Chapter Seventeen

  Then we started to gather our strength and get the car going again. We were doing it with great difficulty - both of us cripples. After repeated efforts, the car finally started up. The driver's corpse, we had no choice but to cover it with a coat for the time being.

  The car seemed to be about to flip over on its side, but fortunately it decided to stay on all fours and ran crookedly. The driver adapted quickly, at least he soon got the car running in a straight line. He asked me to wipe the windshield again. I had already wiped it earlier, but the blood that hadn't been completely wiped off was still dripping down. I used my own clothes to wipe it clean once more, and finally managed to get the window clean. We drove on silently, but the road ahead was still a pale red color.

  We didn't park our car smoothly in the empty space outside the teacher's office, and that driver with a bad temper crashed his car into another one that had been parked there earlier.

  Several sentries ran towards us, but we scared them off. The dead faces were wiped clean, but their bodies still looked like they had just come from a slaughterhouse. I didn't bother to wear my blood-stained jacket anymore, but someone with a bamboo stake stuck in his chest and back couldn't look good no matter what.

  "Ah, ah! I am Long Wenbo, the commander of the Sichuan Army Brigade!" he shouted loudly. "General Yu's headquarters has urgently summoned me for a military report!" He successfully scared everyone away, and even overdid it - several sentries were so frightened that they didn't dare to support him, only standing at attention with instinctual respect. I grabbed the backpack from the back seat and followed him in a rush to the division headquarters. We arrived in a flurry, but I could see that he was already exhausted.

  The teacher's office was heavily guarded today, but our ghostly appearance, combined with a low voice saying "emergency military situation", allowed us to pass through unimpeded. We didn't need to ask for directions and just charged towards the most heavily guarded place. Finally, we saw that door, which had twice as many guards as other places.

  "Dead, dead, the sentry shouted: "Commander of the Sichuan Army! Yu Shi has a special summons, there is an urgent military situation!" But this time it didn't work. The one on duty was Li Bing, he just glanced at us and shook his head, "Secret meeting. Participants must arrive half an hour in advance, latecomers will not be admitted." Several gun barrels were then pointed at us.

  I tried to hold back the still surging dead, but it was in vain. I had just pulled him back a little when he suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs: "It's just a forced crossing of the river! What secrecy is there?! Look at me, the Japanese have already crossed the river!"

  The originally quiet courtyard suddenly became noisy, and his ghostly appearance would have made people believe that the Japanese army had arrived at the door. Fortunately, today's soldiers were all from the Special Task Force, who had seen battles before and were not scattered by fear. The tightly locked gate suddenly opened, revealing Zhang Lixian's icy face, "The commander has ordered, enter."

  I held my breath and followed the sound of the sword being drawn, "dang dang". I quietly reminded this guy who was known as the number one troublemaker in the world, "Apologize when you enter. Say that you're worried and anxious to meet." He didn't say anything, and I don't know if he would apologize or not.

  I now regret coming here, because of everything I see before my eyes. Most of the area in this house is occupied by an exquisite sandbox, which must be a masterpiece after a long time, but except for Zhang Lixian and his confidants, most people are seeing it for the first time. It is divided into two parts by the Nujiang River, with Zhandahai, Tongbo, Nantianmen, Henglangshan, and Jiqipao all in sight. As a member of the cannon fodder team, I couldn't help but notice that other combat units on other battlefields were accurate to regimental level, and some elite troops were even accurate to company level, while our Jiqipao only had one symbol: Sichuan Army Regiment. This is probably the position of my regiment in Yu Xiaqing's heart, equivalent to a company.

