Chapter 30: Panic
Seeing Nagano Yusaburo act like this, not to mention Hasegawa, even the company commander he brought was dissatisfied.
He came to Hasegawa’s side and said angrily: “Deputy Battalion Commander, isn’t Battalion Commander Nagano being too disrespectful to you? You are his superior after all!”
“No matter.” Hasegawa narrowed his eyes, revealing a hint of coldness: “Some people only realize how hard the wall is after bumping into it. Withdraw all your subordinate soldiers immediately.
Isn’t the 11th Company very powerful? I want to see how he takes down the church.”
“Hai!”
At a high point on the church’s perimeter wall, sunlight filtered through the thick smoke, barely illuminating the dark corners around the corpses. Two soldiers’ remains were twisted together, their uniforms dyed deep red with blood, as if they were the only faithful witnesses to this war.
Beside these two corpses, an M1917 water-cooled heavy machine gun was frantically spitting fire tongues, with 7.62mm bullets pouring out at a rate of 500 rounds per minute, while bursts of evaporated water vapor rose into the air.
Just as the machine gunner was firing desperately, a 70mm high-explosive shell struck the machine gun emplacement. In the deafening explosion, flames instantly tore through the air, blasting the M1917 machine gun along with its two gunners into the sky, where they disintegrated into countless fragments and sparks. Metal parts scattered down like raindrops, glinting with cold, merciless light in the sunlight.
Not far away, seeing this scene, Li Gaoyuan slapped his thigh hard and said angrily: “That’s the second machine gun. Damn it, this is so frustrating!”
This was half an hour after the Japanese 11th Infantry Company launched its attack. In this short half hour, the church defenders had already suffered over twenty casualties, most of which were caused by the Japanese Type 92 infantry guns and grenade launchers.
The Japanese Type 92 infantry gun was renowned for its light weight and portability, making it very suitable for use in complex terrain. Since its total weight was only 0.212 tons, just two or three soldiers could drag it anywhere.
Moreover, with its total height of only 62 cm, it was very easy to conceal, earning it the nickname “ghost cannon.”
After the 11th Infantry Company entered the battle, its six Type 92 infantry guns also joined the fray. They inflicted heavy casualties on the church defenders right from the start, destroying several firepower points in just half an hour, infuriating Li Gaoyuan to the point of cursing nonstop.
“Mortars… what the hell are the mortars doing? Hurry up and counterattack for me!”
Under Li Gaoyuan’s strong orders, the artillery company began counterattacking, but asking those artillerymen who had been handling mortars for less than a day to engage the Japanese in an artillery duel was undoubtedly too much for them.
The result was that plenty of shells were fired, but not a single hit was scored. Instead, they nearly exposed the artillery positions.
But fortunately, Su Yaoyang had previously ordered mines to be buried around the church perimeter. After the 11th Company stepped on dozens of them, they became much more cautious, adopting a strategy of clearing mines while advancing, which finally gave the church defenders a chance to breathe.
But Li Gaoyuan knew full well that once the Japanese finished clearing the mines, they would launch a full-scale assault. At that point, with just over a hundred men, they could never hold off an attack of that scale.
It was at this moment that Su Yaoyang arrived near the church with over four hundred recruited soldiers.
On a street four or five hundred meters from the church, Xiong Junfeng looked in surprise at the area shrouded in cannon fire and smoke, and the faintly visible pointed outline of the church steeple. He couldn’t help asking: “Officer Su, is this the place you said was surrounded by the Japanese?”
“Yes.” Su Yaoyang quickly withdrew the trace of worry in his eyes and asked in return: “What’s wrong… regretting it?”
“A little bit.” Xiong Junfeng smiled bitterly: “From the sound of the cannon fire just now, there’s at least one company’s worth of troops attacking the church. With our numbers, we might not even reach the church before getting wiped out by the Japanese outside.”
Although Zhang Zhihao didn’t speak, the expression on his face was full of agreement.
The surrounding soldiers were even more so; many showed panic on their faces. If not for the several vigilant soldiers standing around, some would probably have already deserted.
The Japanese combat effectiveness in the early stages of the war was extremely strong. When the National Army fought the Japanese, they generally wouldn’t dare to engage head-on without several times the enemy numbers.
Now, sending these few hundred stragglers short on guns and ammo to face Japanese forces seven or eight times their size wasn’t fighting—it was suicide.
“Of course I’m not asking you to just go and die like that.” Su Yaoyang helplessly rubbed his temples. He had known that the National Army’s combat ability and will were extremely poor during the War of Resistance, but he hadn’t expected it to be this bad.
If it were in later generations, upon hearing they were about to go to war with Japan, even the aunties chopping vegetables in the kitchen and the old men practicing Tai Chi in the park would jump up—probably fighting each other bloody just to sign up.
But now, they hadn’t even started fighting, and morale had already dropped by half.
Qiao Erdan stood in the crowd. A fellow villager whispered in his ear: “Er Dan, are you really going to follow that officer into the Japanese encirclement?”
“Mm!” Qiao Erdan nodded seriously: “Since I took the officer’s silver reward, I naturally have to keep my word.”
“You’re crazy.” The villager said anxiously: “Are you going to die for fifty silver dollars?”
Qiao Erdan looked at him like he was an idiot: “You make it sound easy. Do you not want your silver dollars back to the officer?”
“I…” The other was speechless.
Su Yaoyang wasn’t panicked by the stragglers’ timidity; he had prepared countermeasures for this situation in advance.
He angrily shouted at the group of stragglers: “All of you shut the hell up. Don’t forget you’ve all taken my silver dollars.
Don’t tell me you don’t know the principle of taking people’s money and eliminating disasters for them? Or do you think I, Su, wouldn’t enforce battlefield discipline?”
As Su Yaoyang spoke, several soldiers from the training corps behind him simultaneously pulled back their bolt carriers with a click, instantly making the atmosphere tense.
Faced with the dark gun muzzles and Su Yaoyang’s icy gaze, the stragglers who had been getting restless immediately quieted down.
Xiong Junfeng and Zhang Zhihao exchanged a glance, both seeing the helplessness in each other’s eyes. It seemed they brothers were probably going to die gloriously here.
But they didn’t blame Su Yaoyang. The path was their own choice, and they’d taken the money. As Su Yaoyang said, taking people’s money and eliminating disasters for them… it was only right.
Seeing everyone quiet down, Su Yaoyang snorted lightly: “Alright… I know if I sent you charging like this, even if you died, you’d die unwillingly. I’ll first take you to change outfits.
Follow me…”
Ten minutes later, Su Yaoyang led the group to a remote courtyard. Pushing open the room door, stacks of neatly piled ammo crates and rows of orderly arranged weapons appeared before them…
