You were tasked with guarding the Sihang Warehouse, and you brought out a Tiger tank?

Lin Feng silently calculated in his mind.

His current strategy is clear: to use the complex ruins surrounding the North Station, along with his superior heavy firepower, to wage a defensive and attrition war against the Japanese.

"Next, we'll implement a rotation system."

Lin Feng drew several circles on the map with a pencil.

「1、2、3营是系统精锐，是咱们的骨头；4、5、6营是团丁新兵，是咱们的肉。」

「以老带新。让1、2、3营轮流顶在最前面，带着4、5、6营的团丁打。让那些新兵蛋子见见血，听听炮响。」

The battlefield is the best melting pot, and also the cruelest filter.

Those who survive are veterans, the elite; those who die are just names on the pension list.

"As long as the 88th and 96th Divisions on the flanks can hold out and don't collapse too quickly, I can rely on the North Station as a thorn in my side and hold on forever."

Lin Feng's plan was somewhat greedy.

While defending the position, they also gained merit points and captured spoils by inflicting casualties on the Japanese.

Occasionally, a counterattack can also be launched.

As long as you keep bleeding the Japanese, your merit points will keep coming in.

"We're at Level III clearance now. If we can take out a few more regimental commanders, or if we're lucky enough to take down a major general brigade commander, we might be able to reach Level IV before the Great Evacuation from Shanghai."

Level IV access...

At that time, what will be unlocked will likely be better tanks, artillery, and even better things like airplanes and warships.

However, when it comes to expansion, Lin Feng is not prepared to continue mass-producing infantry.

He was very clear-headed.

Although he still has some gold and swords, and can make money by selling things to Wang Tianlu, he can easily raise a few more battalions of systematic infantry, since basic Nationalist army infantry squads are really cheap.

However, as a time traveler, he knew all too well the course of history to come.

It is now mid-to-late October.

Once the Japanese launch their landing at Jinshanwei, the Battle of Shanghai will come to an end.

The North Railway Station in Zhabei and the Sihang Warehouse were his last window of opportunity for initial capital accumulation.

What followed was the infamous "Great Defeat" that swept across the country.

The hundreds of kilometers of highway from Shanghai to Nanjing will be crowded with retreating troops and refugees.

Japanese planes were bombing overhead, and pursuers were chasing us from behind.

Without enough trucks and air superiority, the massive infantry force was a sitting duck during the retreat, not only lacking mobility but also easily scattered by fleeing troops.

"Quality over quantity is the key to victory in warfare."

"The current brigade-level organization has more than 5,000 people, almost 6,000. Even with logistics and civilian laborers, it's only about 7,000 people. The entire army is either mechanized or uses mules and horses, which is just right."

When advancing, they can tear through the enemy's defenses like a sharp knife, allowing the entire army to pass through quickly; when retreating, they can use their high mobility to quickly disengage from the battlefield and avoid being dragged down by the rout of friendly forces.

"Once we get through this period, once we've retreated to Jiangbei..."

Lin Feng's gaze swept across the Yangtze River on the map and landed on the vast inland hinterland.

"That will be the time to truly mass produce troops."

"What I need to do is not just be an obedient major general brigade commander in the National Revolutionary Army."

Lin Feng stood up, chewing on the milk candy in his mouth, his heart gradually becoming wild.

In this chaotic world, the gun is the backbone.

What he wanted to do was to nominally be affiliated with the Nationalist Army, but in reality become a resistance force with its own independent will.

"Follow orders, not pronouncements."

"Financial independence, military independence."

"Once I've accumulated enough exchange points and merit points, I'll unleash several fully-fledged German-equipped infantry divisions, plus a heavy artillery brigade and a tank regiment, and maybe even an air squadron."

"By then..."

Lin Feng clenched his fist tightly.

"Then it won't be a passive defense anymore."

"I will actively seek out opportunities to hunt down the Japanese divisions. I will push them out of the Great Xia territory inch by inch."

"Even if we have to run them over with tank tracks, we'll crush these beasts back into the East China Sea to feed the fish."

----

For the next three days, the North Station turned into a real meat grinder.

The two sides engaged in a tug-of-war over every inch of the ruins surrounding the station.

The rain stopped and started again, then stopped again. The rubble on the ground was blackened by blood, and the air was filled with the nauseating smell of rotting or burnt protein.

"Zzz—Boom!"

A long, fiery dragon shot into a half-collapsed tenement building.

"ah--!"

A series of piercing screams rang out instantly. Several Japanese soldiers, their bodies ablaze, jumped out of the second-floor window and rolled wildly in the mud. But the specially made napalm was relentless, burning them to a crisp until they were reduced to charred remains.

This is Lin Feng's trump card: the elite combat engineering company clearing out the building.

The Japanese 68th Regiment was also in a frenzy of fighting. They found that the frontal assault on the defensive line had suffered too many losses, so they tried to occupy several sturdy brick-and-mortar buildings on the outskirts of the North Station as bridgeheads and fire support points for their attack.

"Brigadier, the Japanese have gone mad! Another squad has charged in."

Zhao Dashan lay down next to Lin Feng, pointing to the three-story building in front of them that was already riddled with holes.

Lin Feng raised his binoculars and grunted in agreement.

He had long noticed that the Japanese had a morbid obsession with these buildings.

Since you want it, then it's yours.

"Dashan, was the gift we buried the night before enough?"

"Enough, more than enough." Zhao Dashan grinned, revealing a set of white teeth that looked particularly sinister against his gunpowder-covered face.

"Last night, the engineering company risked their lives to sneak up and tied ten kilograms of TNT to each load-bearing column, and also buried a lot of 120mm mortar shells on the first floor."

Once detonated, it could blow up not just buildings, it could blow up mountains.

"Then send them on their way."

Lin Feng lowered his binoculars and softly uttered a single word: "Explode."

By this time, nearly two hundred Japanese soldiers had squeezed into those buildings.

They had just driven away the defenders and were cheering as they set up machine guns at the windows, preparing to use them as springboards to fire at the core positions of the North Station.

A Japanese officer waved a Japanese flag and was about to shout "Banzai" to liven things up.

Suddenly, the building beneath my feet shook violently.

"Boom—!!!"

It wasn't the crisp sound of an exploding shell, but a dull, muffled roar, as if the earth were cracking open.

Under the gaze of thousands of eyes from both sides, the several three- or four-story tenement buildings, like mollusks with their bones removed, sat upright.

Smoke and dust billowed into the sky, reaching heights of over ten meters, instantly engulfing everything.

More than two hundred Japanese soldiers, along with the officer waving the flag, were instantly buried by tons of bricks and rubble.

Even the screams were completely drowned out by the roar.

"Excellent, a professional demolition team."

Lin Feng slowly crawled into the shadows, then jumped from the second floor of the ruins. He rolled once after landing before standing up and dusting off his hands.