  Yu Xiaoqing, Tang Ji, Zhang Lixian, the commander of the special task force, He Shuguang, the commander of the guard company, Yu Zhi, the chief officer of the armored vehicle company, the chief officer of the artillery battalion, the chief officer of the engineer battalion, the chief officer of the logistics battalion, the chief officer of the search company, the chief officer of the communication company, the chief officer of the transportation company, the US military advisory group, and the British military advisory group surrounded the sand table. More than 20 pairs of eyes stared coldly at us two. The friendliest pair came from Ah Yi, who was shrinking in the corner, probably because he was too timid; the most difficult pair came from McArthur, who was standing in front of the sand table, but it seemed that nothing could be said to him. Except for these two and Tang Ji, all eyes were filled with murderous intent - I had seen Yu Xiaoqing's mobilization skills before, which was not surprising - and the heaviest murderous intent came from Yu Xiaoqing himself, who was staring at us from the other end of the sand table.

  Yu Xiaoqing, having heard the rooster's crow, danced and slept on the thatch, tasted gall, and with his pride even learned to endure and seek perfection. Now he has waited for supplies, waited for weapons, waited for reinforced artillery and strong crossing equipment, waited for American praise and cooperation, familiarized himself with the hydrology of the Nujiang River, and the joke of Takeuchi's continuous mountains will never appear on him again. Now this tank can no longer be stopped, everyone here will accompany him to die together.

  He, who usually speaks his mind freely, intentionally kept us hanging and let everyone stare at us, deliberately prolonging this torture. After a while, he coldly said: "Have the Japanese crossed the river?"

  I was waiting for a sincere apology, but what came out of that guy's mouth was: "Yes, we've crossed the river!"

  "Whose position was broken through?"

  "Smashed your position."

  I think even He Shuguang, who was standing behind Yu Xiaoqing with a sandboard prop, could see Yu Xiaoqing's narrowed eyes.

  Yu Xiaoqing stared at Si La and said: "How far have we fought now?"

  "Die, die!" he said. "We've reached this point. We've just broken into the Yu Shi meeting hall and are standing in front of the sand table." Then he began to shout loudly, "I am Lieutenant General Takeuchi Tsuneo of the Japanese Army, I have come specifically to annihilate your Yu Shi!"

  The whole scene was in an uproar, and those guys who looked at Yu Xiaoqing as if he were a god had almost rushed over to him, but they stopped abruptly at his slight cough.

  Yu Xiaoqing said to Si La Si La: "I know where you come from, I'm a bit moved. But this battle is a must-win and will be bloody, not the achievement of one person. Put down your map, I'll remember your contribution."

  "No map! I've come specifically to annihilate your Yu Shi!" said Dead Dead.

  "He Shuguang!" Yu Xiaoqing shouted.

  He Shuguang reached for his gun, but was shouted at again: "Turn around!"

  He Xuguang turned around. Yu Xiaoqing drew his sword, and the blade scraped against the scabbard with a sound that made one's teeth ache - it was so sharp. He raised his hand, and the sword spun rapidly as it stabbed into the sand pit - right in front of the South Heavenly Gate, perfectly straight. Then he said: "Good! Mr. Takeuchi, I'll attack the South Heavenly Gate. If I take it down, I'll cut off your head!"

  Another commotion. Tang Ji hastily whispered something in Yu Xiaoqing's ear, but the guy immediately retorted, "To hell with his gun! If he wants to be a ghost, I'll chop off this ghost's head!"

  I stared blankly as the situation took a drastic turn. It was pointless to say anything, and what Tang Ji couldn't salvage, I certainly couldn't either. With my head hung low in defeat, my momentum weakened to no avail, then he lifted his head, "Alright. I'll guard the South Heavenly Gate. If I fail to hold it, you can behead me."

  "Good." Yu Xiaoqing replied.

  "I need to make some adjustments to the formation of Nantianmen. I've taken a look at it."

  "Okay."

  Die, die, again: "I am not alone, I and my deputy. If it is not kept, it has nothing to do with him, just behead me."

  "Has the battle been lost before it has even begun?"

  Die die bitter smile, "I am your best hundred defeats general."

  Yu Xiaoqing said: "Forget it. I'm not interested in that grass bag head."

