Chapter 56: A Moment of Peril

"Die, you bastard!"

Major Ginchiro suddenly rolled over and sprang up, the command sabre in his hand slashing fiercely toward Li Yunlong's neck.

Li Yunlong's body tightened, his eyes splitting with rage as he quickly raised the muzzle of his gun, but he was a fraction of a second too slow; the edge of the sabre was already whistling toward his neck.

At the very last critical moment, Li Yunlong flew backward, landing hard on his backside, yet narrowly escaping the major's blade.

It turned out that Wei Dayong had sharp eyes and quick hands, snatching Li Yunlong back just in time.

This thrilling scene left all the soldiers with taut nerves, and a group of them cursed angrily as they surrounded Major Ginchiro.

The major gripped his command sabre tightly, shouting fiercely in Japanese. The gist of it was about the Emperor's longevity, a soldier's honor, and demanding a one-on-one duel.

At this moment, Li Yunlong wiggled his hips and pushed his way through. "Get out of my way, all of you! I'm going to hack him to pieces myself!"

Stepping forward, Wei Dayong volunteered, staring with hostility at the Japanese officer. "Sir, you rest for a moment. Let me handle this little Japanese bastard; I've got some personal scores to settle with him!"

Seeing the murderous glint in Wei Dayong's eyes, Li Yunlong understood he had a debt to settle. "Good! You saved my life, so from now on, you're a brother of Li Yunlong's!"

"I'll leave this little Japanese bastard to you!"

Wei Dayong looked at Li Yunlong in pleasant surprise. "You're Commander Li Yunlong?!"

Then, turning back to glare at Major Ginchiro, he let out a cold laugh. "Hmph, you little Japanese devil, consider yourself unlucky. We're going to settle our old and new grudges all at once!"

Just the day before, this very Japanese officer had led men to drag out dozens of prisoners, among them a soldier from Wei Dayong's squad who had never returned.

With a toss of his chin, Wei Dayong discarded the Arisaka rifle in his hand and looked at Major Ginchiro with utter contempt. "Come on!"

Seeing this former captive face him bare-handed, Major Ginchiro flushed with anger, taking it as a grave insult. With a wild howl, he lunged forward, executing a shoulder-to-hip diagonal slash aimed right at Wei Dayong's chest.

Wei Dayong stepped back and shifted his body to the side, easily dodging the blade. Not letting up, Major Ginchiro unleashed a flurry of strikes—upward thrusts, horizontal cuts, and direct stabs. It looked formidable, but Wei Dayong dodged left and right with effortless ease, not even a single hair of his was harmed.

In no time, Major Ginchiro ran out of breath and strength. As he paused to catch his air, his foot slipped slightly, revealing an opening.

A sharp flash appeared in Wei Dayong's eyes. His right hand shot out like an eagle's talon, locking precisely onto the major's wrist. With a swift press, twist, and snap—"Crack!"—he instantly crippled the Japanese officer's arm.

Taking advantage of Major Ginchiro's miserable howl, Wei Dayong formed his left hand into a palm, channeled his internal energy to his dantian, and delivered a fierce heart-shattering blow right to the major's chest.

Major Ginchiro's screams cut off instantly. His face turned deathly pale, and dark red blood mixed with clots gushed from his mouth.

Wei Dayong straightened up, let out his hand, and exhaled softly. Major Ginchiro, now completely dead, collapsed face down onto the ground.

The soldiers looked at Wei Dayong in admiration, and Li Yunlong shouted out in praise, "Well done!"

Li Yunlong stepped forward to pick up the command sabre and patted Wei Dayong on the shoulder with a hearty laugh. "Brother, you've got some fine martial arts! Once we get back, we'll have a good long chat!"

Wei Dayong grinned. "Ha, since Commander Li honors me so, I'll gladly accept!"

"Haha, alright everyone, hurry up and clear the battlefield, get ready to withdraw!" Li Yunlong waved his hand grandly, urging everyone to move faster.

