The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 308 Yamamoto Ichiki's Downfall (Two Chapters Combined)

Then, a strangely familiar and high-pitched voice came to my ears, saying "Get down, everyone get down."

Hu Biao, who was changing the magazine of his pistol at the time, instinctively turned his head to take a look and couldn't help but utter a curse word, "Damn it!"

Then, without even turning his head back, he lay down on the ground.

At the same time, he didn't forget to shout "Get down, get down" repeatedly; he abandoned the action of changing the magazine and reached out to pull Xiao Cui, who was firing her rifle next to him, to the ground.

In his haste, Hu Biao used too much force.

So, Xiao Cui, who had been incredibly lucky in the previous battle and miraculously escaped unscathed amidst a hail of bullets, was injured by her own people.

When he was pulled down, his forehead hit a small stone on the ground. Not only did it bleed, but his skull was also filled with stars, making him feel quite dizzy.

Even so, Xiao Cui didn't complain at all afterwards.

Instead, they took the initiative to approach Hu Biao and solemnly thank him.

It all started when Hu Biao turned around and saw a large, dark mass of people rushing towards them at full speed; these people had suffered heavy casualties here.

Finally, reinforcements arrived, and this wave is basically secured.

The one leading the reinforcements was the wizard, who was sprinting towards them at top speed, only five or six meters away.

Most importantly, this guy was holding a standard 6-kilogram explosive charge.

It was originally a heartless cannon manufactured by an arsenal, the kind of shell that it fired; the innermost layer contained 5 kilograms of explosives, and the outer layer was wrapped with a lot of gravel, porcelain shards, pig iron slag, etc.

At that moment, the wizard pulled the fuse, and black smoke was already billowing from one end of the explosive charge.

Even if the explosives inside were the weakest type of granular black powder, the first to be produced at the Zhangjiayu Arsenal...

With a weight of five kilograms, if it explodes twenty or thirty meters in front of you, its destructive power will still be terrifying.

If they lie down quickly, it's hard to say whether they'll be killed by the shockwave; but if they don't lie down, they'll definitely be riddled with holes by the flying pebbles.

Just as Hu Biao and the others had settled down, the wizard, in his haste, reached the edge of the dirt road. As he abruptly stopped, he used his right arm, with the force of a discus throw, to fling the explosive charge with all his might.

The next second, the wizard, who had lost his balance, was shot in the chest as he staggered and was knocked to the ground on the spot.

Even though the wizard was also equipped with DI bulletproof plates, he might still have a rib broken, and the pain made him cry and snot.

Fortunately, the bullet that took his life was absolutely worth it.

Because after he threw the explosive charge with all his might, it spun and flew seventeen or eighteen meters before landing; then it rolled along the mountainside for another five or six meters before stopping after hitting a Japanese soldier's corpse.

Then, before the surrounding Japanese soldiers could react, an explosion had already occurred.

In reality, even if the surrounding Japanese troops took some other actions beforehand, the outcome would not change in the slightest.

The wild shockwave and vibration from the explosion made Hu Biao and the others, who were lying on the ground twenty or thirty meters away, feel as if they had been punched hard in the chest.

A faint taste of blood lingered in my mouth, and my chest felt incredibly tight.

If Hu Biao and his men suffered the same fate, then the Japanese soldiers who were closer to them naturally met an even more tragic end.

Many Japanese soldiers around the explosion point were instantly thrown into the air like dolls; in addition, a dense barrage of pebbles and other projectiles flew up, covering a vast area of ​​tens of meters in radius.

In short, when the explosive charge exploded, the Japanese soldiers within a radius of tens of meters were wiped out; those further away were also knocked off their feet.

It was precisely because of this thing's terrifying destructive power that it became the final straw that broke Colonel Yamamoto Ichiki's back...

Colonel Yamaki Ichiki bit his lip hard, not even feeling the blood seeping through it, because his heart was filled with immense resentment and helplessness.

