Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 348: Long Live the Charge
On the slopes of Panlongling, the rain had turned everything into a muddy hell. The air was filled with damp, cold moisture and the stench of rotting plants, making one's mood as sour as well.

On a relatively gentle slope, several Japanese artillerymen belonging to the 27th Division's artillery regiment were battling a Type 91 105mm howitzer.

This 1.75-ton steel behemoth now resembles a prehistoric creature stuck in a swamp, its two massive wheels deeply embedded in the mud.

The artillerymen were covered in mud and water, looking utterly disheveled.

They tried to dig gun emplacements for the artillery, but when the sappers dug down, they turned up not solid soil, but pools of black silt mixed with grass roots.

The dug pits were quickly filled with muddy water seeping from the surrounding area, turning into small puddles.

An old gunner named Sasaki, his face covered in mud, looked at the futile scene and felt his heart pounding.

He braced himself and ran to the gunner in charge, Kobayashi, to report: "Lieutenant, the ground is too soft and muddy, it's all silt."

Under these conditions, the artillery's spade cannot be effectively secured, making firing extremely dangerous!

Lieutenant Kobayashi's young face was filled with anxiety and impatience.

The orders for artillery support had come down several times, but they couldn't even set up a single cannon here. He felt that Sasaki's report was just an excuse for incompetence, and a surge of anger rose in his head.

"Bagaya road!"

He shouted angrily and then slapped Sasaki twice across the face.

"Pah, pah!"

The crisp sound was particularly jarring in the rainy night.

Sasaki's cheeks immediately swelled up and turned red, and a trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

"There is no difficulty that the soldiers of the Empire cannot overcome. I don't care what method you use, get the cannons set up immediately!"

Division Commander Homma is still waiting for our artillery support.

Lieutenant Kobayashi roared, spitting all over Sasaki's face.

"Hai!" Sasaki and the other gunners bowed reluctantly and accepted the order.

They knew that arguing any further would only bring about more severe punishment.

The group had no choice but to grit their teeth and use all their strength to barely dig two deep pits in the mud. Then, they worked together to smash the two huge hoes into the depths of the mud with a thud.

Actually, it's more accurate to say it's inserted rather than fixed.

They removed the rain covers from the muzzle and breech, one gunner carefully inspected the hydraulic rods of the recoil mechanism, while another checked the cold, hard sights.

After confirming that there were no foreign objects inside the barrel, the observer reported the firing data transmitted from the command post.

After Sasaki hastily adjusted the position of the artillery fire, a gunner laboriously picked up a bright yellow shell and stuffed it into the breech.

The loader then pushed in the propellant charge and closed the breech with a "bang".

"Fire!" Lieutenant Kobayashi shouted hoarsely.

The fire-puller gave the fire rope a sharp tug.

"boom!"

A deafening roar shattered the tranquility of the rainy night! Huge bursts of orange-red flames and thick white smoke erupted from the cannon.

However, the moment the shell left the barrel, something terrible happened.

The enormous recoil was transmitted through the gun barrel to the spades, but the soft, muddy ground could not withstand the terrifying impact. The two spades were violently lifted out of the mud as if they were pulled out of tofu.

Without its fixed mount, the Type 91 howitzer, weighing 1.75 tons, was thrown backward and upward by the enormous recoil, like an enraged bull!

"what!"

The two gunners, standing to the side and rear of the gun barrel and preparing for a second loading, had no time to react.

One of them was struck in the chest by the high-flying gun carriage, while the other was run over in the thigh by the heavy wheels.

The heavy cannon slammed back into the mud with a thud, splashing up a large amount of mud.

The two gunners lay in a pool of blood and mud, screaming in agony.

One had a collapsed sternum, with blood and foam constantly gushing from his mouth; the other's thigh was twisted at a bizarre angle, the stark white broken bone piercing through his military trousers and exposed to the air.

In the silent, rainy night, only their heart-wrenching wails and the terrifying echoes of breaking bones remained.

The two gunners' heart-wrenching screams pierced Lieutenant Kobayashi's eardrums like two sharp knives, jolting him out of his shock and fear.

He stared at his subordinate lying in the muddy pool of blood, one with a sunken chest vomiting blood, the other with his thigh twisted like a pretzel. His mind went blank for a moment. His previous arrogance and anxiety vanished, replaced by a chilling panic.

