Chapter 46: Iwane Matsui And Masao Okamura’s Irritation
Traitor Zhang Yiliang arrived at his ‘Anda’ Freight Company under the protection of his thugs.
His cargo ship company already owned more than 35 cargo ships,
The business, besides transporting goods for his customers to overseas and various places domestically, mainly involved operating freight of natural resources and military supplies to the Japanese Homeland.
As well as some other things that the Japanese wanted,
In short, traitor Zhang Yiliang’s transport fleet operated by transporting all kinds of goods for the Japanese.
When traitor Zhang Yiliang arrived at his ‘Anda’ Freight Company,
Japanese Agent Chief Major Ryūkichi Tanaka had already dispatched some contacts to wait for his arrival, preparing to transport a batch of important goods back to the Japanese Homeland.
“Boss Zhang! You’re here so soon?”
Upon seeing traitor Zhang Yiliang arrive at the ‘Anda’ Freight Company so quickly, contact Tsubaki Motoshiro was very satisfied and greeted traitor Zhang Yiliang with a smile.
“Hahaha!”
“I absolutely cannot delay the task that Major Tanaka assigned to me!”
“No matter how busy, as long as it’s something Major Tanaka instructs me to handle, I must prioritize processing it immediately!”
“Moreover, I don’t want you superiors waiting here for me too long!”
“So as soon as I received Major Tanaka’s telephone call, I hurried over right away to see you superiors!”
Traitor Zhang Yiliang said cheerfully with a bright smile.
And he handed a small money pouch to contact Tsubaki Motoshiro.
“Yoshi! You truly are the best merchant of our Imperial Army!”
“I will definitely put in good words for you in front of Major Tanaka!”
“Boss Zhang!”
Contact Tsubaki Motoshiro took the money pouch from traitor Zhang Yiliang while responding with a bright smile.
Then, the two of them proceeded to hand over the goods for this shipment back to the Japanese Homeland.
Most were natural resources lacking in the Japanese Homeland, and military supplies.
While they were so busy,
The elite Security Team dispatched by Zhou Wenhua had already, under the personal leadership of Naval Officer Ren Lianjie, all changed into plainclothes and taken cars, mixing in with pedestrians on the street,
Secretly surveilling traitor Zhang Yiliang who had entered the ‘Anda’ Freight Company, contact Tsubaki Motoshiro, and several Japanese agents.
Of course, traitor Zhang Yiliang and contact Tsubaki Motoshiro knew nothing about these matters.
And at this time,
Seishiro Itagaki was also continuously working his relationships, hoping to fly back from the Northeast to Tokyo, receive an exceptional audience with Emperor Hirohito, and report to the Emperor and General Staff Headquarters the situation after occupying the Northeast.
As well as plotting to shift the new warfare to Shanghai.
Army Minister Yoshikawa Shirakawa, future Kwantung Army Commander Kenkichi Ueda, Kōichi Kido, Fumimaro Konoe, Akinori Makino—these Japanese high-level officials, he had already contacted and persuaded multiple times.
But up to now, there was still no response, no reply on when he could meet His Majesty the Emperor.
So today’s Major General Seishiro Itagaki was a bit irritable, thus he also summoned Masao Okamura to discuss.
Because he had conspired together with Masao Okamura to dispatch Major Ryūkichi Tanaka and Yoshiko Kawashima for a secret meeting, and prepare to incite the January 28 Incident.
“Major Ryūkichi Tanaka and Yoshiko Kawashima have already rendezvoused in Shanghai and are carrying out agent intelligence work according to our instructions, but what I am most worried about now is that His Majesty may not agree to our Shanghai Operation Plan this time!”
“Because I have already worked many relationships, but His Majesty still has not agreed to meet me!
“So I am very irritable right now. Do you have any good proposals that could let His Majesty grant me an exceptional meeting?”
