Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 160 Launching the Attack
Kenanpo Central Daily News Shanxi Branch

Inside the cave dwelling, the dim light of an oil lamp casts flickering shadows on the earthen walls. The brushes of more than ten editors glide across the rough paper, while the smoke rising from their pipes mingles with the scent of ink from their inkstones. In a corner, two middle-aged men are arguing in hushed tones.

Suddenly, the coarse cloth curtain was slammed shut, and a fat man in a gray cloth long gown rushed in, bringing a cool breeze with him. His round face was flushed with excitement.

He held a telegram aloft in his right hand, adjusted his round-framed glasses that had slipped down to the tip of his nose with his left, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down with his rapid breathing.

"War has begun! War has begun!"

His voice trembled, and the telegram paper quivered slightly on his fingertips.

The old editor, who was hunched over his desk, suddenly looked up, his pen leaving a blot of ink on the paper; the two arguing men fell silent at the same time, their pipes hanging in mid-air.

For a moment, all eyes were fixed on that trembling piece of paper, and the only sound in the cave was the crackling of the oil lamp wick.

The young editor in the blue cotton-padded jacket suddenly stood up, the stool scraping loudly on the muddy ground, and asked in a trembling voice, "Brother Zimei, where has the battle started?"

"Shanxi militia, it's the Shanxi militia."

The fat man shouted, "Just yesterday afternoon, the Shanxi militia suddenly launched an attack on Xiangding County and Xin County. As of this morning, Xiangding County has been liberated by our army, and the battle for Xin County has begun!"

"What...is that so?"

As soon as the fat man finished speaking, everyone gasped in surprise, and many people looked incredulous.

Since most of Shanxi fell last year, the anti-Japanese war effort in Shanxi has entered a low ebb, and pessimistic views of surrender have become prevalent.

As editors of the Central Daily News' branch in Shanxi, they felt this most deeply.

Newspapers controlled by the Japanese puppet regime, such as the Shanxi Xinmin Daily and the Mengjiang Daily, were rampant, constantly promoting theories of national subjugation and surrender, which infuriated people.

Although they wanted to refute this view, the Nationalist army was incompetent, and they could not produce any facts or evidence to counterattack. Although the victory at Taierzhuang a few months ago boosted the morale of the Chinese people, Xuzhou was soon lost.

The Battle of Wuhan is raging, and the attention of the whole country is focused on Wuhan. Unexpectedly, Shanxi, where they are located, suddenly launched a major attack, with an army daring to take the initiative to attack the Japanese and recover lost territory.

Putting everything else aside, this courage alone is unique among the current KMT generals.

The old editor didn't say anything, but snatched the telegram from the fat man's hand and read it quickly. Then he slammed his hand on the table and said, "Good... immediately make this news the front page for tomorrow."

Furthermore, I believe we must send one or two reporters to Xiangding County to obtain firsthand information. Which of you is willing to go?

"I!"

"I'm going...I'm going!"

As soon as the editor-in-chief finished speaking, everyone in the room raised their hands.

These days, media professionals still have some passion. They get excited the moment they hear they're going to the front lines to report. Putting aside patriotism, the chance to become famous is enough to make many people take the risk.

What these editors didn't know was that, besides them, many other newspapers also knew they had received this news, and more than a dozen media outlets had made the same plans.

These media personnel received the news, and Yan Xishan, as the commander-in-chief of the Second World War Zone, received it immediately. ...

"This Su Mingxi is absolutely outrageous! He actually dared to provoke the Japanese. Doesn't he know the consequences?"

Inside the cave dwelling, Yan Xishan was furious, his mustache trembling.

Just now, he received a report that the 108th Division stationed in the Xifen and Tianqu areas was assembling its forces and showed signs of attacking Kenanpo.

This intelligence instantly terrified Yan Xishan. Just as he was gathering his generals to discuss countermeasures and planning to send someone to contact the Japanese, news of Su Yaoyang's surprise attack on the Japanese army also reached him.

Yes, you heard right. Even at this time, Yan Xishan still maintained contact with the Japanese. His reputation for being adept at social maneuvering was truly well-deserved.

When Yan Xishan saw that Su Yaoyang had actually launched an attack on the Japanese army, he was almost furious.

"This kid, it's one thing for you to be courting death, but why did you have to drag us into it too?"

Seeing Yan Xishan's furious outburst, the senior generals of the Jin-Sui Army in the office also frowned, but unusually, they did not agree with Yan Xishan's words.

The light inside the cave cast Yan Xishan's distorted shadow onto the mottled earthen wall.

His fingers, gripping the telegram tightly, clenched together, and the two tufts of mustache on his lips trembled violently with his heavy breathing, like two sharp blades about to pierce the air.

"That scoundrel (meaning 'incompetent' or 'good-for-nothing') has ruined me!"

After saying that, he smashed the teacup on the ground. With a crisp sound, the brownish-yellow tea splashed onto his cloth shoes, which were covered in yellow dust.

Perhaps after smashing the teacup, his anger was somewhat vented, and he turned to Yang Aiyuan, the deputy commander of the Second War Zone, who was standing to the side and was a burly man with a mustache, and said, "Xingru, tell me, what should we do about this?"

"Why are you angry, sir?" Yang Aiyuan smiled slightly. "In my opinion, the Japanese are just bluffing. They are too busy taking care of themselves to dare to start a war with us."

"That's hard to say." Yan Xishan shook his head repeatedly: "The Japanese have always been cunning. They've done plenty of things like feinting attacks and using others as a pretext for conquest. We have to be on guard."

"But the department doesn't see it that way?" Yang Aiyuan still insisted on her point of view.

"The prerequisite for 'borrowing a route to attack Guo' is sufficient strength. Currently, the most elite 20th Division of the First Army is firmly tied down by the Shanxi militia in the Xiangding and Xinxian areas."

The remaining 108th and 109th Divisions are to be stationed in important cities such as Datong, Taiyuan, and Yangquan, respectively. The second, third, and fourth independent mixed brigades are also to be stationed in various strongholds. Where will they get the troops to fight us again?
Besides, the Eighth Route Army wasn't to be trifled with either; their commander-in-chief was a master at taking advantage of chaos.

If the Japanese really attack us, you can take this opportunity to contact him and ask them to break out of their base and cause some trouble for the Japanese. I believe they would be happy to do so.

"Hmm...that makes sense." Yan Xishan pondered for a while, then realized that Yang Aiyuan's words made a lot of sense, and his worries gradually subsided.

But he still felt uneasy, so he added, "Here's what we'll do... Xingru, could you go to Wutai County in my name and ask Su Yaoyang what he's up to? Why didn't he report such a big thing to the Second War Zone?"

"Ok."

(End of this chapter)