Chapter 118: Rotation Of Defenses
Night of March 29th in front of the Guan Di Temple
This place was originally quite remote, surrounded by a large expanse of wasteland. Since the war began, the residents here had long since fled completely.
Now, this wasteland was filled with densely packed soldiers, and Su Yaoyang stood in front of them, holding a tin megaphone and shouting loudly:
“Brothers!”
“Swish!”
“At ease!”
“Today marks the fifth day since we entered Tai’erzhuang.”
Su Yaoyang looked at the three men standing before him: Li Gaoyuan, Li Tao, and Hou Tianyou.
“Over these five days, I have witnessed firsthand what it means that one inch of mountains and rivers costs one inch of blood! Battalion Commanders Li Gaoyuan, Li Tao, and Hou Tianyou, leading more than 1,800 brothers, have fought on this deadly ground in Tai’erzhuang and shown the backbone of our Chinese soldiers!”
With that, he suddenly pointed toward the distant city wall that was still burning.
“See that bombed-out North Gate? Battalion Commander Li Gaoyuan led more than 600 brothers to hold it for three days and three nights. When the bullets ran out, they fought with bayonets; when the bayonets bent, they bit with their teeth! The Japanese launched six charges, and each time you smashed them back!”
Su Yaoyang bent down and grabbed a handful of bloodstained soil.
“Battalion Commander Li Tao’s 4th Battalion held the east bank of the canal under bombardment from Japanese heavy artillery. Even with thirty percent casualties across the battalion, they didn’t retreat a single step! Yesterday in the hand-to-hand combat, Battalion Commander Hou Tianyou personally stabbed three Japanese officers with his bayonet. Company Commander Li Qingxiang’s intestines nearly spilled out, but he still didn’t withdraw and held on until reinforcements arrived.
What is this? This is the ferocity of us Chinese!”
All the soldiers listened quietly. Over these five days, the 1st, 4th, and 5th Battalions—nearly 2,000 men—had held off attacks from several times their number of Japanese troops in this village of only two square kilometers.
Although the security regiment’s soldiers, using their brothers and excellent light weapons, had inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese, the three battalions themselves had also suffered significant losses. A casualty rate of nearly fifty percent made Su Yaoyang’s eyelids twitch with heartache.
After much deliberation, he decided to withdraw Li Gaoyuan and the others back to Xuzhou for rest, and have the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th Battalions enter the village to relieve them. That was how this nighttime handover ceremony came about today.
At this point, Su Yaoyang turned to Li Gaoyuan and asked, “Old Li… do you have any words for Old Huang and the others?”
After five days of fighting, Li Gaoyuan, whose uniform was already tattered, shook his head. His bloodshot eyes looked toward Huang Guantao, and he said softly: “Old Huang… we’re handing Tai’erzhuang over to you. Don’t lose the face of our Chinese soldiers.”
Huang Guantao solemnly saluted him: “Old Li, rest assured. As long as one of us is still alive, Tai’erzhuang won’t fall!”
With that, he suddenly turned to the soldiers behind him and shouted loudly: “Attention all… salute the brothers of the 1st, 4th, and 5th Battalions!”
“Swish!”
Accompanied by the neat sound, the nearly 2,000 soldiers who had just entered the village saluted in unison toward the soldiers of the 1st, 4th, and 5th Battalions.
The soldiers of the 1st, 4th, and 5th Battalions also returned the salute as a group.
Then, led by their respective officers, the soldiers who had fought for five days lined up and silently walked toward the pontoon bridge…
Inside the Guan Di Temple, Su Yaoyang was instructing Huang Guantao, who had just entered the village.
“Headquarters sent a telegram today ordering me to return to Xuzhou to report on the battle situation and receive the next combat mission. If it’s quick, I’ll be back tomorrow. Until I return, all affairs in the village are under your command. You must hold Tai’erzhuang.”
Huang Guantao said solemnly: “Commander, rest assured. As long as I have one breath left, Tai’erzhuang will be fine.”
“Alright… then I’ll head back first.”
After instructing Huang Guantao, Su Yaoyang followed Li Gaoyuan and the others across the canal pontoon bridge. More than a hundred trucks from the logistics department and transport company were already waiting there. The group got in the vehicles and headed toward Xuzhou.
Although Tai’erzhuang was only about eighty kilometers from Xuzhou, everyone knew the state of the roads in those days. A speed of thirty or forty kilometers per hour was already quite good.
So the group endured a bumpy ride for more than three hours, not arriving at the camp on the outskirts of Xuzhou until after 3 a.m.
Upon arriving at the camp, Su Yaoyang handed over the subsequent matters to Li Gaoyuan to handle. He himself found a tent, lay down on the camp bed, and was snoring loudly within two minutes.
The smell of disinfectant in the tent mixed with a familiar faint fragrance. The canvas of the camp bed groaned under the weight as he lay down.
In a daze, he heard the groans of wounded soldiers in the distance, but the sleep forged by gunfire and cannons was like a block of black iron, quickly smashing him into oblivion.
A certain warm and soft sensation suddenly pierced the dream.
Su Yaoyang sprang up like he’d been electrocuted, his right hand pressing toward his waist, only to touch a slender neck.
Looking down, a soft delicate body was curled up like a shrimp against his chest. Under her dirty white coat, her ribs were clearly visible, and there were still teardrops on her eyelashes.
A wooden basin, probably used for washing bandages for the wounded, was tipped over by the bed, with half a bar of soap floating on the water.
He froze and didn’t dare move. From outside the tent came the sound of a spatula scraping an iron pot. The midday sun shone through bullet holes in the canvas, casting bright spots on the girl’s face.
Feeling his arm going numb from being pressed, he tried to pull away, but it startled the girl sleeping in his arms.
Xiao Lu’s eyelashes fluttered lightly. The moment she opened her eyes, her almond-shaped eyes were still misty. When she saw who was before her, those eyes suddenly lit up, like a stream thawed in early spring suddenly reflecting the morning sun.
She abruptly propped herself up, her dark hair scattering onto Su Yaoyang’s uniform, which carried the smell of gunpowder.
Her fingertips trembled slightly as they touched his gaunt cheek. When she felt a scabbed abrasion, the teardrops fell like a broken string of beads.
Before Su Yaoyang could speak, he was enveloped by a jasmine-scented embrace. Xiao Lu buried her face in his neck, her warm tears seeping into his collar. The hands wrapped around his waist gripped tightly, as if letting go would make him dissolve into gunpowder smoke.
Outside the tent came the playful laughter and chatter of the little nurses, mixed with clinking sounds.
Su Yaoyang looked down and saw a small patch of skin exposed among the stray hairs at the back of her neck, three shades whiter than the scattered pear blossoms by the trench.
The warmth in his arms was so real that it made his eyes heat up. The nerves tensed from days of blood and fire finally relaxed in this tiny space.
After a moment of tenderness, as a young man in his prime, Su Yaoyang soon became aroused. But before he could act, the girl noticed.
Xiao Lu wrinkled her pretty nose and sniffed lightly, then said coquettishly: “Young Master, you stink to high heaven. Get up quickly. I’ll go fetch some hot water right now to give you a proper wash.”
Su Yaoyang smiled awkwardly and quickly rolled out of bed.
Having stayed on the battlefield for several days, the smells of sweat, gunpowder, tobacco, and more were all mixed together, making him thoroughly rancid—an indescribably pungent odor.
Xiao Lu also felt sorry for her man and soon brought two buckets of hot water, helping Su Yaoyang take a comfortable hot bath.
