Chapter 1 The Illumination Flare

The pale light of the illumination flare was visible for miles in the night sky. When Song Minzhi, the division commander responsible for the attack in the Lotus Leaf Mountain direction, saw the light, his heart sank.

No matter what, a team that could launch illumination flares was definitely not a guerrilla force!

The drone of the fighter jets passing overhead sounded like a thunderclap in his ears.

"It's over! This time it's over!" Song Minzhi thought to himself, his feet moving quickly.

Guards escorted him as he quickly sneaked into the forest to hide.

A plane strafed along the road, but it was too dark and too far away. Song Minzhi only saw four muzzles flashing in the dark sky.

The "da-da-da! da-da-da!" of machine gun fire carried far, far away in the silent night sky.

Guan Guohao, commanding the air squadron, ordered the lead fighter jets to fire an illumination flare every three hundred meters. The twenty-five-millimeter cannon-fired flares could float in the air for three minutes.

Those three minutes were for the bombers and ground attack aircraft following behind to aim and strafe and bomb their targets.

Dai Xueru, the company commander, led the reconnaissance company of the National Army, originally scouting the terrain and searching ahead of the entire team.

After being attacked by Yang Guoqiang's guerrilla team for the first time, his reconnaissance company became the vanguard of the entire regiment, directly clearing the way ahead.

As the entire company was attacking the hill occupied by the guerrillas, illumination flares fell from the sky, and machine gun bullets rained down.

This was completely beyond the reconnaissance company's ability to withstand. Less than a minute after the aerial strike began, his company's attack was broken.

Someone asked in the darkness, "What do we do?"

"Run!" The answer in the darkness was firm.

"Don't run!" Company Commander Dai Xueru shouted loudly.

The National Army soldiers were professionals at running away. Although Dai Xueru couldn't see the soldiers fleeing, he could feel that the entire company's attack had completely stopped.

His soldiers didn't run back in a swarm.

Instead, they scattered and disappeared into the jungle. When these soldiers fought the Japanese devils, they ran away and were captured, they became puppet soldiers.

This time, they scattered on the Special Operations Brigade's territory and would definitely not return to Ningguo. They knew very well that most of the veterans of the Special Operations Brigade were former puppet soldiers who had been captured and reformed.

After those puppet soldiers became soldiers of the Special Operations Brigade, they received money, had status, and wherever they went, people would give them a thumbs up and praise them: "Well done!"

The Special Operations Brigade was truly fighting the Japanese devils, and everyone admired such people.

The planes in the air didn't just strafe once and leave. They strafed once, then continued to strafe the next round, until there wasn't a single National Army soldier on the road, before flying away.

The Special Operations Brigade's fighter jets were there and gone in less than fifteen minutes, but Liu Kaixian's regiment could no longer organize an attack.

What Regiment Commander Liu was thinking about now wasn't attacking Guangde, but how to gather his scattered troops.

Company Commander Dai Xueru was now calling out like a hen summoning her chicks: "Brothers of the reconnaissance company, the planes are gone.

Everyone come out and gather. Everyone come out and gather, brothers!"

Hiding in the bushes, Wang Zhihui asked in a low voice, "Uncle! Should we go down and gather?"

"Don't go! If we go down now, we'll still be cannon fodder. The Special Operations Brigade is a team that fights the Japanese devils.

We don't fight the Japanese devils, we only fight our own people. What kind of people are we?

Just stay here until dawn, and then surrender to the Special Operations Brigade!" Wang Peiyi, the one called "Uncle," said.

"Oh!" The young man obediently squatted on the ground and didn't move.

Yang Guoqiang, leading the guerrillas, watched the National Army soldiers charge up the mountain, and while loudly ordering his men to shoot, thought that they could hold out here for half an hour and then retreat.

But as soon as the battle started, he heard the buzzing of planes, and everything that followed was like a dream.

The sky suddenly lit up, and the attacking National Army was suddenly subjected to intense machine gun fire. The National Army soldiers scattered and fled.

The planes continued to strafe from the hillside forward, and he could see illumination flares lighting up far ahead.

Wherever these planes flew, they brought a patch of light.

The planes had flown away, and the mountain forest returned to darkness. The guerrillas heard a voice from the foot of the mountain calling out, "Brothers! The planes are gone, come out and gather!"

This voice tirelessly shouted for five or six minutes before slowly calling out in the direction of Ningguo.

Yang Guocai said in a low voice, "Captain! The one calling out must be an officer. I'll take a few men down to get him."

