Chapter 433: The Failed Plan of Mukoda Koya

On the Japanese Army's Eastern Front position, the Japanese artillery still smugly firing Poison Gas Shells didn't even have time to react.

Whoosh—whoosh!

The South sky carried the sound of shells slicing through the air.

"Enemy artillery! Chinese heavy artillery!"

"Take cover! Quickly—"

The Japanese soldiers' screams had just left their throats when the devastating artillery fire slammed onto their heads!

"Boom—!!!" The first howitzer round landed precisely at the center of the Japanese Poison Gas artillery position; the violent explosion instantly shattered several mountain guns, the yellow‑green gas canisters were detonated and torn apart, the toxic cloud back‑flowed, and the Japanese artillerymen fell in sheets, their cries harrowing.

Immediately after, the second, third, Denary shots… the artillery fire, as if it had eyes, covered the area with pinpoint accuracy!

The Machine Gun Position the Japanese had hidden behind civilians was ripped away; the Japanese‑built engineering fire points were bombed into ruins; the Japanese mortar positions, observation posts, and command posts were singled out one after another and destroyed with precision!

How terrifying the power of a 105mm howitzer is!

It detonates on impact, the shockwave sweeps dozens of meters, shrapnel flies, and broken stone cuts like knives.

The Japanese originally thought that hiding behind civilians made them invulnerable, that the Chinese forces wouldn't dare to fire, but they never imagined.

Jiang Anguo doesn't buy that at all! Jiang Sanpao's artillery fire is even more ruthless!

The artillery didn't fall on the densely populated Front, but precisely struck the Japanese positions fifty to one hundred meters behind the civilians!

It both avoided innocent civilians and completely shredded the Japanese fire cover, leaving Japanese corpses strewn everywhere and the Poison Gas launch positions utterly crippled!

The civilians lay on the ground, trembling with fear, yet they were amazed to discover.

Not a single Chinese shell landed near them! Every explosion, every flash, all struck precisely on the heads of those demons behind them!

Of course, there were some unlucky souls, but they weren't worth Jiang Anguo's pity!

The Japanese Machine Gun fell silent, the Japanese artillery hushed, and the Japanese Poison Gas Shells could no longer be fired!

Mukoda Koya watched this scene from the observation tower, so angry that his whole body trembled and a mouthful of old blood nearly spurted out.

"Baka! Baka!!" he roared wildly, smashing the telescope in his hand, "Jiang Anguo! You madman! How dare you… how dare you disregard the lives of civilians!"

He thought he had calculated the Expeditionary Force's bottom line, but he miscalculated Jiang Anguo.

Jiang Anguo doesn't devalue life; he values his soldiers' lives even more!

Use Myanmar civilians as a shield against me, and I'll let the artillery bypass the civilians and bomb the troops behind you!

You unleash Poison Gas on my troops, and I'll push heavy artillery forward, flattening all your Poison Gas positions!

Use artillery to break the poison scheme, thunder against the vile!

On the th Division position, Dai Anlan watched the Japanese position instantly devoured by artillery fire, saw the civilians unharmed, saw the Japanese Poison Gas site turn into a sea of fire, and his eyes erupted with ecstatic admiration.

"Good! Well hit!" "Brother Jiang Anguo, that move—beautiful!"

The soldiers wearing Gas Masks also rallied, gripping their weapons, morale soaring. The steel torrent that had been restrained instantly regained its edge!

"Dispatch! Tank Brigade, Tank Regiment, prepare to advance!" Dai Anlan barked, "Colonel Jiang's artillery has already torn through the Japanese Defensive Line; we charge now, rescue the civilians, annihilate the Japanese!"

"Yes!"

Meanwhile, on the artillery position on the southern bank of the Mekong, Jiang Sanpao still roared commands: "Adjust the range! Keep firing! Do not stop!"

"Flatten the Little Devil's position for me!"

The 105mm howitzer's roar continued unabated, shells like endless thunder repeatedly battering the Japanese Eastern Front positions. Smoke choked the air, fire leapt skyward, and the Japanese‑proud Class A Division Defensive Line crumbled layer by layer before the heavy artillery, as if made of paper.

Jiang Anguo stood on the command post's high ground, holding a telescope, gazing at the rolling thick smoke toward Mandalay, his face cold, his gaze steadfast.

He knew that in this battle he had no choice. The Japanese used civilians as human shields, Poison Gas to slaughter soldiers; if he yielded even a step, the th Division would repeat Tonggu's mistake, and the Expeditionary Force would suffer grievous casualties.

Using artillery to break the deadlock, strength against strength, not only to prevent soldier losses but also to shatter the Japanese's final shameless fantasy.

Jiang Anguo doesn't need a city full of people; that northern Myanmar city would be better off being de‑Myanmar‑ized.

"Baka!" Mukoda Koya cursed again.

Looking at the front's empty positions, the ground held only Japanese soldiers wailing on the ground and Myanmar civilians, yet the Expeditionary Force artillery on the Mekong's southern bank seemed unwilling to stop.

The bombardment continued, as if to re‑till this piece of land.

Boom—boom—boom!

The cannon fire kept going, never ceasing.

Until an hour later, the hundreds of Japanese soldiers who had driven out the Myanmar civilians saw no trace of any figure, not even a single intact piece of clothing on the battlefield.

Let alone the tens of thousands of Myanmar civilians displaced by the Japanese; no cries could be heard on the battlefield.

Only many Expeditionary Force soldiers, seeing such a scene like hell, quietly slipped aside to vomit; had they not been wearing Gas Masks, most of the th Division would have vomited.

This sight, the ground of the entire Eastern Front battlefield, was a single scene of blood‑soaked flesh.

The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and a faint meaty aroma, perhaps the meat still carried a hint of char.

"Dai, are you sure the opposite bank is the st Division, Jiang's troops?" Stilwell set down the telescope, feeling something stuck in his throat.

Watching the yellow haze in the air disperse, raindrops began to fall from the sky again.

At the th Division position, all officers removed their Gas Masks; the officers' area was some distance from the Front.

Dai Anlan heard Stilwell speak and nodded.

"Then does he know the Japanese use civilians as hostages?" Stilwell asked.

Dai Anlan replied affirmatively, "The st Division's position is at a certain distance from the Eastern Front, so Colonel Jiang Anguo likely doesn't know the situation of that front."

Stilwell let out a breath.

He found the Japanese's conduct utterly shameful; even Doolittle's bombing of Tokyo targeted key Japanese facilities, not innocent civilians.

Yet every officer of the th Division glanced at their own commander and ultimately remained silent.

Because they knew clearly that if the Japanese truly used Myanmar civilians as hostages, launching an attack would cost an enormous price.

And before the Poison Gas Shells were launched, all th Division soldiers had already been instructed to don their Gas Masks in advance.

Mukoda Koya's poison scheme, before Jiang Anguo's thunderous artillery, was completely busted. The th Division's soldiers' lives were protected, while the Japanese 18th Division's doom was already at hand.

The cannon fire from the Rice Border River still continues. This rumbling roar is both the strongest counterattack against the Japanese Army's despicable conduct and the ringing of the death knell for the annihilation of this Class A Division!