Even if I'm a useless bum at Whampoa Military Academy, I'll be invincible in the War of Re

The 11th Division lived up to its reputation as a standing first-class division; its members were incredibly arrogant. Dozens of men dared to charge into a heavily defended military formation, only to be swept to the ground by a hail of bullets.

The team leader finally realized the reality and screamed in terror:

"Baka yarou, there's an ambush—turn back!"

The remaining Japanese soldiers fled in disarray, and the Second Company did not pursue them. Luo Wen knew that this was only a skirmish, and the real battle was yet to come.

The pursuing troops suffered a crushing defeat, losing over thirty men. Company Commander Captain Imai, enraged, beat his platoon leader until his head was swollen, and roared:

"You bastards! You've completely disgraced the 12th Infantry Regiment!"

The squad leader quickly explained:

"Squadron Leader, there are a large number of elite Chinese troops stationed in Luodian, numbering in the hundreds, with formidable firepower."

"Useless! That's no excuse for your defeat."

After Lieutenant Imai finished speaking, he slapped Lieutenant Chiba a few more times to vent his anger.

"Hey!"

"hey-hey!"

"The company commander is right!"

Jiro Imai finally got tired of fighting and said with a cold face:

"A few hundred Chinese men are nothing; my Imai Company is more than capable of crushing them."

"Warriors, charge!"

The Japanese soldiers immediately launched an attack on the Second Company's position. They formed a neat attack formation and came with murderous intent.

Rowan's expression turned extremely serious. The Japanese standing divisions were indeed formidable; their imposing presence could be felt from a great distance, far surpassing the pampered marines.

The Japanese skirmishers were spread out in two echelons, with riflemen in front and machine gunners and grenade launcher teams behind. They formed small groups of several men and cooperated well with each other.

This was a squadron-level attack, and its fatal flaw was the lack of artillery preparation and heavy machine gun suppression.

The Second Company had strong field fortifications and firepower far exceeding that of the Japanese. They were on high alert, and Luo Wen was determined to teach the Japanese a painful lesson.

When the Japanese skirmishers advanced to within a hundred-meter radius, the position was suddenly detonated, and several streams of flame shot towards the Japanese soldiers, instantly killing a large number of them.

The crossfire from four M1919 medium machine guns showed the Japanese what it meant to be rained down bullets.

Although the Japanese soldiers were tough, they were still made of flesh and blood. A 7.62mm machine gun bullet entering their bodies would either kill or wound them.

With a theoretical rate of fire of 400-600 rounds per minute, the Japanese soldiers had no time to react. In just one exchange, nearly half of the Japanese soldiers at the front were killed or wounded.

The rest of them lay obediently on the ground, with almost no power to fight back.

Fear filled Jiro Imai's eyes; he had never seen such intense machine gun fire.

The Type 92 heavy machine gun, which the Japanese army was so proud of, was nothing but garbage in front of it, let alone the Type 91 light machine gun.

"Baka yarou, what kind of machine gun is that?"

Lieutenant Yokota, the squadron's executive officer, was quite knowledgeable and said in a deep voice:

"Mr. Imai, this is an M1919 Browning medium machine gun. It has an effective range of over 1000 meters, uses a 250-round ammunition belt, and has strong firepower. It is the main combat equipment of the United States."

Captain Imai took a deep breath and said:

"Wow, top-of-the-line Western equipment. It seems the garrison in Luodian is the true elite of China."

"It's no big deal, the 12th Regiment is all about fighting elites!"

"Thrust, thud!"

Captain Imai was not intimidated by the few machine guns. Instead, he ordered his troops to continue advancing, showing his complete confidence in the Bushido code of the Japanese army.

The Japanese also set up several Type 4 light machine guns and opened fire fiercely on the Second Company's position, but their firepower was far inferior to that of the four Browning medium machine guns, and they were completely suppressed.

Riflemen charged through a hail of bullets, but despite their agility, they were no match for the bullets. One soldier after another fell, and the ground was littered with yellowish-brown corpses.

As the Japanese skirmishers advanced, the 2nd Company's Browning 1918 automatic rifles and Springfield rifles joined the battle, greatly increasing the intensity of their firepower, and the Japanese finally couldn't keep up.

Executive Lieutenant Yokota quickly stopped him:

"Imai-kun, the Chinese firepower is too intense. Continuing the charge will only increase casualties. Let's wait for the main force to arrive before dealing with them!"

Captain Imai was in a difficult position, but he also knew that without heavy firepower, he could not break through the defenders' positions.

Yokota's words gave him a way out, and he said indignantly:

"Alright, let the Chinese be smug for a while longer, then we'll withdraw!"

Although Captain Imai was arrogant, he did not act recklessly; these Japanese officers were truly elite.

After receiving the order to retreat, the Japanese troops retreated like a tide. They even tried to retrieve the wounded and the dead, but were accurately shot down by the snipers of the 2nd Company, and then gave up.

A sharp whistle rang out from the Second Company's position, and all the previously exposed machine guns were moved to new positions.

The objective of blocking the Japanese has been achieved. Once the Japanese heavy firepower arrives, they should collapse.

The battlefield subsided for a short time, and the main force of the First Battalion took the opportunity to gather the routed soldiers of Yuepu, gaining 227 men and more than 100 guns.

Zhang Yi readily added them to the army, restoring its vitality.

In the previous battle at Hongkou Park, the security force suffered more than 500 casualties, including 368 who were killed or seriously wounded.

After several days of treatment, the lightly wounded have recovered their combat effectiveness, some of the seriously wounded have recovered, and others have also improved. The actual number of casualties was 281, including 54 seriously wounded.

More than 200 people were killed. During the period of rest and recuperation in Luodian, Zhao Yunwen recruited more than 100 retired soldiers in the town. With the addition of the defeated soldiers gathered this time, the security regiment was fully restored.

Not long after, Takagi Ryoichi arrived with the main force, and this time it was Captain Imai who was attacked.

"You bastard! More than 80 people have been lost in the small town of Luodian. You have betrayed the trust placed in you by Tianhuang!"

"Hey, the captain's right!"

"Hey, please allow me to reclaim my soldier's dignity on the battlefield."

"hey-hey!"

After venting his anger, Major Takagi asked:

"Imai-kun, tell me, what happened?"

"Hey, Captain, the Chinese have heavily fortified Luodian Town, equipped with several M1919 Browning heavy machine guns and strong field fortifications. The Imperial Army has been unable to break through their firepower network in several attacks."

To minimize unnecessary casualties, I had no choice but to halt the attack.

Ryoichi Takagi touched his mustache and said:

"Yoshi, this must be the famous German-equipped engineer, but he's a bit of a fraud, using eagle-equipped weapons instead."

The eagle-equipped weaponry was derived from German weaponry, and it must have been tricked by the Westerners into accepting inferior products.

A few machine guns are nothing to worry about. Your probing attack will lure the Chinese to expose their heavy firepower. The rest can be handled by the infantry artillery squad.

Captain Imai was waiting for the Type 92 infantry gun, which was the nemesis of machine guns and a powerful weapon for infantry support firepower.

Equipped at the battalion level, with two guns per battalion, also known as "battalion guns".

"Commander, Company Commander Imai will never let you down again!"

After uttering those harsh words, Captain Imai slung his sword over his shoulder and strode away.

Ryoichi Takagi nodded in satisfaction and said:

"Yoshi, Imai-kun truly lives up to his reputation as the most loyal and courageous samurai in the Takagi Battalion."

"Chinese, die!"