Rise From Eight Hundred

On a slightly cool autumn night in Jiangnan, apart from the sound of footsteps, only the sound of heavy breathing permeated the darkness.

Only the distant sky flashed a faint red light and a faint muffled sound from time to time, reminding a team of Japanese soldiers who were running in the wilderness at a rhythm that this night was not the tranquility they were experiencing now.

The battlefield several kilometers away from them was definitely very intense.

"Everyone, speed up!" A strong Japanese soldier who was at the front of the entire queue looked up at the horizon, slowly breathed a sigh of relief, tried his best to calm the heat in his lungs caused by long-distance running, and ordered loudly.

Aso Koki is the second lieutenant squad leader of the 1st Infantry Squadron of the 2nd Company of the 8th Infantry Battalion of the 45th Infantry Regiment of the 36th Infantry Brigade.

As a young man from a poor peasant family, who had never attended a military academy and had little education, he was able to become a second lieutenant in the Japanese army, which was full of strong men. Aso Koshu relied on the unique tenacious will and fearless spirit of a peasant youth to rush to the forefront in the wars organized by the empire against China again and again.

Six years ago, during the September 18th Incident, Aso Koshu, who was still a private, followed his sergeant into the Beidaying and killed three Northeast Army soldiers who dared to resist with precise shooting skills, including a captain company commander. Facing the few but desperate Northeast Army soldiers rushing towards them, he bravely stabbed two of them to death with a bayonet.

One of them looked only seventeen or eighteen years old from his young face. I think he was helpless after being surrounded and fought desperately. When Aso Koshu's bayonet stabbed into his chest, he ignored the sharp blade and held the blade tightly with both hands, with a pleading look on his face.

Although he didn't know what the young Northeast Army soldier was shouting, Aso Koshu knew that he should want to live and he was begging himself to let him go.

Although the sharp bayonet pierced his lungs, it was not fatal to his left chest. If the bayonet was pulled out and he was given a hemostatic pack to stop the bleeding and surgery was performed in time, the chance of survival for the young Northeast Army soldier who had not yet enjoyed life would be more than 10%.

At that moment, Aso Xiaoshu should have felt compassion, but soon, the voice of "They are the enemies of the empire and the stumbling blocks that prevent the empire from expanding its territory!" occupied Aso Xiaoshu's mind.

Twisting the rifle hard, the blade of the bayonet scraped in the chest of the young Chinese soldier, and the tooth-grinding friction between the blade and the bone could almost be heard. The young face of the Chinese soldier twitched in pain, and tears and snot flowed all over his face, which did not arouse Aso Xiaoshu's sympathy until he gradually returned to silence.

Aso Xiaoshu didn't know what the young Chinese soldier shouted, but in the last sentence, there was mother! The pronunciation of Japanese and Chinese is 80% consistent in calling for mother.

Later, a colleague helped Aso Koki translate that the dead Chinese soldier shouted: "Oh my god, it hurts!"

It turned out that they were a group of cowards. As the empire said, they did not deserve such fertile land. Aso Koki's eyes gradually became firm.

After this battle, Aso Koki, who killed five enemy soldiers alone, became the next candidate for the sergeant of his squad. He only needed to wait for his superior to be promoted or transferred, and he could become the leader of a squad.

Aso Koki had never looked forward to war so much.

So, his wish was soon realized.

Two years later, the battle of Rehe and the Great Wall came. Aso Koki followed the army to chase tens of thousands of Chinese, crossed the ancient Great Wall of China, which the Chinese were most proud of, and approached the capitals of several dynasties in China.

In this war, the alternate sergeant Aso Koki killed eight Chinese soldiers again. After his sergeant died on the battlefield, he was directly promoted to the position of sergeant.

Unfortunately, the war ended in just three months. The Empire seemed to be satisfied with the acquisition of Rehe Province, and withdrew its troops after signing an agreement with the Chinese.

If the status quo remains, and nothing unexpected happens, the sergeant will be the pinnacle of Aso Koju's military career without any background. He will serve for a few more years, get a retirement fee, and go home to inherit the family business and continue to be an ordinary farmer.

But how can Aso Koju, who has seen the wonders of the world, continue to live like this? He is looking forward to the Empire launching another war against China, so that he will have the opportunity to join the ranks of officers.

