Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 357 Loyal Alliance
Dusk had fallen outside the field hospital in Wutai County.

The flow of people at the hospital entrance thinned out, and several night shift nurses hurriedly entered with their lunchboxes, while Qingzi seemed particularly cheerful.

Today she was wearing a light blue floral dress, her cloth shoes were spotlessly clean, and she was carrying a carefully prepared lunchbox. She was bowing to Wu Min, the head nurse who had just finished handing over her shift, and said:
"Head Nurse, I'm going off duty now. Tomorrow is my day off, so I'll have to trouble you to stay with me."

Haruko bowed with a smile and then bowed to Wu Min again, her every move exuding the gentleness unique to Japanese women.

Wu Min smiled and waved her hand: "It's not hard work. You should go early. It's getting dark, be careful on the road."

Haruko nodded, turned around and pushed her bicycle, which was parked in the bike shed.

Although the bicycle chain was a bit rusty and made a creaking sound when she pedaled, she still left the hospital with a light heart.

As we left Wutai County, the autumn wind swept over us, carrying the scent of grass and dust.

After a 30-minute ride, she arrived at the prisoner-of-war camp located four kilometers west of the city.

As you look out, prisoners of war who are finishing their work are lined up and entering the camp. They carry shovels, winnowing baskets, and large iron hoes on their shoulders, their hair and clothes covered with a thick layer of mud and sweat.

They looked quite tired in the twilight and sunlight.

Among these Japanese prisoners of war, one figure stood out: Haruko's lover, Katsuhiko Nakata.

Although Katsuhiko Nakata was also wearing a Japanese military uniform, the fabric was wool, which was reserved for officers.

His entire outfit, from the collar to the cuffs, was clean and without any patches. The black rubber baton tucked into his waistband made him easily distinguishable from ordinary prisoners.

Haruko's eyes lit up, and she immediately strode forward to meet him.

Her skirt swayed, and her fragrance mingled with the air. She stood outside the line and gave a slight bow: "Nakata-kun, you're back."

Upon seeing Haruko, Nakata's previously stern and weary face instantly relaxed, revealing a smile.

Looking at the curves faintly visible beneath Haruko's skirt, his lower abdomen tightened suddenly, his eyes burned, and his voice lowered slightly: "Haruko...you've come!"

Haruko blinked and nodded vigorously: "Hmm... Nakata-kun, I not only brought you your favorite grilled fish, but tomorrow is my day off, so I can spend all my time with you tonight."

"Yoshi!" Katsuhiko Nakata's originally rigid and cold face instantly blossomed into an undisguised smug smile, especially when Haruko approached, a warm fragrance unique to mature women wafted into his nostrils.

That familiar scent was like a spark igniting dry tinder, instantly setting off the long-suppressed heat deep within his lower abdomen. A surge of inner turmoil rose within him, and his gaze became lingeringly fixed on Haruko's voluptuous figure.

Haruko tried to maintain a calm demeanor while responding to Nakata's words, but her gaze was involuntarily drawn to the group of prisoners of war passing by.

She observed curiously, her brows furrowing slightly: "Nakata-kun, why do I feel... there are more and more people here?"

"It's natural!"

Katsuhiko Nakata straightened his back, his tone carrying a morbid sense of accomplishment and excitement, "During this period, under the wise and mighty leadership of the general, our army has achieved one brilliant victory after another."

Prisoners, of course, are being sent in batches. My place is almost overflowing!

As he explained, he greedily inhaled the scent emanating from Haruko, the intense heat making his mouth dry and his mind filled with only one thought.

"Alright, Haruko, it's cold outside, let's go inside and talk." He put his arm around Haruko's shoulder without waiting for a reply, his strength undeniably firm.

He then turned his head and shouted a few words to a guard next to him who also had a rubber baton hanging from his waist. He briefly explained the guard duties, then half-pushed and half-brought Haruko through the iron gate and hurriedly walked towards his own independent dormitory in the southeast corner of the prisoner-of-war camp.

The door slammed shut, and the simple wooden house shut out the cool breeze and noise from outside.

