Chapter 233: Advanced Shipbuilding Engineer
“Baka, these damn Eighth Route!”
Commander of the Twenty-first Brigade Muto Juichi spent the entire day today viciously cursing the Eighth Route.
Taking advantage of the Twenty-first Brigade being out, they sneaked back to steal our base, capturing Yan Zhen Arsenal. That is truly too despicable.
What infuriated Muto Juichi the most was that his troops could not provide timely reinforcement.
If they reinforced but failed to stop them, that would be one thing.
The main issue was that there was not even an opportunity to reinforce. It was too frustrating.
Commander of the Twenty-ninth Brigade Major General Kawashima comforted him: “Muto, don’t be too angry. Once we sift out the Eighth Route Arsenal, the Yan Zhen Arsenal equipment, along with our five trucks of tungsten ore and sugar and other supplies, will all be recaptured.”
The Ninth Brigade Commander also comforted: “Muto, no matter how angry you get, it won’t help. Turn it into power instead. Only by sweeping the Eighth Route Arsenal can we redeem ourselves and regain face.”
“I still want to find and eliminate these Eighth Route outside first.” Muto Juichi gritted his teeth. “While we are sweeping the Eighth Route main force, they are behind us. That is always a major hidden danger.”
“The problem is we still haven’t found where this group of Eighth Route is hiding in the rear.” The Ninth Brigade Commander said, “If we can find the Eighth Route Arsenal, once we attack it, this group of Eighth Route will come by themselves. Then we can set up an ambush.”
“The Eighth Route Arsenal probably won’t be that easy to find.” Muto Juichi shook his head. “In all those previous encirclement and suppressions, we never found their arsenal. It was the Yamazaki Brigade that stumbled upon it by accident. In the end, the Yamazaki Brigade was completely wiped out, and the Eighth Route Arsenal disappeared again without a trace.”
“It’s different now from before.” Major General Kawashima refuted. “The reason the previous Eighth Route Arsenals were hard to find was because their family fortune was too weak, with almost no machinery and equipment. Transferring was simple and fast, hard to detect. Now it’s different. The Eighth Route Arsenal has a large amount of machinery and equipment. Transferring with all that baggage makes them a big target, and the transfer speed is slow, so it will be easy to find.”
The Ninth Brigade Commander nodded too: “Yes, finding the Eighth Route Arsenal now will definitely be much easier than before.”
“That makes sense.” Eagerness quickly appeared in Muto Juichi’s eyes. “Then let’s hurry up…”
Before Muto Juichi could finish speaking, a communications soldier rushed over and handed him a newly arrived telegram: “Ninth Brigade Headquarters and Twenty-ninth Brigade Headquarters were attacked by the Eighth Route.”
Ninth Brigade Headquarters and Twenty-ninth Brigade Headquarters were attacked by the Eighth Route!
Before Commander of the Twenty-ninth Brigade Major General Kawashima could speak, the Ninth Brigade Commander was the first to scream like a pig being slaughtered, his voice nearly bursting the communications soldier’s eardrums: “Baka, is this real? The Eighth Route really attacked our headquarters!!!”
Major General Kawashima also became furious: “Baka, these Eighth Route are too despicable. Taking advantage of our absence to sneak attack our base, utterly insidious!”
Muto Juichi immediately said: “Now it seems the main task of these Eighth Route outside is to harass our rear and interfere with our major encirclement. Perhaps we should adjust and eliminate them first. Commander Okamura sent the Kumamoto Division, which has arrived. I suggest…”
Before Muto Juichi could finish, he was interrupted by the Ninth Brigade Commander’s roar. He stared at the communications soldier: “Confirm that my headquarters was attacked by the Eighth Route!!!”
The Ninth Brigade Commander’s voice this time was even louder than before, as if his ancestral grave had been dug up.
Oh no, even if his ancestral grave was desecrated, he wouldn’t be this agitated.
“Yes, the message came from your headquarters. The telegram also says the sakura tree didn’t have time to escape and was captured by the Eighth Route.” The communications soldier answered, looking suspiciously at the Ninth Brigade Commander: “Brigade Commander, what is this sakura tree? Is it a code name?”
“Baka, the sakura tree has fallen into the hands of the Eighth Route too!” The Ninth Brigade Commander’s tone was filled with disbelief and fear, the man struck like lightning.
Seeing this, Muto Juichi and Major General Kawashima on the side realized the Ninth Brigade Commander’s reaction was a bit too exaggerated. Even if your base was raided, this reaction was too much. The two couldn’t help asking: “Who is this sakura tree?”
“She is our senior naval expert.” The Ninth Brigade Commander said with utmost seriousness. “If we can’t rescue her, it will greatly impact our army ships development.”
Here, some might wonder, why are the Japanese Army building ships? Aren’t ships built by the Navy!
In fact, the contradictions between the Japanese Navy and Army were extremely deep.
How deep?
So deep that even making a bolt, they had to oppose each other.
The Army uses clockwise bolts, the Navy makes counterclockwise bolts, specializing in targeting each other.
Some say the Japanese Army’s biggest enemy in World War II was the Navy, and the Navy’s biggest enemy was the Army.
Both sides spent 80% of their energy on internal strife, only 20% on fighting outsiders.
