Chapter 382: No Cowards in Jingzhou

Jingzhou East Gate, June 4 1942, 7:20 a. m.

The gunpowder smoke had not cleared, and the artillery fire had not ceased all night.

When a breach appeared in Jingzhou's city wall, the Japanese Army forced the townspeople inside to tear down the houses behind them to fill the gap.

This left the Huaxia army with no choice but to adjust the gun barrels and bombard other sections of the wall.

The Japanese soldiers on the tower were also suffering, having not slept a single night.

It was the rumbling artillery fire and the sheer impact of the tank column.

Once the Little Devils fell asleep, they truly had no idea whether they'd be blown up, perhaps a brief nap would send them to meet Amaterasu.

At the first sound of the opposing howitzer's shrill wail, the quick‑reacting Little Devils withdrew from that section of wall and fled to both sides.

As for those who ran slower, they became a pool of mud on Jingzhou's tower.

The horizon gradually brightened.

But on the wall came sounds more heartbreaking than the artillery—crying, pleas, children's wails, and elders' curses.

The frontline officer commanding artillery and tanks shouted once more, "Cease fire!"

"Cease fire!"

Everyone exchanged glances, unable to decide, and immediately sent someone to the rear to contact the commander.

"The Japanese Army has gone mad!" the scout shouted as he stumbled back, "They've hauled all the townspeople onto the wall! Men, women, children, all bound at the parapet!"

Hu Lian, Xu Guozhang, and Jiang Anguo looked up together.

On the Jingzhou East Gate tower, hundreds of civilians were forced to the wall edge by the Japanese Army's bayonets.

Some were in tattered clothes, some barefoot and bleeding, and a woman clutched a baby tightly, trembling all over.

Japanese soldiers wielded the Type 38 rifle, its muzzle pressed against civilians' backs, grinning like demons.

"Officer of the opposing Chinese army!" a Japanese staff officer shouted from the corner tower in halting Chinese, "Our division commander has something to say to you!"

Jiang Anguo burned with anger.

"Anguo, step back," Hu Lian blocked Jiang Anguo with one hand.

He knew that seeing this scene, Jiang Anguo would charge forward without regard for anything.

And that was exactly what the Japanese Army wanted.

Jiang Anguo's eyes turned blood‑red, his fingernails dug into his palm, bleeding.

He stared fixedly at the terrified faces on the wall, fully aware that the Japanese soldiers had gone mad and were using civilians to threaten them.

But the arrow was already on the string; it had to be released!

"Bastard…" he growled through clenched teeth, his voice especially angry.

Xu Guozhang, even more incensed, snatched the guard's MP40 Submachine Gun, shouting, "I'll charge in! Save one, save another!"

"Stop!" Hu Lian barked, "You're courting death! The Little Devils are waiting for you to charge!"

Hu Lian knew well that in this Yichang battle, as well as Dangyang, Jingmen, and present‑day Jingzhou, the backbone remained Jiang Anguo; he could not afford any mishap.

Xu Guozhang was held tightly by two guards, yet he struggled and roared, "What then? Watching them use civilians as human shields?!"

Hu Lian inhaled deeply, straightened his cap, and strode forward, "I'll go."

He turned to Xu Guozhang, gave a slight nod—no words needed.

The 11th Division garrisoned Shipa, a directly subordinate unit with strong combat power, and it lay adjacent to the Japanese‑occupied Yichang.

Within the Japanese 11th Army, everyone knew the name "Hu Lian."

If he spoke, the other side would at least listen.

"Our division commander has spoken!" the Japanese staff officer continued, "If you withdraw five li beyond the wall and do not assault the city before noon today, we will release all the civilians! Otherwise…" he sneered, "We'll first kill a hundred people as a flag sacrifice!"

Hu Lian looked up, his voice thundering, "Impossible! Two nations at war cannot use civilians as hostages; you are worse than beasts!"

"Since your superior says it's impossible…" the staff officer chuckled ominously, "Then we'll have to kill a batch of 'prisoners of war' first."

Cunning!

They deliberately labeled the civilians as 'prisoners of war' to blur identities and leave room for exoneration in future military tribunals.

"You are not human!" Hu Lian shouted angrily.

At that moment.

On the tower, an elderly man with a two‑foot whisker beard suddenly broke free from the Little Devils' grip and stepped onto the parapet. He wore a coarse linen robe, his bones thin, yet his back was perfectly straight.

"Commander!" he shouted loudly, his voice cutting through the smoke, "The Little Devils try to threaten us, but we cannot be cowards!"

He looked around at the civilians, tears in his eyes yet smiling, "Remember! We are Chinese! Prefer death to surrender!"

Then, he raised his arm and shouted:

"Long live the nation! Long live the resistance!"

Before the words finished, he leapt forward!

Bang!

Blood splattered the blue bricks, a corpse lay across the moat bank.

The whole scene fell into dead silence.

The elder's surname was Guan, his given name now unrecorded. Yet at that moment, he became the embodiment of countless who would not become enslaved by a fallen nation.

As if ignited, the civilians on the tower scrambled to rise.

"I'm not going to live!"

"Fight the Little Devils!"

"Commander! Avenge us!"

One after another, they jumped off the wall!

There were youths, women, and teenagers…

They tore apart the Japanese Army's plot in the most brutal way.

Sasaki could not believe that Huaxia people would actually leap from the city walls; he stayed hidden behind, observing the situation of the opposing Chinese army.

Alas, the Chinese army seemed not to have abandoned its plan to attack Jingzhou.

Sasaki showed a flash of ruthlessness; it was clear that the opposing Chinese army hesitated, and the Tank and Artillery both ceased their attack.

His own idea worked.

Originally he intended to stall for time so that the main force of the 39th Division could withdraw from Jingzhou, but now it seems a decisive battle with the Chinese army in Jingzhou is inevitable.

Jiang Anguo trembled all over, and tears finally slipped down.

"Damn it!" Jiang Anguo hadn't expected the Little Devil to be so despicable.

He closed his eyes; Jiang Anguo could not bear to watch—the Little Devil was truly hateful, practically a pack of beasts.

At that moment Xiao Si rushed over to Jiang Anguo's side, "Young Master, the Guard Company over there has reached the designated combat position and can launch the attack."

It turned out that Jiang Anguo's Guard Company vanished after marching south from Wuli Pu to Tai Bo Lake; instead they rode landing craft, circled Jingzhou along the lake, and arrived at the South Gate watergate of Jingnan.

"Xiao Si, order Jiang Xingxue to launch an attack on Jingzhou."

He had imagined the Japanese Army's cruelty, but never expected it to be so utterly inhuman.

Moreover, he did not anticipate that the civilians would choose death to demonstrate resolve, preferring to let the city fall rather than serve the enemy!

Hu Lian and Xu Guozhang knew about the unit Jiang Anguo sent out; it was small, just over three hundred men, and they were unsure whether it could play a role at the critical moment.

Now the morale of the Huaxia forces here has been completely ignited by the Japanese Army.

"Anguo…" Hu Lian's voice was low, "Now it's our turn."

Jiang Anguo suddenly turned, the fury in his eyes turning to ice.

He seized the field telephone, his voice like iron:

"Artillery Company! Tank Company! Hear my command: all firepower, cover the top of Jingzhou's city walls! Focus on the bastions and Corner Towers! No Japanese soldier is allowed to ascend the city towers again!"

"I want not a single Little Devil in Jingzhou city to escape."

"But… the civilians are still up there!" the communications soldier warned tremblingly.

"There are no civilians left." Jiang Anguo closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, only resolve remained, "They used their lives to tell us, this is the Huaxia people's backbone!"