Anti-Japanese War: Starting from Yaobai

Chapter 2950 The Second Division's Great Rout!
Boom boom boom!
The grenades exploded one after another in the Japanese blocking force's position, creating terrifying shockwaves.

The rocks, already weathered by years of wind and sun, were now flying in all directions like flowers scattered by a fairy.

Any Japanese soldier hit by the pebbles was either riddled with holes or killed instantly by a direct hit to a vital spot.

Some Japanese soldiers were even thrown out by the powerful impact, tracing arcs in the air before rolling directly down the mountainside.

The Japanese soldiers who landed coughed up blood, twitched a few times, and then died, leaving behind only mangled corpses on the hillside or at the foot of the mountain.

The Japanese officer, who had narrowly escaped the bombing, was still holding his sword and shouting, "Hold on! Hold on!"

But the next second, a grenade exploded next to him, blasting him away.

The Japanese officers suffered a crushing defeat in the Northwest, and without command, the Japanese blocking forces immediately fell into disarray.

Some people planned to stay and hold out, while others simply ran away.

Although whoever stayed behind was cannon fodder, at this time, probably not many Japanese soldiers truly wanted to be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor.

Those who were truly loyal had long since died, while those who did not wish to be loyal were still alive.

So the clever Japanese soldiers all turned and ran, only a few stubborn ones remained and held their ground.

However, their firepower is negligible; a single Long Qianyan unit is enough to completely suppress them.

At this time, Chunjiang's team had twenty times the strength of a Japanese infantry squad, plus machine guns and submachine guns. Even if there were twice as many Japanese soldiers left, let alone a dozen or so, they wouldn't be enough to defeat his company.

Soon, the last Japanese blocking force was decimated and fled in disarray. Meanwhile, Ma Shanpao, leading the Chunjiang Second Team, relentlessly pursued the fleeing Japanese soldiers and had already encountered the second Japanese blocking force.

At this moment, the Japanese soldiers were in a panic. They had already learned from the retreating soldiers that the anti-Japanese brigade's pursuers were getting close, so they simply found a roadside hillside and set up machine guns, ready for battle.

However, little did they know that Ma Sanpao had also received Ma Hu's intelligence and was already prepared.

Just as the Japanese soldiers set up their machine guns, the Mashan gun appeared and immediately ordered a full-scale fire suppression of the Japanese positions.

He moved more than thirty machine guns to the front of the team, and more than fifty submachine guns were deployed to work in coordination with the machine gunners.

The massive amount of bullets rained down on the Japanese positions like a storm, leaving the Japanese soldiers unable to even raise their heads.

But the Japanese soldiers were not all incompetent fools; after a brief moment of panic, they quickly organized a counterattack.

They relied on various makeshift shelters and used rifles and machine guns to return fire. Bullets whistled through the air, causing casualties in Chunjiang No. 2 Team.

Ma Shanpao, holding a light machine gun, was firing at the Japanese machine gunner.

The Japanese machine gunner was shot twice in the head and once in the neck, and died on the spot.

With the Japanese machine gunner dead, the other Japanese soldiers didn't even have a chance to fire.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ma Shanpao led his assault team to a position about 30 meters away from the Japanese. Ma Shanpao immediately ordered: "Prepare the grenades!"

The soldiers, well-trained, quickly pulled out their grenades, pulled the pins, and hurled them towards the Japanese positions. Boom! Boom! Boom!
Hand grenades exploded one after another on the Japanese positions, kicking up clouds of dust and smoke.

The Japanese soldiers were bombed and howled in pain, showing no will to fight.

The vast majority of the Japanese soldiers, led by the retreating Japanese soldiers, fled directly towards the Tiger's Mouth Outpost, and the remaining Japanese soldiers were less than one-fifth of the entire infantry squad.

Upon seeing this, Ma Shanpao immediately ordered an attack, annihilating all the Japanese soldiers in the position before joining forces with Long Qianyan's troops to continue pursuing the Japanese army.

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Meanwhile, General Maruyama soon received reports of the retreating blocking forces, and his conventional withdrawal attempt seemed to be proving to be anything but easy. His enemy, as expected, was not going to let him off so easily.

"Baka! Isn't the Imperial Army's retreat a good thing for the anti-Japanese forces? Why are they still so relentless?"

General Maruyama was so angry that he gritted his teeth, but there was nothing he could do. He could only curse the Japanese soldiers in charge of blocking the attack as a bunch of useless people who couldn't even do such a small thing right.

Of course, this is not the time to assign blame, but rather to determine how he could ensure the safe withdrawal of the main force to the Hukou outpost.

However, at that very moment, the chief of staff asked inappropriately, "General, what do we do now? The anti-Japanese brigade is pursuing us very closely. If this continues, I'm afraid our main force will also be caught up by the enemy, and they will eat us up little by little!"

General Maruyama glared at his chief of staff, roaring, "What to do? What to do? You're asking me what to do? What am I doing keeping you staff officers around? You can't come up with a single useful idea at this crucial moment!"

The chief of staff turned pale with fright and quickly lowered his head, not daring to say another word.

General Maruyama's anger burned ever brighter. He recalled his earlier decision to retreat, which he thought would preserve his strength, but instead he was relentlessly pursued and attacked by the anti-Japanese forces. Now, his blocking troops had been defeated, which was an utter disgrace.

However, after much deliberation, he finally gave the order: "Pass on my order to all units to speed up their retreat, but be sure to maintain order and not let the anti-Japanese brigade take advantage of any loopholes."

The chief of staff hesitated for a moment, but still said with a forced smile, "But General, the morale of the troops is low right now, and speeding up the retreat may cause even greater chaos."

Upon hearing this, General Maruyama flew into a rage. He roared, "Chaos? Do you want us to wait here to die? If the Anti-Japanese Brigade catches up with us, we'll be worn down bit by bit. Isn't that what you just said? And now you're telling me it's chaotic? Go and order them to maintain order. That way, we can get back to Tiger's Mouth Outpost before dark. Do you understand?"

The chief of staff nodded repeatedly in fright and said, "Yes, General! I'll go and relay the order right away."

General Maruyama finally let out a long sigh of relief after watching the chief of staff get out of the car and leave.

Although he knew that even if his orders were passed on, his retreat would probably not go smoothly.

But in this situation, what other options does he have?

He originally thought that with so many Imperial Army soldiers, dealing with the small anti-Japanese brigade would be a piece of cake.

But he was wrong. His opponent didn't take his elite Imperial Army seriously at all. If he had gone any further, the entire Second Division would likely have been annihilated, just like Kujo Miyamoto.

Thinking of Kujo Miyamoto, General Maruyama recalled another incident: his conversation with Kujo Miyamoto in Fuyang County. What Kujo Miyamoto said turned out to be true. At the time, he had mocked Kujo Miyamoto as a spoiled brat.

Looking back now, he realized how ridiculous and arrogant he had been. If he had listened to even a single word of advice, he wouldn't be in such a sorry state!

Regret spread through General Maruyama's heart, making him seem to age considerably overnight!