Chapter 25: What the Hell is a Surprise!

Hooves thundered, kicking up billowing clouds of dust as a deafening roar filled the air, continuous and unrelenting. In the blink of an eye, the aggressive Japanese cavalry regiment had covered half the distance, swiftly fanning out to their left and right flanks to form a crescent-shaped encirclement.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

Zhang Dabiao looked back at the charging horde of Japanese cavalry. The heavy impact of horseshoes against the earth sent violent vibrations through the ground, making him feel as though the very earth were trembling. This was the terrifying power of cavalry in the age of cold steel!

Although Morita Kuroshima was the commander of the Kuroshima Regiment, he almost always led the charge in person, and this time was no exception. He rode a black Japanese warhorse at the forefront of the formation. Like the other cavalrymen, he brandished his saber, galloping wildly while keeping his eyes fixed on the soldiers of the First Battalion of the New First Regiment, several hundred meters away.

Zhang Dabiao and his men, currently playing the role of retreating deserters, had already received the signal from Li Yunlong. Knowing the Japanese had fallen completely into the trap, they immediately discarded all their weapons and equipment, sprinting for their lives toward a small slope about fifty or sixty meters ahead. The New First Regiment did not lack such supplies, and the lives of the soldiers were far more important. Using this gear to lure Morita Kuroshima into a trap was hardly a losing trade. Besides, weapons were not grains of sesame; they could always be retrieved after the battle.

To the Japanese, the sight of the New First Regiment soldiers seemingly abandoning their armor and weapons only fueled their excitement. The Japanese soldiers shrieked and hollered as they gave chase. However, they failed to notice that while the soldiers appeared to be fleeing in a panic, they were deliberately avoiding certain areas. Under normal circumstances, Morita Kuroshima might have sensed something amiss from horseback. But now, blinded by extreme rage and a thirst for revenge, he had lost his usual composure.

Huang Zhiyong looked up at the Kuroshima Cavalry Regiment behind the First Battalion and sighed with regret. "Commander, what a pity. Those are all fine horses. If we could get our hands on them, it would be great to form a cavalry battalion!"

Li Yunlong stroked the brand-new Oerlikon 20mm autocannon, which still smelled of factory oil, and grinned. "What use are fine horses and cavalry? They can't stop airplanes in the sky, nor can they stop tanks and cannons on the ground! In the future, the role of cavalry will only diminish. Mechanized warfare with large formations is the true path for our New First Regiment! Today, I’m going to teach these sons of bitches a lesson. I’ll show them what a real surprise is!"

Huang Zhiyong nodded sharply and signaled for the Third Battalion soldiers to hurry and cover their brothers in the First Battalion. In the distance, the Kuroshima Cavalry Regiment continued their relentless pursuit, still over four hundred meters away from the slope where the New First Regiment had meticulously set their ambush. Li Yunlong kept a close watch on the pre-marked landmarks, ready to act at any moment.

Seconds ticked by, and finally, the lead Japanese cavalryman stepped into a patch of grass where the First Battalion had first appeared in the enemy's line of sight. Instantly, a faint "snap" of a tripwire echoed—a sound so insignificant, yet it acted like a detonator.

Boom, boom, boom!

The Claymore mines, pre-planted in the grass by the First Battalion, erupted! Li Yunlong was never one to pass up on gear as effective against carbon-based lifeforms as Claymores. To ensure the Kuroshima Cavalry Regiment noticed nothing, the soldiers of the First Battalion had gone to great lengths, burying the mines in the very area they had been standing and fleeing through. It was a place no one would ever suspect to be mined.

With the thunderous explosions, a storm of steel balls and lethal shrapnel burst forth. A terrifying iron gale swept across a zone three hundred meters long and thirty meters wide. These high-speed fragments, like the scythe of death, slammed into the unsuspecting Japanese horses and their riders.

Cries of agony rose in an endless chorus. Many cavalrymen in the front ranks were caught off guard, sent tumbling as their horses were blown out from under them. Some died instantly, while others lay in pools of blood, moaning in agony. The unlucky ones who survived the shrapnel were trampled into pulp by the horses charging from behind. The entire scene was a chaotic, smoke-filled nightmare.

"My horse is dying! My horse is dying!" Morita Kuroshima, who had narrowly escaped death, ignored the blood dripping from his own arm. He clutched his beloved steed, which was trembling and collapsing, and nearly wept. To him, the horse was not just a tool of war, but a companion as dear as a lover. It had shielded him from the brunt of the shrapnel, saving his miserable life. How could he not be devastated?

"Baka yaro!" Morita Kuroshima was now consumed by a rage so intense his eyes seemed to breathe fire. He longed to order his uninjured cavalry to launch a pincer movement and annihilate the enemy to avenge his beloved horse. But as he turned his head in a fury, the sight before him turned his flushed face deathly pale.

Nani?!

Not far away, on that same slope that had been empty just seconds ago, a dense array of black objects had appeared. Squinting, he realized they were heavy machine guns and autocannons. He might not have recognized the Browning M2, but even with his eyes closed, he knew the notorious Oerlikon 20mm autocannon.

In the age of cold weapons and the early stages of firearms, the plains belonged to the cavalry. But in the era of World War II, where firearms were constantly evolving, it was the age of automated weaponry. One didn't need to think twice to know the fate of cavalrymen stalled on an open plain, facing a barrage of heavy machine guns and autocannons.

Morita Kuroshima’s eyes widened. This was the end!

The remaining Japanese soldiers of the Kuroshima Regiment could see it too. They stared forward, their eyes bulging in terror, their faces turning just as pale as their commander's.

"Open fire with everything you've got!"

At Li Yunlong’s roar, a powerful web of fire, woven by two hundred Browning M2 heavy machine guns and seventy or eighty Oerlikon 20mm autocannons, erupted like a provoked beast, screaming and howling into the fray.