Chapter 83: Navy First Expeditionary Fleet Commander Shiozawa Koichi
“So, should we go investigate? Maybe we can find out which organization or force is the mastermind behind it!”
Liu Zhihui made the proposal to Zhou Weiguo.
“I’m not very interested. My focus now is whether the Japanese Army Troops will escalate this incident into a provocation that starts a war! If war breaks out, Shanghai will be lively!”
“But by then, I plan to go to the 19th Route Army to deliver supplies and offer condolences! Because Chen Yi and the others will go too, and of course many Fudan University students, even teachers, will go!”
Zhou Weiguo refused.
“You mentioning our teachers reminds me of our Fudan University principal!”
“Our Principal Li recently established a military training committee to strengthen military training for us students.”
“And I heard that if battle breaks out in Shanghai, he will organize a ‘Volunteer Army’ to join the 19th Route Army in the anti-Japanese war! Do you want to join Principal Li’s ‘Volunteer Army’ then?”
“Second Brother!”
As soon as Fudan University’s teachers were mentioned,
Liu Zhihui involuntarily thought of his school’s Principal Li and his signature long white beard, and laughed as he said.
“It depends on the situation!”
“If Chen Yi joins, I will too!”
Zhou Weiguo thought for a moment and said.
“Second Brother! I feel like your eyes are full of that Chen Yi’s shadow!”
“The topics we two brothers discuss are nine times out of ten about her!”
“Actually, I think Chen Yi’s appearance is just average, not as good-looking as Cousin Zhou Wenhua’s secretaries!”
“Speaking of our cousin Zhou Wenhua, he’s been doing really well lately!”
“Even Father has been praising him nonstop, constantly saying we need to learn from him!”
“That makes me want to go learn from him!”
“So, should we find a day to go chat with Zhou Wenhua and learn from him?”
“Second Brother!”
Liu Zhihui suddenly proposed.
“.”
Zhou Weiguo.
He glanced sideways at Liu Zhihui,
feeling that the other wasn’t really wanting to go learn from Zhou Wenhua, but to see those young beautiful female secretaries.
“.”
Liu Zhihui.
“Second Brother, what’s with that look? Staring at me like that?”
“Do you have some misunderstanding about me?”
After being stared at by Zhou Weiguo with such a strange look,
Liu Zhihui immediately felt very embarrassed and awkwardly asked back.
“No! If you like to go find Zhou Wenhua, then go learn from him properly!”
“Anyway, my name is similar to his, just his has an extra ‘hua’ at the end!”
Zhou Weiguo shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent expression and said.
“.”
Liu Zhihui.
He felt Zhou Weiguo absolutely wasn’t being sincere,
“Alright! If you want to go find Zhou Wenhua, just go!”
“Actually, he’s a good person, just I personally feel he has some talent in business, but in personal combat ability and courage, he’s a bit weaker, like he absolutely couldn’t handle going to the battlefield to kill Japanese soldiers!”
“His business mind, he one hundred percent inherited his father’s intelligence!”
“But now I’m still going to find Chen Yi!”
“Because I’ve decided, I definitely want to win her over, make her my girlfriend, even my wife!”
Seeing Liu Zhihui getting creeped out by his stare, Zhou Weiguo found it quite amusing, smiled, and changed the topic.
Then, he prepared to continue finding Chen Yi and launch another pursuit offensive.
“.”
Liu Zhihui.
He felt Zhou Weiguo’s pursuit of Chen Yi seemed to be going further and further, almost to the point of no return.
So Liu Zhihui finally sighed helplessly,
then followed Zhou Weiguo into the car and went back to the Fudan campus.
But at this moment, he also planned to find time to go see Zhou Wenhua and learn.
Afterward,
time passed quickly,
soon it was January 20, 1932,
8 days until the January 28 Incident.
Japanese Homeland,
First Expeditionary Fleet Commander Shiozawa Koichi,
was commanding batch after batch of Japanese Marine Corps soldiers to board the ships.
This Marine Corps force numbered over 2,000, with aircraft carriers “Kaga” and “Hoshou”, cruisers “Naka”, “Yura”, and “Abukuma” — three ships — plus 4 minelayers departing from the homeland for Shanghai.
Also the 1st Torpedo Squadron, under which the flagship cruiser “Nachi”, and the 22nd, 23rd, 30th Destroyer Divisions, totaling 12 destroyers.
As well as the “Notoro” auxiliary cruiser and other fleet ships,
As for the over 4,000 armed Japanese civilians already deployed in Shanghai, they too began assembling, merging with the Japanese Marine Corps vanguard troops on the Shanghai side.
“Faster! Get on the fleet quicker, we must arrive in Shanghai within a week!”
“War is about to break out in Shanghai!”
“For our Empire’s glory, for our Navy’s honor, and for our Empire’s future prosperity, we must achieve final combat victory in this Shanghai War!”
“Also, I don’t want this operation to require support operations from those Army Troops guys!”
“You are our Imperial Navy’s strongest Imperial Marine Corps, so you can definitely defeat all the Chinese Army in Shanghai, achieve all victories and glory, and shock the foreign powers overseas!”
“Let all Chinese People and foreigners know our Imperial Marine Corps’s combat prowess, and our Imperial Navy’s invincible strength!”
“So speed up your boarding and the landing operation speed when you arrive!”
“Now not only are all high-level officials watching your performance in this operation, even His Majesty and the entire nation’s people are paying attention to your combat performance in Shanghai!”
“Including your families and relatives and friends are all paying attention to you!”
Watching batch after batch of Japanese Marines hurriedly boarding,
First Expeditionary Fleet Commander Shiozawa Koichi,
also kept shouting hoarsely, commanding,
because this time he was personally commanding the troops for the first battle of the Battle of Shanghai,
so if he could achieve victory, he would become a naval famous general and a national celebrity.
Conversely, if he suffered a crushing defeat, he would face national scorn, ridicule and mockery, shame, and even implicate his family and family being mocked by outsiders.
So for First Expeditionary Fleet Commander Shiozawa Koichi, he must achieve victory, and successive victories at that,
because only then would he become a naval famous general in the spotlight of all.