"Medic! Where's the medic? Someone come quick!"

Lieutenant Kobayashi's voice became sharp and shrill due to extreme horror, and even cracked slightly.

He scrambled to the wounded man's side, but seeing the horrific injuries, he was at a loss and could only shout in vain.

The artillerymen around them snapped out of their daze, and everyone panicked.

Sasaki stared at the bloody scene before him, his lips trembling, his eyes filled with lingering fear and an indescribable anger.

His warning just now earned him two slaps, and now, his warning has become a bloody reality.

Soon, two medics carrying medicine boxes hurriedly arrived from behind, stumbling along the muddy ground.

They gasped when they saw the injury. One of them immediately knelt down and tried to provide first aid to the gunner who was seriously wounded in the chest, but the gunner only convulsed violently a few times, the blood and foam gushing from his mouth even more violently, and then his head lolled to the side and he fell silent.

Another medic frantically bandaged the broken leg of the gunner to stop the bleeding, but the heart-wrenching screams sent shivers down the spines of everyone present.

The medic called to the other artillerymen, who used makeshift stretchers to carry the still-groaning wretch and his dead comrade away.

As the wounded and the dead were carried away, a deathly silence fell over the gun emplacement, broken only by the sound of rain and the distant cries of unknown wild beasts.

Everyone felt incredibly down and depressed.

The battlefield, which was just moments ago filled with murderous intent, is now permeated with the aura of death and defeat.

Lieutenant Kobayashi's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

He stood there stiffly, the cold rain washing away the bloodstains splattered on his face.

He knew he was doomed. Given the magnitude of the accident, as the direct commander of the cannon, he couldn't shirk his primary responsibility.

He could almost picture the regimental commander's angry face and his harsh reprimand.

At best, they will be dismissed and investigated; at worst, they may be sent to a military court.

What sent chills down his spine even more were the gazes cast upon him by the gunners around him.

It was no longer the obedience and awe of before, but a complex look mixed with dissatisfaction, resentment, and even a hint of schadenfreude.

He could clearly sense that if he acted rashly now and forcibly ordered these resentful "idiots" to continue firing, they might really mutini on the spot and even tie him up.

After weighing the pros and cons, Lieutenant Kobayashi's remaining sense of military honor was completely crushed by his fear of the future. He gritted his teeth and announced in an almost inaudible voice, "Cease fire... Remain in place and await further orders."

After saying that, he didn't even dare to look his subordinates in the eye. He turned around and hurriedly walked towards the temporary command post at the rear, his steps uneven.

Lieutenant Kobayashi's report was like a pebble thrown into a stagnant pond. After being reported up the chain of command from the company commander to the battalion commander, the ripples eventually created a huge wave in the 27th Division's temporary command post.

Masaharu Honma's command post was set up in a hollowed-out cave. The entrance was covered with a thick tarpaulin, but it still couldn't keep out the damp and cold air from outside.

When Colonel Nobuo Kobayashi, the artillery regiment commander, reported the accident that had occurred at the artillery position with his head down, Masaharu Honma's long-suppressed anger finally erupted completely.

He slammed his hand on the table, causing the military map and pencil on it to bounce.

"Bagaya road!"

Masaharu Honma's roar echoed in the narrow cave, causing the flame of the kerosene lamp to flicker.

"What's wrong with you guys? The Empire's most elite artillerymen can't even fire a cannon? And at this critical moment, several of your men have been killed or wounded! Idiots, a bunch of idiots!"

Faced with the division commander's thunderous rage, Colonel Nobuo Kobayashi, the supreme commander of the artillery regiment, could only lower his head even further, almost burying it in his chest, repeatedly muttering, "Hai, hai! It's my incompetence! Hai!" His back was already soaked with cold sweat, and he dared not offer the slightest explanation.

This left Honma Masaharu no choice but to get angry. From the very beginning, the battle at Panlong Ridge had given him a deep sense of powerlessness; the difficulty of the battle far exceeded his expectations.

The continuous heavy rain turned the entire Panlongling into a huge swamp.

His soldiers, those warriors who were once invincible on the plains, were now like oxen stuck in a quagmire, struggling to climb the slippery, muddy hillside. Each step up required immense effort.

Meanwhile, their opponents, the Eighth Route Army whom they had underestimated, had already occupied advantageous terrain and were in a commanding position.

