The Rise Of A Billionaire 1943-Chapter 171 - 185: Grudges

April 18th. After several days of basic training, the security forces began forming squads to cooperate with the US military in sweeping out the remaining Japanese soldiers hiding in the rainforest, thereby gaining combat experience in tropical jungle warfare.

"Damn it, it’s finally my turn to wipe out those Japs..."

Rolling up his sleeves, Sun Chendong—a former army colonel who had been dismissed last year—couldn’t hide his excitement. Could you blame him? In eight years of war against Japan, he’d spent six years leading his men in guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, always hiding and dodging Japanese search-and-destroy missions. Now, at long last, it was his turn to hunt down the Japanese. How could he not be excited?

"Haoran, you mustn’t let your guard down. You’ve seen it these past few days—the tropical rainforest is far more treacherous than the forests back home. Back when the Expeditionary Force entered Burma, countless men died in these jungles. Now the Japs are fighting like cornered beasts. In short, we have to be extra careful!"

Standing beside him, Lin An offered a reminder, lowering his voice deliberately.

"Besides, this battle will determine whether we can establish ourselves in the security forces. We must be cautious!"

The others who had come to see them off all nodded in agreement.

They were all outsiders. Only after arriving did they realize that the locals needed them solely for their experience.

To be precise, they needed their experience in commanding large units. The security forces had only seven regiments and twenty-seven reinforced battalions. Why so many reinforced battalions? Because there weren’t enough suitable regimental commanders. Leading thousands in battle is a completely different matter from commanding a few hundred. That’s why their experience was needed.

If they didn’t perform well, it would surely affect everyone.

Although over the past few days, their wargames with the German advisors had ended in mixed results, this time it was the real thing.

In response to everyone’s reminders, Sun Chendong merely grinned and said,

"Look at you all, so nervous. Back home, we could go toe-to-toe with the Japs using just Hanyang rifles. Now we have artillery and armored vehicles—how could we possibly be afraid of these desperate stragglers?"

But it took only half a day for Sun Chendong and the rest of his unit to finally feel the difference of the tropical rainforest—trees everywhere, a sea of green as far as the eye could see, with visibility barely fifty or sixty meters.

"Damn, why is this jungle so dense?!"

Deep in the thick rainforest, Sun Chendong felt a strange tension. Knowing everyone was watching him only made him more aware of the heavy responsibility on his shoulders. He turned to Hou Si and Zhang Ersheng and said,

"Third Company, maintain left flank security. Second Company, cover the left rear. I’ll personally lead First Company."

Like everyone else, Sun Chendong carried a carbine, constantly watching both sides of the jungle. Sunlight filtered through the canopy, casting patches of light and shadow, making the forest seem even more mysterious and unpredictable.

Second Lieutenant Hou Si ran his hand over his carbine’s magazine, removed it, then clicked it back in. He gripped his short weapon tightly, muzzle pointed at the jungle. His feelings were complicated, with a surge of excitement among them.

"At last, we can kill some Japs..."

But where were the Japs?

He raised his carbine, staring intently at the jungle ahead. In the shadows up front, there could easily be a Japanese machine gun set up—or a few Japanese soldiers with automatic weapons, waiting to ambush them. It was entirely possible that as soon as they advanced, they’d be hit by a sudden volley of a dozen or more shots.

In this endless, gray-green jungle, their few hundred men were just a tiny dot moving along a thin line.

"As Instructor Charlie said, jungle warfare is different. We can barely hear the artillery or gunfire, and even if we do, there’s no real coordination. The jungle splits units apart; everyone gets scattered and isolated."

Listening to Battalion Commander He Tianmao, Sun Chendong nodded.

"Fighting in the jungle is almost like fighting at night—visibility is the key issue. By the way, what’s that ’Agent Orange’ Charlie mentioned? He said it could make the jungle disappear?"

"That’s the boss’s invention. The Americans love using it in the Pacific..."

Suddenly, a gunshot cut He Tianmao off—a sniper’s shot.

"Sniper!"

