Chapter 122: Stalemate

"Boom, boom, boom..."

At this moment, the Japanese grenade launchers finally unleashed their fury. The soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army manipulated the tubes, raining shells incessantly upon the defenders' positions. The shrapnel from the explosions engulfed a dozen nearby soldiers, eliciting a chorus of agonizing screams.

When the smoke cleared, over a dozen bodies lay scattered on the ground.

"Banzai! Charge! Kill them all, leave not a single Chinese alive!" Seeing this, Regimental Commander Suekichi Fujii nodded in satisfaction. Waving his command saber, he barked repeatedly, "Slaughter them! Let them know the price of defying the Imperial Japanese Army!"

"Kill them all!"

More and more Japanese soldiers swarmed forward. Initially, the Japanese had only managed to breach a small gap in the front line, but as their numbers grew, the entire perimeter began to teeter on the brink of collapse.

A continuous stream of Japanese troops surged upward, their eyes bloodshot as they lunged at the defenders.

The soldiers of the First Regiment, their eyes equally bloodshot from the fury of battle, fixed their bayonets and stood their ground fearlessly as the enemy closed in. This position could not be lost!

Several soldiers, as they rushed forward, pulled the pins on their grenades and hurled them into the fray. The explosions tore a gap in the Japanese ranks, but more enemy soldiers immediately rushed in to fill the void.

"Kill!"

Amidst the incessant roar of battle, the defenders fought desperately against the charging Japanese. Meanwhile, the soldiers in the rear seized the opportunity to toss grenades, hoping to halt the reinforcements trying to climb the slope.

Under these circumstances, the Japanese below were blocked by a curtain of explosions from grenades and mortar shells, preventing them from advancing further.

On the front line, approximately two squads of Japanese soldiers had already breached the perimeter. The remaining men of the First Battalion, led by Zheng Laoshi, engaged these hundred-odd invaders in the most brutal hand-to-hand combat imaginable.

"Kill! Kill the devils!"

Amidst the deafening shouts, Zheng Laoshi roared, "Brothers, hold the line! Drive these devils back! Do not let them advance!"

"Kill!"

A Japanese soldier thrust his bayonet into a defender's body, while nearby, a defender kicked a Japanese soldier to the ground, lunged forward, and finished him off with a bayonet strike.

In the chaotic melee, neither side dared to fire their rifles for fear of hitting their own, but with Japanese reinforcements cut off and the initial wave being desperately repelled by the defenders, the two squads of Japanese soldiers were wiped out one by one, leaving the ground littered with corpses.

"Baka! A bunch of useless fools!" Regimental Commander Suekichi Fujii, seeing his imperial soldiers beaten back after finally reaching the summit, cursed in rage. "Quickly! Open fire with the machine guns!"

"Tat-tat-tat..."

The Japanese machine gunners, who had held their fire for fear of hitting their own, seized the order. They unleashed a torrent of lead, sweeping across the trench line.

The defenders had barely caught their breath after annihilating the previous wave when the machine gun fire tore into them. Caught off guard, a dozen men were killed or wounded in an instant.

The soldiers scrambled into the trenches. Zheng Laoshi, caught in the open, took a bullet to the arm. The projectile lodged in the bone, and blood surged from the wound.

"Battalion Commander, you're hit!" a nearby soldier cried out, shouting, "Medic! Quick, get over here! The commander is wounded!"

"It's nothing, just a scratch from a bullet. Don't make such a fuss," Zheng Laoshi said, forcing a smile to silence the soldier.

The medic hurried over, hastily bandaging the commander's arm to staunch the bleeding before moving on to treat the other soldiers. Zheng Laoshi’s face was pale, his lips trembling, and he could not help but gasp in pain.

The soldier, seeing this, cursed angrily, "Those sons of bitches! The commander is so badly hurt, and this is all the care he gets?"

"Quiet down!" Zheng Laoshi snapped, clutching his wounded arm and glaring at the soldier. "We just finished a bayonet charge; almost everyone is wounded. Their injuries are worse than mine, so they must be treated first! I may be the commander, but I won't claim special treatment!"

Hearing this stern rebuke, the soldier lowered his head, though he continued to mutter under his breath.

Zheng Laoshi shook his head helplessly.

On the battlefield, the sound of grenades, mortar fire, and gunfire mingled with the shouts of both sides, sounding like a macabre requiem. The brutal slaughter raged on.

The Japanese trampled over the bodies of their own comrades to continue the assault, while the defenders fought desperately to hold them back. The seesaw battle returned to its origin, as if the fierce fighting just moments ago had been nothing more than a hallucination. Yet, the corpses of both sides scattered across the ground were a stark reminder that everything was all too real.

The Japanese launched another assault, and the First Regiment fought back with equal ferocity. The combat grew more intense with each passing wave; both sides were fueled by pure, unadulterated rage.

"Banzai!"

The Japanese charged again, but under the desperate resistance of the defenders, they were soon driven back, leaving behind another carpet of dead.

The offensive had stalled once more.

The two-hour deadline for the capture of Dingyuan set by Yoshiyuki Akiyama had long since passed. Lieutenant General Yoshio Kozuki of the Ninth Division sent word to inquire about the situation, only to receive news of zero progress.

The battle had devolved into a grinding war of attrition, and with the current force levels, the Japanese were unable to seize the position quickly.

Faced with this situation, Yoshio Kozuki was incensed, even cursing in the divisional command post. Yoshiyuki Akiyama, commander of the Sixth Brigade, was subjected to a scathing reprimand over the telephone.

"Your Excellency, please give me more time!" Akiyama pleaded over the phone. "The Chinese firepower is simply too intense! They disregard life and death entirely, fighting like demons against the soldiers of the Empire. Even the warriors of our Great Japanese Empire find themselves helpless against such opponents!"