Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 216 Please enter the urn
The Japs' offensive became more and more fierce, and they fought with their lives at risk. The defenders also fought desperately, and they were all furious and fighting with their lives. The casualties on both sides were soaring.

In this kind of high-octane battle, one side is always the first to give in. After Wang Jianfei and others received the telegram from the headquarters, the morale of the defenders obviously dropped, and they deflated like a broken ball.

After 5 p.m., the defenders began to collapse, first in small areas, then in large areas;

The Chinese finally couldn't hold on any longer, which made the Japanese extremely excited. Their morale was boosted, and they launched wave after wave of attacks. By around seven in the afternoon, they finally drove the Chinese across the central axis.

At the same time, the 10th Brigade followed behind and carried out a dragnet-style cleanup. By dark, they had almost cleared out the entire South City area, and there was no longer any organized resistance.

After driving the defenders across the central axis, the Japanese did not seem satisfied. They wanted to strike while the iron was hot and drive all the Chinese resistance elements into the river.
Unfortunately, they thought too much. After passing the central axis, the defenders' will to resist was significantly strengthened, and they almost refused to give an inch. The Japanese suffered huge casualties for this, and after pushing forward a few hundred meters, they could no longer fight.

The two sides once again formed a balance line. It was difficult for the Japanese to continue advancing. Every step forward would cost a huge amount of blood.

After completing the task of driving the Chinese to the north city, the Japs' fighting spirit also dropped a lot. After all, there is a time limit for fighting.

The battle lines of both sides stabilized again, and gradually formed a confrontation. In a short period of time, neither side could do anything to the other.
In order to resist the Japanese, Yue Qianli also sent the temporary detachment to reinforce Wang Jianfei, and finally stabilized the eastern front. The main force of the 88th Division on the western front was obviously much stronger, and they could also stop the enemy in front of them with their own strength.

Next, the two sides fought for several hours on the new control line until dawn, but the Japanese were unable to advance much. Instead, casualties increased sharply, which hurt several old Japanese soldiers.

No one knew who took the initiative to break contact. By eight o'clock in the morning, not only had both sides calmed down, but they also left a buffer zone of hundreds of meters. The dense array of light and heavy machine guns meant that no one could get through.

Both sides seemed to be tired and it was time to take a break after a night of fighting. Both sides tacitly refrained from launching any more attacks and the battlefield temporarily returned to calm.

Although they failed to drive the Chinese down the river, the battle goal of reaching Beicheng had been achieved, and Lieutenant General Yanagawa finally smiled;
He once again gathered a few old Japanese soldiers together to welcome His Royal Highness the Prince.

“Gentlemen, thank you for your hard work. With your joint efforts, we have finally eliminated all the Chinese in the South City and achieved a phased victory;

The remnants of the Chinese fled to the North City, they won’t be able to hold out for long!

Our top priority now is to ensure that the entry ceremony is held as scheduled and ends smoothly. Once that is done, it won’t be too late to wipe out the remaining enemies.”

Although the Japanese soldiers suffered heavy losses, the battle goal had been achieved and they were about to meet His Royal Highness the Prince. Everyone had a happy smile on their face and was proud of it, because the prince represented the royal family!
After waiting for more than an hour, they finally met the commander of the East China Expeditionary Force, Lieutenant General Prince Asaka Naruhiko;
There was no smile on the prince's face. It was obvious that he was not satisfied with the overall performance of the divisions of the East China Expeditionary Army. They almost brought shame to the empire and the royal family, and now they were just trying to make a concession.

"Gentlemen, I regret that I cannot be in North City. This is a disgrace to the Empire. Your behavior is unworthy of the Emperor's trust."

Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko gave them a warning right from the start. The old Japanese soldiers could no longer sit still and stood up to be trained. Even Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke had an expression of "I was wrong". Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko did not intend to let it go easily, but continued in a stern voice:
"Gentlemen, victory and defeat are common in the military. It's not that I can't accept your defeat, but I can't accept that you, with 20 elite soldiers, can't muster the courage to move forward against a group of defeated soldiers.
I have to use the city entry ceremony to force you to make up your mind. Isn't this possible?

This is what disappoints me. You can obviously do it, but you insist on forcing me to do it. Is this still the division commander that His Majesty has high hopes for?"

Everyone lowered their heads in shame, including Tani Hisao. Although he believed that His Royal Highness was only capable of commanding a regiment at most, it did not stop him from flattering him and leaving enough face for His Royal Highness.

Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko saw that his goal of suppressing this group of arrogant division commanders had been achieved, so he stopped looking stern and said with a smile:
"What makes me feel relieved is that I saw your determination at the critical moment. You cleared the enemy in the south city in just one day and one night.
Then I will give you another task. After the entry ceremony is over, eliminate all the Chinese in the North City within three days. They must pay for the face of the empire and the emperor. "

After a long sigh of relief, the old Japanese soldiers stood up and expressed their stance, promising to end the war in Nanjing within three days and live up to His Highness' trust.

"Yoshi, I'm relieved that you guys have made this decision. The entry ceremony will be held at Zhonghua Gate!
In order to capture Nanjing, you have worked very hard, and the warriors have shed a lot of blood;

In order to honor their immortal contributions, I allow each of your divisions to send an infantry battalion to ride with me across the Zhonghua Gate, so that those European and American ghosts can see what elite soldiers and generals are! "

Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko's approach was more like that of a politician, beating people with a stick and then giving them two sweet dates, but Tani Hisao and others just fell for it;
This is a favor from the royal family. The old Japanese soldiers in their forties were so excited that they were speechless, which made Prince Asaka very happy. Of course, there were a lot of performance elements in this, and no one could tell what was true and what was false.

The idea for the entry ceremony was proposed by Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko, and the specific preparations and security work were handed over to Heisuke Yanagawa, who became a hands-off manager.

Yanagawa Heisuke took a few old devils and started to make preparations after deciding on some details;

Because it was wartime, everything was kept simple. Apart from a military band to create an atmosphere, the most grand ceremony was the speech by Prince Asaka Naruhiko, who was going to boast about his military achievements in front of all the reporters.

After that, two battalions of guards and guards entered the city first to ensure the prince's safety;

Then, Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko rode a tall horse and entered the Zhonghua Gate accompanied by the commander of the Tenth Army.

During the event, reporters took photos. These precious images will be recorded in history. Finally, representatives from each division entered the city and the ceremony ended.

Although this procedure is very simple, it causes enormous harm to the Chinese people. The Japanese want to humiliate China and undermine the morale of the Chinese military and civilians in order to force the Nationalist government to surrender. Their plan is very clear.

(End of this chapter)