I Don't Want Casualty Figures, I Only Want Mount Zheduo!

February 19, 1945! After an extensive period of American suppression fire, the Battle of Iwo Jima finally began. At the helm of the Special Operations Brigade, Liu Ren led more than five thousand soldiers in storming the beaches. A cigar clenched between his fingers, Liu Ren had not waited to land with the final wave; he had chosen to charge the beach alongside his men. He knew full well who awaited him on the other side: Tadamichi Kuribayashi, a man with Bushido etched into the marrow of his bones. Not that Liu Ren admired him for it. No, he wanted to personally inform Kuribayashi how, after the general died, he would travel to Tokyo and hunt down his wife and children... A sinister grin spreading across his face, veins bulged along Liu Ren's hands. He could hardly wait. "Prepare to land!" As screeching clangs rang out from the amphibious landing craft ahead, the artillery atop Mount Zheduo and Motoyama was already zeroed in on the beaches. Knowing he could not effectively repel the American landings along the coastline, Kuribayashi had adopted a far more entrenched defense: honeycombing all of Iwo Jima into subterranean tunnels where his "rats" could burrow and hide. Even so, Kuribayashi had still underestimated the might of the US forces. For this battle, the Americans had committed a total of a hundred and ten thousand troops! And a substantial portion of them were Marines backed by the investment of the Silver Rock Group! During World War II, the American military was renowned for being tough and unafraid of any brawl. Only later, on the Korean Peninsula, would they be beaten awake by the Volunteer Army. From that point on, the two sides swapped roles: one poured everything into overwhelming firepower, while the other mastered tactical infiltration. Ask why, and the only answer was that the beating back then had left a lifelong psychological trauma! Crash! The landing craft ground ashore. In an instant, enemy artillery roared in the distance. Feeling shells detonating ahead and sand pelting against him, Liu Ren bellowed, "Push forward! Don't stop! Take Mount Zheduo first!" Advancing toward Mount Zheduo according to the original plan, Liu Ren didn't hesitate for a second. On the battlefield, any hesitation from a commander meant casualties for his men. He possessed no genius for battlefield command; he could only execute a textbook, relentless onslaught. If bullets couldn't penetrate, blast it with bazookas. If bazookas failed, saturate the area with heavy artillery. Either way, he refused to believe there was a skull in this world that Silver Rock Arms couldn't crack open! Advancing rapidly toward Mount Zheduo, the dispersed soldiers gripped their submachine guns, their eyes burning with determination. Long before arriving, they had prepared themselves to die in battle. Even Liu Ren had written out his last will and testament—because had he not come to fight in this war personally, he would have spent the rest of his life consumed by regret! "Enemy ahead! First Battalion has made contact!" Urgent shouts crackled over the field radio amid the deafening rattle of gunfire all around. Hearing this, Liu Ren immediately yelled into the receiver, "Tell the landing craft in the rear to calibrate coordinates and fire at will! Max out the firepower!" No sooner had Liu Ren spoken than the landing craft along the beach began to roar. As countless shells rained down upon Mount Zheduo, the entire world seemed to thunder. Seeing the sky blackened by ordnance, the naval gunners offshore quickly swung their heavy guns around to provide fire support. Boom! Boom! Boom! Violent explosions ripped across Mount Zheduo without pause as the soldiers charged forward with ferocious battle cries. Reaching the foot of Mount Zheduo, the densely packed tunnel entrances were enough to instill dread in anyone. These men were veterans of Guadalcanal; they knew all too well the bloody cost of Japanese ambushes sprung from dark corners. "Colonel, what are your orders?" Looking at Liu Ren in tense silence, the surrounding soldiers turned grave. If they stormed inside, who knew how many lives it would cost them? "I don't want casualty figures. I only want Mount Zheduo!" Liu Ren swept a frigid gaze across the men, raised the field radio, and barked, "Initiate contingency tactics!" As Liu Ren's order was relayed across the battlefield, the men of the Special Operations Brigade moved to seal off the cave entrances and made their final preparations. Watching his elite troops ready themselves for the assault, Liu Ren gave the chilling command: "Attack!" The moment the word left his lips, soldiers bearing heavy steel shields took the lead. "The enemy! The enemy!" Roaring in alarm, the Japanese shouted as they saw the Americans breach the entrance. Yet in the very next second, submachine guns swept through like the scythes of death, cutting down every Japanese soldier who appeared. Watching his battalions make brisk headway, Liu Ren turned and commanded, "Any tough nuts you can't crack, execute the burn order on the spot!" At his command, flamethrowers were swiftly brought to the front. In these narrow tunnels, the Japanese had intended to trade life for life, but now their plans were completely shattered. Before a Special Operations Brigade advancing behind steel shields, their bullets couldn't even pierce the armor. And steel shields were only the beginning—behind them lurked more than a dozen Maxim machine guns and Gatling guns. It was as if they had hauled an entire battle line inside. When it came to offensive-defensive warfare, Liu Ren did not play around. He had no intention of letting a single Japanese soldier leave Mount Zheduo alive! "Report, Lieutenant General Kuribayashi! A final message from Mount Zheduo! The Americans have launched a frontal assault! Our men can't hold them off at all—casualties are catastrophic!" The adjutant reported to Tadamichi Kuribayashi in utter despair. "What?" Hearing this, Kuribayashi was struck dumb. He had never imagined the Americans would fight with such sheer brutality! (US military: You can eat whatever you want, but watch what you say, or I'll sue you for slander!) Over the course of two days, Japanese troops repeatedly surged out of Mount Zheduo in desperate last-ditch counterattacks, but it was all in vain. Liu Ren had long since established containment cordons around the perimeter; no one could cross that line of death. Da-da, da-da-da! A howling metal storm tore through the Japanese ranks, followed by sweepers incinerating everything in their wake to eliminate any remaining threat. "For His Majesty the Emperor! Banzai!" Under the darkening sky, a rabid Japanese soldier charged out like a mad dog, seeking a cornered beast's final strike. Yet before he could even reach the line, Gatling fire shredded him to pieces. Watching the Japanese collapse one after another, Liu Ren stood in the rear, a cruel smirk curling the corners of his mouth. "That's more like it. Death is the only destination waiting for every single one of you!" Hearing Liu Ren's mocking remark, Howard and Forrest both twitched at the corners of their mouths. If Liu were a genuine military man, he could easily have made five-star general! After all, when this guy waged war, he was practically a savage—there wasn't a ruthless tactic under the sun he wouldn't use! Ignoring Howard and Forrest beside him, Liu Ren quietly watched the flames rage. "Mount Zheduo is ours. What will you do next, little rat?" Turning his gaze toward the even more massive Motoyama not far away, Liu Ren's expression turned even more ruthless.