Chapter 21: A Great Victory! The Complete Annihilation of the Sato Brigade!

The main road was engulfed in billowing dust.

Major General Ichiro Sato, commander of the 29th Brigade, sat proudly atop a tall steed, brimming with smug satisfaction. Behind him, nearly six thousand Japanese soldiers marched in precise formation; their bayonets stood like a forest, and their steel helmets reflected a cold, glinting light under the winter sun. Further back, three regiments of puppet troops trailed behind in a loose, disheveled mess—looking more like a pack of stray dogs following a wolf troupe.

"Order the troops! Advance at full speed! Target: Chen Family Village!" Sato’s voice carried a tone of cruel delight. "Those Eighth Route Army bastards are incredibly cunning; we must not let them catch wind of us and escape into the mountains! I will trap them in the village and wipe them all out!"

"Hai!" the adjutant acknowledged, galloping away to relay the orders.

The entire column accelerated instantly. With a ten-to-one numerical advantage, Sato did not believe any accidents could possibly occur. This time, he intended to annihilate the entire New First Regiment. Not just the regiment, but every last villager in Chen Family Village as well.

"To dare harbor the Eighth Route Army—I must make these foolish Chinese pay the price!" Sato licked his lips. "And the flower girls, too!"

In Chang County, almost every girl of decent appearance had been ravaged by this beast. He took pleasure in murder, rape, and plunder; there was almost nothing he wouldn't do. In Chang County, he reigned like a supreme despot.

Time ticked by. Ahead lay Guai-zi Ravine.

"Pass the order: let the Imperial Collaboration Army in the back go first! Search carefully and watch for ambushes!" Having reached the rank of brigade commander, Sato was no ordinary man. With the destruction of the Yamazaki detachment fresh in his mind, he was determined not to repeat their mistakes.

The three regiments of puppet troops were driven forward, stepping into the bottom of the ravine with trembling caution, much like rats sent to clear a minefield. They cast fearful glances left and right, their rifle muzzles pointed toward the barren slopes, each step taken in sheer terror.

On the hillside, Li Yunlong lay behind a frigid rock. "Brigade Commander, that old devil Sato is quite cautious—he’s making the 'second-devils' clear the mines for him."

Over the field telephone, the Brigade Commander responded directly, "Let them pass! The main course is still behind them!"

"Understood!" Li Yunlong had the exact same intention. Though the puppet troops carried the title of 'army,' they had nothing to do with being soldiers. They were merely beasts who relied on their masters' power! Once their masters were eliminated, the rest would be of no concern.

The puppet troops passed through in a straggling line, leaving the ravine in dead silence, save for the wailing of the cold wind. The soldiers of the New First Regiment remained perfectly concealed.

Sato’s taut nerves finally relaxed, and a cruel smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Yoshi! Full speed ahead! Pass through quickly!" It seemed he had been overthinking.

The 29th Brigade began to move, stepping into Guai-zi Ravine.

"Report, Brigade Commander! The Japs are moving! Their main force has entered the ravine! They are right in the target zone!" Li Yunlong’s voice was thick with irrepressible excitement as he growled into the receiver.

"Good! Keep your eyes peeled! Report the impact points at all times!" the Brigade Commander’s order was crisp and absolute.

Immediately after, a roar that seemed to shatter the heavens erupted from the other end of the line: "Fire!"

Seconds later, Li Yunlong heard the whistling in the air.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Twenty 105mm high-explosive howitzer shells landed accurately all around Sato’s brigade.

Rumble—!!!

The earth shook and the mountains swayed! A terrifying shockwave swept through a radius of hundreds of meters in an instant. Li Yunlong remembered Lin Ran mentioning the specs of these weapons: a single howitzer shell had a lethal radius of over thirty meters. He couldn't quite calculate the total area for twenty shells!

Sato, however, was stunned!

"Baka yaro—!!!" he shrieked. His ears were ringing, and his face was slashed by flying gravel, burning with sharp pain. "Heavy artillery! It’s a heavy artillery cluster! Special Higher Police! You bunch of pigs! You idiots!!!"

