Chapter 1 The Thirst

In September, the lack of water was deadly. The Japanese devils of the Nakajima Ayumu regiment surrendered to temptation after only half an hour.

They learned from the Asou regiment, greedily sucking blood from corpses, which made Nakajima very uneasy.

His team had fallen to the level of the Asou regiment, actually resorting to drinking blood to quench their thirst.

Fortunately, the Lunan Detachment that was pursuing them was only busy constructing fortifications on the periphery, surrounding them, and did not launch another attack.

The surrounded Japanese devils quickly discovered a harsh reality: even if they drank the blood of their comrades, they couldn't last long.

Blood would coagulate, and the corpses would quickly emit a foul odor in this weather.

In the end, the two regiments of Japanese devils had to strengthen their efforts to dig underground. They wanted to dig a well.

Lin Fan hadn't expected that a lack of water would drive the Japanese devils crazy.

Another hot autumn day passed, and the Japanese devils of the Nakajima Ayumu regiment spent the entire day busy digging wells to find water.

To their disappointment, it was useless. Everything they did was in vain.

They didn't see a single drop of water, but the places they had dug could be used as excellent trenches and fortifications.

The Japanese devils of the Asou regiment had experience with water shortages. There were only a little over a hundred of them left, so they were relying entirely on the Nakajima regiment.

As the sun set, the earth was blood-red. At this time, the commanders of the Nakajima regiment held a military conference inside a newly dug large hole.

The Japanese devils attending the meeting were well aware of the current situation: break out! The Lunan Detachment had laid deadly landmines.

Hold their ground! The entire team was without water. Tomorrow, the entire regiment would be in chaos. Without food, the Japanese devils could still hold out for two days.

Without water, in this hot autumn weather, the Japanese devils couldn't last even a day.

This became the consensus of the Nakajima regiment, and the remnants of the Asou regiment agreed.

With that, the two regimental commanders finally made up their minds: they would break out. The choice of breakout direction was much simpler.

They would return the way they came! They would return to Xuzhou, breaking out to the north.

As things stood, the combat effectiveness of the two regiments would decrease with every minute they stayed here.

Nakajima ordered: begin the breakout towards Xuzhou at ten o'clock tonight. The Takahashi Hayato Battalion was completely wiped out. The vanguard this time would be the Omasa Eita Battalion.

Following the Omasa Eita Battalion was the Nakadai Jiro Battalion. The headquarters of the Asou and Nakajima regiments followed behind, with the Ogura Heita Battalion bringing up the rear.

The plan was immediately distributed, and each battalion prepared in secret.

There were more than three hundred wounded in the Asou regiment. Both regiments were unable to care for these wounded.

If they left these wounded behind, they would surely become prisoners of the Lunan Detachment, which was something the Asou regimental commander couldn't accept.

The Nakajima regimental commander couldn't accept such an outcome either. The two regimental commanders issued the same order by tacit agreement: help these wounded find relief.

"After these wounded are relieved, they can still provide fresh blood, allowing the Japanese devils preparing to break out to be stronger."

Both regimental commanders and their subordinate commanders were well aware of this win-win situation.

The soldiers of the Lunan Detachment surrounding the Japanese devils heard intense gunfire coming from the Japanese position after dark.

Gunfire erupted continuously in the middle of the Japanese position, with the cross-shaped muzzle flashes rising and falling. It was clear that the fighting was very fierce.

The troops of the Lunan Detachment surrounding the Japanese devils all saw it, and each regiment was asking about which direction the Japanese devils were breaking out towards.

The message received was: the Japanese devils were not breaking out!

"The Japanese devils are not breaking out?" Lin Fan said to himself.

The Lunan Detachment had been fighting in this area for more than just a day or two, and they had completely surrounded the area during the day, so it was impossible for any troops to sneak in and fight the Japanese devils.

It seemed that it could only be infighting among the Japanese devils. What could cause infighting among the Japanese devils who were already surrounded?

