Staff Officer Zhu Is Far Too Modest

The battle began at 8:37 AM, when the Japanese Watanabe Battalion launched an assault against the positions at Fengtai. The Watanabe Battalion was a standard thousand-man battalion comprising four infantry companies and a dedicated machine gun company, outnumbering the total strength of Sun's regiment at that moment. Taking the lead in the charge were the Japanese soldiers of the 1st and 3rd Companies. Advancing from the northwest and northeast, they employed wave assault tactics, pressing forward into a frontal charge against the torrential rain. What was a wave assault? It was an infantry coordination tactic commonly used by the Japanese military during frontal assaults against fortified positions. When attacking, the troops would divide into multiple squads. Upon reaching a designated offensive position during a breakthrough, each squad would dig in to provide covering fire, allowing the units behind them to push forward. The following squads would then repeat the maneuver. Across a wide front, these charges were linked like chains. The Japanese squads supported one another from mutually flanking angles as they advanced in alternating bounds, anchored by machine gunners holding the formation steady, making the tactic remarkably adaptable. Using this tactic, the Japanese forces had on many occasions inflicted severe casualty ratios on defending Chinese troops, even when attacking fortified positions. However, this tactic placed high demands on the individual soldier's capabilities. Consequently, in the later stages of the War of Resistance, as the gap in weaponry narrowed and the soldiers' quality converged, the casualty ratios between China and Japan became worlds apart compared to the opening phase of the war. The Japanese infantry surged forward, instantly embroiling both defensive lines in combat as bursts of gunfire echoed across Fengtai once more. Sun's regiment was clashing head-on with the Japanese for the first time in years. Yet with the passage of time, most veterans of the Great Wall War of Resistance were gone. The replacements who had joined since had fought plenty of minor skirmishes, but engaging the Japanese in a pitched battle of trench warfare with live steel and lead... This was their very first time. Japanese gunfire swept over the makeshift fortifications in the center first—a line cobbled together from sandbags and foxholes, where Gu Chuanning had deployed his entire company. "Bang! Bang, bang!" Facing the charging Japanese troops, the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion grew somewhat impatient after all, propping up their rifles and opening fire. Muzzle flashes from both sides showed clearly against the backdrop of the falling rain, while the reports of the guns sounded muffled. "Fucking spendthrifts, all of you!" Stationed in the middle of the trench, Gu Chuanning grabbed the soldier firing beside him and cuffed him across the head, barking, "What the hell's your hurry? You're shooting before the bastards even do—think you can hit anything from here?! Hold your fire until they're close, damn it!" Zhu Shiqing moved down the trench, pushing the soldiers' heads down one by one, shouting, "Keep your heads down! The Japs shoot damn straight—let them get close before we fire!" In a driving rain, it was no easy feat for the defenders to shoot accurately at the oncoming enemy. Even the Type 38 rifle suffered a severe decline in effective accuracy, to say nothing of Hanyang rifles or crude local firearms. Exploiting the superior effective range of their Type 38 rifles and their disciplined marksmanship, the Japanese troops were usually able to penetrate deep into a position during a charge. A dense hail of bullets poured down upon the position Gu Chuanning held, the high-velocity rounds slamming heavily into the sandbag breastworks. On a clear day, such fire would have churned up swirling clouds of dust and sand, but this was a torrential downpour! Zhu Shiqing strained with all his might to make out the approaching Japanese soldiers, but to his frustration, he could see little. Fortunately, there was no wind at the moment; had a gust kicked up, the rain would have lashed so violently that neither side would have been able to keep their eyes open. "Company Commander Gu! Hold fire until they're within a hundred meters!" Zhu Shiqing scrambled over to Gu Chuanning's side, shielding his brow with both hands as he peered into the distance with all his might, trying to estimate the Japanese