Chapter 165: What Do You Think?
Taiyuan
Meizuki Yoshijiro sat on the chair with a grim face, looking at Ushijima Mitsutaro standing in front of him with his head bowed and his right hand bandaged, and sneered: “Captain Ushijima, I remember warning you just a couple of days ago to be careful of Su Yaoyang and his Shanxi militia. It seems you didn’t take my words to heart.”
Having not slept all night from yesterday until now, plus being injured, Ushijima Mitsutaro’s face was exceptionally pale. He straightened his body and said with a bitter expression:
“Commander, this matter is indeed my responsibility. Due to my negligence and carelessness, it led to last night’s disastrous defeat. I will not evade responsibility. Please dispose of me as you see fit!
Whether it’s dismissal or a military tribunal, I have no complaints.”
“You know about the military tribunal too.” Meizuki Yoshijiro glared at him angrily: “One regiment… an entire regiment lost its combat effectiveness to the Chinese artillery fire without firing a single shot, including three tanks and over a hundred trucks. How am I supposed to explain this to Commander Terauchi Hisaichi?”
Ushijima Mitsutaro stepped forward: “Commander, you don’t need to worry,
This matter is entirely due to my own faults. You have already fulfilled your responsibility, so please don’t make things difficult for yourself. I will personally apologize to Commander Terauchi Hisaichi.”
“Hmph… apologize…”
Meizuki Yoshijiro let out a light hum and said nothing, just gently tapped the desk and fell into deep thought.
Losing a regiment might be a huge deal for others, but for a senior general like Meizuki Yoshijiro, it was nothing more than offering a few more plaques at the Yasukuni Shrine.
What he cared more about was whether the North China Area Army or even the Imperial General Headquarters would have a bad impression of him because of this. That was the most important thing.
After a long while, he finally spoke: “The most urgent thing now is not apologizing, but how to restore the Imperial Army’s reputation.
Therefore, what you need to do now is to rush to Xincounty immediately, then recapture Dingxiang, and finally advance to Wutaicounty to eliminate Su Yaoyang, this major threat to the Empire.”
Ushijima Mitsutaro suddenly bowed deeply: “Hai… Thank you for the commander’s favor. After I return, I will definitely head back to Xincounty and reorganize the offensive against the Shanxi militia.”
“Go!” Meizuki Yoshijiro waved his hand, “Don’t forget what I told you earlier.”
“Hai!”
………..
It must be said that as a senior Japanese army general, Meizuki Yoshijiro’s political instincts were still very sharp.
Just as Ushijima Mitsutaro was preparing to regroup and kill back to Xincounty, a group of reporters who had rushed in from various places swarmed to Wutaicounty like sharks smelling blood, and suddenly this county town was filled with many reporters with cameras hanging on their chests.
“We want to see your commander.”
“Right… We want to go to the front line for interviews. It’s our right!”
Amid waves of clamor, the command post in Wutaicounty was surrounded by a group of reporters who had rushed in from various parts of Shanxi.
“Commander… Those reporters outside said they want to go to the front line for interviews. We can’t stop them.”
At this moment, Su Yaoyang, who was deploying tasks to Pi Ruoyu and several subordinates, glared at the sweaty staff officer in front of him but said nothing. Reporters in these times were truly the uncrowned kings; “killing without a knife” described them perfectly.
Moreover, these people were extremely bold, daring to say anything. If provoked, they would even dare to curse Chairman Jiang, let alone him, the militia commander-in-chief.
Helplessly, he could only put down the pencil in his hand, follow the staff officer out of the command post, and Pi Ruoyu and others hurriedly followed.
Just as he stepped out of the command post door, he saw that the entrance was already surrounded by a crowd.
Dozens of guard battalion soldiers were working hard to maintain order, arms outstretched to block the reporters outside who were either wearing long robes or Western suits.
As soon as Su Yaoyang appeared, a group of people surged toward him with a clatter, followed by a babel of voices.
“This officer, you must be Commander Su, right?”
A tall, thin man in a gray cloth long robe suddenly squeezed out from the crowd, his nose tip almost poking Su Yaoyang’s copper button on his chest. “I heard that your troops set up an ambush last night in an unnamed valley outside Xincounty and shelled the vanguard of the Japanese 20th Division with heavy artillery. Is that true?”
With his words, a smell of sour sweat mixed with cheap tobacco leaves hit his face. Su Yaoyang even saw dew from last night still clinging to the man’s collar.
With this reporter’s words, the originally noisy crowd suddenly fell silent for a moment.
Then dozens of eyes, like gun barrels with bayonets fixed, were aimed straight at his throat.
A woman in her thirties wearing round-framed glasses, holding paper and pen, looked surprised and said loudly: “Commander Su, can you tell us in detail about the process of last night’s ambush?”
“Was the artillery strike on the Japanese army last night commanded by you?”
“Commander Su… We demand to conduct on-site interviews of the valley from last night’s shelling. Please cooperate with us.”
“Right, we want to do on-site interviews. We want to report this good news to the people across the country.”
As they spoke, these reporters became excited again and surged forward.
“Make way!” Pi Ruoyu’s roar startled the sparrows under the eaves and scared everyone.
“Speak properly if you have something to say. You are all elites in the journalism world. How can you not even understand basic decorum?”
Pi Ruoyu had somehow quickly stepped in front of Su Yaoyang and said sternly to them: “If you have questions, ask one by one. What kind of manners is this chaotic mess?”
These reporters usually prided themselves as cultural elites and would dare to curse even the Chairman if provoked. Now seeing a mere colonel daring to scold them, how could they tolerate such humiliation? In an instant, the crowd was aroused and about to argue with Pi Ruoyu.
Seeing this, Su Yaoyang raised his hands and pressed them down, saying loudly: “Alright… Friends from the journalism world, I understand your feelings, but this attitude of yours is not the way to solve problems.
Besides, as my chief of staff just said, you are all elites in the journalism world.
Since you are elites, you should act with poise. You can’t be like vegetable-buying aunties in the market cursing each other out, right? That doesn’t fit your status.”
Su Yaoyang’s words slightly quelled the anger in these reporters’ hearts.
He then continued: “Here’s an idea. You’ve all come from afar, ultimately just wanting to interview this battle.
I understand everyone’s feelings and fully support it, but as you all know, with the current war between China and Japan, some military secrets cannot be disclosed.
But considering your eagerness, I can share some disclosable information with everyone and even share some photos with you journalists. What do you think?”