  "I need to think. The most crucial thing can't be made with sand tables," he knocked his own head, "in here."

  "Please."

  Then there was dead silence, and the air in the room was as cold as ice.

  Dozens of eyes stared at him, deadpan. He thought to himself, sometimes making changes to the Nan Tian Men array, such as adding tunnels that were difficult to detect, or adding hidden bunkers behind the massive boulder on the reverse slope, or adding some embellishments to the two redundant defensive lines on the reverse slope. As he did this, he also explained: "Things that aren't on Nan Tian Men, I won't make up. This is the tunnel from the first line of defense at Jiangbian to the second line of defense at Banshipan, yes, the Takeuchi Federation dug through the entire Nan Tian Men." He noticed the whispers around him and Yu Xiaoqing's nonchalance, "Hardened soil, volcanic rock, we all think it can't be dug - they also can't dig, but they decided to become moles. Just dig a small hole, connect the gasoline drums, bury them, string them through the earth, reduce the amount of engineering, and then it's doable."

  It was very quiet, with only a few translators softly translating what he said to the Americans and British. Disregarding Chinese-style suspicion, American-style astonishment, and British-style disgust, he poked two holes in the sand table's trench with his finger, "I don't want to ruin such a good-looking thing, I'll just poke two holes to show you. You don't believe me, but it stretches like spider webs on the south gate. Inside is very dark, there are ventilation holes but no lighting, people inside feel suffocated and can't bear the smell, but the defending troops can quickly move to any point——well, by crawling, not a good-looking posture, but who cares about this in battle?"

  An American army lieutenant colonel said something.

  "He doesn't believe that a person can crawl through half of the South Heavenly Gate in an absolutely dark environment, he'll go crazy - by the way, I don't believe it either."

  Die la die la said: "I've been through it, I'm not crazy. There are those who can endure more than me, unfortunately they're the Japanese army. They even stationed themselves in gasoline barrels, and you veterans must have seen even crazier things. I'd like to remind my fellow countrymen, we always say we're the most resilient nation, but resilience isn't just about starving ourselves. I've seen Japanese soldiers tie themselves to trees to eat, drink, shit, sleep, and I've also seen them die from exhaustion on foot-powered vehicles. Our self-proclaimed strengths will be our downfall."

  Zhang Lixian cursed, "You damn..." Yu Xiaoqing interrupted him, "Quibbling over trivial matters is just taking my life and wasting my time."

  Everyone has become honest, dead and dead. "I drilled from here to there, half a mountain of stone. We've always been puzzled that Takeuchi should blow it up and leave it to obstruct the shooting range. But under the rocks is an empty cave, a small squad garrisoned, a group of hidden forts."

  The commander of the First Main Force Regiment, Hai Zhengchong, protested: "We've been staring at Bàn Shān Shí for a month, and we haven't even found a single weed. What about the Dark Fort Group?"

  "Not on the front slope." Diediedie grabbed a few markers and pressed them onto the back of that stone, "On the back side."

  Hai Zhengchong coldly laughed, "What's the point of building such a hidden stronghold? Is it to shoot ourselves in the foot when we retreat?"

  "It can also be used in this way, but it should be secondary."

  Yu Xiaoqing shouted: "Don't quibble over trivial matters! A group of people beating one person and still arguing about these things, what's the point?"

  He ignored me again, and I had to remind him, "Two." And in Yu Xiaoqing's eyes, the two of us were just a lunatic and an idiot.

  He died, he died, and then said: "The madman drilled into the oil drum and got here, the second line of defense. The trenches are not many, mostly hidden bunkers, and the communication trenches are also covered with original wood, pseudo-fabric vegetation, almost identical to the South Tianmen. The important firepower points are double-layered with wood, iron sheet, and sand, which our army's artillery cannot penetrate. The second line of defense is also on top of the oil drum, all the way to the loose soil area. This part is the real permanent tunnel, with lighting, power, communication, and everything. It was also the hardest place for me to drill, and I was forced to drill into the sewer. I saw the remains of the civilians who were slaughtered after finishing the construction." He waited for a moment for Yu Xiaoqing to express his attitude, but Yu Xiaoqing just waved his hand to let him continue.

