Chapter 33: A Headless General—How Can He Rest in Peace?
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“Company Commander Ma! Company Commander Ma!”
The cavalry messenger raised his right hand and called out in a ringing voice, “Company Commander Ma!”
The man at the head of the column raised a hand. The cavalry company halted at once.
Seeing the column stop, the messenger from headquarters spotted Ma Keying’s position.
He immediately dismounted, jogged over to Ma Keying’s horse, and saluted.
Ma Keying was a Hui from Gansu.
In 1926, while still a student, he had heard of the Wan County Massacre and changed his name to Keying.
The British had not even been driven away before the Japanese bastards arrived once more.
Raised on horseback from childhood and well educated, he was thoroughly familiar with cavalry training and tactics.
He had been personally appointed cavalry-company commander by Chu Yunfei.
Now, with a saber hanging from his waist and his bearing bold and spirited, he looked like a great general of ancient times.
After the two sides exchanged salutes, the messenger got straight to the point.
“Company Commander Ma, the regiment commander orders the cavalry company to rush to Yuanping at once!”
Ma Keying nodded, visibly excited. “Understood!”
After saluting, the cavalry messenger turned his horse and prepared to return with the report.
“Commander, what’s the situation in Yuanping?”
“What else could it be? The Japanese must have attacked!”
Ma Keying wheeled his horse around immediately, raising his voice.
“Brothers, the chance to win glory and make our names has arrived!”
“Full speed ahead!”
“Giddy-up!”
..............
The eleventh.
Within Yuanping City.
Several shell craters in the middle of the main street were strewn with bodies.
An eerie silence hung over the surroundings as the main Japanese force swaggered into the city.
Of the more than five thousand officers and men of the 196th Brigade, barely two hundred had managed to withdraw from the city.
Chief of Staff Gu, Regiment Commander Xie, and Regiment Commander Li had all fallen.
Brigade Commander Jiang Yuzhen was in poor condition. Already wounded before this, his face was now deathly pale.
Fewer than ten men remained inside the city.
Huang Hongyou, commander of the special service platoon, directed the soldiers to take turns supporting the brigade commander.
They moved him out through a breach dug in advance through the city wall.
He was too powerfully built, and the soldiers had to keep switching places.
“Quick, let me take over!”
“Everyone else, watch out for the Japanese behind us!”
“We’ll be safe once we’re outside the city. It’s all cornfields here; the Japanese won’t spot us!”
“Why isn’t the brigade commander moving?”
Hearing this, Huang Hongyou hurriedly reached out a finger to check him.
“It’s nothing. He’s probably just exhausted!”
“Platoon commander, Japanese tanks are coming, and there’s cavalry too!”
“Move, move!”
“Bang!”
A gunshot rang out, and one of the guards beside them crumpled to the ground.
“Retreat!”
“He’s dead. Don’t look—keep moving!”
“Boom!”
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A shell exploded. Two guards and Brigade Commander Jiang Yuzhen were hurled to the ground together.
Blood covered the earth, and the two soldiers died on the spot.
Jiang Yuzhen’s right leg had been blown off as well.
“Brigade Commander!”
The Japanese were closing in.
Huang Hongyou stepped forward to help him up.
Despite his grievous wounds, Brigade Commander Jiang Yuzhen summoned strength from somewhere and broke free.
“Leave! All of you, leave!”
“Brigade Commander!”
Jiang Yuzhen gasped heavily. “Go!”
“Brigade Commander, we won’t leave you!”
“Retreat!”
Seeing that Huang Hongyou still refused to move, Jiang Yuzhen tried to help him to his feet.
Huang Hongyou immediately rejected him in a stern voice.
“That is an order! Are you refusing to obey my orders, Huang Hongyou? I order you to preserve a remnant of the 196th Brigade!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Withdraw!”
The last five or six soldiers continued forward under Huang Hongyou’s command.
A short while later, the Japanese caught up. Before the fallen Brigade Commander Jiang Yuzhen could even raise his pistol, a Japanese bayonet pierced his chest.
After the inhuman Japanese officer confirmed his identity, he severed Jiang Yuzhen’s head while Huang Hongyou and the others watched.
“Brigade Commander!”
