Chapter 347: Great Sword Cuts Down the 65th Regiment

On the city wall, the last few Japanese soldiers, seeing the tide had turned, ignited the fuse, intending to detonate the explosives depot hidden beneath the arrow tower.

On the southern city wall, Bu La had already seen the movement on the western side through the Sniper Scope, and had been watching the western situation continuously, appearing to be reinforcements.

He constantly watched the Little Devil's movements.

He was unsure what the Japanese Army intended, but he didn't want to know.

"Bang!" a crisp gunshot rang, the sniper scored a headshot, the fuse rolled down, and a soldier of the 11th Division that followed up kicked it into the river.

The crisis was averted.

Hu Lian looked up.

Hu Lian wasn't sure if his side had fired, but the trajectory seemed to come from the south, so it must have been friendly forces assisting them.

Hu Lian stood at the foot of the Drum Tower steps, looked up, and saw this ancient building that once bore the Rising Sun flag now standing silently amid the smoke. He knew that once they took this place, the southern half of Yichang would be in their grasp.

"33 448th Regiment!" he inhaled deeply, his voice like iron, "Final strike! Give me, seize the Drum Tower!"

"Yes!"

A thousand soldiers surged up the steps like a tide.

In the Drum Tower square, moonlight was obscured by smoke, leaving only firelight reflecting off the broken walls.

Hu Lian stood atop the ruins, his gaze sweeping the battlefield like a hawk. Although firepower suppression had shattered most of the Japanese Army's resistance, the remaining enemies fell back into the deep alleys, using old houses, ancestral halls, and shops to make a stubborn stand.

Worse, the Japanese 65th Regiment, the remnant of the fierce Type A regiment, under the command of its regimental commander Sakuma, gathered over eight hundred men, forming a line in the narrow alley on the west side of the Drum Tower, intending to launch a "Jade Shatter" counterattack.

"They're going to bayonet fight," Deputy Division Commander Luo Xianda whispered, his voice tense.

Hu Lian sneered, "Fine, then we'll play with what our ancestors passed down, to see who truly masters the blade!"

He spun around abruptly, shouting, "Transmit my order, Great Sword Unit, line up!"

Before the words finished, a thousand elite warriors stepped out from each company.

Each wore a steel helmet, a slant‑mounted open‑edge Great Sword of three feet on their backs, its blade gleaming coldly, the hilt wrapped in red cloth, forged by a river‑side blacksmith over many days; at the waist hung a twenty‑shot cartridge‑rifle on each side, its sheath polished; on the shoulders they also carried the latest MP40 Submachine Gun, three full Magazines securely fastened in a chest pouch.

The cartridge‑rifle had short range but fierce firepower, capable of sweeping away a swath before contact.

The MP40 was used for alley‑mouth suppression and fire support.

The Great Sword served as a death proclamation within the final ten meters, chopping, hacking, slashing, and sweeping, specifically to counter Japanese bayonet tactics.

"Remember!" Hu Lian leapt down from the high platform, personally standing at the front of the line, "The Little Devil's bayonet is long, but they turn slowly; our swords are short, but we grip with both hands, power rising from the ground! Charge in, give them no chance to form a line!"

"Kill!" the thousand shouted in unison, their voices shaking the roofs.

Meanwhile, the Japanese 65th Regiment had formed three rows of bayonet formation at the alley mouth.

"Yo‑xi." The 65th Regiment originally thought the Chinese army wouldn't dare a bayonet fight.

But they didn't expect the opposite side to be prepared, using Great Swords.

Sakuma drew his military sword and roared, "Long live the Emperor! Charge!"

Two streams of steel collided head‑on in the "Shuangzhong Alley" on the west side of the Drum Tower!

The first wave of clash was gunfire.

Hu Lian's Great Sword Unit hadn't reached ten meters, yet the cartridge‑rifles in both hands opened fire simultaneously. "Bang bang bang bang!" twenty shots fired in rapid succession like exploding beans, the bullets spraying toward the Japanese front line like water. The Little Devil's bayonet line was instantly disrupted, several men clutching their chests fell to the ground.

"MP40! Hold the flanks!" Hu Lian shouted.

The MP40s fired in unison, bullets striking the blue‑brick wall, sparks scattering, forcing the Japanese to be unable to flank.

