Chapter 59: The Final Showdown
December 15th, early morning
After nightfall, the temperature dropped sharply, and heavy snow began to fall from the sky.
The night was deep, the snow on the road glowed eerie blue, and all 328 pairs of cowhide shoe soles were wrapped with three layers of cloth strips. Su Yaoyang gazed at the serpentine team, with a thick layer of snowflakes on almost every soldier’s shoulder.
“Drip…”
Suddenly, a low cricket chirp came from ahead; that was the sentinel suddenly sending a signal.
The entire team stopped instantly, looking from afar like a group of ice sculptures. Su Yaoyang felt his heart skip a beat. Thirty meters away, several flashlight beams were sweeping the road surface among the ruins of Gulou Hospital.
“Detour!” Su Yaoyang issued the order without thinking. They were still at least two kilometers from Zhongshan Wharf; if exposed now, tonight’s mission would be in vain.
Soon, the team sneaked along the broken wall on the west side of Zhonghua Road. Su Yaoyang could even see shattered bones embedded in the bullet holes remaining on the wall.
Suddenly, a muffled grunt came from the team. One soldier suddenly stumbled and stepped on something. Looking down, he discovered half a woman’s face floating under the crushed ice, with frost hanging on her eyelashes.
Looking at this half face, the young soldier was about to cry out in fright, but fortunately a big hand from beside covered his mouth.
“Erwazi, if you dare make a sound, I’ll stab you to death!” The low voice of company commander Lu Shaobin came in his ear.
“What’s going on?” Su Yaoyang’s lowered voice also rang out.
“Regiment commander.” Lu Shaobin quickly released the hand covering the soldier’s mouth and explained, “This kid accidentally stepped on a corpse and nearly cried out. I’ve already scolded him.”
Su Yaoyang frowned, lowered his head and saw the female corpse on the ground. He found that the female corpse was disheveled, covered in wounds, without even pants on her lower body, and even after death, her face bore an expression of despair and terror.
One could imagine how cruelly she had been abused before death.
The soldiers gathered around the female corpse, no one spoke, and everyone felt a surge of anger in their hearts.
“Damn little devils!” Someone growled lowly.
“Two men, tidy her clothes and cover her with something.” Su Yaoyang was silent for a moment, then instructed in a low voice.
“Yes!”
Two soldiers stepped forward, slightly tidied her clothes, then carried her to the side, preparing to find something to cover her.
“Pat.” At this moment, something fell from the female corpse’s stiff body.
Su Yaoyang bent down to pick it up; it was a quite exquisitely made photo album.
Opening the album, the first photo showed a group of girls in blue tops and black long skirts standing on the steps smiling at him. On the right side of the photo was written “Ginling Girls’ School Chorus”, with thirty-eight pairs of black cloth shoes neatly arranged under the snow-covered steps.
Su Yaoyang carefully tucked the photo album into his bosom, turned to Lu Shaobin and the surrounding soldiers, and said, “Remember this scene. Blood debts can only be washed with blood.”
“Yes!” The soldiers responded in unison, but the anger in their eyes was chilling.
“Signalman… tell John that if he doesn’t arrive at Zhongshan Wharf in half an hour, he won’t get his commission!”
“Understood!” The signalman who had been closely following Su Yaoyang adjusted the radio frequency and began contacting…
The diesel engine’s roar shattered the icicles on the half-broken window. John Miller knocked the inner wall of the M24 tank turret with his frozen fingers. Snowflakes were drilling in through the observation window gaps, forming frost flowers on the commander’s periscope.
“Keep transmission ratio 3:1!”
He roared toward the driver’s position. Qiao Erdan panickedly pushed and pulled the levers, and the Laffly tank began to move slowly, albeit crookedly like a child just learning to toddle.
“Qiao… steady your hands a bit, I don’t want to crash into the ruins with you!” John, who had shrunk back into the tank and closed the hatch, lowered his head and yelled into the driver’s compartment.
Qiao Erdan didn’t make a sound, but gripped the levers harder, with John’s cursing coming from behind from time to time.
“Qiao… remember, you’re the driver; whether we go to heaven or hell is all in your hands!”
Qiao Erdan’s face tightened even more, and though John nagged, he still watched him closely.
Although he cursed from time to time, he knew that Qiao Erdan, who had only been in contact with tanks for less than two days, was already doing quite well.
But he still had to harden his heart and curse, for the Japanese wouldn’t pity him for being a newbie; they would only pour more ammunition at them.
Sitting in the tank, John listened to the engine’s roar in his ears, picked up the wrench at his feet and knocked on the ceiling, saying loudly, “Lads, my boss, your regiment commander, demands we reach Zhongshan Wharf in half an hour, or he’ll make me pay. Now show me the results of your training these past few days?”
“Qiao… increase power, target Zhongshan Wharf!”
“Understood!”
“Maintain third gear… floor it!”
Under John’s command, the Laffly tank charged toward Zhongshan Wharf along the road, wobbling like a lame man but stubbornly.
The diesel engine’s roar shattered the snowflakes in the air. John Miller pressed his stiff palm on the engine cover.
In the dashboard’s blue light, the faces of the four young men were beading with fine sweat—this was their first real combat operation of a tank. After all, just a few days ago, they were cheap infantry with old rifles; now they were driving a tank worth fifty-five thousand US dollars down the road.
The rumbling tank naturally made quite a commotion, attracting the attention of many in the city.
Due to the tank’s high speed and the extreme cold, the Japanese soldiers on guard were too lazy to check. After all, in their view, besides the Imperial Japanese Army, who else would dare drive a tank around Nanjing at this time.
“Left turn… left turn!” John suddenly shouted in stiff Chinese, but in panic, Qiao Erdan pushed the steering lever too far.
The tank crashed headfirst into a large stone pier by the roadside.
In the dull impact sound, snow blocks from the turret top rustled down, revealing the hastily white-painted blue sky white sun emblem.
At the same time, the violent impact caused loader Wu Agu to suddenly vomit, the sour stench mixing with the grease smell of the 75mm shells filling the cabin.
“Mr. John, oil pressure”
The co-driver looked at the plummeting pressure gauge.
“Damn it!”
John yanked off his leather goggles, his deep blue eyes reflecting the dashboard’s red light.
He grabbed the large wrench and pressed it against Qiao Erdan’s occiput, fuming, “If you don’t get this tank moving in three minutes, I’ll smash your damn head!”
At this moment, Qiao Erdan’s face was ashen, his dazed mind only mechanically turning the key.
Fortunately, this brand-new tank performed decently, and soon, with a low rumble, it roared back to life.
“Turn on the headlights!”
After that collision, John realized it was indeed too much to ask a newbie like Qiao Erdan to drive blind on the street. Steeling himself, he made a bold decision.
Soon, whether refugees hiding in corners or sentries, all saw a tank with headlights on boldly speeding down the road.
