Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 301 Bearing the Bitterness and Moving Forward

A staff officer hurried through the busy command room and handed a telegram marked "Confidential" to Pi Ruoyu, the militia chief of staff.

Pi Ruoyu quickly glanced at it, and his expression immediately turned serious. He dared not delay and immediately presented the telegram to the person sitting behind the desk who was reviewing the documents sent by the logistics department.

Su Yaoyang didn't look at it immediately. Instead, he slowly pushed the document aside, took out a pack of "Good Luck" cigarettes from his pocket, and lit it with a "click" using an elegant Zippo lighter.

He took a deep drag, exhaled a long plume of smoke, then extended the finger holding the cigarette, tapped the new telegram, and looked sharply at Pi Ruoyu.

"Is the intelligence reliable? Has the intelligence agency confirmed it?"

Upon hearing the term "intelligence department," Pi Ruoyu's stern face unconsciously furrowed slightly, as if he had some reservations about this department, which was established by Su Yaoyang and operated independently of the traditional military system. However, he still replied in the precise tone characteristic of a soldier:
"Reporting to the Commander. The intelligence department and the reconnaissance squadron of the flight group have conducted cross-checking, and the accuracy rate of the intelligence has reached over 90%, so it can be basically confirmed."

Su Yaoyang shifted his gaze from Pi Ruoyu's face to the huge military map on the wall, his eyes becoming deep.

"If that's the case, does that mean the Japanese reinforcements will arrive in Taiyuan in as little as two days?"

"Yes," Pi Ruoyu replied decisively.

Amidst the swirling smoke, a cold smile curled at the corners of Su Yaoyang's lips.

"We must not allow the Japanese reinforcements to arrive in Taiyuan so comfortably."

He stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, stood up abruptly, and walked around the center of the command room twice with his hands behind his back. All the officers around him held their breath, knowing that the commander-in-chief was about to make a major decision.

Su Yaoyang suddenly stopped and turned to point at the railway line on the map that led from Hebei to Shanxi.

"Immediately issue orders to the flight squadron!"

His voice wasn't loud, but it was filled with undeniable authority: "Stop all conventional bombing of Taiyuan! Concentrate all forces to carry out a devastating bombing of the Japanese reinforcements, the 27th Division and the 7th Independent Mixed Brigade! I want you to stop them all halfway!"

"Yes!"

Pi Ruoyu straightened up abruptly, gave a perfect salute, and then, without the slightest hesitation, turned and strode out of the command room.

Pi Ruoyu had just turned to leave when Su Yaoyang's voice still echoed in the command room as he gave his orders.

Bai Chongxi was frowning, his fingers flying across the map, clearly analyzing the potential chain reaction that this major strategic shift might trigger.

Just then, the curtain of the command room was suddenly flung open.

"Brigade Commander... Brigade Commander!"

A young staff officer from the 386th Brigade rushed in excitedly, almost stumbling because he was running so fast.

He didn't even bother to straighten his crooked military cap; he practically jumped and hopped as he rushed to the crowd, his young face flushed red with extreme excitement.

"Brigade Commander, Regiment Commander Su, Commander Bai, great news! Fantastic news!"

"Little Li."

Su Yaoyang recognized the staff officer and, seeing his beaming face, couldn't help but ask with a smile, "What good news has you so happy?"

The staff officer named Xiao Li took a deep breath, trying to calm his wildly beating heart, but his voice still trembled slightly with excitement:
"The regimental flag, it's the regimental flag."

The Independent Regiment just sent a telegram: they captured a regimental flag from the 222nd Regiment's headquarters in that cave on the right flank of Hill 87! It was a regimental flag personally bestowed by Emperor Meiji of Japan!

He waved his arms excitedly, as if he had seen the flag with his own eyes, and recited the details of the telegram word for word:

"Only one-fifth of the purple tassels were burned away, and the three-sided gilded flag crown at the top of the wooden lacquered flagpole was not burned away! The 16-petal chrysanthemum relief emblem of the Japanese Imperial Family on the flag crown was perfectly preserved!"

Before Su Yaoyang could speak, the brigade commander behind him suddenly stood up and pushed the chair in front of him away with such force that the chair slid back a considerable distance.

"Where is the flag? Has it been confirmed?"

He rushed to Staff Officer Li, grabbed his shoulders with both hands, and, unusually, lost his usual composure, excitedly asked, "Call the Independent Regiment immediately and make sure to find out if it's the regimental flag of the 222nd Regiment!"

Seeing his unprecedented excitement, Su Yaoyang was genuinely happy for him, and at the same time, a strange feeling welled up in his heart.

In another time and space, that brutal war lasted for so many years. Neither China, which suffered 35 million military and civilian casualties, nor the United States, which bombed Japan back to the Stone Age, were able to capture a complete, truly meaningful Japanese regimental flag on the battlefield.

After World War II, only one regimental flag of the entire Japanese army survived.

In the hearts of the Japanese, that flag holds a position almost equivalent to that of the infamous Yasukuni Shrine.

