Spy game? Stop guessing, I really am an undercover agent!

Chapter 176 Transmitting Intelligence

October 6, 1938.

In order to rescue the 106th Division trapped at Wanjialing, the Japanese army decided to risk airdropping officers to help the remaining soldiers of the 106th Division reorganize an effective offensive.

In an effort to rescue the Japanese troops who had been surrounded and killed, the 11th Army had become ruthless and desperate.

Commander Okamura submitted "Operation Wind," codenamed "Wind," to the Expeditionary Army Headquarters.
The first step of the plan was to airdrop officers to Wanjialing to stabilize the situation.

Then, the 44th Regiment under the 9th Division, led by Maruyama Masao, withdrew from the north and turned its guns to attack the weak points in the defense of the 66th Army.

Afterwards, the 101st Division launched a frontal assault on the Fourth Army's positions. If they could not be captured, Okamura suggested using a large number of poison gas shells to destroy the Fourth Army's positions.

But doing so here will have a very serious consequence.

It could very well result in the accidental injury of the 106th Division, which was already within the encirclement.

This time, due to Matsuura Junroku's overconfidence in choosing to go into battle lightly equipped, his troops basically had no gas masks to protect against gas attacks.

If we were to risk using poison gas to attack the Fourth Army's positions, we might accidentally injure soldiers of the 111th Regiment of the 106th Division who were trying to break out from the rear.

The plan was quickly delivered to the expeditionary force headquarters by special envoy Kenzo Takada…

Shanghai, conference room on the third floor of the Expeditionary Army Headquarters…

Tian Junliu's fingers traced the contour lines of Wanjialing on the map, and a strong, pungent smell of blood seemed to surge across the cold paper.

The blue circle representing the 106th Division has been torn to pieces by the red arrow representing Xue Boling's troops.

The center is marked with the alarming words "Thunderous Drum Liu Village, remnant soldiers within a radius of 1500 meters".

"Junroku Matsuura's farewell telegram." Chief of Staff Shozo Kawabe gently placed the telegram on the table, the edges of the paper stained with sweat...

"If reinforcements do not arrive before dawn, he will burn the division flag in accordance with the 'Battlefield Instructions'."

The temperature in the operations room suddenly dropped. In the seventy years since the Imperial Army was established, no divisional flag had ever fallen into enemy hands.

“I propose to execute Commander Okamura’s ‘Operation Wind’…” Takeda Isao, the head of the Operations Section of the War Command Department, slammed his fist on the Arrow Ridge, causing the red frame of the gas-covered area to tremble slightly. “Use special ammunition to cover the Fourth Army’s defenses, and the southwest wind will clear the way for us!”

Colonel Koichi Kobayashi of the Special Service Department, however, held up a drone photograph.

The flash of the magnesium lamp focused on the photographic paper, creating stark white spots: on the steep eastern slope of Arrowbeak Ridge, Japanese soldiers in khaki uniforms and blue-clad figures stood in a jagged pattern, their bayonets reflecting light like shattered diamonds across the ridge.

"The 111th Regiment is engaged in hand-to-hand combat right here." Colonel Kobayashi pointed his finger at the blurry humanoid vortex in the photo. "Takeda-kun, the straight-line distance is less than two hundred meters. Those poisonous fumes don't recognize military insignia. What? You want the Imperial soldiers to know how powerful our special ammunition is?"

"Colonel Kobayashi is absolutely right..." Biological warfare advisor Shin Nakayama silently opened the photo album in front of him.

As the pages turned, the image flashed past rotting feet and swollen, peach-like eyes, finally settling on an experimental record: "This is a record collected by the military. A living body contaminated with mustard gas had its leg bones melt into pinkish-purple flesh within seventy-two hours."

"The yellow medicine attached to the grass does not dissipate for seven days."

"If the breakout force crosses the contaminated area."

"All I can say is that the consequences would be unimaginable."

