Chapter 1 The Movements of Qiao Guo

Qiao Guo moved with swift and gentle steps.

Even in the darkest hours before dawn, he could traverse the small paths of the plain with great speed, responding to the password three times on his way back.

Qiao Si had notified every sentry post about the discovery of a large force approaching.

Upon returning to the company's station, he immediately reported to Company Commander Gui Wen, who relayed the information to each company of the regiment and then to the regimental commander.

He then ordered the entire company to remain silent, extinguish all lights, immediately take their positions in the fortifications, and prepare for battle!

The previous evening, when they, along with the new recruits, were digging fortifications around the camp, the new recruits didn't voice their opposition.

However, their expressions clearly showed reluctance, as they felt that digging fortifications and trenches for a one-night stay was a waste of energy.

But these new recruits, firstly, had just joined the ranks and didn't dare to speak up.

Secondly, they had just eaten the meat from the horse and several bowls of white rice, so they were too embarrassed to object.

Now, upon receiving the order, these new recruits quietly followed the old soldiers of the company into the positions, patiently waiting.

When Company Commander Gui Wen notified the other companies, some had already noticed the situation.

Others hadn't, but with the first company's notification, not only did the entire regiment enter their positions, but even the supply and artillery regiments were also in position, ready for battle.

A force quietly approaching the camp in the darkest hours before dawn could certainly not be friendly.

Everyone knew this, and the soldiers of each company in the regiment were somewhat tense.

In the pitch-black night, the darkness before dawn, even with eyes wide open, one could only vaguely see a distance of a few dozen meters ahead.

The soldiers lay prone in the trenches, not daring to make a sound.

At this moment, the world was so quiet that one could hear their own breathing and heartbeat.

Company Commander Gui Wen of the first company wasn't completely in the dark about the approaching force just because it was too dark to see far away.

Lü Cun had already returned at this time. From his hidden position, he had personally witnessed a Japanese force passing by a dozen meters away. He couldn't clearly see the entire Japanese force in the darkness.

But the Japanese certainly numbered more than a company! After confirming that it was a Japanese force, Lü Cun had taken a slightly longer route to quickly return and report.

Such concrete news was immediately spread by the company commander's voice to all the companies of the Special Operations Brigade at Tianjia'an.

Soon, more news came through the radio. The hidden scouts and sentries of each company in the regiment sent back concrete reports: some companies had discovered Japanese troops, others had discovered puppet soldiers.

Lin Fan and Chen Sichuan were now certain: the Japanese intended to launch a surprise attack at dawn.

Lin Fan said with a smile, "The Japanese are frightened by our artillery and want a bayonet fight.

Notify the companies to be mentally prepared."

"Yes!" Chen Sichuan immediately relayed Lin Fan's guess to each company, and at the same time ordered them to overestimate the enemy's strength in this uncertain situation.

Use all hidden trump cards that can be used.

Even without his saying so, each company commander would have done so in this situation.

After digging the fortifications yesterday, each company had placed directional mines in front of them.

Just now, upon receiving word that a force was quietly approaching, they immediately sent men to lay more directional mines.

Now, in the darkest hours before dawn, the soldiers of the first company couldn't see clearly.

The enemy sneaking up for a surprise attack also couldn't see clearly. The placement of these directional mines was quite exposed.

Even so, it wouldn't be easy for the Japanese to discover them, after all, it was too dark, and everyone was in the same situation.

Battalion Commander Shiba Hideki personally accompanied the battalion on the surprise attack. The company assigned to lead the vanguard was the company of Routani Sota.

But the real vanguard was the squad of Sergeant Sato Taichi. Squad Leader Sato Taichi walked in the middle of the squad.

In the silent dawn, in the darkness, he could see more than fifty Japanese soldiers under his command, cautiously feeling their way forward.

Because they were launching a surprise attack, afraid of alerting the defending troops, the entire squad wasn't moving in formation.

Even so, Squad Leader Sato Taichi, in the middle of the squad, could still hear the rustling sounds of the large force moving.

The sound was so loud in his ears, as if it would alert everyone. It was his constant worry along the way.

Fortunately, they hadn't alerted anyone along the way.

Sergeant Suzuki Yuta held a rifle with a fixed bayonet, walking at the very front of the entire force.

He had walked this road once yesterday afternoon, but now he wasn't sure if he had been here before.

Because his squad had only seen Chinese soldiers from a distance and immediately stopped and lay in ambush, observing for quite some time before turning back.

They hadn't dared to continue forward, afraid that encountering Chinese troops would mean they wouldn't return.

Traveling in the dark grew darker, traveling at dawn grew brighter.

It had just been the darkest moment before dawn, the Japanese had now walked for ten minutes, and the sky was faintly lit.