  The tunnel can be blown up and sealed at any time, of course, as they intended. We have no way to fully understand the underground network. From here, you can go all the way to the last line of defense, with denser construction and stronger defenses than the second line of defense, especially the tree fort on the mountain top. The giant trees on the top of Nantianmen Mountain have long been petrified, with dozens of trees growing into one, and some tree trunks having the same texture as jade stones, earning it the reputation of "Divine Mountain and Divine Trees". I don't know what method Bamboo used to hollow out both the rocks and trees, truly worthy of his background as a civil engineer. This fort has countless shooting holes, even the treetops can withstand direct fire from cannons. The tree trunks are already strong enough to resist aerial bombing, now with steel-reinforced concrete wrapping around the roots and extending outward to form a fortress group, this is the largest main fortress group on Nantianmen, as everyone knows, also Bamboo's command center.

  "This is well-known to everyone, and the planes of US allies are watching every day. Now the Japanese army is short of supplies, and more than half of the original heavy artillery has been withdrawn, leaving only the 92 infantry guns, 11th-style trench mortars, 75mm mountain guns, several types of howitzers and grenade launchers, and 92 heavy machine guns. Although the division-level heavy artillery was withdrawn, the regiment-level direct-fire artillery has increased exponentially, especially the 92 heavy machine guns are terrifyingly numerous."

  Yu Xiaoqing said: "Finished talking? Let's start. Take down this tree, and I'll chop off your head."

  He let out a sigh of relief, "My head is best placed on this neck, but if Master wants it, it's on that tree over there."

  Yu Xiaoqing said briefly: "Begin."

  Unexpectedly, he died and let me go up because I was closest to him, a slap could reach. How long can I hold on? When I die, he goes up again. He made me think of my fear in front of the Japanese army, then used all his strength to live, using my fears to fight. I accepted this and took a step closer to the sandbox. Yu Xiaoqing, however, took a step back, as if avoiding something unclean.

  Yu Xiaoqing sent He Shuguang over, and that silly kid was suddenly tongue-tied, his usual boastful tone nowhere to be found. "Huh?"

  Yu Xiaoqing said: "You are also the person closest to me. Being close to me is not about following you, Zhang Ge, every day, or pretending to be elegant in front of Chan Da's wife, selling your flesh. You should have gone to the battlefield long ago. I know you don't want to be my knife holder, and you've been wanting to go to the battlefield for a long time. Within 15 minutes, get rid of this rubbish, and I'll let you go to the battlefield." He Shuguang's face turned red, and he immediately became fierce like a wolf. "Yes!" He looked at me with a posture as if he was about to pounce on me, using his fists to take care of me.

  I just looked at the paths marked on the sandbox by Deadla Deadla, I knew that was his chance to survive, because he wasn't a purposeless person.

  He Shuguang was dazed, and I was also dazed. The people next to us were getting impatient, wondering when these two would come out of their daze. I reminded He Shuguang that he was the attacker. Then he hesitantly started saying "I... I... I..."

  Yu Xiaoqing scolded: "What are you stuttering about?! The person I value must be invincible! He is just the grass under your feet!"

  Yu Xiaoqing's subordinates were much easier to deal with than those of Si Da, and with just one rebuke, He Shuguang immediately became more efficient. Normally skilled in martial arts, he was now adjusting his glasses, looking very scholarly. "My commander has assembled a force for this campaign, consisting of the entire 12,000-strong Third Division; most of the Engineering Corps have been working on forced crossings for over a year. Supporting firepower includes three 75mm mountain artillery groups and two 105mm artillery groups. The division is striving to obtain additional 150mm heavy artillery, with considerable success. Each battalion has an American liaison officer, and our US allies' ground-attack aircraft can provide support at any time. Our division is familiar with the hydrology of the Nujiang River and has received US aid in forced crossing technology and materials. In fact, we have already conducted secret drills on other sections of the river, and the turbulent conditions are no match for those encountered during the crossing..."

