Comrade, your ingredients are too complicated.

"Everyone, take cover! Cover your ears!"

"emission!"

With a command from the frontline commander, the commander of the half-track armored vehicle immediately remotely ignited the rockets, and three 280mm heavy rockets broke free from the launcher almost simultaneously.

Soon, three ferocious fire dragons tore through the sky under the setting sun and roared toward their target.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Amidst the deafening explosions, the comrades of the 77th Division felt as if they were in the epicenter. Dust and rubble rained down from the top of their bunkers, striking their helmets with a soft, tinkling sound.

The first shot, at 280, hit the core of Yokohama Specie Bank's dome.

The 40-kilogram warhead exploded with a deafening roar in the reception hall, instantly shattering the marble pillar into dozens of pieces, with fragments flying everywhere like shrapnel.

The lacquered wooden frame of the screen was also cracked into sharp fragments, which mixed with glass shards to form a deadly barrage, as if the Grim Reaper had unleashed his ultimate skill at the Lijiang Tower.

The second shot was 280, and it slanted into the second-floor corridor.

At the moment of the explosion, a Type 92 heavy machine gun and its operator were thrown out of the window by the shockwave. The Japanese soldier was already dead in mid-air, but his left hand was still tightly gripping the ammunition deflector.

When people and steel debris crashed heavily to the ground, they produced a chilling reverberation of metal impact and bones shattering.

The third shot, 280, was precisely fired into the main entrance of Yokohama Specie Bank.

The heavy double metal door twisted and deformed in the explosion, and the sixteen-petaled chrysanthemum pattern meticulously crafted by the author was shattered into pieces by the shockwave.

A fleeing Japanese soldier suddenly staggered and knelt down, the excruciating pain in his upper body rendering him immobile. The chrysanthemum emblem that had been blown off now felt like a wedge, deeply embedded in his abdomen.

Just before he breathed his last, he used up all his remaining strength to touch the metal fragment that symbolized the locust, and his unfocused pupils suddenly contracted.

"Your Majesty the Heavenly Locust... killed me?"

Well, this kind of absurd and dramatic death can probably only be perfectly replicated by that tractor on the Eastern Front with Da Linzi's portrait on it.

······
After being ravaged by three 280mm heavy rockets, the interior of Yokohama Specie Bank has been turned into a slaughterhouse.

From a high vantage point a hundred meters away, the comrades of the 77th Division could still see the flickering flames and thick smoke in the ruins.

虽然跟后世的PHL-16、BM-30和M270比不了，但在这1943年，TG家这款280绝对是巷战的扛鼎之作。

After all, decades later, Da Mao and Er Mao proved with their actions that the best solution for street fighting was to demolish buildings!
"My goodness, that's some serious firepower!"

A young soldier who had only enlisted in the first half of 42 gripped his rifle tightly, his knuckles turning white. He had indeed witnessed artillery fire from the army, but the sight of this three-story bank building reduced to ashes still made his throat tighten.

In a nearby bunker, the crew of the half-track armored vehicle were calmly recording data.

The train commander snapped his pocket watch shut and glanced at the still dusty ruins: "Forty-five seconds, a bit longer than expected. Looks like the Japanese used pretty solid materials for their new bank."

Seemingly noticing the young soldier's dazed look, he patted the dust off his shoulder and comforted him in a teasing tone:
"How about it? The new equipment developed by the Weapons Experimentation and Research Army is pretty impressive, isn't it? Three rockets, costing a total of 872.53 yuan. Let's consider this border currency as money to buy lives for the Japanese devils."

"Director Huang said that to deal with poor imperialists, we have to bury them in money."

Just as the comrades behind the bunker were chatting idly, the commander of the 2nd Regiment of the 77th Division crouched low and crawled into the position. He carried a Winchester M1912, a Chinese-made version, and gave an order to the nearby soldiers:
"All units, provide cover for the flamethrower soldiers as they approach the bank ruins, and immediately deploy into combat formation!"

"The enemy excels at last-ditch counterattacks; we can't give the Japanese a chance to regroup their defenses. Shoot down anything that's moving; don't leave a single one alive!"

"Hurry, hurry, get moving! Time is tight and the mission is heavy. Our regiment still has three blocks to clear. I doubt anyone wants to fight a night battle with the 39th Independent Mixed Brigade."

Before long, five flamethrower soldiers, under the cover of the infantry company, finally reached the ruins.

Adhering to the principle of helping the Japanese soldiers warm themselves by the fire in the dead of winter, the soldiers pulled the trigger without hesitation.

"Hiss, boom!"

Accompanied by the distinctive roar of the flamethrower, streaks of fire roared forth from the nozzles. Twenty-meter-long flames, like living creatures, surged into the cracks of the ruins, twisting and melting even the steel in their wake. The crackling sound of concrete exploding under the intense heat, mixed with the heart-wrenching screams of some kind of being, echoed repeatedly above the former site of the building.

