One man's resistance against Japan, I mobilized a million people to aid Shanghai.

Luodian, a small town located in the northern suburbs of Shanghai, is a strategic transportation hub guarding the way to Jiading and Nanxiang, and is also a transportation hub on the Songtai Highway, making it a place of great importance to military strategists.

Meanwhile, Chen Cheng's reinforcements had arrived near Luodian.

This place was instantly transformed into a bloodbath, where the enemy and our forces clashed fiercely. Luodian became the most brutal focal point of the second phase of the Battle of Shanghai.

The Japanese knew that capturing Luodian would open a flank passage, threatening the flank and rear of the main force of the National Revolutionary Army.

Upon learning that the Nationalist army had preemptively stationed troops in Luodian, Matsui Iwane immediately committed his most elite 3rd Division main force to launch a fierce attack on Luodian under the cover of aircraft and tanks.

The 11th, 14th and 67th Divisions of the Central Army were stationed around Luodian, all of which were elite units of the Central Army.

The great battle thus began.

Although Luodian was some distance from the coastline and the Japanese naval guns could not provide support, the Japanese artillery was still more powerful than that of the Central Army.

The Central Army engaged in artillery battles with the Japanese, resulting in heavy losses for the Japanese and giving them the upper hand on the battlefield.

At dawn, the Japanese launched their attack.

"Boom!"

The artillery fire thoroughly ravaged Luodian and its surrounding areas time and again.

The once charming Jiangnan town with its white walls and black tiles has long since turned into scorched earth and ruins, with not a single intact house to be found.

The streets were bombed into deep craters, the rivers were blocked by corpses, and the air was thick with gunpowder smoke.

The battle became intense from the very beginning.

The Japanese troops, organized into companies and battalions and guided by tanks, launched wave after wave of attacks on the Central Army's defenses.

Due to the hasty deployment, the Central Army's defensive fortifications in Luodian were not strong, and the position was left in ruins after the bombing.

Even so, the Central Army still relied on the ruins, shell craters, and even the bodies of their comrades to defend every inch of land to the death.

"Da da da da!"

"Boom! Boom!"

"His Majesty the Emperor!"

"Brothers, let's fight those bastards!"

The roar of machine guns, the explosion of grenades, and the desperate shouts and curses of soldiers on both sides intertwined to form a symphony of death.

Relying on their superior firepower, the Japanese launched a desperate attack, and the positions changed hands repeatedly, resulting in heavy losses for the Central Army.

The Japanese weren't faring much better; on the very first day of the attack, nearly a thousand people perished.

The Central Army suffered 3,000 casualties, and their positions were also captured by the Japanese.

Fortunately, Chen Cheng learned about defense in depth on Zhu Wenzheng's advice.

The so-called defense in depth is a defense method that is the opposite of linear defense. The Central Army's previous defense was mostly linear defense, which meant that all its troops were deployed in a trench.

Without reserves or in-depth defense, once the Japanese broke through one layer of defense, they could quickly advance and encircle the rear of the Central Army.

Historically, the Nationalist army often suffered heavy defeats because they were afraid of being outflanked. However, linear defenses could not prevent the Japanese from making single-point breakthroughs, so every time the Japanese broke through a layer of defense, the Nationalist army would start to flee.

Now, Zhu Wenzheng told Chen Cheng about the in-depth defense, which involves dividing the positions into echelons and deploying troops in echelons. Even if the Japanese break through one layer of defense, there is a second layer of defense to continue holding the line.

This not only reduces the area vulnerable to artillery fire, but also ensures that reserves are always available to support the front lines.

This time, the Central Army was conducting a deep defense. Although the Japanese occupied the positions during the day, they could not further expand their gains. At night, Chen Cheng would immediately organize a suicide squad to retake the positions with their own flesh and blood.

Luodian changed hands repeatedly in a life-or-death struggle between the two sides.

The battle was extremely fierce. It was common for entire companies and battalions to be wiped out. Every inch of land outside Luodian was soaked with the blood of soldiers from both sides.

