A Traitor Within!

The crack of gunfire at Guang'anmen was like a sharp steel blade, plunging straight into the heart of the 29th Army. All that had happened that day—the security forces changing uniforms, the suppression of anti-Japanese acts, the troops marching out of the city—seemed like one gigantic joke. The hope of peace talks with Katsuki Kiyoshi had vanished into thin air in less than twenty-four hours. Just as uneasy were the common people inside the city of Beiping. Never had gunfire and artillery sounded so close to this ancient city. During the first stage of the fighting, the ordinary folk had only known that intense battles were raging in Beiyuan and Nanyuan, and out west in Wanping. But right now, the shots were ringing out right in front of Guang'anmen, and people down almost the entire street were jolted awake by the fierce clatter of combat. On the deserted streets, many stepped out barefoot to gaze westward, where they could faintly see glimmers of light flickering atop the gate tower. Even more chose to shutter their doors and windows tight, instinctively trapping themselves inside cramped spaces to seek a sense of psychological safety. At the Military Training Corps encampment, Sun Yi had not been asleep long when the uproar startled him awake. Throwing on a jacket, he hurried toward regimental headquarters in long strides, crossing paths with Zhu Shiqing and the others who were also rushing there. "What's the situation? The Japanese attacking?" Sun Yi fumbled with his buttons as he shoved open the doors to regimental headquarters with a crash. He dropped into a chair by the long table in the central hall, and the others followed him in and took their seats one after another. Xiang Chengyu, right behind him, replied, "I've already sent men to check the city gate. I'm afraid it really is a Japanese night raid. My guess is, if Guang'anmen can't hold, the security regiment will pull us in to plug the gap." "Damn it! They just agreed to a ceasefire yesterday, and it's not even fucking dawn yet! These little Japanese bastards really are..." Sun Yi leaned over a corner of the table, circled Guang'anmen on the map with a pencil, and called Zhu Shiqing over. "Shiqing, this is damned strange. How on earth did the Japanese hit Guang'anmen? Isn't the main Japanese force down in Nanyuan?" Zhu Shiqing leaned in for a closer look. The Japanese movement was indeed suspicious. Unless the Japanese troops from the Wanping direction had pushed east from their newly captured Lugou Bridge Railway Station, how else could one explain where this force had come from? Yet if it truly were the Japanese from Wanping, how could their motive be explained? How could Wanping's walls compare to Beiping's? If they couldn't even chew through Wanping, did they really expect to take Guang'anmen? "Japanese operations have always been meticulously planned," Zhu Shiqing said hesitantly, though offering no definitive conclusion. "For them to attack Guang'anmen now, they either have full confidence they can break into Beiping proper, or they're acting in coordination to support another thrust." Sun Yi drew two deep breaths, irritation boiling up within him. He slammed his fist down onto the tabletop, startling several officers into leaning back. "Dammit! Hearing you say that doesn't help me either. Army headquarters has already moved away—how the hell are we supposed to know what's happening anywhere else?" "Report! Regimental Commander!" A boy dashed in like a gust of wind, stopping behind the group. Panting heavily, his hands on his hips and his back hunched, he gasped out, "Regimental Commander! Guang'anmen has fallen!" "Bullshit!" Sun Yi nearly leaped out of his chair. Facing this newly appointed messenger, he could hardly believe what the kid was saying. "Xiao Liu, you don't mess around with talk like that! Guang'anmen's walls are towering and thick—how many men could the Japanese possibly have to break straight through?" "It's true, it's true! The gate opened! The Japanese are swarming in! From a distance, I saw the Japs charging through the gate archway in formation!" Clutching his chest, his voice trembling, the messenger gasped. It was evident he had just sprinted several hundred meters at top speed. Sun Yi knew that the Military Training Corps camp was the closest to Guang'anmen. Originally, he had placed the camp a bit further back precisely so these kids would be spared entering combat too soon. Who would have thought they would now be the first thrown onto the battlefield? But with the situation critical, Sun Yi issued his orders without delay: "Xiang Chengyu, take a battalion to the city gate right now and keep eyes on it! Our brothers at the gate can't all be dead. You hold those Japanese outside that archway no matter what! Don't let a single Japanese swine through!" "Tan Hai, take two companies and set up a defense along Guang'anmen Great Street. Lock down the surrounding hutongs while you're at it! If any Japanese slip into the city, I'll have you fucking shot!" ... Watching the two battalion commanders leave, Zhu Shiqing hurriedly volunteered to Sun Yi, "Regimental Commander, I want to head up front and see for myself. By all rights, there is no way Guang'anmen could fall to the Japanese so easily. Something else must