Even through the gas masks, the pungent stench of gasoline, burnt flesh, and burning hair made the soldiers behind the bunker unconsciously hold their breath.

But it's not a big problem. It's a community outreach effort, so even if there are difficulties, we have to carry out our enthusiasm to the end.

······
The headquarters of the Independent Mixed Brigade No. 39, underground artillery shelter.

"Major General!" The chief of staff staggered into the command post, his uniform stained with gunpowder and blood. "The Eighth Route Army has broken through the fourth line of defense. The city defense brigade sent an urgent telegram that at least four enemy divisions are attacking!"

The Japanese colonel pointed a trembling finger at the battle map, his hoarse voice filled with despair:

"Although the various units of the brigade fought desperately, the disparity in firepower between the enemy and ourselves was too great, so we could only rely on fortifications to block the attack layer by layer."

"Samurai, the samurai can only use their flesh and blood to delay the enemy's armored forces!"

Listening to the battle reports coming back from the front lines, Hideo Yano closed his eyes in anguish.

The reason was simple: the defenses collapsed too quickly, almost instantly. The fortifications and firing positions failed to perform as intended.

Although street fighting could, to some extent, narrow the gap in hard power between the two sides, as more and more Eighth Route Army soldiers poured into Shimen City, the ratio of enemy to friendly forces had become 7:1.

Add to that the rampaging assault guns, wheeled vehicles, and tanks, and the brigade's urban warfare fortress, on which it depended for survival, was no different from an urn, the only question being when it would be cremated.

Seeing that his brigade commander remained silent and unresponsive to the urgent battle report, the colonel chief of staff shook his head helplessly, then straightened his boots and reported loudly:
"Major General Yano, please allow me to lead your guards to defend the gate to the death."

"We will fight to the death to buy you some decent time!"

Upon hearing this, Hideo Yano suddenly came to his senses.

As a die-hard loyalist, the old Japanese soldier had long since disregarded life and death and was unafraid of dying. His momentary daze was mainly due to seeing the disparity in strength between his side and the Eighth Route Army, which filled him with despair.

Thinking of this, he felt it necessary to remind the army headquarters in the rear to at least pass on intelligence about the enemy's new equipment.

"Send a farewell telegram to General Okamura Yasuji! My Independent Mixed Brigade No. 39 has been ordered to defend Shimen to the death. The soldiers are fighting bravely, but the battle has reached its final stage."

"The Eighth Route Army deployed unprecedented heavy firepower in this battle, especially 240mm heavy artillery and heavy rockets. Their shells rained down, with astonishing power, and the concrete fortifications that our brigade and regiment had painstakingly built were all destroyed in one blow."

"Though the soldiers are determined to die, their flesh and blood are no match for the torrent of steel. The enemy has now broken through the last line of defense, and the headquarters is about to fall. I am determined to lead the remaining troops to their deaths to repay the Emperor's grace."

"I urge Your Excellency to be vigilant, for the enemy's heavy firepower has undergone a qualitative change! Long live His Majesty the Heavenly Locust! Yano's last words."

Upon hearing this, the colonel chief of staff quickly recorded the contents of the telegram, then turned and walked towards the communications room next door.

As the commander whose rank on site was second only to the brigade commander, he also had to personally supervise the final destruction process.

······
After an hour and a half of fierce fighting, the 2nd Regiment of the 77th Division broke through layers of obstacles like a sharp knife and finally arrived at the headquarters of the Independent Mixed Brigade No. 39.

Before the smoke of battle had cleared, Cheng Shifa strode into this final battlefield, determined to personally bring the Battle of Shimen to a perfect close.

"Old Cheng, the Japanese headquarters is just ahead. What do you think? Should we charge straight in and try to fill the gap in the border region's liberation alliance with new recruits, or should we continue firing?"

Upon hearing the questions from the deputy division commander and political commissar, Cheng Shifa did not answer immediately, but instead raised his hand and made a tactical gesture.

Soon, three flares whistled into the sky, illuminating an area of ​​500 meters as if it were daytime. He raised his binoculars and began to observe Yano Hideo's deployment.

"Tsk, a classic case of a cornered beast fighting."

In the footage, the Japanese army, with the headquarters building as its core, constructed a final circular defensive line in the square using sandbags, bricks, and the wreckage of destroyed armored vehicles.

The construction of several machine gun nests is commendable, but they clearly lack the support of heavy weapons.

"Just open fire! That bastard Yano Hideo is definitely hiding in an underground bunker. I heard he wants to replicate the Nanjing Massacre in Shimen Castle. I want to see if he has the courage to commit seppuku." (End of Chapter)