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

"Company commander, look what this is."

Xiao Er excitedly pulled a Czech-made light machine gun covered in mud from under the corpse of a puppet army officer.

"Great stuff! I'll take it!"

Ma Qiang grinned.

The group helped the wounded, carried the captured weapons, and quickly retreated back to the trenches.

Back in the safe bunker, Ma Qiang leaned against a sandbag, lit a captured Japanese cigarette, and took a deep drag.

He suddenly felt that the battlefield had changed.

In the past, fighting the Japanese invaders meant sacrificing human lives to fill the gaps in their artillery shells and tanks.

The fight was extremely frustrating and desperate.

But now.

With the support of Lin Feng's regimental commander, anti-tank guns were hammering at the turtle's shell, and airplanes in the sky were helping to protect their heads.

Ma Qiang felt more confident and assertive than ever before.

"As long as we have enough ammunition, we men from the Northwest can defend Linyi and fight the Japanese devils until the end of time."

Ma Qiang secretly hardened his heart.

However, just as he exhaled a smoke ring...

"Sizzle—"

Suddenly, a sharp, piercing sound came from the distant sky.

The sound was extremely deep and loud, like an invisible train speeding down from the sky overhead.

Those were the distinctive sounds produced by large-caliber heavy artillery shells streaking across the sky at high speed, their warheads squeezing and rubbing against the air in front of them.

Although Ma Qiang didn't understand any physical principles like aerodynamics.

But as a veteran who had crawled out of piles of dead bodies, he was both all too familiar with and terrified of that sound.

That was the Japanese 150mm heavy howitzer.

"Lie down, take cover, all of you get down!"

Ma Qiang roared fiercely, shoving the waiter who was still fiddling with the Czech style of clothing down into the mud, and then clutching his own head tightly.

next second.

The devastating blow arrived as expected.

"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!"

The entire outer perimeter of Linyi was instantly engulfed in a raging inferno and the ground shook violently.

-----

Lunan, Xiangcheng.

The continuous spring rain made the roads of this small town muddy and slippery, and the military boots made a sticky "smack smack" sound when they stepped on the ground.

The convoy from the legion headquarters had just come to a stop.

Zhao Yushu immediately jumped out of the car and, with a group of staff officers and communications soldiers, hurriedly set up a forward command post, wading through the muddy ground.

"Quickly, put the antenna on the roof."

"Move the generator to the backyard and be careful to protect it from rain."

"The radio station should be switched on immediately to contact all departments."

In less than half an hour, several high-powered military radios began to operate with a "beep-beep-beep" sound.

Lin Feng took off his black wool coat, which was covered in mud, and tossed it onto a chair. He then strode over to the battle sand table that he had just assembled.

"Report, urgent telegram from Commander Zhang Wenzhong."

A confidential staff officer, holding a telegram, strode over to Lin Feng's side:

"The newly formed 107th Division and the newly formed 15th Division under the Eighth Army have basically completed their mobilization."

We are currently concealed at our designated location southwest of Linyi and are requesting further instructions on our next steps.

Lin Feng took the telegram, glanced at it, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Call him back."

Lin Feng braced his hands on the edge of the sand table, his gaze sharp:

"Tell Zhang Wenzhong that I have already coordinated with Commander Pang of the army in the city and found out the details of the other side."

The main force launching a fierce attack outside Linyi City in recent days is not the main force of the Japanese 5th Division at all.

It was Liu Guitang's puppet army, plus an infantry regiment from the 5th Division.

Of these, approximately 7,000 were puppet troops, while only about 3,000 were genuine Japanese soldiers.

At this point, Lin Feng paused for a moment, silently calculating in his mind.

The situation was much better than he had expected.

It seems that the 5th Division was weakened because Kunisaki Noboru's 9th Brigade had been completely wiped out by him before.

In addition to a large supply of ammunition, it was blown into the sky by his bombers when it was in Qingcheng Port.

On the other side, Itagaki Seishiro seemed to have become "smarter" this time, relying more on the puppet troops for attrition warfare.