They could already clearly see things a dozen meters away, and although they couldn't see the more distant Japanese troops clearly, they could vaguely see human shapes.

Sergeant Suzuki Yuta, walking in the very front, cautiously looked ahead. He could vaguely see what appeared to be trenches ahead.

Startled, Sergeant Suzuki Yuta quickly made a silent gesture, and the Japanese troops behind him all lightened their footsteps.

At this moment, they could really clearly hear their own heartbeats: "Thump! Thump!" beating non-stop.

There really were trenches ahead. They had arrived at the Chinese army's garrison.

Even further ahead, although somewhat blurred, they could indeed see something that looked like a camp.

Squad Leader Sato Taichi quietly crept to the front, looking at the trenches ahead.

He couldn't help but be secretly alarmed: this force on the other side was truly cautious! They had actually built fortifications around the garrison.

Fortunately, Brigade Commander Kukou Shunji's command was wise. At this moment, they had reached the edge of the trenches, and the defending troops on the other side hadn't discovered them.

Now was not the time to hesitate. Squad Leader Sato Taichi pointed his command saber forward and whispered the order, "Charge!"

His voice was filled with murderous intent and vigor.

The Japanese troops in front and behind him began to charge forward in large strides. This time, although they didn't shout, their footsteps were no longer deliberately light.

Behind this squad, the entire company of Routani Sota, the entire battalion of Shiba Hideki, all began to charge.

Across the entire defense line, the battalion of Koumachi Naoki, the Aiku Mine team, the puppet soldiers, the Tianjia'an garrison battalion, all the forces sent by Kukou Shunji simultaneously launched their attacks.

The sky was beginning to brighten. At this moment, they could vaguely see things fifty meters away. The charging Japanese troops could already see the Special Operations Brigade's garrison thirty meters behind the trenches.

Although they didn't see a single soldier, these Japanese troops surmised that the Chinese soldiers were still sleeping and hadn't discovered their attack.

Such a surmise gave all the Japanese troops endless motivation. To break in while the enemy was asleep could lead to victory without any resistance.

This was a tremendous temptation, especially attractive to Commander Shihodou Atsushi and Puppet Army Division Commander Bian Binbiao.

These two commanders had already lost the first and second lines of defense at Tianjia'an in succession.

If they could atone for their crimes this morning, even turn the situation around, it would greatly improve their image in Brigade Commander Kukou Shunji's eyes.

The soldiers of the first company lay hidden in the trenches, quietly awaiting orders.

Today, the first company numbered a full four hundred soldiers. Including the new recruits who had just joined yesterday.

After dinner, they had dug the trenches and, together with the old soldiers of the company, listened to the political instructor recount the glorious history of the first company.

The political instructor's stories were much more vivid and interesting than those told by the soldiers on the road.

They filled the newly joined soldiers with excitement and pride, and they began to feel proud to be joining such a force.

These new recruits felt fortunate to be fighting in this company.

Old hands like Fan Jinglue had already deeply sensed this on the way, especially with the digging of the trenches around the camp.

Such a practice was only done by a very few units, and such units were invariably elite.

In the darkest hours of dawn, Fan Jinglue heard the squad leader gently wake everyone, quietly ordering everyone not to make a sound, to put on their clothes in the dark, grab their weapons, and enter the trenches.

Originally, in such a pitch-black environment, receiving such an order would make the soldiers somewhat nervous, even afraid.

Fan Jinglue and the other newly joined soldiers felt this way. The squad leader's voice was warm and firm, and he said in a low voice, like an older brother, "The enemy is quietly sneaking up in the dark, but our sentries have discovered them.

The Japanese are still two *li* away, we have to wait for them for a while after entering the position.

You new recruits are lucky. You joined the company yesterday and you're fighting the Japanese the very next day.

You people are our lucky stars!"

Fan Jinglue and the other soldiers who had just joined the first company didn't understand why the Japanese were attacking as soon as they arrived. This wasn't a good thing at all, yet the squad leader said they were lucky stars.

The squad leader's tone was very sincere, and everyone could tell that he meant it, it wasn't sarcasm.

Fan Jinglue, after all, had attended the Jiangwutang Military Academy. In this situation, where the enemy's intentions were completely unclear, this squad leader was still so optimistic.

Thinking that this unit was indeed good to them, Fan Jinglue finally couldn't help but remind him, "Squad leader! The enemy's intentions are unclear. If the enemy is charging up at this time, they must have come prepared.

Should we avoid the enemy's sharpest point and wait until we have clarified the situation?"

The squad leader looked in his direction and said in a low voice, "Old Fan is knowledgeable! It's so dark, neither side knows the other's strength, and the enemy's intentions are indeed unclear.

