Chapter 1 Takahashi Yuya's Infantry Company

From now on, Takahashi Yuya’s infantry company would closely follow Suzuki’s company, maintaining a safe distance of fifty meters.

Yoshida Taichi’s battalion had been attacking for over ten minutes. Saionji Kaitori’s machine gun company had dwindled from over forty machine guns at the start to just over twenty.

In those ten-plus minutes, their machine gun position had been bombarded by dozens of artillery shells.

Saionji Kaitori’s machine gun company had simply set up their machine guns and opened fire wherever they could find a spot on the ground, without any cover or fortifications.

They had absolutely no defense against mortar fire, so the Japanese soldiers in the entire machine gun company were rapidly decimated.

The machine guns could no longer fire continuously, always stopping after a gunner was wounded or killed.

This gave the First Company soldiers a chance to fight back, and more and more soldiers opened fire, making it even harder for the surviving ten or so soldiers in Kobayashi Kanta’s squad to crawl forward.

The vanguard of Takahashi Yuya’s company had entered the fifty-meter zone when another loud explosion rang out ahead.

Kobayashi Kanta’s squad leader was finally wiped out, and no more than twenty Japanese soldiers were still alive in Suzuki Yo’s company.

But those soldiers had crawled to within a dozen meters of the First Company’s position, and Suzuki Yo’s company knew this was an opportunity.

Just as he was about to order the company to charge, Takahashi Yuya, the captain of the company behind him, couldn't care less about what had happened in front.

His company still had about a hundred soldiers left, and now that they were less than thirty meters from the First Company’s defensive line, it was time to charge.

Captain Takahashi Yuya loudly ordered, "Charge!"

He raised his command saber high, pointing it in the direction of the First Company’s position, and his company scrambled to their feet, yelling as they charged forward.

The dozen or so surviving soldiers from Suzuki Yo’s company also joined the ranks of the charging Japanese soldiers.

Just as these soldiers were excitedly yelling and charging forward, the sound of explosions, "Boom! Boom!" rang out one after another.

The explosions froze Suzuki Yo’s captain in his tracks. Although he was just an artillery company captain,

he had a burning desire to rush into the trenches and drive back the Chinese army in front of him, especially since he believed that he was leading his entire artillery company through all kinds of hardships and was about to succeed.

But then more mines exploded in front of him, making it completely unacceptable to Suzuki Yo’s captain.

Even more unacceptable was the reality faced by Captain Takahashi Yuya: a cannon fodder company had already gone down this road.

They had already triggered the mines on the road! Why were there still mines now?

The directional mines caused too much damage to the two companies. Captain Suzuki Yo looked at the team with only two or three soldiers still standing, and they couldn't even charge anymore.

But at such a close distance, First Company Commander Shi Junxia had already ordered the entire company to charge out after the directional mines exploded, to wipe out all the Japanese soldiers.

The First Company's directional mines had only detonated two on the road that Suzuki Yo’s company had passed through, fearing that they would be discovered.

There were still quite a few directional mines on both sides of the path they had cleared. Now that the Japanese soldiers had all stood up and charged,

it was the perfect time for the directional mines to unleash their power, and that was precisely why they dealt a fatal blow to the attacking Japanese soldiers.

Now was the time to strike while the iron was hot!

The soldiers of the First Company also yelled as they charged out of the trenches, rushing towards the Japanese soldiers in front of them. The two or three remaining soldiers of Suzuki Yo’s company were, after all, artillerymen. Holding rifles didn't make them infantrymen.

Faced with the charging First Company, they could only symbolically raise their rifles to resist, but they couldn't stop the bayonet charge of professional infantrymen.

Suzuki Yo’s company was wiped out. Its demise did not attract the attention of Saionji Kaitori’s machine gun company two hundred meters away.

The machine gun company now had only six or seven machine guns still firing, the rest had been destroyed.

The six heavy machine guns of the First Company were no longer firing at the charging infantry, but were focused on suppressing the Japanese machine guns.

