Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 175 Awakening
Consciousness returned to Li Gaoyuan's body. He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt as heavy as lead. He struggled for a long time before he could open them a crack.

The blinding white light pierced his pupils, and he instinctively tried to raise his hand to shield his eyes, only to find that his arm was immobilized by the plaster cast.

The smell of disinfectant mixed with a fishy odor assaulted my nostrils, and the clear liquid in the IV drip dripped slowly into my veins, as cold as a silent countdown.

His blurry vision gradually focused: the walls of the unfinished house were as ugly as a dried-up riverbed. A suppressed cough came from the next bed. He turned his head with difficulty and saw a wounded soldier wrapped in gauze staring blankly out the window while coughing incessantly.

He tried to sit up, but felt a sharp pain in his chest, so painful that he curled up in bed and couldn't help but groan.

His groans startled a nearby wounded soldier, who turned his head and saw Li Gaoyuan's movements, immediately exclaiming, "Nurse...nurse...come quick, Commander Li is awake."

As he called out, a series of hurried footsteps followed, and then a clear, pleasant voice filled with surprise rang in his ear: "Commander Li, you're awake? Dr. Song... come quick... Commander Li is awake!"

A short while later, Song Mei, carrying a stethoscope, quickly entered the ward.

After quickly examining Li Gaoyuan, she breathed a sigh of relief and smiled sweetly at him: "Commander Li, congratulations... you've finally escaped with your life."

…………

The smoke of battle still lingered on the battlefield. Old Cao sat down leaning against the dilapidated earthen wall, the machine gun barrel still glowing with a scorching red light.

He pulled out a half-pack of crumpled cigarettes, put one in his mouth, wiped his fingers on his mud-covered clothes, and then took out a lighter from his pocket.

"Ding……"

With a crisp, pleasant metallic clang, a flame shot up, followed by wisps of smoke. A private first class nearby immediately leaned over, his dirty face revealing surprisingly bright eyes: "Old Cao, you actually have some hidden gems. Can I have a sip?"

"Go! Go! Go……"

Old Cao laughed and scolded, "Two packs of cigarettes a month aren't enough for you, kid. Why are you trying to mooch off me?"

The private's face scrunched up: "Two packs of cigarettes aren't enough! I usually smoke two packs a day. You do the math and see how many you smoke in a month!"

"You little brat..." Lao Chao chuckled and cursed as he pulled out a cigarette case from his pocket, reluctantly taking out a crumpled cigarette and tossing it to him.

"Kid, this is the last one. Don't ask me for any more cigarettes this month."

"Okay..."

The young private was overjoyed. He took the cigarette, took out a match to light it, but found that the matchbox was empty. He could only look at him with a bitter face.

Old Cao chuckled and handed over a cigarette when he suddenly heard a rustling sound behind him. Turning around, he saw a stretcher team carrying a wounded man past. Half of a grayish-white ankle was visible under the straw curtain, and drops of blood had congealed into dark brown dots on the dirt road.

The smile on his face vanished instantly, his Adam's apple bobbed, and finally, a soft sigh escaped his lips.

"Dinner's ready...dinner's ready..." The disheveled voice of Old Wang, the head cook, suddenly rang out from the trench.

Upon hearing this voice, Lao Cao immediately raised his hand to Lao Wang.

"then!"

Old Wang tossed a bag over, which Old Cao caught and opened. Inside, a bag full of steaming cornbread came into view, along with several cans of luncheon meat. Old Cao took two cornbreads and one can, then casually tossed the bag to the soldiers nearby. The soldiers quickly devoured the bag of cornbread, and soon white steam rose from the golden-brown buns, mingling with the smell of gunpowder in their nostrils.

"Cough cough..."

The young private next to him ate a couple of bites of cornbread and then suddenly started coughing violently, spitting out crumbs that landed on Old Cao's treasured M1919 Browning machine gun.

Old Cao's eyes widened, and he raised his hand to strike, but then he noticed a white bandage peeking out from the other man's collar. In the end, he let out a soft snort and simply wiped it lightly with his sleeve.

The Japanese 20th Division arrived yesterday afternoon, but did not launch its attack until this morning. The intensity of the attack was beyond everyone's expectations.

This time, the 20th Division launched a full-scale attack on Wolf Valley with the support of two infantry regiments, a field artillery regiment, and eighteen aircraft.

The battle quickly escalated, with both the Shanxi militia and the 20th Division discovering that the enemy's fighting strength exceeded their expectations.

The 20th Division went all out from the very beginning, using aircraft, heavy artillery, and infantry to launch a three-dimensional, all-round attack on Wolf Valley.

This attack also allowed the Shanxi militia and Su Yaoyang to witness the true fighting power of the Japanese army at this time.

Unlike the previous Battle of Taierzhuang and the Battle of Nanjing, these two battles were essentially street fighting. The complex and narrow terrain greatly limited the effectiveness of the Japanese firepower. The Japanese Air Self-Defense Force had superior manpower, but it could not make full use of its strength due to the terrain.

The battle at Wolf Valley was truly a real open-field battle, with various weapons being used in turn. Tens of thousands of troops fought a desperate battle on an area of ​​more than ten square kilometers. The battle lasted from morning until evening, until both sides were exhausted, at which point the Japanese army reluctantly stopped fighting.

Both China and Japan paid a heavy price in this great war.

"What...how much did you say?"

Inside the command post, Su Yaoyang stared wide-eyed at the operations staff officer in front of him.

Looking at Su Yaoyang's monstrous expression, the operations staff officer stammered, "Commander... today we suffered a total of 1,067 casualties, including 478 killed in action and 212 seriously wounded."

"How can there be so much grass?"

Su Yaoyang felt his head buzzing. How many men did he have? More than a thousand had been killed or wounded in just one day. If this rate of loss continued, his two regiments would be wiped out in at most ten days to half a month.

"It was mainly caused by Japanese aircraft; our anti-aircraft firepower is still too weak," the operations staff officer explained weakly.

"Alright, I know, you can go now." Su Yaoyang waved his hand and left the area under his command.

Su Yaoyang witnessed the entire battle today. It has to be said that the Japanese army at this time was indeed not just boasting, as they were said to be invincible throughout Asia.

Their multi-service coordination was indeed much more proficient than that of the Shanxi militia, which had only trained for a few months, especially their air superiority, which widened the gap.

Today, 60% of the casualties of the Shanxi militia were caused by the Japanese air force. It was impossible for the anti-aircraft battalion to protect the positions within a radius of more than 10 kilometers with just over 30 anti-aircraft guns, which led to the Japanese planes bombing the positions with impunity.

what else can we do?

Su Yaoyang fell into deep thought...

(End of this chapter)