Chapter 1 The Sudden Explosion

The sudden explosion was accompanied by countless iron pellets.

All three hundred or so Japanese soldiers of the Hino Battalion were within the blast radius.

Captain Tanaka Takumi of the company dove to the ground the moment the explosion occurred, waiting for the sound to subside.

Then came the dense machine-gun fire, and he shouted, "Return fire! Return fire!"

Battalion Commander Hino Haruta was stunned. He was also injured in the explosion.

He was lying on the ground while two soldiers frantically tried to tend to his wounds: one was on his right arm, a small wound.

Only the width of a chopstick, but the iron pellet was lodged inside, not having pierced through.

Neither of these soldiers were medics, so they didn't dare perform surgery on the battalion commander, only using gauze to fill the small hole and wrapping it tightly with a bandage.

The other wound was on his chest, a wound of the same size, treated in the same way.

Battalion Commander Hino Haruta didn't feel much pain or weakness, but he was heartbroken.

Yesterday, they were a full-strength battalion of over a thousand men, and in more than ten days of fighting, the entire battalion had suffered fewer than ten casualties.

From yesterday afternoon until now, the entire battalion had been decimated, with over a thousand soldiers killed or wounded.

There were still three hundred or so soldiers when they set out this morning, and now who knew how many more had been killed or wounded.

Although Battalion Commander Hino Haruta didn't know how many they had lost this time, he could tell from the moans and wails around him that at least half of the soldiers had fallen here.

And the worst thing was that it wasn't over yet. The machine-gun fire and mortar shelling kept coming.

"Is there no end to this?" Battalion Commander Hino Haruta roared silently in his heart.

Captain Kubo Hayato had the same thought. He had managed to escape unscathed.

He wasn't injured this time, but the situation around him was extremely unfavorable: the dense gunfire meant that the Nationalist army was well-equipped and numerous.

If it were the Kubo Company at full strength, he would still be confident: if ambushed, they could just charge out.

But now, the entire Kubo Company had fewer than twenty soldiers who could still stand and fight. How could they possibly charge?

Even so, Captain Kubo Hayato ordered, "Charge!"

In this situation, not charging meant certain death!

If they could break through the Nationalist army's defenses, the entire regiment could return to Xinye, where they had heard there was a special forces brigade.

This needed to be taken seriously.

The 13th Division had already been taught a lesson once, and it had been a bitter one. Squad Leader Hayashi Ryunosuke still remembered it.

If he had a choice, he would rather face the Fifth War Area than fight the Special Forces Brigade.

This wasn't just his opinion; all the soldiers in the squad who had participated in the previous raid on Jurong thought the same way.

Those who hadn't participated in the raid, the newly added replacements, didn't think so:

In the past ten days of fighting against the Fifth War Area, they had become so arrogant that they looked down on everyone.

Even the veterans who fought alongside them were looked down upon by these newly joined replacements, who believed that the veterans had been fighting for too long and had become too timid.

Just like in the battle to attack Nanyang the day before, wasn't it still possible for a squad to charge into a city heavily defended by the Nationalist army?

The young Private Tadosho Akikoshi was one such person. Although he was only seventeen years old and had only been enlisted for three months, he had a dream of becoming a general.

He imagined winning merit on the battlefield, so that when he returned, he could shock the classmates and teachers who looked down on him.

These days, he charged ahead in every battle and had already received many commendations from the platoon leader and squad leader.

These newly replenished soldiers were eager to fight the legendary Special Forces Brigade as soon as possible.

But no matter how eager they were, they still had to take things one step at a time.

In the air, Captain Zhu Qingmao watched as all three ground teams moved in the same direction. If he extended their line of advance, it would lead to: Luying Town.

Special Forces Brigade planes had been circling in the air, and Regiment Commander Ishii Kaho couldn't stand it. He reported to Brigade Commander Ueno Kanichiro.

Soon, twelve fighter planes took off from the Wuchang airport and headed in that direction.

The Japanese airport had been heavily bombed by the Special Forces Brigade just a few days ago, and in a few days, they had replenished some planes.

With so few planes, Commander Okamura Neiji had done everything he could to send out twelve fighter planes today.

Jiang Chengde was the first to spot the enemy planes. His and Deng Weile's mission was to patrol and guard the skies.

While circling at high altitude, they spotted the enemy planes flying in from the east and immediately reported to the captain.

The entire squadron of twelve fighter planes began to adjust their formation, charging towards the Japanese planes.

Now, all the pilots of the Special Forces Brigade's aviation squadron were considered ace pilots: they had all participated in the two bombings of the Japanese mainland, as well as the bombings of Japanese airports and the Wusongkou docks in Shanghai.

They had incredibly rich combat experience and were no longer the green recruits they had been at first.

Two fighter planes formed a group, and the twelve fighter planes protected each other as they charged towards the Japanese planes.

Jiang Chengde and Deng Weile, who had first spotted the enemy planes, hid at high altitude, waiting for the Japanese fleet to fly past.

Then, they swooped down from the sky, with a clear division of labor: they were targeting the last two enemy planes.

Kanetani Naoki was at the very back, and they had already seen the enemy planes pouncing towards them, preparing for battle.

He and Kita Yuyo were in contact with each other, covering the rear of the entire fleet.

The two Japanese soldiers didn't have eyes in the back of their heads and didn't notice that planes had already pounced on them from behind.

Jiang Chengde swooped down from high altitude like an eagle catching a chick. When he saw that the enemy plane was three hundred meters away, he opened fire with both machine guns and cannons.

At such close range, hitting an enemy plane that wasn't dodging at all was a guaranteed hit.

