Chinese martial arts! Grandmaster

The main camp of Ximentang, the defensive fortification positions.

After a day and a night of fierce fighting, all the soldiers were exhausted and weary.

Many soldiers didn't even have time to eat their rations. They would just drink a couple of sips of water and lie down nearby, taking a nap while the enemy retreated.

of course,

No one can truly fall asleep.

It was nearly dusk, and reinforcements had not yet arrived.

However, everyone was full of confidence for the battle to come.

Ximentang had already prepared a very sufficient supply of weapons and ammunition.

No matter how fierce the Kwantung Army's offensive was, Xu Xiaodao was confident that he could withstand it.

To be honest, facing the fierce attack of 300,000 Kwantung Army soldiers, Ximen Tang held out for so long, enduring a day and a night of brutal fighting.

Such intense battles are a baptism of blood for any soldier.

After this battle ends, anyone who survives will have a chance to advance.

"After everyone finishes drinking the water, take a quick rest and don't fall asleep. Our reinforcements are arriving soon. The Kwantung Army might resort to desperate measures and launch a final attack!"

Battalion Commander Zhang Hao gave the order.

Thump thump thump—thump thump thump—!
The sound of war drums and even cannon fire could be faintly heard from afar.

He had a premonition that the Kwantung Army would launch a final assault before reinforcements arrived.

A soldier asked, "Battalion Commander, where did the reinforcements come from? Xianning Prefecture, Shandong, or Nanjing?"

Zhang Hao shook his head and said, "I don't know! It's a secret, but the higher-ups have already given instructions that once reinforcements arrive, the Japanese will be doomed."

"Everyone fought very hard in today's battle, and the results were brilliant!"

"Everyone can see how many Japanese devils we killed. The pervasive smell of blood is a testament to their atonement."

"If we hold out for just two more hours, once reinforcements arrive, it will be a great victory."

"Everyone can be promoted and ennobled. The military merits we earn are enough to advance us one rank. Those who perform exceptionally well can even be promoted two ranks! Haha!"

Upon hearing that they could earn a large amount of military merit, all the soldiers in Ximen Hall were instantly energized, their drowsiness vanishing.

Zhang Hao was right. The entire perimeter of the position was covered with countless corpses, densely packed together.

After the war ended, this was definitely a great victory for Simon.

After a day and night of bloody fighting, the area surrounding the Ximentang military camp fell into a brief period of calm.

Both the Kwantung Army and Simondang needed time to rest and prepare for this final, head-on confrontation.

There was no extra time to rest.

Inside the Ximentang camp, many soldiers were cleaning up the bodies of their fallen comrades who had been killed in the explosion.

The bodies were carried away and cremated on the spot.

It was impossible to tell whose ashes they were. A handful of ashes were taken from the makeshift crematorium and put into a small box.

The box is engraved with the name of each fallen comrade.

This is how Ximentang handles the soldiers' corpses; they cannot allow the soldiers' bodies to be left to languish outside.

At the same time, there wouldn't be enough manpower to carry the bodies, so they had to be cremated on the spot.

As for the enemy's corpses, naturally no one would bother to dispose of them.

After the battle, Ximentang will arrange for the local people to dig a large pit and bury all the untreated enemy soldiers' corpses to prevent the spread of the epidemic.

The Kwantung Army also dispatched a team to collect the bodies of the dead soldiers.

At this moment, both sides tacitly agreed not to fire on the team collecting the corpses.

In general,

If the corpses on the battlefield are left to rot in the wilderness, it will have a psychological impact on all the soldiers.

If no one claims the body after death, who would be willing to continue risking their life?

Therefore,
Both the Ximentang Army and the Kwantung Army treated the corpses of their own soldiers properly.

Even if they die in battle, their military achievements will be etched in their names.

"Baka—something feels off to me?"

Standing in the main tent of the Kwantung Army, Oyama Iwao looked up at the military map, took a deep breath, and said:
"Ximentang has 180,000 troops stationed in Xianning Prefecture, yet he only allowed Xu Xiaodao to lead 60,000 men to attack Yangxin County."

"If they want to open up the passage to Jiujiang Prefecture, are they really just going to leave their remaining 100,000 troops idle?"

What is the situation around Xianning Prefecture?

Standing to the side, Yuuto Oshima thought for a moment and said:

"There's no news yet, which could be because Ximentang is deliberately drawing our main force away. Their target might not be Jiujiang Prefecture, but Wuchang Prefecture!"

"General, we should intensify our attack and notify the northeast to attack Shanhaiguan, the stronghold of the Great Qian Dynasty!"

"Isn't Ximentang supposed to be providing support? We can use a feint attack, launching simultaneous attacks from the northeast and Shandong directions, and see which place they support."

Da Shan Yan shook his head and said:

"No! We can only launch another general offensive if we annihilate Xu Xiaodao's army."

"With the strength of the new army of the Ministry of War of the Great Qian Dynasty stationed at Shanhaiguan, we will not gain any advantage if we launch a strong attack."

finished,

After a moment of silence, Da Shan Yan said:

"Oshima-kun, I've been assigned to the Hanzhong region this time, which, to put it simply, means I've been demoted!"

