Spy Wars: Return of the Red Luan

Chapter 187 Aoki's Three Swords and Zaoka Village

February 1932 was indeed a turbulent month.

Besides the fighting in Shanghai, in the north, the Kwantung Army in Northeast China was also plotting a despicable thing: to put Puyi on the throne as a puppet and establish the puppet state of Manchukuo.

Upon receiving this news, Chen Jiehua even sent a telegram to Yang Dengying to inquire why they hadn't intercepted Puyi and allowed Kenji Doihara to take him away.

Yang Dengying felt wronged and investigated the matter seriously. He finally confirmed that Puyi was actually "stolen" by the Doihara Organization in November 1931 and sent to Lushun.

It's already February. Instruct Guan Yuheng's troops to secretly infiltrate back to Fengtian and find a suitable location near Fengtian to set up camp first.

In addition, the Ijuin Battalion was instructed to infiltrate and infiltrate the Northeast in groups of three, posing as members of a Japanese settler group.

We don't have the energy to deal with Manchukuo right now; we'll deal with it later.
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Dividing line —
On February 26, Chen Jiehua and Fujiwara Mio returned to Tokyo from Kagoshima. Mio went home to visit her elderly father, while Chen Jiehua first went to the Army General Staff Headquarters compound.

As mentioned earlier, in late 1931, when Inukai Tsuyoshi became Prime Minister and formed a cabinet, he chose Araki Sadao as Minister of the Army. Araki Sadao originally wanted to promote Masaki Jinzaburo to be Chief of the Army General Staff, but ultimately failed to do so due to factional struggles.

After some compromises, at a cabinet meeting on February 2, Prince Kan'in Kotohito, a member of the Imperial Family, was elected as the Chief of the Army General Staff.

Corresponding to the army, on the same day, February 2nd, Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu was elected as the Chief of the Naval General Staff.

Two powerful princes from the Japanese Army and Navy have officially taken office.

On February 9, Obata Toshishiro was promoted to Major General in the Army and was subsequently selected by Army Minister Araki Sadao as the Chief of the Third Department of the General Staff.

Nagata Tetsuzan was promoted to Major General and appointed Director of the Second Department of the General Staff.

At this time, where is Okamura Yasuji, the last of the Three Crows?

On February 26, Okamura Yasuji was appointed as the deputy chief of staff of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army and was preparing to depart for Shanghai.

Chen Jiehua chose this time to return to Tokyo because he had received intelligence in advance and was going to intercept Okamura Yasuji.

According to Chen Jiehua's deduction, this battle in Shanghai will not last long, because the Japanese army, like Chiang Kai-shek, is not ready and does not want to continue fighting. The Japanese army is involved because it has been held hostage by the navy.

The Kuomintang was dragged into this for various reasons, primarily because the 19th Route Army disobeyed orders. Of course, without the 19th Route Army's disobedience, Shanghai would likely have suffered even more.

According to the latest news, the naval carrier-based aircraft group suffered heavy losses in the battle from February 23 to 25. Of the 40 carrier-based bombers on the three aircraft carriers, 23 were lost in this round. The explanation given by the naval commander was that the enemy had a gunnery expert!
The army fared no better, with two divisions clashing with the high-spirited 19th Route Army and the well-equipped 5th Army, neither side gaining an advantage.

The Army General Staff sent Okamura Yasuji to Shanghai at this time in an attempt to gain an advantage through negotiations. If they couldn't win a fight, they could only resort to verbal sparring.

In the Army General Staff Headquarters compound, Chen Jiehua saw three crows. Obata Toshishiro and Nagata Tetsuzan were seeing Okamura Yasuji off. Damn it, I finally made it!

Chen Jiehua gave a look to the "younger brother" following behind Obata Toshishiro, then said to the three crows, "Hey, where is Uncle Okamura going?"

"Wait a minute, uncles, why are you two major generals, while Uncle Okamura is still a colonel?"

Before they could answer his first question, Chen Jiehua deliberately grabbed Okamura Neiji's rank insignia and threw out a pointed question: "You 'Three Crows of Baden-Baden,' with Nagata Tetsuzan as the 'Most Powerful Brain,' Obata Toshishiro as the 'Most Powerful Theorist,' and what about you, Okamura Neiji? After all that fuss, you're stuck in the middle, neither here nor there, haven't you?"

"How about I give my rank of Major General to my uncle? I only need the rank of Colonel."

Let's deliver another blow.

Okamura Neiji was already speechless with choking, and this final blow really got to him! He was so angry that he swallowed a mouthful of blood!
"Aoki!" Nagata Tetsuzan, known as the army's most brilliant mind, could naturally see that Aoki was deliberately stirring up trouble, and he sternly stopped him.

"Alright, alright, let's not talk about it anymore. I just came to see my brother and happened to run into him! This army is so unfair! The three uncles are one family, how can they only promote you two to general and deliberately block Uncle Okamura?"

One cut after another, if we don't stab him now, are we going to wait for him to come back?

"Pfft!"

The mouthful of blood that Okamura Neiji had swallowed back still couldn't be held back, and he spat it out.

"Aoki Joe! That's enough!"

"Alright, alright, Uncle, I'm sorry. I'll stop here, I won't say anymore."

Obata Toshishiro rolled his eyes. This Aoki Takashi really has a sharp tongue! I've truly experienced it! The first time was at that cabinet meeting, both of them coughed up blood; the second time was in that solitary confinement room, Doihara Kenji coughed up blood; and this third time, sigh, this kid is really toxic. I'll have Ikki learn more from him in the future!

From the moment Chen Jiehua entered the gate until now, Okamura Neiji hadn't uttered a single word. His mind was in turmoil, with only one thought in his head: this is truly his master's grandson, just like his master—no one can handle him. He should take him with him to the negotiations in Shanghai!
Once the idea took root, Okamura Neiji couldn't suppress it! After regaining his composure, he said, "Aoki, are you still angry? You're already a general, you should be more magnanimous! If you want to develop in North China, we'll just make the Doihara Organization withdraw from North China."

"So that's how it is! No wonder that bug was willing to withdraw from North China! It turns out that my uncles were helping Aoki behind the scenes!"

"My uncle just received his appointment today as the deputy chief of staff of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army. He's going to Shanghai to negotiate with the Republic of China. Why don't you go with him?"

"What? Back to Shanghai again? Aoki was just transferred back and hasn't even been home yet! No way, no way!"

"Besides, if I go with you, you're a colonel and I'm a major general. Whose orders will we take in the negotiations?"

"Pfft!"

Another knife.

Chen Jiehua was stunned, his mouth agape, staring with innocent eyes. "Won't you listen to my excuse? This stab really wasn't my intention! I just don't want to be a traitor. Going back to lead the negotiations? Too dangerous! I'd rather die than go!"
The three crows saw Aoki Joe's first reaction and believed it without needing an explanation. It really wasn't intentional on his part; this kid probably just has this personality!
Standing behind Obata Toshishiro, Aoki Aoki was a little dumbfounded, thinking, "Is this my third brother? He used to be such a recluse! It seems the outside world really can toughen people up!"

"Uncle, why don't we go back to the operations command center? I have something to say to you. Let's sit down and talk it over."

A few people standing in the courtyard, watching you make "plop" sounds here and "plop" sounds there, it's not a good situation.

Everyone agreed that this made sense, and since Aoki had important matters to discuss, they decided to head back first.

(End of this chapter)