Seven or eight minutes later, satisfied, Katsuhiko Nakata got dressed, sat down at the table, and opened the lunchbox Haruko had brought him to eat.

Haruko, having changed her clothes, sat down next to him and said to Katsuhiko Nakata, "I've been feeling a bit uneasy these past few days."

The general and the imperial army are making more and more frequent acquisitions, and the number of wounded soldiers being sent to the hospital is also increasing.

Her voice was soft, with a barely perceptible tremor, "I'm really worried... something bad might happen..."

"misfortune?"

Katsuhiko Nakata paused in his chewing motion, then let out a disdainful snort, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

He swallowed the food in his mouth hard, wiped his mouth with his greasy fingers, and his eyes turned fierce and determined: "Are you afraid? Afraid that the General will lose to the lackeys of those filthy tycoon lords who only know how to make money?"

He slammed his hand on the table, making the dishes rattle softly. "Relax! The General is invincible! Those paper tigers are nothing but weaklings, only fit to wail under our iron hooves! Lose? Absolutely not!"

Katsuhiko Nakata understood Haruko's concerns. If Su Yaoyang were to be defeated, they, as "accomplices," would definitely suffer a miserable fate.

In fact, not to mention them, even the prisoners of war did not have a good ending. Unbeknownst to them, their fates had become closely tied to Su Yaoyang and the Shanxi militia.

Even Su Yaoyang didn't expect that in just three years since he came to this space, he had unknowingly gathered tens of thousands of people around him and indirectly affected the fate of countless people.

Katsuhiko Nakata frowned, as if troubled by his own problem.

He put down his chopsticks, his greasy fingers tapping unconsciously on the rough tabletop: "Haruko...you mentioned the wounded earlier...I suddenly remembered, in the past two years...how many doctors and nurses were sent to your side after being captured...approximately now?"

“This…” Haruko was taking small sips of her now-cold tea when she heard this, and she paused for a moment, then put down her teacup and began to think carefully.

She counted on her fingers, muttering to herself, listing the familiar and unfamiliar faces in her mind.

A moment later, she suddenly raised her head, her face showing undisguised astonishment: "Nakata-kun, I really hadn't thought about it carefully until you mentioned it."

In just over a year, more than thirty military doctors, on record, have been sent to my area of ​​responsibility, and the number of nurses is even greater.

Her voice rose slightly, “There are at least two hundred nurses, all of them… there are close to three hundred!”

"Ha! You noticed too, didn't you!"

The gloom on Katsuhiko Nakata's face vanished instantly, replaced by a mixture of excitement and a somewhat morbid agitation.

He leaned forward, his voice trembling with excitement: "It's the same here. Since the day this POW camp was established, batch after batch! To date, there are more than a thousand ordinary POWs imprisoned here."

Do you know what's going on here? This is a fully-equipped infantry battalion, and prisoners are still being sent in continuously." He stood up, paced a couple of times in the small room, and then sat down again.

"If you ask me, Haruko!"

He said somewhat angrily, "General, you are far too merciful to these lowly prisoners. It's simply incomprehensible!"

He started counting on his fingers, his tone full of dissatisfaction:
“You see, since those prisoners of war came to the POW camp, His Excellency the General has rarely punished them.”

Not only were there no killings, but they also provided enough food at every meal. Although it wasn't lavish meat and fish, there was plenty of brown rice balls.

Even in the dead of winter, they were given warm cotton-padded clothes and made to build decent barracks for themselves.

"If I get sick, all I have to do is apply, and doctors and nurses like you will come to treat and care for me immediately. How is this like being a prisoner of war?"

He turned around abruptly, looked directly at Haruko, and said with displeasure, "It's like... like you're enjoying a life of leisure, or you've come here to work for us."

Katsuhiko Nakata's tone was full of stark contrast and distorted logic.

He was extremely dissatisfied with the treatment of prisoners as “human beings,” not out of hatred for his fellow countrymen, but from a deeper, darker psychological state.

A distorted mentality that seeks justification for one's current betrayal by completely denying and degrading the identity and experiences of one's compatriots in the past.

Once a person completely abandons their own community, their betrayal often reaches the most extreme and thorough level.