But everything changed after I arrived in this time and space. First, I captured two intact regimental flags in Nanjing, which gave Chongqing a huge favor and a great deal of face.

Now, the Eighth Route Army had personally captured another... The spiritual impact and political significance of this victory were even more exhilarating and joyful than simply annihilating a Japanese division. Two days later, behind Xinkou, on a narrow pass on the only road to Taiyuan...

A massive army, like a giant gray-green python, was struggling to move along the dusty official road.

The army's marching formations were no longer considered orderly.

Every now and then, tense mounted scouts would gallop back from the front, hastily rein in their horses, and loudly report something to the officers riding tall horses in the ranks. Each report made the officers' faces grow even more gloomy.

In the middle of the long marching column, a few surviving Type 94 trucks occasionally rumbled past, their imposing exteriors masking the terrified eyes of the drivers constantly looking up at the sky.

As the truck drove by, it kicked up clouds of yellow dust, causing the soldiers around it to cough incessantly and making the already strong smell of blood and burnt flesh in the air even more pungent.

The group was mixed with a large number of wounded people who were using makeshift crutches and whose bodies were wrapped in blood-soaked bandages.

They walked with faltering steps, their expressions blank, their eyes filled with exhaustion and fear.

The presence of these wounded soldiers made this supposedly elite Imperial division look more like a rout who had just suffered a crushing defeat.

In fact, they were indeed experiencing a one-sided massacre.

It wasn't just the wounded soldiers; almost all the soldiers were constantly looking up at the azure sky in terror as they marched, a deep-seated fear of death emanating from the heavens.

The moment a tiny black dot appears in the sky, or a faint engine-like hum is heard, the entire team immediately descends into chaos.

This is the Japanese 27th Division, which rushed to Taiyuan from Hejian Prefecture, Hebei Province.

The nightmare began two days ago when they set foot on Shanxi soil, ready to reach Taiyuan in one go.

Since yesterday, they have been subjected to continuous bombing by the Chinese Air Force.

It wasn't the sporadic, symbolic harassment they had previously perceived, but rather a continuous, devastating carpet bombing.

The grasslands and fields on both sides of the road looked as if they had been ruthlessly plowed by a giant iron plow, with black, scorched earth churning up and countless bomb craters everywhere.

The wreckage of bombed weapons, supplies, wagons, and trucks still burned by the roadside, billowing black smoke. Along both sides of the road, the gruesome corpses of Japanese soldiers, whose deaths had not yet been contained, and the seriously wounded lying on the ground groaning in pain, were everywhere.

The relentless, persistent bombing by the Chinese Air Force has already inflicted heavy losses on this division.

On a relatively gentle hillside, Colonel Kimihide Ota, the division's chief of staff, caught up with Lieutenant General Masaharu Honma, the division commander, on horseback. His usually serious face was now filled with anxiety and helplessness.

"Your Excellency, Division Commander!" Ota Kimihide's voice was hoarse with anxiety. "Our division has already lost more than 20 percent of its personnel. If this continues, I'm afraid that before we even reach Taiyuan, our 27th Division will be completely bombed by the Chinese Air Force!"

Masaharu Honma's warhorse snorted uneasily, seemingly disturbed by the heavy aura of death surrounding it.

The division commander himself stood like a statue, his gaze fixed on the dusty pass ahead, as if he wanted to burn through the sky that he found so humiliating.

He listened to the chief of staff's complaints without any change in expression, only managing to squeeze out a few words through gritted teeth.

"Then what do you want?" Honma Masaharu asked in a deep, hoarse voice.

As if seeing a glimmer of hope, Ota Kimihide immediately bent down and said in an almost pleading tone, "Commander, let's stop advancing for now and find a place to hide."

The troops are becoming too conspicuous if they continue advancing along the main road! And the Chinese planes are far too ferocious, like mad dogs! We can't go any further!

"no!"

Masaharu Honma's refusal was firm and decisive, even carrying a hint of roaring.

He turned his head sharply and stared at his chief of staff with a cold and piercing gaze. The oppressive look in his eyes made Ōta Kimihide involuntarily shrink back.

"The troops cannot stop! They must continue advancing! No matter what, we must reach Taiyuan to provide reinforcements!"

Masaharu Honma was also quite helpless, even feeling a suffocating sense of being strangled by fate.

He knew better than anyone that continuing to advance meant sending soldiers to endure the bombs with their own flesh and blood.

However, the order to reinforce Taiyuan was personally issued by General Tada Shun, commander of the North China Area Army.

Taiyuan was the strategic stronghold of the Imperial Army in Shanxi, and it could not be lost under any circumstances.

Once Taiyuan falls, not only will the First Army Commander Yoshio Shinotsuka be held accountable, but he, the division commander who was ordered to reinforce but failed to arrive in time, will also be held responsible! His future and his honor are tied to the fate of Taiyuan.

Therefore, even if there were mountains of knives and seas of fire ahead, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep going.

(End of this chapter)