Chapter 65: The Final Showdown
At 4:50 a.m., Zhongshan Wharf was shrouded in thin mist and dim light, with the surroundings so quiet it was suffocating.
Gently lapping at the shore, it made low, monotonous sounds that contrasted sharply with the current atmosphere.
The ground was littered with corpses lying in disarray, among them both Japanese army and National Revolutionary Army bodies, densely packed, with dense craters and debris showing that a fierce battle had once erupted here.
The surroundings were a mess, with broken weapons and shell casings intertwined with personal items discarded on the ground, forming a bleak and desolate scene.
This was the scene the 19th Infantry Regiment saw upon arrival.
A cold wind carrying fine snow swept across the river surface, Hito Mi Shuzo’s military boots crushed through frozen bloodstains, and his spurs scraped harsh sounds on the concrete wharf.
“Report! The west side warehouse has been cleared and counted, over four hundred bound and executed bodies found!”
“On the east side breakwater, over three hundred Imperial Army bodies were found, their bodies completely blackened, estimated to have been burned to death by incendiary bombs.”
“Incendiary bombs?”
Regiment commander Hito Mi Shuzo’s expression grew grave.
After more than ten minutes passed, a lieutenant colonel hurriedly reported: “Regiment commander sir, the wharf statistics are complete, a total of about six hundred bodies of 6th Regiment soldiers found, and over one thousand Chinese prisoner bodies.
Our army’s fallen soldiers’ weapons have also vanished, estimated to have fallen into Chinese hands.”
Hito Mi Shuzo did not dare to be negligent and quickly contacted headquarters via field phone.
Hito Mi Shuzo gripped the radio, his voice trembling slightly: “Commander sir, Zhongshan Wharf… is already empty, the Chinese have all run off.”
An angry voice from Prince Asaka Yasuhiko came from the radio: “What?! How do you do things? Didn’t I tell you to rush to the wharf as soon as possible and block the Chinese there?”
Fine beads of sweat seeped from Hito Mi Shuzo’s forehead, and he hurriedly explained: “Commander sir, I… I don’t know what happened either. When we arrived, it was already like this…”
“Incompetent!” Prince Asaka Yasuhiko angrily interrupted him, “Immediately investigate the reason for me, find those missing Chinese prisoners! If there’s any further mishap, you’ll answer to me!”
A busy tone of “beep beep beep” came from the radio, Hito Mi Shuzo knew the commander had hung up. He slowly put down the radio and turned to look at the messy wharf behind him.
Under the dim flashlight light, the corpses on the ground, scattered shell casings, and broken guns appeared particularly glaring.
Hito Mi Shuzo took a deep breath, trying to calm his emotions.
He knew that the most important thing now was to find those missing people and the reason behind all this. He looked around and suddenly discovered a string of messy footprints not far away.
A glint flashed in Hito Mi Shuzo’s eyes, and he immediately waved to call over a few soldiers: “You come with me, there’s a clue here!” The soldiers followed Hito Mi Shuzo along the footprints in pursuit,
After walking some distance, they found these footprints pointing in two different directions.
He called over the staff officer, pointed to the direction of the footprints and asked: “Where do these footprint directions lead respectively?”
The chief of staff took out a map and compass from his leather bag, studied it, and said: “Regiment commander sir, this road leads toward Xiaguan Wharf, the other footprints lead to… toward the west of the city.”
“Xiaguan Wharf? West of the city?”
After murmuring these two phrases, a sharp glint flashed in Hito Mi Shuzo’s eyes. He snatched the map from the chief of staff’s hand, glanced at it, his expression slightly changed, and his eyes fixed dead on one spot.
“St. Paul’s Church… it’s them?”
“Regiment commander sir, are you saying it’s possible that the Chinese force entrenched at St. Paul’s Church attacked Zhongshan Wharf?”
“Not possible… but certain.”
Hito Mi Shuzo’s face looked rather unpleasant. Just last night, Hito Mi Shuzo, who had originally been leading the soldiers of the 19th Regiment to burn, kill, and loot in Nanjing city, suddenly received an order from division commander Lieutenant General Higuchi Kiichiro to prepare to take over from the Kunizaki Detachment the next day and attack a place called St. Paul’s Church.
Higuchi Kiichiro also told him that a Chinese army had occupied the area around St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Kunizaki Detachment had suffered heavy casualties attacking it, even detachment commander Kunizaki Seki had been relieved of duty for it, and told him to be extremely careful.
After receiving the division commander’s order, Hito Mi Shuzo did not dare to be negligent and ordered the troops to prepare overnight.
But before dawn even arrived, headquarters directly called the regiment headquarters, and chief of staff Major General Iinuma Mamoru directly ordered him to rush to Zhongshan Wharf to support the 6th Regiment’s 2nd Battalion there.
And specifically instructed that upon arriving at the wharf, the first thing was to kill all the prisoners there, leaving none.
Such a brutal order was rare in his more than ten years of military service.
After much deliberation, Hito Mi Shuzo issued the order, “All units assemble, proceed immediately to St. Paul’s Church, must arrive before dawn.”
“Regiment commander, what about Xiaguan Wharf?” the chief of staff asked.
“Xiaguan Wharf is just a minor itch.” Hito Mi Shuzo snorted lightly, “The force calling itself the Nanjing Security Regiment at St. Paul’s Church is our real major threat.
Moreover, other units are already dealing with Xiaguan Wharf, as long as we eliminate the enemy at St. Paul’s Church, it’ll be a great merit, why bother competing for credit with friendly units?”
“Yo xi… regiment commander sir has keen insight.” The chief of staff nodded repeatedly.
Two hours later
Hito Mi Shuzo kicked aside a Japanese soldier’s corpse blocking the way, his gaze sweeping over the dense bullet marks on a broken wall not far away.
Suddenly, he squatted down, brushed away the snow on the ground, scooped up a handful of dirt, pinched it with his hand, and immediately picked out several shrapnel pieces.
The chief of staff beside him couldn’t help sucking in a breath of cold air, “The Chinese firepower is actually this fierce?”
After pondering briefly, Hito Mi Shuzo instructed: “Set up the heavy machine guns in the bell tower’s blind spot, also deploy a grenade launcher team!”
“Hai!”
The chief of staff responded, walked to Hito Mi Shuzo’s side, and said somewhat worriedly: “Regiment commander sir, from the battlefield traces, the Chinese firepower is extremely fierce, no wonder the Kunizaki Detachment suffered such a big loss.
Can our regiment alone take down this church?”
“Take it down or not, we fight.” Hito Mi Shuzo turned his head and glanced at him, “Do you think we have the right to bargain?”
“Yes.”
The chief of staff’s expression was grave; this was an order from the new commander Prince Asaka Yasuhiko, who had even bypassed division headquarters—what did that mean?
It meant this place and that force had become a thorn in Prince Asaka Yasuhiko’s side, a demon and obsession he was determined to eliminate once and for all.