  I listened, and that guy was simply offering treasures. I thought he would die like me, knowing that Yu Shi had been growing stronger at a flying speed in recent days, but I didn't expect him to hide so many things. Interestingly, during He Shu Guang's offensive, the flag-raising slope was eerily silent, as if they all treated the Cannon Gray Team as non-existent. He elegantly destroyed the entire western shore of South Tianmen, and I doubted whether he had experienced flesh and blood flying everywhere, otherwise he wouldn't be so articulate when describing life turning into mud.

  “…Although it is an army, the commander has been studying the US military's island-hopping tactics for this battle, especially the brutal and exceptional Battle of Tarawa at the end of last year. The commander had someone translate the data from our allies and studied it down to the company and platoon level. The commander said that he appreciates the experience provided by our allies, but any new tactic, its failures are more valuable than its successes…”

  Yu Xiaoqing impatiently interrupted him, "What are you talking about? Talking about fighting!"

  Translate the text to English Language:

  Yu Xiaoqing conveyed the message, "Colonel Hertlein, on behalf of the US Military Advisory Group, expressed his gratitude to Commander Yu for attaching great importance to the experience bought with the lives of allies. Learning from failure is the American spirit, and Commander Yu not only has modern war machinery made in America but also this spirit. Colonel Hertlein told Commander Yu that failure is more valuable than success, and he appreciated the two words 'valuable' - which is also the American spirit." Yu Xiaoqing could only respond with a smile and a nod to Colonel Hertlein's nod, but it was clear that what he cared about was not being told that he was "American enough".

  "--- How to defend the South Heaven Gate?" He was still not asking me, but asking the dead. The dead were pointing at me, and I was staring blankly at the sand table, saying: "I won't fight."

  A buzz of excitement rose up, but there was no triumph here. These were soldiers, and soldiers do not take pleasure in the unexpected twists of battle.

  "I continued to say: 'Even if we fight, we can't win. The US military won the Pacific, but we also learned our lesson, people are forced out. I am in the midst of gunfire, I know how precious life is at this time, and I will not make any suicidal counterattacks. I don't fight, I endure."

  Yu Xiaoqing said: "This is not the way Japanese people fight."

  I said: "Master, you are also using American boxing methods, why does Takeuchi have to use Japanese boxing methods?"

  He looked at me for a long time, “... you continue.”

  I spread out my hands to He Shuguang and said, “...you continue.”

  He Shuguang began to move the troop markers on the sand table. I leaned against the sand table, my shoulder blades high and protruding, staring at the markers he moved and approached the South Tianmen Gate. One hand was not strong enough, I used the other hand to scratch my head, dandruff and dust falling like rain. I was like a live sheep skewer, covered in blood and mud. I didn't look like a soldier, I was a beggar, this beggar anxiously staring at the sand table trying to save another person's life.

  Yu Shi's vanguard troops - those who had already arrived at the foot of Nantianmen, half of their forces gathered on the east bank, and would soon cross the river. He Shuguang hesitated to look at me, he didn't know whether this beggar who had entered was real or not, then said: "Our division's transportation capacity can guarantee that a reinforced battalion of the main force will cross the river within seven minutes, deploy within fifteen minutes, and there is no interval between the first and second waves of attack. The third wave of attack is expected to have a ten-minute interval." As soon as the reinforced battalion set foot on the west bank, they faced the Japanese army's first defense line, which had been bombed several times. They began to deploy, well-trained and well-equipped.

  "I'm going to fight." I said.