Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 310 The Quagmire of War
Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinotsuka, commander of the Japanese First Army, who was besieged in Taiyuan, was like an ant on a hot pan.

While commanding the remaining Third Independent Mixed Brigade and the puppet troops with questionable combat capabilities in Taiyuan City, he frantically constructed fortifications and dug trenches, attempting to turn Taiyuan City into an impregnable fortress.

On the other hand, he kept sending urgent telegrams to the troops stationed in various parts of Shanxi, ordering them to rush to Taiyuan to provide reinforcements at all costs.

However, the 27th Division and the 7th Independent Mixed Brigade, which he had placed high hopes on, were now decimated by Su Yaoyang's air squadron and could only hide in the mountains to lick their wounds, unable to advance at all.

Yoshio Shinotsuka's orders not only failed to lift the siege of Taiyuan, but also plunged the Japanese army's deployment throughout Shanxi into chaos, with urgent calls for help everywhere.

Meanwhile, inside the headquarters of the Japanese North China Area Army in Beiping, the atmosphere was so heavy it seemed as if water could drip from it.

Army General Tada Shun, the commander of the field army, was staring intently at the urgent battle report sent from Shanxi.

His cloudy eyes were bloodshot, and his brows were tightly furrowed into a deep frown.

The thin telegram felt incredibly heavy in his hands.

After a long while, an uncontrollable surge of anger finally erupted.

"boom!"

Tada Shun slammed the battle report heavily onto the heavy oak desk, making a dull thud.

He abruptly stood up and roared, "What on earth is Yoshio Shinotsuka doing? He's ruined the situation in Shanxi! Now he's even losing Taiyuan, which the Imperial Army has occupied for three years. How can he be the commander of the First Army?"

Standing before him was Lieutenant Colonel Kumao Imoto, the operations section chief of the army group.

He was dressed in a crisp military uniform, standing as straight as a javelin. Faced with the commander's thunderous rage, he simply bowed his head solemnly.

After Tada Shun's roar subsided, Imoto Kumagao said in a deep voice, "Commander, the situation in Shanxi has reached a critical point. If Commander Shinotsuka cannot come up with an effective countermeasure, Taiyuan will be in danger of falling. At that time, the situation in the entire Shanxi will become unimaginable."

"Baka... Do you even need to tell me that?"

Tada Shun seemed stung by Imoto Kumao's calm and cruel analysis. He scratched his thinning hair in annoyance and paced back and forth in the office.

After the 27th Division and the 7th Independent Mixed Brigade, which were sent to provide support, suffered devastating air raids by Chinese aircraft and were forced to take cover on the spot, he knew that the army group would no longer be able to send effective support to Shanxi in the short term.

That feeling of powerlessness was like a cold hand, tightly gripping his heart.

Tada Shun paced anxiously back and forth in his office for a long time, the heels of his military boots tapping out a dull and irritating rhythm on the floor.

This spacious office now seemed like an invisible cage, trapping him firmly inside.

Suddenly, he stopped, as if a caged beast had found a crack in the wall.

"No...we can't do nothing."

He turned around, a resolute glint in his eyes, and said coldly, "Since sending ground troops is no longer an option, then we'll send planes."

As he said this, he suddenly grabbed the heavy black telephone on the table, the cold bakelite casing bringing a chill to his burning hands.

He cranked the side crank with all his might, the grating sound of the cranking handle echoing in the quiet room.

"This is Tada Shun. Connect me to Commander Kinoshita Toshi of the Third Flight Group," he growled into the microphone.

The line was connected quickly.

After a brief hiss of static, a distorted but still respectful voice came through the receiver: "Commander Tada, this is Kinoshita Satoshi. What are your instructions?"

Without wasting words, Tada Shun asked in a deep voice, "Kinoshita-kun, I want to know, at most how many planes can you spare to support Shanxi right now?"

Kinoshita Satoshi paused for a moment on the other end of the phone.