"Baka! You guys are cowardly! I believe the air force of the Third Flight Group can deliver accurate bombs!" Takeda Isao still didn't want to give up!
But his argument was quickly cut off by Kobayashi's sharp voice: "Takeda-kun, you need to understand, that's a primeval forest!"

"Poison gas will flood rat holes like a flood. Do you want Imperial soldiers to rot in their own people's poison gas?"

"This..." Takeda Isao was speechless after being rebuked, and all eyes in the office fell silent as they turned to Tian Junliu.

Tian Junliu walked to the window, stopped, and slowly turned around. His gaze swept over the faces of everyone in the conference room, and the glass reflected his twitching lips: "The International League investigation team is in Shanghai. Six thousand skeletons are enough to fill the headlines of the newspapers."

"The 111th Regiment may perish in glory, but it must never be reduced to poisonous mud! This is the last vestige of dignity for the Imperial Army!"

Takeda Isao stood up and said, "Commander, if you oppose the execution of Operation Wind, then what about Commander Okamura's suggestion regarding the airdrop of officers?"

After pondering for a long time, Tian Junliu ordered, "The 44th Regiment of the 9th Division, under Maruyama Masao, to immediately support the 106th Division and attack Ye Zhao's 66th Army, providing assistance to the 106th Division."

"The 101st Division's Masayoshi Ito is to launch a full-scale attack on the location of the Fourth Army and open up a supply route as soon as possible."

"Notify the Southern Transportation Department to open a priority supply channel for materials to support the 106th Division."

"The operation to allow Commander Gangcun to transfer junior officers to Leimingguliu Village is permitted."

"As for the proposal to use 'special ammunition'," Tian Junliu paused for a moment, then resolutely said, "Rejected."

"Hai." The officers present all stood up and bowed slightly in salute.

Tian Junliu and Chief of Staff Kawabe Saburo picked up the documents on the table and left first.

The remaining people were still giving their opinions on the "Wind Project" that had been discussed earlier.

While organizing his notes, Abe Mitsuhiro from the General Staff complained to the middle-aged man next to him.

"Nakamura-kun, do you think General Matsuura will be able to get out this time? An entire division has been wiped out by the enemy."

"This is a shameful moment that the army has never experienced in its seventy-year history."

"If such a thing were to happen, I'm afraid General Matsuura would have no choice but to commit seppuku to wash away the humiliation he suffered."

Nakamura Isao wrote the last entry in his work diary, then tucked the pen into his breast pocket and sighed, "General Matsuura's actions were never carefully considered." "Moreover, the responsibility now lies not only with him, but also with Commander Okamura, who will likely be implicated as well."

Abe Mitsuhiro's expression changed slightly: "Nakamura-kun, did you receive some information? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Zhong Xigong looked around to make sure that only the two of them were left, then whispered, "The Special Service was the first to receive the distress call from the battlefield. The first signal they sent was that the military map they were using was wrong."

"After receiving the message, Kobayashi came to me immediately to verify. Fortunately, the picture was not provided by our South Branch."

The full name of the Southern Branch Committee, which was headed by Nakamura Isao, was the "Committee for the Investigation of Anti-Japanese War Forces and Resources in Southern China"!
Its main task was to investigate the mineral resources in the south, the anti-Japanese elements, and the geographical locations of various regions, and to draw up detailed information to provide to the war command section for analysis and use in war simulations.

This time, the military map of Wanjialing was not provided by the Southern Branch Association, but was stolen by Gangcun from Sun Chuanfang, a general from five provinces, more than ten years ago.

Many geographical locations have deviated, and what's even more critical is the magnetite vein beneath Wanjialing.

Abe Mitsuhiro seemed to realize something: "Nakamura-kun, do you mean that General Matsuura's map was provided by the 11th Army Staff?"

Nakamura nodded, a complex expression on his face: "Abe-kun, if General Matsuura manages to break through this time, I think this post-war report will be quite ridiculous."

