On the evening of March 20, to the west of Yongxiu, the north bank of Xiushui River, the Japanese crossing the river point.

"Bang! Bang!"

Two "Type 89" medium-sized tanks guarded both sides of the pontoon bridge that the Japanese army was erecting, from time to time, firing two guns at the Chinese soldiers on the river beach on the opposite bank.

The roar of several heavy machine guns of Japanese infantry near the floating bridge almost stopped, and dense bullets sprinkled on the defenders' positions on the south bank like water. As long as the Chinese soldiers exposed their positions, even if they were just shooting a rifle, they would attract a series of machine gun bullets.

"Company Commander! Can't fight anymore! Let's retreat!" Luo Xiang, a row of squad leaders, lay in the crater on the river beach and shouted at his company commander.

"You can't retreat! While the Japanese are still building bridges, we have to find a way to stop them! If the Japanese are allowed to cross the river, no one of us can escape!" The company commander fired and refused his subordinates' request for retreat.

"Company Commander, I beg you," Luo Xiang's voice cried: "Look at how many people are left in our company? After the Japanese fired the gun, we were less than 30 brothers left. If we continue to fight, why are all these brothers all over!"

The company commander looked around, and there were only eleven soldiers left on the river beach. Some were still firing guns one after another, and some had already put down their bullet-ridden rifles and looked at themselves with their eyes wide open.

"Okay, I get it,"

The company commander's eyes were dead. He also understood how long could such a person be able to block the Japanese army with just a few people? And maybe they were just unlucky, and the defense zone just hit a pontoon bridge of the Japanese. Even if they could block this bridge, how many such pontoon bridges were there on the entire Xiushui River?

"You take the wounded to retreat first! I will leave behind a cover for you."

The company commander replied lightly.

Luo Xiang was anxious. This was not the answer he wanted: "No! Company Commander, we have to go together! We are leaving, what's the point of leaving you?"

"If you want to treat me as the company commander, just follow my orders and take the wounded away!" The company commander roared louder: "Take all the living brothers on the original position back. The Japanese will definitely not let them go after crossing the river. Now, leave all the grenades and get out of here!"

"Yes!" Luo Xiang bowed quietly and left the river beach with the remaining ten soldiers.

"Brothers, I'm sorry." Seeing his subordinates leave, the company commander silently untied his leggings and tied them all together with more than ten grenades left. Then he held the fuse with one hand and the pistol with the other, quietly waiting for the Japanese army to set up the floating bridge? When they started crossing the river.

There were eight inactive wounded soldiers on the original position, including Squad Leader Liu, who had his legs broken before.

"Come on, Lao Liu, I'll carry you? Let's retreat first." Luo Xiang walked to Squad Leader Liu and stretched out his right hand to Squad Leader Liu.

"Where is the company commander?" Squad Leader Liu did not take over his hand.

"The company commander stayed on the river beach." Luo Xiang replied in a low voice.

"You left the company commander there and ran away?" Squad Leader Liu widened his eyes, as if he couldn't believe his ears:

"Bastard! I'll kill you!" Squad leader Liu pulled up his rifle and was about to fire at Luo Xiang, but was grabbed by a soldier next to him.

"Squad Leader Liu, misunderstanding! Misunderstanding! Is it the company commander's own order? The position cannot be defended. If the Japanese cross the river, all our wounded will be done? He asked us to take the wounded to retreat first!"

"Hu? Hu~"

Squad Leader Liu was gasping for breath? He glared at Luo Xiang fiercely: "Okay, the company commander's order? You guys go."

"Old Liu, I'll carry you? Let's go together!" Luo Xiang knew that Squad Leader Liu had a stubborn temper? He stretched out his hand to him again.

"Don't worry about me, I won't leave," Squad Leader Liu pulled the bolt of the rifle in his hand hard: "If the company commander stays, I will stay."

"Okay, I know what you are going to say, stop talking. You took the other wounded people away. My leg was broken and I couldn't even leave, so I stayed here."

Luo Xiang wanted to say something, but before he could speak, Squad Leader Liu directly retorted his words.

"Squad Leader Liu..." Another soldier wanted to persuade him again, but Luo Xiang pulled him away.

"This is Lao Liu's own decision. Let him stay. Let's carry others."

More than a dozen remaining soldiers supported each other and retreated to the rear, gradually disappearing into the dark night.

Squad Leader Liu lay in a large bullet crater, and three rifles filled with bullets were placed in front of him, and two grenades with their back covers tied to him.

"It would be great if there was a cigarette." Squad leader Liu breathed the air full of gunpowder and bloody smell, thinking silently in his heart.

"Bang bang bang!"

"boom!"

The gunshots across the river bank had already stopped. I don’t know how long it took, a gunshot and a violent explosion from the river beach woke up the sleepy Squad Leader Liu, who was a little drowsy due to blood loss.

A large ball of fire rushed into the night sky, illuminating the dim river beach and giving Squad Leader Liu a shot of a heart attack. He understood that the Japanese had already crossed the river.

"Baga!Baga!"

On the river beach, Colonel Hiroki Ishii, the captain of the Japanese Fifth War Tank, jumped off his tank and stomped his feet while cursing.

After successfully crossing the river, a "Style 94" light chariot under Hiroki Ishii received his order and searched the river beach with a small team of infantry. Because the infantry found five or six Chinese soldiers' bodies, they thought the Chinese soldiers here had retreated, so they relaxed their vigilance.

As a result, a Chinese soldier suddenly rushed out of nowhere. He tried hard to get close to the tank while being shot several times and detonated the cluster grenade on his body. This explosion not only destroyed the right track of the "Type 94" light combat vehicle, but also killed three infantrymen who were accompanying the tank.

Later, other Japanese soldiers judged through the leather shoes on the Chinese soldier's feet and the bombed mull gun that he should be a low-level officer of the Chinese army rather than an ordinary soldier.

What Hiroki Ishii was most unacceptable was that the driver of a "Style 94" light chariot crossing the river on a pontoon bridge seemed to be frightened by the sudden explosion and actually drove the chariot into the Xiushui River. The chariot lost its trace after splashing huge water. I don't know if it was washed away or it was directly sunk.

The chariot troops that Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji lost two tanks in succession before they joined the war because a Chinese officer who had not even left a complete body, which made Hiroki Ishii feel furious and more worried about the battle that he would fight next.

After experiencing this emergency, a squadron of Japanese infantry that had crossed the river began to disperse, carefully searching for all possible dangers on the river bank.

Sure enough, when one of the teams searched for the original position of the Chinese defenders, they were suddenly attacked by a Chinese soldier.
Chapter completed!