Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Changjin Lake, a Hundred Battles, a Hundred Victories

Chapter 136 I Can't Breathe

After raising his pistol, Hirata Ichiro gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger.

However, due to the appalling performance of the Mauser C96, it jammed and failed to fire.

At this point, Hirata Ichiro no longer dared to fire a second shot.

His forehead was covered in sweat, and he lay panting on the ground.

Suicide requires immense courage, and it is clear that Hirata Ichiro had exhausted his courage and had no intention of continuing to commit suicide.

"By committing suicide once, I have done my duty to His Majesty the Heavenly Locust."

Hirata Ichiro comforted himself and soon finished his self-conquest.

He had already attempted suicide once, but the gun didn't fire. It was fate that prevented him from dying; he had to live.

Not long after Hirata Ichiro finished mentally preparing himself, the soldiers attacking the garrison command headquarters from the outer gate rushed in.

Under the bombardment of the massively loaded flying thunder cannons, any fortifications of the garrison command were as fragile as paper.

The Japanese never imagined that heavy artillery with a caliber of over 500 millimeters would attack the garrison command.

Therefore, the defensive fortifications built were mainly for defense against heavy machine guns and mortars. Neither the thickness of the fortifications nor the materials were sufficient to withstand the attack of flying thunder cannons.

The Japanese defensive fortifications were completely destroyed after only a few rounds of firing from the Flying Thunder Cannon.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the soldiers rushed into the garrison headquarters and began to eliminate the Japanese soldiers involved.

When they reached the innermost part, a squad of soldiers from the Third Battalion saw Hirata Ichiro lying on the ground, panting heavily.

The soldiers exchanged glances and then asked their squad leader:

To stay or to leave?

If it were just an ordinary Japanese soldier, one bullet would have been enough to take him out.

But now, Hirata Ichiro, this old devil, has completely lost the ability to resist, and is still the highest-ranking Japanese officer in Heian County.

His rank is lieutenant colonel.

The value of capturing a Japanese lieutenant colonel is that of capturing a Japanese lieutenant colonel who voluntarily gave up resistance.

After being captured, prisoners could not only be used to exchange for captured soldiers and exposed intelligence personnel on their own side, but also to undermine the morale of the Japanese army by publicly reporting news of prisoners, thus breaking the lie that "Japanese officers would never surrender."

It can be said that capturing a Japanese lieutenant colonel who voluntarily gave up resistance is more valuable than killing ten Japanese lieutenant colonels.

After hearing what the soldiers said, the squad leader struggled with his thoughts for a moment before speaking:

"Let's ask the battalion commander first. Letting him decide the outcome would be much more effective than killing him."

The soldiers of the two reinforced battalions had undergone long-term political education and their political literacy was higher than that of ordinary soldiers and militiamen.

To be honest, the squad leader really wanted to kill Hirata Ichiro on the spot, because the other party was the highest military commander in Ping'an County.

All the bloody incidents within Ping'an County were connected to the other party.

Hirata Ichiro's hands are stained directly or indirectly with the blood of many Chinese people.

In order to avenge the civilians who were brutally murdered and the soldiers who sacrificed their lives, the squad leader was inclined to kill the enemy.

However, capturing the enemy alive would have great political value, so he was conflicted and decided to hand over the decision-making power to his battalion commander, Yang Dong.

So the squad leader sent someone outside to report the news to Battalion Commander Yang Dong, while he himself aimed his gun at Hirata Ichiro, who was lying on the ground.

He didn't choose to go up and subdue the other person directly, as that would have made him a prisoner.

The other party still has a gun beside him and hasn't lost all his weapons, so he's not considered a prisoner.

But if Hirata Ichiro made any move to resist, the squad leader would not hesitate to shoot.

When the news reached Yang Dong, he hesitated.

If it were an ordinary Japanese soldier, they would have been killed according to tradition.

However, the other party was a Japanese lieutenant colonel who voluntarily gave up resistance, which was completely different from the Japanese officers captured on the battlefield because they lost their fighting ability.

He was also torn about whether or not to capture the other party.

Of course, most importantly, the soldiers below had already reported the situation, so Yang Dong had to handle it cautiously.

If the charging soldiers hadn't asked any questions, Hirata Ichiro would have been killed without a second thought.

In any case, the battlefield situation is complicated, and no one will care whether Hirata Ichiro wants to surrender or not.

But now that the situation has been reported, we have to handle it with caution.

Therefore, Yang Dong also reported this news to He Jianxin.

He Jianxin did the same, relaying the message directly to the command center in Beiyao Village.

"Report: The Third Battalion of the First Reinforcement Battalion has reported that Hirata Ichiro, the highest-ranking Japanese garrison officer in Heian County, has voluntarily given up resistance, but his weapon is still in his hand. The Third Battalion is asking if we want to capture him."

The communications officer entered the command post and relayed the message to Chen Ming.

Upon learning this, Chen Ming felt somewhat helpless and didn't know what to say to the class monitor.

Why not just kill them when they charge?

It's just a Japanese lieutenant colonel; their detachment has killed many before.

Not to mention lieutenant colonels, even Japanese generals in the Independent Detachment have been killed.

Even such a small matter was relayed directly from the front lines to his command post.

Some things, once weighed, are nothing but a thousand pounds.

