Chapter Fifteen: Firepower Coverage! (Requesting Bookshelf and Votes)

The impact points of the shells were dangerously close to them! Ninety-nine percent sure, the target of the bombardment was their very own unit!

“Stop the engines!”

In an instant, the terrified soldiers’ faces turned pale as they scrambled chaotically, desperate to flee the danger.

The troops marching along the road suddenly summoned every ounce of strength they had, sprinting toward the roadside. Meanwhile, those aboard the trucks didn’t even wait for the vehicles to come to a halt—they jumped straight off the speeding trucks.

Some truck drivers, ignoring their fellow soldiers inside the cargo hold, recklessly drove their vehicles toward the roadside, crushing their own comrades without a blink of an eye.

Yet, by this point, it was already too late.

In the next moment, the first volley of over three hundred shells from the 1st Regiment rained down mercilessly upon the entire Sakata Regiment’s position like a torrential downpour.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Amidst the deafening roar of explosions, violent blasts erupted in succession throughout the nearly 800-meter-long march area of the Sakata Regiment.

Blazing red fireballs soared skyward, intertwining with thick, billowing black smoke, almost instantly engulfing the entire marching formation.

Some shells struck truckloads of enemy soldiers directly, obliterating those who hadn’t yet escaped the vehicles into ashes.

Shrapnel scattered in all directions like the grim reaper’s scythe, mercilessly reaping the lives of the Japanese troops.

Immediately, the second and third rounds of artillery followed one after another, pouring down relentlessly on the Sakata Regiment’s marching zone.

The fierce explosions sounded like thunderclaps rolling through the skies.

The enormous shockwaves made the ground tremble beneath their feet.

After ten rapid rounds of fire, the area where the Sakata Regiment had been advancing had become a hellish wasteland.

Shattered vehicle wreckage littered the terrain, bloodied and mutilated bodies strewn everywhere, and pools of vivid crimson blood stained the earth.

Of the nearly five thousand soldiers in the Sakata Regiment, around two thousand five hundred perished without even encountering the fighters of the 1st Regiment.

Half of the Sakata Regiment was wiped out.

Yet, despite this outcome, Li Yunlong was far from satisfied.

He had just observed through his binoculars that many Japanese soldiers who detected the artillery barrage had managed to escape in time.

“Damn it! If only we had brought along the 150mm German infantry guns and 105mm American howitzers,” he muttered.

“Otherwise, with a few rounds of heavy artillery from me, those Sakata troops wouldn’t have had a chance to run—they’d be dead by the thousands!”

“If luck was on our side, we could have wiped them out completely!”

Zhang Dabiao nodded vigorously, fully agreeing with his commander’s assessment.

The 1st Regiment’s 150mm German infantry guns were top-notch artillery.

Though their range was shorter than the 150mm howitzers, they weighed only half as much.

A single ordinary truck could transport two or three of them alongside troops.

Their firepower was no less devastating.

Against buildings, a single shell could pulverize standard brick-and-stone structures.

Even reinforced concrete walls about a meter thick could be effortlessly pierced.

On the battlefield, the lethality of the 150mm German infantry guns was terrifying.

Within a twenty-meter radius of the blast center, all carbon-based lifeforms were obliterated into fragments.

Within a fifty-meter radius, no one could escape the high-velocity lethal fragments.

Even at 150 meters away, one could still be hit by flying shrapnel.

Only beyond 200 meters could one be reasonably safe.

Unfortunately, the 150mm infantry guns were still en route to Shanxi Province!

Otherwise, as the commander said, those Japanese soldiers wouldn’t have stood a chance to flee!

Within that few-thousand-square-meter area, a few rounds of heavy artillery fire would have left not a single hair on those soldiers.

What a pity!

...

While Li Yunlong shook his head in dissatisfaction over the artillery’s effectiveness, Sakata Nobukazu was nearly frightened out of his wits.

He had been riding in a small vehicle, dreaming of an unmentionable encounter with the daughter of the Heavenly Locust.

Then, he envisioned himself promoted and ennobled as the Prince of the Foot Basin Chicken.

Fighting Britain with his fists, kicking America with his feet, reaching the pinnacle of life.

What a splendid vision!

But the next second, his deputy dragged him out of the warm carriage like a dead dog, shattering the dream.

Sakata Nobukazu was completely baffled—how could he not be furious like some cunning strategist?

If the other party didn’t give him a good explanation, he was ready to have Matsuda Takeshi clean the entire regiment’s diapers!

But within seconds, Nobukazu’s expression changed drastically.

He ran faster than Matsuda Takeshi, a robust man in his thirties!

There was no choice—the relentless explosions behind them were deadly!

A minute later, crouched in a low depression to avoid the shelling, Nobukazu stared dumbfounded at the incessant barrage nearby.

What the hell was this?

Damn Daxia Army?

This must be a joke!

Over three hundred artillery pieces!

The enemy must have mobilized an entire artillery division to ambush them!

And where did they get so many shells?

Since Taiyuan had been occupied, the Jinsui Army and other Daxia forces in Shanxi had no source of artillery ammunition.

Every shot fired meant one less shell.

Yet now, in just this short time, the enemy had already fired four to five thousand shells!

His own artillery battalion carried only three thousand rounds!

Beside him, Matsuda Takeshi shouted indignantly, “Regimental Commander, those Chinese are utterly despicable!”

“How shameless to use so much artillery for an ambush against us!”

Snapping back to reality, Nobukazu hurriedly asked the question weighing heaviest on his mind.

“How are the casualties so far?”

Matsuda’s face fell as if his parents had died.

“Sir, according to reports from officers hiding throughout the positions,” he began.

“The 2nd and 3rd Infantry Battalions have suffered near-total annihilation, losing over four hundred warriors.”

“The 4th Infantry Battalion lost over five hundred.”

“The 5th Infantry Battalion…”

At this point, Matsuda hesitated, seeing Nobukazu’s eyes blaze with fury, and dared not continue.

But having heard about so many dead soldiers, Nobukazu, who had just been terrified, was now trembling with rage.

“Speak!” he roared furiously.

“You damn well better tell me what happened to the 5th Infantry Battalion!”

“Say it now!”

Shaking, Matsuda finally continued.

“The entire 5th Infantry Battalion has been wiped out!”

What!?!

Nobukazu grabbed Matsuda by the collar, spittle nearly flying onto his face.

“No way! Are the soldiers of the 5th Infantry Battalion pigs?”

“Don’t they have legs? Can’t they run?”

Yet Matsuda’s answer nearly made Nobukazu pass out.

“Sir, the 5th Infantry Battalion and the artillery battalion were positioned at the rear.”

“It seems the enemy concentrated their attack intentionally on the artillery battalion’s area.”