Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 335 I really can't fight anymore

Sanxing Village, nestled against the mountain, is located in the northern part of Niangziguan.

The mountains, shrouded in the autumn mist, resembled sleeping giants. The entrance to Zhang Guolao Cave, located halfway up the mountain, was dark and deep, with moss growing on the stone walls and a few withered vines hanging from the cave eaves, swaying gently in the wind.

Legend has it that this is where Zhang Guolao, one of the Eight Immortals, practiced his cultivation.

Today, the forward command post of the 5th Brigade of the 3rd Division is hidden in this cave.

Deep inside the cave, in a reinforced stone chamber, thick sandbags and wooden beams block the entrance. A machine gun emplacement faces the mountain path, and sentries and patrols move in shifts. Anyone who approaches without permission will be shot by the guards.

At that moment, Major General Hidehira Uchi was pacing back and forth on the narrow ground with his hands behind his back, his military boots making a dull "thump-thump" sound on the stone slabs.

His brow was furrowed, his thin lips were pressed tightly together, and as he walked, he would occasionally glance at the military telephone and radio placed on the side of the mountain wall.

Hurried footsteps sounded at the door, and Chief of Staff Fumio Masada strode in.

"How is it? Have you made contact with the Sixth Regiment?" Horiuchi Hidehira immediately rushed forward and asked anxiously.

Masada Fumio took off his military cap, his forehead glistening with fine beads of sweat, and replied, slightly out of breath, "Brigade Commander, we haven't been able to make contact yet. I've sent three waves of signalmen to check the lines, but not a single one has returned. The Chinese artillery fire is just too intense; it has completely blocked our route to the front lines."

“That shouldn’t be the case…” A hint of gloom and confusion flashed in Horinouchi Shuhei’s eyes.

He approached the silent radio, tapped the body lightly with his fingers, and spoke in a low voice, tinged with unease.

“Even though the phone line is broken, they still have a radio station… There’s no way they could completely cut off contact with us, unless…”

He paused for a moment, a cold glint in his eyes, and whispered his conjecture: "Their radio station was damaged."

At this point, the air inside the cave seemed to grow even heavier.

The two men looked at each other, neither speaking, but both knew that if this was true, it meant that the Sixth Regiment's command post had likely encountered an accident; otherwise, it would be impossible for no news to be transmitted back.

Suddenly, the curtain was pushed open, and the wind outside the cave howled in, carrying the dust from the mountain path and the smell of gunpowder.

Two Japanese guards were half-carrying, half-supporting a soldier covered in blood as he strode in. His military cap was nowhere to be found, his bayonet was hanging askew at his waist, and his uniform was wrinkled from the impact of artillery shells and mud. A long scar stretched from his forehead to his chin.

The soldier struggled to lift his head, and with the help of the light inside the cave, he saw Horinouchi Hidehira and Masada Fumio inside. His eyes immediately flashed with a light of despair, as if he were grasping at a straw.

He struggled to reach the two of them, then stumbled and fell to his knees with a thud. But he had no time to worry about that; he braced himself against the stone slab with one hand, his breath coming in short, broken gasps, and he cried out in a hoarse voice:

"Brigade Commander, I am Private Nobuya Ozawa from the 2nd Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Regiment. I have been ordered by the Regiment Commander to risk my life to request reinforcements..."

At this point, he swallowed hard and continued, "Our position at Black Tiger Mountain was attacked from both sides by Chinese tank troops and infantry... The troops suffered heavy losses."

Even the regimental headquarters was bombarded by Chinese heavy artillery; the radio and telephone lines were all destroyed!

At this moment, his voice began to tremble, and his body swayed precariously. Fumio Masada frowned, picked up a teacup from the table, and handed it to him. "Here... have some water first."

"Thank you, sir." Ozawa Shinzai took the teacup, drank the water in one gulp, and then continued.

"Commander Mizutani...sent me here to request...tactical guidance."

Please save us! If you don't send reinforcements soon, the Sixth Regiment... will be... wiped out!

Horinouchi Shuhei's face instantly turned ashen, veins bulging on his forehead, and his voice suddenly exploded: "Baka!"

His roar echoed through the cave, sending dust swirling down. "An entire regiment, and they can't even hold a mere Black Tiger Mountain? Mizutani... how exactly does he command his troops?"