But Old Fan, you don't know, we have already prepared a great gift for the enemy.

I say you're lucky because you can see the great gift we're sending to the enemy less than a day after you arrive.

Although we don't know how many enemies there are this time, the political instructor said last night that when our company only had a little over a hundred men, we could cross several lines of Japanese defenses in one night, blow up a Japanese field heavy artillery brigade, and repel a Japanese cavalry battalion.

Now that we have four hundred men in our company, we're not afraid even if ten thousand Japanese come.

You should know that we have our own people to our left and right, and we can call on our air force to fight at any time.

Don't talk about these Japanese soldiers, even a Japanese division is no match for our regiment now," the squad leader said with great pride.

Hearing the squad leader mention it, these nervous and frightened new recruits remembered what the political instructor had said last night: that the first company, with only a little over a hundred men, had set out from Jiangyin and rushed to the battlefield overnight.

Everyone had been filled with excitement and fervor at the time.

Thinking of the glorious history of their company, these newly joined soldiers finally calmed down.

They quietly entered the position with the old soldiers. It was only here that Fan Jinglue and the others discovered that more and more people were joining them in the trenches.

Right next to him, a cart was pushed up, and he whispered, "What is this?"

The soldier pushing the cart also whispered, "A heavy machine gun! Push it and charge while firing, the Japanese won't be able to stop it."

The soldiers waited quietly in the trenches. They had entered the trenches when it was at its darkest.

Slowly, the eastern sky began to show a sliver of white, and they could see what was happening ten meters ahead.

The enemy still hadn't come up, and some of the new recruits were feeling uneasy: were there really enemies?

The sky brightened a little more, and they could see further. At this moment, the soldiers finally saw a large force of Japanese soldiers in front of them, crouching and hunching over, holding their guns and charging toward them from several dozen meters away.

Watching the large groups of Japanese soldiers silently charging with their guns, the only sound in the world was the sound of the Japanese soldiers' footsteps hitting the ground as they charged.

Such a silent momentum could also put tremendous pressure on people. The Japanese seemed to be carrying boundless darkness as they charged out of the darkness.

Fan Jinglue only glanced at them and knew clearly that this Japanese force wasn't the Tianjia'an garrison; they were much more elite than the garrison.

Fan Jinglue's heart beat faster. He began to look around, this was his habit: when facing a strong enemy, he looked for an escape route, thinking of running away.

Although this company was very good to him and these people were very enthusiastic, Fan Jinglue still didn't want to die here.

His head looked left, right, and backward, and he heard the squad leader's voice, "Don't be afraid, brother! I used to be like this when I was a puppet soldier.

When I went to the battlefield, I would look for an escape route first, and as soon as the enemy attacked, I would run away immediately.

You don't have to run away today. Just follow me and charge later.

Originally, everyone was going to have bayonet training this morning, but now we're just changing the bayonet training from the camp to the battlefield.

Later, you new recruits must watch the old soldiers' demonstration carefully, master the essentials, and you will be just as strong in the future."

Fan Jinglue didn't expect his little plan to be seen through at a glance, but fortunately the squad leader didn't punish him. He was a good squad leader!

If it had been in the puppet army, if someone was found to be thinking of running away on the battlefield, they would be whipped lightly, and executed on the spot for a serious offense, using one person to set an example for all those who had thoughts of running away. This was called killing the chicken to scare the monkey.

In any case, Fan Jinglue knew that he couldn't run away today. He just didn't expect this squad leader to have also been a puppet soldier, and to have done exactly the same thing as him.

He wanted to ask the squad leader which unit he had been in before, but the squad leader made a shushing gesture.

At this moment, they could already see the charging Japanese soldiers, who had charged to within thirty meters of the trenches.

Fan Jinglue's heart was in his throat: they were so close, why hadn't they opened fire yet?

They, the new recruits, had been specially told: they were not allowed to open fire without orders.

Seeing that the Japanese were so close and still not firing, the Japanese would rush into the trenches immediately!

This wasn't just Fan Jinglue's idea; all the soldiers who had just joined the regiment thought the same way.

Many of them had the same thoughts as Fan Jinglue just now: seeing too many Japanese soldiers charging so fast, their first thought was to run away.

It was just that these thoughts were all seen through by their comrades next to them and pointed out.

They didn't dare to move anymore. These new recruits of course knew that the first time was a warning, and the second time wouldn't be let off so easily.

They could detect the first time, and they would definitely be more alert later, at least they shouldn't think about running away today.

Although the sky was already somewhat bright, they still couldn't see very far. In order to eliminate as many Japanese soldiers as possible, Company Commander Gui Wen waited until the Japanese were within twenty meters of the position before ordering:

"Detonate!"

