Blood-Red Front

Suddenly subjected to fierce artillery fire, the newly formed 41st Regiment was momentarily stunned.

A operations staff officer rushed in: "Commander, something's wrong! All the positions at the front have been attacked!"

"How is this possible!" Hasegawa exclaimed in surprise.

"What's the situation at the observation posts within the town? Why haven't they reported any enemy activity?"

The operations staff reported: "I contacted the front lines, and they said that before the battle, several observation posts appeared to have been hit by anti-aircraft fire."

"Damn it! How did Xia Jun discover their tracks?!" Hasegawa slammed his fist on the table.

The houses in Lujia Town are basically no match for anti-aircraft gun fire. If they were subjected to continuous anti-aircraft bombardment, the people inside would probably be unable to even sweep up the debris.

Just as Hasegawa was pondering the current situation, his command post was suddenly bombarded by mortars.

"Commander!" The operations staff officer lunged forward, trying to shield Hasegawa with his body.

"Fire! Use up all the shells!" Lin Zhiyuan shouted from the artillery position.

"The headquarters of the newly promoted army is just ahead, follow me!"

"Kill them!"

The main force of the 41st Regiment was all transferred away, and the remaining half battalion was scattered to ensure the integrity of the defense line.

Meanwhile, the guard company responsible for defending the regimental headquarters was bombarded by the 6th Regiment's 82mm and 60mm mortars, leaving them unable to even lift their heads.

The 41st Regiment's defenses were easily breached by the 6th Regiment's strong attack, and Hasegawa was riddled with holes by the artillery fire.

……

Stepping through the broken bricks and tiles into the command post, Lin Zhiyuan glanced around.

"Bring all the maps and documents with you. They will be handed over to the General Staff later. There may be important military intelligence in them."

"Yes."

"Commander, look what this is."

Ma Daxi walked over with a pole in his hand. The upper part of the pole used to have something wrapped around it, but it had now been burned to ashes.

"The newly risen army seems to value this thing a lot; it's the first thing they burn, and it's even been doused with kerosene."

There were still a large number of documents inside the command post that hadn't been burned, and this pole was instead doused with kerosene—it didn't look normal at all.

After taking the pole and glancing at it, and then looking around the command post, Lin Zhiyuan analyzed, "This could be the regimental flag of the newly promoted army."

The regimental flag of the newly promoted army was bestowed by the Empress, symbolizing her presence, and was usually rolled up in a flag case.

In the event of a crisis, to prevent the Queen's clone from becoming spoils of war, the Rising Army will immediately burn its flags.

"The regimental flag? That's a bit of a shame."

Ma Daxi had heard of the newly raised regimental flag, and if he could capture it intact, it would be a good trophy.

However, now that only one pole remained, it was of little use. Ma Daxi casually threw it on the ground and then stomped on it until it broke.

Lin Zhiyuan didn't pay any attention and shouted to the soldiers who were busy collecting documents, "Hurry up, we should go!"

However, just as Lin Zhiyuan was preparing to continue his breakout attempt, he suddenly heard the phone ring.

Lin Zhiyuan glanced at it and stepped forward to answer it.

"This is Okazaki. I heard heavy artillery fire coming from your area. What's going on?"

"They are already dead. You can send someone to collect their bodies now. Be quick, I'm afraid their blood will soil the land of my Xia Kingdom."

Okazaki was taken aback when he heard the first words spoken through the microphone.

"Who are you?"

"I am your ancestor."

"Baka!"

"A soldier must also maintain his composure. Your cowardly behavior is not that of a warrior."

"So you're calling yourself a warrior? Well, you wait, my next target is the 14th Brigade headquarters, so don't you dare try to run away."

After saying that, Lin Zhiyuan ripped off the telephone cord and smashed the phone to pieces.

"withdraw!"

On the other side, Okazaki angrily slammed down the microphone when it suddenly went silent.

"Baka! The 41st Regiment's headquarters has been captured by the enemy."

The expressions of those around him changed drastically. Nakamura said urgently, "Brigade Commander, the enemy is very likely trying to break out from the east. Should we immediately send reinforcements from the north to the east?"

"No!" Okazaki shook his head firmly.

