Duty is heavier than a mountain;
Death is lighter than a feather.
The International Settlement incident stayed with Hideki a long time. The head lopped off and fell like it was a sack of water. It bounced and rolled, spraying blood as it tumbled, before nestling among the rocks and boulders on the ground, the expression on its face was one of…shock and disbelief. Shigeru was bad enough with his throat cut open. His face had the same look to it. Is death meaningless?
Hideki would never forget the sound of Chiang’s execution: the spurting of escaping blood, the flop of the head to the ground, and the gurgling afterward. The image came back to him time and time again in his dreams. One made him laugh out loud: the head dropped, rolled, and ended face up, eyes open and staring at him. Then it started talking to him. “I am Chiang, and I am a human being,” it said clear as a bell. And then it blubbered incomprehensibly. Hideki burst out laughing in his dreamscape. He woke up in a cold sweat.
The night surrounded him, and the snores of his fellow soldiers reverberated in the darkness. He uncovered and shifted his legs over the side of the bunk to be flat-footed on the floor. He then slumped in contemplation. He knew the sergeant could be cruel, but he never imagined he could be so brutal. His acts to discipline them had some purpose at least, but this…this execution meant nothing. No conscience, no compassion, and certainly no hesitation. The Sergeant’s body odour from exertion rose in the still air.
Surely the Emperor didn’t want this, Hideki considered to himself. The generals must’ve come up with the Three Alls. He knew his duty to Him, but he ruminated on the Buddha’s call for benevolence, for gratitude, for grace.
The Chinese were the enemy, and those in Shanghai were bent on resistance, killing as many Japanese as possible in the hope of demoralizing the invading force. But surely, they knew that was impossible. We are here to stay, he thought. Yet all our lives are meaningless.
The horror of the moment, however, made him sweat and tremble like he had the plague.
***
It was fortunate for Hideki that he was never called on to perform a beheading or any other atrocity while in Shanghai. He did witness some.
On another occasion, the patrol discovered the unofficial mayor of the Settlement, a Fat Chow Yang. He was a short, rotund man. His rosy cheeks attested to his jolly reputation. Hideki thought him pleasant, but it was clear the “mayor” was scared as the sergeant dragged him out of the old and ruined bank building where he was found. He then ordered him tied to a chair in the middle of the street.
Sgt. Hayashi turned away as Iguchi approached the hapless victim.
“Where is the gang known as the ‘Axe men’?” Hayashi asked loudly, his voice pinging off the surrounding walls.
Iguchi translated.
“I…I don’t know,” he answered to which Iguchi flexed his arm muscles and struck the man across the face.
“I ask again—”
“I said…I don’t know…”
To which Iguchi struck him again and again. Hideki watched and wanted the beating to stop but could do nothing. How could this cherub of a man know anything? he wondered.
The beating became torture as it went on to for another half hour. Chow Yang was unconscious, his face pulpy and bloody.
“Revive him,” Sgt. Hayashi ordered.
Hideki took out his water canteen and tilted Chow Yung’s face upwards. He gently poured a trickle into the mouth.
“Baka!” the sergeant screamed and grabbed the canteen away from Hideki. He glared at him with murder in his eyes.
“Don’t coddle him,” he said as he poured the contents over the man’s head, instantly bringing him around.
The man screamed awake as Iguchi brought a knife to his neck. The sergeant stood in front. “You’ll tell me what I want to know, or this good man will cut your throat.”
“All right, all right,” he gasped. “The Axe Men meet at the Suzhou Creek every other night. I don’t know if all of them show up but a good number.”
“The Double Snake River?” said the sergeant. “Where? It’s a long river.”
Hideki stood astonished.
“Near the Waibaidu Bridge...at the Huangpu River.”
“I know where that is,” informed Iguchi.
“Good. Untie him.”
Hideki seized the moment. “Sir, I’ll escort the mayor back inside.”
Sgt. Hayashi glared at him again and then laughed, a good loud laugh.
Hideki looked at him in shock.
“Tamaki, Tsujiyama, take him away. Iguchi, you know what to do.”
“And what is that?” Hideki asked defiantly, surprising himself.
“Well, since you ask. Iguchi will cut him, not so he’s dead but incapacitated, and the men will bury him.”
“Alive? Why?” he said with a shudder, spit hanging on his lower lip and tears welling in his eyes.
“Because of his unwillingness to co-operate.”
“But he told you…even if he had co-operated, you would’ve executed him.”
“But more mercifully.” Sgt. Hayashi guffawed in Hideki’s face. “Tamaki, you stay and Akamatsu will take your place.
“Be a soldier, you nakimushi ass.”
***
They marched, dragging the mayor along, about five kilometres away until they came to a riverbank. The wind was up and cooled their faces and bodies. A small mercy. Hideki was certain Chow Yang didn’t know what was happening since they hardly spoke and, when they did, it was in Japanese.
No one knew the name of the river, but they could see a large cruiser making its way downstream.
“That’s the Izumi,” said Tsujiyama, a young, tall, and skinny man. “I’d know that ship anywhere.” He had made a study of all the fleet as a way of passing the time. He also wanted to join the navy, but they didn’t accept him. Something about seasickness.
In a remote part away from the water. Hideki noted the nearby thick stand of trees, the view of the water, and distant landscape of soft rolling hills, a pleasant spot if not for the gruesome duty about to take place. Iguchi took a small shovel from his backpack and gave it to Chow Yang. He ordered him to dig.
