Siheyuan: Hang Jia Dongxu, smash Banggeng to death!

J-20 fighter jets were dispatched again, taking off from Shanghai and refueling in the air before heading straight for the Japanese-built positions in Jilin Province.

They dropped precision-guided bombs from high altitudes, destroying Japanese artillery positions, command posts, and communication hubs.

The anti-aircraft guns on the ground fired in vain at the sky, but they couldn't reach it; they couldn't even see the shadow of the plane.

The commander of the small town was furious. The telegraph machine was blown to pieces, the telephone line was severed, and they lost contact with the outside world.

The barracks were bombed into ruins, and the soldiers were killed in their sleep, their bodies buried under the rubble.

The armory exploded, and the ammunition crackled and popped like firecrackers throughout the night.

The soldiers hid in the trenches, covering their ears and trembling.

They knew who the enemy was, but they couldn't see them; they could only hear the whooshing of bombs and the sounds of explosions.

Some people cried in the trenches, some lay on the ground praying, and some fired wildly into the sky before being blown away by the explosion.

The bombing lasted for a whole day, and the Japanese positions were searched again and again.

The fortifications were destroyed, the cannons were blown to pieces, and more than half of the soldiers were killed or wounded.

Matsui crawled out of the ruins, his face covered in blood, his military uniform torn in several places. He knelt on the ground, staring at the horrific scene before him, his mind blank.

"Baka yarou!"

He slammed his fist into the ground, blood and mud mingling together. "Is this how the puppet state of Manchukuo, the Empire, ends?"

No one could answer him.

The shelling began the next morning.

The self-propelled artillery battalion of the Huaxia Independent Brigade lined up in a row, their gun barrels pointing at the Xiao Rizi position.

The young marshal's artillery positions also deployed on the flanks, with hundreds of cannons firing simultaneously, shells raining down on the Xiao Rizi position.

Snowflakes were blasted away, soil was turned upside down, and trenches were bombarded and collapsed.

The soldiers huddled in the trenches, listening to the howling winds, waiting for their fate to be sealed.

A young Japanese soldier clutched his head, trembling all over, while an old soldier patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't be afraid, you won't die."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a shell landed in the trench, blowing the veteran to pieces.

The young soldier stared blankly at the veteran's broken body, tears streaming down his face.

Is this what you mean by not dying?

You've turned to dust.

The shelling lasted for two hours.

The Japanese positions were decimated, and the remaining soldiers gritted their teeth and prepared to meet the enemy's attack.

"charge!"

With tanks in front and infantry behind, the Huaxia Independent Brigade and the Northeast Army launched an attack simultaneously.

The Type 99A tank rolled over the trenches, its turret rotating as it fired its machine gun.

The 04A infantry fighting vehicle followed behind, its machine gun spitting fire, keeping the Japanese soldiers from raising their heads.

Soldiers, guns at the ready, charged forward behind the tanks, their shouts of battle deafening and the roar of gunfire thunderous.

Matsui stood atop the broken city wall, watching the dark mass of enemy troops surge in from afar, his hands trembling.

The adjutant beside him turned pale and stammered, "Sir, let's retreat!"

"Retreat? Where to retreat to?"

Matsui gritted his teeth. "What about the honor of the Imperial Army? What about the spirit of Bushido? What about the oath of loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor?"

"But sir, if we continue fighting, we'll all die!"

Matsui remained silent for a moment, then drew his military sword. "So be it. Soldiers of the Empire are not afraid to die."

He turned to the soldiers still resisting, "Tell the troops to fight to the death, to shed their last drop of blood for His Majesty the Emperor!"

The soldiers were still resisting, and the machine gunners fired wildly, killing several Northeast Army soldiers who were charging ahead.

The rocket launcher operator tried to aim at the tank, but before he could pull the trigger, he was shot in the head.

The sniper hid in the ruins, firing sniper shots, before being blown away by a tank shell.

They were tenacious, but in the face of overwhelming firepower, tenacity was futile.

The soldiers of the Northeast Army charged across the open ground, braving a hail of bullets.

Someone was shot and fell, but his comrades behind him continued to charge forward, stepping over pools of blood.

One squad leader led his entire company into the Japanese trenches and engaged in hand-to-hand combat. He grabbed a young officer and rolled him in the mud, choking him and glaring at him until his eyes almost popped out.

The young officer struggled desperately, kicking, hitting, and biting him, but he wouldn't let go. The young officer's face grew increasingly purple, his limbs became weaker and weaker, and finally he stopped moving.