Lin Fan understood now: it could only be that the Japanese devils had disagreements about staying or breaking out, which was why there was such a fierce battle.

The regiments of the Lunan Detachment all received the order issued by Lin Fan: "The Japanese devils will break out tonight. The most likely direction for the breakout is back to Xuzhou."

The 5th Regiment of the Lunan Detachment was deployed in the direction of Xuzhou, which happened to be the position defended by Regiment Commander An Ping.

Regiment Commander An Ping was both surprised and delighted. He immediately ordered each company to set up more traps and directional mines along the road and on both sides of the road, with a long depth. According to his requirements, the depth had to be at least a thousand meters.

Each company of the 5th Regiment left themselves a retreat route on the first line of defense, and set up traps in front of and behind them as required by the regiment commander.

They were just waiting for the Japanese devils to break out in the middle of the night!

The preparations for each company of the 5th Regiment were complete, and the gunfire on the Japanese devils' position continued.

This surprised all the soldiers of the Lunan Detachment: the Japanese devils' infighting could last so long.

If they continued to fight like this, the Japanese devils in the encirclement might end up wiping themselves out.

Lin Fan had already figured it out at this point: "These Japanese devils are so unappreciative that they want to stay in place and hold out for reinforcements.

They're actually thinking about breaking out at night. Since these Japanese devils are actively seeking death, the Lunan Detachment has no choice but to grant their wish."

The Shinagawa Taishi Battalion surrounded on Huangtu Ridge had already been completely annihilated. If the Japanese devils here were also all killed, the plan to encircle and strike reinforcements would have to be canceled.

"Why are these disobedient Japanese devils not following orders?"

This thought echoed in the minds of both Asou Isoroku, the regimental commander, and Nakajima Ayumu, the regimental commander.

The two regimental commanders received reports that the wounded were not only not cooperating with the operation, but were also violently resisting.

For the Asou and Nakajima regiments, infighting was:

An accident, completely an accident.

Before implementing this plan, they had specifically lectured the commanders, telling them that they must do a good job of ideological work for the Japanese devils carrying out the mission.

Let these Japanese devils who personally send off the wounded put down their burdens, do a good deed, and be sure to make all the wounded feel the care of the entire regiment for them.

In the end, the mission was assigned to the Fujiyama Daisuke Company and the Ishida Shijuroku Company. The two company commanders carefully mobilized the Japanese devils under their command.

They made them understand that in this situation, sending off all the wounded was the last care for the wounded.

Finally, the two company commanders proposed that, in order to save ammunition and also to avoid alarming the surrounding Lunan Detachment, all the Japanese devils should only use bayonets when taking action, and it was strictly forbidden to fire a gun.

Private First Class Hoshino Daiki listened to Company Commander Fujiyama Daisuke's mobilization, and his heart was filled with passion: "The company commander is right! Helping those wounded pass on is the best relief for them.

They won't have to suffer here anymore, and they should no longer be hungry or thirsty after passing on!"

Thinking of this, Private First Class Hoshino Daiki licked his parched lips. His throat was about to burst into flames, and he had long been impatient with hunger and thirst.

Sergeant Jinnai Tatsuya had the same idea. He listened to Company Commander Fujiyama Daisuke's mobilization and had long been unable to restrain himself from rushing out to take action.

But Company Commander Fujiyama Daisuke kept rambling on. Even in the darkness, he saw the red light in the eyes of the Japanese devils under his command.

It was all bloodthirsty light. The situation of the Japanese devils in the Ishida Shijuroku Company was the same.

One by one, the Japanese devils' eyes were glowing red. The company commander had not finished his mobilization, but the Japanese devils under his command were already restless.

In the darkness around these two companies, there were many red eyes staring. They were also equally hungry and thirsty.

In the dark night, a Japanese devil shouted, "What's all the fuss about? Hurry up and do it! We're all waiting!"

What were they waiting for? Every Japanese devil knew it in his heart, and even Asou Isoroku, the regimental commander, and Nakajima Ayumu, the regimental commander, had the same expectations.