The private raised his blood-stained face and sobbed, "Brigade Commander, it's not that we're incompetent... it's just that the Chinese artillery fire... was simply too intense!"

He roared out those words as if his throat had been torn apart, his arm went limp and he almost fell to the ground.

He gritted his teeth and continued, speaking haltingly, "The battle... has lasted a whole week from the beginning until now."

But the Chinese artillery fire lasted for seven days.

Their artillery fire never stopped. Our fortifications... our positions had long been blasted to smithereens by the Chinese heavy artillery... Our soldiers... could only lie prone on the loose earth and fight the Chinese. We... we..."

At this point, Xiaoze choked up and couldn't continue.

The air inside Guolao Cave was deathly heavy. The oil lamps hanging on the cave walls flickered dimly, casting elongated and distorted shadows on the stone walls.

Enraged, Horinouchi Hidehira's first reaction was to curse, "Baka yarou!" He raised his right hand high, ready to slap the kneeling Private First Class Ozawa.

He simply could not accept this humiliating report. An entire regiment was being told that their position had been razed to the ground? They were forced to fight the Chinese soldiers while lying on "loose soil"?
If this gets out, it will be an utter disgrace!
Just as his hand was about to strike, his gaze fell on Ozawa Shinya.

His entire body was covered in blood, which had clung to his uniform. His face was ashen, and there were still traces of blood at the corners of his mouth.

His right arm was empty beneath the sleeve; it turned out his right arm had been blown off.

His trembling body didn't seem like he was lying.

On the contrary, that was the reaction of a soldier who had narrowly escaped death.

Horinouchi's hand froze in mid-air. Her eyes twitched, and anger burned in her heart, yet it wouldn't subside.

The shelling over those seven days was indeed far more intense than usual.

The artillery fire raged from morning till night, even causing the mountainside to collapse and the sandbags at the cave entrance to scatter every day.

Even though he was in Sanxing Village, he could feel the immense tremor. Could it be that the front lines of Black Tiger Mountain... had truly been torn apart?

"Please calm down, Brigade Commander."

Masada Fumio spoke with a solemn expression, bowing slightly, "Perhaps this private first class wasn't lying. Please consider this: our communication with the Sixth Regiment has been cut off for over twenty hours. The fact that he was able to escape under such artillery fire is proof enough. To say that he risked his life to come here just to deceive you... that's clearly meaningless."

The voice echoed through the cave, like cool water suddenly splashed onto scorching rocks.

Horinouchi Hidehira gritted his teeth, slowly lowered his wrist, and slumped back onto the makeshift stool made of artillery shell boxes. His face was a mixture of emotions, the veins on the back of his hands bulged, and his breathing was heavy.

"……yes."

He murmured, his tone heavy with suppressed dejection, "We've lost contact with the Sixth Regiment... for over twenty hours. Right now, this Private First Class named Ozawa Nobuya is indeed the only one who escaped from Black Tiger Mountain."

Horinouchi Shuhei's gaze swept past Masada, finally settling on Ozawa. In the firelight, the kneeling figure looked disheveled and miserable, yet it exuded a stubborn determination to survive.

He let out a long breath, releasing the pent-up anger in his chest, his voice becoming low but cold: "Ozawa Nobuya, is it... Speak. Tell me in detail about the current situation of your regiment!"

Xiaoze's face grew even paler. He took a few quick breaths before speaking in a trembling voice.

"The Chinese launched the attack seven days ago... on September 26th."

"The company commander told us that the attacking force was a German-equipped Chinese division. He told us all to be on high alert because... he said that these Chinese soldiers were not only well-equipped, but also extremely well-trained."

He raised his bloodshot eyes and continued in a hoarse voice, "The company commander is right, this is the most intense artillery fire I have ever seen since I joined the army."

At this point, Horinouchi's expression became somewhat flustered and horrified, and even Horinouchi Hidehira and Masada Fumio unconsciously held their breath.

Ozawa continued, trembling, "It's not that I haven't fought against the Chinese army before, but in the past, the Chinese artillery bombardment was usually sporadic. If it lasted for ten minutes, it was considered 'fierce'."

But this time… that unit's artillery preparation lasted a full three hours!

“Three hours!” he almost screamed, his shoulders convulsing.

"By the time their shelling stopped, our position had been completely destroyed. Debris, rubble, and corpses were all mixed together, and we could only lie on the ruins and fight them to the death."

