Bright Sword: From Border Region Manufacturing to Major National Heavy Industry

Chapter 153 There is a Master at the Eighth Route Army Arsenal
Japanese Military Police in Heyuan

"Vice Minister, the combat troops' results are not very good."

Fujita Ichiji walked up to Sato Haruno and said in a bad tone, "They have the assistance of two tank regiments from Ueno no Mura and Hojo Naoki. Although they have utterly defeated many Jin-Sui Army and elite troops, the supplies they have captured are far too few, not even enough to make up for the supplies they have consumed."

Fujita Ichiji was cursing inwardly. These damned Jin-Sui Army and elite troops must have moved or sealed off supplies in advance, which is why the combat troops' plan to replenish supplies through this method failed.

Immediately afterward, Fujita Ichiji added, "Right now, their supplies are being depleted rapidly, and they're waiting for logistical support. If the supplies don't come in, this offensive operation will probably have to stop. At that point, the Jin-Sui Army or their elite forces are very likely to launch a counterattack, and even the Eighth Route Army, which hasn't shown itself yet, might come out to attack us."

"Baka!" Sato Haruno shouted angrily, "Fujita, look at you, you idiot! What a stupid idea you came up with!"

This was actually your idea back then.

If I had known, I wouldn't have listened to your advice, you idiot.

The troops are currently suffering heavy losses in supplies. If we are attacked by the Chinese because of logistical problems, even though I am not in charge of combat, I will still feel ashamed!

Fujita Ichiji was scolded by Sato Haruno, and thought to himself: What do you mean I came up with a stupid idea? Didn't you agree to it in the first place?

Now there's a problem, and I'm being made to take the blame? What an idiot!
Sato Haruno suppressed his emotions and said, "The railway is under emergency repair, and the logistics department is loading supplies onto wagons as quickly as possible. Remind the combat troops to hold on for a few more days, and once the railway is repaired and open, the supplies will be transported by train."

"Okay, sure." Fujita Ichiichi breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that supplies would be transported in a few days.

As long as the supplies are in place, the troops will not be attacked by the Chinese due to insufficient supplies.

"Vice Minister, how's the bait coming along?" Fujita Ichiji racked his brains but couldn't come up with an answer.

"What's the rush?" Sato Haruno said calmly. "We can't rush this. The Eighth Route Army is very cunning. We can't let them see through our disguise."

"Yes, yes, yes." Seeing that Sato Haruno still wanted to keep it a secret, Fujita Ichiji stopped asking.

After all, logistical supplies have not yet been delivered to the combat troops.

If the combat troops' supplies and fighting capacity are not replenished, even if the bait is cast, there will be no strength to pull in the net.

Once the supplies arrive, I'll definitely know what the bait is.

"Have there been any signs of Eighth Route Army activity lately?" Sato Haruno asked.

“No.” Fujita Ichiji shook his head and said suspiciously, “This time it’s too strange. The Eighth Route Army hasn’t made any move. Even their so-called district squads and county brigades haven’t come out to operate. It’s very quiet.”

Fujita Ichiji did not believe that the Eighth Route Army had become honest.

They must be plotting something bigger.

“If they don’t, they don’t. Just stay vigilant,” Sato Haruno said. “If they come out with heavy artillery and cause trouble, that would be a real headache. Once we’ve prepared the bait and found the location of their arsenal, we can solve the problem once and for all.”

“Vice Minister Ying…” Fujita Ichiji’s words were cut short when someone rushed over and reported to Sato Haruno, “Vice Minister, the Eighth Route Army has emerged.”

"Oh, really?" Before Sato Haruno could respond, Fujita Ichiji turned to look at him. "What did they do outside?"

"This is intelligence sent by someone from the Watari Brigade." The person handed over a piece of intelligence and said, "At the time, they were pursuing their elite 217th Regiment when a detachment of the Eighth Route Army suddenly appeared and wiped out one of their companies with lightning speed. This Eighth Route Army has now escaped."

Did the Eighth Route Army quickly wipe out an Imperial Army company?
Fujita Ichiji was stunned: "Did the Eighth Route Army use heavy artillery again?"

The Imperial Army has already experienced firsthand the destructive power of the Eighth Route Army's heavy artillery.

Just now, Haruno Sato was saying that if the Eighth Route Army came out with heavy artillery to cause trouble, it would be a bit of a headache.

Now, it's working so quickly?

