Chapter 1 The Beginning

Xiaocang Sansei, the squadron leader, spoke loudly, as if giving himself an order. Every time he saw the panicked figures of the National Revolutionary Army soldiers running around on the ground, he would feel inexplicably excited and thrilled. Watching his machine gun knock down those soldiers on the ground, the rows of corpses gave him an unspeakable pleasure.

Today's situation was a bit different. The soldiers on the ground seemed not to have noticed the planes diving towards them. None of them were running around; they were all still firing at the Japanese devils below the hillside.

"What's going on?" Seeing that none of the National Revolutionary Army soldiers were running, Xiaocang Sansei's fun was immediately spoiled. He couldn't feel any pleasure seeing the weak struggling. He liked to see the National Revolutionary Army soldiers struggle, run away, and then show despair.

But he didn't see any of that today! Their squadron was like it was invisible.

He Deyuan, the deputy chief of staff in the distance, saw that Lin Fan's movements were unhurried and calm. However, the speed at which the anti-aircraft gun barrel moved was extremely fast, a contrast of slow and fast that looked so coordinated.

Then, the sound he was already familiar with rang out: "Dong, dong, dong!" It was the sound of cannons, like celebratory drums. He Deyuan suddenly thought: Does this Brigade Commander Lin especially like the number three? Otherwise, why would he always fire in bursts of three?

Thoughts may wander, but eyes don't lie! Although He Deyuan's mind was full of thoughts, his eyes followed the direction of the cannonballs.

Then his eyes popped out again: he saw the enemy plane flying in the lead explode in the air like a brilliant firework.

Three cannon shots here, and three enemy planes turned into fireworks in the distance. This time, Chief of Staff Bai Yong didn't torture himself anymore. He shouted loudly, "Good!"

The shout was full of vigor and charm, and it was clear that he had practiced this "good" many times in the opera house. Among the seven members of the observation group here, each one was a master at shouting "good." Over the years, they had spent a lot of time in opera houses. When they encountered a good performance, the "good!" had to be shouted well! The timing and sound had to be right in order to gain the favor of the leading actor and have a chance at a solo part.

Lin Fan ignored them and continued to operate the gun! Hitting the target was his duty; it would be strange if he missed! The soldiers of the Special Forces Brigade absolutely believed in their brigade commander's skill in shooting down enemy planes.

He Deyuan and the others heard the sound of cannons again, and the enemy planes flying in the front and the ones flying in the back turned into fireworks in the distance.

"What? What's going on?" He thought Lin Fan had slipped and aimed at the front but hit the plane in the back.

Regimental Commander Shangguan Zhiwen smiled and explained, "The brigade commander is afraid that the enemy planes in the back will run away, so he shoots the closest ones first to prevent them from causing losses to us, and then he shoots the enemy planes in the back to prevent them from escaping. Finally, he shoots the enemy planes in the middle, so that none of the Japanese devils' planes will be able to escape."

"You actually want to shoot down all these planes?" Deputy Chief of Staff He Deyuan felt like he couldn't breathe. This team was too ambitious, too wild!

Squadron Leader Xiaocang Sansei had long been unable to breathe. He was the first to be hit by the cannon in the entire squadron, the first to die.

Two more Japanese devils followed him to report to Amaterasu. After their planes exploded, pilot Nakai Toshio shouted in horror from behind, "Squadron Leader Xiaocang has fallen! We're under attack! The National Revolutionary Army has anti-aircraft guns!"

His voice was desolate and helpless, like a child abandoned in the wilderness! He only wanted to escape this battlefield as quickly as possible, but the plane was diving, and it was impossible to escape immediately.

Just as he was flustered and helpless, pilot Yoshitaka Takeo suddenly shouted, "West! They're in the west!" Although his words were unclear, all the remaining Japanese devils in the squadron understood. He meant that the attack was coming from the west.

Then, a loud noise came from his microphone, and there was no more sound from pilot Yoshitaka Takeo. All the Japanese pilots knew: "Yoshitaka Takeo is dead."

Pilot Nakai Toshio muttered to himself, "What kind of weapons are they using? How can they be so fast and so accurate?"