advance speed. Fortunately, though he couldn't see their faces, that dung-yellow uniform was remarkably conspicuous. "Understood!" Gu Chuanning answered. He glanced left and right; dense as the Japanese gunfire had been, not a single man on the line had fallen yet. The heavy downpour was even more disadvantageous to the attacking Japanese; the marksmanship they took such pride in was severely degraded by the driving rain. The approaching Japanese platoon leader brandished an officer's sword, followed by a standard-bearer waving a Rising Sun flag. Moving in alternating bounds, he came straight within range of Gu Chuanning's position. Zhu Shiqing rested the Zhongzheng rifle Sun Yi had obtained for him heavily atop the sandbags, his eyes locking onto the charging Japanese platoon leader through the sights. "Company Commander Gu, I'll take out this Japanese officer. Once my shot goes off, have the men fire!" Gu Chuanning nodded and immediately passed the order down the line. But looking at the advancing Japanese, that platoon leader was crafty, staying huddled among his men and constantly on the move. Conspicuous though he was, hitting him would be no easy matter. "Staff Officer Zhu, at this distance, are you confident?" Gu Chuanning turned and asked Zhu Shiqing, who was lining up his shot. "What?" The din all around was deafening, and Zhu Shiqing couldn't hear Gu Chuanning's question clearly. He mistook it for, "Staff Officer Zhu, are you hungry?" Though baffled by such a question, he still replied, "I'm not." Gu Chuanning was dumbfounded. If he wasn't confident, why did he insist on everyone waiting for his shot? If he missed, both sides would laugh at them. Yet in the very next second, Zhu Shiqing's rifle cracked. "Bang!" The bullet flew from the muzzle straight toward the Japanese platoon leader, boring instantly into his right shoulder blade. Crouched low as he ran, the platoon leader felt searing agony arrive in the same instant as the gunshot; the tremendous impact knocked him off balance, sending him sprawling backward. "Baka! Baka!" Several nearby Japanese soldiers rushed forward to prop up their cursing leader. Having suffered no vital injury, the officer snarled, "Attack! Attack!" Meanwhile, Zhu Shiqing was baffled after the shot. He had clearly aimed for the head; to guarantee a fatal shot, he had even factored in the rain and humidity to make micro-adjustments. How the hell had he hit the arm instead...? "Damn it, you're dying today whether you like it or not!" Zhu Shiqing cursed under his breath, cycled the bolt, raised the rifle, and fired again. Drawing on the experience of his first shot, this bullet struck dead center on the Japanese officer's forehead. A bloody hole erupted in a spray of gore, splattering right onto the faces of the soldiers around him. "Lieutenant! Lieutenant!" The surrounding Japanese wailed, but they quickly dropped their officer's corpse and broke into a full sprint. "Fine shooting! Beautifully done! And here you claimed you weren't confident—you're far too modest, Staff Officer Zhu!" Gu Chuanning's eyes shone with excitement. Watching those two shots made his own hands itch for action. His right index finger already resting on the trigger, he bellowed, "Fire!" Yet this heartfelt praise was instantly drowned out by the roar of rain and the chaotic gunfire; Zhu Shiqing heard not a single word. Even so, Zhu Shiqing's persona as an aloof, deeply modest man was permanently cemented in the company commander's mind. In the days to come, Gu Chuanning would often brag to others: "Don't let Staff Officer Zhu fool you when he says he isn't confident about this or not sure of that—the man knows exactly what he's doing!" ... Within a hundred meters, every shot drew blood. Soldiers from both sides fell one after another. Under cover of their front ranks, the Japanese brought up four Type 11 light machine guns, locking down both flanks. *Da-da-da-da!* Tongues of flame licked frantically at Gu Chuanning's defensive line. Enraged by the loss of their officer, the Japanese soldiers charged with rabid fury, their bloodshot eyes fixed on the position as they closed in! Gu Chuanning stayed low, drew the broadsword from across his back, and roared, "Men of 2nd Company! Fix bayonets if you have them; draw broadswords if you don't! When the bastards get close, slaughter them all!" *Thud, thud, thud, thud...* The heavy sloshing of Japanese combat boots stomping through standing water drew closer and closer, until it sounded right in their ears! "Charge!"