Aso Koju's ambitions are not big. He has never expected to become a high-ranking lieutenant. He just wants to be a second lieutenant who can make dozens of people bow their heads or a lieutenant and captain who can be respected by hundreds of people.

So in the years in the Northeast, he obeyed his superiors and led his subordinates to fight against the endless rebels. In order to find out the whereabouts of a rebel, he even went on a killing spree in an ordinary mountain village, stabbing more than a dozen villagers to death with bayonets, from the elderly to the young and strong to women and even children, and finally made the Chinese surrender and hand over the Chinese rebel hiding in the cellar.

Aso Xiaoshu was not blind to the hatred hidden under the drooping eyelids of the sad Chinese, but what was that? They were just a group of cowards. If his superiors were not interested in wasting more time, he could have killed all the remaining dozens of people in the village.

Relying on ruthless killing, Aso Xiaoshu had the name of "Cold-blooded Xiaoshu" in the army.

Finally, the war between the empire and China broke out again. When the "strongest division on the surface" was replenished by the Kwantung Army, the sergeant "Cold-blooded Xiaoshu" was transferred to the Sixth Division and promoted to the second lieutenant squad leader.

Aso Koju's ambition grew again and he was eager to become the lieutenant or captain of his dreams in this war, so he fought bravely in every battle.

This time was no exception. After the commander of the brigade ordered the entire army to lighten their load and quickly gather at the position of the 6th Heavy Artillery Brigade, he ordered the team members to drop all the baggage. Each person only carried 100 rounds of bullets, two grenades and a pot of water. The extremely light load allowed his infantry team to rush to the front of the entire brigade and even the entire regiment.

The infantry team closest to him in the back was also 150 meters away.

The Aso team is the spearhead of the entire 36th Infantry Brigade. After this battle, my name Aso Xiaoshu will definitely be heard by the commander of the regiment. Aso Xiaoshu, who ordered his subordinates to continue to speed up, had such thoughts at the moment.

Even if there was a small river in front of him whose depth was unknown, Aso Xiaoshu did not hesitate to jump into the river first, wading through the thigh-deep water and rushing to the other side.

The body that keeps running will emit enough heat to maintain body temperature. When entering the battle, the adrenaline bursting between life and death will make people ignore these small coldness. Aso Xiaoshu, who has experienced dozens of battles, has a clear enough understanding of this.

Unfortunately, the ambition of the Japanese Army Second Lieutenant who dreamed of changing the fate of himself and his family through war ended here.

Before he completely crossed the river, he heard a roar "Fight for me!"

Chinese, there are Chinese here? As soon as this thought that made him feel heartbroken flashed through Aso Xiaoshu's mind, he heard the dense "da da da" gunshots that made his whole body numb.

That was the sound of the Mauser pistol that he was very familiar with.

Not cheap but extremely effective German-made continuous-fire firearms, the favorite of the Chinese.

Whether in the Northeast, North China or the Southeast, all battlefields have never lacked the figure of this weapon.

200 meters away, Aso Xiaoshu can completely disdain the Mauser pistol that the Chinese love so much.

The constantly jumping muzzle and short barrel made them completely inaccurate. He just stood there arrogantly, and the 20-round magazine that was fired in one breath could not do anything to him.

However, the almost blinding fire in the dark night ahead reminded him that the firing distance would never exceed 40 meters.

The brave and invincible Japanese Army Lieutenant was naturally not a fool. He was eager to change his fate in the war, but he did not want to lose his life in the war.

Almost without thinking, Aso Xiaoshu's waist, abdomen and leg muscles instinctively exerted force and fell forward.

This was the most instinctive reaction of an old soldier. No matter if there was water or something on the ground, even if there was a knife poking below, he would not hesitate to fall.

Bullets are the most deadly in war, and artillery shells may not be comparable.

But, 'Cold-blooded Xiaoshu' was still 0.5 seconds late.

The trenches dug by the Chinese soldiers outside the stream were only more than 30 meters away from here.

In order to ensure a one-shot kill, the infantry company commander waited until most of the Aso squad jumped into the river before ordering the shooting.

The rate of Mauser pistols in the guard battalion reached an astonishing 50%.

This means that at least hundreds of bullets were fired in this wave of bullets alone.

Dozens of people in the Aso squad, including Aso Koki, shared these hundreds of flying bullets.