No Japanese devil responded. They were all doing their best to control their fighters, preparing to get their planes away from this battlefield. As for the Japanese infantry below, to hell with them!

Loud noises kept coming from the earphones. Pilot Nakai Toshio now knew that each noise meant a plane was being shot down.

He became the last Japanese devil in the entire squadron to be shot down. Nakai Toshio didn't feel happy at this time. On the contrary, he envied Squadron Leader Xiaocang Sansei, who had died at the very beginning of the battle.

He didn't have to worry so much, only to die in the end anyway.

Seeing that all the enemy planes in the sky had indeed exploded in mid-air, Deputy Chief of Staff He Deyuan was so excited that he became incoherent: "Brigade Commander Lin! Brigade Commander! You... you guys... you're really too amazing."

After saying this, he was finally able to speak smoothly: "With Brigade Commander Lin guarding Fogang, northern Guangdong is safe. The Fourth War Zone was wondering why the promised Sixty-sixth Army hadn't arrived yet, but you came first. So you're the trump card in President Chiang's hand! That's great, that's really great."

He Deyuan rubbed his hands excitedly, pacing around in place. All seven members of their observation group had the same expression: excitement and admiration.

Lin Fan said with a smile, "Fighting the Japanese devils is our mission. I just hope that after Chief of Staff He reports the situation on the battlefield to Commander Yu, he won't break his promise about the pork."

He Deyuan immediately said, "Brigade Commander Lin, don't worry! Even if the Fourth War Zone doesn't taste meat for three months, we'll guarantee you have meat to eat every day. With a team like this, the Fourth War Zone will be much more relaxed. A team that can shoot down enemy planes and take out tanks, what's a little meat?"

If there had been suitable communication equipment here, Deputy Chief of Staff He would have reported to Commander Yu immediately. He looked at Lin Fan's command post and asked excitedly, "Brigade Commander Lin! Could I trouble your telegraph operator to send a battle report to Commander Yu for me?"

Lin Fan could understand the feelings of these officers who had lost Guangzhou in just nine days. Now they could finally be happy, and he wanted to get this news to Commander Yu as quickly as possible.

Lin Fan still had a sense of helping others, so he said with a smile, "Little Li! Take Chief of Staff He over there and help him send a battle report to Commander Yu."

He Deyuan followed Little Li excitedly, while the other six staff officers stayed here, looking expectantly at the distant battlefield on the ground.

Regimental Commander Shangguan Zhiwen said with a smile, "The battle over there won't end for a while."

"Why? With such powerful firepower!" Chief of Staff Bai Yong's face, marked with five finger prints, was now swollen, and his voice was a bit slurred.

Regimental Commander Shangguan explained, "We have to leave some of these Japanese devils alive so that they'll keep sending reinforcements to rescue them."

"Encircle a point and strike at reinforcements! You want to encircle a point and strike at reinforcements!" Bai Yong was able to become a staff officer, so of course he wasn't like an ordinary soldier who knew nothing about military matters.

He immediately shouted excitedly, "Encircle a point and strike at reinforcements!"

Encirclement and reinforcement strikes were not so easy to achieve. First, you had to be able to encircle the Japanese devils, and second, you had to be able to kill the Japanese devils' reinforcements.

Otherwise, encircling a point and striking at reinforcements would become a blossom from the inside or an attack from both sides.

Thinking of the strength of this team, Chief of Staff Bai Yong immediately understood: they had that kind of strength.

In fact, if the Fourth War Zone could shoot down enemy planes and take out tanks, they wouldn't be afraid to fight the Japanese devils head-on. The staff officers of the observation groups were now excited. Although they had spent their days in theaters, movie theaters, dance halls, and racetracks, their desire to fight the Japanese devils had not changed.

They were very happy to see a team that could fight the Japanese devils, a team that could defeat the Japanese devils.

The Japanese Fourth Air Regiment had more than just the twelve fighters of Xiaocang Sansei's squadron. It was just that they had taken off first and arrived on the battlefield first. The twelve planes of Mizushima Yosuke's fighter squadron, which had taken off after them, also arrived on the battlefield five minutes later.