Sato cursed wildly, his heart shattered. Twenty pieces of heavy artillery appearing here was a force capable of changing the course of the entire campaign! The intelligence from the Special Higher Police was a catastrophic failure! Sato vowed that if he returned alive, he would certainly lodge a formal complaint against them. But his immediate priority was to save his own skin.

"Retreat! Retreat quickly! Get out of here!" Seizing a brief gap, Ichiro Sato issued the order. Vengeance for Yamazaki and wiping out the Eighth Route Army were cast to the winds! He only wanted to escape this purgatory alive.

The 29th Brigade turned around, desperate to flee. On the hillside, Li Yunlong held his binoculars, his mouth stretched into a grin that reached his ears. "Hahaha! Well bombed! Well done! Make those little Japs howl!"

"Brigade Commander, the impact point is a bit to the left..."

Ten seconds later, another twenty shells rained down from the sky!

"Brigade Commander, this time it’s a bit to the right..."

Then, another round.

"Brigade Commander, a little further back..."

Another round.

"That's it! Right there, keep pounding them..."

No sooner had he spoken than shells fell like rain, saturating the entire 29th Brigade.

Ten minutes later...

The bottom of the ravine was a scene of utter devastation, a veritable hell on earth.

"Stop! Brigade Commander! Cease fire! Stop bombing!" Li Yunlong felt a pang of heartache. "If you keep going, all our spoils of war will be reduced to dust! Leave the rest to me!"

Through his binoculars, Li Yunlong could see that the 29th Brigade had been crippled. It was time for his men to take the stage.

"Zhang Dabiao!" Li Yunlong lowered his binoculars, a fierce glint in his eyes.

"Here!" Zhang Dabiao had been waiting, his blood boiling with anticipation.

"Pass my order: use the mortars to blast the hell out of them and send them on their final journey!"

"Yes!"

...

At this point, looking at the 29th Brigade’s position: the earth was scorched, and the ground was a mess of blood and gore. Severed limbs were scattered everywhere, and the air was thick with a nauseating stench of burning flesh and blood. Even those lucky enough to survive the blasts were left bleeding from their seven orifices, their internal organs displaced, lying on the ground in agonizing groans. They were far beyond being able to stand and fight; even holding a rifle was a struggle.

Ichiro Sato had been shielded by the bodies of several loyal guards, barely clinging to life, though blood spilled from his nose and mouth, leaving him in a wretched state. He struggled to push away the mangled corpses on top of him, and looking at the hellish scene before him, his heart bled!

The 29th Brigade... his elite force... was finished! Completely finished! He couldn't even imagine how he would answer to Commander Tada or to the Emperor!

Fortunately, the shelling had stopped. Ichiro Sato struggled to his feet, wiping the blood from his mouth. "Retreat! Retreat quickly!" His sharp intuition told him the enemy still had a final card to play. Even now, Sato did not know who his true enemy was.

However, just as the remnants of his troops were struggling to regroup and seek a way out—

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—

"Baka! It’s mortars! Take cover—!" A veteran of the battlefield knew what that sound meant.

Was it a good sound? A good sound meant good shells!

No sooner had he spoken than fifty mortar shells slammed down with a whistle. The group that had just gathered was instantly blown to pieces!

"Baka! Baka yaro!" Sato’s eyes were bloodshot with rage.

Immediately after, another fifty shells followed. And then another fifty.

...

After several rounds...

There were few left standing in the 29th Brigade. All were wounded, their spirits shattered!

Just then, Sato saw a group of Eighth Route Army soldiers rushing toward them from a distance. Sato stared in disbelief—it was the Eighth Route Army! Since when did they have such ferocious firepower?

But now was not the time to ponder such things. Sato gritted his teeth: "Everyone! Fix bayonets! Banzai—!!!"

However, as the few hundred remaining soldiers of the 29th Brigade fixed their bayonets, preparing for a final desperate charge, they were met by a long, sweeping tongue of fire from PPSh submachine guns!

"With submachine guns in hand, who still fights with bayonets?"

"Within seven paces, the gun is both fast and accurate!"

These two maxims, brought by Lin Ran, would from this day forward spread rapidly throughout the Eighth Route Army...