Even if I'm a useless bum at Whampoa Military Academy, I'll be invincible in the War of Re

Hirata Yasuyuki sat with his back against the pile of rubble, feeling as if all his strength had been drained away.

The quartermaster was distributing dinner: a rice ball, a small piece of salted fish, and two pieces of fruit candy to each person.

After receiving his dinner, Hirata Yasuyuki first faced east to thank the Emperor before he began to eat heartily.

The rice ball isn't very big; if you weren't being stingy, you could swallow it in one bite.

After finishing the rice ball, Hirata Yasuyuki was still a little unsatisfied, but he kept the two fruit candies.

Just as he was about to put it in his pocket, it was snatched away by someone—it was none other than Hirata's good friend, Makino Taro.

"What's the point of keeping them around? It's uncertain whether they'll even live to see tomorrow. Akino-kun, Nakata-kun, and Miyamoto-kun haven't come back yet."

Hirata Yasuyuki looked somber after hearing this. There were not many of their friends who had left their hometown together. People were dying every day, and some had not even been found.

Makino Taro ate the fruit candy that belonged to his friend without a care in the world, then lowered his voice and said:

"We still have to attack tonight. We're selecting demolition experts. The reward is a can of beef."

Hirata Yasuyuki didn't respond to his friend's words. Instead, he adjusted his body and lay down in the pile of rubble, falling fast asleep.

At the Second Company position, sniper Wan Guoliang was also enjoying a delicious dinner. In addition to a standard field ration for the Tiger Army, each person was also given a can of luncheon meat.

This is everyone's favorite; it's said that the army commander brought it over from overseas.

The field rations were nothing special: two compressed biscuits and three milk candies. These were all redeemed by Zhao Yunwen from the system shop and were only provided during wartime.

In the beginning, compressed biscuits were everyone's favorite. They were all written in foreign languages, and many people couldn't bear to eat them and saved them to send home.

Once the novelty wears off, people start to dislike it. This stuff is not as good as hot, plain noodles, which are just filling.

Wan Guoliang was a student before joining the Second Security Regiment from the International Settlement. He participated in his first real battle in Nanjing and is now a veteran.

He had already sniped 31 Japanese soldiers; he was a natural-born sniper. His instructor was the famous Zhao Mancang.

After swallowing a hard-to-swallow compressed biscuit, Wan Guoliang began to enjoy the luncheon meat, savoring its delicious taste.

After finishing, he gulped down most of a pot of cold boiled water, and that was dinner. He saved the milk candy and another compressed biscuit for when there was a battle that night to replenish his energy.

After finishing his meal, Wan Guoliang also chose to close his eyes and rest. His sniper position was deep in the rear, and as long as the Japanese didn't fire, he was safe.

At exactly 2:00 AM, Hirata Yasuyuki was woken up. The castle was completely silent. Captain Tsuchiya, unwilling to accept defeat, began to cause trouble.

The Japanese soldiers quietly gathered together, and each of them removed their water bottles to avoid making any noise.

All the Japanese soldiers were divided into two groups. Twenty demolition experts were in the front, working in pairs and sharing a high explosive charge. Their target was the Second Company's bunker.

Other Japanese soldiers led the way, their first task being to break through the defensive line and cover the demolition team as they approached the bunker;

If the demolition is successful, the Tsuchiya Company will be able to take the opportunity to storm the Second Company's position and make a breakthrough using their expertise in night fighting.

Captain Tsuchiya personally led a team of over a hundred Japanese soldiers, who stealthily made their way out under the cover of night.

The Japanese advance was going smoothly; they were experts at stealth and sneaking around. They were about to reach the Second Company's position when their luck ran out.

"boom!"

The unlucky Japanese soldiers detonated a landmine in front of their lines, killing and wounding two soldiers and shattering the silence of the night.

When Captain Tsuchiya realized that his movements had been exposed, he had no choice but to order a full-scale attack, charging towards the 2nd Company's front-line position with his rifle in hand.

Landmines were detonated one after another, killing several Japanese soldiers and giving the defending troops time to react.

The machine gunners on duty in the first and second platoons opened fire first, suppressing the Japanese offensive. The others climbed up from the trenches and threw grenades forward.

This tactic has been practiced many times. Its advantage is that the flash of the grenade explosions makes the Japanese soldiers' figures nowhere to hide.

The shrapnel from the grenade explosion can kill Japanese soldiers from any angle, making it ideal for dealing with night raids.

The Second Company's reaction speed exceeded Captain Tsuchiya's expectations. The light and heavy machine guns and submachine guns on the defending positions fired fiercely, causing the Japanese soldiers to fall and be thrown into chaos.