Pilot Miki Akuyoshi looked at the smoke that had not yet dissipated in the air and asked with some doubt, "Is there a lot of smoke in the air?"

Pilot Kosuge Yano said excitedly, "There's a fierce battle on the ground. How could there not be a lot of smoke?" His words made sense, and Miki Akuyoshi was speechless.

When Mizushima Yosuke's fighter squadron flew to the battlefield, the battle on the ground was still going on. The Japanese devils of Takeuchi Takuma's battalion had just experienced a roller coaster of emotions.

They had been extremely excited when they saw the Japanese planes arrive, waiting for the good news of victory to come from the fighters, but instead, they saw one fighter after another exploding in the air.

The arrival of a fighter squadron of twelve planes not only didn't give the Japanese devils on the ground any help, but also cut off a section of their already low morale.

Now, when the Japanese devils of Takeuchi Takuma's battalion saw another fighter squadron rushing to the battlefield, their mood became quite complicated: they hoped that the fighters could suppress the National Revolutionary Army on the hilltop to facilitate their attack, but they were also afraid that they would be happy for nothing and that these planes were just there to perform fireworks.

Regardless of what the fighters in the air were doing, Battalion Commander Takeuchi Takuma still ordered, "Attack! Intensify the attack!" Now he had recognized reality: everything depended on himself, and he couldn't wait for a miracle to happen in the sky.

Squadron Leader Mizushima Yosuke saw that there were many places around the battlefield emitting smoke, and thinking of what Kono Masao had said about smoke being normal on the battlefield, perhaps those places were all smoke from artillery shells.

Squadron Leader Mizushima Yosuke ordered, "Attack! Attack from east to west." He had already seen in the air that the National Revolutionary Army's line of defense was on the mountaintop, arranged along the road from east to west.

Such a line of defense was most convenient for their fighters to strafe. The twelve fighters lined up in a row, sweeping all the way from east to west, which was twelve strafing runs on the entire National Revolutionary Army line of defense.

Squadron Leader Mizushima Yosuke believed that after his squadron swept back and forth twice, this National Revolutionary Army team should collapse.

After the order was issued, pilot Miki Akuyoshi, who was at the front of the entire fighter squadron, immediately swooped down. The entire squadron lined up and swooped down to the ground.

Liu Laopao led the Second Regiment to lie in ambush in the Pingtou Ridge, Xiangshan, and Shuiniu Ridge areas, watching the Japanese devils' planes begin to dive again, but there was nothing they could do.

In fact, in order to strengthen the Second Regiment's air defense capabilities, Lin Fan had specifically arranged for two anti-aircraft machine gun companies to be stationed on Xiangshan. This was because there was no problem with the Shuiniu Ridge line as long as he was there.

But Liu Laopao had two anti-aircraft machine gun companies, but he couldn't move. Now it was still time for the Fifteenth Regiment to perform.

Deputy Chief of Staff He Deyuan entered the Special Forces Brigade's telegraph room and verbally drafted a telegram: "Telegram to Commander Yu Hanmou of the Fourth War Zone, the Special Forces Brigade ambushed the Japanese devils at Donglingnao at 2:30 p.m. today. They have now destroyed twelve Japanese devil tanks, killed hundreds of Japanese devils, and shot down twelve enemy planes. The battle is still going on fiercely. Report from He Deyuan."

The telegram was immediately sent out and delivered to Yu Hanmou in a few minutes. He looked at the telegram and walked quickly to his operations command headquarters, pointing to the ambush position that He Deyuan had just mentioned on the map.

The telegram had already been circulated throughout the command headquarters. Yu Hanmou asked, "Deputy Chief of Staff He didn't ask for help in this telegram. Is he really just reporting good news?"

Being able to kill hundreds of Japanese devils, destroy twelve tanks, and shoot down twelve enemy planes - any one of these things would be a great victory.

Destroying twelve tanks, although a bit unbelievable, was still acceptable to the Fourth War Zone Headquarters. Shooting down twelve enemy planes, however, was completely illogical.

"Deputy Chief of Staff He has been bought off by the Special Forces Brigade!" Chief of Staff Wang said. "This kind of thing is impossible, especially the shooting down of twelve enemy planes. It's simply impossible."

