Chapter 45: In Full Swing
“Baka, baka, baka!”
Hirata Ichiro, who had already been scolded by Lieutenant General Shinozuka, was extremely furious in his emotions. Now hearing Zheng Qianyi say there was no money, it was like adding a ladle of cold water to Hirata Ichiro’s pot of raging oil, causing the pot of rage to rapidly boil over.
Hirata Ichiro stomped his feet fiercely and couldn’t help but flip the table in front of him again. “These damned Eighth Route Army! If I don’t avenge this, I will never return to my country!”
Zheng Qianyi was indeed the number one special agent leader under Hirata Ichiro. Although there was no money, he still had ways to solve the problem.
Zheng Qianyi said to Hirata Ichiro: “Sir, since there’s no money, how about raising the promotion condition by one more level?”
“Alright, that’s fine, let’s do it that way.” Zheng Qianyi’s suggestion slightly quelled Hirata Ichiro’s rage. “Previously it was a one-level position promotion; now change it to a two-level promotion.”
For the Puppet Army to get promoted, they either had to fight desperately on the battlefield to earn merit or provide the Imperial Army with other contributions of great value.
Those Chinese people were very cunning and afraid of death; they rarely chose to fight desperately on the battlefield and all opted for the latter.
As long as they could help find clues to the Eighth Route Army’s heavy cannon, they could get promoted two levels in a row—they would go crazy over that.
“Yes, Sir, I’ll go right away…” Zheng Qianyi’s words were not yet finished.
Ding ling ling!
The table had been flipped, but the telephone that fell to the ground was not broken and rang urgently.
Zheng Qianyi picked up the telephone and handed the microphone to Hirata Ichiro.
Hirata Ichiro took the microphone and said into it: “This is Heyuan Gendarmerie Captain Hirata Ichiro.”
“Captain, just now news came in.” On the other end of the telephone was an intelligence officer under the Gendarmerie. His tone was very bad. “Supply Station No. 5 was attacked by the Eighth Route Army.”
“Baka, what did you say? Supply Station No. 5 was attacked by the Eighth Route Army?” Upon hearing this, Hirata Ichiro’s rage immediately began to surge again.
That Supply Station No. 5 was an important refueling station, specifically providing fuel to the mechanized troops.
The Empire lacked resources, especially oil.
Most of the oil had to be imported.
And now you’re telling me Supply Station No. 5 was attacked by the Eighth Route Army—what kind of joke is this!
After the Eighth Route Army attacked the county town and snatched the money, shouldn’t they have rolled back immediately? Why attack a supply station!
Don’t they sleep at night?
Don’t they have work to do tomorrow?
“Captain, this is real. The mechanized troops from the Fourth Brigade and Ninth Brigade are already rushing back at full speed,” the intelligence officer replied.
“Baka, with Li Tong Bridge blown up, the mechanized troops rushing to reinforce Supply Station No. 5 have to take a huge detour. By the time they arrive, the Eighth Route Army will be long gone!” Hirata Ichiro looked at the map and cursed.
The intelligence officer didn’t speak. Whether the mechanized troops reinforced or not didn’t really matter.
After all, with Li Tong Bridge blown up, they had to take a detour home anyway; now they were just heading home early.
“How much damage at Supply Station No. 5?” It took Hirata Ichiro a good while to suppress his liver pain before continuing to ask.
“The specific losses are still being tallied, but the fuel loss exceeds ten thousand liters,” the intelligence officer replied.
“Baka, that much!” Hirata Ichiro’s heart couldn’t help but twitch.
The Imperial Army launched this war partly hoping to find oil on this land.
The oil exploration team had been searching this land tirelessly, but it was unknown whether Amaterasu wasn’t blessing them or if Amaterasu couldn’t overcome the spirits of this land, as the oil exploration team still hadn’t discovered an oil field.
So!
Not to mention ten thousand liters of fuel—even one liter was extremely precious.
Hirata Ichiro actually had a military vehicle, but in his daily travel, he always rode a bicycle for green commuting as much as possible, all to save fuel for the Empire.
Ten thousand liters of fuel—oh my Amaterasu, even if I pedal my bicycle until it smokes, I couldn’t save that much.
The intelligence officer fell silent again, not knowing how to comfort Hirata Ichiro.
Hirata Ichiro didn’t speak anymore either and viciously smashed the microphone to pieces, glaring ferociously at Zheng Qianyi: “Zheng-san, go immediately and change the reward for clues on the Eighth Route Army heavy cannon—whoever can provide clues to the Eighth Route Army heavy cannon gets a three-level position promotion!”
The Eighth Route Army’s heavy cannon threat was simply too great. If they didn’t hurry to find it, today they armed attack the county town to rob money and hit Supply Station No. 5 to steal oil; tomorrow who knows what they’d do with the heavy cannon.
“Yes, Sir.” Zheng Qianyi actually wanted to oppose Hirata Ichiro raising the promotion by yet another level.
A two-level promotion in a row was already enough for those Puppet Army officers.
But Zheng Qianyi shut his mouth. The attack on Supply Station No. 5 made the importance of finding clues to the Eighth Route Army heavy cannon even clearer.
A three-level position promotion—this reward order, once issued, would drive everyone mad.
Perhaps it would really soon yield results.
Zheng Qianyi left. Hirata Ichiro vented furiously in the office again: “Baka, baka, baka, you damned Local Eighth Route Army! I will definitely find you. I will capture you alive as much as possible, throw you into the Gendarmerie’s torture chamber, let you taste the flavor of torture, make you regret opposing the Imperial Army—baka, baka, baka!”
After venting, Hirata Ichiro forced himself to calm down and shouted: “Person.”
“Captain, what are your orders?” A Japanese invader ran in, looking nervous.
After all, with the office smashed like this and the captain enraged, who among the subordinates wasn’t afraid?
“Immediately summon the Gendarmerie’s key personnel for a meeting,” Hirata Ichiro ordered.
They couldn’t just rely on the reward to find clues to the Eighth Route Army heavy cannon; they still had to send out all the Gendarmerie’s investigators.
“Yes.”
……
Zheng Qianyi was very efficient. Although the reward was issued in the middle of the night, its spread effect was comparable to a plague.
Whether Puppet Army, plainclothes teams, or other traitor organizations, they all boiled over:
“No mistake, right? Previously the reward for providing clues to the Eighth Route Army heavy cannon was only a one-level position promotion? And now, so soon, it’s three levels?”
“No mistake. Wasn’t the county town attacked by the Eighth Route Army? I heard the Eighth Route Army nearly took the county town. Without heavy cannon, they definitely couldn’t do it, so Sir raised the reward conditions for the Eighth Route Army heavy cannon.”
“Yes, the Eighth Route Army relies entirely on heavy cannon to attack the city. If we can take their heavy cannon, they’d be toothless rats, not worth mentioning.”
“Providing clues to the Eighth Route Army heavy cannon gets a three-level position promotion—this is too enviable.”
“If I get promoted three levels, I could damn well be a Brigade Commander.”
“Hurry, hurry, call everyone up. Don’t sleep, all go quickly find clues to the Eighth Route Army heavy cannon for me.”
“Faster, don’t let others find the clues to the Eighth Route Army heavy cannon first.”
……
The various traitors stopped sleeping and started working overnight, in full swing with a fervent atmosphere.
