Chapter 117: The Arrogant Shōichi Teruchi
Although he wished in his heart to drive Isogai Rensuke back to the homeland and let him fend for himself, Terauchi Hisaichi could not really do so.
The 10th Division was after all one of the Japanese Army’s seventeen permanent divisions; if it were truly annihilated by the Chinese army, he, as the North China Area Army commander, would also face dire consequences.
Did one not see that during the Nanjing Campaign, once the news broke that the 6th Division was nearly annihilated, not only was division commander Tani Hisao transferred back home into the reserves, but even Prince Asaka Yasuhiko, the newly appointed Shanghai Expeditionary Army commander and a member of the imperial family, fell from grace—the seat of Shanghai Expeditionary Army commander was not even warm before he was transferred back to the homeland.
Thinking of this, Terauchi Hisaichi suddenly drew in a sharp breath.
He silently calculated: although Su Yaoyang had appeared for less than half a year, there were already three or four generals who had fallen because of him, and there were also ten to twenty thousand brave warriors of the Great Japanese Empire who had died at his hands.
Could it be that this Su Yaoyang was truly the empire’s nemesis?
April’s spring breeze blew in from outside the window; Terauchi Hisaichi suddenly felt a chill in his body. He shouted loudly, “Hashimoto-kun… Hashimoto-kun…”
“Coming… coming…” A short and stocky colonel in his thirties pushed open the office door and bowed to Terauchi Hisaichi. “Commander, what are your orders?”
“Hashimoto-kun, do you remember that Nanjing Security Regiment commander Su Yaoyang who released poison gas during the Nanjing operation?”
“Of course I remember.” Hashimoto Yuta nodded. “This Su Yaoyang is the man who nearly wiped out the Shanghai Expeditionary Army and almost changed the Imperial Army’s way of fighting. How could our Special Higher Police not have records on such a person?”
“Bring me all his files right away… remember… all of them.”
“Hai!”
Ten-odd minutes later, Terauchi Hisaichi looked at the mere two-page file in his hand and gazed at Hashimoto Yuta with incredulous eyes. “Your Special Higher Police worked for several months and produced only this thing?”
“Do you want to see what you’ve written? Apart from Su Yaoyang’s name, background, parents’ names, and why he came to Nanjing as a refugee, there’s nothing about any other matters. Is this how you, the head of the Special Higher Police, handle things?”
“What about his hobbies? His weaknesses and his combat characteristics?”
Hashimoto Yuta’s old face reddened; he bowed deeply to Terauchi Hisaichi. “I am truly sorry… Due to the extremely rushed time, we could only collect this much information.”
“Please believe me, this is already the result of our greatest efforts.”
“Please give us a bit more time, and we will certainly do better!”
“Forget it!” Terauchi Hisaichi helplessly rubbed his nose bridge. “I know you’ve already done your best; no need to blame yourself.”
Terauchi Hisaichi did not get angry or fly into a rage—not because he was magnanimous and good-tempered; on the contrary, he, from an aristocratic background, was notoriously petty.
The reason he did not reprimand or even punish Hashimoto Yuta was also out of helplessness.
Don’t think that later generations always boast about how meticulously detailed the Japanese intelligence work was—they dispatched tens of thousands of agents to China before the war to gather intelligence and draw maps, even recording clearly how many paths and wells each village had.
This is indeed true, but there are some things even the Japanese, who claim to perfect every detail, can only shake their heads helplessly about.
For example, the Japanese like to collect intelligence, and intelligence on the Chinese army is naturally the top priority.
According to regulations, Japanese intelligence departments must create a personal file for every Chinese army general of major general rank and above, recording in detail from the general’s birth date, personal hobbies, preferences, spouse, and so on.
So the problem arises: China has just emerged from the warlord era; from the central army to local miscellaneous troops, all sorts of generals are everywhere, with unit designations frequently changing.
Conservatively estimated, there are at least three thousand generals of major general rank and above across the whole of China. Just creating and constantly updating personal files for these three thousand generals is enough to exhaust the Japanese intelligence departments. If they also had to create files for self-proclaimed miscellaneous colonel regiment commanders like Su Yaoyang, even working all Japanese intelligence personnel to death would not suffice.
For the intelligence department to collect Su Yaoyang’s personal information to this extent in such a short time was already quite impressive.
However, Terauchi Hisaichi still specifically instructed Hashimoto Yuta, “Hashimoto-kun… from now on, make intelligence on this Su Yaoyang a top-priority target. Report any intelligence to me immediately… understood?”
“Hai!” Hashimoto Yuta bowed deeply.
“Go… and call Chief of Staff Okabe on your way.”
Soon, a lieutenant general in his fifties arrived at Terauchi Hisaichi’s office.
“Commander, you called for me.” North China Area Army Chief of Staff Okabe Naosaburo slightly bowed to him.
“Sit!” Terauchi Hisaichi pointed to the sofa nearby. Only after Okabe Naosaburo sat down did he hand over the telegram he had just received.
“Okabe-kun, take a look at this telegram first.”
Okabe Naosaburo skimmed through the telegram in one glance, a flash of anger in his eyes. “This Isogai Rensuke is truly a waste. Being greedy for merit and rash is one thing, but then cowering like a tiger upon facing a strong enemy—how can such a person serve as a division commander? I really don’t know what the Imperial General Headquarters is thinking.”
“Hmph…”
Terauchi Hisaichi snorted coldly through his nostrils. “That would be a question for Prince Kanin Kotohito and that Field Marshal Sugiyama Gen. Didn’t he claim to destroy the Branchies in three months? Now nearly a year has passed, and not only have the Branchies not surrendered, their resistance is growing fiercer.”
Terauchi Hisaichi spoke more and more freely, but Okabe Naosaburo turned pale with fright and quickly said, “Commander, mind your words!”
“Alright, enough said.”
Terauchi Hisaichi gave a light hum. “Okabe-kun, as a soldier, you still need to practice your courage more.”
Okabe Naosaburo showed a wry smile. You, Terauchi Hisaichi, come from nobility; your father Terauchi Masatake was a prime minister in the Meiji era with a host of old subordinates and connections, so of course you’re not afraid of Sugiyama Gen. But he lacked that capital and naturally dared not offend people recklessly.
“Alright, I won’t make things difficult for you. Let’s get down to business.”
Seeing that Okabe Naosaburo had been fairly diligent in his duties, Terauchi Hisaichi finally brought the topic back on track.
He said, “Isogai Rensuke’s setback at Tai’erzhuang has seriously affected the Xuzhou Campaign plan.”
“Although I extremely dislike this so-called China expert who only talks big, I still have to clean up his mess, which is truly annoying. So I plan to send the 16th Division to reinforce him, and also assign him a field heavy artillery battalion and thirty aircraft. What do you think?”
Okabe Naosaburo thought for a moment and slowly nodded. “Commander, your consideration is very thorough; I have no objections.”
“Then it’s decided. Convey my operational orders to the 16th Division and the other units shortly.”
“Hai!”
