Chapter 24: Annihilating the Japanese 115th Regiment!

“Brothers, charge! Kill these devils!”
Rattling gunfire erupted as the soldiers roared, their machine guns spewing flames, bullets whistling toward the Japanese lines. Dull thuds sounded relentlessly as rounds struck flesh, never ceasing.
Rows upon rows of enemy soldiers screamed in agony, collapsing to the ground, falling like wild grass beneath a scythe.
“The Imperial 115th Regiment is finished! This time, truly finished!”
A surviving battalion commander, witnessing the collapse, saw Chen Qingzhi’s troops unleash a storm of gunfire and incoming artillery. His face twisted in despair as he spoke, his command saber slipping uselessly from his grasp, leaving the frenzied, panic-stricken Imperial soldiers to flee for their lives.
At this point, even if he wanted to stop them, he could not!
Before the shadow of death, no word or punishment had any meaning.
The 115th Regiment had now reached the point of utter annihilation.
Suddenly, a stray bullet from nowhere struck the battalion commander directly in the heart. His body shook as if hit by a sledgehammer, and with a heavy thud, he fell to his knees.
A great mouthful of blood spurted from his lips, his face ashen and contorted with pain. With difficulty, he lifted his head for a final look at the battlefield, seeing only countless Imperial soldiers fleeing for their lives.
“The 115th Regiment is destroyed…” At the very last moment of his life, this thought flashed through his mind. Then all went dark; he knew nothing more.
Abruptly, a stirring, triumphant bugle call rose from the Zhonghua Gate position. Chen Qingzhi leapt from the trench, shouting, “Brothers, the time for counterattack has come! Charge! Wipe out the devils!”
“Charge!”
“Kill them!”
More than a hundred soldiers, hearing Chen Qingzhi’s order, all sprang from the trenches, firing their rifles as they pursued the Japanese.

Though they numbered just over a hundred while the enemy still had over a thousand men, not a trace of fear could be seen among the soldiers. Rifles in hand, they threw themselves into the pursuit, determined to eradicate the fleeing enemy.
They were ablaze with fighting spirit, their faces shining with excitement.
In stark contrast, the Japanese soldiers were utterly panicked, their faces twisted with terror as they ran for their lives, terrified that falling a step behind would mean death at their pursuers’ hands.
There was no will to fight left in them.
One after another, the fleeing Japanese were gunned down by the pursuing soldiers, dying along the path of their retreat.
After pursuing for some distance, Chen Qingzhi, fearing enemy reinforcements and the possibility of unforeseen trouble, halted the chase.
Even so, in the end, fewer than three hundred Japanese managed to escape.
Had the enemy not scattered so widely, or if Chen Qingzhi’s force been larger, not a single one would have gotten away.
Now, the Japanese 115th Regiment could be said to have been truly wiped out.
Back on the battlefield, gazing at the ground strewn with enemy corpses, all the soldiers paused for breath, each wearing an expression of disbelief.
They could hardly accept that all this had been caused by their own hands.
Just over a hundred of them had eliminated half a Japanese regiment?
It seemed impossible, yet the bodies of the enemy lay everywhere, severed limbs scattered across the blood-soaked earth, a heavy stench of blood hanging in the air.
All these sights reminded the soldiers—
It was real!
They stared, stunned, at the scene before them. No one knew how long the silence lasted until suddenly a soldier burst out in jubilation, “We did it! We won!”
“We defeated the Japanese!”
His ecstatic cry was only the beginning. In the next instant, all the soldiers were shouting with joy, raising their rifles high and cheering from the heart.
When Chen Qingzhi had first ordered them to stay behind and block the Japanese, everyone had thought their chances of survival were slim. Yet not one had wavered, not one had retreated; all had resolutely remained.
At that moment, each had been prepared to die.
But none had imagined things would turn out this way.
The Japanese, once seen as invincible, had crumbled before them like paper. Before they could even feel hardship, they had destroyed half a regiment.

It was a feeling they had never known before—
But it was exhilarating!
“Captain, you’re truly a marvel!” one soldier exclaimed to Chen Qingzhi. “In the past, every time we fought the devils, we lost three or five brothers just to kill one. But now, under your command, they’re like clay figures!”
“Captain, I really admire you! From now on, my life is yours. Whatever you command, I’ll obey without question!” thumped another, hands to his chest. “If you tell me to head east, I won’t go west; if you tell me to kill a chicken, I won’t slaughter a dog!”
As he finished, the others chimed in:
“That’s right, Captain, you’re amazing!”
“Fighting under your command is the best thing ever!”
“Captain, from now on, we’ll follow your orders! Let’s smash the devils and show them the mettle of Chinese men!”
Many gathered around Chen Qingzhi, voicing their admiration.
In the past, every battle with the Japanese had been a bitter struggle, the price of killing one enemy often five or even tenfold. But under this captain, it seemed almost a game.
To serve under such a leader—what fortune that would be!
Fang Xiaodong also approached, his face full of respect. “Captain, this time you’ve truly won me over! I see it now: fighting under you is pure satisfaction. From now on, my life is yours!”
Hearing their praise, Chen Qingzhi only shook his head calmly and said, “Your lives are your own. Don’t talk about giving them to me. What matters most is working together, side by side, to fight the devils!”
“This is just the beginning. In the future, we must fight even harder, so that when those devils hear our name, they’ll tremble with fear! We must show them that Chinese men are no cowards!”
“Captain is right!”
“Fighting the devils is our duty!”
“We’ll become the devils’ worst nightmare! When they see us, let them quake in terror!”
Every soldier’s spirit soared, their fighting will ablaze.