Chapter 340: Prepare All for Jade‑Shatter

In less than two days, the Chinese army repeatedly launched attacks around Xiaoting, moving east to Baiyang Town, north against the 116th Regiment, and west into Xiaoting.

Though it appears chaotic, in fact each move is methodical.

The Chinese army is not rushing a full assault on Yichang; instead it uses small detachments to lure the Japanese army into sending reinforcements, then ambushes them en route, annihilating the arriving forces one by one. In just 48 hours, two regiments have been heavily damaged while rushing to aid, with casualties exceeding a thousand.

The only mobile force, the Independent Mixed 17th Brigade, was also dispatched to Xiaoting by Neishan Yingtai Lang.

Now, Yichang has become an isolated island; the outer reinforcement troops are exhausted, and the city's internal supply line has been completely severed…

"They are fighting to break the siege," Xiao Lin murmured, cold sweat sliding down his temple hairline, "They… had planned this long ago."

Neishan Yingtai Lang remained silent for a long while. As one of the few calm officers in the Imperial Army, he knew panic would only hasten defeat. He took a deep breath, forced himself to stay composed, and turned, striding toward the communications room.

"Send an immediate telegram to the Wuhan Command!" he said, his voice low yet decisive. "The message reads: 'The Chinese army's air force is carrying out a massive bombing of our Yichang, destroying all dock facilities and cutting off supplies. The enemy is fierce, possibly preparing a general assault. We earnestly request Commander A Naganuma's tactical guidance and urgent reinforcement!'"

The telegraph operator's fingers hammered the keys rapidly, the tick‑tack Morse code sounding especially harsh in the silent command post.

Neishan Yingtai Lang knew that merely requesting aid was insufficient. Wuhan lies over three hundred li away; even if A Naganuma ordered immediately, the fastest reinforcements would need two days to arrive. Under the current situation, Yichang could not hold out another forty‑eight hours.

He spun around, his gaze like a blade: "Send another telegram to Jingzhou! Request that Commander Zuozuo Mu of the 39th Division come at once, immediately lead the main force to rush aid to Yichang! Spare no cost; they must reach the city outskirts before noon tomorrow!"

"Hai!" the messenger shouted, standing to attention and then sprinting away.

Neishan returned to the map, his finger pressing heavily on the words 'Xiaoting.' That spot is precisely the area where the Chinese army habitually sets ambushes. If Zuozuo Mu were to advance rashly, he would likely repeat the same mistake.

But he had no choice: without sending aid, Yichang would fall; sending aid risked falling into a trap. It was a deadlock, and he had been forced to the edge of a cliff.

Neishan Yingtai Lang could not understand when the Chinese army had become so strong; a single division's light troops advancing recklessly were somehow holding off the Japanese army's two divisions and even daring to attack Yichang.

Outside the window, the explosions faded, but the flames had not gone out.

Neishan suddenly recalled his first entry into Yichang: the streets were cleared, civilians bowed their heads, the rising sun flag hung high on the city tower; he had thought the city was completely subjugated. Yet sooner or later that mountain city would also raise the rising sun flag.

The messenger staggered, almost tripping as he rushed into the command post.

He wore his cap askew, his shoulders dusted with ash, his chest heaving wildly, having just sprinted from the front line—surviving that bombing was no small feat. Before he could steady himself, he shouted, "Division Commander! Across the Yangtze River, on Moji Shan, a Chinese army flag has suddenly risen! On the River Surface… Chinese army gunboats have appeared! They are steaming at full speed toward Yichang!"

The room fell into sudden dead silence.

Standing before the map, Neishan Yingtai Lang turned slowly, his face showing not a hint of surprise, only a near‑calm. He had long anticipated this. Moji Shan guards the southern bank of the Yangtze River, its lofty terrain overlooking the whole city, historically a strategic hotspot.

"Yo, so that's it!" Neishan Yingtai Lang finally understood: the Chinese army had captured Moji Shan in the morning, and the 'Japanese army' on Moji Shan was actually a Chinese army ruse.

If the enemy plants a flag there, it means they have not only completed the outer sweep but also gained the ability to shell the city directly.

The appearance of the gunboats announced the complete collapse of the waterway blockade; the Huaxia army finally showed its fangs.

The transport vessels at Yichang's dock were all small boats, while the gunboats, which had followed the 104th Regiment to support Yueyang's Hai Fu Three Thousand Heroes, sank beneath the Yangtze River.

Going to feed the fish.

"What was destined to come has finally arrived," he muttered softly, his voice so faint it was almost swallowed by the wind outside.

Just half an hour earlier, he had ordered all upstream pontoon bridges destroyed, believing it would temporarily delay the enemy's river crossing.

He had always assumed the enemy would attack from the north, because there the Chinese army's main force— the 18th Army's 11th Division—was garrisoned at the Shipa fortress.

But now it seemed the opponent didn't need pontoon bridges at all. They had destroyers and gunboats.

The blue‑white‑red rising sun flag fluttering atop Moji Shan was like a provocation of the Greater Japan Empire's authority.

Neishan walked to the window and pushed open the half‑closed louvered shutters.

The cannon fire outside roared; this did not look like a single Chinese infantry division attacking Yichang, but rather a corps, perhaps even larger forces, assaulting the city.

Thud!

The muffled sound reached Neishan Yingtai Lang, "Nani, what is that sound?"

The war drum's dull thud, even louder than the roaring artillery, echoed across half the sky.

In the distance, the Yangtze River spanned the heavens, and on the opposite mountain peak, that tricolor of blue, white and red stood strikingly vivid in the dusk.

He suddenly recalled the grand sight of Imperial Navy warships lining up like a forest during the Tokyo Bay review.

Back then, everyone believed "the Imperial Army was invincible." Yet now, even a small inland town could not be held?

"Division Commander…" Chief of Staff Xiao Lin Xinnan began, then stopped, his eyes filled with despair.

He knew that once Moji Shan fell, the entire southwestern side of Yichang would be fully exposed to enemy artillery.

Neishan did not look back.

After a long silence, he finally spoke, his voice low: "Order all units to prepare for a jade‑shatter."

The utterance of 'jade‑shatter' sent a chill through the 13th Division Staff.

This was the Imperial Army's most tragic final order: no retreat, no surrender, fight to the death until the last man. It meant abandoning breakout, abandoning aid, even abandoning hope of survival, embodying the ultimate loyalty of Bushido with flesh and blood.

In other words, a bunch of lunatics!

"Hai!" the messenger lowered his head in obedience, his voice trembling. He dared not look up, fearing the Division Commander would see the terror in his eyes. Yet his hands shook, his back soaked with cold sweat.

Jianta Lang was only nineteen, from a fishing village in Sendai, and had never left his hometown before enlisting.

He did not want to die in this unfamiliar Chinese city, nor to 'jade‑shatter'; that was no honor.

Jianta Lang now only wanted to go home.

But he knew that any hesitation now was a death sentence. He turned and hurried away, his steps heavy.

Inside the command post, everyone stared at each other, no one daring to speak.

Thud!

It was the sound of heavy artillery, Neishan Yingtai Lang knew perfectly, the caliber at least 150 mm.

And from that sound, it was clear it came from the direction of Moji Shan on the southern bank of the Yangtze.

Boom!

The explosion overturned a Japanese position outside Yichang, and in an instant dozens of shells fell simultaneously, the scene spectacular.

A grand fireworks display!