Their bodies were like travelers in the desert, and they had long needed the irrigation of sweet dew.

The two company commanders, who had been mobilizing, finally issued the order to act according to plan.

More than two hundred Japanese devils immediately walked towards the wounded soldiers' camp. These Japanese devils' hearts were filled with justice. They had come to help the wounded pass on:

This was the friendship between colleagues, no need to thank them!

Company Commander Ishifuku Yusei led the wounded out of the encirclement in the early morning and caught up with the main force of the Asou regiment.

He had become a hero in the hearts of the wounded in the entire regiment. Those Japanese devils with intact hands and feet were preparing to break out as a group, and these wounded were also preparing to hold their ground as a group.

The wounded of the two regiments added up to more than five hundred, and so many wounded were concentrated together, which was equivalent to a wounded soldiers' camp.

The problem was that these wounded Japanese devils were holding together as a group. The wounded of the Nakajima Ayumu regiment were also with the wounded of the Ishifuku Yusei Company.

When the two Japanese companies came to carry out the orders of the two regimental commanders, these Japanese devils did not expect the wounded to resist at all.

In the beginning, when those severely wounded who had no resistance at all were humanely sent off by the Ishida Shijuroku Company, the lightly wounded were watching from the side.

They licked their tongues. Although this day was difficult, they had long been hungry and thirsty. At this time, the regiment sent people to help these seriously wounded, which was too good for them.

Anyway, these seriously wounded were surrounded here without medicine or treatment. Their wounds were already emitting a foul smell. Some of the Japanese devils' wounds had actually grown maggots in just two days, which was extremely disgusting to look at.

More than a hundred severely wounded were all cleared away, and their bodies were immediately dragged into the darkness.

Those lightly wounded tried to help, but were firmly rejected. They could not leave the wounded soldiers' camp.

One body after another was dragged out in the dark, not knowing where they were being dragged to. It seemed that there were vague quarrels coming from the darkness.

Sergeant Oda Naoki had been stabbed in the left hand during the charge yesterday when he fought hand-to-hand with the Lunan Detachment.

If Lin Fan hadn't given the order in time, he would have died on the spot. The soldier who stabbed him looked at him fiercely when he heard the order to retreat.

"Consider yourself lucky!" There was a lot of helplessness and dissatisfaction in his voice.

Oda Naoki, who had survived from the battlefield, cherished his life very much, and his injury was not too serious. He could still run on his own and keep up with the retreating troops.

But when Regiment Commander Asou broke out, he didn't want him and asked him to hold his ground with Company Commander Ishifuku Yusei. Company Commander Ishifuku retreated with his troops along the path of Regiment Commander Asou after holding his ground for less than five minutes.

After finally escaping with Company Commander Ishifuku Yusei and surviving, he was not included in the breakout tonight.

This made Sergeant Hada Naoki's resentment towards Regiment Commander Asou explode, reaching the point of extreme anger.

When those Japanese devils were helping the seriously wounded just now, Oda Maki and the other lightly wounded did not speak.

Now, when Private First Class Hoshino Daiki came to help him end his life with a gleaming bayonet,

Those lightly wounded who felt that they could still be rescued immediately became very uneasy.

Sergeant Oda Naoki, who could no longer bear it, suddenly burst out, swung the rifle in his hand, blocked the unsuspecting Private First Class Hoshino Daiki's stab, and then struck out in a smooth motion.

He didn't want Private First Class Hoshino Daiki's life, but he wanted to teach him a lesson. As soon as he stabbed, he immediately gave Private First Class Hoshino Daiki a two-hole wound in his right thigh.

"Ah!" Private First Class Hoshino Daiki immediately dropped the rifle in his hand, lay on the ground, and wailed while holding his thigh.

The sudden accident surprised the Japanese devils who came to carry out the help mission:

Shouldn't these wounded be grateful? They could avoid becoming prisoners by dying at the hands of their own people. What a glorious thing this was!

