Chapter 1 The Situation

As Lieutenant Colonel Hoshino Taro led the 3rd Cavalry Regiment to charge the defense line of the 6th Regiment of the Special Operations Brigade, Colonel Ishii Kaho and his Chief of Staff, Ota Takezo, observed from a high ground in Luying Town.

The two were very excited to see the cavalry arrive so quickly.

Colonel Ishii Kaho ordered, "All regiments, prepare to cooperate with the cavalry regiment in launching an attack!"

Chief of Staff Ota Takezo said with a smile, "Commander! The two defense lines of the National Army seem to be prepared for both internal and external attacks.

In reality, these two defense lines, so close to each other, are not worth mentioning under the iron hooves of the Imperial Cavalry Regiment."

"Lieutenant Colonel Hoshino's cavalry regiment only needs one charge to crush and defeat the two defense lines set up by this force.

With the cooperation of the warriors in the regiment to attack the National Army, we will surely let them know the combat power of the Imperial warriors this time.” Colonel Ishii Kaho's tone also became relaxed.

The two highest commanders of the 18th Infantry Regiment, which had been compressed into Luying Town, had the same judgment on the battlefield situation:

They both believed that Lieutenant Colonel Hoshino's cavalry regiment would be able to defeat the National Army troops surrounding them.

This was also what the surviving devils in the entire regiment hoped to see most.

Colonel Ishii Kaho saw two ground-attack aircraft cutting eight bloody paths through the charging cavalry, and the hand holding the binoculars trembled.

He really didn't expect that just two planes could kill or wound most of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment.

Fortunately, the cavalry regiment still had the upper hand on the battlefield, and they were still charging. As long as the remaining cavalry could reach the阵地 and break into the National Army's defense line.

It could still disrupt the National Army's defense line, after all, the cavalry's breakthrough ability and mobility were particularly strong.

Chief of Staff Ota Takezo's face had changed. He saw that in just one minute, the cavalry regiment had been reduced by nearly half. Although the remaining cavalry were still charging, their morale had declined.

However, the two Japanese commanders saw that the cavalry had reached a position 300 meters from the defense line established by the National Army, and the National Army soldiers had not yet opened fire.

Colonel Ishii Kaho's mood improved again, "Could it be that those National Army soldiers have been frightened by the momentum of the Imperial warriors and dare not resist?"

The cavalry charged very fast. Just as he thought this, the cavalry in the front had advanced 100 meters, and no defenders had fired yet.

Chief of Staff Ota Takezo said excitedly, "The defenders have collapsed! They dare not fire!"

Before he finished speaking, he saw clusters of fire bursting out in front of the charging cavalry. They were too far away to hear the sound of the explosions.

But Colonel Ishii Kaho and Chief of Staff Ota Takezo both saw the charging cavalry enveloped in smoke.

Then they saw rows of bullets suddenly射出 from the positions of the 6th Regiment, and the dense rain of bullets撒 out like water.

The devils of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, who were making their final charge, crashed into an iron wall and fell to the ground.

Colonel Ishii Kaho, who was standing high and seeing far, also saw many devils performing Deng Lizangshen (hiding under the stirrups).

Some devils also hid under the bellies of galloping warhorses, and some devils jumped off their horses, holding onto the warhorses with one hand, and running fast on the ground with their feet.

These were all high-difficulty moves for cavalry, and also tactical movements to avoid gunfire, but these movements were of no use.

These devils encountered indiscriminate strafing from the 6th Regiment. In front of the entire position, the devil cavalry, who had just been galloping with great momentum, now had only a few devils who had escaped by chance.

They turned their horses in horror, wanting to escape this battlefield, but the warriors of the 6th Regiment did not agree. Heavy machine guns, machine guns, and rifles all fired at these lucky devils.

Soon, all the devils of the entire cavalry regiment were no longer riding on their warhorses.

Colonel Ishii Kaho and Chief of Staff Ota Takezo both lowered their binoculars and looked at each other.

There was horror in both of their eyes. This time, Colonel Ishii Kaho was truly desperate: the first reinforcements to arrive were so vulnerable.

Could his regiment hold out until the arrival of the 34th Infantry Regiment?

Chief of Staff Ota Takezo shook his head: his meaning was very clear.

They were doomed! The 18th Infantry Regiment was doomed!

Perhaps in the next moment, the National Army troops, which had completed their deployment, would launch an attack.

What happened next was something he never expected: the troops surrounding them did not launch an attack.

The soldiers on the outer defense line were still cleaning the battlefield, and the wounded warhorses were being quickly dismantled.

The weapons and equipment of the devils who fell to the ground were being collected. What Colonel Ishii Kaho couldn't bear to look at directly was that this National Army troop even stripped off the clothes of the dead devils.