"If that's the case, then that's perfect."

Lin Feng straightened up and said confidently:

"We are two newly trained divisions that were just trained with live ammunition in the rear. They are fully armed and have ample firepower."

To fight against 10,000 miscellaneous troops, mainly composed of puppet troops.

"If this still can't defeat them, then I, Lin Feng, might as well find a block of tofu and just smash myself to death."

Lin Feng turned his head and gave a stern order:

"Order Commander Zhang Wenzhong."

The original plan was changed, and the newly formed 15th Division no longer needed to send personnel to assist in the defense of the city.

The newly formed 15th Division was to cooperate with the 107th Division to move rapidly northward along the west bank of the Yi River.

"Just pack up dumplings for all 10,000 puppet soldiers and Japanese soldiers right here in front of me."

"Yes, sir!" The staff officer stood at attention, saluted, and ran off to send a telegram.

-----

Not long after, at a ferry crossing on the lower reaches of the Yi River.

In the past few days, Itagaki Seishiro, with the main force of the 5th Division, cunningly stayed in the Tangtou Town area in the rear.

While resting, they supervised Liu Guitang's puppet troops as they attacked as cannon fodder.

Although Liu Guitang, this traitor, had only average combat ability, he relied entirely on his large number of men to win battles.

But he had Japanese officers by his side acting as his advisors.

Thanks to the reminder from the Japanese advisor, Liu Guitang wasn't completely stupid. He remembered that he had left two companies of puppet troops to defend this important ferry crossing behind the Yi River on the flank.

This is a large bend in the Yi River.

When the river reaches this point, its flow slows down considerably because the channel widens.

If the Great Xia army wanted to force a crossing of the river from the flank and outflank their rear, this would be the best, and only, place to ford the river.

At this moment, on the east bank of the ferry.

The puppet troops' positions were covered in mud.

Due to their lax discipline, these puppet soldiers were unwilling to travel far to take care of their personal hygiene.

Therefore, not far from the trenches, there were filth left by people urinating and defecating everywhere, emitting a foul stench.

In a few makeshift machine gun emplacements made of sandbags, two old Maxim heavy machine guns were mounted, their dark muzzles pointing directly at the opposite riverbank.

A group of puppet soldiers dressed in yellow-green uniforms were huddled in twos and threes in the trenches, taking shelter from the rain.

"Damn it, this weather is so cold."

A puppet army platoon leader with a pockmarked face tightened his tattered cotton-padded coat, took out a crumpled cigarette from his pocket, and lit it.

"Platoon leader, when will this battle ever end?" a young puppet soldier next to him asked, shrinking his neck.

"It'll be soon, it'll be soon."

The pockmarked platoon leader exhaled a puff of smoke, his face completely unconcerned.

"Didn't you hear what the Japanese soldiers said? The Central Army has been wiped out in the south, and Nanjing has been lost."

The Great Xia Dynasty is doomed; it will perish sooner or later.

We follow the Japanese, that's called being a wise man who knows when to yield.

Once we've captured Linyi, we'll follow the Japanese commander in and enjoy the finest food and drink.

The gold and silver treasures, the beautiful young women and wives in the city—we brothers can choose whatever we want! Hahaha!

Upon hearing this, the surrounding puppet soldiers also let out an extremely lewd and insane laugh.

On the other side of the trench, a emaciated veteran of the puppet army was lying in the mud.

He was holding a pipe and greedily puffing on opium.

"call--"

The old soldier exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, his eyes glazed over, and began spewing nonsense, spewing filth from his mouth:

"Those Northwest Army troops on the other side are dirt poor, what good equipment could they possibly have?"

Do you still want to cross the river from here?

Keep dreaming.

Dare to cross the river?

Grandpa's heavy machine gun is no joke.

When the time comes, one will die if they come, two will die together if they come, I'll beat them all to death on the river and feed them to the turtles.

Hahaha……"

However, his laughter hadn't even subsided.

"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—"

Suddenly, a series of extremely dense and chillingly sharp whistling sounds pierced the air.