Makino Taro was riddled with bullets the moment he showed himself and collapsed in front of Hirata Yasuyuki. It was indeed the last supper.

Hirata Yasuyuki slipped and fell to the ground. The cunning man rolled behind the pile of rubble, escaping bullets that sent dust flying, and once again escaped with his life.

Captain Tsuchiya, seeing that his operation had been exposed, ordered a full-scale attack:

"Warriors, charge!"

"Itaiya!"

The remaining dozens of Japanese soldiers swarmed towards the defending positions, but due to poor visibility in the dark and the limited firepower of the machine guns, they were unable to stop them.

The second platoon leader raised his arm and shouted:

"Brothers, kill the Japanese devils!"

"Kill them!"

The brothers of the second and third platoons leaped out of the trenches and charged towards the Japanese soldiers, the two torrents colliding fiercely.

Submachine guns, bayonets, rifles, and grenades clashed in a chaotic melee, with both sides using every trick in the book to kill the other.

The Japanese soldiers, their bodies strapped with explosives, rushed towards the defending troops and detonated their explosives, perishing together with them.

Captain Tsuchiya had just managed to cut down a garrison soldier in the chaos when he was stabbed through the body by several bayonets.

Hirata Yasuyuki was fighting the defending soldiers with bayonets when a loud bang came from the side, and everyone within a radius of more than ten meters was knocked down.

The nighttime melee was extremely brutal, with both sides fighting for their lives. The Second Company also suffered its greatest casualties since the start of the war.

The gunfire and shouts of battle only ceased when the last Japanese soldier fell. The last few dozen Japanese soldiers of the Tsuchiya Company were all killed in action, and many of the defending soldiers also fell.

The second platoon leader had his arm chopped off by a Japanese soldier's katana, but he endured the pain and still managed to kill two more Japanese soldiers.

The third platoon leader sustained multiple injuries and fought to the very last moment.

Two squad leaders were killed and three were wounded, bringing the total number of casualties across the two platoons to fifty-two.

Yang Guai wanted to curse as he listened. He hadn't expected the Japanese's desperate gamble to inflict such heavy losses on the Second Company. Now that things had come to this, he could only coldly shout:

"Take good care of the wounded brothers. Send all the seriously wounded to the rear. Learn from this lesson and lay more landmines on the front lines."

Second Platoon Leader Yin Qiucheng said without a care in the world:

"Company commander, my wound has been bandaged and I'm fine now, I can still fight."

"In war, people always die. Although we suffered 52 casualties, we also killed over a hundred Japanese soldiers. It was worth it!"

Lieutenant Xue Rongxin, the third platoon leader, also recovered and continued the conversation:

"These Japanese devils are really reckless. They detonate explosives at the drop of a hat. Many of our brothers were dragged down by the Japanese and killed. We need to learn from this experience."

Yang Guai couldn't say anything more, so he could only order the battlefield to be cleaned up and the results tallied.

The battle results were not fully tallied until dawn, and the third platoon leader reported them to Yang Guai:

"The brothers found a total of 195 bodies, one destroyed Type 92 infantry gun, two Type 92 heavy machine guns, eight captured light machine guns, seven grenade launchers, eighty-nine rifles, and a certain amount of ammunition and supplies. This should be a reinforced company."

The entire company suffered 27 dead, 18 seriously wounded, and over 40 slightly wounded.

More than 80 people were killed or wounded, more than 40% of the Japanese army. Fortunately, most of them were lightly wounded. They wiped out an entire Japanese company, so the exchange ratio was still acceptable.

Yang Guai said to the third platoon leader:

"Send someone to report the results to the battalion commander, saying that the outflanking Japanese troops have been completely wiped out, and our side suffered 87 casualties, including 42 lightly wounded who are still able to fight."

Xue Rongxin accepted the order and left, while the Second Company continued to hold their ground and protect the flank of the main road.

On the main road, at the first line of defense, the Japanese launched another attack, with two or three hundred men densely packed together, probably two infantry companies.

Seeing that the Japanese had invested heavily, Deputy Battalion Commander and Company Commander Deng Ying no longer concealed his intentions and said to the communications officer:

"Signal the artillery company: fire twelve rounds first, then open fire!"

After receiving the order, artillery company commander Lei Xiong personally calculated the firing parameters and soon fired the shells into the enemy ranks.

They only used four 20mm mortars and two 92mm infantry guns on standby, a total of forty-eight shells, which killed the Japanese soldiers and shattered their well-organized military formation.

The Japanese battalion commander was so angry that he yelled:

"As for our artillery, immediately call for artillery support from the regimental commander and blow up all of the Chinese cannons!"