Chapter 316: Shifting The Blame
August 3rd, 5:30 AM.
The sky was still veiled in a layer of hazy, misty gauze, and the eastern horizon had just begun to show a hint of fish-belly white.
However, what shattered the pre-dawn tranquility was not the chirping of birds at dawn, but a sharp whistle that tore through the sky!
Following closely, came the second, the third… hundreds, thousands of whistles!
It was as if the sky was instantly torn open by a gaping maw, and countless fiery orange trajectories converged into a torrent of steel, soaring from the Allied artillery positions, carrying the grim laughter of death, and violently crashing towards the sleeping Taiyuan city.
The next second, thunderous roars descended.
“Boom… Boom boom boom…”
The entire earth trembled and groaned violently under this apocalyptic judgment.
Over two hundred various artillery pieces… from the Shanxi Militia’s 155mm heavy cannons to the Jin-Sui Army’s 75mm mountain guns, all unleashed their fury without reservation at this moment.
Countless shells landed precisely on Taiyuan’s city walls, the Japanese forward positions, and the scattered pillboxes. The earth was like being repeatedly beaten with an invisible iron hammer by an enraged giant, striking with all its might.
The sturdy reinforced concrete pillboxes, amidst the deafening explosions, were easily flung into the sky like children’s building blocks, disintegrating into countless fragments in mid-air.
The defensive works that the Japanese army spent more than half a month constructing near the city walls could not withstand this saturation of steel rain for even half an hour before being completely engulfed in soaring flames and black smoke.
In a temporary observation post on the Allied front lines, Commander Liu of the 771st Regiment and Cheng the Blind of the 772nd Regiment, who had just taken over from the Independent Regiment and the New First Regiment, were holding their binoculars and staring intently at Taiyuan city in the distance, completely dumbfounded.
Their mouths hung open unconsciously, their Adam’s apples bobbing, but no sound came out.
The violent tremors of the ground beneath their feet made their teeth chatter. The scene in the binoculars had completely surpassed their understanding of “war.”
That was no longer artillery shelling; it was a one-sided, unreasonable demolition!
“Damn it…”
Commander Liu lowered his binoculars and cursed dryly, “Is… is this war? This is demolition, damn it!”
Commander Cheng was in a daze, muttering to himself, “My goodness… this is the full might of the Shanxi Militia?
If our Eighth Route Army had this firepower, let alone Taiyuan, we would dare to take on Tokyo…”
At the same time, inside Taiyuan city, at the Japanese First Army headquarters.
When the initial shells fell, Yoshio Shinozuka was holding a cup of hot tea, preparing to study the latest battle reports. The violent explosions shook the entire building violently, and dust from the ceiling rained down, landing precisely in his teacup.
Before he could get angry, a communications staff officer scrambled in, his face full of terror: “General! The Chinese army… the Chinese army’s general offensive has begun! The artillery fire… the artillery fire is too fierce! The northern defense line… is already…”
Before he finished speaking, another heavy shell exploded near the headquarters, the blast wave shattering all the glass, and the violent air current swept debris and documents towards them!
“General, this place is too dangerous! Please evacuate to the underground command post immediately!” The adjutant rushed over and shielded him tightly.
Yoshio Shinozuka’s face turned ashen. He clenched his fists tightly, listening to the doomsday-like roar outside, and could only grit out a single word from between his teeth: “Go!”
As he stumbled into the dark and damp underground command post, the proud Imperial Lieutenant General could only helplessly listen to the seemingly endless explosions from above, waiting for the Allied ground forces’ attack.
He suddenly realized that his proud strategy of holding Taiyuan and waiting for reinforcements, with a central thrust, seemed so ridiculous in the face of the enemy’s absolute firepower superiority.
In the oppressive silence of the underground command post, the explosions overhead were like an endless drumbeat, striking at the fragile nerves of every Japanese officer. Yoshio Shinozuka stared intently at the map, watching as red dots representing the city’s defense system were helplessly crossed out by staff officers, his heart sinking bit by bit into an icy abyss.