"Alright, I have something to do, I'll be going now."

Abe Mitsuhiro nodded: "Nakamura-kun, take care."

The black Buick drove out of the headquarters gate, crunched over fallen sycamore leaves, and turned into an alleyway filled with the aroma of cooking.

Nakamura Isao, sitting in the back seat, lowered the car window and looked thoughtfully at the crowd of people setting up stalls along the alley.

The "Chaoyang" brand cigarette he held between his fingers had faint red sparks visible from the burning tobacco.

Nakamura Isao was a heavy smoker; he finished a cigarette in just a few puffs. When he took out his cigarette case from his breast pocket, he suddenly realized that there was only one cigarette left in the case.

"Nishihara-kun, stop the car." Nakamura Isao lit a cigarette and tapped on the partition between the front and back seats.

The car driver jolted awake and slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a stop in front of a mobile chestnut stand.
The lame old man pushing the wheelbarrow was startled by the vehicle, and his old face turned deathly pale in the light of the distant lamplight.

"Go buy me a pack of cigarettes, I've run out." Nakamura Isao tossed two military bills to the driver, Nishihara Shiro.

He casually crumpled the cigarette pack in his hand into a ball and tossed it out the car window. The cigarette pack drew an arc and rolled under the wheelbarrow.

"Hey." Nishihara City pushed open the car door and walked up to the old man: "Hey, do you have any cigarettes for sale?"

Seeing Xiyuan City's fierce appearance, the old man seemed a little flustered, but he quickly recovered and bowed repeatedly as he lifted the purplish-red wooden box covered with a thick cotton cloth.

Upon opening the box, rows upon rows of cigarettes were neatly stacked inside…

The old man stammered, "Sir, what kind of cigarette do you want?"

“New arrivals include Hongshan, Hademen, and camels…”

Nishihara rummaged around for a bit and pulled out a box of Camel cigarettes and a box of Chaoyang cigarettes from below.

He casually tossed a military check aside, and without waiting for the old man to speak, he sat back in the driver's seat, closed the door, and handed the Chaoyang brand cigarette in his hand to Nakamura Isao.

Then, he stuffed the Camel cigarettes into his pocket and sped off with a throttle.

The old man behind him, dragging his limping leg, kept shouting, "T-Tai-Jun, no, not enough..."

Nishihara City, however, did not care at all and instead sped away from the scene.

The old man was no match for the car's speed and watched helplessly as it disappeared from sight.

"Sigh..." The old man sighed and returned to the back of his stall, while the people around him looked at him with pity.

The old man squatted down, seemingly in regret, but in reality, he stepped on the cigarette pack that Nakamura had just thrown out.

The next second, the cigarette pack was already in his pocket, and no one noticed anything.

After getting up, the old man pushed his wheelbarrow forward, sighing and complaining as he went, "Another night's work for nothing."

At that time, Camel cigarettes were in high demand, and their value was equivalent to two packs of He Tianxia cigarettes costing 100 yuan today.

The other party took two packs of cigarettes with just one military check, which wasn't even enough to buy a pack of Chaoyang brand cigarettes.

But it really screwed over the old man.

The old man, dragging his lame leg, pushed his wheelbarrow through the crowd and turned into the alley. About ten minutes later, a figure wearing a long robe and a black felt hat came out from the other end of the alley.

If you look closely, you'll notice that although this person has changed everything, his walking posture is still somewhat different from that of ordinary people.

Although he is no longer depicted as lame, there is still a sense that one of his legs is somewhat unsteady.

The figure seemed to know that his weakness would attract attention, and immediately got into a rickshaw that was already waiting there after leaving the alley.

"Sir, where to?" the rickshaw driver asked politely.

“Alber Road, Hefuji.”

"Alright, sir, hold on tight..." the rickshaw driver replied, using both hands to lift the handlebars, and quickly disappeared into the night...

(End of this chapter)