Chapter 55: The Final Showdown
“We must go even if it’s difficult.” Li Qingxiang furrowed his brows into a “chuan” shape, but still said resolutely, “The regiment commander and the brothers are all waiting for us to seek reinforcements. How can we retreat halfway?”
“All of you remember this: even if only one person is left, you must deliver the message to the officer at the Xiaguan pier! Got it?”
“Got it!” Everyone replied in unison.
After instructing everyone, Li Qingxiang led the entire company’s soldiers to quietly sneak over from both sides of the street, but just as they reached halfway, a sudden change occurred.
“Bang…” The distinctive sound of a Type 38 rifle rang out, and a soldier from the vanguard squad at the front silently fell to the ground. Soon after, a crisp burst of machine gun fire followed, and several soldiers were instantly hit by the hail of bullets.
“Rooftop… the Japs are on the rooftop!” A nearby soldier followed the sound of the gunfire and spotted a Type 11 light machine gun on the rooftop to their right pouring bullets down on them.
“Fire!”
The soldiers of the first company immediately raised their rifles and fired at the firing point.
As the most forward unit in the security regiment’s order of battle, the individual quality of the first company’s soldiers was also top-tier compared to other battalions and companies.
When dozens of rifles and machine guns fired at the same target, that firing point was instantly engulfed in a hail of bullets.
“Well done!”
Seeing the Japanese firing point taken out, Li Qingxiang waved his hand, and the company’s soldiers continued quickly advancing along the street toward Xiaguan…
“Regiment commander… do you think the first company can make it to Xiaguan?” In the church command post, Huang Guantao suddenly asked Su Yaoyang.
“Who knows? We can only do our best and leave the rest to fate.”
Su Yaoyang casually replied while looking down at the NJ city map on the table.
Previously, when Su Yaoyang watched TV shows and movies, he didn’t understand why commanders always stared at maps for an entire day.
Now he somewhat understood: when you’re just a soldier, on the battlefield you only need to follow orders from superiors; nothing else requires consideration.
But a commander is different; he has to consider the overall battlefield situation and the safety of all the troops.
Right now, just commanding a force of less than two thousand men was already giving him a headache. He truly couldn’t imagine the pressure on the shoulders of marshals commanding hundreds of thousands or even millions of troops.
Just like now, although it was only a battle involving thousands of men lasting a short four or five hours, frontline reports came in every so often, and just processing and analyzing these messages was already making him feel drained.
Fortunately, Li Gaoyuan and Huang Guangtao were helping handle most of the trivial matters, allowing him to focus on thinking.
He stared intently at the map, his mind racing to digest the frontline reports.
The instructor had once said that one must learn war in the midst of war.
Since he had come to this era, to live better, he had to keep learning and contribute to this suffering nation and people; otherwise, wouldn’t it be a waste of the golden finger given to him by heaven?
“Report…” A loud voice came from outside the door.
“Come in!”
A communications soldier strode in, saluted with a “snap,” and reported, “Sir, just over ten minutes ago, the Japanese suddenly stopped their attack and sent a man over.”
“Oh… really?” The three exchanged glances, and Su Yaoyang said to the communications soldier, “Bring him here.”
“Right, don’t forget to blindfold him and take a few detours before bringing him over,” Li Gaoyuan added from the side.
Su Yaoyang suddenly realized, “Yes, yes… do as Deputy Regiment Commander Li says.”
Soon, a blindfolded Japanese captain was brought in.
After two guards removed the cloth strip from his eyes, the captain immediately saw the three men, Su Yaoyang included, standing before him.
The captain glanced over the three men, a look of arrogance in his eyes, and walked up to Su Yaoyang, declaring loudly, “Captain Fukuda Takeo, staff officer of the Imperial Japanese Army’s Kunizaki Detachment, has come to see the three gentlemen of the Chinese nation.”
“Bang…”
As soon as Fukuda Takeo’s words fell, a large foot kicked him squarely in the stomach almost simultaneously. The immense force sent him stumbling back four or five steps, and he fell butt-first to the ground, a sharp pain spreading through his entire body.
This sudden kick not only caught Fukuda Takeo off guard but also stunned Li Gaoyuan and Huang Guangtian.
Before the two could react, they heard Su Yaoyang striding forward. Without waiting for Fukuda Takeo to stand, he delivered a resounding slap, his angry cursing following:
“Fuck your grandma, you little Jap. If you call us the Chinese nation again, believe me, I’ll pull out your guts right here?”
“Regiment commander, calm down.”
“Young Master Su…”
The now-recovered Li Gaoyuan and Huang Guantao hurriedly stepped forward to stop him.
Huang Guantao whispered in his ear, “Regiment commander, when two nations are at war, they don’t execute envoys. No matter how much you hate the little Japs, you can’t hit their messenger.”
“Pah!”
Still fuming, Su Yaoyang glared at Fukuda Takeo and raged, “What kind of messenger is he? Even if he really is a messenger, he can’t come in here insulting us. It’s already good temper on my part that I didn’t shoot him on the spot.”
Hearing Su Yaoyang’s words, Li Gaoyuan and Huang Guantao also frowned slightly.
Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japan generally referred to China as “Qing,” and Chinese people as “pigtails” and “pigtailed slaves.” After the Republic of China was established, the Japanese no longer called it “Qing” but replaced it with “Shina.”
Before 1930, diplomatic notes sent by the Japanese government to the BJ government and Nanjing government ignored basic international courtesy, not calling it the “Republic of China” but “Shina Republic.”
The Nanjing Nationalist government, unable to tolerate this contemptuous attitude until 1930, protested by refusing diplomatic documents, forcing the Japanese government to reluctantly agree to use the formal country name in official diplomatic correspondence to China. But in other contexts, the Japanese still called China “Shina nation.”
For example, the Japanese army stationed in North China was named “North China Garrison Army,” expanded after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident into “North China Area Army.” The Japanese force attacking central China was named “Central China Expeditionary Army” when it captured Nanjing, and so on.
In later Chinese history books and online sources, terms like “North China Area Army” and “China Expeditionary Army” are merely Chinese translations, beautified versions.
Therefore, “Shina” is a highly insulting term used by Japan to humiliate the Chinese people.
Su Yaoyang slowly took two steps forward, leaned close to Fukuda Takeo with a ferocious expression, and said, “Little Jap, if I hear the word ‘Shina’ from you again, I’ll shoot you on the spot. Understand?”
Seeing the murderous look in Su Yaoyang’s eyes, Fukuda Takeo knew the man meant business. Though still unconvinced in his heart, under the threat of death, he quickly stood up and bowed.
“Hai… My deepest apologies. I was rude just now.”