These wounded were actually unwilling to be stabbed to death by bayonets, and they actually resisted with their injured bodies.

They even turned a combatant into a wounded soldier. This was really unbearable!

Oda Naoki's act of resistance immediately aroused the morale of the wounded who were still dodging.

They all learned to fight back, which caused the two unsuspecting companies to be injured by more than a dozen people at once.

Such resistance made it impossible to carry out the clearing work. Those Japanese devils who were carrying out the mission were also afraid of becoming wounded.

The Japanese devils of the Ishida Shijuroku Company and the Fujiyama Daisuke Company retreated nervously, covering each other and watching the wounded who were surrounding them warily.

The two company commanders had not expected the wounded to resist. They had always believed that sending the wounded off to the afterlife was helping these wounded become the most glorious warriors of the empire.

This kind of glory should only be borne by the wounded. They, the Japanese devils who could still fight, did not like to bear such glory.

Seeing that the clearing work had stalled, Company Commander Ishida Shijuroku and Company Commander Fujiyama Daisuke, who had been ordered to come and help them, were immediately angered.

The two company commanders personally saw that one by one the Japanese devils who came to help the wounded die had been injured.

And these wounded were now neither committing suicide nor accepting their good intentions, and were even holding guns and surrounding the two companies as a group.

This made them extremely angry. Company Commander Fujiyama immediately drew his pistol and shot dead the wounded who dared not to die peacefully from behind.

Oda Naoki was dead! He didn't expect to be shot in the back. The bullet entered from the back of his head and exited from the front of his face.

Then, "bang," another shot. This time, Company Commander Fujiyama aimed his gun at Hoshino Daiki, who had just been injured.

Oda Naoki and Hoshino Daiki, these two enemies, died one after another at the hands of Company Commander Fujiyama Daisuke.

The gunfire did not silence the Japanese devils. Some of the wounded who were surrounding the Fujiyama Daisuke Company and the Ishida Shijuroku Company were busy falling to the ground, avoiding the bullets that were coming from nowhere.

Some Japanese devils who reacted quickly had already stabbed their bayonets into the nearest Japanese devil, and some wounded had quietly opened fire.

Company Commander Ishifuku Yusei was still hesitating: should he commit suicide? Or should he accept the help of the other Japanese devils?

When the gunfire rang out, he had not yet made up his mind, but subconsciously ordered: "Counterattack!"

His order, even though there was already sporadic gunfire in the darkness, was heard by many wounded Japanese devils.

They shouted excitedly: "Counterattack!"

These Japanese devils understood when the seriously wounded were being put to death: those seriously wounded were dragged into the darkness and became the food of the entire regiment. Their bodies were the water bottles of the Japanese devils who wanted to break out of the entire regiment, and their blood was the water in the water bottles.

Originally, these lightly wounded were thinking about sharing a piece of the pie, but they were ruthlessly rejected.

This had already made them furious, and now they realized that they were also water bottles!

The resistance of the wounded caused more than a dozen Japanese devils to fall down again in the two companies.

It also angered the two regimental commanders. They ordered the Japanese devils of the entire regiment to immediately suppress these wounded soldiers who dared to resist.

There were too many wounded in the two regiments, and there was no way to kill them all at once.

Of course, these wounded Japanese devils were unwilling to die like this. They had struggled for so long, just to survive?

And they were also Japanese devils who had drunk blood, and they knew clearly that after they died, their blood would be drunk by other Japanese devils.

These Japanese devils, led by Company Commander Ishifuku Yusei, actually began an organized resistance.

Company Commander Ishifuku Yusei listened to the sound of gunfire and fighting around him, and for a moment he actually felt a sense of accomplishment.

He was able to fight against the Japanese devils of two regiments with hundreds of wounded soldiers, and he was not at a disadvantage at all.

This could not but make him feel proud and arrogant!

The wounded soldiers of the Ishifuku Yusei Company were in the middle of the Japanese devils' two regiments' positions. This meant that they were completely surrounded.