"What's his purpose in doing this? What's the benefit?" someone asked.

Everyone immediately began to speculate. A staff officer said, "Could it be that Deputy Chief of Staff He has been controlled and has no choice but to send such a telegram to report false achievements to us?"

False reporting of enemy situations and false reporting of battle achievements had happened frequently in the war zone these past few days, and the staff officers at the scene all thought it made sense.

Just then, Deputy Chief of Staff He Deyuan's second telegram was sent back: "The Special Forces Brigade has shot down another twelve enemy planes!"

"You don't even bother to make your lies convincing!"

Yu Hanmou pondered how to deal with this situation. At this time, Chief of Staff Wang stood up and said, "I'll go to Fogang. I'll go to the scene and take a look."

Yu Hanmou still had contacts in Guangzhou. He thought for a moment and said, "I'll ask someone to inquire about the situation. Chief of Staff Wang will also go to the scene to investigate. We'll take a two-pronged approach to find out the truth."

He Deyuan had no idea that the results he had reported were so fantastical that they had aroused the suspicion of the war zone headquarters.

After Lin Fan shot down the twelve planes of Mizushima Yosuke's squadron, a full ten minutes passed, and the smoke in the sky had completely dissipated.

It was another good day with clear skies, and the battle on the ground was still intense. The five companies of the Fifteenth Regiment suppressed the Japanese devils of Takeuchi Takuma's battalion on the hillside, constantly strafing them.

Just when everyone thought the battle would end like this, a dark mass of planes suddenly flew in the sky. This time, the enemy planes were no longer just a dozen or twenty. The soldiers of the Special Forces Brigade were experienced and could tell at a glance that there were at least a hundred enemy planes.

He Deyuan and the others were stunned when they saw so many Japanese devils' planes: "The Japanese devils have really come out in full force this time."

Lin Fan's expression also became serious. He regretted that he hadn't built his anti-aircraft artillery position in a better location.

Initially, he had set it up here to ambush the Japanese devils' tanks, but now it seemed that this position was a bit too far away from the battlefield.

Lin Fan ordered, "Notify Regimental Commander Feng! Anti-aircraft guns, get ready! They will start firing immediately after I fire the first shot."

When the Eighth Regiment came this time, they also brought twenty anti-aircraft guns, and the entire artillery group was not far behind Xiangshan and Shuiniu Ridge.

Upon receiving the brigade commander's order, Feng Junya immediately ordered, "Anti-aircraft guns, get ready!"

This time, Lin Fan didn't have to wait for the Japanese devils to dive before firing. There were so many Japanese devils' planes that even if he shot down some of them, these enemy planes wouldn't run away. They would only want to take revenge with their superior numbers.

Seeing that the leading planes had entered the firing range, Lin Fan fired: "Dong, dong, dong!" Three cannon shots, and three enemy planes were shot down. It was also like a signal, and Feng Junya ordered, "Fire!"

Twenty anti-aircraft guns fired at the same time, and the dense artillery shells flew into the sky, heading straight for the dense mass of Japanese devils' planes.

Battalion Commander Kimura Jiro led forty planes from the First Air Combat Team of the Japanese Fifth Fleet, taking off from the aircraft carrier *Kaga*.

The aircraft carrier *Kaga* was manufactured in the Japanese mainland, converted from the battleship *Kaga*. Construction began on December 13, 1923, and was completed on March 31, 1928.

The ship's standard displacement was 30,000 tons, with a length of 238.5 meters, a width of 29.6 meters, a draft of nearly two meters, and a depth of 15.5 meters.

The power plant consisted of four steam turbines and twelve main boilers, with an output of 91,000 horsepower, four propellers, and a speed of 27.5 knots per hour.

The crew consisted of 1,630 men. The ship's weaponry included: two twin-mounted 200mm guns, six 200mm single-barreled guns, six twin-mounted 120mm guns, four twin-mounted 13.2mm anti-aircraft machine guns, and two twin-mounted 7.7mm machine guns.

