Their campaign against Peking was succeeding, but General Hiroki Sato had to land his troops at Shanhai Pass, then march to the city to relieve the siege.
“Is this bombardment necessary? There are likely few Chinese troops present.”
Admiral Ako Yamamoto could barely hear above the cannon fire.
“Better this than an ambush.” He returned to his binoculars and gasped.
“What?” Sato took the binoculars from the terrified Yamamoto and beheld a sight he thought only possible in myth.
This end of the Great Wall of China, regaled in fable as the “dragon’s head,” was proving that its name was not merely symbolic. Stone, brick, tamped earth, and wood was miraculously transforming into an enormous serpent, the legendary defender of China.
A thousand men met their fate in the sea that morning in July of 1900, and then the dragon rose to destroy the rest of the invaders investing her land.
I wrote this for the What Pegman Saw writing challenge. The idea is to use a Google maps street image and location as the inspiration for crafting a piece of flash fiction no more than 150 words long. My word count is 150.
I decided to focus on its western edge, which is at Lop Nur or “Lop Lake.” I discovered that in July 1900 (or 1904 depending on the source), the Japanese landed troops at Shanhai Pass where the wall dips into the sea, to re-enforce a siege against Peking. You can click the link to Amusing Planet to learn more, but that part of the wall is called “the dragon’s head” because it looks like a dragon dipping down to have a drink from the ocean.
Now imagine that the wall isn’t really a wall, and you’ve got a fantastic tale on your hands.
To read more stories based on the prompt, visit InLinkz.com.