Chapter 217

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

While Yamamoto Battalion Commander was issuing orders, a melodious singing voice drifted into his ears.

The mountain where he chased rabbits

The stream where he fished for crucian carp

【Unforgettable Hometown】

【How are Father and Mother spending their days?】

Japanese soldiers in the trenches began to stand up in twos and threes, gazing toward the direction from which the singing came.

A large number of already heavily wounded little devils were unable to stand; at this moment they also lifted their heads, listening to the hometown tune.

The music currently playing was a Japanese children's song titled "Hometown," included in the Japanese Elementary School Music Textbook in 1914.

As for who was playing the music, naturally it was the Youth Army position opposite.

Lv Muzhi sent a gramophone and records to Chu Yunfei, and through the loudspeakers inside the national defense works, the tune named "Hometown" was looped 24 hours a day.

Yamamoto Battalion Commander also raised his head, listening to the plaintive tune, and his heart began to miss his own hometown intensely.

【Unforgettable Hometown】

【How are Father and Mother spending their days】

【Whether childhood friends remain unchanged】

【Are you doing well now?】

The devils in the trenches, hearing this, many wanted to wipe away tears, but their sleeves could only wipe against their own gas masks.

Sob sob sob~

Sobbing sounds began to rise from the Japanese army ranks.

For these Japanese soldiers who, in the late autumn of 1937, were mired in the muddy trenches of Jiangnan, China, now being counterattacked by their own mustard gas, suffering agony all over — this wave of song was absolutely the most powerful psychological offensive.

It was no less than ten times stronger than the leaflets that old thief Fujita Susumu distributed.

A devil soldier leaned inside an anti-artillery cave, his mask already shattered, eyelids red, swollen, and ulcerated; upon hearing the first line of lyrics, this devil's ulcerated lips began to move, humming along, yet he could only emit a hoarse breath sound, as if he might expire at any moment; unseemly tears mixed with pus rolled directly from the corners of his eyes.

The devils listening to the tune saw before their eyes their hometown mountains, streams, rice fields, cherry blossoms, and their mothers waving at the door… not this foreign hell before them covered with charred corpses, poison smoke, and the agonized, twisted faces of compatriots.

The music continued playing:

【Wild storms and rain each time stir my memories of hometown】

【Hope one day to return home in brocade】

【When will I be able to return】

【To that hometown of mine with green mountains and clear waters】

Several devil officers still capable of movement had faces like dead ash, eyes vacant.

These little devils' combat will was rapidly disintegrating under the double pincer attack of physiological pain and spiritual homesickness.

Seeing his subordinates in this state, Yamamoto Battalion Commander no longer had the heart to appreciate the music; it was very obvious that Chu Yunfei opposite was doing everything possible to disintegrate his will.

"Cover your ears! No one is allowed to listen! This is a China man's scheme, vicious China men! No one is allowed to listen to this damn music!"

But this was obviously meaningless; a large number of heavily wounded soldiers no longer even had the strength to cover their ears.

Yamamoto Battalion Commander recalled an idiom he had learned: Four Sides Chu Songs.

At the time Yamamoto learned this idiom he had not felt much; only now did he finally thoroughly understand the meaning of this idiom!

"Bakayaro... everything is over..."

Yamamoto Battalion Commander's will also gradually disintegrated; all along, this war had not brought him the joy of victory.

"Ugh ah——!" Yamamoto knelt on the ground and roared, pounding the ground with his fist again and again, "Damn it! ~ Still can't do it? Why? Why still can't do it ah!"

On Chu Yunfei's position opposite, the Youth Army warriors were actually quite troubled too; the volume of this music really was a bit loud.

Lv Muzhi listened to the loudspeaker effect on Chu Yunfei's position, nodded in satisfaction, then ordered the music shut off for one hour to let the warriors have some quiet.

At the same time Lv Muzhi issued a new order: next time music is played, if it catches rest time, aside from essential alert personnel, warriors may enter the fully sealed gas mask fortress interior to rest; inside there most of the volume can be blocked out.

Chu Yunfei recalled this somewhat sorrowful Japanese tune and said: "Lu Commander, I see Four Sides Chu Songs is nothing more than this, right?"

Lv Muzhi shook his head: "About the same, but the little devils opposite can't compare to Xiang Yu; what are those few leaflets Fujita Susumu put out? What is called psychological warfare — this is what psychological warfare is! Later order the artillery to continue bombarding this bunch of devils in front of us!"

Chu Yunfei asked in surprise: "Still bombing? I see opposite probably only a few little shrimps left, right?"

"Continue bombing, let the devils behind see: daring to lurk under our eyelids — that is the outcome; poison gas shells use sparingly, mainly use conventional ammunition."

"Yes! I'll assign it right away!"

Chu Yunfei thought a moment, then asked again: "Lu Commander, should we have the frontline turn the loudspeaker horns to maximum power? I heard the loudspeaker horns you installed, at maximum power the sound can transmit to twenty kilometers away; perfect to let Fujita Susumu himself also listen to the hometown tune!"

Lv Muzhi held back laughter: "No rush, let that old thing Fujita Susumu sleep a bit more."

Boom boom boom!

Two hours later, Chu Yunfei's shells, accompanied by the little devils' homesickness tune, once again smashed onto the Yamamoto Battalion's remaining positions.

Every explosion was accompanied by the splattering of mud, severed limbs, and shattered weapons, making that melodious "Hometown" seem like the background music of hell.

Lv Muzhi and Chu Yunfei, in the command post, sat with legs crossed, listening to this unconventional symphony.

Yamamoto Battalion Commander curled up in a relatively intact cover corner; several deeply poisoned devil soldiers also lay near him, faces and hands already starting to blister and ulcerate.

They curled up in pain, throats emitting gurgle-gurgle strange sounds, pricking their ears to search for the melodious hometown singing amid the shelling, as if that were the only solace that could ease the pain.

A young soldier, squatting in the trench, letting nearby artillery fire fly about, not knowing to dodge but instead using ulcerated fingers to unconsciously draw on the muddy ground; the lines he drew were crooked and twisted, like a child playing in mud.

This little devil has completely gone mad.

Yamamoto's heart felt as if it were clenched by an invisible hand, then ruthlessly kneaded.

Before his eyes, roaring artillery fire, a melodious hometown tune.

Contrast, too great a contrast!

Squadron Leader Yamamoto's head buzzed; he glanced again at his comrade covered in blisters like a toad, and his heart seemed to receive some stimulus, causing him to stand up uncontrollably.

"Daidaizhang Ge Xia! Danger, Request Go To back quickly!" a Squadron Leader shouted loudly, but Squadron Leader Yamamoto did not hear.

With a clang, Squadron Leader Yamamoto's Military Sword left its scabbard; gripping it with both hands, he assumed a stance ready for Bayonet Combat.

Wearing a Gas Mask, Squadron Leader Yamamoto unexpectedly practiced Swordsmanship in the artillery-filled trench with deliberate precision.

Thrust, parry, slash...

"Hometown... can't go back... can't go back at all!" Yamamoto swung his blade wildly while murmuring, tears mixed with the grime on his face streaming down, "Victory... Emperor... lies... all lies!"

A Squadron Leader still clinging to life saw this and scolded: "Eight Gua! Another one gone Madness!"