Chapter 8: National Revival (Part 1)

  When the various command centers of the National Army in the Shanghai-Hangzhou War Zone and the Japanese troops were shocked by this sudden explosion, the perpetrator Yue Weihan was leading his small team to escape.

  The 3rd Division of the Japanese Army is indeed one of the most elite standing divisions, with a reaction speed that is absolutely top-notch!

  As soon as Niu Dagen fired the first shot, a Japanese military camp not far from Xiaoshanbao was alarmed. At that time, a three-wheeled motorcycle carrying three little devils rushed out of the camp, followed by more than a dozen devilish infantrymen, rushing towards Xiaoshanbao with a fierce killing intent. When Yue Weihan and his men came down the mountain, this group of little devils had already arrived at the foot of the mountain.

  Yue Weihan made a gesture, and behind him, Cao Xinglong, Chi Chengfeng, and Niu Dagen flashed and disappeared into the shadows.

  "Chinese soldier, Chinese soldier sneak attack!" Yue Weihan rushed out from the shadows, wildly shouting in Japanese while "frantically" charging towards the group of devils, the attention of the group of devils was quickly drawn to Yue Weihan, and the leading Bian Sanlun also stopped with a creak.

  A junior officer jumped down from the edge of the bed and rushed up to Yue Weihan, scolding him: "What's wrong with you, Eighth Gua? What are you panicking about?"

  Yue Weihan's eyes widened suddenly, and he rudely retorted: "Ba Ga Ya Lu, who the hell are you cursing?"

  Before the devil officer came to his senses, Yue Weihan raised his hand and fired a shot, hitting the devil officer right between the eyebrows. The devil officer didn't even make a sound before falling to the ground headfirst. Before the dozen or so little devils nearby could react, intense gunfire erupted from the side of the road. Cao Xinglong and Chi Chengfeng each wielded two German-made pistols, firing left and right, while Niu Dagen had switched to using the little devil's submachine gun, which they had seized from the little devils' stronghold on the mountain.

  Add the Yue Weihan, six clean face boxes plus a crooked handle submachine gun woven into crossfire, and the little devils who were not mentally prepared were instantly swept to the ground.

  With just one breath, a dozen or so little devils were all dispatched.

  Yue Weihan jumped onto the sidecar of a three-wheeled vehicle and shouted at Cao Xinglong and the others, "Quickly, get on!"

  "Boss, how come you're driving a Japanese car?"

  "Less nonsense, if you don't want to die, get on the car quickly!" Yue Weihan said, suddenly starting the three-wheeled motorcycle. Niu Dagen and others hurriedly got on the car. Cao Xinglong was quick to grab the side compartment first. Chi Chengfeng was half a beat slower and only managed to grab the back seat of Yue Weihan. Niu Dagen, who was left behind, had nowhere to sit, so he had to stick his butt out and lean against the rear compartment.

  …………

  Hirano Corps Headquarters.

  Takaoka Yoshimasa was getting restless when a junior lieutenant staff officer hastily entered the conference room: "Major General, it's a call from the deputy commander of the combined fleet."

  "Captain Nishio?" Eagle Morita hastily exited the conference room, just picked up the receiver, and the voice of Captain Nishio Jiro, deputy commander of the 68th Brigade, came over. "Colonel, five minutes ago, the division's forward base was attacked by a small group of Chinese troops! The large quantities of fuel, supplies, and ammunition stored in the base were all destroyed, and Lieutenant General Tengda, who went to inspect, also died."

  "What?! The Tengen Pavilion has been destroyed?!" Eagle Mori's face turned pale in an instant, and he shouted, "Impossible! This is impossible! The Forward Base is under the strict guard of our 68th Regiment and neighboring regiments. How could a small unit of the Chinese army possibly infiltrate it?"

  "Colonel, the infiltration of a small contingent of Chinese troops is now beyond doubt." Nishio Jiro's voice suddenly became somewhat hesitant, "And I suspect that this small contingent of Chinese troops may have come from Baoshan and crossed our 68th Regiment's defense line."

  "What did you say?"

  Takaashi Hayakawa shuddered at the thought, if what Nishiojiro said was true, that this small detachment of the enemy had indeed broken through the 68th Brigade's defense line, then he, Takaashi Hayakawa, would have to take responsibility for the destruction of the forward base and the loss of Tengda. But could he, a mere major, bear such a burden?

  In the receiver, Nishio Jiro's voice became more and more vague: "Colonel, half an hour ago, I received a report from the front line that a soldier disappeared while patrolling in the southern city defense line of Baoshan. I think this must be related to the small group of Chinese troops that infiltrated..."

  "Wait, Nishio!" Takaoki Hayabusa interrupted hastily. "This is just your speculation. Don't jump to conclusions before the facts are clear, and don't report anything rashly to our superiors. Whatever it is, let's discuss it when I get back to HQ. Also, whether or not a small group of enemy soldiers has passed through our defense line, we need to lock down the barracks immediately!"

  Takaori Hayashi immediately hung up the phone and hastily announced the adjournment of the meeting before rushing back to the brigade headquarters.

  Half an hour later, Takaashi Hayato finally returned to the regimental headquarters, but Vice-Regimental Commander Nishio Jiro was not in the command center. When he asked the staff, he found out that Nishio had gone to a nameless small hill behind the regimental headquarters and said there was an important discovery on top. Takaashi Hayato didn't dare to delay, so he quickly climbed up the nameless small hill behind the regimental headquarters and finally saw Nishio Jiro.