The five mortars and two Type 92 infantry guns that had been firing at Saionji Kaitori’s machine gun company continued to fire.

They completely suppressed the last six firing points of the machine gun company.

Takahashi Yuya’s infantry company could now only rely entirely on themselves! Captain Takahashi Yuya's hand, which had been pointing forward since he gave the order to charge, was now trembling slightly.

His command saber was shaking. He was unharmed in the explosion; he wasn't hurt, and he wasn't dead.

But in the hazy smoke, he could see that more than half of the company's hundred-plus soldiers had fallen.

Even the dust that had just begun to fill the battlefield was tinged with the color of the blood that had flowed from those soldiers, and the air was filled with the smell of blood.

The smell was so familiar. In their previous charges, the smell of blood was the most stimulating thing for the entire team.

The soldiers in his company were all bloodthirsty; they would get excited and even go crazy when they smelled blood.

Today was different. The smell of blood on the battlefield was more intense than ever before, but not a single soldier was excited.

Sergeant Tsuruta Shunsuke, Sergeant Katori Kamitoyo, and the other Japanese soldiers were not only not excited, but they were now trembling with fear, their upper and lower teeth chattering, and they could barely hold their rifles.

They had just gotten up and yelled excitedly to charge when they were stopped by a barrage of explosions. Although they were not hurt and did not die,

listening to the groans around them and watching the Japanese soldiers falling to the ground, these soldiers who were still able to stand had lost the will to continue fighting.

But the battlefield was not a place where they could come and go as they pleased, or choose not to fight if they didn't want to.

The soldiers of the First Company had already charged up. Captain Takahashi Yuya finally reacted. If this had happened a minute ago, it would have been his dream come true.

Now, no matter what, he could only shout, "Kill!" His voice was as shrill as a vengeful ghost, finally awakening the Japanese soldiers who were still in a daze.

Sergeant Tsuruta Shunsuke finally came to his senses, hurriedly raising his rifle to parry the thrust of the special forces soldier.

The Japanese soldiers, who had no fighting spirit, were completely unable to resist the special forces soldiers, who trained in bayonet techniques every day.

In a single move, Sergeant Tsuruta Shunsuke went to meet his ancestors. Sergeant Katori Kamitoyo's situation was similar; he had not yet recovered from the previous explosion.

The special forces soldier had already charged close, and Sergeant Katori Kamitoyo mechanically thrust out his spear out of instinct.

When it was parried by the opposing soldier, he immediately felt the rifle wanting to slip out of his hand. It was then that he suddenly reacted and quickly tried to grab the rifle that had been hit with great force with both hands.

But he reacted too slowly. Sergeant Katori Kamitoyo grabbed the rifle, but lost the chance to parry. He took a knife to the chest and twisted.

Being stabbed was already heart-wrenching, and then having the bayonet twisted inside was a real heart-wrenching pain.

Sergeant Katori Kamitoyo could no longer hold the rifle in his hand. He dropped it on the ground and didn't care about it. He only pulled his hands back and covered the wound on his chest.

Just at that moment, another shot came and added another wound to his chest. Fortunately, Sergeant Katori Kamitoyo had two hands, one hand covering each wound.

He looked at the special forces soldier in front of him with pleading eyes, as if begging him not to add another wound.

His plea was ineffective! Sergeant Katori Kamitoyo finally fell. Team Leader Nozawa Eito was a little more tenacious. After Captain Takahashi Yo’s shrill order,

he suddenly woke up, quickly drew his command saber, and also issued a charge order: "Kill!"

Then he began to charge forward. Team Leader Nozawa Eito had only charged forward less than three steps when he met Platoon Leader He Yi.

Platoon leader He stabbed the commanding officer in the chest, and Team Leader Nozawa Eito quickly parried. After parrying the first strike, another shot came from the other side.

Team Leader Nozawa Eito found it a little difficult to parry the second shot. It wasn't that he didn't know how to fight with bayonets, it was just that the special forces soldier on the other side was too strong.

Captain Takahashi Yuya watched as the already small number of Japanese soldiers were rapidly decreasing during the bayonet fight.