“Your Excellency, Commander!”
A rough voice broke the deathly silence of the command post.
His confidant, special operations expert Ichiki Yamamoto, strode in from the entrance. His uniform was still relatively neat, but his grave expression was deeper than anyone else’s.
He walked up to Yoshio Shinozuka and said gravely, “Your Excellency… Taiyuan has now become a battlefield, and it is extremely unsafe for you to be here.
You should leave the city quickly before the Chinese complete the final encirclement! Otherwise, once the Chinese completely seal it off, you won’t be able to leave, even if you want to!”
“Leave? Where can I go?”
Facing his confidant, Yoshio Shinozuka no longer put on his commanding officer’s airs. He slowly raised his head, a bitter, wry smile appearing on his face. That once spirited face was now covered in weariness and desolation.
“Yamamoto, I, as the commander of the First Army, am about to lose Taiyuan. Do you think Commander Tada of the North China Area Army will let me go, or will Commander Nishio of the Expeditionary Army let me go?”
He shook his head self-mockingly, his voice filled with despair.
“Rather than fleeing in disgrace and being arrested by the Kempeitai dispatched by the General Staff, forcing me to commit seppuku, I would rather die fighting here. This way, at least I can preserve a shred of dignity for my family.”
“Commander, you are being foolish!”
When Ichiki Yamamoto heard this, he became agitated and stepped forward, almost shouting, “If you truly die fighting in Taiyuan, that will truly embarrass Commander Tada and Commander Nishio! You are putting them on the spot!”
He pointed to the ceiling, his face flushed with excitement.
“Since the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the Greater Japanese Empire has never had a record of an army-level commander dying in battle.
Do you want to set this precedent? What will the soldiers of the entire army think? What will the people in the country think? If something like this were to happen, how would Their Excellencies the two commanders in Beiping and Nanjing explain themselves to the General Staff and His Majesty the Emperor?”
Ichiki Yamamoto’s words struck Yoshio Shinozuka’s heart like a heavy hammer, causing a flicker of wavering in his eyes, which had been completely devoid of hope.
Ichiki Yamamoto’s words were like pouring a ladle of oil onto the dying embers of Yoshio Shinozuka’s heart.
Yes… he suddenly awoke. Since the Empire’s war began, there had indeed been no precedent of an army-level commander dying on the battlefield.
If he were to die in Taiyuan and set this precedent, then his direct superiors, Hatazo Umezu and Shunroku Hata, would undoubtedly be held responsible for command failure and inadequate rescue efforts.
At that time, in order to shirk responsibility, who would they vent all their anger upon?
Without a doubt, it would be Yoshio Shinozuka’s family, his wife and children! They would become scapegoats, enduring humiliation and revenge far more terrifying than defeat.
At that time, what would be the meaning of his so-called death to “preserve dignity for his family”? It would be nothing but a colossal joke!
The desire to survive instantly overwhelmed that ridiculous samurai honor.
But as the commander of the First Army, he could not just pack up and run like a subaltern. He needed a stepping stone, an order, a reason that would allow him to “retreat by order” rather than “fleeing in panic.”
His mind, dulled by the shelling, began to race under the stimulation of his survival instinct. After a moment, a brilliant plan of advancing by retreating formed in his mind.
He pondered for a moment, the ashen look on his face completely disappearing, replaced by the calm of a seasoned schemer. He turned and shouted to the guards at the door, “Call the communications staff officer!”
Soon, a communications staff officer jogged up to him.
Yoshio Shinozuka didn’t even look at him and, speaking rapidly, ordered, “Immediately send a telegram to Commander Tada of the North China Area Army headquarters, reporting our current situation.”