  Nishio Jiro was standing on the mountain top where the cannon of Ushidaka was placed at that time, with five bodies of Imperial Army soldiers beside him.

  Seeing this scene, Takaoki Hayabusa had a premonition that something was wrong. He almost fainted and was caught by the soldier next to him. After a while, he finally came to his senses and asked, "Nishio, have you found anything?"

  Nishio Jiro nodded and said, "Colonel, just half an hour ago, the vanguard position found the body of a missing patrol soldier. In addition, the 1st and 5th Infantry Battalions and the Logistics Battalion all reported that between 10pm and 12am last night, four unknown soldiers entered our military camp with suspicious behavior."

  "Suspicious circumstances!?" Eagle Morimori roared instantly, "Why didn't you report in time?"

  Nishio Jiro sighed, "Among those four soldiers, there is someone who can speak fluent Japanese and also knows our password. Moreover, last night two supplementary battalions arrived at the regiment, so..."

  "Damn it!" Takaoki Yamamori panted heavily, incredulous. "A Chinese soldier who speaks Japanese?"

  "Colonel, based on the intelligence gathered so far, the entire process of the 'raid incident' has become clear. Last night at 10 o'clock, a surprise attack squad consisting of four Burmese soldiers came out from the south gate of Baoshan and infiltrated our military base by deceiving the password. At 12:05, the Burmese squad successfully broke through the four layers of defense lines of our regiment and reached the depths of our division's base, attacking the unnamed small hill where we are now located. They then set up a mortar here and fired two to five shells at the forward base two kilometers away, resulting in..."

  "Hoshan, it's Hoshan again!" Eagle Mori suddenly drew his military sword and slashed at the empty space in front of him with a fierce cry, as if he wanted to cut his nonexistent opponent in two. Then, gritting his teeth, he let out a shrill roar: "Seal off the base immediately! I'll catch those cunning Chinese foxes myself and flay them alive!"

  "Regrettably, Colonel, those few Japanese foxes have broken through from the 18th Brigade's direction!"

  Nishio Jiro shook his head, but his eyes were cold and clear. With such a big mistake, Takemori Kō's military career was probably over. There were only two paths left for him: to wash away his shame with the way of the warrior, or wait for the military court. It was time for the Takemori Corps to be renamed the Nishio Corps!

  …………

  Songhu Garrison Command

  Until almost dawn, the deputy officer returned to Deputy Director Gu's face with a big sweat and said: "Director, after investigation... it was found that it was not the frontline troops who were firing artillery. According to the speculation of Xia Zhongyu, the commander of the 98th Division, it should be a small group of troops that launched a surprise attack on the Japanese military arsenal. The explosion sound last night should be the sound of the Japanese military arsenal's ammunition exploding."

  "Oh, a small contingent of troops raided the Japanese military arsenal?" Deputy Director Gu's eyes lit up instantly, this was quite interesting.

  Just as the deputy director was thinking about whether to make use of this matter to reverse the international and domestic public opinion trend due to the consecutive defeats in the Songhu battle, a young and beautiful confidential secretary suddenly walked in with a telegram in her hand: "Director, this is a telegram from the Security Bureau."

  "What's this 'Bureau of Confidentiality'?" Deputy Director Gu didn't take the telegram, furrowing his brow. "What kind of nonsense is Dai Li cooking up now?"

  The chief secretary said: "The Shanghai branch of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics intercepted a large number of Japanese military radio signals in the second half of last night, with an intensity that was the highest since the start of the Battle of Songhu. The Bureau suspects that this may be a precursor to major action by the Japanese army, so it sent a telegram to remind the commander-in-chief to pay attention."

  "What did you say? The Japanese army is going to take major action! Are they going to increase their troops again?" Deputy Director Gu was shocked by the news, and beads of cold sweat suddenly appeared on his forehead. He snatched the telegram from his confidential secretary's hand and cursed angrily, "What are those idiots at the Cryptography Bureau doing? They still haven't cracked the Japanese army's code after all this time!"

  The chief secretary said, "Director, the technical personnel of the Security Bureau have worked very hard, but the little devils are too cunning and often change their telegraph codes, so it's difficult for us to decipher them. However, the Technical Department has recently improved its technology, and the decryption time is now three times faster than before. I believe we will soon be able to crack the Japanese military code."

  "How fast, how fast? Three days, five days or half a month?" Deputy Director Gu waved the telegram in his hand, and for a moment he was anxious like an ant on a hot pot. "By the time those idiots at the cryptography bureau crack the code, the Japanese army's major operation will be over! By then, the yellow flowers will have wilted, what's the use of cracking the code?"

  As soon as the words fell, a sudden and urgent footsteps sounded outside the door, and someone rushed in like a whirlwind. It was the head of the confidential department of the general's office. Before Vice Director Gu could get angry, the head of the confidential department panted and said: "Director General, good... great news, earth-shaking good news! The cryptography department of the security bureau has cracked the Japanese military code!"

  "Oh?" Deputy Director Gu suddenly became excited and said, "Quickly, quickly tell me, what major action is the Japanese army taking?"

  "No, the Japanese army didn't take any major action!" The head of the code-breaking department gasped, "Last night, the Shanghai dispatch military headquarters and subordinate divisions' communication cables suddenly surged because of one thing, one person!"

  "What's this? One thing, one person!?" Deputy Director Gu hastily asked, "You'd better speak quickly, what thing, what person?"