“As long as His Majesty knows how huge the gains are from our report after occupying the Northeast, I believe he will definitely approve shifting the attention of the Chinese people and foreigners entirely to the Shanghai Operation!”
“Then our Imperial Army can steadily digest all the natural resources here in the Northeast and stabilize all the forces here! Making this place the largest supply base for our Homeland!”
“With the support of all the natural resources here, our Empire will absolutely be able to develop at high speed!”
“Even in the future, our Empire won’t need to fear the foreigners anymore, whether the United States or Britain, Germany, France—these old foreign countries, we can hold our heads high, even defeat them!”
When Major General Masao Okamura arrived before him,
Iwane Matsui poured out all his inner troubles.
And also hoped that Masao Okamura could have good proposals to let him meet His Majesty and persuade for planning the First Battle of Shanghai.
“I don’t have any better proposals either, because you’ve already met and worked all the high-level personnel in the Homeland, and my military position is about the same as yours now!”
“What good proposal could I have to make His Majesty summon you?”
“Even recently you’ve been frequently working with General Nobuyoshi Mutō, General Takashi Hishikari, General Shigeru Honjō and others, so I’m powerless too!”
“Now we can only pin our hopes on His Majesty’s mood improving, then maybe we’ll have a chance to be summoned by His Majesty!”
“Otherwise, with our military positions, we can’t even think of seeing His Majesty!”
“We can’t even enter the gate of the Imperial Palace!”
Facing Iwane Matsui’s pleading gaze, Masao Okamura shrugged straightforwardly and responded.
“.”
Iwane Matsui.
He was thoroughly disappointed.
“Can’t we succeed in planning the Shanghai Operation Plan?”
“You know, this time I even went to those detestable Navy guys, and they surprisingly agreed to my proposal!”
“They even promised that once Shanghai starts a war, their Navy Department will definitely deploy a large fleet for support operations, and even the Ministry of the Navy side promised to dispatch the aircraft carrier ‘Kaga’, the ‘Hōshō’ aircraft carrier, the Second Destroyer Squadron, and nearly ten thousand Marine Corps to cooperate with our Army operations!”
“Third Fleet Commander Lieutenant General Kichisaburō Nomura, Chief of Staff Shōtarō Shimada, Marine Corps Commander Renma Matsuki, Chief of Staff Tomoshige Samejima—these Navy Department generals and chiefs of staff all privately agreed to my proposal!”
“Moreover, I heard that Prime Minister, Army Minister Sadao Araki, Chief of Staff of the Army Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko, Chief of Naval Operations Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu—these high-level officials already know our proposal and have made suggestions to His Majesty!”
“But the problem is, these high-level officials have all spoken for us, yet for some reason His Majesty still hasn’t summoned me, or you, to report to him the huge benefits our Empire can gain after occupying the Northeast!”
Finally, Iwane Matsui sighed with increasingly heavy mood.
And Masao Okamura’s expression was no better,
Finally, he also sighed similarly.
Then, the two drowned their sorrows in silence with alcohol.
For the moment, the two didn’t know how to obtain an audience with His Majesty.
And at this time,
Traitor Zhang Yiliang had also finished inventorying all the Japanese goods with contact Tsubaki Motoshiro, loaded them onto three large transport steamboats, and set sail to transport them back to the Japanese Homeland.
So after handling the matters, traitor Zhang Yiliang flatteringly took contact Tsubaki Motoshiro and the several Japanese agents behind him, preparing to go eat, drink, and have fun, to experience Shanghai’s bustling prosperity and the decadent nightlife.
But as soon as they left the ‘Anda’ Freight Company,
Naval Officer Ren Lianjie immediately led the elite Security Team, took cars, and followed.
Moreover, along the way, Security Team members were deployed for full tracking and surveillance,
These plainclothes Security Team members, disguised as people from all trades, secretly surveilled the whereabouts of traitor Zhang Yiliang, contact Tsubaki Motoshiro, and these Japanese.
