landed, Sergeant Nishikubo Kendou was lightly brushed by the cannon following behind, finally losing his balance.

He fell under the wheels of the five-ton artillery vehicle.

The heavy wheels rolled over his waist, and the not-yet-dead Sergeant Nishikubo Kendou screamed miserably, trying to attract the attention of other Japanese soldiers.

His cries did attract their attention, but nothing more. Then came the sound of exploding shells.

The deafening explosions completely drowned out Sergeant Nishikubo Kendou's cries for help. The artillery vehicles in front and the cannons behind veered off course in the bombardment, some plunging into roadside ditches, others leaping into the air and breaking apart mid-flight.

Captain Tentai Takuya's tractor was lucky enough to avoid a direct hit, but the cannon in front of it suddenly stopped amidst the barrage.

The driver, in a panic, swerved sharply, sending the tractor careening off the road at 50 kilometers per hour, crashing into a field, with the cannon behind it crushing down upon it.

In that short distance of a dozen meters, the cannon ground the Japanese soldiers who had fallen from the tractor into the dirt one by one. The road was littered with the blood and flesh of Captain Tentai Takuya's men.

He was, after all, fortunate, managing to crawl out of the overturned tractor with only minor injuries, just scrapes on his knees and forehead.

Standing in the field below the road, Captain Tentai Takuya was far enough away to see a broader view.

The scene was now truly grand: the vehicles transporting ammunition at the rear of the convoy were exploding one after another, their traveling distances too close.

Struck again by the attacking aircraft, their ammunition was now detonating, one shell after another, as if eager to join the fray.

Twelve bombers immediately followed, all beginning their dives. Gui Wenyi, flying the lowest and leading the way, continuously reported: "It's a Japanese heavy artillery regiment, all large-caliber guns. No anti-aircraft fire detected.

"Already within attack range, commencing strafing and bombing!"

The soldiers of the Yamashita Hundred Artillery Regiment knew there were aircraft circling overhead, but they naively believed they were their own planes from the island.

These Japanese soldiers innocently assumed that Taoyuan Airport had been attacked, so all the Japanese aircraft on the entire island had taken off to protect it, which was why these planes were circling overhead.

As for the news that all the aircraft on the entire island had been wiped out that morning, ordinary soldiers like them were not privy to such information.

Even the Yamashita Hundred Regiment wasn't authorized to know. The news of the Fifth Fleet's complete annihilation had become the Japanese Empire's top secret, and all Japanese soldiers, regardless of rank, were forbidden from discussing it under any circumstances.

The Japanese concealed their defeats in this way, only showing their domestic population victorious battle reports, creating the illusion of invincibility on the international stage.

No matter what other international reporters reported, the news released by the Japanese always claimed victory.

This time, the Japanese soldiers on Taiwan Island, completely unaware of the latest intelligence, did not know that their aircraft had long been destroyed. The planes in the sky were their harbingers of death.

Sergeant Takahashi Kinnran watched as the aircraft in the sky suddenly lowered their altitude, diving towards the convoy.