This brief silence made Tada Shun's heart sink even further. After a while, Kinoshita Toshi replied in an extremely helpless tone: "Commander Tada, if we can spare the number of aircraft without affecting the normal defense operations of the North China Area Army... it's very small."

There were approximately... only twenty fighter planes and thirty bombers.

"Why is there so little?" Tada Shun's voice rose instantly, his dissatisfaction evident.

"Commander, that's already quite a lot." The voice on the other end of the line was filled with helplessness.

Kinoshita explained, "Our entire army group only has about two hundred aircraft at most."

Excluding those aircraft required for reconnaissance missions, there are only about eighty fighters and bombers left. The fact that we can currently spare over fifty aircraft to support Shanxi is already a result of my diligent efforts in allocating them.”

Upon hearing this, Tada Shunya could only let out a long, helpless sigh.

He put down the phone, leaned back in his chair, and felt a deep weariness wash over him.

He knew that what Kinoshita said was true. The empire's strategic focus had begun to shift towards the resource-rich Southeast Asia, and the precious steel and oil resources had been mostly snatched away by the greedy naval idiots.

The army has fewer and fewer resources to allocate, and the fact that they were able to get these two hundred-plus aircraft to the North China Area Army is already the result of his hard work.

Ironically, the Imperial Army Air Force, which was once rampant and unchecked, has now fallen to the point where even the air force of a local armed force in China can suppress them completely.

"Commander... Commander..."

The cautious, tentative voice of Kinoshita Minoru coming through the phone receiver pulled Tada Shun back to reality from his reverie.

"Do we... still need to support Shanxi?"

"Of course we'll provide support!"

Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Tada Shun snapped back to his senses and growled into the microphone, "Immediately mobilize all available aircraft and transfer them to Shanxi. Do everything in your power to support the Imperial forces in Shanxi!"

His voice was resolute and unquestionable, as if those fifty-odd planes were an insurmountable torrent of steel capable of turning the tide, rather than lambs about to fly into the tiger's mouth.

"Hai!"

Kinoshita Satoshi, on the other end of the phone, dared not delay in the slightest and immediately agreed loudly.

With a loud "smack," Tada Shun slammed the heavy receiver back onto the telephone, the loud noise causing Imoto Kumagao, who was standing next to him, to tremble slightly.

Seeing that Tada Shun had hung up the phone, Imoto Kumagao's face showed obvious hesitation and confusion.

He hesitated for a moment, but finally mustered his courage, stepped forward, and bowed slightly. "Commander...forgive my bluntness," he said, his tone full of respect, but his words were extremely sharp, "in my opinion, the situation in Shanxi is already very bad, and Taiyuan City is in imminent danger of falling at any moment."

Why...why would you needlessly throw our already precious air power into that bottomless pit?

Tada Shun slowly turned around and looked at the operations section chief in front of him, who had a puzzled look on his face but clear eyes. His irritation and anger subsided a little.

He saw his former self in Imoto Kumagao's face—a pure soldier who only considered military victory and defeat.

He sighed, and surprisingly patiently explained, "Mr. Imoto, as the head of the operations department, you are undoubtedly competent."

But remember, if you want to advance further in this position, you can't just consider military issues when thinking about combat.

He walked to the map and gently tapped the location of "Beiping" with his finger.

"You must understand that no military force can exist independently of politics."

Tada Shun's eyes deepened: "Although I am the commander of the North China Area Army, above me is the General Headquarters of the China Expeditionary Army, and above the General Headquarters is the Tokyo Headquarters."

If Taiyuan falls, or even if the entire situation in Shanxi collapses, I, as the commander of the North China Area Army, will naturally bear the blame.

"By then, everything I've done during this period will be laid bare and become evidence for those people to use against me, do you understand?"

"Oh my god... I see."

Imoto Kuma's eyes widened instantly, a flash of insight dispelling all the confusion. He immediately understood that the true purpose of the commander's order was not military victory at all, but rather to prepare a political "disclaimer" for inevitable future defeat!