The news reached the command post, where many people from other brother units were watching, including the brigade commander.

What can Chen Ming do?
"Take him prisoner, and keep a close eye on him," Chen Ming ordered.

"Yes."

After receiving the order, the messenger relayed it. "How about I hand over this little Japanese devil named Hirata Ichiro after the battle is over?"

The brigade commander stood beside him and said with a smile.

The capture of a Japanese lieutenant colonel who voluntarily gave up resistance is of great value; it can be used for propaganda and also for exchanging intelligence.

The intelligence team paid a heavy price for this independent detachment's operations in Ping'an and Lanxian.

Some intelligence agents had to expose their identities in order to transmit intelligence from various parts of Japan back to China.

The headquarters supported and led the independent detachment's attack on Ping'an and Lan County, partly due to the efforts of the intelligence department.

He passed on intelligence that most of the Japanese planes had been moved, and thus exposed his identity.

The brigade commander planned to use this Japanese officer to exchange for the captured comrades after the battle was over.

“No problem, since you’ve asked, how could I refuse?” Chen Ming didn’t care and handed over the authority to deal with Hirata Ichiro directly to the brigade commander.

He was just a Japanese lieutenant colonel prisoner; keeping him was useless, so it was better to give him to the brigade commander directly.

"Hahaha." The brigade commander laughed happily.

Hirata Ichiro, the commander of the Ping'an County Garrison, has been captured, and the complete capture of Ping'an County is not far off.

Chen Ming and everyone present believed that within half an hour at most, the frontline troops would be able to send back news of the complete liberation of Ping'an County.

This planned offensive against the two counties will get off to a very good start.

After Ping'an County was captured, Lan County was completely isolated in the mountainous area of ​​northwestern Shanxi.

The Japanese reinforcements and supplies couldn't get in at all; it was only a matter of time before they were wiped out.

"Tell He Jianxin that I need to be able to climb the city wall of Ping'an County in an hour so that the soldiers can have lunch," Chen Ming said happily.

"Yes."

The messenger relayed the order to the command post of the reinforced first battalion.

"The command ordered that lunch be held at the city gate tower of Ping'an County in one hour, and that the soldiers be told to hurry up and eliminate the remaining Japanese soldiers."

He Jianxin immediately gave the order.

After receiving the order, the attacking soldiers became even more motivated.

The offensive accelerated, intensifying the clearing out of the remaining Japanese soldiers and puppet troops, and directly and severely cracking down on local thugs and ruffians who took the opportunity to cause trouble in the city.

Any scoundrel who dared to take advantage of the chaos at this time got a free peanut or two.

Inside the garrison command headquarters.

Hirata Ichiro lay on the ground for more than 20 minutes, his arms were numb but he didn't dare to move.

Not far from him, there were seven or eight soldiers with their guns raised, pointing their dark muzzles at him.

If you move even slightly, these soldiers will definitely open fire without hesitation.

"I'm already like this, why haven't you captured me yet?!" Hirata Ichiro was devastated.

After failing to commit suicide once, he completely lost the courage to die and now only wants to live.

Even so, he still wanted to retain his last shred of dignity and to be captured without losing his gun.

This would not be considered a voluntary surrender, but rather a situation where the enemy outnumbered us and we had no chance to commit suicide, so we were captured by the Eighth Route Army.

It wasn't that he didn't want to fight to the death to surrender, but that he didn't have the opportunity!
But now, these Eighth Route Army soldiers just stared at him with their guns raised, neither shooting nor capturing him.

Hirata Ichiro was suffering psychological torment every moment.

Sometimes, death itself may not be scary, but the time spent waiting for it to arrive is the most agonizing.

It's like a person who wouldn't even flinch if you slashed him with a knife.

But if you cut his wrist and make him watch his blood drip away, not many people can bear that process.

Finally, after more than twenty minutes, Hirata Ichiro's mental defenses collapsed.

He snatched the gun from his hand, then raised his hands and screamed in despair:
"I surrender! I want to surrender!"

The soldiers guarding him ignored Hirata Ichiro and continued to watch over him with their guns raised.

When Hirata Ichiro saw that even though he had taken the initiative to surrender, the Eighth Route Army soldiers ignored him, he became even more distraught.

"I said I surrender, I surrender! Capture me, capture me now!"

Hirata Ichiro shouted in broken Chinese in a panic.

After shouting like that for several minutes, the order was finally delivered.

"By order of command, capture Hirata Ichiro."

The third battalion's communications officer relayed the order to the squad leader guarding Hirata Ichiro.

Upon receiving the order, both the soldiers in the platoon and Hirata Ichiro breathed a sigh of relief.

Hirata Ichiro was captured because his ordeal was finally over.

The soldiers in this platoon were relieved because they no longer had to watch the Japanese soldiers they wanted to mow down with machine guns.

In those few minutes, several soldiers, looking at Hirata Ichiro's annoying uniform, almost couldn't resist shooting him dead.

Now that the order has arrived, I finally don't have to endure it anymore.

So, several soldiers immediately grabbed Hirata Ichiro, roughly twisted him away, and tied him up with rope.

"Relax, I can't breathe."

Hirata Ichiro tried to bargain, but no soldier paid him any attention.

It's already a miracle he wasn't executed; how dare he make such demands?
(End of this chapter)