Before long, Li Yunlong and Huang Tianning led the soldiers, pulling their spoils of war as they swaggered out of the POW camp and headed along the main road toward Yaojiayu.

They hadn't gone far when Zhang Dabiao caught up with his men.

Approaching Li Yunlong, Zhang Dabiao saluted. "Reporting to the Battalion Commander, the mission was a complete success!"

Li Yunlong glanced at Wang Kai and his men, then looked back at Zhang Dabiao with newfound respect. "Not bad at all, Dabiao! You hauled in quite a bit of loot this time, haha!"

Zhang Dabiao offered a modest smile. "Heh, it's nothing much. We just wiped out a Japanese squad and happened to run into a company of puppet troops who wanted to join our forces, so I took them in on the spot. Pure luck, all luck!"

Li Yunlong tossed his head back. "Ha! Give you an inch and you start acting all high and mighty!"

Then Li Yunlong burst into laughter as well. "Heh heh, we've hit the jackpot this time!"

"I reckon in less than half a year, I, Li Yunlong, will be enjoying the thrill of being a division commander, hahaha!"

With the forces merged, the marching speed increased. They turned into the mountain trails, caught up with the advance group of freed prisoners along the way, and the entire party gradually vanished into the deep mountain forests.

While Li Yunlong was returning in triumph with a full load of spoils, Liu Bo and the militia successfully dispersed and withdrew, causing Major Akai, who had rushed to the rescue, to chase ghosts.

"Baka yaro! Damn it all to hell!"

Major Akai's face was livid as he stared at Lieutenant Tanaka, who stood before him looking utterly wretched with one arm in a sling.

Although he had walked right into a trap, Major Akai couldn't really blame Lieutenant Tanaka. He had already learned the details; while Tanaka had indeed been used as bait, his cry for help had not exaggerated the situation.

Looking at the thoroughly devastated defense positions and the score of surviving Japanese soldiers nursing various injuries, Major Akai knew that if he hadn't come to reinforce them, they truly wouldn't have held out!

What irritated him even more was: what was the real objective of this Eighth Route Army detachment? Had they already succeeded?

Major Akai had no choice but to suppress his fury. He left behind an infantry company to take over the defense, turned his troops around immediately, and detoured toward Wuyin County.

Not long after Major Akai set off with his troops, definitive news arrived from Wuyin County.

Upon learning that the POW camp at Liuwang Temple had been attacked, Major Akai froze. Then, as if realizing something, he suddenly stopped rushing.

He didn't care at all about a bunch of mere Chinese prisoners. Compared to the importance of the Yong'an stronghold, his deployment this time was entirely justified.

"Hmph!" Moreover, Major Akai felt a secret sense of satisfaction deep down. They had long despised that special operations team; relying on the favoritism of First Army Commander Yoshio Shinotsuka, every single one of them acted superior to everyone else.

As it happened, a detachment of the special operations team was training at the POW camp. Major Akai secretly hoped they would all be wiped out so that General Yoshio Shinotsuka could see that this special team was not worth such heavy support at all!

Hurrying along, Major Akai returned to Wuyin County, left behind the machine gun company and artillery platoon, and took only a single infantry company toward the Liuwang Temple POW camp.

Arriving at the spot where Zhang Dabiao had laid his ambush, Major Akai's expression turned ugly as he looked upon the remnants of the squad that had been completely annihilated.

As for Wang Kai's puppet army company, he didn't care in the least. He understood the operational style of these puppet troops all too well; scattering at the first sign of an adverse wind was completely normal.

When he reached the Liuwang Temple POW camp and conducted a general inspection, Major Akai's lips curled into a slight smirk upon seeing Major Ginchiro and his subordinates lying dead.

However, upon seeing the four guard towers that had been blown to pieces, Major Akai's expression turned grave.

This group of Eighth Route Army troops not only possessed large-caliber mortars, but it seemed they now even had direct-fire field guns, and not small ones at that!

Major Akai reported this news and his findings up to his regiment headquarters, and incidentally had a telegram dispatched to Taiyuan to notify them of the deaths of Major Ginchiro and his men.