"Everyone go together. We saw them dropping weapons on the hillside earlier. Take a few people with torches to pick them up.

The rest of you hide on the side to provide cover."

The guerrillas immediately acted according to Yang Guoqiang's orders. The guerrillas who were preparing to hide in the dark had just left their positions and were feeling their way down the mountain.

On the way, they encountered National Army soldiers hiding in the bushes. These National Army soldiers shouted in panic, "Don't shoot, we surrender!"

Yang Guoqiang didn't expect that more than thirty soldiers would come out to surrender from here. An idea struck him, and he whispered a few words to the guerrillas around him.

These team members each took a few people and walked further away, each pulling the bolt of their rifles towards the bushes and shouting loudly, "Come out and surrender! We've found you!"

This method really worked, and they quickly captured more than twenty more prisoners.

Gathering these prisoners on the hillside, Yang Guoqiang arranged for a platoon to guard them. At this time, Wang Peiyi spoke up: "Officer! We became soldiers to fight the Japanese devils. The higher-ups want us to fight our own people, and we don't want to.

If you trust me, I'll go ahead and help you call out to our brothers to come out and surrender."

Yang Guoqiang chuckled: "Will they listen to you?"

"The brothers have long envied the brothers here for fighting the Japanese devils. In the past, we were friendly forces, and we didn't dare to come over.

Now everyone is hiding in the mountains. As long as you shout a few times, many people will definitely be willing to come out and surrender.

Besides, even if they don't come out, you won't lose anything, right?"

"That's the logic, you come out," Yang Guoqiang said.

The remaining fifty or so National Army soldiers all shouted, "Officer! Let us go too! If we stay here, you'll have to send someone to guard us.

We'll carry torches in front and help you call out to people. You'll be safe, and you won't have to worry about us running away. You can also recruit more people."

That did make sense. Yang Guoqiang didn't really know what to do with these people.

These people were the same as him, all Huaxia people, all compatriots. The instructors responsible for training the guerrillas often told them stories about the Special Operations Brigade on the battlefield.

They always said that the Special Operations Brigade didn't spare any Japanese devils, and welcomed anyone who was willing to fight the Japanese devils.

Since these people were willing to take the initiative to help capture prisoners, then let them go together.

Wang Peiyi and the other soldiers who had just surrendered walked on the hillside and the road with torches, shouting loudly as they went, "Brothers! Come out and surrender!

Join the Special Operations Brigade, get paid to fight the Japanese devils, no longer be beaten by officers, no longer be scolded by officers!

We don't fight our own people, we only fight the Japanese devils! When we see our fellow villagers, we can stand up straight and say that we are fighting the Japanese devils."

The fifty or so people walked towards Lotus Leaf Mountain while shouting all the way, and their shouting was very effective.

After being strafed by planes while marching, Division Commander Song Minzhi's division had less than one-tenth of its original strength. The original force of more than six thousand people now had less than a thousand.

How could such a force attack Guangde?

After only a slight hesitation, Division Commander Song Minzhi led his troops back to Lotus Leaf Mountain.

There were permanent fortifications built by the Special Operations Brigade here. He planned to have his thousand or so people, plus the thousand or so who were originally stationed here, defend it first.

He would continue to gather his troops after dawn, and then make further plans.

He had already thought of a countermeasure, and then sent a telegram to the commander-in-chief: "My division encountered heavy resistance from the Special Operations Brigade while advancing, suffering heavy casualties, and has now retreated to Lotus Leaf Mountain.

All officers and soldiers of the division swear to live and die with Lotus Leaf Mountain."

Li Pin had already hastily moved out of his headquarters at this time. Just now, his headquarters had been bombed by the Special Operations Brigade's bombers.

At the same time, he also received reports that all the Twenty-Third Army's garrisons in Ningguo had been bombed by planes.

Even more unacceptable to him was that the follow-up attacking forces he had sent out had been heavily attacked by the Special Operations Brigade's planes on the roads.

Two full regular divisions were scattered. As for the local troops, the five advance columns, all the troops marching on the roads were attacked tonight.

How excited he was at six o'clock in the afternoon, how frustrated he was now.

The Special Operations Brigade's retaliation came too quickly. He only started attacking at five-thirty in the afternoon. It was only nine-thirty now, and their retaliation had arrived.

This was truly a gentleman's revenge is never too late, a villain's revenge is from morning till night!

