si-mexico Chapter 674 is the main force!
Chapter 674 is the main force!
When his vision focused, Aoki Takeshige finally saw who was coming. It was not the ordinary Marine Corps sailor's summer combat uniform.
It was a high-quality, starched, military police uniform! The white "Military Police" armband on the arm was particularly eye-catching!
The leading military police officer, a young man with a chin as hard and resolute as a knife and wearing a sergeant's collar insignia, was leading the team forward at a rapid pace.
Dozens of military police followed closely behind him, holding Type 38 rifles.
Looking around, there were teams of overseas Chinese, men, women, young and old, carrying the wounded or corpses everywhere.
It seems that the overseas Chinese armed forces suffered heavy losses last night, and women and the elderly have been mobilized to clean up the battlefield.
. . . . . . . . . .
Aoki Takeshige felt as if his legs were filled with lead. He was almost half-carried by two military police as he walked through the dilapidated streets of the Hongkou Concession, taking one deep step and one shallow step.
With every step he took, the soles of his shoes inevitably stepped on a mixture of rubble, broken glass, sticky mud, and blackened blood clots.
The pungent smell enveloped him like a heavy corpse, the nauseating smell of blood, the sweet and greasy stench of rotting corpses, the strange smell mixed with disinfectant and sulfur, and the ubiquitous burnt dust.
The once brightly lit department store windows are now reduced to black frames, and the brick walls on both sides of the street are covered with dense bullet holes. The charred ruins silently tell the story of the madness of the artillery fire that destroyed the land not long ago.
The real purgatory is the accumulation of living misery and death.
In almost every corner that could provide some shelter from the bullets, there were wounded people huddled or lying down.
They were dressed in rags, their bandages seeping with dark red liquid, some were missing limbs, their wounds revealing the frightening whiteness of bones.
Some of them had weak chest rises and falls, and their eyes stared at the gray sky with empty eyes.
Others let out heart-wrenching howls in unconscious pain that gradually faded away.
The doorways or ruins that temporarily served as first aid stations were already overcrowded with people. Military doctors and soldiers wearing red cross armbands moved stiffly among them, with only numb fatigue on their faces.
"Water... give me water..." A wounded soldier with his jaw almost blown off pleaded incoherently, his voice like a broken bellows.
"Hold on! It will be over soon!" A young medic shouted hoarsely while pressing in vain on the wound of another soldier whose abdomen was bleeding. Sweat mixed with blood and mud flowed down his forehead, and the bandage on his left shoulder was already soaked.
On the other side, piles of corpses almost occupied several street corners and small squares.
They were stacked haphazardly, hastily, like split logs, and covered with tattered canvas, blood-soaked army blankets, or simply a thick layer of black linoleum.
The exposed parts: a twisted and deformed hand, a calf covered in mud, a face covered in frozen fear and blood... attracted swarms of green-headed flies, which gathered and buzzed greedily, forming a black mass that could not be driven away.
"Beast! Beast!" An old soldier who had lost one leg and was leaning against a broken wall was beating the ground with his remaining right hand. Turbid tears flowed down his wrinkled face and he cursed repeatedly. It was unclear whether he was cursing the enemy, this damn war, or fate itself.
Aoki numbly looked away, the acid churning in his stomach almost rushing up his throat.
Is this the fate of the Empire's warriors? What unfolds beneath the glorious crusade is this hellish scene?
When they finally stepped onto the relatively open dock area, the river breeze with its salty and fishy smell failed to dilute the smoke, burnt and death mixed smell in the air, but instead made it even more filthy.
The dock was bustling with people, with wounded people being carried in continuously to wait for evacuation, and stretcher teams moving back and forth.
At this moment, a low and powerful roar of engines, unlike any before, came from the downstream of the Huangpu River, drowning out the noise of the dock.
"Here it comes! It's our ship!" A Marine second lieutenant leaning against the pier's pile with a bloody bandage on his head pointed excitedly at the river, his voice hoarse but filled with ecstasy.
Everyone's eyes were drawn to it.
Aoki also looked in the direction of the sound.
Three sturdy, dark grey naval transport ships with towering front decks were seen breaking through the turbid river water, leaving huge white V-shaped tracks and approaching the special military berth next to the dock with great momentum.
The tall chimney was spewing black smoke, and the ship had a deep waterline, obviously loaded with heavy cargo.
The most eye-catching thing is the Rising Sun Flag fluttering in the wind!
Before the transport ship came to a complete stop, a penetrating command came from the ship's radio.
Immediately afterwards, dark blue figures poured down from the open portholes and decks like springs!
They were swift and tactically adept, they were the soldiers of the Marine Special Forces!
They wore dark blue combat caps with the bottom brims of their helmets tucked behind their heads, and wore Showa 11-style khaki summer uniforms. They carried backpacks on their shoulders and held Type rifles and light machine guns. Some of them were carrying heavy machine gun parts or mortar bases.
Although they had just come down to the ground from the shaking of the ship, their eyes were firm and sharp, and their actions were quick and orderly, which was in sharp contrast to the bleak and exhausted scene on the dock.
"Look! Look at their equipment! And grenade launchers! They are the main force!" A soldier with a broken leg lying on a stretcher struggled to raise his head, a strange light bursting out of his eyes, and he shouted in a trembling voice.
A middle-aged officer with a triangular scarf hanging from one arm and the rank of Lieutenant Commander on his chest walked towards the front of the dock surrounded by several staff officers and just passed by Aoki.
Aoki heard the lieutenant colonel give orders to the young captain beside him in a voice that sounded like he had just survived a disaster, yet was filled with ruthlessness. His voice was not loud, but every word was clear: "Confirmed! It's the 5th Special Marines from Qingdao!!
"Those bastards, don't even think about taking another step forward! Tell their officers to immediately receive the city defense map and seal the gaps. Don't let a single Chinese soldier get through!"
"Hai!" The young captain saluted, turned around and ran towards the Marines who were lining up to enter the city.
A soldier sitting on the ground, his leg grazed by a stray bullet, awaited medical attention. He excitedly patted his only good knee and shouted to his companions, "Did you hear that? They're from Qingdao! Our strongest Marines! Hongkou... Hongkou is saved!"
"May Amaterasu bless you..." The old owner of a shrine shop came to the edge of the chaotic dock at some point, looking at the Marines coming down from the ships in an endless stream. He clasped his hands together, muttering to himself, and tear marks mixed with cigarette ash were clearly visible on his face.
Aoki's heart suddenly tightened and then began to beat violently.
Qingdao! The elite of the Imperial Navy stationed in Shandong! They're actually rushing across the sea to reinforce!
I watched as the soldiers quickly lined up in marching formation at the officer's brief command, and trotted away into the smoke of the streets leading to Hongkou.
A cold sense of reality and a distorted heat current hit Aoki Takeshi at the same time. The huge, shattered wound of Hongkou seemed to be temporarily stitched up by the sudden injection of powerful medicine!
But the price... The mountains of corpses and seas of blood before us, is this an abyss that can be filled by just a few thousand people?