The voice was so hoarse it was almost gone, yet it still carried a chilling fear:

"When they attacked, we were also putting up a fierce resistance, but every time we organized a counterattack, the Chinese would immediately call in artillery fire."

Their heavy artillery, like bulldozers, relentlessly carved out our positions, inch by inch, and we could only watch helplessly as our ground crumbled away.

"Seven days... a full seven days, their medium-pressure artillery bombarded our positions countless times!" Xiaoze's eyes were red. "The vegetation on the positions was completely destroyed, and the loose soil... was a meter high. In this kind of terrain, we simply couldn't dig new bunkers. In the end, we could only use... the shattered bodies of our comrades as cover from the bullets!"

Upon hearing this, even the usually calm and composed Fumio Masada's breath hitched, and a chill ran through his chest.

Xiaoze's voice was urgent, and his eyes began to glaze over:
"As of this morning, we have lost two-thirds of our positions."

Even the regimental command post was destroyed by Chinese artillery fire; the chief of staff was killed instantly, and Regimental Commander Kawazao was seriously wounded!

“Two hours ago, the regimental commander sent three teams to request assistance…” Ozawa’s voice lowered, “but… only I managed to get here.”

The air freezes.

Horiuchi asked in a deep voice, "How many men are left in your regiment?"

Ozawa answered with difficulty, his voice growing weaker and weaker: "Including the wounded, there are less than eight hundred people left. We...we can't hold on much longer, General...General...please...please send reinforcements immediately..."

At this point, the voice stopped suddenly.

"Brigade Commander, he is dead." Fumio Shoda's voice rang in Hidehira Horiuchi's ears.

The entire grotto fell silent instantly, with only the crackling of the oil lamp in the drafty air...

Horinouchi Hidehira turned his gaze back to the private and found that he had stopped breathing, his dusty face ashen.

Fumio Masada straightened up, let out a long breath, and his once calm eyes now showed a hint of fatigue.

He turned to the guards and waved his hand, his tone icy: "Take him away and burn him. Remember to tell his family that he died a heroic death."

The two guards immediately responded, "Hail!"

They then lifted Ozawa's mangled body and disappeared into the darkness.

Once again, only Horinouchi Hidehira and Masada Fumio remained in the grotto.

Masada didn't speak immediately, but looked straight at Horinouchi, his brows furrowed: "Brigade Commander, what should we do now? The Sixth Regiment is about to collapse. If we don't send reinforcements soon... Black Tiger Mountain will fall."

Horinouchi Hidehira remained silent and sat down heavily. His thick military boots made a dull thud on the stone slab.

He then pulled a silver cigarette case from his pocket, snapped it open, and took out a cigarette, placing it between his lips. Masada Fumio, standing nearby, swiftly lit a match for him.

In the glow of the fireworks, the features on Horinouchi Shuhei's face appeared even more sinister. He took a deep breath, the pungent taste of nicotine filling his lungs, finally clearing his mind.

After a long silence, he exhaled a long puff of smoke, his tone cold and firm, his voice resounding: "Order... the Third Cavalry Regiment to dispatch a battalion to immediately reinforce Black Tiger Mountain!"

He tapped his finger forcefully on the location of Black Tiger Mountain on the map: "Furthermore, report the difficulties of my brigade to the division commander and request support from the Army Air Force and artillery. Black Tiger Mountain is the barrier of Niangziguan Pass; it must not be lost!"

Fumio Shoda immediately snapped to attention and saluted with his legs together: "Hai!"

After giving the order, Horinouchi Hidehira turned to look at the map hanging on the wall. Several red arrows pointed directly at the Fifth Brigade's defense zone. In addition to Black Tiger Mountain, Xiuquan Ridge, which was defended by the 68th Regiment, was also being besieged by the Chinese.

It is said that the 68th Regiment also suffered heavy casualties. Colonel Nomizo Shikihiko, the regimental commander, has made several phone calls requesting increased artillery support, but what support can he provide now?
Thinking about this, Horinouchi Hidehira felt a surge of irritation. In his decades of military service, this was the first time he had encountered such a tough and difficult battle. Sometimes he even doubted whether the enemy was really a weak Chinese army. Could it be the army of Europe or even Germany?
He had already made a decision: if the situation did not improve by tomorrow, he would send Fumio Masada to the division headquarters to get some support, otherwise the battle would truly be over.

(End of this chapter)