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

Luodian.

Early morning, the darkness before dawn.

Night had not yet fallen, and the sky was just beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn.

The earth suddenly began to tremble.

This was not thunder, but the roar of countless heavy cannons firing in unison from below the distant horizon.

The horizon was instantly dyed red by streaks of intense gunfire, before sinking back into deeper darkness.

Immediately following was the sound of countless shells tearing through the air, their chilling shrieks spreading from afar until they engulfed the entire Luodian area.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

The entire Luodian area was shaking violently.

The Japanese 13th Division has begun its attack.

The 13th Division, a standing division of the Japanese Imperial Army, was the most elite of the elite.

The unit tasked with the main attack on Luodian was the Yamada Detachment, personally commanded by the valiant Major General Yamada Senji.

The detachment was based on the 103rd Infantry Brigade and attached with the main force of the 19th Field Artillery Regiment. It consisted of 24 75mm field guns, 4 150mm heavy howitzers, and a tank company with 12 Type 89 medium tanks, bringing its firepower to the maximum.

The number of people reached an astonishing 25,000. In order to recapture Luodian as soon as possible, Matsui Iwane still put in a lot of effort.

At this moment, this heavily armed steel behemoth is unleashing all its fury on the tiny town of Luodian.

The shelling lasted for a full hour, as if it were turning the earth upside down.

Zhu Yong and his 14,000 soldiers huddled in the dilapidated artillery shelters, enduring extreme torment.

Luodian is not like Gujia Town. There are no highlands or even hills. It is a vast plain. Even if Zhu Yong wanted to use the reverse slope, he could not find any mountains.

He could only hold out by using the fortifications.

Soil, gravel, wood chips, and severed limbs were thrown into the sky by the massive shockwave, and then fell back down like a torrential rain.

Even though Zhu Yong was in the command post at the rear, his ears were ringing from the noise.

The city walls had long been razed to the ground, and there was hardly a single intact house to be found in the town. The embers on the scorched earth were still burning.

Immediately, the artillery fire spread, and the Japanese infantry, in coordination with their artillery, began their advance.

"The Japanese are coming up! Get into position! Quickly!!"

The desperate shouts of officers at all levels echoed through the ruins.

The surviving soldiers struggled to crawl out of the mud and rubble, shook off the dust, grabbed their weapons, and rushed to their designated firing positions.

As far as the eye could see, on the horizon, waves of earthy yellow began to surge.

The Japanese 65th and 104th Infantry Regiments, organized by company, surged towards the outer perimeter of Luodian like a tide.

The bayonets on the rifles reflected a cold light in the rising sun.

"Hold your ground! Get closer and fire! Follow my orders!"

Zhou Weiguo personally took command at the front line, leading his more than two thousand prisoners to form the first line of defense against the Japanese invaders.

500 meters, 400 meters, 300 meters...

The moment the vanguard of the Japanese troops stepped into the 100-meter minefield—

"pull!"

"Boom! Boom boom boom!" The pre-installed rudimentary landmines and cluster grenades exploded one after another, sending more than a dozen Japanese soldiers flying into the air.

"beat!!"

In an instant, all the remaining firing positions of the Luodian frontline defenders spewed out flames of revenge!

Maxim heavy machine guns, Czech light machine guns, captured Type 91 light machine guns, Type 38 rifles... all the weapons capable of firing opened fire simultaneously.

The dense hail of bullets, like the scythe of death, swept towards the charging Japanese troops.

The Japanese soldiers at the forefront fell like stalks of wheat being cut down.

Faced with intense firepower, the Japanese soldiers immediately demonstrated their superior tactical skills, lying down and crawling to find cover. Grenade launchers and mortars launched the first counterattack, while the infantry, armed with Type 38 rifles, began to fire accurately.

"Bang bang bang!"

"Boom!"

Zhou Weiguo's side immediately suffered casualties.

In the early stages of the war, the Japanese troops were extremely elite and incredibly fierce in combat. Whether it was bayonet fighting or marksmanship, they far surpassed the Nationalist army.

