Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 238 Archery Practice
When the three Thunderbolt fighters had exhausted all their ammunition and, satisfied, traced a victorious arc across the night sky before disappearing into the distant horizon, the railway, shrouded in death, finally broke free from the destructive roar and fell into a deathly silence.

But this deathly silence was more terrifying than the most bustling battlefield.

The towering flames continued to greedily devour the train's wreckage, staining half the sky an ominous blood red. Twisted tracks, broken carriages, and supplies and weapons scattered everywhere created a surreal, hellish scene.

The air was filled with a nauseating smell, a mixture of gunpowder smoke, burnt odor, and the sweet, fishy smell of roasted meat.

The deathly silence lasted only a moment before it was broken by the faint groans, cries, and calls for help from the survivors.

A Japanese sergeant, his face covered in blood, crawled out from under a relatively intact carriage.

One of his arms was twisted at an eerie angle, clearly broken. He looked around blankly at the inferno of flames and corpses, his eyes vacant, as if his soul had been completely ripped away by the one-sided massacre.

He saw a charred, curled-up corpse not far away, still in the posture of struggling before death.

He saw a severed hand, lying alone on the rails, its fingers still clenched tightly.

He saw a young soldier whose lower body had completely disappeared, with only his upper body still leaning against the wheel, his intestines spilling out onto the ground, his mouth opening and closing but unable to make a sound.

"Ah...ah..."

Cao Chang knelt on the ground and let out a wild, desperate wail.

Just then, several officers, equally disheveled, stumbled and ran over from a distance.

The lead major grabbed the sergeant by the collar and roared at the top of his lungs, "Quick! Go find the radio! The division commander and the chief of staff are both wounded! Report to the army headquarters immediately! Now!"

This news struck all the survivors present like a bolt of lightning.

They went crazy, rummaging through the wreckage that resembled a garbage dump.

Finally, in a communications car that had been bombed and was now only half intact, they found a radio that was still working miraculously.

……

Taiyuan, headquarters of the Japanese First Army.

It was late at night, but the lights were still on in the operations room of the headquarters, and the atmosphere was heavy.

Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinotsuka, the short-statured but sharp-looking commander of the First Army, stood before a huge sand table, his brows furrowed.

On the sand table, the small red flag representing the 24th Division has been deeply embedded in the Xinxian area, but it is surrounded by small blue flags representing the Shanxi militia.

He's been standing here all night.

Yoshikatsu Kuroiwa's 24th Division was like a nail; it was driven in, but it was stuck, unable to advance or retreat.

All his hopes were pinned on the 108th Division, which was rushing to his aid. If Shichida Ichiro's troops could arrive on time and deliver a fatal blow to the Shanxi militia from the rear, the battle situation could be reversed instantly.

"report!"

A communications officer rushed in, his voice shrill with fear, and he even forgot to salute.

"Commander! We have just received an urgent telegram from the 20th Division! They... they have been attacked by the Chinese Air Force on the Yangquan section of the Zhengtai Railway!"

"What?!" Yoshio Shinotsuka turned around abruptly, his eyes flashing with disbelief.

The communications officer's lips trembled; he barely dared to look at the commander's face, which had turned ashen in an instant.

"The train...the train was completely destroyed, more than half of the carriages derailed...the casualties...the casualties were extremely heavy! Division Commander Shichida Ichiro and Chief of Staff Kinemura Hisazo...both were wounded!"

"Clap!"

Yoshio Shinotsuka snapped the baton in his hand!

His eyes were bloodshot, like an enraged lion. He snatched the telegram and scanned it rapidly. Every word was like a red-hot iron, searing his heart!

"Bageya Road..."

A thunderous roar exploded in the operations room! Yoshio Shinotsuka crumpled the telegram in his hand into a ball and slammed it to the ground. His chest heaved violently, and veins bulged on his face, which was contorted with rage.

All the staff officers in the operations room were so frightened that they didn't dare to breathe.

Finally, after lasting for more than ten seconds, the overwhelming anger slowly subsided, turning into a cold, chilling calm.

Yoshio Shinotsuka closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, all that remained was the absolute rationality and decisiveness of a high-ranking commander.

He walked back to the sand table and stared intently at the red flag that represented the 24th Division, which now seemed utterly isolated and helpless.

The reinforcements are gone.

Yoshikatsu Kuroiwa was now an isolated force. If he didn't retreat, all that awaited him was to be devoured, piece by piece, bone and all, by that mysterious and powerful Shanxi militia!

He absolutely could not allow an entire elite Imperial division to be annihilated during his term! He could not bear that responsibility!
"Pass on my orders!" His voice was cold and hoarse, devoid of any emotion.

"Immediately order Yoshikatsu Kuroiwa and the 24th Division to abandon their current positions, consolidate their forces, and retreat to the rear immediately! Preserve their manpower at all costs!"

"at the same time!"

He picked up a new baton and pointed it heavily at two other locations on the map. "Immediately dispatch the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade stationed along the Yangquan-Shouyang line and the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade stationed along the Taigu-Qixian line to move swiftly toward Xinxian and Guoxian! Establish a defensive line for me, and at all costs, support the retreat of the 24th Division!"

