Chapter 143: That Shimmering Radiance

Since you are courting death, I shall grant your wish! Let you know that the warplanes of our Great Imperial Japan are not something you ignorant Chinese can shoot down! the Japanese pilot muttered, a sneer curling at the corner of his mouth.

With that, he directly maneuvered the fighter plane in a circle in the air, turned around, and dove straight toward the battalion commander.

At this moment, the battalion commander was still clutching his machine gun, firing continuous bursts at the Japanese aircraft, but to no avail.

With a machine gun alone, unless one hit a vital part of the fighter plane, it posed no threat whatsoever.

Seeing that the plane had almost reached strafing distance, a ferocious smile appeared on the Japanese pilot's face: "Go to hell, despicable Chinese!"

Amidst the fierce and savage shouts, the Japanese pilot ruthlessly triggered the onboard machine guns. Instantly, a dense rattle of mechanical impacts rang out, and two streams of fire poured toward the battalion commander.

"Tat-tat-tat..."

"Puff, puff, puff..."

Two completely different sounds rang out one after another. The first was the sweeping fire of the machine gun, and the second was the sound of bullets piercing flesh.

Countless bullets ripped into the battalion commander's body, causing him to convulse violently. His hands lost all strength to pull the trigger, and his entire body fell backward.

"Whoosh..."

The fighter plane swept past just above the battalion commander's head. The moment his body fell back, his once-dimming eyes suddenly lit up when he saw the plane flying right over him.

Then, leveraging the momentum of his backward fall, he gathered the very last ounce of strength left in his entire body, aimed his gun barrel at the Japanese fighter, and pulled the trigger.

"Tat-tat-tat..."

At this moment, the Japanese pilot was still basking in the joy of having killed a soldier, a sneer of contempt on his face: "Ignorant Chinese, you think you can take me down with those wretched guns in your hands..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly felt a violent shudder rack the plane. Then, it felt as though the entire aircraft had been struck by a heavy blow, immediately spinning out of control and plunging diagonally toward the ground!

"Baka! What is happening?!"

The Japanese pilot had no time to figure out what was going on before an blinding flash of light suddenly erupted from the plane's fuel tank, plunging his vision into total darkness as all consciousness faded away.

Boom!

A violent explosion shattered the air. A Japanese warplane exploded mid-air, transforming into a brilliant ball of fire that flared across the sky.

Countless shattered fragments were hurled outward by the blast, scattering in all directions like falling blossoms before fluttering down to earth.

At the very last moment of his life, upon seeing that fighter plane explode in the sky, a trace of a smile finally surfaced on the battalion commander's face. Then, with a resounding thud, his body crashed heavily onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and falling completely still.

...

The battalion commander had fallen in battle, the soldiers of the battalion had suffered heavy casualties, and with the city wall already blown open by Japanese aircraft, the defending soldiers had no time to deploy reinforcements. The desperate, charging Japanese troops had already broken through.

"Banzai!"

A Japanese major waved his command sword, acting almost like a madman as his entire body shook violently, urging his soldiers to advance rapidly.

Seeing that his men had already charged into the city, a wild look of euphoria spread across the Japanese major's face, and he rushed forward alongside the trailing soldiers.

Normally, cowardly as he was, he would never have dared to charge in personally, but this time was different.

The 36th Infantry Regiment had reached a moment of life and death. If they failed to capture Dingyuan, once the General of the Division blamed them, none of them would be able to escape the consequences!

Therefore, to boost the morale of his men as much as possible, the major led from the front, charging in at the head of the troops.

The moment he broke through, he spotted a dozen or so panicked defending soldiers. A ferocious grin spread across the major's face as he roared without the slightest hesitation: "Kill them! Kill these Chinese, leave none alive!"

Those dozen defending soldiers, suddenly confronted by the main force of the Japanese, had no room for resistance whatsoever. They were instantly caught in a hail of Japanese gunfire, convulsing violently as they vomited blood and collapsed limply to the ground.

"Quickly, occupy this place! You must hold it and welcome the main force!" After clearing out those dozen soldiers, the Japanese major roared at the top of his lungs.

Meanwhile, because of the battalion commander's death, the soldiers on the city wall were left without leadership. Coupled with their heavy losses, they were utterly incapable of holding back the Japanese assault.

Japanese warplanes continuously circled and dove above their heads, dropping aerial bombs from time to time that landed squarely among the soldiers, killing and wounding large numbers of them.

This position had fallen!

"Damn it! We can't let this go on! Brothers, the commander has fallen, but we cannot let this position be lost in our hands! How could we ever face the commander if we do?" A company commander, consumed by anxiety at this sight, roared loudly.

Only a few dozen men remained on the city wall. Hearing these words, they shouted back in unison: "Damn it, we'll fight these Japanese to the death!"

"Good! Since that's the case, follow me down and drive out the Japanese who have broken through! We must never let them take this ground!" Seeing all the soldiers echo his resolve, the company commander waved his hand and shouted fiercely.

Immediately afterward, he led the dozens of remaining soldiers down from the city wall, engaging the invading Japanese in close combat.

Relying on the nearby streets and houses, the soldiers engaged the Japanese in fierce urban warfare.

Fierce firepower poured down upon the Japanese, catching them off guard and killing a dozen or so of them.

Faced with this resistance, the Japanese ranks fell into some disarray. Upon seeing this, the major flew into a towering rage. Realizing that they were being held up by merely a few dozen men, he wore a sneer of utter contempt: "A mere few dozen men want to stop us? How laughable!"

With that, he waved his hand and ordered: "Quickly, bring up the grenade launchers, and blow these Chinese to pieces!"

"Thump, thump, thump..."

Several small-caliber rounds were fired in succession by the Japanese, landing right among the thinly spread defending soldiers.

By this stage of the battle, both sides had essentially lost most of their mortar and grenade launcher support. The sudden appearance of these grenade launchers now carried an absolutely devastating psychological and physical deterrent force!

The few shells landing among the dozens of defending soldiers instantly killed a dozen men. Others were struck by Japanese gunfire, convulsing violently before collapsing limply and helplessly to the ground.

Some soldiers, though not directly killed by the blasts, were struck by flying shrapnel from the mortar shells. Though they did not die instantly, warm blood poured endlessly from their wounds, and the warmth and strength within their bodies drained away rapidly alongside the flowing blood.