He paused, composing himself, and continued:
“Say that I, Yoshio Shinozuka, am determined to follow the dying instruction of His Excellency Norenoru Nogi to ‘die for the country seven times,’ and am prepared to coexist and die with Taiyuan, to repay His Majesty the Emperor’s boundless grace! I hope that after my death, Commander Tada will succeed me and command the Imperial forces in various parts of Shanxi to avenge me! Then, even in death, I will die with a smile!”
Ichiki Yamamoto listened to these words, his eyes widening, and finally showed undisguised admiration.
Brilliant, truly brilliant! This telegram was not a plea for death, but a most masterful cry for help!
…
At the same time, hundreds of kilometers away in Beiping, at the North China Area Army headquarters.
When this encrypted telegram was deciphered and delivered to the desk of Commander Shunroku Hata, the Area Army Commander was staring at a map of Shanxi lost in thought.
However, after reading the contents of the telegram, the solemn expression on his face vanished without a trace. His face first turned ashen, then flushed to a liver color, and the hand holding his teacup bulged with veins!
“Baka yarō!”
A furious roar echoed throughout the headquarters. Hata fiercely smashed the teacup in his hand to the ground, scalding tea and porcelain fragments scattering everywhere.
He trembled with anger. In Hata’s view, Shinozuka was not determined to die a glorious death; he was directly defying him! He was using his own life to force him to issue a retreat order and bear full responsibility for the loss of Taiyuan!
This bastard… he was too cunning! 」
Hata paced back and forth in his office, muttering curses under his breath in a voice only he could hear.
Yoshio Shinozuka’s “Great Shift” maneuver was too infuriating. He felt like a piece of fatty meat being grilled, sizzling and dripping oil, yet unable to move.
For a moment, Hata truly wished he could immediately board a plane and fly directly from Beiping to Shanxi, rush into the dugout where Yoshio Shinozuka was, slap him on both cheeks, and make him understand why flowers were so red, and make him realize that playing mind games with superiors came at a price!
However, impulse was ultimately just impulse.
He panted heavily for a long time, his chest rising and falling violently, and finally managed to suppress his temper. He plopped back into his chair, picked up the now-cold tea, and took a large gulp. The cold tea helped to calm his overheated mind slightly.
He knew that getting angry would solve nothing.
Shinozuka’s telegram had arrived, and now the ball was in his court.
If he agreed to the retreat, he would bear a large part of the blame for losing Taiyuan; if he didn’t, and Shinozuka actually went mad and died, he would be in an even worse predicament.
After pondering for a long time, Hata’s eyes darted around, and the thought of “passing the buck” surfaced in his mind.
If Yoshio Shinozuka can play games, can’t I, Shunroku Hata?
He immediately summoned a staff officer and dictated a telegram to Hisako Nishio, Commander of the China Expeditionary Army in Nanjing.
The content of the telegram was “artistic.”
First, he attached Yoshio Shinozuka’s “glorious death” telegram verbatim, so that the Commander-in-Chief could also appreciate his subordinate’s “loyalty and bravery.”
Then, he hypocritically apologized to Hisako Nishio in an extremely pained and self-recriminating tone, saying that his command was incompetent, leading to the disastrous situation in Taiyuan, and that he deserved to die.
Finally, he changed his tone and, in a “consider the overall situation” manner, earnestly requested His Excellency Commander Nishio, in consideration of the fact that “the Empire has never had an army commander die in battle,” to make a decision from a higher perspective and agree to Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka’s withdrawal from Taiyuan city, preserving some of the Empire’s vitality.
After sending this telegram, Hata felt completely relieved. He had successfully passed this hot potato, along with the blame, to his superior. Now, it was Hisako Nishio’s turn to have a headache.
An hour later, in Nanjing, Nishio’s reply came.
The content of the telegram was extremely brief, with only two words, yet they weighed more than a thousand pounds.
“Agreed!”
…………
At an altitude of three thousand meters, Cheng Rufeng’s P-47 fighter plane, like a soaring steel eagle, circled steadily over Taiyuan city.
Inside the cockpit, there was only the steady roar of the engine and the occasional crackle of static from the radio.