This made him no longer care about just standing behind the team and commanding. Originally, he only felt sorry for half of his company being killed by the bombing.

But he still had a glimmer of hope in his heart: he was confident in his men's bayonet skills.

But now, the team that had charged up was killing his men like they were chopping vegetables.

What was going on? Captain Takahashi Yuya waved his command saber and rushed forward.

His command saber created two blade flowers in the air, and the chilling aura looked extremely beautiful.

Takahashi Yuya's swordsmanship was also trained by a famous master. Now he had to rush to the front and set an example for his soldiers.

Sergeant Asō Tatehira saw the captain rushing up and quickly cleared the way. Captain Takahashi Yuya usually liked to perform swordsmanship.

He also often competed with the soldiers in the company, and the captain always won. Today was the first time that Captain Takahashi Yuya had really fought with an opponent on the battlefield.

Captain Takahashi Yuya rushed towards Platoon Leader He Yi. He had seen Platoon Leader He kill Team Leader Nozawa Eito, so he chose him.

Because Team Leader Nozawa Eito was still very strong in ordinary competitions.

Captain Takahashi Yuya rushed to Platoon Leader He, shouted loudly, and gripped the command saber with both hands, slashing down fiercely.

If his knife struck solid, it could completely split Platoon Leader He in half. The Japanese soldier's knife was full of momentum.

Platoon Leader He could only avoid its sharp edge, and pushed back hard with his feet, completely avoiding the knife that Takahashi Yuya had slashed down with all his strength.

The enemy in front of him retreated, and Captain Takahashi Yuya slashed into the air with all his strength. Of course, he couldn't let this knife continue to be slashed.

He quickly tried to pull the knife back, but when he slashed down, he was sure that the other party could only parry.

Therefore, Captain Takahashi Yuya used all his strength to cut the parrying rifle in the other party's hand in two, and then cut the enemy into two halves.

He planned it well, but the opponent didn't cooperate!

Of course, there was no better way. How the knife was slashed out, how it should be retracted, this really took Captain Takahashi Yuya's life.

When he tried to retract the knife, not only did his chest feel tight and his wrist hurt, but he also leaned forward with all his strength. At this moment, the opponent suddenly jumped up, and the shining bayonet stabbed towards the Japanese soldier.

Captain Takahashi Yuya, who was still retracting his knife, watched helplessly as the bayonet stabbed into his body. He arched his back and used the force of the bayonet entering his body to stabilize his figure, and swept the command saber horizontally, wanting to cut the opponent in half.

What made Captain Takahashi Yuya go crazy was that the opponent had jumped back again. Was this opponent a monkey?

Jumping around so flexibly? When Captain Takahashi Yuya swept out the knife, the opponent pulled out the bayonet and jumped back.

When his bayonet was pulled out, Captain Takahashi Yuya felt as if his strength had been taken away as well.

What Captain Takahashi Yuya couldn't believe was that the opponent jumped in again, and the bayonet in his hand was still stabbing towards him.

Captain Takahashi Yuya, who had already lost his strength, didn't even have the strength to parry this time. He just made a gesture of parrying with the command saber in his hand, and was stabbed again.

Sergeant Asō Tatehira, who was watching all of this from a distance, was calm and unperturbed. He was not surprised at all.

Captain Takahashi Yuya had also competed with him. If he used all his strength, Captain Takahashi Yuya would not be able to support himself for more than five moves.

It's just that Sergeant Asō Tatehira was a sensible person. He saw that all the Japanese soldiers in the entire company who were stronger than him in bayonet fighting had been defeated by the captain.

He could only be defeated by the captain as well. These Japanese soldiers, including Captain Takahashi Yuya, had not thought that he would still need to personally fight with the special forces soldiers one day.

Now, his true colors were revealed. Captain Takahashi Yuya looked at the soldier on the opposite side in disbelief.

He couldn't understand how he, who was invincible in the entire company, could die in the hands of a special forces soldier he met on the battlefield.