"No," the man shook his head and said, "The Watari Brigade said that the Eighth Route Army's arsenal has developed a new type of landmine. This new landmine can jump into the air and explode on its own, and it can't be disarmed..."

Fujita Ichiji had no interest in listening to what the person behind him was saying; he quickly took the information and placed it in front of him to look at it.

Sato Haruno, standing to the side, looked somewhat surprised.

The idea of ​​a landmine that jumps into the air and explodes is truly ingenious, considering it's a concept developed by the Eighth Route Army's arsenal.

Conventional landmines are buried in the ground and explode on the surface, so some of their destructive effect is wasted on the soil.

An explosion in mid-air maximizes the destructive effect, leaving no blind spots from any angle.

Haruno Sato was very perceptive and immediately figured it out.

There must be some experts in the Eighth Route Army's arsenal.

When we find the Eighth Route Army's arsenal, we must do our best to capture this person alive.

Sato Haruno had a premonition that if he could capture this man alive and make him work for the Empire, it would be of extraordinary significance to the Empire's military industry.

This is such an unexpected surprise.

If I could catch a golden phoenix in this remote mountain valley, I could be promoted to a permanent position.

"Damn it! This is a very dangerous signal!" Fujita Ichiji exclaimed in alarm after reading the intelligence report. He said to Sato Haruno, "Vice Minister, the Eighth Route Army already poses a significant threat with their heavy artillery. Now, these landmines they've developed that can self-detonate are incredibly lethal. They're specifically designed to target our troop's group charges. Vice Minister, the Eighth Route Army hasn't been causing trouble lately; they've definitely been waiting for these landmines to be produced. Now that the tests should be successful, their arsenals must be rushing to manufacture them. If we can't take down the Eighth Route Army's arsenals soon, the consequences will be dire."

"Let me see." Sato Haruno reached out to Fujita Ichiji.

Especially in such critical moments, it is essential to remain calm.

Yes!

The Eighth Route Army's landmines, which can jump up and explode on their own, seem to have passed the test successfully, and they will soon begin mass production at full speed.

We should stop them immediately.

But you can't rush things.

The railway has not yet been repaired, and supplies have not yet been delivered to the combat troops.

I haven't even thrown my own bait to the Eighth Route Army yet, I can't rush it.

Of course!
From another perspective, this might not be a bad thing!
At that time, the Eighth Route Army's bounding mines would pose a great threat to the troops. In this context, the merit of taking over the Eighth Route Army's arsenal would be even more meaningful.

Who knows, if he gets promoted, he might even be granted a noble title!

"Here, take a look." Fujita Ichiji quickly handed the information to Sato Haruno.

Sato Haruno looked on, still somewhat surprised. This jumping mine, capable of exploding on its own, was impossible to disarm!
Everything that was tried to be dismantled exploded.

Even when they tried to dig it back, it exploded.

To achieve this level of sophistication is no easy feat... Even our arsenal experts couldn't do it.

It seems that the talent at the Eighth Route Army's arsenal is more valuable than I imagined.

Of course, those who could build heavy artillery using the rudimentary conditions of the Eighth Route Army's arsenal were no ordinary people!

It's really hard to understand how such a backward country could cultivate such a brilliant military industry genius.

“Vice Minister, I think you should lay your bait sooner rather than later.” Fujita Ichiji said immediately when he saw Sato Haruno’s surprised expression. “The bounding mines at the Eighth Route Army’s arsenal pose a great threat and must be nipped in the bud as soon as possible. Report to Taiyuan immediately and ask them to send more troops over. The supplies should also be transported by truck. We need to hurry.”

"Idiot!" Sato Haruno cursed, "You're in such a hurry, you'll only alert the enemy prematurely!"

Are the Eighth Route Army soldiers idiots?

Once they see that we've mobilized our troops and that trucks have brought the supplies, they'll receive the news, become more vigilant, and try to determine our intentions.

If my fishing trip gets affected, that would be bad news.

The threat posed by the Eighth Route Army's arsenal was significant.

But we must hold our tempers now. The biggest gain will be if we can find the Eighth Route Army's arsenal and capture this military worker alive.

If anything goes wrong along the way, even if the Eighth Route Army's arsenal is destroyed, or even if all the Eighth Route Army troops are wiped out, but this military genius is not captured alive, Sato Haruno would consider it a huge failure!
His keen intuition told him that the value of this top military industrial genius of the Eighth Route Army was easily equivalent to two Class A divisions of the Army.

Especially at such critical moments, we must not listen to the advice of that idiot Fujita Ichiji.

