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

Soil, blood, bits of flesh, and gunpowder smoke.

A mixture of various nauseating smells assaulted Yoshihiro Akiyama's nostrils.

He felt as if his eardrums had ruptured, and he couldn't hear any sound. He could only see the world around him constantly exploding and collapsing.

His proud 102nd Infantry Regiment.

Those imperial warriors who once swaggered across the battlefields of Manchuria and North China.

At this moment, they were like meat on a chopping board, mercilessly shredded by the terrifying firepower descending from the sky.

"Clatter".

Something heavy suddenly fell from mid-air and landed in the mud in front of Akiyama Yoshiyuki.

Akiyama Yoshiyuki looked closely, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

It was a severed hand.

Thick calluses still grew on the web of the severed hand, and the fingers were digging tightly into a deformed Type 38 rifle bolt.

Fresh blood slowly flowed from the cut into the muddy puddle in front of Akiyama Yoshiyuki.

"It's over...it's all over..."

Yoshiyuki Akiyama buried his head deep in the mud and water, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.

He knew that under this devastating barrage, even if the first battalion wasn't completely wiped out, it would absolutely lose its fighting capacity.

I don't know how much time has passed.

The seemingly endless explosions finally began to subside.

The air was thick with gunpowder smoke, and visibility was extremely low.

The highway was littered with huge bomb craters, burning vehicle wreckage, and mountains of Japanese corpses.

The Japanese soldiers who had miraculously survived crawled out of the mud, looking completely bewildered, as if they had lost their souls.

Some were wandering aimlessly, while others were embracing their crippled companions and wailing.

His head was buzzing, and he didn't have time to think about it. It was at least tens of kilometers away from the encirclement where the 5th Division was trapped.

How did the Chinese artillery sneak in so quietly?

Moreover, what kind of monster is this kind of artillery that is unheard of and can unleash such a terrifying amount of ammunition in an instant?

Didn't the intelligence report confidently state that Lin Feng's main force was relentlessly pursuing Itagaki Seishiro?

Where did they get the extra troops and heavy artillery of this level to deal with our reinforcements?

Suddenly, a terrifying thought struck Akiyama Yoshihiro's mind like lightning.

He suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

"Baka... We've been tricked! We've all been tricked!"

Akiyama Yoshiyuki's heart sank to the bottom.

He finally realized how naive and ridiculous his previous thoughts had been.

Since this devastating preemptive artillery barrage had precisely landed on their marching ranks.

That means the main force of the Chinese was definitely not tens of kilometers away.

Instead, they had already taken advantage of the darkness and the terrain to move silently to this vicinity.

They've practically opened a giant pocket across this plain, just waiting for this fool to plunge right in.

The enemy could launch an attack at any time.

"Quickly! Gather the troops! Establish a defensive line!"

He shouted hoarsely, trying to reorganize the defense.

He knew that once the Great Xia army's artillery bombardment ended, the infantry charge would begin immediately.

However, what responded to him was not the bugle call of the Great Xia infantry.

"Crunch—crunch—"

A dull, rhythmic metallic scraping sound pierced through the lingering smoke and came from the distant horizon.

Accompanying this was the heart-pounding, deep roar of dozens of high-horsepower engines emitting simultaneously.

The earth began to tremble slightly once again.

But this time, it wasn't because of an explosion, but because some kind of heavy monster was approaching.

Akiyama Yoshiyuki suddenly raised his head and stared intently at the smoke ahead.

A gust of wind blew by, briefly dispersing a corner of the smoke.

All that could be seen was the vast wilderness in the distance.

Tanks painted in a field gray camouflage and bearing the emblem of the Republic of China on their turrets were lined up in a wide wedge-shaped attack formation, rolling over like a steel torrent.

Leading the charge were the 38(t) light tank and the Panzer III L medium tank.

On either side of them are Jagdpanzer mortars with low chassis and long gun barrels.

Behind these armored vehicles stretched an endless line of SD.KFZ.250 half-track armored vehicles and Opel trucks, each fully loaded with armed infantry.

The First Honor Brigade, Zhao Dashan's armored assault group, has arrived.

"Tanks...the Chinese tank unit..."

"It's over."

Akiyama Yoshiyuki collapsed onto the muddy ground, his face ashen.

The vanguard had just been shelled, its organization was in disarray, and its anti-tank weapons were incomplete...

To use flesh and blood to stop this heavily armed armored force?

"boom!"

The 38(t) tank at the very front opened fire first.

The 37mm high-explosive shell struck precisely in the middle of a group of Japanese soldiers who were trying to gather together, instantly clearing out a small area.

Immediately afterwards, all the tanks’ coaxial machine guns and bow machine guns roared to life.

"Da da da da da—!"

Dense trail bullets intertwined to form a deadly fire net, mercilessly reaping the lives of the remaining Japanese soldiers on the highway.

"Crush them, leave no one alive!"

Inside the armored command vehicle at the rear, Zhao Dashan leaned half his body out of the hatch, wearing goggles, and shouted excitedly.

-----

"squeak--!"

An Opel Lightning truck, fully loaded with infantry, slammed on the brakes on the muddy road.

The wheels dragged two deep furrows in the mud, splashing mud everywhere.

Before the car had even come to a complete stop, machine gun platoon leader Lin Xin pushed open the passenger door and jumped out.

In the distance, the faint stench of burnt protein could be heard.

Lin Xin crouched down and quickly ran to a truck in front of him.

The company commander was observing the enemy situation through binoculars when he saw Lin Xin approaching. He immediately gave him a few instructions and assigned tasks.

"clear!"

Without saying a word, Lin Xin turned and ran back.

As a junior officer produced by the system and instilled with a large amount of Han infantry manuals and combat experience.

Lin Xin, who was highly motivated, was very clear about his mission.

His two fire support squads, equipped with MG42 general-purpose machine guns, were definitely not tasked with engaging the Japanese in a direct confrontation.

Providing frontal cover for machine guns was the job of other friendly units.

His task was to provide crossfire and flank cleanup.

"Class 1, Class 2, everyone get off the bus."

Lin Xin rushed to the back of the truck, pounded on the side panel, and shouted the order:

"Take all your gear and follow me to the right flank."

"Splash—"

A dozen strong machine gunners and ammunition handlers jumped off the trucks into the mud like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

They moved with extreme speed.

The main gunner carries the slender MG42 machine gun.

The first and second assistant gunners carried heavy tripods and spare barrels.

Each of the ammunition handlers carried two heavy metal ammunition boxes, with several bright yellow ammunition chains hanging around their necks.

"Stay close to me, keep your distance, and start running."

Lin Xin, carrying an MP40 submachine gun, took the lead and led his team into the open field on the right side of the road.

The Lunan Plain, after the rain, has soil that is soft and fluffy, like a large sponge soaked with water.

When you step on it, the mud goes right up to your ankle, and when you pull it out, you can even hear a "splat" sound of it sucking water in.

Running through such muddy ground while carrying dozens of kilograms of weapons and ammunition is an extremely demanding physical challenge.

But none of Lin Xin's soldiers fell behind; they even suppressed their heavy breathing.

This is the benefit of the five-kilometer armed cross-country run that the legion usually trains people to the point of exhaustion.

Sweating more in peacetime will allow you to run faster in wartime and seize the initiative.