"Regimental Commander, forgive my bluntness, but Fengtai can no longer be held. Digging in here any longer will accomplish nothing, even if Division Commander Feng sends reinforcements."
Zhu Shiqing's eyes were slightly red, his voice thick with emotion.
Sun Yi glanced sideways at Zhu Shiqing. In a daze, he realized that Zhu Shiqing was quite different from when he had first arrived at the 29th Army. It was far more than simply being a shade darker under the sun. Unless someone pointed it out, likely no one would ever suspect Zhu Shiqing was an officer sent by the central government.
"Shiqing, so many of my brothers are lying here. I can't leave. I have to stay with them." Sun Yi stretched out a rough hand, rested it gently on Zhu Shiqing's shoulder, and lowered his head as he spoke.
Though rationality was an essential trait for a staff officer, Zhu Shiqing could not remain cold and unfeeling in the face of death and parting.
When Xia Qidong had been carried back, faint sobs and whimpers still slipped from his mouth, but no one could make out what he was trying to say. All around them, men wailed continuously, tears streaming down their faces.
As more and more soldiers fell, Zhu Shiqing felt pulled back to the reception banquet in early June. Back then, they had been total strangers, and the officers and men of Sun's regiment had even harbored a measure of resentment toward him—an "urbanite" staff officer dropped in from above.
Now, most of the people who had raised cups and toasted one another at that banquet table were gone.
In just one short month, so many had passed into eternity.
Zhu Shiqing's heart twisted with agonizing grief, yet reason told him they could not stay in Fengtai. Seeing Sun Yi's despondency, Zhu Shiqing abruptly stood up and hauled Sun Yi up from the ground.
In the scuffle, the cigarette dangling from Sun Yi's lips was knocked loose, sinking into the mud.
"Regimental Commander, open your eyes and look! The fortifications are destroyed! Our brothers are either dead or wounded! Even if we hold out here, we won't delay the Japanese much longer!" Zhu Shiqing's face twitched violently. Gripping Sun Yi, he pointed at the quagmire stretching as far as the eye could see, then up toward the sky where the rain had stopped. "The skies are clearing! This afternoon, the Japanese will have artillery and air support! Regimental Commander! We have to leave!"
Sun Yi's clouded head cleared slightly under the berating. With the rain stopping across Beiping and Tianjin, the 29th Army's situation would only grow more precarious.
"The division commander ordered us to block the Japanese coming from Fengtai. He said he would send reinforcements tomorrow," Sun Yi choked out. "Shiqing, most of these men are ones I brought back from Rehe. Back then, I told them I'd lead them back home..."
Most of the 29th Army's replacement recruits had been enlisted from Shanhaiguan and Chengde before those regions fell. Now, many lay across the soil of North China, destined never to see their homelands again.
"Regimental Commander, we fall back to Shagang." Zhu Shiqing hastily pulled a sketch map from his breast pocket. Northwest along the Fengtai railway line, Shagang Village lay flanked against the tracks. "We can use the civilian houses there to build a new defense line! And we'll blow up this stretch of railway in Fengtai!"
Sun Yi looked at the spot Zhu Shiqing indicated, faint memories of passing through Shagang surfacing in his mind. It was indeed a viable plan, yet he still hesitated.
"Let me check in with the division commander first."
Sun Yi retrieved the telephone he had tossed aside earlier and cranked the handle vigorously. But when he pressed the receiver to his ear, there was utter silence.
"Damn it, cut off again!" Sun Yi slammed the telephone down beneath the platform. As if finally making up his mind, he cursed, "No more asking for orders! Alert the troops—evacuate immediately! Put the wounded in front, and carry the severely wounded on stretchers!"
"Yes, sir!"
Zhu Shiqing saluted, turned, and set off to make the arrangements.
***
At two in the afternoon, when the Watanabe Battalion swept toward Fengtai Station once more, the entire station was deserted. The Japanese vanguard advanced cautiously through the eerie silence, searching step by step.
Only when the Japanese soldiers spotted twisted sections of rail and sheet metal scattered across the ground did they confirm that the Chinese forces had pulled out, blowing up the railway tracks as they left.