In fact, when arranging these wounded in the morning, both Asou Isoroku, the regimental commander, and Nakajima Ayumu, the regimental commander, placed these wounded in the middle, thinking of protecting them.

The current situation only made the two regimental commanders feel that their good intentions had been wasted on a dog, and that they were the farmers in the story of the farmer and the snake, or Dong Guo and the wolf.

Both regimental commanders were furious, and they ordered: immediately suppress the rebellion.

Regimental Commander Nakajima and Regimental Commander Asou had no choice but to send more Japanese devils to sneak in under the cover of darkness.

In any case, this group of wounded had to be dealt with before the breakout.

The wounded Japanese devils led by Ishifuku Yusei had long since had their combat effectiveness greatly reduced.

But those Japanese devils surrounding them were also afraid in their hearts: they were afraid of being injured, because after they were injured, they would be treated the same as the wounded in the Ishifuku Yusei Company.

This made the suppression work of the two regiments very unsuccessful. The Japanese devils were unwilling to launch an attack.

Even Company Commander Fujiyama Daisuke and Company Commander Ishida Shijuroku, who had been ordered to clear the wounded in the beginning, were unwilling to rush to the front.

The two regimental commanders were very fair now, and there would be no special preferential treatment because the company commander was injured: this could be understood by referring to the fact that Company Commander Ishifuku Yusei was also on the list of those to be cleared.

With this thought in mind, the suppression work was very unsuccessful. Sergeant Jinnai Tatsuya was unlucky. He had been lying on the ground, trying to keep his head down to the ground.

It was just that the ground was too hard, and he couldn't arch his head down, so he couldn't completely protect his body. As a result, he was shot in the thigh.

This shot was fatal. Company Commander Ishida Shijuroku, who was next to him, smelled the blood and found the injured Jinnai Tatsuya.

"Bang! Bang!" He executed him on the spot with two shots. Company Commander Ishida was to prevent Sergeant Jinnai Tatsuya from turning on his company like the wounded nearby.

It took more than an hour, and at least a squad of wounded was added. The number of wounded Japanese devils in the Ishifuku Yusei Company not only did not decrease, but increased.

Those Japanese devils who had just been injured immediately changed their attitudes. Among them, many Japanese devils chose to join the Ishifuku Company.

This made Asou Isoroku, the regimental commander, and Nakajima Ayumu, the regimental commander, very embarrassed. The two of them had to personally rush to the front line to supervise the battle.

With the regimental commanders personally supervising the battle and their guards personally taking part, they finally led the troops to suppress those wounded.

The surviving Japanese devils could finally eat dry food with blood, replenishing the water their bodies needed.

These Japanese devils sat next to their former colleagues, took out compressed biscuits, and swallowed them with the blood of these colleagues.

They were all waiting for ten o'clock to arrive. These Japanese devils knew that their fate would not be much better than the corpses around them.

Especially those Japanese devils in the Omasa Eita Battalion, who were ordered to rush to the front: they had all seen the fate of the Takahashi Hayato Battalion.

At this time, the Japanese devils of the Omasa Eita Battalion no longer had any illusions about a good outcome.

The team opposite them was clearly a veteran who had been through many battles, and they would never let go of these Japanese devils.

The Japanese devils, who had already resigned themselves to death, were what the two regimental commanders were very nervous about now.

Just now, suppressing those wounded had reduced the already insufficient strength of the two regiments by another company.

If any more changes occurred during the breakout, the entire regiment would not have even one in ten thousand chances of success.

In order to prevent this possibility, Regimental Commander Nakajima Ayumu sent a disciplinary team. He had discovered that the use of the disciplinary team was still very powerful when he suppressed the wounded just now.

With this idea, Regimental Commander Nakajima Ayumu and Regimental Commander Asou Isoroku jointly formed a disciplinary team of fifty Japanese devils.

There was almost one disciplinary team for every ten Japanese devils.