The ship could carry about sixty fighters and bombers. However, because the Japanese devils had suffered very heavy aircraft losses in the Wuhan battlefield a few days ago, one-third of the planes on the ship had been transferred away, leaving only forty.

Now, according to the orders of Commander Kogan Kanro, Battalion Commander Kimura Jiro took all the planes from the ship, and only forty planes went to Conghua to support the 104th Infantry Division in battle.

In fact, when these Japanese devils pilots were in the air, they had already exchanged views: supporting the 104th Infantry Division didn't require so many planes to go there. At most, one squadron would be enough to cause the National Revolutionary Army team to collapse.

What the Japanese devils of the First Air Combat Team led by Kimura Jiro didn't understand was that they also discovered the Second Air Combat Team, the Fourteenth Air Combat Team, and the Fourth Air Group during their flight.

So many fighters, bombers, and reconnaissance planes were all flying towards Conghua.

After these Japanese devils inquired with each other, they realized that they were all going to Conghua to support the 104th Infantry Division.

They had never seen anything like this before, with more than a hundred planes dispatched at the same time to support one battlefield. Pilot Nakai Taichi inquired, "Has something big happened on the front line?"

Being able to send the entire Fifth Fleet and all the planes of the Twenty-First Army to support must have been a major event!

Pilot Seto Taiji said, "That's for sure. Maybe the 104th Division is now surrounded by a large force of the National Revolutionary Army."

Squadron Leader Sakai Yuji of the carrier *Soryu* had brought a full seventy planes to assist in the battle.

It was also the squadron with the most planes among all the teams attacking Guangzhou this time. He didn't know exactly what had happened on the front line. The order he received was only to take all the planes to Conghua to assist the 104th Infantry Division.

He didn't know what difficulties the 104th Infantry Division had encountered. He had originally thought that the Kimura Jiro Flying Group would know something.

It was only from their conversation that he realized that everyone was in the dark. Squadron Leader Sakai Yuji asked, "Squadron Leader Suzuki Sho, do you know the situation on the front line?"

Squadron Leader Suzuki Sho of the Fourteenth Flying Squadron quickly replied, "We only received orders to mobilize all forces and go to the area between Conghua and Fogang to support the 104th Division. We have no more information than that."

These Japanese devils didn't know what had happened. They could only continue to fly forward, but just the three of their squadrons already had 150 planes.

Later, they met the Japanese devils of the Fourth Air Group, who said that the fighter squadron had already arrived on the battlefield ahead of them and that their light aircraft had taken off last.

By this calculation, there were already 200 planes supporting the 104th Infantry Division. What exactly was going on at the front?

The Kimura Jiro Flying Group was flying at the front, and they could see the battle on the ground from a distance. The entire flying group was flying along the road from Conghua to Fogang, so it was very easy to find the battlefield along the road.

After they discovered the battlefield, they quickly identified the positions of the Japanese devils and the National Revolutionary Army. Battalion Commander Kimura Jiro issued an attack order.

The Japanese devils of his flying group had long been impatient. Pilot Nakai Taichi was the first to lower his nose and dive towards the battlefield. He was flying a fighter, so he had to dive down, and only by flying at low altitude could he hit the National Revolutionary Army soldiers on the battlefield.

Just as Nakai Taichi was diving down in his fighter, many of the Japanese devils of the Takeuchi Takuma Infantry Battalion were waving their hands in the air. These Japanese devils were just afraid that the Japanese devils in the air would fly straight into hell.

They were trying to get these planes to leave this place quickly, but the pilots of the Kimura Jiro Group in the air thought they were being summoned, that the infantry was expressing their excitement.

The planes of the Kimura Jiro Group were all diving. Battalion Commander Takeuchi Takuma didn't even want to open his eyes anymore. He had already seen the fate of these planes.

The sound of explosions was not on the ground, but in the air. The Kimura Jiro Flying Group had taken off from aircraft carriers, and these pilots were used to dense flying formations.

Nakai Taichi and Seto Taiji were flying in front, and the rest of the Japanese devils were lined up behind them, chasing after them. The distance between them was no more than ten meters.

Nakai Taichi, Seto Taiji, and the others inexplicably exploded in mid-air. The sudden explosions left the planes following closely behind with no time to react, and they were affected.

