Chapter 41: Mental Power Increased Again
In a civilian house two li away from the church, Nagano Yuichiro sat silently on a folding stool with a gloomy expression.
Originally thought to be an easy harvesting trip, unexpectedly they encountered a tough nut to crack; the Chinese troops garrisoned in the church opposite were really too hard to chew.
Just fighting for one morning, the 11th Regiment’s losses had already reached 40 percent, the retreating troops were also fatigued to varying degrees, and even the grassroots soldiers had begun to voice complaints.
This situation immediately alerted Nagano Yuichiro.
Indeed, the Japanese army was always known for its strict military discipline, but everything has a limit, and once that limit is exceeded, it easily leads to backlash.
The current situation was just like that; just one morning of fighting had resulted in losing a third, and if they continued fighting, it wouldn’t take two days for the 11th Regiment to be wiped out.
Footsteps sounded nearby, and the regimental chief of staff walked in from outside, his voice somewhat heavy, “Regiment commander, I just returned from inspecting outside.
The situation below is not good; the soldiers generally have resistant emotions.
After all, our troops have been continuously fighting in places like Shanghai and Nanjing since September this year, and the casualties have never stopped.
Although there have been several supplements, the soldiers are already very fatigued both physically and mentally.
We can’t continue fighting like this; we should report to Colonel Kunizaki and ask the general to send reinforcements, otherwise if the losses are too great, it will be hard for us to explain to the superiors.”
Nagano Yuichiro pondered for a long time, finally slowly stood up, then walked to the table and picked up the phone, “Moshi moshi… Is this the Kunizaki Detachment headquarters? I am 11th Regiment commander Nagano Yuichiro, please put General Kunizaki on the line; I have important intelligence to report to him…”
Accompanied by a bang, Kunizaki Sugi’s face turned ashen as he slammed down the phone in his hand.
“Idiot… Nagano Yuichiro is an idiot, and what the hell is Hasegawa doing? How can he watch the 11th Regiment do such a stupid thing without stopping it? What exactly does he want?”
Seeing Kunizaki Sugi angry, the several staff officers nearby were scared silent and dared not make a sound; after a long while, the Kunizaki Detachment’s chief of staff, Major Nagano Tomohisa, finally advised:
“Detachment commander, this is not the time to be angry.
Nagano Yuichiro is an arrogant person; even he had to call for aid, which shows the battle situation is already very urgent.
The most urgent matter is to quickly send reinforcements to support them.”
“We can only do that.” Kunizaki Sugi’s expression softened slightly; after pacing two laps in front of the desk with his hands behind his back, he stopped.
“Pass my order: order the 41st Regiment, 3rd Field Artillery Battalion, and 1st Cavalry Company to assemble immediately and set off in one hour.”
Nagano Tomohisa opened his mouth wide: “Brigade commander, aren’t you making a fuss over a trifle by doing this?”
Since Kunizaki Sugi was the brigade commander of the 9th Infantry Brigade of the 5th Division before becoming detachment commander, Nagano Tomohisa blurted out his previous title in agitation.
“Making a fuss over a trifle?” Kunizaki Sugi snorted coldly, “Under that idiot Nagano Yuichiro’s command, the 11th Regiment has already lost nearly one battalion; do you still think I’m making a fuss over a trifle?”
Nagano Tomohisa said urgently: “But the 41st Regiment is still searching for remnant Chinese troops around Guanghua Gate; it’s hard to assemble within one hour.”
Kunizaki Sugi said with a gloomy face: “If Yamada Tetsujiro doesn’t even have this capability, there’s no need for him to continue as the 41st Regiment commander.”
“Hai!”
Seeing Kunizaki Sugi’s mind made up, Nagano Tomohisa could only bow and then leave.
Five o’clock in the afternoon sharp
A piercing alarm clock rang in a small room in St. Paul’s Church.
Su Yaoyang slowly opened his eyes; as he was just waking up, he felt waves of soreness in his head, so he shook his head forcefully to clear his mind a bit.
He knew this was the aftereffect of overusing mental power.
But there was no way around it; in this morning’s fierce battle, the troops had consumed too much ammunition, and there was another tough battle ahead, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and redeem another batch of ammunition.
Just after the conversion was complete, intense pain came from his head, nearly causing him to faint on the spot; he barely found a room, set the alarm, and then fell into a deep sleep.
Getting out of bed and putting on his shoes, he saw a bowl of water still on the table; Su Yaoyang picked it up and drank it all in one go. The cool water with a sweet taste went down his throat into his stomach, instantly making him feel much more spirited.
Su Yaoyang immediately realized this was left by that little girl Xiao Lu beside the bed.
After exhaling a long breath, he warned himself, “I can’t overuse mental power like this anymore; if I continue, I don’t know if I can break out of Nanjing City, but I might kick the bucket first.”
“Sigh… Mental power is still too little; every time I redeem weapons and ammunition, it hurts for a while, and I can only convert light weapons—heavy weapons are completely out of the question.”
While muttering, Su Yaoyang habitually immersed his mental power into the necklace; but upon immersing, to his surprise, several more redeemable weapon icons suddenly appeared in his consciousness.
Looking closely, they were trucks and some light armored vehicles.
“Holy shit… this is the American White 10-wheel big truck, German Opel, Panzer II, Panzer III, Charron-Garford tank, Pak 36 37mm anti-tank gun, and even the M116 75mm howitzer can be redeemed.”
Looking at the array of trucks, light tanks, and light artillery above, Su Yaoyang felt drool about to flow out.
“These are all good stuff, but unfortunately I can’t redeem them yet; to fully recover my mental power, I still need to rest well for one night.
Moreover, whether trucks, tanks, or anti-tank guns, they all require professionals to use; even if hastily redeemed, no one would know how to operate them.”
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but sigh deeply.
“Eh… that’s not right… Bro just wants to take his woman out of Nanjing, then find a place to hunker down until the war ends; why am I always thinking about getting heavy stuff? This mindset is off.”
While Su Yaoyang tried hard to cast aside certain strange thoughts, he left the room; when he arrived at the main church hall, he found Li Gaoyuan, Tang Guantao, and a group of officers already standing in the hall waiting for him.
Walking into the hall, Su Yaoyang glanced around at everyone, “Brothers, is the unit ready?”
“Report sir, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Battalion, and Artillery Battalion are all prepared and can launch the attack at any time.”
“Good!”
Su Yaoyang raised his voice: “Order the Artillery Battalion to immediately shell the Japanese gathering area; ten minutes later, 2nd Battalion and 3rd Battalion launch the attack!”
“Yes!”