The sudden gunfire sent everyone diving for cover, each seeking shelter. The unit’s own snipers, armed with scoped rifles, began scanning for the enemy.

"Don’t expose yourselves! The Type 38 Arisaka has a long barrel—at night, you can spot the muzzle flash..."

Though he didn’t really know what a sniper was, Sun Chendong’s years of combat experience kicked in. He shouted a warning to his men, while poking his own head out to search for the target.

Suddenly, another burst of gunfire erupted.

"Straight ahead! The Japs have a machine gun. Commander He, organize a team to flank them and try to take that machine gun!"

Sun Chendong’s eyes lit up at the thought of capturing a machine gun. Years of experience told him—a machine gun was a valuable prize. Any squad leader who captured one could at least be promoted to platoon leader.

"Commander Sun, artillery—we have artillery now..."

He Tianmao quickly reminded him.

"Use mortars to suppress them first. We have plenty of machine guns ourselves..."

Those simple words left Sun Chendong momentarily stunned.

So Many Machine Guns?

When did machine guns become so plentiful...? Just then, gunfire erupted. The men raised their carbines and unleashed a barrage into the forest, and the machine gunners joined in as well. In an instant, bullets rained down as if they cost nothing.

"Chiu-chiu-chiu..."

The sound of mortars slicing through the air overhead, combined with explosions up ahead, finally made Sun Chendong realize that fighting here was nothing like back home.

Gunfire and explosions blended together in the rainforest.

Shells whistled low overhead, probably hundreds of meters up, leaving Sun Chendong dumbfounded. In the distance, an MG42 machine gun opened up, its rapid, continuous fire sounding like a string of firecrackers during New Year’s.

"Is this really how battles are fought here?" Sun Chendong slapped his steel helmet, feeling as if he’d been struck by a hammer. He had never imagined that war could be fought like this.

Bullets and shells poured toward the front as if they were free!

Poured!

By the bucketful!

On the enemy’s side, a machine gun opened fire in return, its shrill, piercing sound betraying a thin, almost pitiful firepower.

Soon, under the fierce barrage, the enemy’s machine gun fell silent. The Japanese troops kept resisting desperately, but suddenly, a huge burst of flame erupted at the front. A stream of fire spewed from the enemy’s left flank, and in an instant, the rainforest was engulfed in flames. Amidst the inferno came the shrill screams of the Japanese soldiers. Hidden enemies, previously unseen, leapt from the forest one by one, their bodies ablaze.

Another stream of fire swept across the field—it was the flamethrower troops from Second Company, scouring the battlefield with their weapons. Several jets of fire rampaged through the rainforest, setting one Japanese soldier after another alight.

As the burning enemies staggered out, some soldiers raised their guns to shoot, but Sun Chendong shouted:

"Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! Let the fire burn these bastards to death!"

"Don’t shoot..."

For a moment, the rainforest was filled with shouts. No one fired; everyone just stared as the Japanese, turned into human torches, screamed and wailed, watching as the flames consumed them completely.

Only when the burning men collapsed did everyone move forward, and Sun Chendong followed his comrades. He looked down at the charred enemy at his feet—barely alive, breathing more out than in. Beneath the scorched eyelids, the black-and-white eyeballs stared fixedly at them, and the burnt lips seemed to be trying to say something.

"You want me to put you out of your misery, don’t you?"

Sun Chendong raised his carbine and spoke to the Japanese soldier on the ground.

"On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, Year 27 of the Republic, that was Little New Year. In Chen Village, Heze, Shandong, all 367 villagers were locked inside and burned alive by you..."

"On May 13th, thirty-five of our wounded fell into your hands. You Japanese poured kerosene on them and set them on fire..."

"June 21st..."

As Sun Chendong recounted one atrocity after another, tears glimmered in the eyes of the men around him. Each seemed to recall the tragedies they’d heard of or witnessed themselves.

"Burn them! Burn them! As long as I have the chance, I’ll burn every last one of you bastards to death!"

As he spoke, Sun Chendong even pressed his boot down hard on the charred body, scraping off the burnt skin to reveal raw, bloody flesh beneath...