Chapter 145 The Annihilation of the Japanese Army in Taihu Lake (2)

Bai Ye and Li Yi were piloting ground attack aircraft, chasing a Japanese gunboat that was fleeing very quickly, but they didn't expect the Japanese to dare to fight back.

They could feel machine gun bullets hitting the underside of the fuselage, creating a rhythmic sound. Bai Ye didn't hesitate, and immediately opened fire with his autocannon.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Several shells flew out in succession.

The ground attack aircraft had reinforced armor protection, so even if it was hit by bullets on the underside, it could still continue flying without any problems.

Sergeant First Class Kazuki Uchiyama watched the machine gun bullets hit the aircraft in the air, his face filled with ecstasy. The Japanese soldiers on the gunboat had already jumped up and started cheering.

They had been suppressed by the aircraft in the air for too long, and were afraid of being strafed by the machine guns on the planes. Now that they saw the plane hit, how could they not be overjoyed?

These Japanese soldiers already had a scene playing out in their minds: the plane in the air would soon be trailing black smoke, wobbling and crashing into Taihu Lake.

Just when the Japanese soldiers on the entire gunboat were starting to celebrate, they saw an unbelievable scene: the plane was still the same plane, weathering the machine gun fire and firing at them.

In this situation, the plane didn't run away, but instead fired at them!

The ecstatic expression on Sergeant First Class Kazuki Uchiyama's face froze. When the gunboat was sailing, he needed to constantly adjust the anti-aircraft machine gun to ensure a hit.

Now he no longer had the desire to continue aiming. In Kazuki Uchiyama's eyes, the plane, already hit by many bullets, continued to fly slowly in the air as if nothing had happened.

Shells exploded one after another around the gunboat. Although they hadn't hit the gunboat yet, the waves generated by the explosions had already made the gunboat rock more violently in the water.

Kazuki Uchiyama's anti-aircraft machine gun could no longer accurately hit the plane, and he became even more flustered.

The plane chased closer, and now not only the autocannon was firing, but the four machine guns also started strafing.

Sergeant First Class Kazuki Uchiyama's hands began to tremble. He felt fear in his heart: What kind of plane is this? It's not even afraid of machine gun fire!

Bai Ye's autocannon started firing from two thousand meters away from the Japanese gunboat, chasing and hitting it. It wasn't until he was two hundred meters away from the Japanese gunboat that a shell finally hit it.

At a distance of two hundred meters, he could already see some of the Japanese soldiers on the gunboat jumping into the water.

Sergeant First Class Kazuki Uchiyama watched the approaching plane get closer and closer, with shells hitting one after another. The distance was getting closer and closer, but he could no longer hit the plane.

He was able to hit the plane when it was far away, but now that it was close, he couldn't hit it no matter what! The hand that Sergeant First Class Kazuki Uchiyama used to operate the anti-aircraft machine gun trembled even more violently than the machine gun itself.

This wasn't because of the shaking caused by the gunboat rising and falling with the waves on the lake, but because of a tremor that came from deep within his fear, shaking his whole body like a sieve.

At such close range, the bullets fired from the four machine guns on the plane were already clanging against the iron plates of the entire gunboat.

The wails of Japanese soldiers being hit and the blood they splattered constantly hit Kazuki Uchiyama's face.

Suddenly, as if struck by inspiration, he saw a shell leaving the barrel and immediately knew that he was finished, and all the Japanese soldiers on the entire gunboat were finished.

"Boom!" After escaping for four or five *shuilu* (unit of distance), the gunboat was finally hit by a shell. The entire rear half of the gunboat was blown out of shape, and a crater the size of a washbasin appeared at the bottom of the gunboat.

The water of Taihu Lake kept pouring into the gunboat. All the Japanese soldiers who had been hiding in the rear half of the gunboat were either dead or lying motionless on the deck.

The bullets from the machine gun strafing suppressed the Japanese soldiers in the front half of the gunboat, making it impossible for them to move.

After the first plane swept past, the second plane following behind repeated the same thing, continuing to strafe the gunboat.

At this time, Kazuki Uchiyama on the gunboat felt that the gunboat had become quiet, and the roar of the engine had also stopped.

The gunboat was only relying on inertia to slide forward. Losing power at this time meant that it could only be beaten and could not escape.

In fact, the gunboat gliding silently on the lake like this made it easier for Sergeant First Class Kazuki Uchiyama to operate the anti-aircraft machine gun. However, at this time, the anti-aircraft machine gun jammed.

Sergeant First Class Kazuki Uchiyama watched the loader, Taichi Miyamoto, frantically lift the loading hatch and forcefully pull on the jammed bullet chain, trying to tear open the deformed bullet chain and replace it with another one.

