A courtyard house; Li Yunlong, a subordinate of the deputy director of Harbin Military Engineering I

As the blade slashed down, the black soldier's bayonet simultaneously pierced Guo Shouyi's abdomen. Both men staggered forward and fell to the ground at the same time.

In his final moments before falling, Guo Shouyi bit the soldier's throat with his teeth.

After he fell, the company commander behind him picked up the broadsword and continued charging forward, covered in blood.

The company commander fell, and the platoon leader picked up the knife and continued charging.

A soldier at the forefront of the position watched as more than a dozen veterans fell one after another in front of him. He gripped his blood-soaked broadsword and turned to look back at the rear of the position.

He's twenty-six now, with two adorable children, yet he remains fearless and ruthless!

"Little Iron, Little Knife, your father will fight for you a peaceful and prosperous world!!!"

He gripped the knife handle tightly with both hands and charged headlong into the horde of American soldiers.

The breach was closed back down by the counter-attacking troops in less than ten minutes.

This is a defensive line blocked by the corpses of veterans!

The 107mm rocket artillery on both flanks of the Independent Army's 1st Division concentrated its firepower to cover a 300-meter area at the front edge of the high ground, scattering the subsequent enemy infantry groups. Reinforcement companies then inserted themselves into the high ground from the flanks, and together with the remaining defenders, pushed back the advancing American troops.

The cost was so high that Li Yunlong's hand trembled as he held the phone in the military headquarters.

He listened to the casualty figures reported from the front lines.

Nearly half of a division had been wiped out, but Xing Zhiguo, despite being wounded, refused to leave the front line. Even with shrapnel still lodged in his left arm, he continued to command while his arm was bandaged.

Li Yunlong's eyes were bloodshot, and he felt like there were nails piercing his buttocks. He stood up and sat down repeatedly, three times in total, before finally yelling at Zhao Gang, "Old Zhao! I have to go to the front lines!"

Zhao Gang grabbed his shoulder with such force that even the veteran Li Yunlong couldn't break free.

Zhao Gang's voice was very low, but every word struck Li Yunlong's chest like a nail:

"Old Li, if you go, who's in charge of the military headquarters? Two divisions are out there maneuvering, Zhang Dabiao ordered a regiment to come back and plug the gap, and the commander has even committed his guard battalion! Now it's just you and me in the military headquarters. If you rush in and have a good fight, who's in charge of tens of thousands of men? If you want to die, wait until the battle is over. Now you fucking sit here!"

"Fuck your mother!!!"

Li Yunlong was held down by him, staring at him with bloodshot eyes for several seconds before finally leaning back hard in his chair, his back hitting the wooden wall with a dull thud.

He screamed almost frantically, "Ah.............."

Those were the veterans of the Independent Regiment!!!

Zhao Gang released his grip, walked up to him, and spoke in a softer tone, though it was still firm:

"Old Li, the First Division, at the cost of half a division, held off the counterattack of the US 25th Division plus two regiments and several battalions of the US 3rd Division, buying time for the 12th and 15th Armies to encircle and annihilate them."

Ask those fallen soldiers if they felt humiliated or not. They shouted, "China, stand up!"

"What did the commander say during his pre-battle mobilization? If we could annihilate the US 25th Division as a whole in this battle, how many fewer soldiers would we have to sacrifice?"

"No matter what, this sacrifice is fucking worth it!! Don't move!! Don't be reckless! If you fucking act stupid!!"

As he spoke, he pointed to the battle map spread out on the ground, his finger pointing towards the mountains and forests to the south.

"Zhang Dabiao has already led his men in, and the special operations decapitation team is also infiltrating the two regimental headquarters. This battle will be over before dawn. You fucking hold on!!"

"Even if you don't think about yourself, you have to think about your brothers. Don't let the commander down. He's really gone all out to build this old unit. If you don't perform well, the 15th Army and the 12th Army's political commissar, Blind Cheng, are just waiting to see you make a fool of yourself."

"Isn't Blind Cheng trying to compete with us? Let's see if the main force regiment or the independent regiment has a stronger foundation. Today, we're going to make our independent army a truly prestigious force!!"

