I Will Teach Them What Fury Means Through Savagery

In northern Yizhou, relentless artillery bombardment continued without pause. Once the vanguard made landfall, the true, terrifying advantage of the Special Operations Brigade was laid bare: endless, blanket bombardment. For no matter how sturdy a bunker the enemy hid in, Silver Rock Arms always had a weapon made to kill them. "Over here! Over here! Bazooka!" Shouting at the top of his lungs to the men behind him, a soldier roared. Rushing up to a spot not far from the bunker, a soldier shouldered his Bazooka rocket launcher and squeezed the trigger. Boom! Following the violent blast, the bunker remained standing, entirely undamaged. Staring at the tough turtle shell, the soldiers' expressions instantly turned cold, and they quickly withdrew. "Baka! Come on then! Come on! Hahaha!" Seeing the soldiers pulling back, the Japanese troops inside bellowed in triumph. Yet before their celebration could finish, a piercing howl tore through the sky. Boom! Boom! Boom! As countless artillery shells rained down, the entire bunker was wiped off the face of the earth in an instant. Watching the Japanese soldiers blown to shreds inside the demolished bunker, the American troops stood in the distance, regarding the scene with icy detachment. If the Japanese thought permanent fortifications could save them, they were utterly delusional. Back on Iwo Jima, Tadamichi Kuribayashi had also believed his "turtle shell" was thick enough. And what came of it? Hadn't they ripped it to pieces all the same and skinned him alive? *** In Hsinchu, at the headquarters of the 9th Division. Upon learning that American forces had landed in northern Yizhou, Yasohachi Tasaka roared in fury, "Baka! How is this possible? Why on earth would they launch an attack from there?" The moment the words left his mouth, his adjutant hurriedly chimed in, "The American firepower is simply overwhelming! Lieutenant General Hitomi Shūzō is requesting tactical guidance!" Hearing that, Tasaka slammed his hand on the desk. "Idiot! That bastard Hitomi ought to commit seppuku!" Yet furious as he was, Tasaka could not simply leave him to die. He needed the 12th Division to share the burden of holding the island. Right now, only an American Special Operations Brigade had landed. But what would follow? Would the 1st Marine Division arrive next, along with other reinforcement units? As the 9th Division moved out from Hsinchu and rushed toward northern Yizhou, Liu Ren was engaged in the rawest form of warfare with Hitomi Shūzō—a bloody fight to the hilt! When countless rockets fired from modified trucks, the sky instantly transformed into a shower of thousands of falling meteors. Boom, boom, boom! Boom, boom, boom! A cascading chain of explosions rolled forward like a magnificent creeping barrage. Yet to the defending Japanese soldiers witnessing this spectacle, it felt as though the very heavens were collapsing upon them. Ever since the daytime landings, they had been fighting for their lives on a battlefield where ordnance rained down continuously. After all, no one knew whether whatever dropped onto their heads in the next second would be an artillery shell or a fucking rocket! "Division Commander! The third defensive line... has completely fallen!" Entering the command bunker in northern Yizhou, a disheveled frontline NCO lowered his head in disgrace. "What?!" Staring at him in disbelief, Hitomi Shūzō roared, "Are you all imbeciles?! Why... why couldn't an entire regiment even hold out for two hours?!" "The enemy's... the enemy's firepower is just too overwhelming! The men couldn't even survive long enough to counterattack, Division Commander!" Weeping as he pleaded before Hitomi Shūzō, the NCO's face was painted with desolate misery. He had watched with his own eyes as the men beside him were torn to shreds, one after another, in the explosions. If their firepower had once crushed everything across the Far East, then against the Special Operations Brigade's bombardment, they were practically setting off two-stage firecrackers—and one-off ones at that, because the Special Operations Brigade could pinpoint their artillery positions the very next second and wipe them out completely. Hearing this, Hitomi Shūzō's mind went completely blank. From yesterday to now, his 12th Division had already suffered nearly ten thousand casualties. If the fighting dragged on like this, he could not even be sure he would live long enough to see the 9th Division arrive with reinforcements! *** In the quiet darkness, soldiers huddled inside the trenches, eating canned beef to restore their strength. Inspecting these young soldiers, Liu Ren exhaled a long breath of stale air. Miserable as the enemy had it, his own side had suffered no small share of casualties either. Across the Pacific War so far, his fallen had already reached no fewer than two thousand, not counting the wounded. Even so, Liu Ren continued to recruit and draft more men. For if he did not see this fight through—if he did not prove to the martyred forebears that they too could ride their warhorses into Tokyo—he would fail every boy who had died in battle, and fail every mother and father who had entrusted their sons to him! "The casualties are too heavy, Liu. We should ease up! The 9th Division is already on its way..." Speaking to Liu Ren, Howard's eyes held deep gravity. Even on Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima, they had never sustained losses this heavy. Yet here in Yizhou, their casualties had already climbed past six hundred! These were seasoned, elite veterans whom Liu Ren had sent into the army, men with more than a decade of training behind them. Liu Ren could still remember each and every one of their faces to this day! Liu Ren did not answer Howard. He looked off into the distance, his gaze turning icy. "Sacrifice is necessary at any given moment! Whether it is them or me, for victory, anything can be given!" Thinking back to the Red Sisters of Yimeng who had formed a human bridge with their own bodies, Liu Ren could hardly bear to imagine what would happen if he failed! That would be ten thousand times more horrifying than failing his mission! Was he supposed to go back and tell the families of those soldiers that he had cowered and retreated because he feared casualties? That he had abandoned their sons on the battlefield and slunk home alone...? No. Just like the martyrs who had charged across that human bridge, he could only move forward; he could never turn back. The spirits of his compatriots in Jinling and the Northeast were watching him... And now, Liu Ren would teach them what true fury meant through sheer savagery! "Telegraph Alexander. I need air support—five waves of over a hundred B-29 bombers each!" Turning to Howard beside him, Liu Ren's eyes were frigid. He intended for more than half of the 9th Division to be dead before they even arrived! Hearing that staggering figure, Howard was stunned. "Are you certain?" "Tell Alexander that for every B-29 lost, I will compensate them double!" Speaking impassively, Liu Ren could only unleash his "money power." On the battlefield, money was the least significant thing of all—and as it happened, he had plenty of it! *** Advancing rapidly toward northern Yizhou, Tasaka was still contemplating how to counter the American offensive. Yet in the very next second, the sky abruptly darkened. The Japanese soldiers looked up in curiosity, only for terror to seize them an instant later. A sky-blotting fleet of bombers was sweeping in like a colossal storm cloud. Screeech! When the aerial bombs dropped in unison from more than a hundred B-29 bombers came falling, no one could truly fathom what that meant, for survival was virtually impossible. Boom! Boom! Boom! As their entire line of march was completely blanketed, the Japanese soldiers were plunged straight from the human realm into hell in an instant. Boom! Boom! Boom! As relentless detonations mingled with agonized shrieks, despair washed over Tasaka's face. "How is this possible? How can this be?!" Weren't the Americans supposed to be busy attacking Ryukyu and raiding the home islands? How could they possibly spare so many bombers...? This was completely impossible! USAAF Headquarters: *We didn't want to either, but he offered far too much!* The Pentagon: *You file the paperwork, and I'll sign it...*