But even with heavy casualties, the Nationalist soldiers fought to the death and refused to retreat.

Having been captured and then rescued, they already considered themselves as people who had died once, so how could they be afraid of death?

The two sides, less than 100 meters apart, began firing at each other.

"Mortar!! Mortar!!"

The Japanese major roared.

The Japanese grenade launchers and mortars opened fire quickly, suppressing the defenders' firing positions.

The battle reached its climax.

The Japanese soldiers were highly skilled in tactics and their squads coordinated very well.

The infantry used shell craters and cover to advance in alternating cover, while grenade launchers accurately knocked out the defenders' machine gun positions.

Once a weak point is discovered in the defending forces' position, troops should be concentrated immediately to launch a breakthrough.

The Nationalist army fought desperately, but the Japanese still managed to break into their positions.

The two sides immediately engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand combat.

"Pfft, pfft!"

"Kill the Japanese devils!!"

"You little devils, I'll fuck your mother!!"

The sounds of clashing bayonets, roars, and screams filled the air.

Seeing that the front line was about to fall, Zhou Weiguo's eyes immediately turned red.

"Brothers, follow me!!"

Zhou Weiguo, leading his guards, charged at the Japanese like tigers descending a mountain.

"kill!!"

Zhu Yong roared, picked up a captured Type 96 machine gun, and fired a burst at the Japanese troops, instantly killing seven or eight of them.

He then threw away the machine gun that had run out of bullets, drew his broadsword, and charged into the battle.

Where the blade flashed, blood splattered.

Under his leadership, the morale of the defending soldiers soared, and they used their own flesh and blood to push back the invading Japanese troops.

However, this was only the first charge by the Japanese, and of his two thousand men, less than four hundred remained.

Zhu Yong ordered them all to withdraw, and his clone took over the defense line.

Shortly after the troop rotation, the Japanese attacked again.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

The Japanese artillery shells, as if they were free, once again washed over the entire outer defense line of Luodian from the inside out.

Zhu Yong's clone alone caused the deaths of three hundred people in the explosion.

Then, the Japanese launched an attack, and this time, they even deployed tanks.

Twelve Type 89 medium tanks roared and guided the infantry in a forced assault on the outer defenses of Luodian.

Zhu Yong lacked effective anti-tank weapons and could only organize suicide squads.

The suicide squad strapped themselves with grenades and used every means possible to get close to the Japanese tanks. The only thing they could do was to destroy the tanks by sacrificing themselves.

"For our fallen brothers! Kill!"

A blood-covered clone, clutching a cluster grenade, rolled under the tracks of a tank.

"Boom!!" The tank was disabled, and he was also smashed to pieces.

Such scenes are repeatedly playing out in Luodian.

This was true not only in Luodian, but throughout the entire Shanghai-Nanjing battlefield. The Japanese industrial strength far surpassed that of China, and the only way for China to withstand this steel monster was with its own flesh and blood.

However, the price of using flesh and blood to withstand a steel behemoth is extremely high.

Destroying a tank often meant the sacrifice of an entire squad, or even a platoon, of suicide squad members.

Zhu Yong's clones are all special forces soldiers, and with their agile movements, they can destroy a tank at the cost of three to seven people.

Just as Zhu Yong's team had finally managed to hold off the Japanese tanks, a buzzing sound came from above.

After daybreak, the Japanese carrier-based aircraft launched a continuous bombing and strafing attack.

Every inch of land in Luodian was repeatedly cultivated, while the number of casualties on Zhu Yong's side rose sharply. Medicines had long been exhausted, and the wounded could only be given simple bandages. Many seriously wounded died in agony.

Even under the threat of aircraft and tanks, Zhu Yong still managed to repel eight Japanese attacks.

The battlefield was littered with corpses—some of Japanese soldiers, some of the Nationalist army, but most of them were Zhu Yong's alter egos.

In just one day of fighting, Zhu Yong's side lost nearly three thousand clones, and Zhou Weiguo's men were almost completely wiped out, with total casualties exceeding five thousand on the first day.

If the fighting continues like this, Zhu Yong probably won't last five days.