Only piles of naked corpses were left on the battlefield. Colonel Ishii Kaho didn't know whether he should be angry or secretly happy: at least the troops surrounding them had not launched an attack.

What made him even more pleasantly surprised was that the planes overhead had finally left.

Colonel Ishii Kaho believed that the defeat of the infantry regiment and the cavalry regiment was largely due to these planes overhead.

Lin Fan had learned from the information reported by Zhu Qingmao that there was still a force of more than 5,000 devils marching towards this place.

According to their marching speed, it would take at least three hours for these devils to reach Luying Town.

This time was enough for the Special Operations Brigade to adjust its deployment.

Zhang Zizhong's 59th Army and the Special Operations Brigade finally set up a telegraph line. Lin Fan informed him of the "Ambush Reinforcements" plan he had just formulated.

Now Lin Fan's requirement for the 59th Army was to take over the defense lines in the northwest and north directions of Luying Town.

The main task was not to let the devils in Luying Town break out and run away. In addition, the 59th Army had to send scouts to the Nanyang direction.

To prevent a large force of devils from coming from the Nanyang direction again.

Lin Fan did not hide the Special Operations Brigade's next mission from him: One regiment of the Special Operations Brigade would hold Luying Town, and the other two regiments would prepare to block the devil troops coming to the rescue in Houtianhuang Village.

In the command post, Zhang Zizhong listened to Lin Fan's report that in the recent battle, most of the main force of the 18th Infantry Regiment of the devils surrounding Luying Town had been eliminated.

There were less than a thousand devils left in the entire Luying Town, and they were already maggots in the toilet—unable to make big waves.

In addition, there was a devil regiment with more than 5,000 troops heading towards Luying Town, and the Special Operations Brigade wanted to eat this force.

Zhang Zizhong did not dare to lag behind in fighting devils. He wanted to wash away the stains on his body and had been fighting devils all along.

However, this time the fight was a bit too easy. His army had not really fought today, and it had already completed the feat of killing more than 3,000 devils.

How could he not be pleasantly surprised? Although he was a little worried about Lin Fan's "Ambush Reinforcements" plan, feeling that it was too risky.

After thinking about it, Zhang Zizhong finally persuaded, "Commander Lin! I believe in your unit's combat effectiveness, but there are nearly a thousand devils surrounded here, and your unit still has to block 5,000 external devils.

I am worried that the devils will cooperate from the inside and outside, and it will not be good if they turn the tables on us."

He said it euphemistically, but in reality, he was afraid that the Special Operations Brigade would not only fail to defeat the devil troops coming to support them, but would instead be crippled by the devils.

"Ten birds in the forest are not as good as one bird in hand!" Zhang Zizhong said earnestly.

His idea was very clear: Instead of fighting the devil reinforcements, it would be better to wipe out the devils in Luying Town first, clear the rear, and then fight another devil force.

Lin Fan said with a smile, "Commander Zhang! If we kill all the thousand devils in Luying Town, will the devils coming to support us still come?"

This was a question: Luying Town was not a big city, and the devils had no reason to attack it. If the surrounded devils were all wiped out.

There was a high probability that the batch of devils heading in this direction would quickly run away.

Zhang Zizhong knew clearly in his heart: Although Lin Fan was only a Brigade Commander, not even a general;

But he had three base areas under his command, controlling tens of millions of people, and had hundreds of thousands of regular troops in his hands;

There were also hundreds of warplanes, countless factories, mines, and enterprises.

When it came to real strength, the Special Operations Brigade now had the top strength in the country.

The ally's agreement with his plan made Lin Fan very happy. The 6th Regiment and the 7th Regiment had already begun to advance towards Houtianhuang Village.

The 8th Regiment also began to accept the defense. The 8th Regiment had many tasks: Not only did it have to guard against the devils running out;

It also had to bury the devils' bodies.

There were also so many spoils of war that needed to be collected by the 8th Regiment and prepared to be sent to the rear.

After Lieutenant General Ueno Kanichiro, commander of the 29th Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Army, received the report that the entire cavalry regiment had been wiped out, he was so shocked that he could not even hold the telegram paper.

This was different from what he had imagined. In any case, he immediately reported this unfortunate news to Division Commander Yamawaki Masataka.

Division Commander Yamawaki Masataka stood still for a while, and then checked the map.

He was angry, really angry this time: The attack had been going smoothly for more than ten days, breaking through one defense line after another arranged by the 5th War Zone.

He had defeated 100,000 troops of the 5th War Zone, but suffered such a big loss in Xinye.

The Imperial Infantry Regiment had suffered more than 3,000 casualties, and the 3rd Cavalry Regiment had been completely wiped out.

Looking at the position of the 34th Infantry Regiment, which was only thirty miles away from Luying Town, had not changed much on the map.

Division Commander Yamawaki Masataka asked, "Where is the 34th Infantry Regiment?"