The mayor suddenly understood what was happening and started to cry, loudly and uncontrollably. He fell to his knees in front of them and begged for his life, Hideki guessed.
It was gibberish to Iguchi who pulled out his knife and sliced the backs of his two legs.
The mayor screamed and rolled to the ground, grasping at his wounds.
“Akamatsu, Tsujiyama, dig!”
“You don’t have to do this,” Hideki complained. “We could just let him go and he’ll disappear into the city.”
“Yeah, and what if he’s discovered sometime? It’s our heads that’ll be coming off.” Iguchi grinned sardonically. He saw the sergeant in his face. “Now dig.”
Hideki dug a swallow grave before Iguchi said that was enough.
“Now, put the fat man in it.”
Tsujiyama and Hideki tried to pick the mayor up, but he suddenly started twisting his body, his face contorted with terror and anger.
Iguchi sprang into action, grabbing hold of one of the shovels and began striking the victim about the head. Several blows later and the man lay still and groaning; he was conscious but unable to move.
“Now bury him,” he said without emotion.
“But…but…” stammered Hideki.
Iguchi sighed and said, “Oh all right.” He then proceeded to take out his knife and slit the man’s wrists. Surprising to Hideki, the mayor only let out a quiet groan. “Okay? He’ll bleed to death now.”
The two wanted to wait but Iguchi couldn’t so he shovelled dirt on the body until he was covered. The detail of three only heard muffled choking from underneath.
Hideki kneeled on the ground sick to his stomach. He vomited.
Iguchi laughed like the devil again. “Don’t tell anyone of our mercy,” he warned with a smile.
Wiping away the debris from his face, Hideki scowled at Iguchi in disgust.
***
The “Double Snake River Battle” came soon enough. Two days after the mayor’s execution, Hideki found himself part of a force of about thirty men. Sgt. Hayashi had been told by Capt. Fujimoto that other informants said the Axe Men would be amongst trees near the Waibaidu Bridge, well away from the numerous warehouses of the area, about 10 o’clock in the evening. They would be ready in full battle dress, bayonets fixed on their rifles.
The Axe Men were not an organized group, not a gang, or military unit. They were a hostile force, to be sure, ready to slaughter any Japanese patrol they happen to come across. And they did. Fifty men so far in the back alleys of the Settlement. There was no obvious leader, but a Chai Yee Fung was the most prominent name. They carried hammers and not axes. The Axe Men was a nickname coined by Capt. Fujimoto’s superiors. Some suspected the name came from the prewar triads in China, famous for the axe as a preferred choice of weapon. But no one knew for sure.
The heat, despite the night, was heavy, as Hideki and his comrades took up positions near the meeting site. The full moon was almost at its height. At least they could see the supposed battleground from a distance. Nearly invisible insects tormented them, but most men crouched absolutely still, out of fear of punishment or discovery by the enemy.
As Hideki squatted in the darkness, he felt the sweat on the palms of his hands as he gripped his rifle in anticipation.
“Akamatsu, rub your blade with dirt,” growled Sgt. Hayashi. The moonlight’s making it shine. It’ll give us away.”
Hideki obeyed right away, though he wondered why he was to soil the Emperor’s soul, his samurai sword. As he dirtied his bayonet, he thought he heard some movement. He then saw figures rustling and moving in the distance.
From that point, events accelerated and progressed in a flash. Sgt. Hayashi stood and drew his dreaded sword. He said nothing but motioned everyone to move forward. Like insects swarming on their prey, everyone began amassing and then rushing toward what Hideki presumed were the Axe Men. The night exercises during training came in handy.
The sound of gunfire soon erupted as the forward men announced their presence. Hideki could hear the mantra rising like locust in the night. More shots rang out the closer they got. Not so distant bodies fell. Return fire came soon enough. The Axe Men have rifles? I thought they only had hammers. Hideki saw some of his comrades fall, but he and everyone else kept going, until they arrived at the battle site. The smell of cordite and urine rose into the air. More gun fire and then hand-to-hand combat broke out. More bodies collapsed.
Hideki himself engaged in close battle with one of the Axe Men, shorter than he but with strong legs. He led with his rifle and caught the enemy’s chest with his bayonet. An audible cry and the man dropped to his knees and just sat there with eyes open and blood oozing through his shirt. The ambient light caught the face and Hideki could see he was just a boy, maybe fourteen-years-old, not older. He didn’t even have a weapon, no rifle, no hammer. Hideki recoiled. He dropped his rifle with the shock. Just then someone hit him in the middle of his back, not a blow meant to hurt but to bring him back to the business at hand.
“Pick up your rifle, Akamatsu,” ordered Sgt. Hayashi with a shout. “Come on, move!”
“But…but…I killed a boy!”
“Good. We’ve got more to go! Kill All!”
The battle continued until all the Axe Men were dead or captured. One was identified as Chai Yee Fung, the de facto leader of the bunch. Fung was wiry with a face contorted by a cause and maybe madness.
No one noticed that Hideki had stayed back of the fray and did not engage in any more hand-to-hand combat. He would not be the cause of anyone else’s death, especially a boy. He did stand near his comrades when the leadership approached.
Capt. Fujimoto, the battalion commander, was pleased as he surveyed the captives. Sgt. Hayashi, in turn, was ecstatic and ordered the prisoners to be taken away. Hideki knew what fate awaited the enemy survivors.