Chapter 60: Shigeru Honjō And Colonel Ts seiroku’s Ambition
Kwantung Army Headquarters,
The 9th Kwantung Army Commander, Commander Shigeru Honjō who succeeded Hishikari Takeshi, along with Kwantung Army senior staff officer Colonel Seishiro Itagaki, Lieutenant Colonel Kanji Ishiwara, Major Masashi Hanaya, and Captain Shintaro Imada, and others,
as soon as they received the joyous report from Iwane Matsui and Masao Okamura saying that they had obtained His Majesty’s approval, as well as the unanimous agreement from His Excellency the Prime Minister and Chief of Naval Operations Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu for them to send troops for the Shanghai Operation,
all the high-level personnel of the entire Kwantung Army were joyfully celebrating.
“Yo xi! That’s really great. We’ve been waiting for this day for far too long! Today we’ve finally waited for it!”
“As long as we can shift all the line of sight of those damned foreigners to the Shanghai battlefield, then we can carry out stable development in this Northeast occupied territory rich in natural resources. As long as we can develop our great rear area here for seven or eight years, our Empire will absolutely become the world’s number one powerhouse!”
“Moreover, once the Battle of Shanghai is launched, perhaps we might even occupy Shanghai from the hands of those cowardly Chinese Army. At that time, it would bring enormous gains and benefits to the development of our Empire!”
And the person most elated about obtaining permission to send troops to initiate the Battle of Shanghai was Commander Shigeru Honjō who had taken over the position of Kwantung Army Commander, because he desperately wanted the line of sight of all foreign countries to shift entirely to other battlefields, no longer paying attention to or interfering with the occupied territory he had taken over,
so that he could recuperate and recuperate here, develop a stable great rear area of his own, develop the Kwantung Army even better, and even transport large quantities of natural resources back to the Japanese Homeland to develop and grow the homeland’s industrial science and technology, and industrial development,
thereby allowing the Japanese Homeland, a small island nation, to develop into a powerful industrial country.
“But the question is, will it be our Kwantung Army conducting the attack operation, or will the Army Troops side separately dispatch Army Troops for the attack operation, or will it be the Marine Corps side conducting the attack operation?”
“Those two guys, Iwane Matsui and Masao Okamura, seem not to have clearly stated this matter in the telegram!”
“So should our Kwantung Army immediately prepare for battle? Select a most outstanding combat troops to conduct the attack operation?”
But just when Commander Shigeru Honjō was in an extremely good mood,
Lieutenant Colonel Kanji Ishiwara raised the key issue and proposed.
“Army Marshal Nobuyoshi Mutō, and Army Department General Yoshikawa Shirakawa, as well as the Chief of Naval Operations Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu side, also seem not to have expressed their stance!”
Senior staff officer Colonel Seishiro Itagaki was also pondering this issue and responded.
“So desu ne! You’re all right!”
“But I think this time it might be preempted by the Navy Department side dispatching their Marine Corps for the attack operation!”
“I have insider information that before His Majesty agreed to Iwane Matsui and Masao Okamura’s Shanghai Operation proposal, the Navy Department side had already prepared military training for nearly 10,000 Marine Corps, ready to attack Shanghai for battle at any time!”
“In other words, they had already made pre-war preparations for deployment in this Battle of Shanghai in advance!”
“But even so, our Army Department side cannot give up the attack operation. I believe that with just that bit of troop strength from the Marine Corps, it’s impossible to completely suppress the Chinese Army’s large army!”
“Although there is only the Chinese Army’s 19th Army conducting garrison operations there, it doesn’t mean that the Chinese Army’s elite troops won’t come to assist in the operation!”
“Especially now that the Chinese Army has already had their own Marshal, so for this Battle of Shanghai, I think our Army Department, especially our Kwantung Army as the ‘Flower of the Empire’, is even more likely to be dispatched with a batch of the most elite troops for the attack operation!”
“We are the final most dazzling ace elite, and the final victors on the battlefield!”
“The Marine Corps side is just cannon fodder and vanguard troops for us!”
