214: More than half of the casualties

On the Baoshan battlefield, the sound of gunfire and artillery was like a boiling pot of porridge, never stopping for a single moment.

Feng Tiankui personally led two regiments, relying on the astonishing speed of off-road motorcycles to pierce into the flank of the japanese encirclement like a sharp knife.

At first, progress was exceptionally smooth.

The surprise effect brought by high mobility was excellent.

The Japanese Army completely didn't expect an enemy to charge in from the side and rear at such a high speed.

The heavy machine guns on the motorcycles roared crazily, as the soldiers on board poured a dense rain of bullets toward the japanese positions.

In an instant, they tore a huge hole in the seemingly tight encirclement.

"Good shooting! Charge, brothers!"

Feng Tiankui sat on a motorcycle, dual-wielding submachine guns to harvest the japanese while roaring at the top of his lungs.

The success of the initial battle and the powerful firepower made the soldiers' blood boil, and for a time, morale reached its peak.

"Division Commander! The japanese are in disarray! Let's just take this opportunity to wipe them all out!" a regimental Commander shouted excitedly.

"Yes! Annihilate them! Let the japanese know the power of our 122nd Division!"

"Damn it, kill all the japanese!"

"Must do it, the Sichuan Army must rise up!"

The taste of victory and the desire for revenge quickly occupied the minds of the officers and soldiers.

The original tactic of "rescue and support, then quickly disengage" was completely thrown out the window.

Feng Tiankui was also infected by this sudden success and the high spirits of his subordinates.

He ordered the troops to press forward on all fronts, attempting to expand the gains and even fantasizing about encircling and annihilating the Japanese Army unit before them.

The battle line spread out quickly, but the sharpness of the assault was unknowingly blunted.

Problems soon began to surface.

After a night of high-intensity long-distance raids and fighting, the soldiers' physical strength was already overextended, and their reaction speeds had slowed down significantly.

Even more fatal was that, in order to quickly assemble the assault team, many soldiers had been temporarily drawn from various battalions and companies.

The coordination between them was far from the tacit understanding of their original units.

The officers found it exceptionally difficult to command, and the efficiency of order execution was greatly compromised.

And their opponents were the elite Type A divisions of the Japanese Army.

After a brief period of chaos, they immediately displayed extremely high tactical proficiency and tenacious combat power.

Especially after confirming that the opponent was the mysterious armed force that had annihilated the Thirteenth Division in Luodian.

The death order from headquarters to suppress them at all costs hung over their heads.

They used ruins and fortifications to conduct layer-by-layer resistance.

Precise shooting and ruthless bayonet charges caused heavy casualties to the charging 122nd Division.

The mobility advantage of the motorcycles was difficult to utilize once they were caught in close-quarters combat; instead, they became easy targets for concentrated fire because they were so conspicuous.

The situation reversed rapidly.

The 122nd Division not only failed to "swallow" the enemy, but instead felt like they had punched into a thick swamp.

The momentum of the assault was abruptly halted, and they found themselves trapped in a counter-encirclement quickly organized by the Japanese Army.

The gunfire and battle cries of the japanese came from all directions.

"Division Commander! We've been flanked!"

"Division Commander, the left flank can't hold on!"

"Division Commander, the casualties are too high!"

Bad news arrived one after another.

Feng Tiankui watched the brothers falling around him, his heart twisting with pain as a wave of immense regret washed over him.

Only then did he remember Lu Fan's repeated emphasis on "not lingering in battle" and "maintaining mobility," but it was too late.

He had failed to rescue the Friendly Forces and had instead fallen deep into an encirclement himself, potentially facing total annihilation.

At this moment of extreme crisis, even more intense and familiar gunfire suddenly rang out from the outer edge of the encirclement.

It was the unique sound of the 122nd Division's own type 85 submachine guns and general-purpose machine guns.

"Division Commander! It's Chief of Staff Luo! Chief of Staff Luo has brought men to support us!" the signalman shouted excitedly.

Luo Jialie was personally leading three battalions temporarily cobbled together from all the lightly wounded in the division.

They launched a desperate charge from behind the Japanese Army.

The appearance of this fresh force instantly caught the japanese off guard, and the encirclement was torn open once again.

Feng Tiankui's spirits were greatly lifted. Seizing this precious opportunity, he gave orders at the top of his lungs.

"Everyone! Rally to me! Restore original units! Advance by original units!"

This command was like a life-saving charm.

Hearing it, the soldiers in chaos instinctively looked for their familiar company, platoon, and squad leaders.

Soon, the scattered troops converged back into their original combat units with astonishing speed.

Once back within their familiar command structure and beside their comrades...

That bone-deep tacit understanding returned instantly, and their combat effectiveness increased visibly to the naked eye.

"1st Regiment! Follow me and kill our way in!"

"Brothers of the 2nd Regiment! Fix bayonets! Charge!"

The restored 122nd Division erupted with incredible resilience.

They no longer fought individually but covered each other, attacking in echelons.

They forced a bloody path out of the japanese encirclement and finally merged with the remnants of the 87th and 88th Divisions.

"Division Commander Feng! Words cannot express our gratitude!" a Brigade Commander from the 87th Division, his face covered in gunpowder smoke, shouted excitedly.

"Cut the crap! Let's break out together!" Feng Tiankui roared.

The three parties joined forces and charged fiercely in one direction.

However, the situation on the battlefield changed in an instant.

Just as they were about to break through the encirclement, a dull roar came from the horizon; the japanese planes had arrived.

A round of bombing directly and violently broke the momentum of the breakout.

When the bombing ended, reinforcements from the Japanese Army's Third and 6th Divisions—one Infantry Battalion each—had arrived!

The addition of these fresh forces instantly plugged the gap.

Even more terrifyingly, the japanese artillery observers followed closely behind and calibrated the coordinates.

Immediately after, dense shells fell like hail! The fire of the explosions consumed everything.

"Incoming artillery! Take cover—!"

Screams, explosions, and the sound of shattering weapons intertwined.

Under the carpet bombing, the mobility of the off-road motorcycles could not be utilized at all.

Soldiers fell in swaths, and the casualty numbers climbed sharply.

The exhaustion from a night of fierce fighting without rest now turned into a fatal weakness.

Many soldiers were slow in their movements, and tactical execution began to suffer greatly.

The japanese quickly formed a new, even more solid encirclement.

Like an iron barrel, they tightly besieged the remnants of the 122nd, 87th, and 88th Divisions in an area less than two kilometers wide.

Facing this desperate situation, all the generals and soldiers understood that there was no longer any hope for survival.

Feng Tiankui wiped the blood and sweat from his face.

He looked at the officers and men of the 87th and 88th Divisions around him, who were equally scarred but had determined gazes.

He said to Luo Jialie in a hoarse voice, "Tell the brothers, there's no way back.

The bones of the Sichuan Army cannot go soft here. Together with the brothers of the Central Army, we'll fight those damn japanese to the end!"

"Fight!"

"Fight to the death!"

Earth-shaking roars erupted from the mouths of the remaining soldiers.

There were no longer divisions between factions, no more distinction between irregular and regular troops; at this moment, they had only one common name: Huaxia Soldiers.

Bayonets were fixed, bullets were chambered.

Relying on broken walls and ruins, the remaining officers and soldiers formed the final line of defense.

Facing the well-equipped japanese who outnumbered them several times over, they made a final desperate stand.

At this time, the familiar sound of tank engines came from the distance: "Rumble~~ Rumble~~"