Chapter 300

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

The artillery shifted targets, bombarding the route the Japanese counterattack had to take, soon smashing the so-called samurai spirit of the counterattacking Japanese troops to pieces.

Half an hour later, a scout came to report: "Report, sir! The Japanese counterattack at the Guzhen northern front position has been suppressed!"

Qiu Qingquan and Zhang Fei exchanged a glance, then looked at Deputy Division Commander Zhou Weiguo of the Sixth Division.

Zhou Weiguo immediately understood, saying: "Armored assault force, advance in echelons along the predetermined route!

The Engineer Battalion will coordinate with flamethrowers! Clear out the remaining enemies in the trenches of the Guzhen northern front position!"

The steel machine started up again, tank tracks crushing scorched earth, charging straight at a crumbling position of the Japanese 13th Division.

The Japanese trenches were filled with a choking smell of gunpowder and blood mixed together.

Sergeant Shan Tian Yilang crouched in the trench, tightly gripping a strangely shaped stick about one and a half meters long, with a conical cast-iron cover at the front and a wooden handle at the back.

"Listen up!" Shan Tian Yilang roared at the three new recruits huddled in the trench corner: "This is a secret weapon urgently developed by the army headquarters, called the Spike Mine! Full name Spike Burst Mine, specifically for Chinese tanks!"

A new recruit took the heavy iron thing with trembling hands, his voice quavering: "Sergeant Major Shan... how, how do you use it?"

"Simple!" Shan grabbed his wrist, gripped the wooden handle of the Spike Mine, and thrust the end with the conical iron cover hard forward: "When you see a Chinese tank coming, you charge out! Aim this wooden stick at the tank's track or side, thrust hard, and the high explosive at the front of this Spike Mine will detonate!"

The recruit's eyes widened, looking at the Spike Mine only 1.5 meters long: "Detonate?! Wouldn't I be blown up too?"

"What's there to be afraid of!" Sergeant Major Shan slapped his steel helmet, "As long as you can be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor, is there any difference between living and dying?!"

In the distance came the grating sound of tank tracks rolling over gravel, getting closer and closer, the ground trembling.

Shan poked his head out; two Youth Army T tanks and one Sanhao Tank were advancing toward the position in a wedge formation.

Behind them followed two smaller armored vehicles, low-slung, but their machine gun turrets were turning left and right.

Youth Army infantry on both sides and behind the tanks wore uniform gray-blue winter clothing, steel helmets, most holding submachine guns, advancing toward the Japanese position.

"Get ready!" Sergeant Major Shan ordered in a low voice.

The three Japanese new recruits gripped the Spike Mines tightly, one of them trembling so much he couldn't stand steady, and Shan kicked him hard.

The Youth Army tanks drew closer, fifty meters, thirty meters, twenty meters...

Rat-tat-tat!

The Japanese soldiers still alive in the trench opened fire to block, provoking return fire from the advancing Youth Army troops.

"Charge—!" Sergeant Major Shan shouted, leaping out of the trench himself first.

Several new recruits' minds went blank, and they instinctively jumped out after him.

Under machine gun cover, four Japanese soldiers raised their Spike Mines high, running under the setting sun.

Shouting something about His Majesty Tenghuang, they brandished a stick resembling a toilet plunger and charged crazily at the Youth Army's lead Sanhao Tank, launching a suicide attack.

Seeing this, several Youth Army infantrymen were stunned—how could Japanese soldiers charge out holding just a wooden stick, not even equipped with bayonets, not taking themselves seriously at all!

After charging out of the trench, Sergeant Major Shan first threw a bundle grenade at the Sanhao Tank, then raised his Spike Mine and charged at the Sanhao Tank.

The Sanhao Tank's coaxial machine gun opened fire simultaneously, 7.92mm bullets drawing a whip of fire; Sergeant Major Shan, at the very front, was hit as if by an invisible great hammer, falling backward, the Spike Mine slipping from his hand, ending his sinful life.