Pilot Yamashita Tsukuru and pilot Sakai Kohaku did not explode in mid-air like the three planes in front of them, but they also lost their lives instantly.

The 88mm anti-aircraft gun exploded the enemy planes, and the shrapnel that was sprayed out, the debris produced when the planes exploded, could fly sixty or seventy meters away, and the killing radius was fifty meters.

In this way, half of the forty planes in the entire Kimura Jiro Flying Group were hit by shrapnel, and they all fell to the ground trailing black smoke.

Battalion Commander Takeuchi Takuma had originally been unwilling to watch the tragic scene of those planes falling into hell, but when he heard the entire battalion of Japanese devils exclaim, he couldn't help but look up at the sky.

This glance made him cry out involuntarily: "Get out of the way! Take cover!" He saw more than a dozen planes trailing black smoke, diving towards the Japanese devils who were attacking the Special Forces Brigade.

The Kimura Jiro Flying Group was already diving, and they were diving as a group. The entire flying group swooped down like a whole, but three of them were blown up by Lin Fan, and the planes behind them were killed by the shrapnel.

One by one, they were unable to control themselves, and these ten or so planes continued to dive down, their diving position being the hillside where the Takeuchi Takuma Infantry Battalion was now located.

How could the Japanese devils on the hillside not panic in this situation? These Japanese devils had already ignored the rain of bullets from the Special Forces Brigade on the hillside.

Compared to those bullets, the planes that were now falling were the biggest threat. These Japanese infantrymen fled out of their hiding places one by one.

They scrambled down the hillside, only wanting to avoid these planes, and the attack from the top of the hill had been ignored.

One plane after another hit the hillside, exploding into one fireball after another. Those Japanese devils who couldn't escape in time were killed by the shrapnel that flew out when the planes exploded.

The planes crashed, the aviation oil burned, and the black smoke soared into the sky. The atmosphere on the battlefield suddenly heated up, a hundred times more intense than when the Kimura Jiro Group had first arrived.

Battalion Commander Kimura Jiro was fortunate not to be in the front, nor in the middle, so he did not fall in the first wave. But now his ears were filled with the screams, cries for help, and sobs of the pilots.

The Sakai Yuji Flying Group, which was following behind his group, also had planes exploding in mid-air at this time, but their formation was not dense enough, and there were no chain-reaction crashes yet.

Squadron Leader Sakai Yuji shouted loudly, "Sakai Squadron, head west, all the way west. The enemy artillery positions are to the west." He had seen the trajectory of the shells fired by Lin Fan when he kept firing, so he began to order the entire squadron to first take out the artillery positions.

The situation that Squadron Leader Suzuki Sho of the Fourteenth Air Combat Team saw was different. He saw the shells being fired from behind Shuiniu Ridge, so he gave a different order to the entire air combat team: "The entire squadron will immediately attack behind the enemy infantry line. Their artillery positions are behind the infantry line."

Regardless of how the commanders of these Japanese devils were commanding, the battle on the ground had actually stopped. The Japanese devils of the Takeuchi Takuma Infantry Battalion had been driven back by the planes falling from the sky.

They retreated all the way to the road before stopping. The wreckage from the dozen or so crashed planes wasn't just powerful from the shrapnel that was sprayed out during the explosions. The aviation fuel they were carrying was now burning, and the surrounding dozens of meters were scorched by the flames, preventing the Japanese devils from going up the mountain and preventing the Fifteenth Regiment on the hillside from seeing the situation below the hillside. They had no choice but to stop firing.

This gave the Japanese devils of the Takeuchi Takuma Infantry Battalion the best chance to escape. When Battalion Commander Takeuchi Takuma saw such a good opportunity, he immediately ordered the entire battalion of Japanese devils to retreat immediately.

The air force had come so many times, and this was the first time they had finally helped these infantrymen. Let the planes in the sky do the fighting! These infantrymen had to retreat first.

The Japanese devils fled from the road below the mountain. Although they didn't start their cars and drive off, seeing the Japanese devils running away made Company Commander Jing Chengxuan feel uncomfortable.

