Songhu: Never Give Up

The artillery battalion fired six rapid rounds, firing more than 6 shells of various types at the Japanese within one minute, catching them off guard and knocking down at least 100 of them.
The Kwantung Army was indeed not to be trifled with. The sudden artillery attack did not make them panic. They all spontaneously lay on the ground and silently endured the ravages of the artillery fire.

Their companions were constantly blown to pieces, but they pretended not to see anything and waited patiently for the bombardment to end. As long as they were not dead, they would continue to attack.
This minute was undoubtedly long for them. Many of their comrades did not have the chance to get up again. Sergeant Mochizuki Takuya shrank his body into the bomb crater again.

The bombardment finally ended, and he swiftly climbed up from the ground, waved his saber, and directed the Mochizuki Squadron to continue moving towards the defenders' positions;
As an old Japanese soldier who had fought in China for several years, this was the strongest opponent he had ever encountered. Those resistance elements in Manchuria had very few machine guns, let alone cannons.

At this time, the defenders' positions were eerily quiet, as if they had all been wiped out by the previous artillery fire. However, he, who had a lot of practical experience, knew that the quieter it was, the more dangerous it was.

He constantly reminded others to be careful and be ready for battle at any time. He himself was keeping an eye on all directions and keeping an ear to all directions, taking every step forward with caution.

The Japanese skirmish line was advancing slowly, while the defenders' positions remained silent. Just when the squadron leader had lost his patience and ordered an all-out charge;

The entire position seemed to be unsealed suddenly. Gunfire rang out, and thousands of bullets rolled towards them like a rainstorm, knocking down hundreds of them in an instant.

Sergeant Mochizuki rolled sideways as a reflex at the moment the defenders opened fire, hiding his body in a bullet hole and luckily escaping the disaster.
The other Japanese soldiers were not so lucky. At least three or four of them were knocked down around him. This was just a squad, and those who survived were lucky.

"May Aunt Amaterasu bless you!"

Sergeant Mochizuki prayed silently, then shrank his body again. What he was most concerned about now was not destroying the defenders' firepower points, but saving his own life.

"Boom boom boom..."

A row of shells flew from behind him and smashed into the defenders' position, and the firing point that was previously spewing bullets was silenced;
Then there was another row of artillery shells, and the Japanese regiment artillery began to counterattack. From time to time, the defenders' firepower points were destroyed, and the defenders' casualties began to increase.

The squadron leader of the Mochizuki detachment took the opportunity to drive them to continue charging. Sergeant Mochizuki could only crawl out of the relatively safe bomb crater and lead his men to continue charging towards the defenders' positions, firing at them as they charged.
As the distance between the two sides shortened, the defending army's riflemen opened fire one after another, and their hit rate increased a lot. The Japanese soldiers were shot and fell continuously, and the number of casualties increased sharply.

While charging, Wangyue observed the deployment of the defenders. He was horrified to find that the defenders' firepower was very professionally arranged, with a proper combination of long-range, medium-range and short-range firepower. The infantrymen only showed their heads wearing helmets.

Only a small black dot can be seen from dozens of meters away, and it is very difficult to hit them. Moreover, these infantrymen are constantly changing their shooting positions, and their shooting skills are also very accurate.

When they rushed upwards, they were attacking from above, and to shoot they had to raise their heads, making it easy for them to be hit by the defenders. Even if the defenders had no artillery support, they could not gain any advantage.

"Bakayaluo, you are a bunch of cowards, you have brought shame to the Kwantung Army!

Kill the chicken for me!"

The squadron leader kept pushing them to charge, totally ignoring the defenders' powerful firepower. Sergeant Mochizuki really wanted to shoot him, but of course he could only think about it.

The squadron leader was driving behind them with a Nambu pistol in his hand. If he didn't want to be executed on the spot, he had to charge forward.

Fortunately, someone disliked their squadron leader, and the defending sniper Long Wenrui simply pulled the trigger, and the Japanese squadron leader's head exploded; Sergeant Mochizuki was so scared that he rolled into a bullet crater again, and his performance soon fell into Long Wenrui's field of vision.

Originally, Long Wenrui looked down on a Japanese sergeant, as his rank was too low, so he could only give him to his team members to practice with;
But the old Japanese soldier's superb tactical moves aroused his interest. Keeping such a cunning old Japanese soldier would definitely be a disaster, so he decided to make an exception and snipe the old Japanese soldier Mochizuki.

As time went by, he found that he had underestimated the old Japanese soldier in front of him. He was becoming more and more slippery like a loach. More than ten minutes had passed, and he still hadn't found a chance to fire his gun. It was obvious that the old Japanese soldier was also on guard against him.

A playful smile appeared on Long Wenrui's lips. He had never lost to anyone in terms of patience, so he started to fight with the old devil.

The Japanese attack had lasted for more than an hour, with no progress and instead heavy casualties. Lieutenant Colonel Kamijima was finally taught a good lesson by the defenders and realized that there was no point in fighting any further, so he gave the order to retreat.

It must be said that Lieutenant Colonel Kamijima is also a commander who can take things as they come. He will not waste soldiers unnecessarily just to save face. It was just a probing attack.

The Japanese's attack was very methodical, and so was their retreat. They took turns to cover each other and even carried the wounded away.

Sergeant Mochizuki was guarding against the sharpshooter of the defenders, so he deliberately lagged behind a step to let others retreat first and attract fire. He didn't believe that a sharpshooter would keep staring at a small sergeant like him. Wouldn't the big-headed captain be more attractive than him?
The old Japanese soldiers who could survive on the battlefield all had their own way of saving their lives, and Sergeant Mochizuki was no exception. He waited until the squad leader was exposed before he jumped out of the bomb crater. This little trick had saved his life many times.

When he rushed out, his eyes were filled with fear and his back was wet with sweat. He felt so wronged in his heart that he wanted to curse - he was just a sergeant!
When the gunshot rang out, he only had time to shake his body, but the bullet hit his chest. Long Wenrui was guarding against him and did not hit his head.

The shaking of the body was not enough to dodge his bullets. Although he failed to kill the old devil on the spot, it was enough to keep him at bay.

Sergeant Mochizuki stretched out his hand very unwillingly, hoping that someone could take him away. Based on his own experience, he knew that he could still survive if rescued in time.

A Japanese soldier saw his struggle and rushed towards him as usual to rescue him, but gunshots rang out again and the Japanese soldier fell down, his body pressing heavily on Sergeant Mochizuki's mouth, with smelly blood flowing all over his face.

Gradually, he began to have difficulty breathing and began to hallucinate. He saw cherry blossom trees, the small fishing raft in his hometown, and his wife and daughter waving at him.

Then the scene changed, and a Japanese soldier with a moustache pounced on his wife...

He was struggling hard, and at that moment he regretted it. Why didn't he come to China when he had such good times?
He was about to die, and his young and beautiful wife would belong to someone else, and even his lovely daughter would not be able to escape;

"Ya-meow-die!"

Sergeant Mochizuki breathed his last breath very unwillingly, his two triangular eyes staring at the sky, never able to return to his hometown.

The first attack of the Shangdao League ended in a whimper. This was also their first battle with the Chinese since entering the pass. They gained nothing except a pile of corpses. (End of this chapter)