Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 71 The Power of the Flying Thunder Cannon

The Japanese obviously invested a lot in this attack, with planes and naval guns taking turns to attack. The subsequent infantry charge would naturally be large in scale, with thousands of people densely packed together. Li Jie estimated that this was at least a reinforced battalion.

"Damn it, you want to achieve your goal in one fell swoop. Since you guys have invested so much money, I won't hide it.

Notify the Third Company and the Artillery Company to prepare for battle. Duan Yulin will decide the timing of reinforcements on his own. This time, I'm going to give these sons of bitches a beating! "

The Japanese charged at a very fast speed with high morale, and they did not take the defenders seriously at all. Lieutenant Colonel Imazeki was so confident that he even doubted whether there were any Chinese people on the position.

It is no wonder that he has such arrogant ideas. Not everyone can withstand the combination of aircraft and naval guns, let alone the Chinese people who are known for their cowardice.

With such a rare opportunity, he naturally had to show off. Jin Guan drew out his command knife and shouted:
"Warriors, the Chinese have been frightened out of their wits. Charge forward and kill them all. The 22nd Regiment does not need any prisoners!"

"Itaya!"

The other Japanese soldiers screamed with excitement. These Japanese soldiers who had been brainwashed by militarism and Bushido were like a group of beasts. They pounced on the position of the first battalion like wild dogs smelling blood.

Li Jie looked at them coldly, just waiting for the Japanese to come to him. Due to the river embankment blocking the way, the Japanese could not climb up the embankment even if they rushed to the front, which would greatly reduce their impact speed. So Li Jie boldly let the Japanese within a few dozen meters before ordering to open fire.

Following Li Jie's order, dozens of light and heavy machine guns and hundreds of rifles on the first battalion's position opened fire at full power, raining bullets at the Japs. For a moment, the Japs were like a rice field swept by a strong wind, falling down in large numbers!

The Japanese soldiers of the 22nd Regiment were not made of clay. They had very high tactical skills. After the initial panic, they spontaneously fought back against the positions of the st Battalion.
Although the terrain was very unfavorable to them, their shooting skills were very accurate. In addition, the "38" type rifle had small recoil and high accuracy, and at a distance of dozens of meters, almost every shot hit the target, so the casualties of the first battalion were also high.

The Japanese relied on their superior military strength to advance step by step. As the distance of the exchange of fire shortened, casualties on both sides rose rapidly, and the battle gradually entered a state of attrition.

"Grenade!"

When the Japanese rushed to the front, rows of long-handled grenades were thrown from the river bank position into the group of Japanese soldiers, knocking down dozens of them in an instant;
The Japanese were attacking from above, and few people were able to throw their melon grenades, so they were at a disadvantage. After several rounds of grenade rain, the Japanese offensive was once again curbed.

The two sides were in a stalemate and exchanged fire at a distance of fifty or sixty meters. At this distance, the defenders could rarely throw grenades.

The Japanese grenade launchers began to come into play. Their range was close to 200 meters, so they could easily throw the Type 95 special grenade onto the river bank, causing the defenders' heavy firepower losses to increase sharply.

During the stalemate, the third company commander Duan Yulin quietly came up with the machine gun company and the third company. They set up the six "unscrupulous cannons" concentrated by the entire battalion on the back of the river bank, only a hundred meters away from the devils. Duan Yulin showed a cruel smile on his face and shouted:
"fire!"

The propellant threw six explosive packs into the sky, and then they drew beautiful parabolas and smashed into the group of devils like huge stones...

"Baga, a trebuchet?"

This scene happened to be discovered by Lieutenant Colonel Imazeki who was watching the battle from a distance, and his terrified mouth could be stuffed into his butt.

"Boom boom boom..."

Soon a series of huge explosions gave him the answer - it turned out to be heavy artillery!
He immediately rejected this answer, because heavy artillery could not be fired at such a close distance. As a mid-level commander who graduated from the Japanese Army Academy, he had some knowledge and soon thought of the answer - "Mortar - definitely a mortar!"

This kind of backward weapon was eliminated by Japan two hundred years ago, but the Chinese are actually using medieval weapons to fight them.

He first despised the backwardness of the Chinese, and then felt superior. Then a painful expression appeared on his face. The reason was that the lethality of this mortar was too great.
The Chinese fired only three rounds and his troops were completely defeated. Fear was in the eyes of every surviving devil.

They seemed to have just escaped from hell. The tragic scene after the explosion was too horrible for these beasts to bear. They only wanted to escape as far as possible.

No one cared about their companions who were blown to pieces. Even their intestines were blown out, there was no point in saving them. The most important thing was to escape.

Seeing that the Japs had been completely defeated, Li Jie roared and decisively launched a counterattack;

Hundreds of soldiers, including the officers and soldiers of the third company who had been well-rested, rushed down the river bank like a tidal wave, chasing and beating the Japanese invaders fiercely, killing the remaining Japanese soldiers and leaving their corpses all over the ground.

"Captain, retreat! Our defeat is overwhelming!"

The battalion staff pulled up the petrified Lieutenant Colonel Imazeki and ran away. They didn't want to lose a battalion commander in the battle.

Imaseki Chuzao had lost all hope, because he knew that retreating would bring no good results, so it would be better to die in battle, at least he could preserve his honor as a samurai.

Colonel Muraji, who was on the warship, was even more confused. He saw that his side had a great advantage and was about to reach the river bank, but then he heard a series of explosions. He could feel the vibrations from a long distance away.
His first reaction was that the Chinese had used heavy artillery. Such a big commotion must have been caused by at least a 150mm or larger heavy artillery group. Then he began to worry about his own troops. The lethality of the heavy artillery group was no joke.

Then he saw through the telescope a scene that made him ashamed. The warriors of the 22nd Regiment, who he had placed high hopes on, were being chased by the Chinese like rabbits...

"Bakayalu, you piece of trash! You're dead!"

"Hurry up, request naval artillery support!"

He now wished he could blow up these rubbish and the Chinese together, but the reaction of the ship's guns was not that fast, and there was also the problem of blind spots for shooting, so he was just dreaming.

Li Jie, who had been bombarded by naval guns, would not give him a chance. They only chased him for a few minutes and then stopped, then quickly returned to their position, leaving the Japanese no chance to retaliate.

A few minutes after the soldiers of the first battalion retreated to their positions, the Japanese ship's artillery shells finally arrived and exploded in a rage before stopping.
Because Li Jie saw the opportunity early, the Japanese revenge did not achieve very good results, and only caused a dozen casualties to the first battalion.

After this battle, more than half of the 22nd Regiment suffered casualties and was severely damaged. It did not launch any new attack before dark.

The deadlock on the right wing was also not broken. The captain of the 12th Regiment in the main position, Anda Nijusan, was quiet for the whole afternoon. After learning that the 22nd Regiment had not made any progress either, he placed his hopes on night fighting, which was their strong point.

"Chinese, I want to see your night combat capabilities. I hope you won't disappoint the Imperial Army!"

According to the readers' request, it would be more enjoyable to post two chapters at the same time. I will try it today. I still hope that readers can read more, collect more, vote for me, and recommend. Thank you for your support
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(End of this chapter)