Chapter 20: The Dirge of the Tenth Cavalry Brigade (Part 2)
May 6th, around 6 o'clock in the morning. Under a hill near Taierzhuang.
At this time, there was an eerie silence here.
The thunder of the guns and cannons had just stopped, as well as the shouting of men and horses. The battlefield where thousands of people were fighting was now quiet, with only occasional sounds of warhorses neighing and blood flowing from swords onto the ground, except for that it was eerily silent.
There are two kinds of silence on the battlefield. One is the silence after the battle has ended, when the defeated lie dead and wounded all over the ground, and blood flows like a river. The victors are not much better off either, usually also suffering heavy casualties, busy rescuing the dying, treating the wounded, and clearing the battlefield. That kind of silence is a tragic and desolate beauty.
And now this is the calm before the storm, the silence before the final battle. Both sides are licking their wounds, quietly accumulating strength in preparation for the impending decisive battle to defeat each other. If new recruits fear cannons and veterans fear guns, then officers fear this kind of silence on the battlefield.
At this time the sky was already very bright. People could see that on the small plain under the hill, the Japanese army and the Chinese army had actually formed three concentric circular formations.
Inside the innermost circle was a cavalry of 167 Chinese troops.
The middle one is slightly larger than the inner circle, this is the Japanese army's tenth cavalry brigade formed a cavalry circle with more than 500 people.
The outermost circle is naturally the largest, and almost all of the troops of the Independent Hundred Regiment commanded by Cheng Ji are here. There are more than 2,000 infantrymen, as well as some large trucks and horse-drawn carts.
Lieutenant-Colonel Kuwabara habitually stroked his neatly trimmed and elegant whiskers, gazing at the strange Chinese army in front of him with a mixture of shame and anger.
The first row consisted of nine large trucks, (four of which were assigned to the second group's 75th artillery regiment to pull cannons and shells. The other five included three that were equipped by the war zone commander's office for the Tai'erzhuang front command post to transport ammunition supplies. If it weren't for Commander Xie being afraid that something unexpected might happen in the battle, he wouldn't have let Cheng Jiaqi move his Citroen, and Cheng Jiaqi would have liked to pull over that car as well. The last two were borrowed by Cheng Jiaqi from a supply depot near Tai'erzhuang belonging to the second group.) Each truck was equipped with one heavy machine gun and two light machine guns. The second row consisted of sixty or seventy large carts used for transporting food and ammunition, each cart equipped with at least one light machine gun. The third row was made up of rows of infantrymen with live ammunition and bayonets fixed on their rifles. The last row was too far away for Sang Tian to see clearly, but he guessed that it must be the artillery position of the Chinese army.
The more he looked at Sōta's face, the worse it got.
First was a web of light and heavy machine guns mounted on vehicles, then four times the infantry, and also far superior artillery.
Even the most arrogant imperial cavalry officer could not help but admit that this encirclement was difficult to overcome. Moreover, the Chinese soldiers opposite them were all high-spirited and full of fighting spirit, and at a glance, it was clear that they were a victorious army. Sanada knew that the Chinese army he encountered was probably the one that had just annihilated the 40th Infantry Regiment. Perhaps because he had suffered greatly at the hands of the Anti-Japanese Allied Army in Manchuria, Major Sanada did not underestimate the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army like his colleagues did. At this moment, he saw a familiar killing intent in the eyes of these Chinese soldiers, a killing intent that he had experienced before in the mountains and rivers of Baishan and Heishui.
Commander Chōsa looked back and glanced at his own regiment. After a night of pursuit and the previous fierce battle, every officer and soldier's face was clearly written with fatigue, but their eyes were still firm. Just as Commander Chōsa felt proud of his troops in his heart, the Chinese army surrounding the 10th Cavalry Regiment began to move.
Just then, Lieutenant Colonel Kuwabara was observing the Chinese army, and Jing Jirui was also observing the 10th Cavalry Brigade. To be honest, Jing Jirui did not intend to annihilate an entire cavalry brigade of Japanese troops. His initial intention was only to repel the Japanese cavalry and bring out Wen Songyuan and others, as well as that important Japanese army flag.