The squad leader got up, wiped the blood off his face, and continued rushing forward.

The puppet troops' positions were completely one-sided.

Those puppet troops didn't want to fight in the first place, and when they saw the tanks of the Huaxia Independent Brigade charging over, many of them surrendered immediately.

Some knelt on the ground holding their guns, some squatted in the trenches with their hands behind their heads, and some simply threw their guns down and lay on the ground pretending to be dead.

The officers tried to stop the soldiers from surrendering, but they were the ones who were killed by the soldiers first.

Some staunch traitors resisted with their men, but were run over by tanks and their bodies were never found.

"We surrender! We surrender!"

The puppet troops shouted at the top of their lungs.

Lin Tian's order was to leave no puppet troops alive. The soldiers showed no mercy, setting up machine guns and aiming them at the traitors kneeling on the ground.

Some cried out for mercy, some cursed, and some tried to escape.

Gunshots rang out, and rows of soldiers fell.

Blood stained the snow red, and corpses piled up into small mountains.

A young puppet army soldier knelt on the ground, crying and saying that he was forced into it and that he had an elderly mother at home.

The soldier pressed a gun to his forehead and said coldly, "Traitor, no excuses."

Pull the trigger.

Zhao Dazhuang, carrying a machine gun, charged at the forefront, his eyes bloodshot. He thought of his parents who had been killed by Xiao Rizi's bomb and his sister who had been violated. Hatred burned through his body like fire.

When he ran out of bullets, he threw away his gun, picked up a bayonet, and charged into the Japanese soldiers' ranks, stabbing them indiscriminately.

A Japanese officer swung his saber at him, but he dodged to the side. The bayonet plunged into the Japanese officer's chest, and the officer's eyes widened as blood and foam gushed from his mouth.

"This blow is for my father! This blow is for my mother! This blow is for my sister!"

He shouted with each stab.

The Japanese officer fell, and he pulled out his bayonet, covered in blood, and continued to charge forward.

Liu Xiaoliu followed behind Zhao Dazhuang. His hands were still trembling as he went to the battlefield for the first time, but seeing how fierce Zhao Dazhuang was, he was no longer so afraid.

He raised his gun, aimed at a Japanese soldier's head, and pulled the trigger.

The gun fired, the Japanese soldier fell, and he stared blankly at the corpse, unable to believe that he had killed someone.

"Don't stand there! Hurry up and follow!" Zhao Dazhuang shouted as he turned around.

Liu Xiaoliu snapped out of his daze, grabbed his gun, and followed.

Ma Yongzhen led the Independent Regiment to clear the battlefield behind the main force. His broadsword was already chipped and he was covered in blood.

Whether it was their own or the Japanese's, Dajun and Zhou Xingxing followed beside them, also carrying guns.

"Commander Ma, you're injured!" Dajun pointed to his arm.

Ma Yongzhen looked down and saw a bullet wound on his arm, from which blood was still flowing.

"It's just a superficial wound, nothing serious."

He casually tore off a strip of cloth, wrapped it around his neck a few times, and continued walking forward.

The battle raged from dawn till dusk.

The defenses of the small town were breached one by one, the bunkers were destroyed one by one, and the positions were occupied piece by piece.

Matsui led his remaining troops to retreat into the county town, preparing for street fighting, but the tanks of the Chinese Independent Brigade crashed through the city wall and rushed in.

The Type 99A's armor was thick; when the Japanese anti-tank guns hit it, they only left a white mark.

"Baka yarou!"

Matsui roared and charged at the tank, brandishing his saber.

"Da da da!!!"

The vehicle-mounted machine gun swept across, and Matsui, riddled with bullet holes, fell straight down.

When news of the division commander's death spread, the Japanese soldiers completely collapsed.

Some fought desperately, some surrendered, and some fled in all directions.

The sunset painted the sky red, and the battlefield was silent.

Matsui's body still lay at the foot of the city wall, his sword stuck beside him, his eyes staring at the sky, unable to rest in peace.

He might have been wondering why the empire lost; he might have wondered if His Majesty the Emperor would mourn for him; or he might have been thinking of nothing at all, and simply died.

The surrendered puppet troops were gathered in an open space, a dark mass of nearly 70,000 to 80,000 people.

They kept their heads down, not daring to look at the people around them.

Commander Li was among them, his face pale, his body trembling, kneeling on the ground begging for mercy.

……