The first round of attacks blew the enemy plane into two pieces. At the same time, Deng Weile also destroyed his target.

The two of them only reported in the headset, "Destroyed one enemy plane!"

"Destroyed one enemy plane!"

Captain Zhu Qingmao was overjoyed: "Keep up the good work! Stay behind them and attack their tails."

At this time, he also opened fire, targeting the enemy plane flying at the front.

Captain Numata Yoshika heard the sound of explosions in his headset and hesitated, asking loudly, "Report in, everyone!"

"Minamoto Ryunosuke, normal!"

"Ito Taiichi, normal!"

...

Kita Yuyo and Kanetani Naoki, these two pilots were missing. They were already dead.

"Watch out behind you!" Captain Numata only had time to remind them of this.

"I'm under attack!"

"I'm under attack!" Hoshino Emon and Onodera Hideki reported at the same time.

They had both been hit by Jiang Chengde and Deng Weile, who had caught up from behind. Although this time they weren't directly killed.

However, these two planes were already trailing black smoke as they fell to the ground.

"Aircraft controls malfunctioning! I'm going to bail out!"

"Engine stalled, I'm going to abandon the plane!"

The two pilots reported at the same time.

Jiang Chengde and Deng Weile both saw the Japanese pilots parachuting, but this time they didn't immediately chase after them.

Their target was still the enemy planes that had already begun to flee.

The Japanese soldiers of Numata Yoshika's aviation squadron were now panicked: they had already lost four planes when the battle had just begun.

How could they fight an air battle like this?

What was even more deadly now was that they were being attacked from both sides, making it difficult to escape!

Although it was difficult to escape, they definitely hadn't given up trying.

Minamoto Ryunosuke, who was at the front, didn't continue to charge forward at this time, but made a left turn directly, while Ito Taiichi made a right turn. By scattering like this, they would have a better chance of success.

At least they wouldn't both die here!

Captain Zhu Qingmao stared at one enemy plane and chased after it. Lei Wenshan, Dong Yongyuan, and the others were all doing the same, each chasing after one enemy plane.

While the planes were fighting fiercely in the air, the three infantry teams on the ground didn't notice, still hurrying on their way with their heads down.

In Lin Fan's radio, they could occasionally receive reports from the air: twelve enemy planes attacking, six enemy planes had already been shot down.

The remaining six were being pursued by our army!

Lin Fan couldn't help but admire the Japanese's production capacity: for the sake of war, this production capacity was no joke.

He had focused on attacking their airports and planes so many times, but they were still able to have planes appear on the battlefield continuously.

The Japanese were indeed much stronger than the Nationalist army in producing planes. Since the beginning of the war, the number of Nationalist army planes had been decreasing sharply, and now they couldn't even protect the safety of the air over Chongqing, the temporary capital.

They had been delayed for an hour in annihilating the enemy in Yueyuan, and the Sixth Regiment had caught up.

All nine thousand of his men in Xinye were present, waiting to encounter the enemy ahead.

The Special Forces Brigade arrived at Luying Town first. Lin Fan arranged for the Sixth Regiment to be stationed in Houtianhuang Village, the Seventh Regiment in Qiantianhuang Village, and the Eighth Regiment to build a defensive line in Luxicun Village, south of Luying Town.

He had already spread a large net here, waiting for the Japanese to enter.

The three regiments of the Special Forces Brigade had blocked the south and east sides of Luying Town, while the west was handed over to the Fifty-ninth Army.

If the Japanese wanted to retreat to Nanyang, not to mention that Nanyang had already been recaptured by the Nationalist army.

Even the Sixth Regiment could launch an attack at any time to cut off the Japanese's escape route to the north.

However, Lin Fan estimated that when the Japanese were truly defeated and had no other options, they would choose to break out to the east.

Because in the east, they could flee to Tanghe.

There were the Japanese 13th Division, 16th Division, and 4th Cavalry Brigade in Tanghe.

It could be said that they only needed to move thirty miles towards Tanghe, and with the support of reinforcements rushing out of the Tanghe direction, these Japanese soldiers would be able to escape with their lives.

This was also why Lin Fan wanted to deploy two regiments in the east: as long as the Japanese couldn't run to Tanghe, they would all face the same fate no matter where they went.

Numata Yoshika floated in the air. His fighter plane had crashed to the ground first, exploding in a brilliant blaze and burning fiercely.

He was still two or three hundred meters above the ground, and he felt a surge of tension when he saw a fighter plane suddenly swooping down from the sky.

There were many legends about the Special Forces Brigade: the one that frightened him the most was that the Special Forces Brigade never let go of any Japanese soldier they could kill.

He had already descended from over three thousand meters to two or three hundred meters, and he would be able to land safely in the last few hundred meters.

"Don't see me! Don't see me!" Numata Yoshika closed his eyes, constantly chanting this sentence.

"Da da da!" The sound of gunfire rang out, and his body felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer.

"I'm dead!" Steelng himself, Numata Yoshika used his last trick, cutting the parachute cord to accelerate his landing.

He hoped that luck would be on his side, that he wouldn't be too badly injured when he landed, so that he could save his life.

Falling from a height of two hundred meters, he wanted to survive.

Was this idea naive or suicidal? Zhu Qingmao had the right to speak.

He watched as the Japanese soldier cut the parachute cord and fell directly to the ground, turning into a pancake. His head and limbs were all flying far away, more thoroughly dismembered than by the five horses dismembering.

All twelve enemy planes had been destroyed. Zhu Qingmao was very satisfied with this result.

Regiment Commander Ishii Kaho, who was still hurrying on the ground, never imagined that his telegram had doomed twelve fighter planes of the Empire.