That was during the previous battle, when his warriors performed exceptionally well.

The courage, firepower coordination, and skills displayed in the battle were impeccable, even surpassing their usual performance.

Even during the feint attack, they inflicted almost double the casualties on the enemy; in just one more minute, they would be able to rush up this damned hillside.

Then, after a feint attack that doesn't require such a disadvantage, we can teach the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment a lesson they won't forget.

Unfortunately, they missed that crucial minute; meanwhile, the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment had more reinforcements on their side, and they were about to arrive.

Their side had already suffered nearly a hundred casualties, making him realize that there was no possibility of charging forward again.

Under such circumstances, no matter how unwilling and helpless he felt, Yamamoto Ichiki had no choice but to grit his teeth and issue an order:
"Retreat! Retreat immediately! First squad, lead the way; third squad, cover the rear."

After issuing the order to retreat, Yamamoto Ichiki could clearly see that a group of his men around him had expressions of relief, which made him even more depressed.

Baka! These cowards, they're actually scared.

To be honest, this Japanese special forces unit was definitely the most formidable opponent Hu Biao had ever encountered since his transmigration.

Despite their hasty withdrawal, they still appeared quite organized; the troops at the front carried almost all the wounded, while the troops at the rear provided cover fire in shifts.

Chaozi, who rushed over with a group of men, originally intended to rush down the hillside and catch them.

Before long, seven or eight Japanese soldiers were knocked down, but they retreated further and further away, and the two sides had already created quite a distance between them.

After getting up from the ground, Hu Biao and the others ignored the tightness in their chests and chased after them; however, they were basically aware that they probably wouldn't be able to completely capture these Japanese soldiers today.

Just as they were feeling quite frustrated, a burst of gunfire suddenly rang out from ahead.

I don't know which clever guy knew to lead people to block the Japanese retreat route in advance.

Judging from the density of fire that erupted over there in an instant, there were at least 150 men, who could definitely block the Japanese soldiers' breakout in a short time.

"Xiao Cui, quickly take some people to support them over there, don't let the Japanese get away."

"Everyone else, don't rush. Bring over all the heavy equipment. Let's trap these Japanese devils in this ravine first, then slowly torment these bastards to death."

With an extremely cheerful tone, Hu Biao shouted out these words.

Incidentally, because of his excellent performance just now, Xiao Cui has been completely used by him as a man...

******
The clever Japanese soldiers who were silenced by Hu Biao were Annie and Mina. They led a group of people to make a mobile encirclement halfway and happened to encounter the Japanese mobile squad.

It's somewhat disheartening that, in order to kill these ten Japanese soldiers, they suffered twenty or thirty casualties.

I rushed to a cliff above the ravine and had just set up my weapon against the bottom of the ravine, which was more than twenty meters deep, when I saw several dark figures appear quickly in the pale moonlight.

These figures, flustered yet composed, were none other than Yamamoto Ichiki and his entourage, who were hastily making their escape.

What are we waiting for? After Annie shouted "Fire!", everyone immediately opened fire, and the two Japanese soldiers at the front were shot dead on the spot.

Unexpectedly, the Japanese soldiers behind them still refused to stop.

Although they didn't charge up the hill in a frenzied, headlong rush like in previous hillside battles, their advance was highly methodical.

Not only were the bullets coming at them vicious and accurate, but the two grenade launchers posed a great threat; a Czech light machine gun, which was considered a core firepower point, was shot down by a high-explosive grenade before it even emptied its second magazine.

This clearly made Annie and the others realize how much pressure Hu Biao and his group had been under.

Fortunately, the Jin-Sui Army company that escorted the weapons to Zhangjiayu turned out to be an elite force, much to Annie's surprise.

The team not only included a large number of veterans, but also, after suffering 30 to 40 casualties, their fighting spirit remained extremely strong, and they fought desperately to the death.

Then, after Xiao Cui led about a hundred people around halfway, they hurriedly came to provide support.

