Bright Sword: I am an undercover agent in the puppet army

In stark contrast to the Eighth Route Army who were celebrating as if it were New Year's Day, Kenkichi Hirata felt as if the sky had fallen on him.

His 37th Division had a total of three infantry regiments. Not only was one of the infantry regiments completely annihilated at the root, but the other two regiments were also severely damaged, with casualties exceeding 60%.

The remaining remnants, added together, could not even form two infantry regiments.

Shame. This is absolutely a great humiliation for him.

"Baga! You idiots! You are such a useless bunch! The elite troops of the Great Japanese Empire were defeated and severely damaged by the Chinese Eighth Route Army. You have made me lose face.

How dare you come back? Why don't you just die! "

Kenkichi Hirata opened his mouth wide and roared at the 225th Infantry Regiment Captain Isamu Hachimura and the 227th Infantry Regiment Captain Akihiko Yoshizawa, who were running back in a shambles, and his saliva sprayed all over the faces of the two Japanese soldiers.

However, the two Japanese soldiers didn't dare to raise their hands to wipe the spit. They could only wipe their faces and nod their heads in shame and say "Hi Yi".

When Hirata Kenkichi had almost finished his scolding, the chief of staff Hamada Hiroshi beside him asked, "Hachimura-kun, Yoshizawa-kun, what exactly is going on? The locust army has always won with fewer troops. Even if facing the most elite Chinese Central Army, with the strength of your three regiments, you can at least defeat three reorganized divisions.

At present, according to reliable intelligence, there is only one 386th Brigade of the Chinese Eighth Route Army in the Taihang area. Why did you suffer such a disastrous defeat? "

Hachimura Isamu and Yoshizawa Akishi looked at each other, and Hachimura Isamu spoke first: "Chief of Staff, Your Excellency the Division Commander, it is not that we did not fight well, but that we were eager to reinforce the 226th Regiment and fell into the ambush carefully arranged by the Chinese Eighth Route Army.

Not only that, the damn Eighth Route Army not only has a large number of troops, several times more than the Locust Army, but their weapons and equipment are also extremely sophisticated.

In addition to being equipped with a large number of light and heavy machine guns, they are also equipped with a large number of grenade launchers and mortars. The firepower within the same unit is far superior to that of the Locust Army.

The most important thing is that they are not equipped with bolt-action rifles, but semi-automatic rifles that can fire continuously."

Hirata Kenkichi was so angry that he laughed and said, "The firepower of the Chinese Eighth Route Army is far superior to that of the Locust Army. Even their rifles are all semi-automatic. Do you believe this when you say it?"

Hachimura Yong said with sweat on his forehead: "Your Excellency, the division commander, I know this is incredible, but it is true. The firepower of the Eighth Route Army is so powerful that the locust army can hardly raise its head."

Yoshizawa Akihisa next to him quickly echoed, "Your Excellency the division commander, what Hachimura said is true. The situation our regiment encountered is almost exactly the same as their 225th regiment. The firepower of the Eighth Route Army is really too powerful.

We were careless, so... one misstep led to eternal regret."

Kenkichi Hirata: "Okay, okay! Let's not talk about whether the Eighth Route Army is equipped with a large number of light and heavy machine guns, whether they are equipped with semi-automatic rifles, and let's not discuss where these weapons and equipment came from.

I just want to know, how can they afford such a huge expenditure of ammunition? "

Hachimura Isamu: "I don't know about this...but everything I said is true. There is absolutely no lie."

Hirata Kenkichi: "Okay, okay, you said that the Eighth Route Army was equipped with semi-automatic rifles. How did you know that? Did you see them using them, or did you seize their weapons and equipment?"

Hachimura: "Not really. I made the judgment based on the sound of gunfire on the battlefield."

Kenkichi Hirata: "What a good way to judge it from the sound of gunfire on the battlefield! I think you are just making up an excuse to evade responsibility!"

Both Hachimura Isamu and Yoshizawa Akihito lowered their heads, wishing they could shrink into their crotches, and neither of them dared to look directly at Hirata Kenkichi's almost murderous gaze.

The Chief of Staff Hiroshi Hamada said quickly: "Your Excellency, now that things have come to this, there is no point in dwelling on this issue any further.

The most important thing right now is how to explain this to Commander Yoshio Shinozuka."

Hirata Kenkichi: "How should I explain this? Should I report to Commander Yoshio Shinozuka that the Eighth Route Army was equipped with a large amount of light and heavy firepower, and even the rifles were semi-automatic, so the locust army was defeated?

Do you think Commander Yoshio Shinozuka will believe it?"

Hamada Hiroshi: "Commander Shinozuka Yoshio will naturally not believe it."

Not to mention Yoshio Shinozuka, even he himself didn't believe it.

Kenkichi Hirata: “That’s it!”

Hamada Hiro thought for a while, and suddenly his eyes lit up and he said, "Mr. Division Commander, as mentioned above, we can completely deny it and say that the flag of the 226th Infantry Regiment was not captured, and that it was made up by the Tubalu."

Kenkichi Hirata: "How do we explain the losses of our division?"

