On the eve of the fall of Liaodong, he led his troops in a remonstrance against the young marshal.

"Da da da da!"

"Da da da da!"

Gunshots echoed across the fields like a death knell from hell.

The heavy machine gun spat out tongues of fire half a meter long, tearing the night into pieces.

The surrendered Japanese prisoners fell down in unison, like wheat being harvested by a sickle.

The bullets' immense kinetic energy shattered their bodies, limbs and bits of flesh tumbling through the air, and blood gushing out like fountains, forming dark red streams on the ground.

In the center of the open space, the area that was about half the size of a football field had now turned into a huge pool of blood and gore.

Limbs and torsos were scattered all over the ground, internal organs and brain matter were mixed in the pool of blood, and the air was filled with a strong, nauseating smell of metal.

More than a thousand Kwantung Army prisoners of war were turned into a pile of minced meat in less than three minutes.

Honjo Shigeru witnessed all of this.

From the moment the first shot rang out, he was held by the arms by two Northeast Army soldiers and pressed to the best viewing spot at the edge of the open space.

His eyes were fixed on the open space, less than five meters from the prisoner.

As the first row of prisoners was slaughtered, he tried to close his eyes, turned his head to one side, and his body trembled violently.

But Huo Quji insisted that he must see it with his own eyes.

Therefore, Huo Quji personally issued the following order:

"Cut off his eyelids."

The two soldiers immediately carried out the order.

One soldier grabbed Honjo Shigeru from behind and strangled him, keeping his head firmly in mid-air, while another soldier drew his bayonet.

Honjo Shigeru realized what was about to happen, and he began to struggle frantically, kicking his legs wildly on the ground and shouting incoherently in Japanese.

But struggling is pointless.

A sixty-year-old man was like a chicken with its wings pinched in the hands of two young and strong soldiers.

The bayonet was pressed against his right upper eyelid, and the moment the cold blade touched his skin, Honjo Shigeru felt a violent chill run through his body.

Then, with a forceful slash, the skin and subcutaneous tissue of his upper eyelid were neatly cut open, and blood gushed out from the incision, flowing down his eye socket.

Then the left eye. The same movement, the same precision.

The two upper eyelids were cut off completely, and the soldier casually threw them on the ground.

Honjo Shigeru's screams were drowned out by the roar of machine guns, and no one heard them.

But he could clearly see the massacre that followed.

His two eyeballs were completely exposed to the air, and tears reflexively welled up in an attempt to protect his corneas, but the tears were dried by the wind as soon as they were secreted, and a stinging pain like needles came from the surface of his eyeballs.

He couldn't close his eyes; the muscles around his eyes contracted in vain, but without eyelids, his eyeballs could only stare wide open, forced to look directly at everything happening in front of him.

He knelt on the ground, his legs too weak to support his body.

Blood kept seeping from the incision in the eye socket, mixing with tears and leaving two long streaks of bloody tears on the cheeks.

As he watched, his soldiers were riddled with bullets, their bodies torn apart, and bone fragments and entrails flying in the light.

The wounded soldiers who tried to crawl away were spotted by machine gunners and specifically targeted and fired at until their bodies were cut in two.

He saw the last Japanese soldier still convulsing on the ground.

A young man who looked to be in his early twenties, his nephew on whom he had placed his hopes, was hit from head to toe by a burst of bullets. His whole body was like a blood bag smashed by a hammer, instantly scattered all over the ground.

"Ah! Ah!! Ah!!!"

The sounds coming from Honjo Shigeru's throat were no longer human language.

His eyes were bloodshot from not being able to blink, and a cloudy film had appeared on his dry cornea, but this film did not prevent him from seeing everything in front of him.

The mental and physical pain caused him to completely break down.

He lunged forward, intending to smash his forehead against the gravel ground beneath his feet and end his life.

But the soldier holding him reacted faster, grabbing his hair and pulling him back, while pressing down on the back of his neck with his other hand, forcing his face back onto the still-smoking carpet of flesh and blood.

"Want to die?"

The soldier leaned down and whispered in his ear, "It's not that easy! Watch closely!"

"These are all your soldiers. You need to see them all."

Honjo Shigeru's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but only a series of indistinct syllables came out of his throat.

His gaze was unfocused, and his eyeballs were wide open.

When the last machine gun finally fell silent, the battlefield fell into an unusually heavy silence.

Huo Quji jumped off the command tank, walked to the edge of the open space, glanced at the carpet of blood and flesh, and his expression remained unchanged.

He looked at it for about five seconds, then turned to Wu Liuyi standing beside him and asked:

"Battle damage".

Wu Liu snapped to attention and reported to his superior in the loudest voice:

"Reporting to Commander Huo! Apart from two machine gunners who suffered burns to their fingers from the gun barrel while changing ammunition belts, our troops suffered no casualties in this battle!"

"Repeatedly, no one was injured or killed!"

Huo Quji nodded.

This result was within his expectations.

Four hundred and fifty T-34 tanks completely overwhelmed a train stuck in place and three thousand infantrymen without any anti-armor weapons.

It would be abnormal if there were still casualties.