He had just led the first attack wave, dropping strings of 250kg bombs precisely onto several key Japanese strongholds and artillery positions outside the northern city.
Now, having completed his bombing mission, his role had switched from “butcher” to “hunter.”
He pushed his sunglasses up and, through the cockpit glass, looked down at the city below, which had been turned into a living hell.
From his perspective, Taiyuan city was like a giant ant nest that had been kicked over.
Black smoke and fiery orange flames formed the main colors of the city, and the dense streets were divided into individual battlegrounds.
He could see gray dots representing the militia（ tanks）, advancing slowly and steadily on the streets like bulldozers, while the gray dots representing the Japanese army were continuously being compressed and consumed.
“He was somewhat bored, thinking, ‘Are there any big fish left on the ground? Just fighting these small fry isn’t satisfying.'”
At the same time, on the ground, the world was a different scene.
Yoshio Shinozuka felt that every second of his life had never been so long.
He sat in his chair, but felt as if he were sitting on pins and needles. The explosions and vibrations from overhead seemed like the death knell of his life.
He dared not think about the outcome of the telegram, because either way, it meant his end.
Just as he was about to be driven mad by this suffocating wait, a communications staff officer scrambled in. He had tripped at the entrance from running too fast, almost falling.
“Telegram, Your Excellency Commander!” The staff officer, ignoring his disheveled state, held up a thin piece of paper, his voice sharp and hoarse from excitement and lack of oxygen, “Beiping… the reply from Beiping!”
All eyes in the command post instantly focused on the paper.
Ichiki Yamamoto lunged forward, took the telegram from the staff officer, and turned to present it to Yoshio Shinozuka.
Yoshio Shinozuka’s hands were trembling. He took a deep breath before managing to steady his nerves and take the note that might decide his fate. His gaze fell upon the paper, where only two concise and cold Chinese characters were written.
“Agreed!”
In an instant, all of Yoshio Shinozuka’s strength seemed to drain away.
He leaned back heavily against the chair, letting out a long sigh mixed with relief and humiliation. He had survived, but at the cost of the First Army Commander’s honor.
He did not linger in this complex emotion for too long. He immediately looked up at Ichiki Yamamoto with a new, completely dependent gaze.
Ichiki Yamamoto understood at a glance and bowed slightly to him, a confident look of being in control on his face.
“Your Excellency Commander, please rest assured.”
His voice was not loud, but it was exceptionally firm, “I have prepared a secret escape route. From here to the temporary helipad west of the city, we have tank cover.
Give me ten minutes, and the special forces will clear the final obstacles for you!”
With that, he said no more and turned to the special agents who had been waiting behind him, saying in a low voice, “Prepare to initiate Plan Number Three.”
“Hai!”
And just as Ichiki Yamamoto’s order was given, and several tanks disguised as ordinary troop carriers began to assemble in a hidden courtyard west of the city, Cheng Rufeng, high in the sky, also heard the exclamation of his wingman over the radio.
“Boss, look quickly, at nine o’clock, the industrial zone west of the city! Several trucks and… it looks like armored vehicles are gathering! They’re acting suspiciously, not like they’re in combat!”
Cheng Rufeng’s spirits were immediately lifted. He pushed the control stick, and his plane banked towards the direction indicated by his wingman.
“Oh?”
The corner of his mouth instantly curled into a hunter’s smile upon spotting his prey, and he ordered into the microphone, “Vulture Squadron Two, keep an eye on the direction west of the city!
If you spot anything, a big rat is trying to sneak out of its hole!”
…………
In a low tunnel leading out of the city, rapid footsteps echoed through the passage.
This secret passage was a narrow and oppressive concrete tunnel. Cold water droplets condensed on the walls, and a dim explosion-proof lamp was installed every ten meters, casting long, thin shadows that danced wildly on the mottled walls like ghosts.
The air was filled with dust, gunpowder smoke, and a nauseating smell of damp mold.
