Chapter 301

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

On the flank of Tang Enbo's army corps, Sun Zhen, acting commander-in-chief of the Twenty-Second Army Group (Sichuan Army), also had red eyes behind this Sichuan Army.

Behind this Sichuan Army, the earth was trembling.

That was not the dull sound of Japanese artillery bombardment, but artillery fire support from their own positions in the rear.

Under Lv Muzhi's coordination, a heavy artillery brigade of the Central Army also joined the battlefield, wearing down Isogai Rensuke's Tenth Division opposite.

Boom——!!!

Boom——!!!

Rows of 150mm heavy howitzer shells tore through the long sky, carrying a heart-piercing shriek, and slammed heavily onto the positions carefully constructed by the Japanese army.

Bricks, timber, weapon parts, along with the severed limbs of the Japanese defenders, were thrown tens of meters into the sky in the rising smoke columns.

After the artillery fire extended, a Sichuan Army regimental commander drew the broadsword behind his back and was the first to leap out of the trench: "Brothers! Charge with me! Take the Japanese positions ahead! Lu Commander said, everything captured belongs to us! Fight well, and the whole division will be re-equipped!"

"Charge!"

"Kill the Japanese!"

The Sichuan Army officers and soldiers, suffocated for too long, were like tigers released from their cages, launching a fierce assault against a position of Isogai Rensuke's Tenth Division ahead under the cover of their own superior artillery fire.

The Japanese positions had just endured the heavy artillery bombardment, many firepower points were destroyed, and the survivors were dazed; before they could organize effective resistance, they saw countless Sichuan Army soldiers wearing straw hats or cloth caps and gray-blue uniforms, screaming as they charged right before their eyes.

Bayonets drew blood, broadswords flew, and hand grenades exploded into clusters of blood mist in the trenches.

The defensive pressure on the Tenth Division had already reached its limit.

At the Tenth Division headquarters, Isogai Rensuke paced back and forth before a table covered with maps and telegrams.

The cannon fire from the Taierzhuang direction to the south grew denser and closer, interspersed with the desperate pleas for help and urgent reports from various regimental commanders over the telephone.

"Division Commander! The third defensive line north of Taierzhuang has been breached by the Central Army!"

"The Sichuan Army offensive on the right wing is fierce; cooperating with heavy artillery, the Second Battalion has suffered over half casualties, and the battalion commander has died an honorable death!"

"Ammunition consumption is increasing sharply, especially shells and machine gun bullets; stockpiles are now less than seven days' worth!"

"The enemy's forces are endless; besides the Youth First Army in the rear, actually over five armies' worth of forces have already deployed on our front!"

Bad news came one after another, and Isogai Rensuke's heart kept sinking.

The Xia Guo Army opposite was no longer in the previous state of collapsing at a touch or passively avoiding battle, but under unified and efficient command, launched continuous fierce attacks regardless of cost.

Their artillery had become reckless regardless of cost, and their infantry charges were fearless of death.

What made his spine chill even more was the silence of the Youth First Army in the Yi County direction behind him.

It was too quiet.

After Lv Muzhi sent the Youth First Army to take Yi County and cut off his retreat, he did not rush to launch an attack against him, but instead seemed to have taken root there, constructing one solid defensive line after another.

The reconnaissance aircraft report from the Front Army Headquarters showed that earthwork around Yi County was on a massive scale, making it very difficult for him to escape.

Lv Muzhi's purpose was obvious: to control movement with stillness, blocking Isogai Rensuke's routes for fleeing north or awaiting reinforcements.

"Damn it... Lv Muzhi, Liao Yaoxiang... good calculation!" Isogai Rensuke cursed.

He was now caught between advancing and retreating; on the front, he was pinned down and worn down by the Xia Guo Army's sea of humanity tactics and constantly increasing firepower, while behind him, the Youth Army was like a sharp steel blade pressing against him, leaving him immobile, forced to grit his teeth and fight the Xia Guo main forces.

Every day of delay meant more blood for his Tenth Division, more loss of backbone and equipment.

Was the Tenth Division really going to follow in the footsteps of the Third and Sixth Divisions and be buried on this Xuzhou battlefield?