Furthermore, the Japanese soldiers, having brought along several rocket launchers and some explosive charges, were hit by two rockets and finally halted their breakout attempt. They were finally cornered by the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment in a ravine two to three hundred meters long; any attempt to peek out was met with fierce firepower…

Two hours later, Chaozi jumped up and down and roared:
"Get some men and come with me to the arsenal's warehouse. We need to move out all the stockpiled explosives. Even if I have to live a miserable life from now on, I'm going to blow up these damned Japanese devils today."

The reason Chaozi reacted so strongly is that the casualty data from this encounter has been basically tallied.

That enormous number can only be described as shocking:
The Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment suffered 109 casualties on the spot, including several villagers from Zhaojiayu; there were 75 seriously wounded, of whom 7 have died and 21 are still unsure if they will survive the night.

In a battle that lasted less than a few minutes, Hu Biao and his men wiped out an entire reinforced company.

The above list of seriously injured does not include cases like the wizard who broke a rib; otherwise, the number would be much higher.

Damn it! They spent so much time and effort to finally muster this small force; and in just one battle, a third of them were wiped out.

If Colonel Yamamoto Ichiki, that Japanese leader, were to appear in front of Chaozi now, he would be tempted to bite him to death.

This finally made Chaozi lose his temper completely, and he shouted that he was going to "not live like this anymore".

Looking at the long rows of corpses of his soldiers lined up in the open space at the village entrance, their faces still covered in bloodstains, he was struck by their plight.

Thinking of the many people among them whom he had personally taught to march and shoot, Hu Biao felt as if his heart was being torn apart.

However, upon hearing Chaozi's roar, she still retorted, "No way!"

Upon hearing this, Chaozi immediately became enraged and clenched his fist, ready to fight Hu Biao.

Fortunately, Hu Biao quickly shared his thoughts: "I mean we can't waste the explosives. They need to save them to produce more equipment to fight the Japanese. I have some better ideas."

Don't all the villagers have dried chili peppers at home? Let's collect them all.

They chopped them up, mixed them with thatch and firewood, drizzled some oil on them, shaped them into small balls, lit them, and pushed them into the ravine below.

Upon hearing Hu Biao's statement, Chaozi and the others' eyes immediately lit up.

These Japanese soldiers were well-equipped, all wearing gas masks to prevent smoke inhalation—that was a valid tactic. But adding chili peppers would change everything.

To put it simply, gas masks are mainly used to protect against toxic gases and particulate matter, while the main component of pepper spray is capsaicin.

Capsaicin can irritate the skin, eyes, and respiratory tract, but it is not absorbed or filtered by the canisters of gas masks like toxic gases.

Pingding County during the Republic of China era now has a large-scale chili pepper cultivation industry, and the peppers are quite spicy.

In front of every household in Zhangjiayu, there are strings of bright red dried chilies hanging everywhere; there's definitely enough of them.

In the time that followed, in addition to the personnel deployed to prevent the Japanese from rushing out, there were also a small number of people taking care of the wounded.

All the soldiers and civilians in Zhangjiayu, including the young children, pitched in together; following Hu Biao's ideas, they began to process those special props.

With many hands making light work, it didn't take long to make more than three hundred of these things, each about the size of an adult's embrace.

After Hu Biao shouted "Light the fire!", hundreds of burning balls were ignited.

Because they were doused with gasoline, kerosene, and even vegetable oil, these special props could be said to ignite at the slightest spark.

Even though the fire wasn't too big, the rising smoke was still extremely choking, causing people to sneeze constantly.

Without further ado, everyone pushed gently along the mountain slope, and the fireballs rolled rapidly down to the bottom of the ravine.

This signifies that the Japanese soldiers, who are hiding like rats below, are facing their final doom...

Yamamoto Ichiki, who is always impeccably dressed in front of his subordinates and even emphasizes the manners of a samurai descendant, was now sitting on the muddy ground in an extremely disheveled state.