But they were now separated from the Japanese devils by the fiercely burning planes, and there was no way to continue their ambush.

This time, only the Second Regiment could get a good deal. Liu Laopao was overjoyed to see the Japanese devil infantry battalion retreating. He knew Lin Fan's plan, to encircle a point and strike at reinforcements.

Since that was the case, they couldn't let these Japanese devils get too far away. The Second Regiment's ambush in front was needed to fight the Japanese devil reinforcements.

Regimental Commander Liu ordered the Tenth Company to be sure to stop the Japanese devil infantry from continuing to retreat in the direction of Conghua. They had to trap the Japanese devils.

Upon receiving the order, Company Commander Hu Xiong immediately ordered the entire company to start shooting, no matter what, they couldn't let the Japanese devils pass through their line of defense.

With the company commander's order, Lang Jiulang immediately picked up his rocket launcher and opened fire on the Japanese devils at the front. The entire company's infantry guns and heavy machine guns first targeted the Japanese devils' heads.

After receiving the retreat order, Squad Leader Shirakawa Daisuke and his squad were at the rear of the entire battalion. Now, as they fled, they became the advance guard of the entire battalion.

He immediately led the twenty or so remaining Japanese devils in his squad to run back quickly. They ran very fast, but the attack came even faster.

They clearly knew that there were no National Revolutionary Army soldiers on the hillside, but when Squad Leader Shirakawa Daisuke's squad fled to this area, a rocket exploded without warning in the middle of them, followed by several artillery shells.

The Japanese devils of the Takeuchi Takuma Battalion had just escaped less than fifty meters when they saw that the Shirakawa Daisuke Squad, which had fled the fastest, had been blown to smithereens.

Squad Leader Shirakawa Daisuke and Sergeant Murakami Thirty-six were the only two Japanese devils who had managed to escape back. Not all the other Japanese devils in the squad were dead. Some of them were only injured and were trying to crawl back towards the Takeuchi Battalion.

Battalion Commander Takeuchi Takuma was now anxious. He hadn't expected that he would climb out of one pit only to enter another.

What could he do? He could only order the Japanese devils to continue to charge in the direction of Conghua. This time, he ordered, "Tsukamoto Squad, attack the mountain."

The Japanese devils of the entire Takeuchi Battalion had realized that they had to drive away the National Revolutionary Army on the hillside above them if they wanted to pass through the road ahead.

What chilled the hearts of these Japanese devils was that some of the Special Forces Brigade soldiers on the hillside rushed down from a distance and actually started digging pits and laying mines right in front of them on the road.

This was the most arrogant way of laying mines that all the Japanese devils of the Takeuchi Takuma Battalion had ever seen. Laying mines on the road in front of them, was this to let them dig them out, or was it a warning not to run around?

Company Commander Watanabe Jiro also sent Japanese devils to report: "The National Revolutionary Army has also laid mines on the road in the other direction. They laid them right in front of us."

Too arrogant! This team was too arrogant. Mines were laid on the ground, and planes were still exploding and falling to the ground trailing black smoke in the sky.

Battalion Commander Takeuchi Takuma finally ordered, "Each company, each squad, establish a defense in place. Tsukamoto Squad, no need to attack."

Issuing this order meant that they had truly resigned themselves to their fate, no longer struggled, and would just stay where they were and hold out, waiting for the main force of the 104th Division to come to their rescue.

Those Japanese devils who were still struggling on the ground now had the time and energy to pay attention to the battle in the sky. During the time they had been fleeing, more and more planes had come and more and more had fallen. Those fighters and bombers had all split into two groups, one heading west and one heading north.

In the eyes of the Takeuchi Takuma Battalion on the ground, the artillery fire coming from the north was much fiercer, and there were fewer planes flying over to attack.

In the western direction was the Second Air Combat Team led by Squadron Leader Sakai Tomoji, and his team of seventy planes viciously pounced towards Donglingnao.

In the eyes of pilot Yamashita Tsukuru, a distance of several kilometers was just a matter of a minute. Not only did he not need to accelerate, but he also had to control his speed a little, because he was flying a bomber.