“Go to hell, you Japanese bastards!”
Huang Hongyou’s eyes were bloodshot. He seized the soldier beside him and held him back.
“Wait. We have to find a way to recover the brigade commander’s body!”
“Platoon commander, there are too many Japanese!”
Swarming Japanese soldiers gathered around the officer holding the severed head.
The perverse Japanese raised their thumbs in praise. For a moment, laughter and cheering rang through the air.
It sounded unbearably shrill.
“Damn them!”
“Those bastards!”
The soldiers stared with eyes nearly splitting from rage.
“Platoon commander!”
“Wait until they leave. Just wait!”
Huang Hongyou gnashed his teeth and clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms, drawing beads of blood.
After the Japanese departed, Huang Hongyou and the others cautiously crept forward.
They placed the general’s body on a stretcher and, shielded by the fields, continued retreating toward the northwest.
Three hours later.
The clatter of hoofbeats arose in the distance.
Several guards hurriedly went on alert, while the soldiers hid the body in the crops beside the road.
The cavalry company of the 358th Regiment came galloping at full speed.
Seeing that the newcomers wore the uniforms of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, Huang Hongyou hesitated for a moment before calling out loudly.
“Wait!”
The soldiers aimed their rifles toward the source of the voice.
“Who’s there?”
“Come out!”
Some of the soldiers swiftly dismounted and seized the high ground on both sides of the road.
They worked the bolts of their Czech light machine guns and loaded them, keeping watch over the surroundings.
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Huang Hongyou raised both hands and emerged from the fields.
He was covered in blood and gunpowder residue. The strong stench made the nearby warhorses snort uneasily.
An old squad leader called out in a deep voice, “Which unit are you from?”
“Special Service Platoon Commander Huang Hongyou, 196th Brigade, 34th Army.”
“Friendly forces!”
“We’re the cavalry company of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army’s 358th Regiment.”
Company Commander Ma Keying, who had been riding at the head of the column, wheeled his horse around, dismounted, and approached Huang Hongyou.
“Brother from the 196th Brigade, weren’t you stationed in Yuanping? How did you end up here?”
Grief covered Huang Hongyou’s face.
“Yuanping has fallen!”
“What?”
Ma Keying’s brows rose, and he let out a sigh.
The moment they had received the order, they had ridden without pause.
But they had still arrived too late.
Damn it.
Those Japanese bastards had reached Yuanping in less than half a month.
“Where is Commander Jiang?”
“The brigade commander….”
At Ma Keying’s question, Huang Hongyou could no longer hold himself together. He collapsed to the ground and broke into loud sobs.
“What are you crying about?”
Hearing the commotion, several more Shanxi-Suiyuan soldiers carrying rifles emerged from the fields.
As though he had guessed what had happened, Ma Keying strode over.
“What happened?”
Several guards stepped aside and opened a path.
Ma Keying naturally saw the headless, mutilated body on the stretcher.
At the sight, he could no longer control his emotions.
He ground his teeth, his body trembling.
“Where is Commander Jiang’s head?”
“The Japanese cut it off!”
“Those damned beasts!”
“All troops, our target is Yuanping City—”
“Commander! Commander!”
A guard rushed forward and wrapped both arms around Ma Keying’s leg.
“There are several thousand Japanese, Commander! Please, don’t act rashly!”
“Damn it, get out of my way!”
Ma Keying tried to pull free, but the guards could not bear to watch elite cavalrymen like him ride to their deaths.
“Commander, please, don’t act rashly!”
Ma Keying raised the riding crop in his hand and looked at the soldiers before him. In the end, he did not bring it down.
“Get up. I promise you—we’ll attack after the main body of the regiment arrives.”
“Commander….”
The two guards released him, but Ma Keying mounted his horse without another word.
“Leave a few men here to look after them.”
“The rest of you, follow me! We’ll avenge Brigade Commander Jiang and our fallen brothers!”
“Kill!”
Anger burned in the cavalrymen’s eyes.
They raised their sabers high. The blades flashed coldly, and their faces were filled with murderous resolve.
Led by Company Commander Ma Keying, they surged forward courageously, charging toward the small Japanese units prowling outside Yuanping City in search of the enemy….