Li Yunlong glanced at the map following his finger, and the surging anger subsided by half, but the bloodshot in his eyes still hadn't faded.

He took a deep breath, rubbed his face, and asked in a muffled voice, "What about our rocket launchers? How many more rounds can they fire?"

"The artillery positions on both flanks still have one-third of their ammunition reserves, enough for two more rounds."

"Shoot them all out."

Li Yunlong's voice steadied, "Tell the artillery positions on both flanks, don't hold back, fire at the areas where the American forces are most concentrated. Damn it, I've fought a lifetime of wars and never accumulated such a wealth of resources. Strike while the iron is hot, throw it all in!!!"

Zhao Gang turned around and relayed the order, then walked back to Li Yunlong's side. The two stood side by side in front of the sand table, staring at the small flags representing the enemy's and our own situation, and neither of them spoke again.

The encirclement and annihilation battle was concluded before dawn.

The defensive line in the southern mountainous area was completely breached by the Second and Third Divisions of the Independent Army under Zhang Dabiao's command, with officers at the company level and above leading the charge.

Zhang Renfeng's former bodyguard, Sun Bing, led a squad of soldiers in a frontal assault, running out of ammunition. They finally managed to break through the defense line using grenades and bayonets.

Several squads of soldiers took turns providing cover, and finally managed to take down the firing point!

After the platoon leader was killed, Sun Bing took over his position on the front line and led the remaining three soldiers to continue pushing forward.

On the other side was a frantic defense and assault from a desperate situation, every meter paved with blood.

They fired their last 40mm grenade on the side of the tank. Sun Bing had two comrades tie all the grenades they had on them together. He then carried the bundle of grenades and, under the cover of his comrades' fire, rolled to the side and rear of the tank and detonated the fuse.

The shockwave from the explosion threw him several meters away. He lay on the ground, panting for a long time before finally getting up. His left ear was ringing, and he was experiencing sharp pain in his left rib area...

"I am... Sun Bing from Handong!! You American devil, I'll fuck your ass!!"

He got up and kept running, catching up with his comrade who was already covered in blood. The two of them crashed side by side into the last skirmish line of the American troops.

Meanwhile, the special operations decapitation squad took advantage of the lingering effects of the artillery fire to infiltrate and attack the two regimental headquarters.

Colonel Gillis resisted fiercely but had both legs broken by special forces soldiers, and the regimental flag was captured from the classified wooden box.

The acting commander of another regiment was killed when he was hit directly by a rocket in the command post, and the regimental flag was also confiscated.

The soldiers of the special operations battalion, slaying enemy generals and capturing flags...

Two flags symbolizing the honor of the U.S. Army infantry regiment were delivered to Zhang Renfeng's command post.

The Cactus Regiment and the Golden Dragon Regiment, once renowned in U.S. military history, were completely erased from the U.S. military order of battle.

The entire encirclement and annihilation battle has come to an end.

In this battle to encircle and annihilate the US 25th Division, two entire regiments were wiped out, with over 5,600 killed, wounded, or captured, and 34 tanks and 92 artillery pieces destroyed. Our side suffered a total of 2,160 casualties. A large amount of supplies were also lost... Of the 108 men sent out by the 1st Special Operations Battalion, 100 were killed or wounded, and all 54 men in three groups were killed.

The losses on the perimeter were heavy: Xing Zhiguo traded half of his division for more than half of the remaining troops of the US 25th Division. Fighting to this extent was a desperate gamble. For the US, failing to break through meant the annihilation of that division, a disgrace in military history! One can imagine how fierce the positional defense battle was! In addition to several battalions of the US 3rd Division, our army suffered more than 6000 casualties, while the enemy suffered 6800 casualties.

The 12th and 15th Armies also lost more than 4,000 men, while the enemy suffered more than 7,000 casualties (most of whom were puppet troops).

If the attack hadn't been launched at dawn and fought so desperately to capture the position, and if the US aircraft hadn't launched a full-scale bombing raid, the casualty ratio would never have been this high!