This order caused all the staff officers present to gasp in shock.

These two independent mixed brigades were important mobile forces for the First Army, used to defend against the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang Mountains and the Jin-Sui Army in the Zhongtiao Mountains. To withdraw them all now would be tantamount to completely exposing its flanks to two other powerful enemies!
This is taking a huge strategic gamble to salvage a tactical disaster that has already occurred!

February 29th, 1930, 5:59 AM.

The sky over Xinxian County remained shrouded in an impenetrable darkness. The deepest stillness before dawn weighed heavily on this war-torn land. The air was cold and stagnant, as if even time itself had frozen.

suddenly!

"boom--!!!"

A deep, thunderous roar, seemingly capable of tearing the sky apart, suddenly erupted from the rear positions controlled by the Shanxi militia!
The thunderclap served as a signal.

Immediately afterwards, more than a hundred dazzling, orange-red flames lit up the dark earth at the same time! The flames were so bright that they instantly illuminated the mountains and fields within a radius of several kilometers, revealing every detail!

More than one hundred M1 155mm cannons, affectionately known as "Long-Legged Tom" by the soldiers, simultaneously raised their long and menacing barrels and fired more than one hundred heavy high-explosive shells, each weighing 43 kilograms, into the sky with a terrifying initial velocity of over 780 meters per second!

The huge blast wave from the muzzle blast blew away all the dust and camouflage netting around the gun position, revealing the young faces of the artillerymen, flushed red with excitement and exertion.

More than a hundred shells traced more than a hundred beautiful parabolas in the air, almost imperceptible to the naked eye. They emitted a sharp whistling sound, like the Grim Reaper's scythe cutting through the air, forming a net of death that covered the sky, rushing towards the front-line positions of the Japanese 24th Division, which were still asleep, several kilometers away.

Twenty-three seconds later.

"Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom—!!!"

A series of dense, almost continuous, earth-shattering explosions resounded on the Japanese defense line!

It was as if an invisible, divine hand was wielding a red-hot iron plow, relentlessly and repeatedly ploughing across that area!
More than a hundred enormous, dazzling yet deadly flowers of death, composed of flames, smoke, and earth, bloomed simultaneously on the Japanese positions! At the center of each flower of fire was a destructive energy released by eight kilograms of TNT, enough to turn everything around it into dust!
Trenches, bunkers, barbed wire, sandbags... everything was torn to shreds in an instant and then thrown into the air by the huge shockwave!

The Japanese soldiers hiding in the trenches were the most vulnerable victims of this storm of steel.

A Japanese corporal, who was dozing off, hadn't even had time to wake up from his dream when a 155mm shell landed precisely on the top of the bunker he was in.

"boom!"

He only felt a flash of white light before his eyes, and then the whole world vanished. His body, along with the three soldiers beside him, and the thick logs and earth they used as cover, were instantly blasted into a shower of flying fragments mixed with blood, flesh, and dirt. The militia artillery observer at the front line, through high-powered binoculars, clearly witnessed this hellish scene.

He saw a mangled, bloody corpse, blown in half at the waist, being thrown high into the air by the blast wave and tumbling through the air.

He could even see a grotesque, wide-eyed severed head, dragging a long spine, flying dozens of meters into the sky like a kicked ball, before crashing down heavily.

The entire Japanese defensive line was instantly engulfed by scorching, high-speed steel pellets and rubble. Countless soldiers were torn to shreds in their sleep.

And this is just the beginning.

"Faster...faster, faster! Reload! Fire it even faster, you bastards!"

On the militia's artillery position, a gunner wearing only a vest, revealing his muscular, bronze-colored skin, was roaring at the top of his lungs.

The gunners' enthusiasm was completely ignited by the results before them. They were shirtless, their muscles bulging and glistening with sweat in the muzzle flash.

Two loaders worked together to use huge tongs to pick up a heavy, cold 155mm shell.

A burly ammunition handler, swinging his arms like a bull, roared as he lifted the nearly 100-pound shell and strode towards the gun position.

He shoved the shell heavily and forcefully into the scorching hot barrel, then quickly stepped back.

"put!"

"boom--!"

Another loud bang, the enormous recoil causing the entire cannon to lurch backward, and the barrel once again spewed out destructive flames.

Amidst the thunderous roar of heavy artillery, hundreds of M1A1 105mm howitzers joined this steel chorus.

With an even faster rate of fire, they unleashed tons of shells onto the Japanese positions like a deluge.

The shells smashed into the ground, creating huge craters. The soil and rocks that were blown away were blasted into the air again by the next shell before they even had a chance to fall back down!

However, while the militia's artillerymen were unleashing their firepower...

Several kilometers away, on a Japanese artillery position that was cleverly disguised.

In the first devastating shelling, the gunners of a few Type 96 150mm howitzers who had miraculously survived were scrambling out of their collapsed bunkers.