“If they want to take the lead in the attack operation, let them hit the front. We just need to clean up the remnants!”
Hearing the questions from these ambitious staff officers under his command,
Commander Shigeru Honjō couldn’t help but furrow his brow, then smiled confidently and said,
He no longer cared whether their Kwantung Army took the lead in the attack operation or participated in the Shanghai Operation.
Anyway, for him,
as long as he could do well in his current position as Kwantung Army Commander and stably develop this large Northeast occupied territory, that would be completely sufficient,
He wasn’t too concerned about whether the Battle of Shanghai required their Kwantung Army to send troops for the operation,
and in his plan to develop and grow his own Kwantung Army, he intended to expand the Kwantung Army to a large-scale elite troops of 6 divisions and 150,000 men.
Becoming a well-deserved national elite troops, the Flower of the Empire.
“Yo xi! Your Excellency the Commander is absolutely right!”
“Anyway, the final victor will still belong to our Kwantung Army, because we are the troops with the strongest combat power in the entire Empire!”
“No matter which troops are assigned for this attack operation participating in the Battle of Shanghai, whether to the Navy Department’s Marine Corps or to the Army Department side!”
“We will all be the Empire’s strongest trump card ace troops!”
As soon as Commander Shigeru Honjō’s words fell,
Kwantung Army senior staff officer Colonel Seishiro Itagaki was also the first to echo.
Actually, his inner thoughts were the same as Commander Shigeru Honjō’s, both hoping to have a certain amount of time to stabilize the Kwantung Army’s occupation of Northeast, develop it well, and expand their Kwantung Army’s troop strength.
So of course he fully agreed with Commander Shigeru Honjō’s idea.
“We also support and agree with Your Excellency the Commander’s opinion!”
Lieutenant Colonel Kanji Ishiwara, Major Masashi Hanaya, Captain Shintaro Imada, and others also quickly echoed.
Because they were also ambitious people, and hoped to recuperate as soon as possible so that their status in the Kwantung Army could achieve even higher development.
“Mm! Since that’s the case, then we don’t need to pay too much attention to which troops will be dispatched by His Majesty and others for the attack operation participating in Shanghai Operation!”
“So starting from today, we must quickly clear out all the Chinese guerrilla force, Chinese Army remnant troops, and Chinese agents who still dare to stubbornly resist us in our occupied territory!”
“I hope to completely stabilize the Northeast region within the next three months!”
“To transport more wealth and military supplies for our Empire’s prosperity!”
Seeing that all the staff officers under his command unanimously agreed with his idea,
Commander Shigeru Honjō was in an even better mood, revealed a brilliant smile, and made the final decision.
“Hai!”
“Hai!”
“Hai!”
Kwantung Army senior staff officer Colonel Seishiro Itagaki, Lieutenant Colonel Kanji Ishiwara, Major Masashi Hanaya, Captain Shintaro Imada, and others quickly nodded and promised in unison.
At the same time,
Iwane Matsui and Masao Okamura were also riding on a warship, hurrying back on the journey to Northeast.
As for Zhou Wenhua at this moment,
he was also about to receive a visit from a person he did not expect,
that was the famous Boss Du of Shanghai.
Shanghai, Boss Du’s luxurious villa.
“Boss!”
“Zhou Wenhua, the one who invested in the China Shipyard, had someone send you three more domestic cars!”
“But with no requests at all!”
“May I ask if the boss wants to accept these three cars?”
“Or should I send them back to him?”
Izumi Gen, who was not tall, unremarkable in appearance, but highly skilled in martial arts and loyal, was reporting to Boss Du.
He was one of Boss Du’s “Eight Great Vajras”,
Everyone in Boss Du’s “Eight Great Vajras” possessed unique skills, even Golden Rong had to be wary of them.
Izumi Gen and Boss Du were brothers who had gone through life and death; in the early years when Boss Du was fighting and killing in Shanghai to seize territory, it was always he who charged ahead, establishing considerable merit for Boss Du.
