Chapter 380

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

The Youth Army's tanks rumbled over the road, chasing the backs of the Japanese soldiers running at the rear.

The Japanese soldiers being chased were from the Independent Mixed 13th Brigade, the blocking force left behind at Lanfeng.

How could they know that their brigade commander, Major General Yoshizawa Tadanao, clutching a piece of wood, had drifted alone to the north bank of the Yellow River, leaving his troops to be slaughtered?

A Sanhao Tank directly dragged one Japanese soldier under its chassis, crushing him into mincemeat.

Machine guns strafed without cease, and Japanese deserters were hit from behind and fell to the ground.

The Japanese felt utterly powerless! So powerless! Crushing them was like crushing an ant.

Some Japanese recruits, seeing they could not escape, simply threw down their guns, knelt on the ground, and surrendered with hands raised.

Although the veterans had previously taught the Japanese recruits that they must either die in battle or commit seppuku.

But the troops had been scattered, and the instinct for survival overwhelmed everything.

At first, one Japanese soldier threw down his weapon, knelt on the ground, and surrendered with hands raised.

Then other Japanese soldiers followed suit, throwing down their weapons and kneeling to surrender one after another.

Seeing this situation, Sun Liren, commanding the tank pursuit force, was very clear.

On this Longhai Railway line, there were at least thirty thousand routed Japanese troops!

His tanks had fought their way all along, and the shells and bullets were probably exhausted, yet they still could not chase them to the bottom.

Sun Liren personally drove the command tank and ordered via the vehicle radio: "Do not fire! Conserve ammunition!

These are only the Japanese rearguard; there are more Japanese troops ahead that need pursuing!

The tank force must rush ahead of the Japanese!

These kneeling Japanese are left for the infantry behind to finish off, conserve ammunition, and continue advancing!"

The tank groups rolled past, although they did not use machine guns to strafe the surrendering Japanese.

But the tracks accidentally crushed several kneeling surrendering Japanese soldiers, which was also unavoidable.

Sun Liren was quite dissatisfied with this behavior; more precisely, he was dissatisfied with the little Japanese devils.

These Japanese prisoners kneeling in the middle of the road seriously obstructed the march, and the piled-up corpses made the road uneven, slowing the pursuit speed.

His command tank was equipped with a loudspeaker horn, so Sun Liren used the horn to shout, speaking fluent Japanese:

"All of you, get out of my way! I have no time to take you prisoner! Put down your weapons, don't block the road!"

"Those who block the road, crush them to death directly!!!"

The Japanese devils, upon hearing these words, all made way for the road, kneeling on both sides of the road.

"Those who surrender, immediately clear the road! Move your comrades' corpses off the road!"

"If you want to live, do it immediately! Right now!" Sun Liren shouted another round of commands into the vehicle's loudspeaker.

The Japanese prisoners kneeling by the roadside looked at each other, seeming somewhat unwilling.

Rat-tat-tat!

A string of bullets shot toward the Japanese devils, killing over a dozen people at once.

"Japanese prisoners, I repeat once more, clear the road, immediately!"

"Those who disobey will be executed by firing squad immediately!"

The Japanese devils, as if whipped, hurriedly climbed up, using hands and feet to rush toward the center of the road.

They began to laboriously drag and move those incomplete Japanese corpses, clearing the road for the Youth Army's tanks.

Sun Liren's tank force showed not a shred of pity, engines roaring, speeding past these Japanese surrendering soldiers who bowed their heads clearing the road and dared not even look up.

The tank force kicked up dust all over the sky, continuing to chase after the clamor of the routed troops to the east, during which they also accidentally crushed several unlucky Japanese surrendering soldiers......

Not long after, a greater rumbling sound came from behind this group of surrendering Japanese.

The infantry pursuit force led by Zhou Weiguo also arrived.

They rode in all kinds of vehicles.

Trucks, jeeps, motorcycles, and even quite a few soldiers riding bicycles formed this second wave of rapid pursuit.

When they saw the endless, neatly kneeling Japanese prisoners along both sides of the road, many were stunned.