At this time, he received Division Commander Song Minzhi's telegram, hearing that his division now had only two thousand or so people left. An original force of more than eight thousand people had lost six thousand in a few hours?

"Even if it were six thousand pigs, the Special Operations Brigade couldn't slaughter them all in three hours. Where did the soldiers under your command go?"

"In the dark, many soldiers were lost. Perhaps some can be gathered back after dawn."

What else could Li Pin say now? He could only wait like this.

At this time, he didn't know what Lin Fan's orders to the air squadron were.

In the Guangde airport headquarters, Lin Fan had received Captain Guan Guohao's report: "A battle occurred in front of Yangxi Village. A guerrilla team stopped the National Army's attack.

The air squadron has defeated the attacking National Army."

Soon, new reports came back: "The National Army troops marching towards Guangde from the Lotus Leaf Mountain direction have all been defeated.

The air squadron is flying towards the territory of Ningguo."

Reports kept coming in. Lin Fan ordered: "The Thirty-Third Regiment will leave one battalion to hold the defensive line, and the remaining teams will immediately advance towards Lotus Leaf Ridge.

Investigate the situation ahead and report to the headquarters at any time."

Since losing the position, Gong Zhixue, the commander of the Thirty-Third Regiment, had been blaming himself. He had now created a record since the establishment of the Special Operations Brigade, the first defeat!

He had never imagined that the National Army stationed in Ningguo would launch a surprise attack on him. The two sides were fine yesterday. Everyone was still exchanging ideas on how to train soldiers and how to cooperate with each other.

In the morning, there were also soldiers from Ningguo coming to Guangde to purchase supplies. Everyone was still talking and laughing, and in the afternoon, they attacked.

Thinking of what the brigade commander had told him: make sure to defend this defensive line, and never relax your vigilance.

Be careful of the National Army from Ningguo launching a surprise attack. The brigade commander had foreseen all of this, but he had relaxed his vigilance over the years.

Gong Zhixue, the commander of the Thirty-Third Regiment, was originally just an ordinary soldier in the National Army. When the troops retreated from the battlefield, he was captured by the Japanese devils and became a puppet soldier.

Later, after being captured by the Special Operations Brigade, he became an ordinary soldier in the Fifth Regiment. He was promoted to platoon leader because of his bravery in battle.

During the Jurong expansion, he was transferred out to serve as the company commander of a newly established team, and then rose all the way to become the commander of the Thirty-Third Regiment.

When the jeep carrying Lin Fan drove into the camp with its headlights on, there were no sentries at the camp gate at all. All the soldiers of the Forty-Fourth were in the camp, squatting on the ground with their weapons, just squatting there blankly.

The bright headlights of the jeep were like two sharp swords, cutting through the darkness of the entire camp, illuminating a dark row of soldiers squatting on the ground in front.

When these soldiers saw a car coming, they still squatted on the ground, motionless like statues.

The car stopped in the middle of the camp. Lin Fan jumped out of the car, walked to the front of the car, and asked loudly, "Is Regiment Commander Li here? Tell him to come and see me!"

The entire regiment was in this state, and Regiment Commander Li Yongrui didn't know what to do. He was hiding in the middle of the team, also squatting on the ground, not knowing what he was thinking.

The entire regiment saw this jeep coming in. He saw it too, but it was too far away, and he couldn't hear Lin Fan's question.

But the soldiers nearby clearly heard the person jumping out of the car ask if the regiment commander was here, and tell the regiment commander to come and see him.

Wu Dayong, who was squatting on the ground in a daze, immediately stood up and shouted loudly, "The regiment commander is in front!"

Lin Fan shouted loudly, "Is that how you answer a superior's question?"

That person was the third company commander of the Forty-Fourth Regiment. He used to be the squad leader of the Seventh Regiment. He had met Lin Fan once before, and he was familiar with Lin Fan's voice.

Hearing that it was the brigade commander's question, he quickly stood at attention: "Reporting to the brigade commander! Third Company Commander Wu Dayong of the Forty-Fourth Regiment reports to you!"

"Very good! You haven't forgotten that you're a soldier! Report your rank and name!

"Reporting to the brigade commander! Third Company Commander Wu Dayong of the Forty-Fourth Regiment reports to you!"

"Company Commander Wu! I now order you: immediately assemble the team, send out sentries to stand guard at the camp gate. Maintain order! Send out a messenger to notify Regiment Commander Li to report!

Send out soldiers to convey my order to the entire regiment: the entire regiment assembles, I want to speak to the entire regiment!"

"Yes!"