Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 79 The Tragic Scene (Part 2)

As of December 18, the fighting in Nanjing had basically ended, except for the St. Paul's Church where Su Yaoyang was located.

But the tranquility of the night was shattered. The sudden battle alarmed most of Nanjing. Not only was Tani Hisao furious, but even Prince Asaka Yasuhiko was awakened from his sleep.

Prince Asaka Yasuhiko sprang up from the tatami mat, his silk pajamas soaked with cold sweat.

The sound of Chief of Staff Mamoru Iinuma's leather boots pierced the paper door like a bayonet, and the candlelight cast a flickering shadow on his pale face.

"Your Excellency! The Chinese troops at St. Paul's Church have breached the Sixth Division's defenses and are now breaking out towards Yuhuatai and Mianhuadi."

"The commander of the 6th Division, Hisao Tani, is mobilizing troops to encircle them!"

"Wow!"

The bronze candlestick suddenly tipped over, and scalding hot wax splashed onto the back of Asaka's hand.

"idiot!"

Prince Asaka Yasuhiko, ignoring the guards who had been burned, smashed the lacquerware tray with his fist, not even caring that a piece of wood had pierced between his fingers.

"Tani Hisao deserves to die!" he cursed, his eyes wide with rage. "Are all the soldiers in the 6th Division pigs? How did they manage to let a mere few thousand remnants escape?"

"We are also investigating the cause. Tani Hisao reported that he lost contact with several regiments below him in just a few minutes." Iinuma Mamoru's expression was equally grim.

"Nonsense! There is no such potent poison gas in the world!"

The prince, who had been clamoring yesterday to use special ammunition to kill all the Chinese in the church, waved his arms and shouted in terror: "If there is such a powerful poison gas, how could the Empire not know about it?"
The Empire of Japan possesses the world's most advanced special-purpose ammunition, surpassing even the kings of poison gas, mustard gas and Louis Vuitton. I deployed a full division there!

Prince Asaka Yasuhiko believed that there was no such thing as poison gas in the world that could render an elite division defenseless in just a few minutes.

"Perhaps the Chinese invented a more advanced poison gas that could kill soldiers exposed to it in a short time."

Iinuma Mamoru blurted it out, but even he himself didn't believe it.

If China had such strength, how could their capital have been so easily captured by the Imperial Army?

Along with the prince's angry curses, the distant sound of cannon fire like thunder shook the windowpanes, making the sabers on the windows clang.

Prince Asaka Yasuhiko couldn't understand it at all. The 6th Division was a first-class division of the Japanese Army. The entire division consisted of four infantry regiments, one artillery regiment, one cavalry regiment, and attached logistics and supply units, totaling more than 25,000 men.

Although the troops suffered some casualties during the Battle of Shanghai and the Battle of Nanjing, they certainly still had more than 20,000 troops.

With so many troops, and having already completely surrounded the enemy, how did they manage to break out of the encirclement?

If it weren't for the fact that Tani Hisao had always been at the forefront of the invasion of China, and was notorious for his atrocities of burning, killing, looting and plundering, he would have suspected that Tani Hisao was colluding with the enemy.

Seeing that Prince Asaka Yasuhiko remained silent, Iinuma Mamoru quickly said, "Commander, no matter what, the reason this happened is because the Chinese used special ammunition, and the 6th Division suffered heavy losses due to being caught off guard."

The 13th and 47th Regiments have lost contact, and the 23rd and 45th Regiments are also retreating.

Now, not only the 6th Division, but even other units within the city have begun to riot.

At the same time, rumors began to circulate in various military units that the Chinese troops had used an unprecedented and extremely lethal chemical weapon that killed thousands of people in just over ten minutes.

They even breached the 6th Division's defenses without encountering any resistance, and the Chinese army is still releasing poison gas within the city. Many soldiers panic at the mere sight of the dense fog; fear is spreading throughout the units.

Prince Asaka Yasuhiko's heart sank to the bottom. He grabbed the telescope on the table and rushed to the attic, looking out the window.

In the darkness, the outline of Nanjing was distorted by the night and the firelight, and the column of smoke rising from the southeast looked like a giant python.

He clenched his teeth until they ached, and through his binoculars, he could vaguely see the figures of the routed soldiers of the 6th Division, with Chinese soldiers indistinctly visible chasing after them.

The 6th Division's defenses, which never dreamed they would be attacked with poison gas by the Chinese army, collapsed instantly.

As a light breeze began to blow at night, the poison gas started to spread to the surrounding area. Many Japanese soldiers who had not taken cover began to feel something sticky on their exposed faces and hands, but it seemed harmless, as if it were just ordinary fog or dew.

But soon they began to feel unbearable pain in their eyes. Many people started rubbing their eyes hard, as if there were pebbles grinding inside. Soon, these people screamed because of the swelling and pain in their eyes, and then some people kept lying on the ground vomiting.

About half an hour later, the faces of the poisoned Japanese soldiers became congested and swollen, covered with a large number of red spots, and many pearl-like blisters appeared around the red spots.

Especially for the seriously injured, large blisters formed from small blisters appeared on their face and neck. Some people also developed painful small blisters on their thighs, backs, buttocks, and even scrotum. This was caused by sitting on the ground contaminated with sarin gas, which allowed the toxins to seep into their skin.

For a time, the city of Nanjing was filled with the agonizing screams of Japanese soldiers, and rumors were circulating throughout the city that Chinese soldiers had begun to use poison gas on a large scale.

Panicked Japanese soldiers began to pull out gas masks that they had never used since the invasion of China and put them on.

But once rumors start, they are not so easy to quell. The Sixth Division had already been defeated, and in the darkness, various units in Nanjing scattered and fled in all directions to avoid the poison gas.

Forget about Bushido spirit and strict military discipline.

Faced with poison gas that travels through the air, even the bravest troops would lose their fighting spirit.

Under the cover of darkness, nearly three thousand soldiers of the security regiment, under the command of Su Yaoyang, with the first battalion as the vanguard, took advantage of the chaos in the Japanese army and rushed out of Nanjing.

As the first light of dawn ripped through the night, the rumble of wheels like muffled thunder echoed across the stone-paved road of Banqiao Town. The windshield of the lead truck was still shrouded in dew, reflecting a sliver of light.

Oil lamps began to light up in the mud-walled, thatched-roof houses lining both sides of the road, their dim yellow light spreading through the thin mist. Several early-rising villagers peeked out from behind their doorframes, but were so frightened by the sight of the wounded lying haphazardly in the back of the truck that they covered their mouths in shock.

The female students in the middle of the convoy huddled together, their faded blue cheongsams covered in mud at the hem.

A girl with short braids started sobbing with emotion, startling her companions who quickly covered her mouth and whispered words of comfort.

Yu Mo, the former top courtesan of the Qinhuai River, leaned against the railing of the last truck, her face, now devoid of rouge, revealing the excitement of escaping death.

Behind her, several of her sisters were soothing a feverish young patient with Suzhou folk songs, their soft, sweet voices broken and fragmented by the bumpy ride of the truck.

"Squeak!"

With a screeching sound of brakes, the convoy came to a stop.

In the shadow of the archway, an old man wearing a patched cotton-padded coat was squatting, drawing water from the well with a bucket.

When the truck suddenly stopped beside him, the old man's hand loosened involuntarily, and the wooden bucket he was carrying halfway fell into the well with a splash.

Then the old man saw the car door open, and a young officer jumped out of the car and walked towards him, saying gently, "Sir... may I ask where this place is?"

(End of this chapter)