"Baka, the Chinese army lacks martial virtue," the 65th Regiment commander Sakuma shouted abusively.

Watching the Imperial Japanese soldiers beside him fall like chives.

Hu Lian recalled Jiang Anguo's parting admonition: if engaging in bayonet combat, first empty the Magazine in hand.

Hu Lian did exactly that.

The second wave of clash was blade light.

"Draw sword—!"

A thousand Great Swords were unsheathed simultaneously, their cold light pouring down like an avalanche of snow.

The warriors discarded their guns and seized their swords, like tigers leaping into a flock of sheep. An old veteran ducked under a bayonet thrust, then slashed upward with his other hand, cleaving the Little Devil's chest; another young soldier vaulted the stone steps, cutting mid‑air, chopping a sergeant's shoulder and arm in two; three more formed a "pin" formation, two swords sealing, one thrust forward, targeting the Japanese waist and soft ribs.

Japanese bayonet technique prized a "one‑hit kill," but against this reckless close‑quarters melee, their advantage vanished. Their Type 38 rifle was too long to turn in the narrow alley; whereas the Huaxia army's Great Sword was short, fast, and ruthless, targeting wrists, throats, and knee pits—not a matter of who was braver, but who understood killing better.

Sakuma's eyes bulged as he brandished his sword and charged into the formation. Gripping the regimental commander's katana, he swung down, cleaving a warrior's sword and shoulder in one blow!

"Hu Lian! Dare you face me in battle?!" he roared in halting Chinese.

The Japanese 13th Division was stationed in Yichang, so they knew exactly who the enemy was, and the intelligence department sent photos of officers from the Chinese army's 11th Division to each regimental commander.

Thus it was no surprise that Sakuma knew Hu Lian.

Hu Lian was grappling with two Little Devils, and upon hearing that, sneered, tossed his last Hand Grenade to drive the enemy back, then drew the Great Sword from behind: "I've been waiting for those words!"

Hu Lian also realized this was the Japanese commander.

The two faced each other amid the pile of corpses.

Moonlight broke through the clouds, revealing a blade tip dripping blood.

The next second, blades flashed together!

Sakuma's sword technique was fierce, each move lethal; Hu Lian countered with battlefield survival tactics, not blocking but dodging, seeking openings to strike back. In the third round, he deliberately feigned a flaw, waiting for Sakuma to charge, then suddenly crouched, using his left cartridge‑rifle to press against the opponent's abdomen.

"Bang!"

Sakuma shuddered, looked down, and a fountain of blood spurted.

He staggered backward, the katana falling to the ground, his eyes full of resentment.

"Baka! What you're doing isn't a soldier's work! No martial virtue!" Sakuma said, his heart unwilling.

Hu Lian stepped forward, the blade tip lifting the opponent's chin: "Yichang belongs to China."

A flash of blade, Sakuma's head rolled away.

With their commander dead, the Japanese morale collapsed.

Hu Lian raised the severed head of the Japanese Army regimental Captain, shouting loudly, "Japanese Army Commander is dead, soldiers, kill the enemy with me!"

"Kill!" The officers and soldiers of the 33rd 448th Regiment, seeing the commander so heroic, had their morale surge even more.

The cries of "Kill!" rose wave after wave!

The remaining Japanese Army troops either knelt to surrender or detonated Explosives to kill themselves, and had no strength left to resist.

In the Drum Tower Square, corpses lay everywhere, and blood flowed like a river.

Yet the flag of the Huaxia army was already firmly planted at the highest point.

Hu Lian stood braced on his sword, breathing like a bull.

Hu Lian looked around; the thousand‑strong greatsword unit had casualties near half, yet no one stepped back a single step.

"Clear the battlefield," he croaked, "the living, escort them away; the dead… have them dragged away and burned directly, their corpses should not defile Huaxia's soil."

At that moment, at the street Corner to the southeast, a squad in gray‑blue uniforms sprinted forward, its leader bearing the blue‑sky white‑sun flag— it was the Vanguard Unit of the Independent Regiment led by Yao Quanyi!

The two armies were no more than a hundred meters apart, each seeing the other's faces clearly.

After confirming they were comrades, Hu Lian nodded toward Yao Quanyi.

Both raised their weapons simultaneously, pointing at the top of the Drum Tower.

"Charge together!"

"Kill the devils!"