Major Watanabe was not angry. During the morning's clashes with this Chinese force, his own battalion had sustained no small number of casualties. He had even marveled that the Northwest Army was truly a fierce force. Capturing Fengtai without shedding another drop of blood was enough for Watanabe to immediately report the "victory" to Regimental Commander Ozawa.
The fall of Fengtai objectively put the defenses of Beiping and Tianjin at a disadvantage, though the adverse impact fell not on Wanping, but on Beiping.
By taking Fengtai, the Japanese opened the transport corridor between Tongxian and Beiping. This meant puppet troops would soon reach the front lines to join the fighting as well.
For now, however, the 219th Regiment had no time to worry about anything else. The entire regiment rushed to withdraw to Shagang, twenty li east of Wanping.
The afternoon unfolded in a simple chase: Sun's regiment ran in front, while Watanabe, upon receiving orders, pursued them northwest along the Fengtai railway line, intent on linking up with the Oshima Battalion at Wanping!
Fortunately, the Watanabe Battalion was not motorized; they were running on their own two feet as well. Aided by their head start and familiarity with the terrain, Sun's regiment reached Shagang first.
Shagang Village was typical of northern settlements, backed to the south and facing north. The villagers needed only to step outside their doors to see the railroad tracks—though trains rarely ran on this line. After arriving at Shagang, Sun Yi could not help but exclaim:
"Damn, good thing I listened to Zhu Shiqing. Shagang is a fine spot."
Yet the "fine spot" Sun Yi spoke of had long since become a ruined, desolate village devoid of inhabitants. Exposed walls, broken bricks, and scattered stones littered the area; walking into the village, one could hardly find a single intact house.
Sun Yi set up a temporary regimental headquarters in the relatively undamaged village office. Under the uncompromising orders they had been given, this had to be their final stand. Wanping lay right behind them; Sun Yi could retreat no further.
Peering over several waist-high earthen walls at the eastern entrance to the village, Zhu Shiqing and Fang Wenjian surveyed the terrain.
"If we had pulled back here sooner, maybe our casualties wouldn't have been so heavy." Fang Wenjian's left arm was wrapped in bandages, his right hand resting as a fist on the wall, his voice tinged with regret.
Zhu Shiqing offered a faint smile and consoled him, "Wenjian, how can anyone indulge in hindsight on the battlefield? Every decision carries risk. If we had established our defense line here from the start, the Japanese might not have attacked Wanping at all. If they had pivoted toward Beiping instead, what then?"
Fang Wenjian nodded with a sigh. "You're right. The battlefield shifts every second, and different circumstances demand different orders. Looking back on this fight, I suppose the Northwest Army's defeat was only natural."
"Why do you say that?" Zhu Shiqing lowered the binoculars Sun Yi had lent him, catching the undertone in Fang Wenjian's words.
Fang Wenjian turned, looking intently at Zhu Shiqing, and said in a heavy voice, "Shiqing, the gap between our intelligence systems is simply too wide. The Japanese can adjust their strategy instantaneously and act as a unified whole across the entire board. But the Northwest Army..."
Zhu Shiqing let out a breath. How could he not know this? In terms of communications equipment, the 29th Army only had radios at the division level. The Japanese, on the other hand, had radios for long-range communication and Type 94 radios for short-range links. When it came to gathering and relaying information, the Japanese held a crushing advantage.
"Yet I don't believe equipment is the primary factor crippling the Northwest Army," Fang Wenjian said again, his voice laden with meaning.
"Just speak plainly," Zhu Shiqing urged, growing slightly impatient.
"Nanjing sent telegrams about a great deal of that intelligence to the 29th Army long ago, but they only chose to believe what suited them. I doubt such mutual suspicion between superiors and subordinates exists within the Japanese army."
Zhu Shiqing gave Fang Wenjian a sideways glance and smiled bitterly. "You're not talking about military matters anymore. You're talking about politics."
"In China today, can military and political affairs really be separated?"
Zhu Shiqing fell silent. He had to admit Fang Wenjian was entirely correct. Mutual distrust and suspicion between the central government and regional factions inevitably led to conflicting orders and chaotic deployments.
A moment later, gazing toward the railway line that stretched into the distance before vanishing, Zhu Shiqing sighed.
"Chinese politics has a way of turning simple things complicated."
Chapter 56