Although he had been able to see National Revolutionary Army soldiers along the way, he had not allowed his crew to drop the bombs. His plane was only carrying two 800kg aerial bombs.

Pilot Yamashita Tsukuru was preparing to drop these two large aerial bombs into the National Revolutionary Army's artillery positions. In order to drop them more accurately, he had intentionally reduced his flying speed.

It wasn't just him in the Second Air Combat Team who had this idea. At least a dozen bombers had the same idea, and they were carrying the same large bombs.

This was also for a reason. The Second Air Combat Team was originally a navy unit, and their planes were used to bomb warships, so the bombs they carried had to be large and heavy.

Otherwise, if a bomb weighing only a few tens of kilograms managed to hit the target but was not powerful enough to cause much damage to the target, wouldn't it be a waste of opportunity?

Therefore, the bombers of the aviation combat team liked to hit the target with one strike, hitting it with one shot to achieve their goal.

When Lin Fan saw a flying squadron heading towards him, he was happy rather than alarmed. However, he still didn't fire at the planes flying towards him first, but instead fired at the enemy planes flying towards Regimental Commander Feng Junya's side first.

This was to reduce some of the pressure on Feng Junya's artillery regiment. In fact, although Feng Junya's side had twenty anti-aircraft guns, they had shot down fewer planes than Lin Fan alone.

Attacking the enemy planes far away first, and then attacking the ones closer, was Lin Fan's consistent style. Now it was time to attack these bombers that were close by.

Deputy Chief of Staff He Deyuan had already come out of the command headquarters after sending the telegrams. He had heard the artillery fire outside becoming more and more intense and couldn't help but run out.

As soon as he left the command headquarters, he saw that the sky had changed. In the southeastern sky, a dark mass of enemy planes was flying towards them.

There was a real feeling of "dark clouds pressing down on the city." And among those planes, the ones flying in the front were actually more than a dozen fighters.

He Deyuan's eyesight was very good, and he could even see the hideous faces of the Japanese devils pilots on the planes. The two large aerial bombs hanging under the wings of the bombers looked frightening.

At this time, Lin Fan was still attacking fighters very far away. Although he was still shooting down one enemy plane with one shell, the Japanese devils' bombers were right in front of them!

Deputy Chief of Staff He was anxious and wanted to shout out, wanting Lin Fan to shoot down those bombers first. They were too close, too dangerous.

Before he could shout, he saw Lin Fan operate the anti-aircraft gun and move it suddenly, and then a shell flew out. He was using the anti-aircraft gun as a machine gun, Deputy Chief of Staff He thought to himself.

Lin Fan aimed at the bombers flying in the front and skillfully opened fire on them.

"Dong, dong, dong, dong!" This time, the careful Deputy Chief of Staff He heard that Lin Fan was firing five shells at a time, pausing for a moment, and then firing five more shells, instead of firing in groups of three as he had done at first.

Lin Fan couldn't stop, because this anti-aircraft gun loaded five shells at a time into a magazine, and the maximum load was twenty-five shells. As he continued to fire, soldiers skillfully loaded shells for him.

Pilot Yamashita Tsukuru watched as artillery shells kept flying past on the ground. Although they were flying in his direction, he could see clearly that they were not flying towards him.

He was secretly happy: anti-aircraft guns were not very accurate when used to shoot down fighters and bombers. It was very normal for the gun below to be firing wildly.

Yamashita Tsukuru had already seen clearly that there were two anti-aircraft guns on the ground, but only one was firing. The distance was not far, and the four machine guns under the wings of his plane had also started firing.

Although these machine gun bullets could not yet hit the anti-aircraft gun position, in just ten seconds, his plane would fly over the National Revolutionary Army's artillery positions.

Even if the aerial bombs were dropped off course, the machine gun bullets could still cause damage to the National Revolutionary Army soldiers in the positions. An excited expression appeared on pilot Yamashita Tsukuru's face. Every time he dropped his bombs, he would fly back to see the effect of the bombs, summarizing the lessons he had learned from throwing them off course or accurately.

At that moment, his eyes suddenly widened: an artillery shell was flying straight towards him. Without thinking, he felt his whole body go cold and his hands and feet stiffen.