If these two were just a little more united, they wouldn’t have lost so miserably.
Though exaggerated, it was basically true.
When the Army needed warships for operations, the Navy wouldn’t cooperate.
When the Navy needed tanks for landings, the Army wouldn’t cooperate.
That’s why there was the joke of the Army building warships and the Navy building tanks.
“What, she is our senior naval expert?” Muto Juichi and Major General Kawashima were both stunned.
The Navy bastards control shipbuilding technology and won’t share it with us.
During operations, their Navy ships don’t cooperate with our Army operations either.
So we Army had no choice but to build ships ourselves.
But building ships ourselves isn’t that easy.
Ship experts are all monopolized by those Navy idiots.
Under such circumstances, what a senior naval expert means to the Army goes without saying.
“Yes.” The Ninth Brigade Commander’s face was as white as paper. Due to his extreme emotions, his hands were uncontrollably shaking.
Muto Juichi couldn’t help questioning: “If this sakura tree is a senior naval expert, she should be at the shipbuilding place. What is she doing in China Second War Zone? Isn’t that playing the wrong tune!”
Major General Kawashima also cursed: “Gongjing Jun, when you took your troops away, why didn’t you hurry to send the sakura tree away? Why let her linger at your place?”
“Why she came to China Second War Zone, how would I know.” The Ninth Brigade Commander said irritably. “As for why I didn’t hurry to send her away when she came to my headquarters, she was actually just passing by on her way back. She seemed to have found some flowers she liked, so she stopped temporarily. You all know this woman is born to like flowers and plants. Who knew, at this critical moment, the Eighth Route attacked.”
Hearing the Ninth Brigade Commander’s explanation, Muto Juichi and Major General Kawashima looked at each other, their expressions somewhat complex.
Women indeed are born to like flowers, regardless of status.
The sakura tree temporarily stayed because she found flowers she liked, then was attacked by the Eighth Route. To describe it in a Chinese term: heavenly fate.
Muto Juichi said: “So, clearing out this group of Eighth Route is the most important. Today they captured the sakura tree; who knows how much more loss they will cause us next!”
Major General Kawashima didn’t object either: “The sakura tree is so important, we must reinforce immediately to rescue her. But if we reinforce from here, the sweep against the Eighth Route will have to stop.”
“Here’s an idea.” The Ninth Brigade Commander quickly said: “I’ll take the Ninth Brigade back to reinforce. You continue the sweep mission here.”
“That won’t do.” Major General Kawashima shook his head. “This group of Eighth Route obtained a large ammunition replenishment of artillery ammunition from Yan Zhen Arsenal, greatly increasing their combat power. Even my Twenty-ninth Brigade was defeated. We need at least two brigades to go.”
“To transfer two brigades back, we must report to Commander Shinozuka for approval.”
“Then hurry and send a telegram to Commander Shinozuka.”
……
Taiyuan First Army Headquarters
First Army Commander Shinozuka Yoshio was redeploying troops to strengthen defenses for important military bases such as Taiyuan City, Taiyuan Arsenal, and Taiyuan Airport.
As for the troop shortage issue, Shinozuka Yoshio planned to temporarily abandon those unimportant places.
If the Eighth Route didn’t reach the rear, those abandoned unimportant places could still be reoccupied.
If the Eighth Route did reach the rear, key places like Taiyuan City, Taiyuan Arsenal, and Taiyuan Airport could not be lost!
“Your Excellency Commander, Major General Muto, Major General Kawashima, and Major General Miyai jointly sent an urgent telegram.” A staff officer rushed over and handed Shinozuka Yoshio a telegram.
Urgent telegram???
Shinozuka Yoshio was a bit dumbfounded upon hearing this.
There were sixty to seventy thousand troops there. Could something have gone wrong again?
He quickly grabbed the telegram and looked at it. Shinozuka Yoshio was instantly dumbfounded.
The urgent telegram said the Ninth Brigade Headquarters was attacked by the Eighth Route, and senior naval expert sakura tree had fallen into the hands of the Eighth Route.
When this senior naval expert sakura tree came to Taiyuan, Shinozuka Yoshio had personally received her.
She came mainly to exchange with the military industry experts at Taiyuan Arsenal to solve some problems in shipbuilding.
These problems were very complicated; telegrams were too slow, so she came in person.
As for why she didn’t fly back to the homeland directly, it was because the weather had been bad these days, with fierce sandstorms at the airport.
Losing such a precious ship expert due to a forced takeoff would be stupid.
So Shinozuka Yoshio had the sakura tree take the land route to an airport without sandstorms, then fly back to the homeland.
He didn’t expect that at the Ninth Brigade Headquarters, she was captured by the Eighth Route.
With almost no hesitation, Shinozuka Yoshio immediately said: “Have Muto, Gongjing Jun, and Major General Kawashima take their troops back immediately. They must completely eliminate this group of Eighth Route and rescue the sakura tree unharmed. As for the encirclement, have the Kumamoto Division continue to hold it.”
“Hai.” The staff officer quickly ran off.
“Baka! These damn Eighth Route!” Shinozuka Yoshio smashed his fist on the table, his expression extremely furious and terrifying: “Damn Eighth Route, you better not have touched a single hair on the sakura tree, or else I will make sure you all die without a burial place!”