"The Emperor was very dissatisfied with the previous performance of the Kwantung Army!"

"If we enter the heart of Daqian and the 300,000 Kwantung Army still can't make a breakthrough, then our Kwantung Army is completely finished, do you understand?"

Upon hearing this, Oshima Yuuji lowered his head and remained silent.

Daiyama Iwa continued:
"The Emperor has long harbored ambitions to create a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, but the sleeping dragon of the Great Qian Dynasty has unexpectedly awakened so quickly."

"This time when I came to the Hanzhong region, I, together with Prince Ning Li Mu, Prince Shu Li Chuang, and other vassal kings in the surrounding area, gathered a lot of soldiers."

"Although many of our Kwantung Army's elite troops have died, even more of the Daqian people have died. I believe the Emperor will be very pleased to know this."

Oshima Yuutake looked up and said in a low voice, "But, General, these people have all pledged allegiance to our Eastern Empire. They have all formed an alliance and are cooperating with us."

Da Shan Yan sneered, a hint of mockery in his eyes, and said disdainfully:
"You're so foolish! There's a saying in the Great Qian Dynasty: 'Those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts!'"

"Their cooperation with our Eastern Empire is nothing more than wanting our weapons and equipment, and our economic support."

“The regional princes of the Great Qian Dynasty had long since fallen apart, each harboring their own ulterior motives.”

"They're a disorganized bunch; they'll amount to nothing!"

"Originally, after our Kwantung Army took over the Northeast, we thought we could quickly sweep across the entire Daqian Dynasty, but unexpectedly, Ximen Tang suddenly appeared."

"The best way now is to let them fight each other and deplete their strength."

"But now these feudal lords have become smarter. If our main force of the Kwantung Army doesn't go, they won't either!"

"I never imagined that this battle would result in the deaths of so many of our Kwantung Army's elite soldiers. They truly deserve to die!"

The ensuing battle became exceptionally fierce.

Although the Kwantung Army launched its fiercest attack and fought with all its might.

They even launched attacks from three directions, bombarding the enemy with heavy artillery without restraint.

unfortunately,

Under Ximentang's tenacious resistance, the Kwantung Army was almost unable to penetrate within one kilometer of Ximentang's position.

As the shelling continued, the bodies piled up like mountains on the outskirts.

The lower-ranking commanders of the Kwantung Army gritted their teeth as they looked at the countless casualties among the Kwantung Army's elite troops.

"General, the casualties are too high. Let's withdraw the troops!"

A colonel in the Kwantung Army, clutching his injured arm, looked at Oyama Iwa with a pleading expression and said, "The artillery of the Ximentang is too powerful. We simply cannot break through. Our heavy artillery is being used up too much, and we don't have many left!" The other commanders of the Kwantung Army all showed expressions of fear on their faces.

Everyone pleaded with Dashanyan to withdraw his troops.

Da Shan Yan remained silent, instead squinting as he stared at the military map.

He was calculating in his mind how much weaponry and ammunition Xu Xiaodao had left.

Since the attack began yesterday, a full day and night have passed. How come Ximentang has so many weapons and ammunition?
The incendiary bombs that the Kwantung Army feared most have not appeared since noon today.

This indicates that Ximentang has run out of incendiary bombs, and perhaps his artillery shells are also nearly exhausted.

Should we continue the attack for another half hour?

Just as Daisan was about to give the order to launch a final, half-hour-long assault.

Unexpectedly, a servant quickly entered the military camp tent.

Seeing the attendant's slightly panicked expression, Oyama Iwao slowly lowered his raised hand to give the order.

He knew that the captain of the entourage, Kobayashi Inosuke, was an extremely strong person, and something must have happened to distract him.

The captain of the entourage did indeed encounter some trouble.

To be precise, he spotted a group of people approaching from the north.

At first, he thought they were reinforcements from the Kwantung Army who had come from Ezhou City.

Because Dashanyan had already ordered Huangshi Prefecture and Ezhou Prefecture to mobilize troops simultaneously to cut off the passage between Jiujiang Prefecture and Yangxin County and block the reinforcements from Ximentang Jinling.

but,

As he got closer, he realized it was Ximen Tang's army.

The enemy's marching method was very strange; nearly a hundred huge iron chariots were coming from afar in a grand procession.

Behind the iron lump followed tens of thousands of fully armed Ximentang elite troops.

When Kobayashi Inosuke, the captain of Oyama Iwao's entourage, saw this scene through his binoculars, he was terrified by the hundreds of iron lumps and hundreds of transport vehicles.

A steel torrent!

The soldiers of the Kwantung Army were simply no match for this torrent of steel.

If you encounter these metal lumps, you're doomed if you don't run away.

Even the 'bunkers' built by the Kwantung Army in the north were like paper in the face of these 'steel torrents'.

then,

Kobayashi Inosuke quickly returned to camp and reported the situation to Oyama Iwao.

"General! Reinforcements from Jinling have arrived!"

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the others around immediately changed.

Upon hearing this, Oyama Iwa frowned and said, "We've arrived so quickly? How is that possible!"