His efforts were not in vain. The deformed bullet chain was pulled down onto the deck along with his body.

The blood that suddenly flowed out of Taichi Miyamoto's body made Sergeant First Class Kazuki Uchiyama understand: he could no longer load ammunition.

Kazuki Uchiyama listened to the sound of dense bullets hitting the iron plates all around, and was about to personally go up and load the bullet chain when suddenly he felt a pain in his heart. He looked down and saw a small bullet hole in his uniform on his chest. Looking at this finger-sized hole, it was inconspicuous.

But it had already stopped all of Kazuki Uchiyama's thoughts. He slumped and sat down on the deck, leaning against the base of the anti-aircraft machine gun behind him.

His eyes stared fixedly at the plane passing overhead. In the corner of his eye, he saw the plane that had swept past at first turn back again.

"Dead! Every Japanese soldier is going to die!" Kazuki Uchiyama murmured to himself.

Every escaping gunboat was chased by planes, and the slower destroyers were the primary target of the bombers.

Commander Haruki Oguri stood on the "Heki" destroyer, trying to calm himself down as he watched the incoming bombers.

He loudly ordered: "Hard a port! Hard a port!" The Japanese soldiers repeated his order loudly.

Orders were always faster than actual operations. The bombers easily caught up with it, and a series of bombs were dropped as if they were free.

This time, the "Heki" destroyer's good luck ran out. Two aerial bombs landed on the deck, and the entire destroyer jumped violently as if it had been hit painfully.

Then the speed slowed down. Haruki Oguri knew: "It's over!" Earlier, Captain Ayumu Chitoshi of the "Daisho" had ordered all crew members to abandon ship.

He wanted to let some of his Japanese soldiers survive, but those Japanese soldiers who jumped into the lake were constantly strafed by machine guns.

However, Ayumu Chitoshi, who was lonely and remained on the "Daisho," was still standing well at the bow, at a loss as he watched the fierce battlefield.

Haruki Oguri did not issue an abandon ship order. He ordered: "Put out the fire! Counterattack!"

Destroyers like his had no anti-aircraft firepower at all, so the so-called counterattack was just a show to move himself.

Strike while the iron is hot! Captain Kunio Kankoku, piloting a fighter plane, calmly aimed at the destroyer that had stopped on the water and fired continuously.

This time, the shells hit the destroyer below the waterline, blasting out holes the size of bowls. Clear Taihu Lake water poured into the destroyer through a dozen or so shell holes.

This was something the "Heki" destroyer simply could not withstand, and it began to list. The destroyer had a complement of more than a hundred Japanese soldiers, but now there were less than eighty alive.

When the destroyer began to list, the Japanese soldiers on the deck who were still desperately fighting the fire dared not stay any longer. They threw down the tools in their hands, grabbed a lifebuoy or a piece of wood, and jumped into the water.

Some slow-reacting Japanese soldiers saw the Japanese soldiers who had been fighting the fire together jump into the water with things in their arms. When they wanted to find something that could float on the surface of the water, they couldn't find anything.

At this time, the destroyer listed even more severely. These Japanese soldiers who had not found anything ignored Haruki Oguri's orders and simply jumped empty-handed into the cold lake water.

When they had not been hit, they saw the Japanese soldiers in the lake struggling and calling out, and these Japanese soldiers had unhesitatingly fled, never thinking of going to rescue them.

Now they had also jumped into the water, and at this time they realized the feelings of those Japanese soldiers just now. Now they had also joined the ranks of calling for help, constantly struggling to expose their heads higher above the water, waving and shouting towards the distant sailboats and cargo ships.

Haruki Oguri ultimately did not jump into the water. He still had a captain's awareness, to perish with the warship.

As his destroyer slowly sank, Haruki Oguri saw that another destroyer was also listing, and there was no possibility of a miracle happening!

Of the Japanese destroyers that had entered Taihu Lake, three had already sunk two, and the only remaining one was now quietly stopped on the lake, rising and falling with the waves.

Captain Ayumu Chitoshi stood on the "Daisho," watching the other two destroyers sink, and seeing the remaining gunboats being blasted one after another and sinking into the lake one after another.

Most of the cargo ships that had stopped and the sailboats dragged behind them had stopped, and a small number of them had now turned into wooden blocks, floating on the water.

Battalion Commander Sojiro Fuji of the First Battalion of the 116th Regiment saw that the navy's protection had completely stopped. What could he do?

He ordered the Japanese soldiers on the cargo ships to continue firing. If they were on land, these Japanese soldiers could disperse and hide.

But in this situation, what else could they do except express their resistance in this way?

The order issued by Battalion Commander Naoki Nagayama of the Second Battalion was the same. Just now, he had ordered the sailboats without mechanical power to quickly raise their sails and flee into the distance.