I've already been fooled by him once; I absolutely cannot let him be fooled a second time.

“Vice Minister, are we just going to sit idly by and watch the Eighth Route Army’s arsenal produce bounding mines? We…” Fujita’s attitude did not change after being reprimanded; in fact, he seemed somewhat confused.

Can you really just stand by and watch the Eighth Route Army's arsenals produce more bounding mines, causing our Emperor's army to pay a heavy price?

"Shut up!" Sato Haruno didn't want to explain too much to Fujita Ichiji, but if this fool didn't understand his true thoughts, he might act on his own and ruin his plan. So Sato Haruno looked solemnly at Fujita Ichiji: "Fujita, let me ask you, the Eighth Route Army's arsenal built heavy artillery with rudimentary military production conditions, and now they've made landmines that can jump into the air and explode, and these landmines can't be disarmed. Do you know what this means?"

"It means that if we don't hurry up and eliminate the Eighth Route Army's arsenals, every day we delay will cost our Imperial Army a price," Fujita Ichiji replied.

"Do you know why you're so stupid!" Haruno Sato yelled. "You only see the surface of the problem, not the essence."

"Essence?" Fujita Ichiji paused, looking at Sato Haruno. "Isn't the Eighth Route Army Arsenal the essence?"

"The essence is that there's a mastermind in the Eighth Route Army's arsenal!" Sato Haruno angrily retorted. "This mastermind is the soul of the Eighth Route Army's arsenal. His value is more important than the entire arsenal. Do you understand what I'm saying, you fool!"

"Oh, Vice Minister, please forgive my low IQ." Sato Haruno had made his words so clear that Fujita Ichiji finally understood.

Yes!

The vice minister's perspective is the most accurate.

The Eighth Route Army's arsenal was in such poor condition that making bullets and grenades by hand was a joke in our eyes.

The bullets and grenades that our arsenal discarded are of better quality than this.

Despite the poor conditions at the Eighth Route Army's arsenal, some people were able to produce heavy artillery and bounding mines, and the bounding mines were even impossible to dismantle.

Then this person's value is truly extraordinary.

Rushing in recklessly and accidentally killing someone would be an incredibly foolish thing to do.

"Without my orders, you are not allowed to take any private actions, understand!" Seeing that Fujita Ichiji finally understood, Sato Haruno warned him seriously, "Otherwise, no matter how strong your connections are, I will not keep you."

"Vice Minister, don't worry. From now on, I won't say anything to you. I'll do whatever you say and cooperate fully with you." Fujita Ichiji nodded emphatically.

Although Fujita Ichiji's mind wasn't as sharp as Hirata Ichiro's, it wasn't entirely muddled either.

The deputy minister is much more capable than him. If he can capture that expert in the Eighth Route Army's arsenal, he will also benefit from the deputy minister's success and gain merit. Moreover, this will not be a small achievement.

Who knows, I might even get promoted to vice minister.

"You can leave now, don't disturb my train of thought," Sato Haruno waved his hand.

"Yes." Fujita Ichiji immediately took his leave.

"You can go now," Sato Haruno said to the person who delivered the intelligence. "However, go and summon all the elite intelligence personnel of the military police to the conference room. I need to hold a meeting."

"Yes." The person left.

Haruno Sato took a few deep breaths, then slowly stood up and organized his thoughts.

The main purpose of the meeting was to see if we could come up with a plan in advance so that after the Eighth Route Army returned with the bait, we could find an expert from the Eighth Route Army's arsenal.

Of course.

The arrest operation also needs to be carefully considered.

Sato Haruno couldn't help but think of Yamamoto Ichiki's special forces.

The special agents underwent special training, and each of them was capable of taking on ten men.

Although the previous attack on Daxia Bay failed, it still resulted in a 200-0 defeat for a main regiment of the Eighth Route Army, and the special forces team escaped unscathed.

This is sufficient proof of the special forces' combat capabilities.

Small groups of troops infiltrate, making them less conspicuous and less likely to be detected.

First, raid the Eighth Route Army's arsenal, capture the people, and then have the main force provide cover. If all goes well, my promotion to a noble title will be secured.

However, Yamamoto Ichiki was a proud guy.

He said his special forces had only two targets in the Second World War zone: the headquarters of the 18th Group Army and the command post of Commander Yan of the Second World War Zone.

If we ask him to work at the Eighth Route Army arsenal, this guy might not be so willing... So, we still need to think this over carefully.

(End of this chapter)