Hiding behind fortifications and rocks, they calmly aimed, like hunters shooting rabbits at a shooting range, accurately killing the Japanese soldiers struggling in the mud.

Bullets whizzed overhead, and every now and then a soldier would scream and tumble down the hillside, leaving a trail of blood and mud behind him.

Masaharu Honma had no way to deal with this.

His most relied-upon air support was rendered useless by the damn weather, which prevented planes from taking off from the muddy makeshift airfield.

His prized heavy artillery has now proven ineffective in providing proper cover under such terrain conditions.

Even the grenade launchers, which are most commonly used by infantry units, are prone to misfires because the ground is soft and the base is unstable.

This feeling is like a giant with immense strength who is bound hand and foot and blindfolded, forced to watch helplessly as a nimble, small opponent repeatedly cuts wounds into his body.

It was this extreme frustration and rage that led Masaharu Honma to recklessly order the artillery regiment to fire at any cost, attempting to clear a path for the infantry with artillery fire.

But reality gave him a harsh slap in the face.

One soldier was killed and another seriously wounded; a precious 105mm howitzer was rendered useless on the battlefield.

This lesson taught him, through bloody facts, that some things simply cannot be solved by so-called "Bushido spirit" and the will of superiors.

The forces of nature and the laws of physics will not change because of his rank as a lieutenant general.

The air inside the cave seemed to freeze, with only Honma Masaharu's heavy breathing and the incessant sound of rain outside.

His chest heaved violently, and anger made his brain spin, even causing brief blackouts in his vision.

The artillery regiment commander, Nobuo Kobayashi, standing opposite him, remained bowed at a ninety-degree angle, not daring to move, letting the division commander's anger and spittle rain down on him.

Any attempt to defend oneself now will only add fuel to the fire.

After venting his anger, Honma Masaharu slowly straightened up and slumped back into his chair. He supported his forehead with his hand, closed his eyes, and tried to calm the dizziness caused by his soaring blood pressure.

"The spirit of Bushido"... something he once believed in so deeply now seemed so pale and laughable.

Spirit cannot make a shell find a foothold in the mud, nor can it make an airplane take off in a downpour.

Reality delivered a resounding slap to this lieutenant general of the empire.

A suffocating silence fell over the cave.

After a long silence, Masaharu Honma finally broke the stillness with a hoarse, weary, yet resolute voice.

"Xiao Lin-kun."

"Hai!" Nobuo Kobayashi shuddered, his body tensing even more.

"We'll talk about the artillery after this battle." Honma Masaharu's voice was devoid of emotion, but this calmness was more unsettling than his previous roar.

"Now, I need you and your men to pick up your rifles and bayonets."

Nobuo Kobayashi suddenly looked up, his face filled with astonishment: "Commander... what do you mean?"

Honma Masaharu opened his bloodshot eyes, which flashed with a crazed, gambler-like ferocity. "Since heavy weapons have become useless, let's return to the most primitive form of warfare! Let's tear a path for the Empire with bayonets and flesh and blood!"

He stood up, his gaze sweeping over the chief of staff and operations staff present. His voice turned cold and firm: "Pass on my orders! All non-frontline combat personnel under the division, including artillery, engineers, supply troops, communications troops, and even the division headquarters clerks and orderlies! Except for necessary personnel left behind, all of them shall be incorporated into infantry assault teams!"

The chief of staff was shocked upon hearing this and hurriedly stepped forward: "Division Commander! Absolutely not! This will completely paralyze the entire division's command and logistics system! If the situation changes, we will lose all room for maneuver!"

"Wiggle room?"

Masaharu Honma let out a chilling laugh. "What other options do we have?"
Look outside, we're like sardines trapped in a can.

"Either we'll be slowly worn down and drowned by the Chinese here, or we'll use the sharpest bayonets of the Imperial Japanese Army to pierce this damned can!"

He walked up to the chief of staff, almost face to face, and said, word by word, "I have decided to gather all available combat personnel to form the Jade Shattering Assault Team! Before dawn, we will launch the final general attack! Regardless of the cost, we will charge up Panlong Ridge and tear through the Eighth Route Army's defenses! This is the order!"

"Charge with Jade Shattering Force..."

The chief of staff muttered to himself, his face turning deathly pale.

The division commander has gone mad. He's gambling the fate of the entire 27th Division on this reckless Bazaar charge!
(End of this chapter)