The new recruits, who had been staring at the Japanese soldiers in front of them, not daring to blink, suddenly saw many sparks flashing in front of the position, like stars twinkling in the night sky.

Then, a huge explosion and violent vibration came at the same time.

The "boom!" of the explosion, along with the violent shaking of the ground, reminded these new soldiers how fierce the explosion in front of the position was.

Fan Jinglue watched with his own eyes as the charging Japanese soldiers were hit by countless black shadows, and many Japanese soldiers immediately fell.

Then, smoke enveloped the front of the battlefield, and they could no longer see the situation of the Japanese soldiers clearly.

"Fire!"

The company commander's voice was very loud, and it spread throughout the entire position in this early morning.

The heavy machine gun next to Fan Jinglue immediately rang out: "Dada-da! Dada-da!"

This was the sound that Japanese heavy machine guns made when firing, and only Japanese heavy machine guns in this world made this kind of sound when firing.

"They're really all using weapons that they seized from the Japanese!" At this tense moment, Fan Jinglue didn't know how, but that was what he was thinking.

Now he no longer had the thought of running away. He was kidding, he had just seen clearly that the flashing sparks extended from twenty meters in front of the position to at least one or two hundred meters in the distance.

The sky wasn't fully light yet, he didn't have a point of reference, and he couldn't clearly estimate how far those bombs had exploded.

But in any case, no matter what kind of force was hit by such an explosion, they would no longer be able to mount an offensive.

If they wanted to continue the attack, they could only retreat, reorganize their forces, and then launch another attack.

Fan Jinglue had also studied military strategy at the Jiangwutang Military Academy, and of course he knew this. The Japanese on the other side should also know this.

Sergeant Suzuki Yuta, who was charging at the front, was a very lucky Japanese soldier. In the first moment of the explosion of the first company's directional mine, dozens of iron pellets pierced through his body and shattered his head.

These iron pellets took his life before he could even react, and Suzuki Yuta died without any pain.

Compared to Miyamoto Goro, who was behind him and had been shielded from many iron pellets, he was lucky.

Miyamoto Goro, who was behind him, although many iron pellets had been blocked by the Japanese soldiers in front, he ultimately still bore his due responsibility. His body had at least six wounds.

Each wound penetrated deep into his internal organs, making it painful for him to breathe and painful for him to stand.

And that wasn't the end of it. Just as Miyamoto Goro hadn't fallen, he heard a word coming from the other side: "Fire!"

Then, his chest was hit hard by a bullet again, and he was hit in the chest by a bullet again. Only then did Miyamoto Goro fall.

There were many Japanese soldiers like him, and after falling, they didn't die, and they were groaning and struggling on the ground.

Battalion Commander Shiba Hideki was attacking with the troops, and the excitement and admiration he had felt from the start of the attack all turned into horror when the explosions sounded.

He was horrified to find that most of the Japanese soldiers around him had fallen.

They had fallen to the ground, and not many had died; most of the Japanese soldiers could still make a sound.

These Japanese soldiers who had fallen to the ground were struggling, groaning, and calling for help.

After thunder, there must be torrential rain. After the explosion, what followed was a fierce barrage of gunfire, causing those Japanese soldiers who had luckily not fallen in the explosion to fall to the ground, either voluntarily or involuntarily.

Lying prone on the ground, reaching out with his hands in front, behind, to the left, and to the right, he first felt blood.

The ground was full of the blood shed by the wounded Japanese soldiers, who now looked like punctured blood bags, with blood gushing out of their bodies.

Immediately, some uninjured Japanese soldiers began to help them. Battalion Commander Shiba Hideki fell to the ground, still trying to sort out his thoughts:

We were here to launch a surprise attack, we were here to engage them in close combat with bayonets.

He finally remembered his responsibilities. Above his head was a hail of bullets, and shells were constantly exploding around him.

The ground shaking caused by the explosions wasn't too great, and Battalion Commander Shiba Hideki felt a little relieved. These were definitely not heavy artillery.

"Counterattack! Counterattack!" Battalion Commander Shiba Hideki finally issued his first order after the attack.

In fact, even before he issued this order, some Japanese soldiers had already begun to counterattack sporadically.

Their counterattack wasn't fierce. After all, the Japanese had come prepared this time; they were prepared for close combat with bayonets. All the machine guns, mortars, and grenade launchers had not been brought, and all the Japanese soldiers had a Type 38 rifle each.

It was definitely impossible to fight against heavy machine guns, light machine guns, mortars, and infantry guns with such weapons.

"I have to find a way to change things!" Battalion Commander Shiba Hideki lay prone on the ground, thinking anxiously.