Kobayashi Inosuke nodded and said:

"It's the Ximentang reinforcements from Jinling. I saw their military flag, which has a huge 'Qian' character on it!"

"Moreover, it was a golden battle flag, personally commanded by Prince Qian, Chen Jie."

Since Ximentang moved into the capital, their battle flags have removed the word "Ximen" and replaced it with "Qian"!
The new army of the Ministry of War of the Great Qian Dynasty also used the character 'Qian' as its battle flag, only with a slight difference in color.

In general,

The battle flag of Ximentang's army was a red 'Qian' character battle flag.

The appearance of a golden battle flag signifies the highest-ranking commander of the Ximen Hall.

"A golden battle flag!? I've searched high and low without finding it, and now it's right here without any effort! I never expected that Prince Qian, Chen Jie, would actually personally take action!"

Upon hearing this, Da Shan Yan let out a cold laugh.

How strong could the Ximentang reinforcements, with only 50,000 troops, be in combat?
He has already transferred another 150,000 troops from Ezhou Prefecture and Huangshi Prefecture to Yangxin County.

Even if Ximentang's reinforcements arrive, what can they do?

With 450,000 troops, he refused to believe that he could not defeat Ximen Tang's 110,000-strong army.

"General! This time the situation is different—!"

Kobayashi Inosuke whispered, "They are well-equipped and drive huge steel tanks; we simply can't stop them!"

Da Shan Yan snorted coldly and did not answer him.

He turned to Oshima Yuutake and ordered, "Oshima-kun, you lead 20,000 elite troops to hold them off for half an hour. I will launch the final attack. Xu Xiaodao's army has almost exhausted its weapons and ammunition. They cannot stop our final charge."

"Once we defeat Xu Xiaodao's army, we'll concentrate our firepower to surround the reinforcements from Jinling!"

"The fact that Prince Qian, Chen Jie, has come in person is good news for us. This time, I'm going to capture him alive!"

After saying that, Da Shan Yan burst into wild laughter.

"Hai!" Oshima Yuutake nodded and turned to leave.

Da Shanyan took out the command sword from his waist and walked out of the military camp tent.

He ordered the generals around him to shout loudly:
"Everyone, listen to my command! We must take down Ximentang's army! This is the final charge! Kill them!"

Upon hearing this, all the officers and soldiers of the Kwantung Army roared and charged towards the Ximentang military camp.

Heavy artillery was concentrated and launched a fierce bombardment on the fortifications of the military camp where Ximentang was stationed.

Simultaneously,

The Kwantung Army's heavily armored cavalry charged forward at breakneck speed.

Like ants, they swarmed forward, fearless of death.

"Brother Dao! Look—our reinforcements have arrived!"

On the defensive position, Zhang Hao shouted to Xu Xiaodao with some difficulty.

He was grazed by shrapnel from the Japanese heavy artillery, and his ribs were blasted open, resulting in a serious injury.

Although he had already been given painkillers, he could only lie on a stretcher at this moment, pointing into the distance and shouting:

"The Japanese army has mobilized tens of thousands of elite troops, clearly intending to block our reinforcements!"

"Daoshanyan has gone completely mad and launched the fiercest attack, intending to annihilate us completely."

"Brother Dao, as long as we hold off this last wave of attacks, we'll win!"

Xu Xiaodao examined Zhang Hao's wounds and, finding nothing seriously wrong, said:
"Take it easy, just stay here and keep an eye on things."

"They've been fighting for so long and still can't take us down. Do they think they can wipe us out in the final wave?"

"We don't have much ammunition, but we can hold out for another hour."

"Our lord will be here soon, brothers, be on your guard!"

Om-!
Zhang Hao felt a buzzing in his head and muttered softly, "My lord has come in person?! Help me up, I want to continue fighting!"

The 20,000 elite Kwantung Army troops led by Oshima Yutaka were not ordinary reinforcements.

Instead, it was the tank corps personally led by Chen Jie and the Ximentang armored force led by Liu Qi.

Heavy brigade!
After the tank corps was established, Ximentang also established a heavy armored brigade!
Liu Qi served as the brigade commander of the heavy armored brigade, which had 30% more personnel than a regular brigade.

Although Chen Jie only brought 50,000 men, their weapons and equipment were several levels higher than those of any other legion.

The heavy brigade led the way, followed by the army infantry of Ximentang.

to be frank,
Since Ximentang established the heavy armored brigade, the infantry stayed in the rear and played a minor role.

The heavy equipment brigade handles all the frontline combat.

Each heavy brigade is equipped with one hundred tanks, one hundred transport vehicles, two hundred heavy artillery pieces, two hundred heavy machine guns, one thousand mortars, fifty Vulcan cannons, and seven thousand elite soldiers!
Currently, the Ximentang Army only has two heavy brigades.

Chen Jie personally led the troops to the Hanzhong area and brought over a heavily armed brigade.

This is Liu Qi's first time leading a heavily armed brigade into battle, and he's all geared up!

He was extremely excited and couldn't contain himself any longer. (End of Chapter)