Youth Army infantry on both sides pulled their triggers; MP28 submachine gun bullets sprayed over, instantly turning the other Japanese soldiers holding Spike Mines into sieves, their bodies twisting and falling as they ran.

Youth Army infantry surged forward, rushing into the trench.

Next, engineers carrying cylindrical fuel tanks and holding flamethrowers, covered by riflemen, bent and leaped into the trench.

The first flamethrower soldier had just jumped down when he saw four or five lightly wounded Japanese soldiers huddled at the corner.

Whoosh—!

An orange-red fire dragon surged out, instantly swallowing that section of the tunnel.

Shrieks pierced sharply, then were quickly covered by the roaring of burning flames.

The smell of charred flesh and roasted meat mixed together, nauseating.

Riflemen followed behind the flamethrower soldiers, firing submachine gun bursts at the Japanese soldiers trying to rush out of the flames, their bodies on fire. The battle became a one-sided massacre.

The Japanese on this position were quickly cleared out; after the battle ended.

A Youth Army infantryman picked up a Spike Mine dropped by the Japanese and cursed: "What the hell is this thing, better than a rifle? It scared the shit out of me just now!"

An engineer walked over and examined it carefully: "The front of the wooden stick should be loaded with a large amount of high explosive; as long as the conical metal at the front is subjected to external force, it will detonate the explosive. I guess this is a new weapon targeting our tanks."

A Battalion Commander walked over, smiling: "What a humorous weapon. Hand these Spike Mines over to the Engineer Battalion for safekeeping, and show them to the commanders so the commanders can have a laugh too!"

Inside Guzhen, the 13th Division headquarters.

Division Commander Lieutenant General Dizhou Libing had deep-set eye sockets, his uniform covered in dust.

The gunfire and artillery fire outside, growing closer and denser, along with constant reports of positions lost and troops annihilated, felt like a noose around his own neck, almost choking him.

"Division Commander! The outer perimeter position to the north has fallen! Enemy tanks have approached the core position!" a staff officer rushed in, stumbling, to report.

"Where is the Ninth Division?! Why is the enemy's offensive so swift, and the Ninth Division's support so slow?!" Dizhou Libing grabbed the staff officer's collar, asking in a hoarse voice.

"The Ninth Division... is blocked at the Huai River, still south of the Huai River..." the staff officer's voice grew lower and lower.

Dizhou Libing let go, stumbled backward, and bumped into a dust-covered desk. How long could his own 13th Division hold out?

"Cable the Central China Expeditionary Army Headquarters and Ninth Division Commander Yoshizumi Ryosuke: My 13th Division is now in a desperate situation, outer perimeter positions are being lost one after another, I fear we cannot hold out for even five days. Hope reinforcements arrive soon! Hope reinforcements arrive soon!

Dizhou Libing."

On the Taierzhuang battlefield, Isogai Rensuke's 10th Division and Dizhou Libing's 13th Division shared the same troubles.

Tang Enbo stood in the forward observation post of the Twentieth Army Group; the lenses of his binoculars had already been covered by a layer of dust kicked up by cannon fire. He casually wiped them twice with his sleeve, then stared ahead again.

"Where has Guan Linzhen's Fifty-Second Army reached? Tell them, the old man is watching from Xuzhou! Commander Lu is watching from behind!

"If we don't take that ring-shaped fortification on the outer perimeter today, Iron Fist Guan's reputation is finished!"

"What is Wang Zhonglian's Eighty-Fifth Army doing? Shrinking back at the first sound of the enemy's counterattack artillery fire? Have him push his reserves forward! The position must be pushed forward!"

Tang Enbo's voice was already hoarse, but his orders grew harsher one after another.

This battle had to be fought with everything; the old man had personally come to Xuzhou, Lv Muzhi was coordinating the overall situation in the rear, and if Tang Enbo dared to slack off again, let alone his future, even keeping his head was questionable.