All the brothers of the Flame Special Warfare Brigade woke up soon. When they saw the corpses floating down from the upper reaches of the river, their faces became extremely ugly.
Seeing the corpses that dyed the river red, many dead Chinese officers and soldiers were still struggling with the Japanese soldiers, and the fighting was fierce.
"It's from the 18th Division of the 18th Army."
Zhang Tie and others identified the identities of the Chinese officers and soldiers who died in battle and floated downstream along the river from the armbands on the corpses.
"We are not far from Yichang, let's go."
Yang Ling knew that the 18th Army was responsible for guarding Yichang. The fact that so many corpses were drifting down the river showed the urgency of the war. As members of the Chinese Communist Party, they naturally could not stand by and watch.
Moreover, they have no contact with the Fifth Theater Command now, and they can only report and receive the mission if they rush to Yichang and find the radio station.
There were too many corpses in the river, and the brothers had no time or energy to salvage them, so they quickly gathered and headed straight for Yichang.
The further north you go, the clearer the sound of cannons becomes, and there are more people on the road along the way, most of them refugees fleeing.
In this season, everything should be growing, but on the road to Yichang, it is lifeless.
Groups of people fled the war zone, dragging their families with their families and braving the scorching sun. Horse-drawn carriages and packages crowded the roads. Everyone's face looked dejected and panicked.
Although the Japs' vanguard had just arrived at the outskirts of Yichang, the Japs' army aviation units and joint aviation units' reconnaissance planes and bombers flew to Yichang in groups to carry out bombing raids.
Facing the vast crowd of refugees, the Japanese planes roaring back and forth naturally refused to let them go, and swooped down from time to time to shoot at them.
Every time a Japanese plane swooped down from the clouds, there would be chaos on the road, with people everywhere running away in panic.
However, in the face of the Japanese machine gun fire, clouds of blood mist rose up wherever the bullets passed, and the road was soon covered with broken limbs, and wailing and moaning could not be heard.
Some trucks transporting wounded soldiers of the ** team were also bombed by Japanese planes. Amidst the rumbling explosions, thick smoke billowed out of these trucks.
"Bang bang bang!"
"Ta-ta-ta! Ta-ta-ta!"
Seeing these arrogant Japanese planes, any bloody Chinese couldn't bear it. The wounded soldiers with guns opened fire on the swooping Japanese planes.
Although the brothers of the Lieyan Special Warfare Brigade knew that shooting aircraft with rifles was just a fool's errand, in the end they still devoted themselves to anti-aircraft shooting, which at least prevented the Japanese aircraft from firing at low altitudes.
Zhang Hai commanded the brothers in the sniper team to seize a favorable shooting position next to the highway and shoot at the Japanese planes that swooped down from time to time.
The brothers in the sniper team still used the 38 rifles obtained from the Japanese in Zhijiang. The rifles without scopes were temporarily used as sniper rifles.
The brothers in the sniper team suppressed the anger in their hearts and looked for opportunities to hit the pilots of the Japanese plane. However, the Japanese plane swooped down several times and they failed. They were so angry that they cursed.
The sniper captain Zhang Hai was lying on a mound, staring at the Japanese plane with all his concentration, but never fired. He was waiting for an opportunity.
When the Japanese swooped down for the fourth time, finished strafing, and were about to pull up, suddenly the Japanese pilot saw Zhang Hai lying on the mound in front of him.
The Japanese plane that was being pulled up was facing Zhang Hai, and the distance between the two sides was rapidly approaching. The Japanese pilot saw the rifle in Zhang Hai's hand.
The Japanese pilot's initial calmness turned into panic. He forcefully tried to pull himself up to avoid the attacker who was targeting him.
But Zhang Hai opened fire, shooting at the Japs pilot when the Japs plane was only a hundred meters away from him. The bullet penetrated the glass of the cockpit and went into the Japs' chest with a pop, and a stream of blood spattered out.
After Zhang Hai pulled the trigger, he was immediately knocked over by the wing airflow of the Japanese plane that passed over his head and fell into the thorn bushes. He grimaced in pain.
Zhang Hai ignored the urgency of scratching his face and turned to look at the Japanese plane with the gun in hand. He was sure that he had just hit it.
The Japs' plane passed over the mound and glided a few hundred meters away. The Japs' pilot was already dead. The out-of-control plane crashed into the farmland in the distance. With a roar, a huge plume flew up.
The fireball exploded directly.
The crash and explosion of this Japanese plane scared the other Japanese planes so much that they all hurriedly pulled up and no longer dared to swoop down and shoot at low altitudes.
"You bastard little devil, come down here if you dare!"
Seeing those Japanese planes hovering in the sky and not daring to get down, the brothers yelled and cursed.
But the Japs didn't listen, and soon after deactivating the bomb, they walked away, leaving a mess on the ground.
Yang Ling and the others had to stop to help treat the wounded. When they saw that among the beaten corpses there were even children waiting for their babies to be nursed, the murderous look on the brothers' faces became even stronger.
The brothers of the Lieyan Special Warfare Brigade avoided the bombings of Japanese planes and wasted a lot of time on the road. They arrived in Yichang at noon.
This important town on the edge of the Yangtze River was already covered with war clouds. There were trenches and barbed wire everywhere, and anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns had all opened their camouflage nets, pointing black holes into the sky.
As soon as Yang Ling and the others approached, a group of Chinese officers and soldiers armed with live ammunition surrounded them with murderous intent.
After all, when Yang Ling and the others came down from the battlefield in Zhijiang just now, they were covered in gunpowder and black, and they were not wearing military uniforms. The 38 rifles in their hands made the Yichang defenders feel like they were facing a formidable enemy, thinking they were Japanese infiltration troops.
Fortunately, Yang Ling and the others had experience in Zhijiang. In order to avoid misunderstandings, they sent someone to proactively contact the Yichang defenders early and identify themselves.
Therefore, they were not disarmed, but waited for a while. After the surrounding security forces confirmed their identities, they were allowed to enter the city.
Currently, only the 18th Army is guarding Yichang. The other troops in the Fifth War Zone are now blocked near the Han River by the Japanese. The defenders are weak and they wish more troops could come to Yichang to help defend.
Yang Ling and the others followed the liaison officer as they walked all the way into the city. On both sides of the road, the officers and soldiers of the 18th Army were urgently building fortifications. They were all covered in mud and sweating profusely.
The 18th Army was urgently transferred from Sichuan to Yichang to serve as a garrison. It had only been here for two days. They faced unimaginable difficulties in building fortifications to block the Japanese from three divisions in such a short period of time.
The city of Yichang is also in chaos. In addition to the officers and soldiers who can be seen everywhere building fortification barricades, there are also many people who have not evacuated to help transport ammunition and boil water for cooking.
Although the 18th Army is the ace unit of the Chinese Army and has the best weapons and equipment, it still lacks air defense weapons.
The weak air defense network of the defenders could not intercept the Japanese planes, so the Japanese vanguard troops were still on the outside. The city had been ravaged by the Japanese planes, and many places were turned into ruins.