Only in this way can one completely sever the guilt and wavering in one's heart, trample everything in the past underfoot, and offer unreserved loyalty to a new object of allegiance... even if such loyalty is built on the complete denial of one's compatriots.

Beneath Nakata Katsuhiko's seemingly excited exterior lies a cold, hard logic.

That is, his fate was already inextricably linked with Su Yaoyang, with this prisoner-of-war camp, and with the entire Shanxi militia.

In order to survive!

For the woman beside me.

For his family back home, who are completely unaware of what's happening but could fall into the abyss because of him at any moment!

The current Japanese government... must lose this war!
Su Yaoyang... must win!

This is no longer a matter of choosing a stance, but the only solution concerning life and death.

Katsuhiko Nakata strode back to the bedside and put his arm around Haruko's shoulder tightly.

"Haruko..."

Katsuhiko Nakata's voice lowered as he turned to stare at Haruko's pale face. "Tell me... what should we... how can we better serve His Excellency the General?"
How can we make the General value us more?

Haruko felt a little breathless from his embrace. She struggled slightly and said cautiously, "Nakata-kun... I'm just a lowly nurse. All I think about every day is how to alleviate the pain of the wounded... These important things you're talking about... I... I really don't understand."

She looked down at her tightly clenched fingers, and perhaps out of understanding of Nakata, or to soothe his agitated emotions, she added softly, "However... I know one thing: a person's strength is always limited."

Just like in a hospital, I can't save everyone by myself... You're in charge of thousands of prisoners right now, Nakata-kun.

If you... if you could make them all behave themselves, even... even make them all... willingly... work for Your Excellency the General... then..."

She paused, seemingly considering her words, and finally chose the gentlest expression, "...General, you would surely be very pleased and happy to know this, wouldn't you?"

"Yoshi!"

As soon as Haruko finished speaking, Nakata Katsuhiko seemed to be struck by lightning, his whole body jolted violently, and a bright light flashed in his eyes at the same time.

"Snapped!"

He was so excited that he slapped his own strong thigh hard, making a loud noise that even startled Haruko.

"Hahaha, you're right, absolutely right. Haruko! You're a genius!"

Katsuhiko Nakata burst into laughter, his voice echoing in the small space: "What does it mean if I alone are wholeheartedly devoted to serving the General?"
It was just a passable watchdog; its contributions were negligible, far too insignificant.

At this point, his eyes became incredibly fervent, as if he were seeing a glittering golden ladder of advancement:

"But... but if I could make those thousand-plus prisoners, those guys who were once enemies of the Empire and now tremble under my clubs!"

He suddenly stood up, waving his arms and shouting, "Make them all become like me, completely forget their corrupt empire, forget their emperor! Make them recognize the greatness of the general from the bottom of their bones!"

Let them willingly, even eagerly, mine, work, and even take up arms to fight their former comrades for the General!

His breathing became heavy, his face flushed red with fervor, and his voice became shrill with excitement:
"This is the real merit, this is the unparalleled merit. The general will surely be overjoyed and reward me handsomely."

No...it's more than just a reward.

This will be my talisman, and our talisman.

A clear blueprint, which he saw as enough to change his destiny, quickly took shape:
"Establish an organization! That's right! An organization must be established immediately!"

He paced back and forth excitedly, muttering to himself, "It'll be called...it'll be called 'Loyal Alliance.' Yes, that's it!"

He stopped abruptly, a cold glint in his eyes. "The Loyalty Alliance's sole creed is to be eternally loyal to the General."

The General's will is our supreme law, and the General's enemies are our irreconcilable mortal enemies!

He walked back to the bedside, gripping Haruko's shoulders tightly, so tightly it hurt. He stared into Haruko's eyes, each word filled with unwavering resolve and a hint of frantic self-satisfaction:
"Haruko! Just you wait and see! I will make this organization a resounding success! I will make sure that these thousand-plus people are all branded with the General's mark from the very depths of their souls."

I will show the General that I, Katsuhiko Nakata, can not only control their bodies, but also win their hearts!

"If this matter is handled well...if it's done perfectly...the General will be extremely pleased. We...we will definitely be highly valued by the General!"

(End of this chapter)