The actions of the First Company soldiers were very fast. They had fought too many battles like this. Today, there were too few Japanese soldiers who had charged up, and there were too many soldiers from the First Company who had charged out.

The second platoon in front fought the Japanese soldiers with bayonets, and the third and fourth platoons in the rear added a knife, giving the Japanese wounded soldiers on the ground a relief, and then collected the weapons and ammunition.

Captain Saionji Kaitori was unable to clearly see what was happening on the front line shrouded in smoke.

But when a gust of wind passed by and dispersed the smoke, he could clearly see the scene on the battlefield.

In front of the defensive line established by the Special Forces Brigade lay a ground full of corpses, all Japanese soldiers!

Captain Saionji Kaitori had just seen Captain Takahashi Yuya's company launch an attack. It had been less than ten minutes from the start of their attack to now.

An entire company had been wiped out. Not only was Captain Saionji Kaitori shocked, but all the Japanese soldiers under his command were also frightened.

In order to ensure that Takahashi Yuya's infantry company charged into the defensive line of the Special Forces Brigade, their machine gun company had been suppressing the enemy's firepower, regardless of casualties and persisting under the artillery bombardment.

As a result, Takahashi Yuya's company was wiped out. As for Suzuki Yo's artillery company, they were originally sent to the front as cannon fodder.

Neither Captain Takahashi Yuya nor Captain Saionji Kaitori had included them in their calculations of troop strength.

Now, what should I do?

Captain Saionji Kaitori thought, and he had ordered the last three machine guns to stop firing.

His company had only three machine guns left, and only thirty or so Japanese soldiers.

Captain Saionji Kaitori, not knowing what to do, sent a messenger back to report the situation to Battalion Commander Yoshioka Taichi and ask for instructions on what to do next.

"What should we do next?" Battalion Commander Yoshioka Taichi, who was standing in the rear overlooking the battlefield, also didn't know.

His battalion's three infantry companies and one artillery company had all been wiped out. Now, all that was left was the remnants of the machine gun company, with thirty-odd soldiers, plus sixty-odd soldiers in the battalion headquarters.

A battalion of more than 1,270 Japanese soldiers now had only a fraction left.

Battalion Commander Yoshioka Taichi, not knowing what to do, had no choice but to report the news of the failed attack to Commander Chibu Ishiro.

Listening to his most valued Battalion Commander Yoshioka Taichi report that the entire battalion had only ninety-odd soldiers left, and the key was that the defensive line in front was still as majestic as a mountain and as solid as an iron wall, without any wavering at all.

"What should we do?" Commander Chibu Ishiro also didn't know what to do.

He had been watching the battle of the Kawauchi Takuya Battalion, which was serving as the rearguard. He saw that the team that had ambushed him had suddenly stopped bombarding the machine gun company's defensive line at the front of the Kawauchi Takuya Battalion.

He was secretly happy, thinking that this team couldn't chew him up and was already planning to give up and withdraw.

Commander Chibu Ishiro had already decided that he must send the Kawauchi Takuya Battalion and the Fujieda Yuki Battalion to bite down on this Chinese army and not let go, and to occupy Fukuoka in one go.

What he didn't expect was that the fierce artillery bombardment had decreased, but the extremely accurate artillery bombardment had begun.

Looking through the binoculars, he could clearly see that each shell always landed accurately and impartially on each machine gun firing point.

Although the Kawauchi Takuya Battalion had deployed more than forty separate machine gun firing points on the defensive line, they couldn't withstand such accurate sniping!

Standing in the distance and observing the battlefield situation, Chibu Ishiro felt a chill all over his body: What kind of team was this? How could they have such a marksman?

The Japanese soldiers of the Rikuzen Kazushi Machine Gun Company, who were being sniped on the battlefield, didn't feel much.

This was because their machine gun positions were separate individuals. When the one next door was bombed, they only knew that a shell had exploded nearby.

Machine gunner Ueno Motoo felt the same way. He heard that the sound of artillery shells falling around him had decreased a lot.

He was secretly happy in his heart: Had the Chinese army run out of shells?