"My goodness... how many are there?" A machine gunner with his machine gun mounted on the roof of a truck cab clicked his tongue.

Zhou Weiguo stood on an armored command vehicle, holding binoculars to observe carefully.

A rough estimate: just those kneeling on this stretch of road ahead numbered no fewer than eight hundred.

Although the Japanese had no discipline at all when fleeing, once they surrendered, they were actually quite disciplined!

No commotion, no resistance, just kneeling silently, awaiting the disposition of their fate.

"Leave one company to handle the prisoners! The rest of the troops, do not linger, continue the pursuit!"

Zhou Weiguo decisively ordered.

What was most important right now was not these prisoners who had lost their will to fight, but expanding the battle results and preserving as much Japanese manpower as possible.

Who knew, Sun Liren ahead might already have held even more Japanese prisoners for Zhou Weiguo!

An elite infantry company drove their vehicles, quickly separating from the convoy.

The company's trucks simply semi-encircled the Japanese prisoners, the soldiers jumped down from the vehicles, and advanced with guns at the ready, vigilant.

They loudly ordered the prisoners to maintain their positions and sent out personnel to collect weapons.

Zhou Weiguo didn't even glance again; the command vehicle's engine roared, leading the main convoy, kicking up a trail of dust, following the tank tracks eastward in pursuit.

After Zhou Weiguo's motorcade departed and the dust settled somewhat, the Company Commander left behind looked at the dark mass of dejected Japanese troops before him and scratched his head.

How to handle them? By regulation, they should be disarmed and concentrated under guard, awaiting pickup by follow-up troops.

But the Youth Army generally wouldn't do something like this.

Besides, there were so many of them—his Company had only a little over a hundred men, guarding them would be no small pressure, and they still had to watch out for the prisoners lashing out in desperation.

"Company Commander, what do we do? Tie them all up?" a Squad Leader came over and asked.

Before the Company Commander could answer, from among the prisoners, a Japanese soldier who looked like an officer suddenly came trotting over.

His face wore an almost fawning smile as he bowed repeatedly to the Youth Army soldiers nearest him.

The devil pulled out a half-pack of crumpled cigarettes from his filthy pocket and carefully handed them over.

In his mouth he mumbled stiff Chinese: "Hard work... hard work... please smoke..."

"You Youth Army, are this!" Finished speaking, the devil also gave a thumbs-up gesture.

That obsequious, spineless appearance contrasted hugely with the savage devil image seen a year ago, leaving the soldiers momentarily stunned.

Watching this scene, the Company Commander's brow knit tight, and a nameless fury surged up.

"Ptooey!" The Company Commander spat viciously, his face full of contempt and anger.

"Damn it, I hate this kind of spineless softie most! When fighting they're fierce as mad dogs, but once defeated they wag their tails and beg for mercy!

What's there to say to little devils?! Execute them all!"

This Company Commander suddenly drew his pistol and shot the Japanese officer offering cigarettes right between the eyebrows.

The Japanese officer fell to the ground, still holding a cigarette between his fingers.

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat~~!!!

On both sides of the Japanese prisoner crowd, trucks of this Youth Army Infantry Company were already parked; the machine guns mounted on the trucks, hearing the Company Commander's order, opened fire without hesitation.

The Youth Army soldiers facing the Japanese also pulled their triggers, shooting the Japanese kneeling on the ground.

The Japanese prisoners kneeling on the ground fell back like a tide, finally leaving behind a mountain of corpses and sea of blood.

A Youth Army soldier who had just enlisted not long ago held up his submachine gun, the muzzle still smoking, and asked cautiously: "Company Commander, is what we're doing really okay?"

The Squad Leader yanked his ear: "The Company Commander did nothing wrong, but as for you, I'm going to give you a good lesson—you fired your gun too, so what are you saying?!"

The Company Commander raised a hand to signal not to get rough: "Our Company has some new recruits who don't know how vicious the Japanese Army was in the past.

Little devils kneeling to beg for mercy isn't because they know they were wrong, but because they know they're about to die!

Continue the pursuit, catch up with the main force—there are still more devils waiting for us to go kill!"