His eyes were lifeless and his face was deathly pale, like a wild dog with a broken spine.

There was no other way! In the period before that, they tried to break through from different directions twice, but each time they were driven back as soon as they started, and lost dozens of men.

Therefore, with the tight net laid out by the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, they had no way to break through on their own.

Left with no other choice, Yamamoto Ichiki abandoned all pretense of decency.

This time, he secretly launched the operation under the pretext of a long-distance training exercise. Throughout the operation, he maintained radio silence and took the initiative to have someone contact Yoshio Shinotsuka, the commander of the First Army.

They confessed the truth, telling the other party the truth about their group's losses, and that the remaining people were trapped and died in an unnamed ravine in Zhangjiayu.

Requesting support, or, as the Japanese soldiers would say in a more euphemistic way: requesting operational guidance.

What was the result? Yoshio Shinotsuka called back to tell him that the garrison in Pingding County was of limited size and could only barely hold the county seat; they were powerless to provide any assistance.

Troops stationed in other areas will arrive in as little as 20 hours due to the distance.

However, after daybreak, aircraft will be deployed to provide fire support, and hopefully they can hold on.

However, Yamamoto Ichiki knew clearly in his heart that if they encountered other opponents, it would be fine; but in front of Hu Biao, the Tiger of Songhu, they would have absolutely no chance to hold out for another 20 hours.

Even if they held out until dawn, it would be impossible for their own planes to arrive.

That means he's doomed. The dignified commander of the Empire's top special operations forces is going to die a humiliating death like a rat in this unknown ravine.

Seeing Yamamoto Ichiki's loss of composure, one of his squad leaders, a major, couldn't help but yell at him:
"Lord Yamamoto, you must pull yourself together; if we can hold out until dawn, our planes will arrive; perhaps we can break through successfully under the cover of the planes."

Upon hearing this, Colonel Yamamoto Ichiki shook his head with a bitter expression, about to say that Hu Biao wouldn't give them the chance to hold out until dawn.

Some unexpected situations have already vividly illustrated everything for him.

As the flames lit up, several raging fireballs rolled and landed at an astonishing speed more than fifty meters away.

Before Colonel Yamamoto Ichiki could even speak, a veteran standing beside the fireball shouted out:
"Wear gas masks and then put out this damn fireball; they're trying to burn and suffocate us."

While shouting, the veteran first took out a gas mask and put it on, then used the butt of his submachine gun to beat at the burning fireball in an attempt to extinguish it.

The Japanese veteran reacted quite quickly, but unfortunately it was all for naught.

In his frantic efforts, he not only failed to extinguish the fireball, but also had his sleeves ignited in the process; he hastily put on a gas mask, but it had no effect.

God knows! What did the opponent add to the fireball?
He soon felt an indescribable stinging pain in his nasal cavity, throat, and trachea, which not only made it difficult for him to breathe but also caused him to cough violently.

Tears blurred his vision as he coughed, and he felt utterly powerless.

His arm was burning hot, but he couldn't even pat the flames off his sleeve.

Here's the problem: Aren't there still about two hundred Japanese soldiers who survived in this ravine? Why didn't the people nearby go and help them put out the flames on their bodies?

It's not that they don't want to, but that they can't, or that they're too busy taking care of themselves.

Because in a very short time afterward, hundreds of raging fireballs rolled and fell into this ravine, filling the air with a pungent smell.

After a series of coughs, Yamamoto Ichiki shouted, "Charge out! We'd rather die a glorious death than choke to death here!"

After shouting, he held his breath and staggered up the hillside.

Unfortunately, soon after, he collapsed to the ground, coughing violently, his face turning cyanotic, his fingers unconsciously digging into his throat until they were covered in blood and flesh.

Until it curled up there like a dead dog, completely still.

Yamamoto Ichiki's fate was merely a microcosm of the fate of other Japanese soldiers at this moment...

(End of this chapter)