Chapter 139: The Japanese Soldier Who Refused to Fight!

The decision to commit reserve troops to fill the gaps weighed heavily on his heart. With limited artillery support, five temporarily organized infantry battalions advanced once again toward the Nineteenth Division.

However, when the Chengyun forces completely suppressed the enemy artillery in a mere nine minutes and obliterated the frontline positions, his face drained of color, leaving the anxiety and helplessness in his eyes fully exposed.

This forced the enemy troops to press their assault under extremely intense fire. In less than forty minutes, they suffered another two thousand casualties and were ultimately forced to retreat.

Seeing his soldiers retreating in complete disarray, Antonze completely lost control; his face twisted, his eyes filled with fury and disappointment.

He lashed out at the retreating soldiers as cowards, his voice shrill and piercing, accusing them of forsaking the honor of the dynasty.

"To collapse entirely over a few losses is a disgrace to the soldiers of the dynasty! You are utterly unworthy of wearing the dynasty's uniform!"

His harsh words felt like sharp arrows piercing the exhausted, battle-scarred soldiers.

Driven by rage, Antonze began beating the fleeing soldiers, his actions brutal and merciless.

When one of the severely wounded soldiers lost consciousness under the blows and was ultimately found to have no signs of life, the expressions of the surrounding soldiers shifted dramatically. Their eyes filled with terror and rage, though they were forced to suppress the emotions churning within them.

Throughout the successive offensives, the enemy forces not only suffered devastating casualties, but more discouragingly, they still failed to breach the defensive lines of the Nineteenth Division.

All of this pushed Lieutenant General Antonze to the brink of collapse. His face contorted, a flicker of tension and dread flashed in his eyes as he confronted the impregnable defensive line ahead with a profound sense of helplessness and despair.

Judging by the current situation, defeating the Nineteenth Division holding Anshan seemed entirely hopeless.

Judging from the past two days of combat, the Nineteenth Division's strength and equipment far exceeded those of a standard division. With nearly forty thousand men, equipped with exceptionally advanced gear, their combat effectiveness rivaled that of a premier elite division.

This was precisely the source of Antonze's terror. As long as the Nineteenth Division remained this formidable, if the Sixty-Third Division arrived as reinforcements, his entire force could face total annihilation.

Once the operation failed, as the military commander, he would undoubtedly find it impossible to escape responsibility.

Even if he attempted to shift the blame to Lieutenant General Nanlou, the high command of the army would never let him off lightly.

Consequently, his gaze grew increasingly fanatical. Despite the terror gripping his heart, he stubbornly ordered his soldiers to charge recklessly like cannon fodder, hoping to work a miracle through sheer brute force.

Yet, the toll of the past two days dealt a heavy blow, momentarily robbing him of any ability to cope.

At the same time, Lieutenant General Nanlou of the Second Division and Lieutenant General Xiaoyuan of the Fifth Division wore grim expressions, their eyes laden with agony and apprehension.

Following the day's charges, the casualties among their forces had exceeded fifty percent, with their elite units practically annihilated.

Facing this exceptionally dire situation, Antonze continued to disregard the lives of his soldiers, ordering desperate, suicidal charges.

This was nothing less than feeding soldiers' lives into the muzzles of the Nineteenth Division's guns, a decision that plunged both General Nanlou and General Xiaoyuan into deep anxiety and despair.

Witnessing the escalating carnage among the troops, Lieutenant General Nanlou's face was etched with anxiety and resolve. Taking a deep breath, he mustered his courage, his voice carrying an unquestionable seriousness and concern as he addressed Antonze:

"General, the losses among our troops are far too great; we can no longer sustain the attack!" His gaze locked directly onto Antonze, attempting to convey the pressing sense of crisis.

"If this continues, the battlefield situation will only deteriorate further." Nanlou's voice revealed profound anxiety.

Upon hearing this, Antonze's mind was thrown into turmoil, his complexion instantly flushing with anger. With a gaze as sharp as a blade, he vented his fury on Nanlou, demanding:

"What kind of attitude is that? Remember, you are a soldier of the dynasty!" His voice was loud and forceful.

"The duty of a soldier of the dynasty is to obey orders! Defeat means certain death for us all!"

Antonze's expression grew even more agitated and unsettled, his eyes flickering with a dread of defiance coupled with an obsessive insistence on absolute obedience to orders.

Turning to Lieutenant General Xiaoyuan, Antonze wore a look of tentative expectation, anticipating that Xiaoyuan would echo his sentiments.

However, Lieutenant General Xiaoyuan's expression remained equally stern. With deeply furrowed brows, he retorted with open dissatisfaction:

"General, do you still not understand the reality of the situation?" His tone was likewise resolute and forceful.

"Without powerful artillery support, we are utterly incapable of executing the operational orders you have issued!" Xiaoyuan's words were charged with challenge and blunt courage.

These remarks plunged Antonze into a rage so extreme that his face instantly turned pale, his eyes flashing with a fury sharp enough to pierce flesh:

"Are you insinuating that my command is flawed?"

His voice was practically a roar, laden with an unquestionable authority.

"Whether the command is flawed or not, you need only turn around and look at your soldiers to see it plainly."

Xiaoyuan's response was calm and resolute, devoid of any emotional fluctuation, as though he were simply stating an undeniable truth.

Antonze instinctively turned around, only to encounter countless pairs of icy gazes filled with rage and resentment, causing his heart to tighten involuntarily.

At that instant, disbelief crept across his face, while fear and confusion flashed in his eyes.

Could it be that these soldiers were genuinely on the verge of mutiny?

The terror and helplessness in Antonze's heart reached their peak at that moment; he realized that he might truly have lost the trust and support of his men.

Feeling the hostile stares directed at him by so many soldiers, Antonze felt a tightening in his chest and a quickening heartbeat.

He forced a facade of composure, using a fierce exterior to mask his inner unease as he sternly demanded:

"What is the meaning of this?" His facial muscles taut, his gaze sweeping across the crowd like the slash of a blade.

"Do you intend to betray the dynasty?" His voice carried a mix of distrust and anger, a desperate attempt to suppress his inner panic.

"General, how would we ever dare to disobey your orders?"

The soldiers remained expressionless, their voices calm yet laced with cold indifference, striking a balance between superficial obedience and biting sarcasm.

Antonze read unmistakable resentment in the response of Lieutenant General Nanlou, and the agony born of fear and deep-seated grievance left him barely able to maintain his composure.

"If you are unwilling to continue fighting, you may lay down your rifles right now and crawl back into the trenches like rats."

His voice trembled slightly as he struggled to maintain his composure, deciding to report the current stalemate to his superiors and request reinforcements.

As he turned and walked away, his steps felt somewhat leaden.

By this point, anyone could see that Antonze acutely felt the adversity of the battlefield situation. With furrowed brows, eyes brimming with worry and resentment, and a deep dread of reprimand from his superiors, he had already begun plotting how to shift the blame.

As seasoned, battle-hardened military commanders, both Lieutenant General Nanlou and Lieutenant General Xiaoyuan carried themselves with calm and steady deliberation in every action.

They understood the cruelty of the battlefield, and they knew how to carve out a path to survival amidst adversity.