be going on." Sun Yi looked him up and down, then nodded. "All right. I'll assign the guard squad to you. These boys are treasures I handpicked from that batch of youngsters—don't you dare stick them on the front line to catch bullets!" "Thank you, Regimental Commander!" Because they existed under the designation of a Military Training Corps, none of the officers or men in Sun's regiment had uniforms, ranks, breast badges, or armbands. They were all uniformly dressed in light blue drill uniforms. Apart from verbal titles of battalion and company commanders, everyone in the unit wore the exact same attire. Sun Yi led Zhu Shiqing and Fang Wenjian out of the headquarters and instructed Xiao Liu, "Xiao Liu, go fetch the guard squad and have them report to Staff Officer Zhu. Tell them to listen closely to Staff Officer Zhu and Staff Officer Fang, and not to make decisions on their own if anything happens!" "Yes, sir!" Having sent the messenger off, Sun Yi returned to regimental headquarters alone. He picked up the telephone and cranked the handle to call the command office of the Beiping Garrison Security Regiment, but no one answered. Furious, Sun Yi slammed his hand down on the table once more. Atop the Guang'anmen gate tower, the bodies of Chinese soldiers in police uniforms already lay scattered about. Somehow, the Japanese had broken through the gate. In squads, they began infiltrating into the city. Under the cover of darkness, both sides engaged in fierce combat along the street, sparks flying in every direction amid screams and wails of pain. Leading the guard squad, Zhu Shiqing advanced toward Guang'anmen from behind the Printing Bureau. When they first entered the city, Fang Wenjian had carefully checked the local terrain; following this route would take them directly to the flank of Guang'anmen. After a rapid march, faint light appeared along the flank of Guang'anmen, but as Zhu Shiqing peered forward, his head nearly exploded in shock. The black of the police uniforms blended with the darkness of the night, making it impossible to tell how many of their own men were left. All that could be seen was a ferocious tug-of-war beneath the gate tower. From the side, one could see the bayonets fixed to the Japanese Type 38 rifles; they appeared fully confident in engaging the Chinese troops in hand-to-hand combat. The city gate leaned askew to one side, yet bore no sign of damage, and from Yingtaoyuan all the way to the gate, not a single heavy explosion had been heard. As more and more Japanese troops poured in, the gunfire on the street grew increasingly dense. Zhu Shiqing led his squad from Qianmian Hutong onto Guang'anmen Great Street, directly facing the concentrated fire pouring from the Japanese ranks. "Everyone, get to the sides! Find cover, keep your heads down!" Zhu Shiqing barked, gesturing sharply to the left. The young soldiers were sharp enough: cradling their rifles, they used the various implements lining the left side of the street and the brick shop walls for cover. Zhu Shiqing then instructed Fang Wenjian to creep forward a few paces to get a closer look at the situation. Crouching low, Fang Wenjian edged forward several paces along the foot of the wall on the left, finally making out some details: The police from the gate tower were hurrying down toward the street, but the Japanese had already sealed off the inner side of the gate tower. The two sides were exchanging fire. Along the main stretch of Guang'anmen Great Street, soldiers who had apparently descended a step earlier were putting up stubborn resistance, but hopelessly outnumbered, they were being forced back step by step. "Ugh! Ah!" As Fang moved, a soldier shot in the leg collapsed right beside his feet. Fang quickly dropped to a crouch, ripped a strip of cloth from his clothes, and pressed it hard against the soldier's left leg, making the man cry out in agony. "You're all right, brother, you're all right," Fang Wenjian consoled him, but quickly pressed, "Brother, are you police or security corps?" "Security corps!" "The Japanese didn't shell the gate—how the hell did it open?" Fang Wenjian asked urgently. "We don't know either! It seemed like the police downstairs opened it!" The soldier's face twitched violently with pain. He could only recall that earlier on the gate tower, the two sides had still been in a standoff when the Japanese suddenly mounted a charge right beneath the gate. At first, the brothers up on the tower hadn't thought much of it, never imagining that the next moment they would hear Japanese voices shouting from inside the city! Fang Wenjian said nothing. He cast a swift glance at their surroundings, then looked down at the soldier slumped against him, muttering helplessly, "Damn it, can't tell a thing in the dark—you're wearing a police uniform yourself!" Nearly sobbing, the soldier choked out hoarsely, "Our captain is dead too. We clearly checked the gate... We don't know how the Japanese got in..." Fang Wenjian could not linger to say more. Urging him to "keep pressure on the wound," he spun around and dashed like the wind back into the alley. Finding Zhu Shiqing, he said with absolute certainty: "Shiqing, our own people definitely opened the gate. There's without a doubt a traitor working for the Japanese inside!"