He turned around, about to walk towards the command vehicle, when he remembered something, stopped, and said without turning his head:

"Build a mound of Jingguan! According to regulations, build it at the main entrance of the train station! So that all the foreign journalists who come later can see it clearly."

"Those who offend the mighty Han, though far away, shall be punished!"

"Yes!" Wu Liuyi's response this time was even louder than before.

The soldiers immediately sprang into action.

They used bulldozers and shovels to shovel together the scraps of meat, bones, and entrails, piling them up layer by layer into a small mountain about half a person's height.

The flesh was still steaming, and under the spotlight, it appeared an unreal dark red.

The broken bones and skull were placed on the outermost layer, their empty eye sockets staring blankly at the night sky, as if silently repenting.

Huo Quji turned around and walked toward Honjo Shigeru, who was kneeling at the edge of the open space.

His military boots pounded on the blood-stained mud, each step striking Honjo Hiroshi's heart.

Honjo Shigeru knelt on the ground, his knees sinking into the mud, his body limp as if all his bones had been removed.

His eyes were unable to close, and his corneas had begun to dry and turn white, but he still stared intently at the mangled statue of flesh and blood.

Huo Quji stopped in front of him and looked down at him.

"Is the main force of the Second Division currently in Haicheng?"

His voice was cold, like an icy dagger piercing Honjo Shigeru's heart.

Honjo Shigeru's pupils suddenly contracted.

He suddenly raised his head, his face, covered in blood and tears, contorted into a ferocious expression.

"You idiot! You Chinese pig! You won't get a single word out of General Benchmark's mouth!"

He roared:

"Honjo Shigeru would rather die than dishonor the dignity of the Empire! Kill me! Kill me—!"

"court death!"

Wu Liuyi rushed forward, grabbed Honjo Shigeru by the collar, and raised his right fist high, ready to smash it down.

Huo Quji raised his hand to stop him.

"Don't kill him."

He looked at Honjo Shigeru's crazed face, his eyes devoid of any emotion.

"He's still useful."

Wu Liuyi glared fiercely at Honjo Shigeru, his teeth grinding together, but in the end he let go and threw Honjo Shigeru to the ground like trash.

Huo Quji was about to turn around, preparing to send a telegram to headquarters to inquire whether the reconnaissance plane had made any discoveries, when hurried footsteps came from behind him.

"Commander! Commander!"

He Chenguang, clutching a telegram in his hand, rushed over, his face filled with excitement.

"This was just seized!"

He handed the telegram to Huo Quji, "The telegram from Honjo Shigeru to the main force of the Second Division requesting reinforcements has been deciphered!"

"They ordered the 2nd Division to proceed from Haicheng to Liaoyang at full speed to carry out the planned reinforcement!"

Huo Quji took the telegram and quickly glanced at it.

Then, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, revealing a cold smile.

"act recklessly."

He folded the telegram, turned to the command team behind him, and his voice suddenly rose:

"Pass on my order! The entire army shall set off immediately and head straight for Haicheng! Engage the main force of the Second Division in a decisive battle on the plains!"

"yes!"

Inside the command post, the officers responded in unison, their shouts echoing through the night.

Honjo Shigeru shuddered violently upon hearing those words.

He knelt on the ground, watching helplessly as the Northeast Army's tanks began to start, one after another driving out of the freight yard, the roar of their engines merging into a deafening rumble of thunder.

These steel behemoths had just slaughtered his headquarters troops and were now heading towards the main force of his 2nd Division.

Second Division...

That was the most elite unit of the Kwantung Army, the flower of the Imperial Army, and the pride of the Imperial Army.

But now, they are unsuspectingly walking into this death trap by following his telegram pleading for help.

He personally led the Second Division to its doom.

"No!!"

Honjo Shigeru let out a desperate wail.

He tried to struggle, to shout, to warn the imperial soldiers who were rushing over, but it was all too late.

His vocal cords were hoarse, and his body was pinned down so tightly that he couldn't even stand up.

Tears of blood gushed from his eyes, winding their way down the furrows of his cheeks.

"What should we do about Honjo Shigeru?"

He Chenguang looked at the Kwantung Army commander, who was sprawled out like a lump of mud, and asked.

Huo Quji walked towards the command tank without turning his head.

"Take him with you."

He opened the car door, climbed in, and gave Honjo Shigeru, kneeling in a pool of blood, one last look. His voice was as cold as iron.

"He can save us a lot of trouble."

The tank started up, its tracks crushing over wreckage, shell casings, and blood-soaked earth.

The first rays of dawn pierced the darkness of the east, illuminating this land that had just experienced massacre and revenge.

In the middle of the field, the mound of bones and pieces of flesh reflected a dark red luster in the morning light.

Honjo Shigeru was put into an armored vehicle. Through the narrow observation window, he saw the mound of skulls getting farther and farther away, smaller and smaller in his sight.

But its image is forever etched into his eyes that cannot close, into the depths of his soul.

Ahead, in the direction of Haicheng.

The steel torrent surged westward, its tracks crushing the frozen black earth, its artillery pointing straight at the pre-dawn sky.

A much larger decisive battle awaits them at the edge of the plain.