Spy Wars: Return of the Red Luan

After overcoming numerous hardships, Ijuin Seiki finally emerged from the jungle. Upon seeing many people, he carefully confirmed their presence and determined that they were indeed his country's naval fleet. He then rushed out.

If it weren't for the fact that one of the people cutting down trees happened to be an acquaintance from the former First Overseas Fleet, the three of them would probably have been killed as if they were savages.

"General! General Aoki! I'm so happy to see you!"

"Ijuin-kun, you've worked so hard! The Imperial Navy has seen all your sacrifices for the country!"

"Hey, you in the kitchen over there, stop standing around! Hurry up and prepare food and drinks. Bring out the best food stored on the flagship to entertain our naval warriors!"

After they finished eating, they talked to Ijuin Seiki and found out that these unlucky guys originally numbered over twenty, all of whom hadn't found jobs.

Ijuin thought it was very convenient to get to the sea from there, and that his group of dozens of men was very powerful, so he swaggered across the border. As a result, he was attacked by the Northeast Army and only four of his men remained. After crossing the border, they encountered Korean hunters, and one of them was gone.

The rest of the Ijuin Battalion, because of their obvious Japanese identity, generally found it easy to get jobs in headquarters and lower-level units. Some, however, were too obviously ronin (masterless samurai) to be considered lucky if they weren't killed, so they couldn't find work.

Furthermore, the Kwantung Army had already begun to guard against the navy. One or two men had such a strong smell of salt that they were obviously from the navy. After their identities were confirmed, they were secretly executed by the intelligence agency. It was a terrible fate.

After calming down Ijuin Seiki and getting them to set up their base there and begin regular contact and intelligence gathering, Chen Jiehua stopped pressing the issue and returned to his cabin.
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Dividing line —
Chen Jiehua thought about it. At this time, the Northeast Army fighting them on the border? It might just be Lao Guan and his men.

If it really is Old Seki and his men confronting Ijuin at the border, they should be arriving soon.

We really need to remind Guan Yuheng quickly not to rush out and launch a sneak attack on the base recklessly, as it would be bad if both sides suffered heavy losses.

Telegram message: The Japanese Navy is building a base on the coast of Kiyotsu. Do not engage in conflict. Find a secluded place to rest and await contact signals.

The rest of the work will be done once Ji Yinfengwen returns with his team. According to the plan, he will go back to load the goods and then come back here, which will take four days.

We will unload the supplies here and complete the handover with Guan Yuheng before heading to the next destination, Qingdao.

There's no point in me staying here; I'll have the flagship send me back to Tokyo.

Why did Chen Jiehua, who had just agreed to the army's request to "exile himself," return to Tokyo?

Because of a message from Ozaki, Masaki Jinzaburo and Nagata Tetsuzan got into a fight, each leading their own "team" in a brawl at the council meeting.

We have to go back and eat some melon seeds.
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Dividing line —
Following the split in the Navy, now the Army is also splitting up – that's good news.

Upon returning to Tokyo, Chen Jiehua first secretly met with Ozaki Hotsumi to formally reveal his identity, eliminate any barriers, and learn about the situation of her team members.

Next, I learned in detail from Hotsumi Ozaki about the formal conflict between Tetsuzan Nagata and Jinzaburo Masaki. I used to think that the army was a monolithic entity and hadn't paid much attention to their secret factions.

Masaki Jinzaburo and Araki Sadao were core figures of the Imperial Way Faction, both disciples of Uehara Yusaku. After Araki came to power, he intended to promote Masaki to Chief of the General Staff, but due to obstruction from the Control Faction to which Nagata Tetsuzan belonged, he ultimately only secured the position of Deputy Chief of the General Staff. While Masaki Jinzaburo became Deputy Chief of the General Staff, in reality, the Chief of the General Staff of the General Staff Headquarters no longer held any real power; he could simply live his life as he pleased—a position with no real authority.

However, Masaki and Araki were not satisfied and wanted to win over Nagata Tetsuzan to the Imperial Way Faction to expand its strength. Who is Nagata Tetsuzan?
Originally, after forming the "Three Crows" with Okamura Neiji and Obata Toshishiro, they became dishonest and secretly established the Isshinkai, splitting the "Three Crows" apart. Would you choose to follow Masaki as a lackey? Don't even think about it. Your attempt to win him over is an insult!
Since Masaki Jinzaburo and Araki Sadao couldn't handle the key positions, they focused on the secondary ones. After replacing the Operations Section with their newly recruited subordinate Obata Toshishiro, they replaced all the secondary departments, such as the Mobilization Section, Organization Section, and Defense Section, with their own people from the Imperial Way Faction.

In the entire army, only two positions remained for the Control Faction, which made Nagata Tetsuzan very unhappy. He seized the opportunity and, at a cabinet meeting, Prince Kan'in Kotohito, the Chief of the Army General Staff, made an unprecedented appearance. Rumor had it that the prince had a personal grudge against Masaki Jinzaburo.

Nagata Tetsuzan and his Control Faction allies seized the opportunity to launch an attack, arguing animatedly. Prince Kan'in Kotohito, seeing that the attack was directed at Masaki, predictably joined the fray, and with the prince's help, the two sides surprisingly ended up evenly matched.

Chen Jiehua, who rushed back hoping to join the gossip, decided against going to the cabinet to see what was going on. He reasoned that he should keep his word, and he couldn't break his promise to the army. Actually, the main reason was that the current prime minister was Saito Minoru, and Chen Jiehua was a little intimidated.

Where else can I go if I don't join the Cabinet's activities? I heard that Uehara's grandfather is in poor health, so I'll go and pay him a visit.

Accompanied by naval guards, Chen Jiehua prepared a large number of gifts and went to visit Uehara Yusaku. Upon arriving at the Uehara residence, Chen Jiehua was "surprised" to find that Kato Kanji was also there.

I chatted with the two old guys for a long time, and only went home after we had dinner.

Kato and Uehara said, "That grandson of a man, Heitaro, is really something. Last time I was sick, that brat came to visit me with lots of gifts."

"Now that Saito has taken office, it seems that the kid is a bit scared and wants to go out and hide, so he made himself the position of commander of the Manchukuo Fleet and took a bunch of old navy veterans to Korea."

“Since he mentioned wanting to do business with Taiwan, you should give him a heads-up. Now that Masaki has just returned, the position of commander of the Taiwan military is vacant, and the chief of staff of the Taiwan military is one of your men.”

When Chen Jiehua returned home, Duke Fujiwara saw him wandering around and said, "How many days has it been? You haven't even thought about going to Jinling to bring Mio back. What are you wandering around for?"

That's exactly what I've been waiting for, Father-in-law! "Alright, please give the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a heads-up and send a telegram to the Consulate General in China. I'll go pick them up by warship."

Now that he's the fleet commander, he needs to maintain a certain air of importance.

"Your current identity is the commander of the Manchukuo Fleet, so it's inappropriate for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send a telegram. You'll have to find a way to get there yourself."

Duke Fujiwara was not fooled.

In reality, whether the Duke of Fujiwara sent the telegram or not was no longer important. As long as he explicitly told me to go and pick up Mio, I would have a reason.

The goal of returning to Tokyo has been achieved.

Early the next morning, Chen Jiehua commanded the flagship to lead the team to Shanghai.

Chen Jiehua planned to first make a brief visit to the consulate, then sail directly to the Xiaguan Wharf in Nanjing to pick up Fujiwara Mio, before returning to Shanghai for a while. Once Ji Yinfengwen's fleet arrived, the fleets would merge and head to Taiwan to "do some small business." (End of Chapter)