As he said, if the situation in Shanxi were to completely collapse, he, as the commander of the army group, would certainly be held responsible.

However, when General Headquarters and the Central Command investigate and hold him accountable, the first thing they look at is his actions during this period.

There is a world of difference between "doing nothing" and "inevitably failing despite hard work"!
The former is incompetent and derelict in their duty, and will be directly sent back to the reserves, spending the rest of their lives in disgrace.

The latter, however, refers to "serving the empire diligently under extremely difficult conditions, and being honored even in defeat," and the outcome will be completely different.

At this moment, Imoto Kumagao stood respectfully behind Tada Shun with his head bowed, but his heart was in turmoil.

A chilling sensation crept up his spine, reaching the top of his head, making the hairs on his body stand on end.

Looking at Tada Shun's not-so-tall, even slightly hunched back due to old age, he felt as if he were seeing a cold and heartless stone statue.

The commander knew perfectly well that once those fifty-odd planes were sent to Shanxi, they would most likely become fireworks blooming futilely in mid-air, or piles of burning scrap metal falling onto the yellow earth, but he still issued the order for reinforcements without hesitation.

He did this not to salvage the crisis in Shanxi, nor to save Yoshio Shinotsuka and his First Army.

He was simply preparing for the worst, hoping to save his job after that almost inevitable defeat and avoid being purged by the more ruthless guys at the Tokyo headquarters.

As for the lives of those fifty-odd aircraft, and those more than one hundred young pilots and crew members who were filled with boundless loyalty to the Empire…

Who cares about them?
In the eyes of high-ranking officials like Tada Shun, they were nothing more than "expendable materials" that could be sacrificed at any time.

Their lives, their ideals, their families—all were as insignificant as a feather in the face of cold political calculations. In fact, in the words of those in high positions, to be able to dedicate their lives to His Excellency the Commander, to become a pawn in His Excellency's political game, was already their highest "honor."

This is what His Excellency the Commander meant by "politics".

It is not the clash of swords on the battlefield, nor the war game simulation on the sand table, but a more invisible and cruel strangulation.

Fueled by countless lives, it drives a colossal machine called "power," crushing everything and everyone in its path.

A bitter taste rose in Imoto Kuma's mouth.

Before this, he had always believed that he was involved in a "holy war" for the glory of the empire.

But only today did he truly glimpse the dirty and cold truth behind this war.

No wonder people say that those who play politics are all black-hearted.

Imoto Kumagao left, but his steps were unsteady as he walked.

Tada Shun watched his slightly stiff back disappear through the door, a barely perceptible, slightly mocking smile playing on his lips, but he didn't say another word.

As a seasoned veteran who had spent most of his life navigating the complexities of the Imperial Army and climbing the corporate ladder, he certainly understood the profound impact his words had had on a pure military strategist like Imoto Kumagao.

But he doesn't care.

If Imoto Kumao can't even accept this harsh reality, then he doesn't deserve my support.

The military has never been a place where only fighting is important.

Tada Shun slowly turned around, his gaze falling on the huge map of East Asia on the wall.

His gaze swept across the vast map of China, finally settling on the region that represented the "quagmire".

In fact, now that the war has reached this point, many of the high-ranking figures in Tokyo have begun to regret their actions.

They severely underestimated the Chinese people's determination to resist and overestimated the strength of the "Greater Japanese Empire".

In later generations, some people may often cite Army Minister Sugiyama Gen's boast that "China will be destroyed in three months" to mock him for being arrogant and conceited.

However, considering the historical context at the time, what Sugiyama Gen said was not really boasting.

At that time, Japan's national strength was vastly different from that of a poor and weak China, much like the difference between the first and second Mao dynasties in later generations—a complete and utter crushing defeat.

The former believed that the battle could be resolved in three months, and the latter thought the same way.

Everyone thought it would be a swift and decisive blitzkrieg.

However, as we all know, that's how it turned out.

Both of them inevitably became mired in the quagmire of war.

(End of this chapter)