"Xia Jun couldn't have discovered my plan. They were probably planning to break out in two directions. The eastern route was likely just trying to tie down our forces, but they accidentally stumbled into the 41st Regiment's command post."

"Continue to strengthen the encirclement of Zhenxi, and slowly advance into the perimeter. Don't let the enemy inside escape!"

"Hi!"

……

At this point, the Western Assault Team was surrounded by the 14th Brigade. They moved around in the small encirclement, trying to find a possible place to break out.

As the newly promoted army advanced slowly, the Western Assault Team's operational space became increasingly limited.

After a night of chaotic fighting, as dawn broke, the Western Assault Team had no more room to maneuver and was completely trapped by the Rising Army.

Gang Qi's face was grim as he looked at Xia Jun, who was surrounded.

There were fewer than a hundred people in the encirclement, which meant his judgment was wrong; the main force of the Xia army had already broken out from the east.

None of the officers around him uttered a sound; they all kept their eyes down, as if nothing had happened.

Okazaki gritted his teeth and said, "Send someone to persuade them to surrender. I need to know all the information about the enemy."

"Hi!"

Soon, a traitor who had defected to Chu Sheng arrived at the front lines.

"Brothers over there! I am speaking to you on behalf of Major General Okazaki, commander of the 14th Brigade of the newly promoted Army!"

"General Okazaki believes you are all warriors, and warriors are what he admires most. As long as you are willing to surrender, he can guarantee your safety with the honor of a soldier."

Upon hearing the traitor's shouts, Zhong Ning, covered in blood, burst into laughter.

"The men of Binxi have all died on the banks of the Huangpu River!"

"Although I am not a warrior, if you want me to surrender, I only have one sentence to say."

"You son of a bitch, I'll fuck your mother!"

"kill!"

Zhong Ning charged toward Chu Shengjun with his bayonet in hand, followed closely by the assault team soldiers. The two sides suddenly clashed, blood splattering everywhere.

Zhong Ning desperately stabbed down a newly promoted soldier, but was also stabbed by three bayonets at the same time, and finally fell to the ground with his eyes open and his face up.

After a short while, the fighting stopped. Except for one soldier whose face still looked somewhat young, the rest of the assault team had all fallen into pools of blood.

The young soldier's hand, holding his gun, trembled uncontrollably as he faced countless enemies around him.

The traitor pushed through the wall of newly promoted soldiers and stood opposite him.

"Brother, that's enough. What you've done is entirely worthy of the Xia Kingdom."

"Major General Okazaki greatly admires you, and he asked me to pass on a message to you."

"As long as you are willing to surrender, he will guarantee you wealth and honor, women, and money—you can have whatever you want."

"hehe……"

The young soldier laughed a few times, spat a mouthful of bloody saliva to the side, stuck his rifle nose down in the ground, and took out a pack of cigarettes.

"Squad leader, don't rush, let me finish this cigarette," the young soldier muttered in a low voice.

However, after lighting the fire and taking a puff, he began to cough violently.

He had never smoked before and was having trouble getting used to the stimulation of nicotine.

However, he still coughed and finished the cigarette, even though tears were streaming down his face.

Seeing that the soldiers seemed less tense, the traitor asked again, "So, how about accepting General Okazaki's suggestion?"

"Disgusting! Disgusting!"

"What?" The traitor didn't react for a moment.

"I'm disgusted that Binxi produced a traitor like you. You're a disgrace to the men of Binxi!"

"I said the same thing: you son of a bitch, I'll fuck your mother!"

The young soldier suddenly pulled the pin on the grenade he was carrying and charged at the traitor in front of him, shouting as he did so.

The traitor was terrified and cried out, "Help!"

"boom!"

Blood and flesh flew everywhere.

……

A dozen minutes later, Okazaki arrived at the battlefield, looking at the corpses scattered on the ground, but his expression remained calm.

"Dig a hole and bury them all."

"In addition, report to headquarters that the 14th Brigade has occupied Lujia Town and is preparing to continue marching towards Kunshan."

"Hi!"

Chu Shengjun continued his advance and captured Kunshan with great ease.

But nobody from top to bottom was happy, because their planned encirclement strategy had completely failed.

The main force of the Xia army has retreated to the Wufu line, and the two sides have once again reached a stalemate.

This is the situation that a newly established nation least wants to see.