Spy Wars: Return of the Red Luan

Chapter 185 Chen Jiehua's God-Making Plan
On February 4, Colonel Masao Shibayama, commander of the Japanese Marine Corps, led the Marine Corps in a general offensive against Jiangwan and Wusong, but it was quickly crushed by the high-spirited 2th Route Army, and a regiment attacking Jiangwan was completely annihilated!

Koichi Shiozawa, who boasted that he could "occupy Shanghai in four hours," was dismissed and transferred back to Japan. At the same time, Masao Shibayama, who was the only commander in the country, was also transferred back.

Koichi Shiozawa became the shortest-serving fleet commander in naval history, lasting only fourteen days, just a little longer than his boastful "four hours."

At the same time, Koichi Shiozawa received two more titles: "Commander of Fourteen Days" and "General of Four Hours." His previous title was "Life-Sustaining Sake" given to him by Isoroku Yamamoto.

Although the two defeated bastards were recalled, the Japanese Naval General Staff faced an awkward problem: what to do with the Shanghai Marine Corps, whose core strength had been wiped out? Although borrowing troops from the army was humiliating, it was better than a complete defeat, right?

The Japanese Imperial General Headquarters Navy Department could only borrow troops from the Army. The Japanese Army was also very decisive, immediately mobilizing and dispatching the 9th Division to board nearby ships. They traveled directly to Shanghai on naval warships with Vice Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura, Commander-in-Chief of the Third Fleet.

The 9th Division brought 40 tanks.

On February 11, the 9th Division deployed and began its attack. On the streets of Shanghai, in the urban warfare, tanks were a nightmare for the 19th Route Army of Guangdong, who had little experience in tank warfare.

At the start of the battle, the 19th Route Army, which was not used to tank warfare, suffered heavy losses. Finally, Commander Cai came up with a plan: he had his guards drive cars to tow radios and infantry guns, and he personally led Liu Junze to "go through the streets and alleys" in the rear, running wherever they were called, focusing on bombing the enemy's tanks.

The tanks brought by the Ninth Division, which underestimated the enemy, quickly broke down. After several days of reckless charges, the soldiers of the Ninth Division were also defeated and wiped out.

Both sides called for reinforcements to their respective rear areas.

On February 18, General Zhang Zhizhong led the Fifth Army, which was temporarily formed from the 87th and 88th Divisions, and other units, from Nanjing to Shanghai to participate in the battle.

However, the news quickly reached the Japanese General Headquarters, and on February 19, the General Headquarters continued to mobilize, dispatching the 11th and 14th Divisions, with General Yoshinori Shirakawa as commander, to reinforce Shanghai aboard naval warships.

On February 20, Chen Jiehua sent a message to Liu Junze via telegram.

At this moment, Liu Junze was exhausted, exhilarated, and excited. In order to protect this precious child, Cai Tingkai dispatched a 12-person guard team to protect Liu Junze 24 hours a day.

To exaggerate a bit, if he said he was hungry, food would be placed in his mouth within three seconds. But Liu Junze was too tired to eat anymore, and his mouth was covered in blisters.

In this situation, Liu Junze could no longer return home to use his own radio, so he had to confess to Cai Tingkai in advance and then borrow a military radio to receive telegrams.

During the brief ceasefire, in the temporary secret command post at the rear, General Cai looked at the telegram in his hand, then looked at the exhausted Liu Junze, and pressed him down, preventing him from speaking.

"Old Liu, I don't care which side you're on, that's not important now. I believe you're one of us. You get some rest and read this telegram. There's still a tough battle ahead, and I need to make arrangements. As for your matter, I'll tell you about it after we win the war!"

Does it matter which side he's on now? As long as he's genuinely killing Japanese devils and isn't a Japanese spy, that's enough!

Old Liu hadn't slept for five days, running around with me and blowing up dozens of Japanese tanks, not to mention countless other defensive fortifications. This record alone proves everything.

"Liu Junze thanks the Commander for his trust!"

"Come in, you guys! Keep protecting Lao Liu and this radio. This radio is more important than my life right now, understand?"

"Understood!" Just as General Cai Tingkai was about to leave, the radio started beeping again!

Urgent telegram: The Japanese Navy has dispatched three aircraft carriers to Shanghai, with bombers as their carrier-based aircraft!

"Commander, quick! Instruct the soldiers to immediately take cover in fortifications and request support from the rear with anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery!"

"Anti-aircraft guns? Only the Training Corps and the 87th and 88th Divisions of the Central Army, which are equipped with German weapons, have these. The 88th Division has already arrived at the Miaohang position. Liaison officer, go and ask the 88th Division if they brought their anti-aircraft guns!"

"Radio operator, report this message to the Fifth Army Command: Three Japanese aircraft carriers have arrived, and their carrier-based aircraft are bombers!"

Ten minutes later, "Report! The 88th Division replied, they brought three anti-aircraft guns!"

"Okay, Lao Liu, you take a nap first, I'll go borrow the anti-aircraft gun!"

"Get more shells! Remind them to set up the anti-aircraft guns in the park and use trees to block them!"
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Dividing line —
The war in Shanghai had reached a fever pitch, and Chen Jiehua could do nothing more to help. He had done all he could, and now it was up to fate.

Chen Jiehua and Fujiwara Mio used these rare few days to summarize and organize the recent intelligence in Kagoshima.

In the first phase of the battle, Koichi Shiozawa's Marine Corps was almost completely wiped out;

In the second phase, all the tanks brought by the Ninth Division were destroyed. The Ninth Division, the "Kanazawa Division", was a Class A main force division with at least 40 tanks on standby. It was so quick to wipe them out. It was most likely the work of Lao Liu.

In the third phase, intelligence had already been sent out in advance. Unless there were no anti-aircraft guns over there, with Lao Liu's skill level, shooting down planes would be as easy as cutting vegetables.

Even if we can't change history, we can always make a small contribution.

The key point is that the deployment of all Japanese aircraft carriers this time was a test conducted by Isoroku Yamamoto, then the "Chief of the Technical Section of the Naval Air Headquarters," to assess the joint operational capabilities of the aircraft carriers and their carrier-based aircraft with the army.

Chen Jiehua still held onto hope that if Lao Liu could deliver a strong blow, even if it meant shooting down a few more planes, it would still be a significant setback for Yamamoto Isoroku's test data.

The Japanese naval fleet faction is now rapidly splitting into the battleship/big gun faction and the aircraft carrier faction. The aircraft carrier faction's advance must be stopped, but relying on Liu alone is wishful thinking.

We need to step up our efforts on Zhou's side in America, and also give our side a little push.

For a long period of time to come, we will focus our efforts on the Japanese mainland and the navy.

The current situation within the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters' Naval Department is favorable to Chen Jiehua, because Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu, who favors him, was promoted to the position of Chief of the Naval General Staff by the fleet faction's bigwigs on February 2nd.

The naval fleet's dispatch of Koichi Shiozawa resulted in a setback, leading to ridicule of the navy by the Japanese public, especially the army. Many people wanted to take the blame for this defeat. That would be perfect, since Shiozawa was a classmate of Isoroku Yamamoto, and the two were so close that they were practically inseparable. If Yamamoto suffered another defeat, they could both be used to criticize each other.

(End of this chapter)