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

(Sorry, Chapter 334 was moved to the end of Volume 1 by Potato. I'm trying to get it back.)

As Itagaki walked to the bunker entrance, looking at the dusty, listless soldiers outside, he felt a profound sense of powerlessness.

"Reporting to the brigade commander."

Just then, a communications officer rushed into the command post:

"Soldiers found leaflets airdropped by the Great Xia army on the battlefield."

They told us to...wash our necks and wait.

It was also said that Lin Feng had arrived at the front lines, and this time he brought... all the main forces, intending to completely annihilate the Fifth Division.

"Damn it, this Black Tengu Lin Feng is going too far!"

Itagaki's face turned ashen, and he trembled with rage.

"Ugh—!!!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a deafening whistling sound, growing louder as it approached from afar, suddenly came from the sky, instantly drawing everyone's attention to the heavens.

"Artillery fire, it's artillery fire, take cover!"

On the position, experienced veterans let out panicked screams.

next second.

The first K5 railway gun fired a heavy high-explosive shell weighing over 250 kilograms, which, with devastating force, slammed into a small hill in the core defensive position of the 5th Division.

"boom--!!!"

A blinding orange-red fireball suddenly rose up among the hills outside Tangtou Town.

Immediately following was a deafening roar, as if the sky were collapsing and the earth were splitting apart.

The earth trembled violently, as if an earthquake had occurred.

Even in the bunker a kilometer away, Itagaki and the others felt a clear tremor; the telephone, map, and kettle on the table were all shaken to the ground.

Large chunks of soil and rubble on top of the bunker were shaken and fell down, hitting the Japanese soldiers' helmets with a thud.

After the explosion, a large section of that small hill was completely flattened.

The once sturdy machine gun emplacement was as flimsy as paper, and along with the dozen or so Japanese soldiers inside, it vanished completely in the heat of the shockwave, leaving not even a single intact strip of cloth behind.

The surrounding trenches were also shaken and a section of them collapsed.

"What...what kind of cannon is this?"

A Japanese major stared at the small mushroom cloud slowly rising in the distance, his pupils filled with fear, his lips trembling.

Itagaki hurriedly turned around, grabbed his binoculars, and stumbled to the entrance of the bunker, looking at the hill that was still billowing black smoke and dust.

???

He put down the binoculars, rubbed his eyes which were stinging from the firelight, and raised the lenses again.

There are no airplanes.

The sky was clear and clean, without a single airplane in sight.

It wasn't a bombing.

It was artillery fire.

The only option is artillery fire.

A layer of cold sweat appeared on Itagaki's forehead.

He knew better than anyone else that this was firepower that no artillery regiment of the Great Xia could produce.

He had seen countless explosions of 150mm howitzers, or even larger 155mm ones, but none possessed the terrifying power to slice off an entire mountain.

For a single shell to cause such damage, the warhead must weigh at least 200 kilograms.

In this world, there is only one weapon capable of launching such heavy shells dozens of kilometers away—the railway gun.

Itagaki clenched his back teeth, the muscles in his cheeks twitching.

He had seen such giant cannons on railways in the exchange materials of the Hans military expedition.

With the expansion of the railway network, this method of warfare, which allowed large-caliber artillery to move rapidly along the rails and launch bombardments from extremely long distances, matured during the last World War.

The Hans' "Paris Cannon" once fired from a forest 120 kilometers away, sending shells crashing into the heart of Paris, setting a record for the longest artillery range at the time.

Lin Feng actually managed to acquire a real train cannon.

Itagaki's heart rate spiked to 120 in an instant, and he felt like he could barely breathe.

Just as he was anxiously sending people to check the damage at the impact point, 10 minutes later, the whistling sound of a second shell came from the sky.

"Ugh—!"

This time he didn't lie down, but just clung tightly to the wooden stake at the entrance of the bunker, watching as another position in the distance was reduced to fragments in the explosion.

Soil, gravel, wood, and human remains were thrown tens of meters into the air by the blast wave, scattering in all directions like a fountain.

He raised the binoculars again.

There used to be a squad of soldiers and two heavy machine guns on that position, but now there's nothing left but a huge crater still emitting smoke.

Itagaki's hands were trembling so badly that he could barely hold the binoculars.

The staff officer next to him quickly spoke up:

"Commander, danger!"

The Chinese shelling is too intense! Please take cover immediately!

Itagaki retreated into the bunker, sat on the ammunition box, took off his glasses, and wiped the dust and sweat from his face with his sleeve.

No one spoke; the command post was so quiet you could hear the squeaking of a mouse in the corner.

Everyone strained their ears, waiting for the voice to sound again.

When will the next artillery barrage come?

Where will it land?

Could it land right above the command post?

Itagaki was well aware of the rate of fire of the railway gun.

For cannons of that size, each firing requires readjusting the gun position, cleaning the breech, and loading the shells and propellant charges that weigh hundreds of kilograms.

It can take ten minutes, or even longer, to fire a single shot.

But that's precisely the most agonizing part.

If ten or twenty shells were to fall in succession, they would simply be killed, and that would be the end of it all.

But now, after a shell struck, the world suddenly fell silent, with only the smell of burning flesh in the wind and the distant wails of wounded soldiers.

Nobody knows when the next one will come or where it will land.

Itagaki leaned against the map and closed his eyes.

He could feel his heart pounding against his chest, one beat after another.

Outside the bunker, a Japanese soldier, unable to withstand the pressure, suddenly screamed and rushed out, running wildly towards the open space to the north.

No one stopped him, and no one chased after him.

The soldier ran more than a hundred meters away, then squatted down by a shell crater, covered his head, and wailed loudly.

Itagaki opened his eyes, glanced in that direction, and then closed them again.

He knew that the soldier was useless.

Even if they don't get blown up, they'll never be able to hold a gun again.

wait.

torment.

fear.

This is a million times more terrifying than a hand-to-hand charge on the battlefield.

"Ugh—!!!"

Another shell was fired, and the mournful whistling sound rang out in the sky once more.

Itagaki's pupils contracted sharply, before he could react.

"boom--!!!"

The shell landed exactly a few hundred meters from the command post bunker, creating a huge crater with a diameter of more than ten meters.

A Japanese Type 94 light armored vehicle next to the point of impact was thrown several meters away by the shockwave, rolled several times in the air, and crashed to the ground, turning into a pile of scrap metal.

The massive shockwave, carrying debris and shrapnel, blew half of the fortifications outside the underground command post bunker away.

"Commander of the Protection Division!"

The terrifying shockwave arrived late, heading straight for the entrance to the underground bunker.

Several staff officers roared and desperately pushed Itagaki to the ground, using their bodies to shield him.