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

Xu Fei lay face down in the mud, his head covered with straws cut off by machine gun bullets.

He gritted his teeth, spat out a mouthful of bloody muddy water, his eyes filled with shock.

It turned out that the Japanese 41st Regiment, which was ordered to retreat, did not collapse like the puppet troops.

They demonstrated the "Steel Army's" terrifying tactical prowess.

During their retreat, they fought as they retreated, and surprisingly, they quickly built an extremely solid defensive position at Lijiacun, a strategic pass.

Even more deadly is...

These Japanese devils are incredibly audacious.

They actually moved two 150mm heavy howitzers, originally assigned to bombard the city walls of Linyi, which were deployed nearby, directly to the front line.

They employed the extremely dangerous, yet deadly, "bayonet-on-cannon" tactic to conduct close-range direct-fire suppression.

As a result, by sheer luck, they ran right into the vanguard of the pursuing 107th Division.

"Company commander, the firepower is too intense, the brothers can't even lift their heads."

The platoon leader lay prone not far from Xu Fei, shouting at the top of his lungs. A deep white mark had just been grazed by a bullet on his helmet.

"Scatter, all of you scatter!"

Where's the walkie-talkie? Who's carrying it? Quickly notify the battalion commander that we've encountered Japanese defenses and heavy artillery at Lijia Village and are requesting artillery support from the division.

Where is Li Datouren?

"Set up all our mortars, fire smoke grenades, and get the frontline troops back!"

Xu Fei's eyes were bloodshot, like those of an enraged leopard.

What was originally a swift and decisive pursuit turned into an extremely bloody meat grinder outside Li Family Village.

At this moment, the fangs of the Japanese "Steel Army" were finally revealed in an extremely ferocious manner.

-----

March 18th, night.

Heading towards the city, the forward command post of the 33rd Army Corps.

Outside the window, the drizzling spring rain finally stopped.

Inside the command post, several gas lamps hissed, illuminating the room brightly.

Lin Feng, holding a cup of strong tea, was communicating with Zhang Wenzhong at the front lines via a high-powered radio.

"Your Excellency, the first day's attack went extremely smoothly."

Zhang Wenzhong's excited voice came through the radio:

"Our vanguard, the 107th Division, has completely defeated the puppet troops."

The newly formed 15th Division, which followed behind, was so busy capturing prisoners that their hands were sore.

Preliminary statistics indicate that over four thousand puppet troops have been captured, along with more than one hundred genuine Japanese soldiers.

"More than a hundred Japanese prisoners?"

Lin Feng raised an eyebrow and said with extreme coldness:

"Wow, that's too much."

Leave a few high-ranking officers, such as company commanders or platoon leaders, to thoroughly interrogate the enemy's deployment and firepower.

Zhang Wenzhong on the other end of the radio paused for a moment, then subconsciously asked:

"What about the rest of the Japanese soldiers?"

"The rest?"

Lin Feng sneered, thinking of the innocent people of Great Xia, and the memorial halls he had visited before his transmigration, his tone revealing a chilling murderous intent:

"Commander Zhang, are you confused?"

Those Japanese devils were all beasts whose brains had been thoroughly soaked in the spirit of Bushido.

How could they possibly surrender to our Great Xia army?

They were clearly feigning surrender, and then, taking advantage of our unpreparedness, they put up an extremely arrogant and stubborn resistance to the very end.

Don't you know what to do with these die-hards?

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the radio, followed by Zhang Wenzhong's extremely loud reply:

"Understood, Your Excellency!"

"The department will go and deal with those Japanese devils who are 'stubbornly resisting'!"

"Um."

Lin Feng nodded in satisfaction, then asked:

"What do you plan to do with those four thousand-plus prisoners of war from the puppet army?"

"This..." Zhang Wenzhong hesitated.

"Logically speaking, they should be either dismissed or incorporated into the organization."

But these are all bandits and scoundrels under Liu Heiqi's command, with extremely poor military discipline. If we were to incorporate them, it would probably ruin the reputation of our 33rd Army Corps.

If we dismiss them, I'm afraid they'll turn around and become traitors again, harming the people.

"Incorporate? Disband? Dream on."

Lin Feng snorted coldly:

"Since you've become a traitor, you have to pay the price."

Find an opportunity to take them all back to Jiawang.

Our coal mine in Jiawang has a very large pit, right? We're short-handed.

Take them all back and send them to mine coal!

Provide two meals of mixed grain rice every day, just enough to keep them from starving.

"They will only be released when the blood debts they owe the people of Great Xia have been fully investigated."

"Yes! That's a great idea!" Zhang Wenzhong laughed heartily on the other end of the radio.

After laughing, Zhang Wenzhong's tone became serious:

"Your Excellency, there is another matter."

The Japanese 41st Regiment had already reacted.

They used the terrain in the Lijiacun area to build extremely sturdy defensive fortifications.

Moreover, they even pushed some of their 150mm heavy artillery pieces to the front line, causing considerable casualties to our vanguard troops.

Currently, the 107th Division's offensive has been thwarted, and the two sides are locked in a stalemate outside Lijiacun.

What should we do next?

After all, this was Zhang Wenzhong's first time leading troops independently in such a large-scale corps-level operation.

They were facing the elite Japanese 5th Division, known as the "Steel Army."

Although they crushed the puppet army with a preemptive strike and extremely fierce artillery fire, gaining an initial advantage.

But once the Japanese war machine reacted, Zhang Wenzhong was still somewhat nervous.

Lin Feng did not answer immediately, but quickly obtained an extremely detailed military map.

His eyes swept quickly across the map, and he soon located the location of Lijia Village.

Lin Feng silently made plans in his mind.

Although this extremely fierce flanking attack was thwarted at Lijiacun, its strategic objective had been achieved.

Not only did they completely crush the puppet army, but more importantly, they successfully relieved the siege of Linyi City, which had been under siege for several days.

Commander Pang's Northwest Army can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Next came the extremely brutal positional warfare and war of attrition against Seishiro Itagaki and his Fifth Division.

"Commander Zhang, don't panic."

Lin Feng began to give the other party psychological support:

"Japanese soldiers are human too; they can die if they get hit by artillery shells."

You have two divisional artillery regiments under your command, totaling forty-eight 75mm mountain guns and twenty-four 105mm mountain guns.

On the battlefield of Great Xia, who else but me can produce this kind of firepower?

Relay my order: launch a full-scale attack.

Don't be stingy with your ammunition, bombard them hard!

We'll fight a positional war with that old devil Itagaki, head-on.

Only through countless battles can elite troops be produced. Our new recruits need these tough battles to see the blood.

Lin Feng pointed his finger heavily on the map:

"In addition, tell Li Dadao's newly formed 15th Division not to fight to the death in Lijia Village."

Let them continue to maneuver and infiltrate the flanks and rear of Tangtou Town.

They adopted an extremely strong stance to sever the 5th Division's connection with Qingcheng Port in the rear.

This forced Itagaki to send troops to the rescue.

"Understood." Zhang Wenzhong's tone became extremely firm again.

"Starting tomorrow during the day."

Lin Feng looked up at the night sky outside the window:

"I will send more Stuka dive bombers."

Conduct tactical bombardment of the 5th Division's positions to assist your newly formed 8th Army in its offensive.

The goal is to take down Itagaki's outposts on the outskirts as quickly as possible.

Only by disrupting the Japanese army's rhythm can we have a chance to tear off a big piece of meat!