"Division Commander! Urgent telegram from Jining! General Tsuchiya Kenji of the Fourteenth Division is calling!"

Isogai Rensuke quickly turned around, snatched the telegram, and scanned the text on it with ravenous eagerness.

The content of the telegram was good news: the vanguard mechanized rapid detachment of the Fourteenth Division was on its way to provide support.

This mechanized detachment, reinforced with tanks and armored vehicles, had marched south from Jining and was expected to arrive north of Yi County before dawn the next day.

Tsuchiya Kenji judged that the main force of Liao Yaoxiang's Youth Army must be used to prevent the Tenth Division from breaking out and for front-line defense, so its northern forces were relatively weak.

Therefore, the mechanized rapid detachment would launch a powerful assault on the Youth Army defensive line north of Yi County at exactly five o'clock tomorrow dawn, striving to tear open a gap.

Tsuchiya required Isogai Rensuke's Tenth Division to, at the same time, concentrate all still-mobile elite forces and launch a desperate breakout attack on the Youth Army positions in the direction of Yi County, advancing north and south with the Fourteenth Division's mechanized rapid detachment, coordinating inside and outside, to shatter Liao Yaoxiang's blockade in one blow!

"Yoshi! Yoshi!! Heaven does not cut off man's path!

As long as I want to leave, how can Liao Yaoxiang sent by Lv Muzhi stop me?!" The gloom that had weighed on Isogai Rensuke's heart for many days vanished in an instant.

Tsuchiya's Fourteenth Division was a famous elite of the North China Area Army, and after reinforcement, it was especially skilled in long-range maneuvering and forced breakthroughs.

A pincer attack from north and south! This was the Tenth Division's only and last chance!

"Immediately reply to General Tsuchiya: the Tenth Division fully agrees to the battle plan! My forces will concentrate the main force of the 10th Infantry Brigade, the division-attached tank company, the cavalry regiment, and all available artillery, and at exactly five o'clock tomorrow dawn, launch an all-out breakout attack toward Yi County! Hope your unit attacks on time and opens the passage!"

"Order all regiments to immediately draw out elites and form breakout echelons! All tanks, rapid-fire guns, and field guns, adjust your fields of fire toward Yi County! Artillery Regiment, prepare the final firepower barrage for tomorrow dawn's breakout!"

"Tell Seiya Kei that the front-line defense must hold! Even if fighting to the last soldier, you must hold for me!"

Order after order was issued from the Tenth Division headquarters; the previously lifeless Japanese units were like given a shot of adrenaline, beginning to mobilize and assemble.

At Xuzhou Railway Station, a military train pulled into the station, and Lv Muzhi and Li Zongren personally went to welcome it.

"Wei Yue, what good things have you prepared for the Japanese this time?" Li Zongren curiously looked at the train carriage.

Lv Muzhi smiled: "What else could it be? Naturally, a great killer that can take the little Japanese's lives!"

Li Zongren was stunned: "Oh, what a pity that old man didn't come today!"

"It doesn't matter; he hasn't slept for a day and night. It's rare that he could even fall asleep amidst this sky-shaking artillery fire. The two of us who can't sleep will come see the great killer I prepared!"

Lv Muzhi ordered the soldiers to pull back the tarpaulin, and a strange truck appeared before their eyes.

"This... isn't this just a truck... wrong! It's a strange truck; why are there so many iron pipes on the truck? Could they be gun barrels?!"

Lv Muzhi pointed at this truck and said: "This is the latest secret weapon developed by the Rear military industry. Each vehicle is Then/Afterwards Then/Afterwards with 16 rocket shell launchers, caliber 132 millimeters. After years of research, it can finally be put to use."

Li Zongren said in surprise: "You mean this one truck is Then/Afterwards Then/Afterwards with 16 132-millimeter cannons?"

"Not cannons, but rocket artillery. Our internal secret code name for this kind of weapon is 'Sichuan-Chongqing Girl.' For such rocket artillery vehicles, we have brought a total of 24 this time."

Li Zongren opened his mouth wide, remained silent for a while, then said with a smile: "I shall wait and see."