Chapter 358: A Solo Duel? I Can't!

"Quick! Quick! Quick! Pursue—the Little Devil is right ahead."

"Make achievements, now!"

Jiang Anguo had never realized his speed could be that fast.

In the mountains, he kept running faster and faster.

Earlier they only knew a rough position, so they chased toward the northeast, toward Dangyang.

Finally they saw a crowd of heads stirring in the forest ahead.

That was certainly not their own, and Jiang Anguo immediately gave the order to open fire.

"Machine Gunner, provide fire cover."

Clack clack clack!

7.92mm bullets ripped the air, striking the pine trunk where the Japanese Army was concealed, wood chips scattering. Three Little Devils just stuck their heads out and were knocked down.

"Hu Lian!" Jiang Anguo shouted back, sweat mixed with gunpowder sliding down his cheek, "Lead your men to flank from the Left, cut off their retreat to Dangyang!"

Hu Lian stood at the foot of the slope, his face a steel blue.

He, a distinguished commander of the 11th Division, Huangpu Fourth Phase, with glorious battle merits, was at this moment assigned a task in an order tone by a colonel Regiment Commander of the Independent Regiment, his inner fury roiling.

Even with this familial tie, it was unacceptable.

"I'm a division commander, being commanded by a Regiment Commander?" he sneered, his voice low yet each word like a knife, "Look at your command: if the Little Devils break out from the Right, Uchiyama will flee! We've chased so hard, is it just to watch an empty show?"

Jiang Anguo spun around violently, bloodshot eyes, yet gave no quarter: "Stop the chatter! Of course I know the Right is open."

He grabbed the Telegram from Xiao Si's pack, thrust it into Hu Lian's hand: "Before the pursuit I received an urgent Telegram from Xiaoting: Xu Guozhang leads the main force of the 150th Division's 449th Regiment, already flanking from the southeast! At this moment, he should be on our Right! You just encircle the Left, and leave someone to guard the Right!"

Hu Lian was stunned, quickly scanned the Telegram, and was instantly speechless.

He inhaled deeply, gritted his teeth and said, "Alright!"

Without another word, he turned and waved: "First Battalion of the 34th Regiment! Follow me to the Left! Quickly!"

Three hundred elite troops surged down like ferocious tigers.

Jiang Anguo's Guard Company, the strongest in combat power, advanced step by step from the center, breaking straight through.

"Steady advance! Teams of three! Alternate cover!" he ordered while pulling out his Mauser Kar98k sniper rifle from behind.

He crouched on the high ground, holding his breath and focusing.

Three hundred twenty meters away, a Japanese Army sergeant was directing a machine gun squad to relocate.

"Bang!"

The gunfire was crisp, bullets tearing through the air.

The sergeant's forehead erupted in a spray of blood, and he fell backward.

"Baka yarou! It's the Chinese army! Counterattack!" Xiao Lin Xinnan roared, quickly assessing the situation.

The Right showed Chinese army movement, the center fire was also fierce, the Left... still unrevealed, but we cannot gamble!

Xiao Lin Xinnan didn't understand why the Chinese army would expose its own Left.

From the Japanese Army's perspective, it was his Left.

He immediately ordered: "First Squad, Right flank interception! Second Squad, hold the front to the death! Third Squad, escort the division commander, withdraw via the Left mountain path! Quickly!"

Then he turned to Uchiyama Eitaro, bowed deeply: "Division commander, please go ahead! Here, I will cover the rear."

Uchiyama's face turned ashen, looking at the chief of staff who had followed him for five years, tears glimmering in his eyes: "Mr. Xiao Lin... take care."

"Hey!" Xiao Lin said no more, turned and drew his sword, bellowing: "Imperial warrior, shattered here!"

The remaining Japanese soldiers shouted in unison, launching a final charge, attempting to trade lives for lives to buy Uchiyama time.

On one side of the position, a freshly set up MG42 General Machine Gun roared angrily.

The dense hail of bullets, like a silver reaper, swept over the Japanese at the forefront, lives falling like cut grass.

However, at that moment.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The Right mountain ridge suddenly erupted with fierce artillery fire!

Mortar shells fell like rain, blowing the Japanese Right squad into chaos.

Immediately after, a coarse roar unique to the Sichuan Army thundered through the valley:

"Turtle son! Still trying to run?!"

"Xu Guozhang is here! Which Little Devil dares to move?!"

"Kill!"

"Charge!"

Xu Guozhang led the vanguard of the 150th Division, descending like a divine army from the southeast dense forest.

They crossed mountains and ridges, forcibly sealing the Japanese's last retreat before they could.

The 150th Division now also swapped rifles for cannons, uniformly equipped with German gear: Mauser 98k rifles, a few MG42 General Machine Guns. On the machine guns, the main ones were still Czech light machine guns.

"It's Old Xu!" Jiang Anguo's mouth finally lifted, "Old Xu, you arrived just in time!"

Jiang Anguo had still feared Xu Guozhang would miss this final feast, but he arrived in time.

The three sides encircled, forming an iron bucket.

Xiao Lin Xinnan looked around; Huaxia flags rose on three sides, gunfire roared like thunder, artillery rained down. He knew the 13th Division's final spark would be extinguished here today.

He felt no fear, only calm.

"Emperor... I have given my loyalty."

He raised his sword and charged toward the nearest Huaxia position.

Bullets instantly turned him into a sieve, his corpse rolling down the mountain stream, yet his grip on the hilt remained.

Uchiyama Eitaro, having just escaped a hundred meters with the help of two guards, was hit in the leg by Xu Guozhang's bullet and fell to the ground.

Ushiyama Eitaro's Right leg was hit, blood soaked through the pant leg, yet he gritted his teeth and stood up.

He pushed aside the supporting guard, drew a military sword from the corpse's waist, flicked the scabbard, and a cold light flashed as it left the sheath. The blade was slender, the edge slightly curved, a special make from the Tokyo Artillery Factory of Meiji 32.

He had previously campaigned with him in Nanjing, Wuhan, and Yichang.

"China officer!" he shouted in halting English, "Dare you face me for a life‑or‑death duel?"

Hu Lian glanced at Jiang Anguo, and Xu Guozhang also looked toward his younger brother.

Jiang Anguo stepped back, speaking softly, "Brothers, what are you doing!"

He looked somewhat frightened.

Hu Lian laughed, "What's the matter, the biggest credit now is Front, why don't you take it?"

Xu Guozhang also said, intending to give the chance to Jiang Anguo, "Little brother, how about I lend you my big sword, to take the Little Devil's head. That would be a big fish!"

Jiang Anguo stepped back again, his voice even lower, then said, "Brothers, what are you thinking! I only know how to use a gun, not a sword!"

Jiang Anguo never considered a blade‑to‑blade fight with the enemy; he can't!

If he were to charge forward with a knife, it might become the credit of the old Japanese Ushiyama.

Across, Ushiyama Eitaro saw this and thought the China officer looked down on him, "Baka, China person, no courage!"

The more this happened, the more terrified Ushiyama became.

In Ushiyama's view, the opposing officer was debating who should go first.

Jiang Anguo saw that the old Japanese was going mad, "Brother Xu, stop being modest, you go ahead. I see you still have a big sword on your back."

Strangely enough, whether it was the 11th Division or the 150th Division, many soldiers carried a big sword with its hilt wrapped in red cloth on their backs.

"Chief Hu, then I'll take the honor," Xu Guozhang said loudly.

Hu Lian merely nodded, though it was a pity he could not act himself.