A Japanese artillery lieutenant, his face covered in blood, spat out the mud and sand from his mouth and stared at the towering flames of his own position in the distance, his eyes instantly becoming bloodshot.

"Counterattack! Counterattack! Coordinates XXX, XXX! Let's teach those damned Chinese a lesson!" He roared like a wild beast.

The Japanese artillery was no pushover either. Having been through numerous artillery battles, they had developed a certain degree of adaptability to this high-intensity bombardment.

One minute and forty-five seconds after being shelled, they completed ranging, loading, and aiming.

More than a dozen Type 96 150mm howitzers, also "army weapons," raised their short, thick barrels and began a tit-for-tat counterattack.

On the positions of the 2nd Artillery Regiment, a carnival of slaughter is underway.

The gunners were already fired up, their ears filled only with the deafening roar of their own cannons and the shouts of their comrades. They were completely unaware that the scythe of death was quietly swinging down on their heads.

"Boom! Boom!"

Several muffled explosions suddenly rang out on the outskirts of the artillery position.

Soil and gravel were thrown high into the air, raining down on the gunners' helmets and bare backs.

This was the first round of calibration shells fired by the Japanese 24th Field Artillery Regiment.

Of course, the Japanese army's method of fire control was still in the relatively primitive stage of live-fire observation, but these shells had already landed very close to the position.

However, the gunners on the position were completely unaware of this. They simply wiped the mud off their faces, grumbling as they continued their work, assuming it was just a problem with one of their guns.

Two or three seconds later, the death whistle became clearly audible.

The Japanese barrage widened instantly, and its density increased dramatically! The impact points of the shells were extending towards the center of the 2nd Artillery Regiment's position at a visible speed!

These artillerymen, some of the most elite in Asia, battle-hardened in countless wars, are using their superb skills to perform deadly corrections.

“Swoosh—Boom!!”

A 150mm field gun shell, with a sharp whistling sound, hit an M1A1 105mm howitzer that was firing at an extremely tricky angle, as if guided by the gods!
"Boom——!!!"

A deafening roar, louder than any explosion before, suddenly erupted!

The howitzer, weighing over two tons, was like a toy kicked away by a giant. It was instantly blown to pieces, and the twisted barrel and parts, along with the severed limbs of the crew members, were thrown nearly a hundred meters into the air by the huge fireball!
This is not over yet!

This precise hit was like igniting the first domino in a chain reaction.

The shockwave and high temperature of the explosion instantly detonated dozens of shells and propellant charges piled up next to the gun position, ready to be used at any time!

"Boom—boom boom boom boom boom—!!!"

The secondary explosion has occurred!
A fireball, even larger, hotter, and brighter than a miniature sun, suddenly rose from the position of the second platoon of the first company of the second artillery regiment! The destructive shockwave spread wildly in all directions with unstoppable force! The surrounding artillery pieces, along with their gunners, were instantly and completely engulfed by this sea of ​​fire!

In an instant, the entire artillery company was transformed into a burning hell!

Although it was merely a lucky hit at maximum range, it brutally and bloodily demonstrated to all the Shanxi militia artillerymen in their jubilation a stark truth: their enemy was not a lamb to the slaughter. This would be a life-or-death, arduous battle!

However, the Japanese gunners were unaware that at the very moment they opened fire...

Fifteen kilometers above them, more than three hundred meters in the air, a pair of cold, piercing eyes were fixed on them.

It was an L-5 Sentinel two-seat reconnaissance aircraft. Its sleek fuselage, painted in camouflage that blended seamlessly with the sky, hovered like a ghost at the edge of the clouds.

Although the sky was shrouded in thick fog and the dense smoke from the artillery battle, it could not completely conceal the enormous muzzle flashes produced by the Japanese artillery positions when they opened fire, or the distinct ripples, like water waves, created by the shockwaves from the muzzle guns stirring up the surrounding fog.

The observer in the back seat of the reconnaissance aircraft precisely captured this fleeting "ripple" through a high-powered telescope.

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately pressed the intercom button.

"Eagle Eye calling Artillery Command! Eagle Eye calling Artillery Command! Enemy artillery position detected! Bearing 326, Distance 11380! Repeat, Bearing 326, Distance 11380! Requesting fire support! Instant fire, six high-explosive shells in rapid succession!"

"Roger that!"

Upon receiving the "report" from the sky, the atmosphere at the 2nd Artillery Regiment's command post instantly became tense yet orderly.

The order was quickly issued to the artillery company that had just suffered losses.

"Counterattack! Target: enemy artillery position! Bearing 326, range 11380! Six rapid fire rounds! Fire!"

Artillery will never be passively attacked; offense will always be the fundamental tenet of artillery!
The surviving gunners wiped the blood and tears from their faces, their eyes burning with the flames of revenge. They roared and began to crank the heavy gun barrels again. The gunner, based on the precise firing tables calibrated by the reconnaissance aircraft and transmitted from the gunnery officer, reset the firing parameters.

"fire!"

The gunner yanked the gun rope.

The vengeful shells whistled as they hurtled towards the hidden enemy, who had not yet been revealed to their own forces...

(End of this chapter)