In his opinion, as long as his own mechanized troops approached, plus the infantry with an absolute advantage in numbers and a certain number of cavalry participating in the battle, the Japanese army should have retreated. After all, it is almost impossible for the Japanese army to win the battle with just a few hundred cavalrymen under this situation, unless there are some reasons outside the battlefield. From the commanding style of the Japanese commander who led the team, the opponent should be one of the few stable factions in the Japanese army. Otherwise, if the Japanese army had launched a desperate attack at all costs, the people around Wen Song would have been finished long ago, and it would not have been Cheng Jiaji's turn to lift the siege.
It stands to reason that Cheng Jiaji thought of everything, but he was wrong about one thing - the Japanese military's obsession with honor. Although he hated the Japanese from the bottom of his heart, at this moment Cheng Jiaji had to admit that most Japanese soldiers still had a strong sense of military honor when it came to their own flag. Of course, people like Tian Jiafu, who was now cowering behind Cheng Jiaji and pointing fingers at the Japanese camp, were not included in this assessment. (Tian Jiafu had already been promoted to captain on the battlefield for his meritorious service in leading two charge teams.)
At this point, both sides have already engaged in a life-and-death struggle, and Cheng Jiawei can only try to annihilate the entire 10th Cavalry Regiment of the Japanese army.
"Start singing." Along with Cheng Jiaji's hand waving, a sentinel officer of Independent Division 100 shouted loudly.
"Men, don't be timid, I have a song to sing for you: killing one is a crime, slaughtering thousands is heroic. Slaughtering nine hundred thousand, that's the hero among heroes. The hero among heroes has a different path: disregarding the fame of benevolence and righteousness for a thousand years, just to show off my heroic spirit in this life. I don't love beautiful names, but rather love evil names, killing people by the millions without being punished. I'd rather have millions of people gnash their teeth in hatred than not be cursed by anyone. Looking at the world over five thousand years, where is there a hero who doesn't kill? Men, don't be timid, I have a song to sing for you: killing one is a crime, slaughtering thousands is heroic. Slaughtering nine hundred thousand, that's the hero among heroes. Let this world, together with me, bathe in my greatness!"
Thousands of people sang in unison the song of the Independent Hundred Regiment from the internet literature of later generations. Under the cover of various vehicles that had slowly started moving in the front row, the officers and men of the Independent Hundred Regiment held bayonets and began to advance step by step.
Cheng Ji's tactics were obvious, which was to use the method of step-by-step tightening to force the Japanese army to charge forward first, otherwise, it would gradually shrink the scope of the Japanese army's activities. The target of the cavalry was too large, if it really allowed the Chinese army to get close, it would become a living target for the Chinese army.
Sanda, who knew a little Chinese, sensed a strong killing intent from the lyrics of this military song and its majestic melody.
This killing intent not only shocked him with the strong and different Chinese army in front of him, but also stirred up his heroic spirit as a Yamato warrior to fight to the death against the enemy.
As a professional soldier above average, he cannot fail to see such an obvious combat intention of the Chinese army.
At that time, the 10th Cavalry Regiment was no longer facing the issue of whether to retake the 40th Regiment's flag, but rather whether the 10th Cavalry Regiment itself could break through the Chinese army's encirclement. Otherwise, its own regiment would become the second 40th Regiment and be devoured by the Chinese army in front of it. Only by charging out could the 10th Cavalry Regiment survive.
At this moment, the hot blood on his body was burning fiercely. Sanada Tetsuzo, a Japanese lieutenant commander, drew out his command sword and shouted loudly in Japanese: "Gentlemen, behold the hot blood of a Yamato man!"
The shout had just ended, and the commander of the 10th Cavalry Brigade led the main force to charge towards the Chinese army's defense line. Seeing the commander charging forward, the officers and soldiers of the 10th Cavalry Brigade also rushed forward one after another, everyone knew that only by defeating a part of the Chinese army in front of them could the 10th Cavalry Brigade not become a historical name.
Five hundred Japanese cavalrymen shouted: "Look at the hot blood of our great Japanese men!" and launched a desperate charge against the Chinese army's position. Dozens of others spontaneously charged towards the 100th Independent Brigade's cavalry, attempting to hold back this Chinese cavalry unit to buy time for the main force to break through.
Just now still peaceful and tranquil plain on again started a life-and-death struggle.
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