Overhead, the continuous explosions were muffled by the thick layer of earth, like the heartbeat from the depths of hell, each tremor making one’s heart constrict.
Yoshio Shinozuka, being older, was so exhausted from the escape that his face had turned pale.
He was now practically being supported and hurried along by two special agents. The once imposing Imperial Lieutenant General’s face was ashen, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat.
His steps had become unsteady, and he had nearly tripped over his own boots several times. His originally crisp general’s uniform was now smeared with dirt in the narrow passage, looking utterly disheveled.
In contrast, Ichiki Yamamoto was much calmer.
He walked at the front, holding an MP38 submachine gun, his falcon-like gaze vigilantly scanning every shadow ahead.
As he moved quickly, he occasionally issued instructions in a low voice.
“Faster… faster!”
Ichiki Yamamoto looked back and urged the nearly exhausted Yoshio Shinozuka, “Your Excellency Commander, I apologize for the discomfort, but the plane won’t wait!”
Finally, a faint light of day appeared at the end of the tunnel.
At the same time, high in the sky.
Cheng Rufeng’s F4U Corsair fighter plane tore through the clouds like an arrow, with a piercing shriek, diving towards the ground from three thousand meters high.
The ground rapidly magnified in his vision, and the outlines of the industrial area west of the city became clearer and clearer.
“I see them!”
He shouted excitedly, “Three tanks, two trucks, and two sedans. They’re moving, getting ready to board! 」
Through the magnified aiming scope, he could clearly see that in the courtyard of an abandoned factory, a dozen Japanese soldiers were nervously constructing a temporary defense line.
Next to a noticeably reinforced Type 97 tank, the turret hatch was wide open, and several officers were crowding around a somewhat stout figure, frantically shoving him into the vehicle.
“Hahaha… as expected, a big fish!”
Cheng Rufeng’s mouth stretched to his ears, “With that physique and bearing, I wouldn’t believe it if you told me he wasn’t a general officer.
“Vulture One has spotted a big fish, preparing for dinner!”
He broadcasted over the radio, “All units, attack at will! Smash all these iron turtles!”
Just as Ichiki Yamamoto was shoving Yoshio Shinozuka into the armored car and was about to jump in himself, a terrifying shriek, approaching from afar, descended from the sky!
He suddenly looked up, his pupils constricting sharply!
A ferocious fighter jet, painted with shark teeth, was diving towards them at a terrifying angle, carrying a deathly howl!
“Enemy aircraft diving! Take cover!”
Ichiki Yamamoto roared with all his might, and slammed the car door shut with all his strength.
The next second, Cheng Rufeng pressed the trigger of his machine gun.
The six Browning M2 heavy machine guns at the wing roots of the F4U fighter plane simultaneously spewed destructive fire!
“Dong dong dong dong…”
Like a giant chainsaw wielded by the Grim Reaper, hundreds of 12.7mm armor-piercing incendiary rounds per second formed a visible barrage of steel traced by tracer rounds, lashing violently at the ground!
The concrete floor was easily plowed into deep furrows, and the splashed debris scattered like shrapnel.
The upper body of a Japanese soldier who was about to climb onto a truck instantly turned into a mist of blood! The fuel tank of another truck was directly ignited, exploding with a bang into a huge fireball!
The tank carrying Yoshio Shinozuka received special attention.
Bullets poured down like rain on the armor, emitting a “clang, clang, clang, clang” of sickening, terrifying roars. Inside the vehicle, Yoshio Shinozuka curled up in a corner, clutching his head tightly with both hands, his body trembling like a sieve, letting out inhuman wails.
“Drive! Full speed breakout!”
Ichiki Yamamoto pinned Yoshio Shinozuka beneath him and roared at the driver, his face contorted with ferocity and madness.
However, after Cheng Rufeng’s strafing run, his wingmen were already targeting them, commencing their second death dive.
However, after Cheng Rufeng’s barrage, the wingman closely following them had already targeted them and begun the second death dive.