Hamada Hiroshi: "No need to explain! Let's just say that although the 226th Regiment was completely wiped out, they also caused huge casualties to the Chinese Eighth Route Army. The three infantry regiments of my division killed at least Eighth Route Army soldiers, and countless more were injured."

Kenkichi Hirata: "How can a brigade of the Eighth Route Army have so many troops?"

Hiroshi Hamada: "Don't we have the final say on how many troops the Eighth Route Army has? Let's say that there are at least 10 Eighth Route Army troops stationed in the Taihang area. After the Hundred Regiments Campaign, the enemy's main force retreated here.

It was the intelligence error above that caused the loss of our division. However, even so, the casualties of the Locust Army were far less than those of the Eighth Route Army! "

Kenkichi Hirata: "Soga, this is indeed the best explanation at the moment."

Immediately afterwards, after some polishing, Hamada Hiroshi reported the situation "truthfully" to the 1st Army Headquarters.

……

Taiyuan City.

Japanese 1st Army Headquarters.

Shinozuka Yoshio was working out the next revenge plan with the Japanese staff officers in the Operations Section when the Communications Section Chief Toyotomi Hideyoshi suddenly rushed in from outside and bowed respectfully to Shinozuka Yoshio, saying, "Commander! We have found out the situation.

According to the latest report from the 37th Division, the 37th Infantry Regiment of the 226th Division did fall into an ambush by the Chinese Eighth Route Army, and the regiment headquarters was destroyed. All the commanding personnel, including the regiment commander Hiroshi Takeshita, were killed.

But the regiment flag was not lost and fell into the hands of the Chinese Eighth Route Army.

All of this was fabricated by the Chinese Eighth Route Army.

In addition, the situation of the Locust Army seemed to have major problems. There was more than one 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang area.

Each infantry regiment of the 37th Division alone was besieged by at least 37 local guerrillas, but even so, the th Division still killed at least of them and suffered countless casualties.

Except for the 226th Infantry Regiment, which was almost completely destroyed because it fell into an ambush carefully arranged by the Chinese Eighth Route Army, the other two infantry regiments killed the Eighth Route Army in front of them and made them flee in disgrace.

After a pause, Toyotomi Hideyoshi continued, "So, Division Commander Hirata speculated that the Chinese Eighth Route Army in the Taihang base may have more than 10 soldiers!"

After hearing the final data, Shinozuka Yoshio was surprised: "10 people? Did the main force of the Shanxi Eighth Route Army all move into the Taihang area after the Hundred Regiments Campaign ended?"

The Chief of Staff Kusunokichi said, "Now it seems that this is indeed the case. Since the Tubalu's strength exceeds the expectations of the Locust Army, do we need to formulate a new battle plan?"

Shinozuka Yoshio waved his hand and said, "No need! Although the Eighth Route Army has 10 soldiers, they are just a mob and are not worth worrying about.

With the strength of the Locust Army's 4th, 37th and 36th Divisions, they can be completely annihilated.

The top priority right now is to clarify the facts and dispel the rumor that the Eighth Route Army seized the Locust Army’s flag!

Immediately inform the three armed forces of this matter, and then hold a press conference and let the news media publish a report to clarify! "

"Hi Yi!"

……

Taihang area.

Headquarters of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army.

The brigade commander smiled and asked Li Yunlong and Ding Wei: "Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, your two divisions suffered 10,000 casualties?"

Li Yunlong was stunned by the question: "What? What did you say, Brigade Commander?" Brigade Commander: "We just received a broadcast from the Japanese. They said that the flag of the 226th Infantry Regiment was not captured by our army. That was a lie. Not only that, they also annihilated at least of our troops in yesterday's battle, and countless people were injured."

After saying that, the brigade commander handed a document to the two of them.

Li Yunlong's face turned pale and he said, "Bullshit! The Japanese devils are really talking nonsense and have no shame at all.

Our Independent Regiment and the New 1st Regiment together have less than 10,000 people. Could it be that we were completely wiped out by the Japanese and still owe them 1,000 or 2,000 people?
And the regiment flag, didn't you see it, Brigade Commander? Don't you know whether it's real or fake?"

Ding Wei was also full of anger: "I never thought that these damn Japanese devils would really confuse right and wrong!"

Xu Yang's expression didn't change much: "This is just a counterattack by the Japanese out of helplessness. They can't admit that we really captured their regiment flag, right?"

Li Yunlong: "That's right. I can't admit such a shameful thing."

Ding Wei: "I have to say, this move of the Japanese is really insidious. How can we crack it?"

Xu Yang: "This is an open conspiracy. There is no good way to crack it. If nothing unexpected happens, even if we take out the Japanese flag, they will deny it and say that the flag we have is a replica."

Li Yunlong: "So are we just going to let the little devils confuse right and wrong?"

Xu Yang: "Maybe our news media has already started arguing with the Japanese devils."

Li Yunlong looked confused, but the brigade commander smiled and said, "Nothing can be hidden from your eyes, Lone Wolf Staff Officer. Last night, the news media of our two countries started to curse at each other, criticizing each other for confusing right and wrong."

