Not enough Japanese devils to kill? 1.4 billion people volunteer for the Battle of Shanghai.

Dawn had just broken, and the smoke from the battle had not yet dissipated from the ruins of Hongkou.

The five-story building—or rather, the former five-story building—is now nothing but ruins.

The red flag was planted on the tallest broken pillar, fluttering in the morning breeze like a battle monument.

"Brigade Commander!" A staff officer rushed over, holding a Japanese telegram he had just intercepted.

It was Su Yue who deciphered the message from a captured radio—an order for the Third Fleet stationed at Wusongkou to cooperate with the army in an immediate counterattack to retake Hongkou.

Huang Xing took the telegram, glanced at it, and sneered, "You reacted quite quickly."

He turned and walked toward the temporary command post—

In a relatively intact room on the ground floor of the building, Bian Yun, Lu Bei, Lei Gang, Zhao Tiezhu, and others were already waiting.

A huge map of Shanghai's urban area hangs on the wall, densely marked with red and blue markers.

"The loss of the Army and Navy headquarters is not just a matter of face for the Japanese army." Huang Xing tapped the location of Hongkou on the map with a pencil.

"This was their core stronghold, which they had been operating for six years, storing large quantities of ammunition, fuel, and medicine. Losing this place would affect the entire Japanese army's supply line in Shanghai."

He paused, then moved the pencil northeast, stopping at a spot marked "Wusongkou":

"So they will retaliate. And it will definitely be a large-scale counterattack."

Bian Yun stared at the map: "The route of the counterattack..."

"By sea." Huang Xing's pencil traced downstream along the Huangpu River.

"Entering from the mouth of the Yangtze River, landing at Wusongkou, and then heading west along Jungong Road and Yixian Road, heading straight for Hongkou."

He looked at Bian Yun: "Who's guarding Wusongkou now?"

An old staff officer from the 264th Brigade nearby replied, "The 42nd Brigade of the 87th Division. The brigade commander died in battle three days ago, and now the deputy brigade commander, Guo Rugui, is acting. They... are holding out very hard."

The old staff officer was silent for a moment, then said, "We last made contact two days ago. The 42nd Brigade should have 4,000 men at full strength. Deputy Brigade Commander Guo said... there are still 1,200 left."

The room was deathly silent.

Four thousand men, reduced to twelve thousand.

Three days.

Bian Yun pressed his finger on the Wusongkou.

It was just a small protrusion on the map, but he knew the actual terrain—

Surrounded by water on three sides, the terrain is low-lying and offers no natural defenses. The Japanese army could bombard it directly from naval guns on the Yangtze River, and their aircraft could take off from the sea to bomb it repeatedly.

That was a real meat grinder.

"They can't hold out for much longer," Bian Yun said.

"Yes." Huang Xing nodded. "If the Japanese army sends another division to land at Wusongkou, the 42nd Brigade... will be crushed."

Bian Yun turned to look at everyone:

"Let's not delay. Let's go to Wusongkou."

Lei Gang's eyes lit up as he looked at the 155mm howitzer that had cooled down: "This is good stuff! Take it to Wusongkou and bombard the Japanese landing ships! One shot, one kill!"

Before setting off, Bian Yun made final arrangements.

"Lu Bei, Lin Mo, Lei Gang, and Su Yue, you're coming with me to Wusongkou. Dong Yi and Fang Chu will stay behind to assist Commander Huang in consolidating the Hongkou defense line."

Dong nodded, offering no objection. This special forces soldier was like a sheathed sword, capable of playing his maximum role wherever he went.

Fang Chu has already begun setting up new communication base stations: "I will ensure smooth communication between Hongkou and Wusongkou."

"Zhao Tiezhu, Zhou Wenyuan, you two stay as well." Bian Yun looked at the two artillery experts. "We still need artillery here. Brigade Commander Huang, does the 264th Brigade have any usable artillery?"

Huang Xing smiled wryly: "There are still two 75mm mountain guns, and less than thirty shells."

"That's enough," Zhou Wenyuan said. "Give me the coordinates, and I can make these two old guns produce unexpected results."

"Li Yanran, give me half of the drone."

"It's all allocated." Li Yanran handed over a control terminal. "Ten mini reconnaissance aircraft, with a four-hour flight time, enough to cover the area from Wusongkou to Hongkou."

"Su Qing, share the medical supplies in half."

"It's all sorted out." Su Qing pointed to four medical kits on the ground. "Antibiotics, hemostatic powder, plasma substitutes, surgical instruments. Enough for two hundred people."

Everything is ready.

Bian Yun took one last look at the land of Hongkou that had just been reclaimed.

On the ruins, soldiers had already begun constructing fortifications. They piled up the Japanese corpses, doused them with gasoline, and set them on fire—

Black smoke billowed into the sky, like incense burning in some kind of ritual…