You were tasked with guarding the Sihang Warehouse, and you brought out a Tiger tank?

In the sky, the anti-aircraft fire became increasingly intense.

Japanese planes kept getting hit, catching fire, and crashing down, trailing long plumes of black smoke.

Some exploded in mid-air, turning into fireballs.

The smiles on the faces of the Japanese soldiers on the ground froze completely.

They watched helplessly as the imperial eagles on which they had placed their hopes fell one after another, like flies being swatted.

From excitement, to shock, and then to deep disappointment and fear.

The remaining Japanese bombers were completely terrified.

They dared not lower their altitude any further to carry out precision bombing and strafing.

At an altitude of several thousand meters, the pilot frantically pulled the bomb release lever and haphazardly dropped the bombs.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Some of these inaccurate bombs landed in the Yangtze River to blast fish, while others landed on empty wastelands.

Two of them even landed directly on the outer perimeter of the Japanese positions, killing several unlucky Japanese soldiers.

After dropping their bombs, the remaining Japanese planes immediately pulled up their noses and fled towards the south of the Yangtze River without looking back.

The sky returned to calm.

But the Japanese soldiers on the ground were plunged into an even deeper, more unfathomable despair than before.

Even airplanes can't save them, so what else can they hope for?

-----

By evening that day.

The setting sun, like blood, dyed the river water a deep crimson.

Under the relentless heavy artillery bombardment from Lin Feng's troops, the morale of the Japanese soldiers had plummeted to rock bottom.

It's dinnertime.

Each Japanese soldier was given only half a spoiled rice ball, with a pitiful half-pickled plum stuck on top.

This little bit of food isn't even enough to fill a tooth gap.

The Japanese soldiers, starving and with their stomachs practically touching their backs, held the stale rice balls, finding them hard to swallow, and many even secretly wiped away tears.

Meanwhile, on Lin Feng's position...

"Cousin, the wind direction has changed. It's blowing from the southeast now, and it's blowing right towards the Japanese positions."

Zhao Yushu ran over to report to the leader.

"Excellent!"

Lin Feng's lips curled into a wicked smile, his eyes gleaming with mischief:

"Pass on my order: have the cooks set up all the large pots at the front, downwind side."

Pour all those canned Japanese beef we captured earlier, along with the white rice, into the stew.

"Make the fire burn brighter, and fan the aroma over there for me."

"Hehe, cousin, that's a really cunning trick of yours."

Zhao Yushu grinned and immediately ran off to make the arrangements.

Before long, dozens of large cooking pots were lined up in a row at the front of the position.

Boxes and boxes of Japanese beef cans were pried open, and large chunks of greasy beef were poured into boiling water.

Add refined white rice and cook together.

Before long, an extremely rich aroma, a mixture of meat and rice fragrance, drifted on the evening breeze towards the Japanese positions.

"Slurp—"

In the trench, a Japanese soldier who was about to eat a spoiled rice ball suddenly stopped and sniffed hard.

"What's that smell? It smells so good..."

"It's meat! It tastes like beef! And there's rice too!"

The surrounding Japanese soldiers all smelled the fragrance.

For them, who had been starving all day and had no oil or fat in their stomachs, this aroma was more irresistible than any delicious food.

Countless Japanese soldiers swallowed uncontrollably, their stomachs rumbling in protest.

The stale rice ball in my hand suddenly became as hard to swallow as excrement.

Just as the Japanese soldiers were being tormented by the aroma to the point of near death...

At the front line of Lin Feng's position, several huge metal loudspeakers were set up.

This is a loudspeaker that Lin Feng specially arranged for him to prepare.

A Xia soldier with a booming voice, holding a tin megaphone, took a deep breath and shouted at the Japanese position in his hastily learned, clumsy Japanese pronunciation:

"Listen up, you little devils over there!"

"You old devil Kunisaki! Your canned beef and stewed rice smell so good!"

The sound echoed across the empty riverbank, clearly reaching the ears of every Japanese soldier.

"Want some food? Are you hungry?"

The voice blaring from the loudspeaker was full of mockery and ridicule:

"Come over if you want to eat."

All you have to do is lay down your weapons, crawl over here, and call me "Dad."

Grandpa will treat you to a bowl of hot beef soup.

"Call me 'Dad,' and I'll give you meat."

"Baka yarou!"

Inside the command post, Kunisaki Noboru heard this shout and was so angry that he almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He drew his command sword and frantically chopped at the sandbags.

But none of the Japanese soldiers outside joined in the cursing.

They smelled the enticing aroma of meat and listened to the extremely insulting shouts.

Saliva kept flowing down his face, and tears followed.

Hunger, thirst, fear, humiliation...

A mix of emotions completely shattered their last psychological defenses.

At that moment, the morale of the Kunisaki Detachment plummeted into negative territory.

Meanwhile, in the Japanese semi-underground command post, Kunisaki Noboru slumped in a military chair.

His eyes were bloodshot and his eye sockets were sunken.

The dull thud of artillery fire continued overhead.

Each explosion sent mud raining down from the ceiling, landing on the maps and on the staff officers' oil-stained necks.

In the distance, shouts of "Kunisaki Tomo, call me grandpa and I'll give you meat!" continued.

However, Kunisaki Noboru didn't even have the strength to curse back.

He is 51 years old.

A top student of the 19th class of the Japanese Army Sergeant School (Infantry Department), and a prodigy of the 32nd class of the Army University.

In August of Showa 11 (36), he was officially promoted to Major General and appointed as the commander of the 9th Infantry Brigade of the 5th Division, known as the "Steel Army".

Among the imperial generals who invaded Great Xia, he was definitely a veteran with extensive experience.

He had fantasized countless times about riding a tall horse into the capital of the Great Xia Dynasty and engraving his name forever in the annals of the empire.

But now, everything has vanished.

"Your Mightiness……"

The chief of staff walked over with faltering steps, his lips cracked and bleeding.

"The last attempt to break through to the east... failed."

The enemy's firepower was too intense, with rocket launchers capable of instantly covering the entire position, and countless automatic weapons...

The warriors simply couldn't break through.

Moreover... everyone hadn't had a drop of water for a long time, and many people collapsed halfway through the charge due to severe dehydration and couldn't get up again.

Kunisaki Noboru didn't speak, but just stared blankly at the mud-covered map on the table.

His proud elite Imperial Army, the "Steel Army" that was once invincible on the North China battlefield.

At this moment, they were like pigs and sheep waiting to be slaughtered, trapped on this narrow riverbank, mercilessly slaughtered by the cannon fire of the Xia people.

despair.

A deep sense of despair.

He knew that the annihilation of the entire army was only a matter of time.

"Pass down the order."

Kunisaki Noboru slowly closed his eyes, and two streams of turbid tears slid down his cheeks.

His voice trembled, filled with endless sorrow:

"Order all regiments and battalions..."

Prepare to burn the military flag.

Destroy all codebooks and confidential documents.

"We cannot allow the honor of the empire to fall into the hands of the Chinese."