The Japanese 3rd Division and Chen Cheng's 3rd, 9th and 11th Divisions fought a bloody battle for three days and three nights without a clear victor, and both sides were exhausted.

At that very moment, three ghostly teams, taking advantage of the darkness and the chaos of the battlefield, were quietly infiltrating deep into the enemy's territory.

These people are, of course, Zhu Yong's alter egos.

Previously, the Japanese had ample troops and were on high alert, so Zhu Yong's accomplices couldn't find an opportunity to infiltrate.

Now that the Japanese are focused on the front lines, it's time for Zhu Yong and his men to show their prowess.

Zhu Yong's clones received only one order: to find and destroy the Japanese command center on the Luodian front at all costs, and to take out their brains.

The three squads split into three directions and kept sneaking towards the Japanese command post.

One force, following a dry riverbed, bypassed the main patrol routes of the Japanese and quietly made its way to the southeast of Luodian Town.

Another audacious force chose to slip through the gap between the two armies' battle lines. If they hadn't been wearing Japanese uniforms, they probably would have been torn to shreds by Japanese artillery fire.

The last unit, now wounded, advanced along the Japanese supply line.

Three deadly daggers, from different directions, pierced the Japanese soldier's central nervous system.

The first team was the first to detect the target's presence.

About three kilometers southeast of Luodian, there is a place surrounded by high walls, with antennas everywhere, strict security, and frequent vehicle traffic, which is consistent with the characteristics of a brigade-level command post.

When the moon is high in the sky and it's three in the morning, it's the time when people are most tired.

Although the sentries outside the Japanese command post were still standing, their vigilance had been reduced to the minimum.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Two extremely faint sounds rang out.

Two clones approached the Japanese sentries from the darkness and swiftly dispatched them with daggers.

The courtyard gate was gently opened, and the team members filed in, their movements swift as the wind.

The courtyard was unexpectedly quiet, with only the main house lit up and shadowy figures moving about, seemingly in a meeting.

Everything seemed so normal, even... abnormally normal.

Something's not right.

A sense of foreboding flashed through his mind, but the arrow was already on the bowstring and had to be released.

He gave a hand signal, and the assault team quickly approached the main house.

Just as the first team member kicked open the main house door—

"Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!!!"

Dense machine gun fire erupted from the side rooms on both sides of the courtyard like a torrential downpour.

The blazing chains of fire instantly wove together into a web of death, tearing the special forces soldiers at the front to shreds.

"Trap! Retreat!"

The clone's eyes were bloodshot as he roared orders, while simultaneously unleashing a barrage of machine gun fire at the flank quarters in an attempt to suppress the enemy's firepower.

But it was too late!

More Japanese soldiers poured out of their hidden bunkers, and grenades were thrown into the courtyard like hail.

Flashes of light from the explosions followed one after another, with shrapnel flying everywhere.

The team was instantly plunged into a desperate situation.

Not far from the courtyard, a Japanese soldier wearing the rank of major general, surrounded by staff officers and guards, looked at the courtyard with disdain.

This man was none other than Masakazu Miyamoto, the brigade commander of the Japanese 112th Brigade.

"Hahahaha! Foolish Chinese! Such simple bait, such a clumsy trap, and they actually fell for it!"

"The Empire's Special Higher Police have been watching these little rats for a while now. Today, this is their graveyard!"

"Capture them alive! I want to personally cut off their heads to honor the warriors who perished!"

The Japanese soldiers began throwing smoke bombs, preparing to capture prisoners alive.

At this moment, the remaining members of the special forces team were trapped behind the collapsed pillars in the courtyard. More than half of them had been killed or wounded, and their ammunition was about to run out.

At this critical moment—

Suddenly, a violent explosion and a barrage of gunfire erupted outside the courtyard.

Immediately afterwards, a larger breach was blasted open in the west wall, and a group of soldiers dressed in Japanese uniforms, but moving swiftly, rushed in.

The light machine guns in their hands spat deadly flames, instantly stunning the Japanese soldiers on the west side of the encirclement.