Nine Against an Army of a Hundred Thousand

At that moment, his face looked utterly grim.

Shinozuka Yoshio had graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy.

He had ranked fifth in his graduating class.

He had received a military sword personally bestowed by the Emperor.

He was also known as the "Scholar in the Army."

He was a man accomplished in both letters and martial arts.

Later, he had studied in Germany, where he learned even more advanced military knowledge.

After returning home, he had risen steadily through the ranks until reaching his current position.

According to the original course of history,

after the Japanese were defeated,

Shinozuka Yoshio had committed suicide.

He could be said to be an utterly mad and terrifying opponent.

His scheming, methods, wisdom, and courage were all first-rate.

Faced with such a situation, he naturally would not choose to retreat.

Instead, he issued an order.

He summoned every unit under his command.

At the fastest possible speed,

they were to return to Taiyuan City.

Only a small number of troops were left behind to defend the various strongholds.

He intended to gather all his strength

and face Li Yunlong outside Taiyuan City!

Shinozuka Yoshio's military redeployment quickly caused a massive impact.

The various Chinese armies throughout the region immediately began to move.

Taking advantage of the Japanese soldiers leaving their strongholds,

they hurried to recapture them.

But Shinozuka Yoshio paid no attention to that.

There were priorities to everything.

As he looked over the reports in his hands,

he knew full well

that if he did not eliminate these nine people,

the entire land of Northern Shanxi would be impossible to hold!

In China,

there were certain places

whose geographical locations were exceptionally important.

Whoever gained them

could dominate the world!

Shanxi was one of them.

Hao Jing of China's Jin and Yuan periods had once said:

"River East is protected by mountains and rivers, a region of strategic advantage. It controls and links the barbarians and China, overlooks the Central Plains, and was anciently known as the heavenly storehouse of Jizhou. From the south, one may rule the realm, while Shangdang is known as the spine of the world."

If this territory were seized by Chinese forces,

China could use Shanxi's commanding terrain

to threaten the entire North China Plain.

Their rule

would face an enormous crisis!

They had previously paid a tremendous and bloody price

to fight for this land.

Naturally, they could not simply hand it over now.

"This city must be defended at all costs!"

Shinozuka Yoshio slapped several sheets containing intelligence on Li Yunlong and the others onto the table.

His eyes were filled with chilling killing intent.

At the same time,

on the other side,

after Li Yunlong and the others blasted apart that fighter squadron,

they suddenly discovered

that the rest of their journey had become incredibly smooth.

They encountered practically no resistance.

The Japanese soldiers even fled the instant they saw them.

Some weapons and supplies were simply thrown onto the ground because they slowed their escape.

They littered the ground everywhere.

Luffy laughed loudly. "They've been scared witless by us."

Li Yunlong, however, frowned. "No, something's wrong. There's something off about the Japanese's actions!"

Zhang Sanfeng asked, "What's wrong?"

After pondering for a while, Li Yunlong's eyes suddenly lit up, like a tiger opening its eyes. "I get it now. The Japanese are concentrating their forces. They want a decisive battle with us."

The others' hearts tightened.

"A decisive battle?"

Li Yunlong thought for a moment, then burst out laughing. "That's no problem. It's a good thing, a damn good thing! Before, those Japanese were scattered all over the place, and it wasn't easy for me to kill them. Now they're all huddled together, so killing them will be easy."

Zhang Sanfeng considered it and nodded. "If we can wipe out all the enemy invaders' fighting strength in one battle, then it truly would be a good thing."

Feng Yuxiu said, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's hurry over."

Li Yunlong chuckled. "No rush. Shinozuka Yoshio needs time to gather his troops too. We have to give him that time. From here on, we'll take it slow."

After that,

Li Yunlong and the others indeed slowed down.

When Shinozuka Yoshio received the intelligence, he sneered.

"With four or five divisions and more than a hundred thousand troops, can't I handle the likes of you nine?"

He immediately gathered the troops under his command even faster.

They converged on Taiyuan,

guarded every necessary route, built fortifications, and established one formidable stronghold after another.

Heavy machine guns, light machine guns, mountain guns, land mines, armored vehicles, and more were all prepared in ample quantities.

For a time,

inside and outside Taiyuan City, it was as if everything had come to a boil. Countless people surged about in a scene of true upheaval.

Very soon,

Li Yunlong and the others encountered their first division.

A division

often had forty to fifty thousand soldiers,

and was equipped with all manner of sophisticated weaponry.

Upon seeing Li Yunlong and the others appear,

the division commander immediately roared his order.

"Attack!"

Boom!

In an instant, the sound of artillery shook the heavens.

All kinds of shells came screaming through the air, falling toward Li Yunlong and the others like a rainstorm beneath dark clouds.

At the same time,

countless Japanese soldiers

held all kinds of firearms—rifles, light machine guns, heavy machine guns, and more.

All of them aimed at Li Yunlong and his eight companions.

Tens of thousands of men

against nine people.

Rumble...

The ground began to tremble as well.

Those were the Japanese armored vehicles, and even light tanks. Their machine guns and cannons all roared as they charged straight at the nine.