Ding Wei: "Then our plan to undermine the morale of the Japanese invaders has failed, right?"

Brigade Commander: "That's not the case. At least, we have achieved our goal of boosting morale and strengthening the belief of the entire nation's military and civilians that they will win the war."

Ding Wei: “That’s true.”

At this time.

Ma Tong ran over hurriedly and shouted "report" to Xu Yang, but he hesitated to speak.

Xu Yang said: "It's okay, these are our leaders, they are our own people."

"The Osaka Division just called and asked whether it was true that the 37th Division annihilated more than 10000 of our troops..." Ma Tong recounted the situation truthfully.

Everyone stared at each other.

Li Yunlong even cursed: "Damn it, I thought the Japanese high-ranking officials and news media were shameless enough to lie with their eyes open, but I didn't expect that the commander of the 37th Division, Kenkichi Hirata, was even more shameless than them?
Could it be that they were infected by those guys in the National Army and actually learned to lie about the results of the battle? "

Ding Wei: "It's no wonder that our army easily defeated an opponent who didn't even have the courage to face failure."

Li Yunlong: "Next time, I will wipe out his 37th Division and see if this old devil can still be so stubborn."

Xu Yang instructed Ma Tong: "Call Kitano Kenzo back and tell him what the situation is. He can go to the 37th Division Headquarters and find out. He can also blackmail Hirata Kenkichi."

"Yes!"

Ma Tong nodded in agreement, then turned and left, asking the signalman to send a telegram.

In order to facilitate communication, Xu Yang brought a signalman and a radio this time...

Headquarters of the 37th Division of the Japanese Army.

Hirata Kenkichi was surprised and asked, "What? Kitano-kun is coming to our division headquarters?"

The Japanese communications staff bowed respectfully: "Hi!"

Hirata Kenkichi asked again: "What is he doing here?"

The Japanese communications staff officer said: "I don't know about this."

Kenkichi Hirata waved his hand, indicating that the communications staff could leave, and then said to the chief of staff Hiro Hamada next to him: "Hamada-kun, what do you think about this matter?"

Hamada-kun: "Could it be related to our false reporting of the results of the battle?"

Kenkichi Hirata's brows suddenly knitted together...

Three hours later.

Kenzo Kitano arrived at the headquarters of the 37th Division.

Kenkichi Hirata, along with Chief of Staff Hiroshi Hamada, and several senior staff officers from the division headquarters immediately went out to meet them.

From a distance, Kitano Kenzou smiled and took the initiative to greet him, "Hirata-kun, I heard that your division wiped out more than 10,000 Eighth Route Army soldiers this time? Congratulations!"

Kitano Kenzo and Hamada Hiroshi looked at each other and realized that what they feared was really coming true.

"Kitano-kun, you are joking. My division dispatched three infantry regiments and suffered many casualties in the Locust Army to achieve such a small result. It is not worth mentioning at all.

It is your division that dispatched only one infantry battalion and annihilated a regiment of the Eighth Route Army, killing more than 3000 enemies, which is truly remarkable."

Kitano Kenzo: "Oh? So, your division's military exploits are true? But where are the spoils you captured? Can you let me see them?"

"Well..." Kenkichi Hirata hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Because the captured spoils are too much, they are still at the front line and have not been moved back yet."

"Suoga!" Kitano Kenzo nodded and said, "It just so happens that our division has extra troops, and they are just sitting there doing nothing. I will send someone to help you transport the spoils back.

By the way, where did you defeat the Eighth Route Army?"

"This..." Kenkichi Hirata stammered.

The Chief of Staff Hiroshi Hamada stepped forward to help, saying, "General Kitano, our division has enough manpower. We won't bother your division with such a small matter as transporting supplies."

Kitano Kenzo's face darkened. "You don't want to trouble our division, or you don't dare? Is it that you didn't win the battle at all, but lied about your achievements, and there is no so-called spoils of war, so you don't dare to let me see it?"

Kenkichi Hirata and Hiroshi Hamada both felt a jolt in their hearts.

Hamada Hiro said: "General Kitano, you are joking. How dare we lie about military intelligence?"

Kitano Kenzo: "You really don't dare? If so, where are your spoils? Where are they? Where was the battle site with the Tubalu?"

"This...this..." Hamada Hiroshi was speechless for a moment.

Kitano Kenzo: "You can't answer? Let me tell you, Shinozuka-kun suspected that you lied about military intelligence, so he asked me to investigate the situation in person."

Hamada Hiroshi was so frightened that his whole body was shaking, his anus was tightening, and sweat was pouring out of his forehead uncontrollably.

Hirata Kenkichi made up his mind and said, "Kitano-kun wants to investigate my division, so where are the spoils captured by your division? Where was the battle site?"

Kitano Kenzo sneered, "Oh? Hirata-kun, are you trying to investigate me? Our spoils are at the division headquarters. Do you want to go and see them for yourself, or should I have someone send them over?"

"As for the battle site, our military correspondents have already taken detailed photos, and the negatives have been sent to Yangquan County for development. It will be delivered to Shinozuka-kun's desk soon.

I don't know, is Hirata-kun satisfied with this answer?"

...(End of chapter)