Chapter 221: A Turning Point (Part 1)

Ye Chenglin still retained the bold spirit he had back in his days of leading troops across ten provinces. He casually grabbed two grenades and somehow obtained a small explosive pack, then rushed forward.
“The brigade commander is leading the charge!”
Seeing their supreme commander ready to throw grenades and explosive packs personally, the regiment and battalion commanders of the Black Flag Army dared not slack off. They almost immediately rushed forward with their explosive packs, shouting, “Follow me!”
With their fierce determination, the Black Flag Army’s momentum crushed the last remnants of the Japanese army’s fighting spirit. Several advancing infantry units were pushed back almost simultaneously.
The Japanese artillery even launched relentless bombardments, targeting the battlefield even when enemies were already at close range, but this still couldn’t stop the Black Flag Army’s fierce assault.
The remaining Japanese forces were forced back in front of the Black Flag Army’s positions, with anyone or anything that moved coming under fire.
Although the Japanese deployed another infantry brigade to attack, they were pushed back over a hundred meters by the intense fire of the Black Flag Army. Worse still, the Japanese artillery had run out of shells.
“Why aren’t you firing?” Nogi Maresuke charged at the artillery position with his sword, shouting, “Fire! Fire! We still have thousands of men on the battlefield!”
“Your Excellency, we have no more shells!”
The artillery officer lowered his head, unable to face the sharp edge of the sword. “We’ve done our best!”
It must be said that the Japanese artillery performed well, causing significant damage to the Black Flag Army. But after firing their last shell, they could no longer pull off any miracles.
“No shells left? When will more be delivered? When?”
The battle had lasted less than an hour, and six battalions had already been shattered by the Black Flag Army’s firepower. He slashed his sword against the cannon barrel. “When?”
“We’ve even used the shells meant for suicide attacks!” an artillery officer said, wiping sweat from his face. “We’ve done our best. Some shells should arrive in an hour, but each cannon can fire only two to three shells at most…”
These words shattered Nogi Maresuke’s hopes of turning the tide that day. In a daze, he threw his ancestral sword to the ground. “I… I… I…”
He was speechless. Ahead lay a sea of corpses—rows upon rows of Japanese dead, with no end in sight.
……
“A total of 850 killed, 1,820 missing, and 1,341 seriously injured…”
The Japanese statistics excluded those with minor injuries, but everyone knew just how dire the situation was. The so-called “missing” were either destroyed by the Black Flag Army’s attacks or annihilated by advancing too far. Only a few were captured, but those 1,820 missing were almost certainly dead.
Even the 1,341 seriously injured figure was likely inflated—this was only the number admitted to field hospitals, as dozens more died every hour.

Relatively speaking, although the Black Flag Army also claimed 900 casualties, only 220 were killed, and half of the wounded suffered minor injuries and continued to fight. Yet even without knowing the exact casualties of the Black Flag Army, Oyama Iwao still felt an urge to commit seppuku. From the Meiji Restoration to the Southwest War, the Imperial Army had never suffered such heavy losses. Thinking of the 2,700 martyrs watching over him, he didn’t know how to describe his feelings. This had originally been supposed to be a simple expedition! The tough Nogi Maresuke could no longer hold on: “Oyama-kun, let’s tell our British friends…” “No!” Oyama Iwao shouted. “Tell the British friends that we paid a huge price of 850 dead for their cause!” He refused to admit defeat; this man possessed a determination as firm as his name: “If we attack again, we will surely succeed!” Soon, the Japanese attributed their defeat in this battle to poor organization of their artillery. That very day, they wrote up a battle report: “Overall, the Black Flag Army deployed over 100 large and small guns, along with several Maxim machine guns… The number of guns was several times that of our army, and the total number of shells fired was 20 times that of ours…” The Japanese conclusion pinned all the reasons for failure on one factor—lack of artillery superiority—claiming it was the only reason. Being at a disadvantage in firepower was the sole cause of defeat, but this could be made up for in future battles. After all, as an emerging country in East Asia, Japan still had a foundation in artillery. In this battle, fewer than half of the Japanese artillery units arrived at the battlefield, and each gun had fewer than a basic supply of shells. According to Oyama Iwao, if only the artillery had been in place with sufficient shells, the Japanese would never have lost so badly. “We need to request eleven more artillery squadrons from the headquarters, and 150,000 shells… Without these, we are doomed to fail!” However, Oyama Iwao and Nogi Maresuke still had a bit of luck. The next day, they received good news—the British attack also failed, at a heavy cost of 700 casualties. They had fought against another unit of the Black Flag Army. Although the British didn’t suffer 4,000 casualties like the Japanese, 700 casualties were enough to make them stop their attack. The British had too few resources, and this defeat outweighed all their previous casualties combined. The two armies of different races not only stopped advancing on Dongguan but also retreated over 50 kilometers to shorten their supply lines, while continuously evacuating the wounded and dead and replenishing troops and ammunition. Both sides resumed small-scale fighting. The Black Flag Army also suffered heavy losses in previous battles; they replenished their forces and ammunition on the spot while sending small units forward to scout. For the Anglo-Japanese allied forces, it was a shameful setback.

But for Craig, when he learned that both the Anglo-Japanese forces and the French army’s northern advance had failed, he believed the war was over. The war between the Anglo-Japanese forces and the Black Flag Army might drag on for a long time, but with the attempt to advance into northern Vietnam thwarted by the Black Flag Army and the Anglo-Japanese forces defeated in a massive battle, France could no longer bear such heavy losses. He turned to Liu, the merchant, and said, “Speak! What concessions can you make at most…” He lowered his voice and added, “What’s in it for me?”