You were tasked with guarding the Sihang Warehouse, and you brought out a Tiger tank?

Just as the two were separated by iron bars, they were moved and praising each other.

A loud, mocking laugh suddenly came from outside the cell door.

"Pfft—Hahaha!"

One of the two military police officers in charge of guarding the area happened to be a student who knew a little bit of Japanese.

He couldn't stand it anymore, so he walked straight to the iron gate and slammed it hard with the butt of his rifle.

"Clang!"

"You old devil, do you have no shame at all?"

The military police loudly mocked in broken Japanese:

"And they charged to their deaths? And they even broke the commander's sword?"

I bother!

General Lin of our 33rd Army Corps spread the battle reports far and wide.

You old codger, you're terribly afraid of dying.

They took off their military uniforms, put on tattered cotton-padded coats belonging to ordinary people, smeared soot on their faces, and hid in the village's cellar pretending to be refugees.

If it weren't for that showy guy pulling out a roll of premium toilet paper to wipe your precious butt while you were taking a dump.

You actually managed to fool me!

What are you doing here, acting all high and mighty?

Bah! What a load of bull! The so-called "Twin Pillars of the Empire" are nothing but cowardly cowards who fear death.

The military policeman's words were spoken very loudly, echoing throughout the empty underground prison.

The cell fell into a deathly silence.

The emotion and admiration on Sakamoto Jun's face froze instantly.

He slowly turned his head and looked at Itagaki Seishiro in the next cell.

Looking at the soot from the bottom of the pot on his face that hadn't been washed off, and at his evasive eyes.

Jun Sakamoto's worldview shattered at that moment.

"Commander... Commander of the Division..."

Jun Sakamoto's voice was trembling:

"Is he...is he telling the truth?"

You...you disguised yourself as an ordinary citizen to escape? And because...you got arrested for wiping someone's butt?"

Itagaki Seishiro's face instantly turned a deep purplish-red, and he wished he could find a rope and hang himself on the spot.

He gritted his teeth and stubbornly refused to admit it:

"Baka! This is a slander by the Chinese, a psychological war."

"Sakamoto-kun, would you rather believe the enemy's lies than your superior's?!"

Seeing Itagaki's blustering yet cowardly demeanor, Sakamoto Jun was already 80% convinced.

But he dared not dwell on the matter any longer, as it would be too destructive to his faith.

He quickly changed the subject and asked the question he was most concerned about:

"Commander, what is the situation of the battle outside?"

Where are the reinforcements from the 10th Division?

Why didn't they break through the defenses to rescue us?

"What about the North China Area Army? Didn't they send any other reinforcements?"

Upon hearing these questions, Itagaki Seishiro deflated like a punctured balloon and slumped onto a haystack.

"No reinforcements."

Itagaki Seishiro's voice was filled with endless despair:

"The Fifth Division was completely wiped out."

Your 21st Brigade is completely finished too.

The entire Jiaodong Peninsula has fallen into Lin Feng's hands.

Even the artillery fleet sent by the navy to provide support…”

Seishiro Itagaki gave a wry smile:

"Three 10,000-ton heavy cruisers were blasted into the Yellow Sea by Lin Feng's land-based bomber squadron."

"That idiot Oikawa Koshiro even lost the Izumo."

"boom!"

This news shocked Sakamoto Jun even more than when he learned that Itagaki had disguised himself and escaped.

His legs buckled and he knelt on the ground.

"Impossible... This is absolutely impossible."

Jun Sakamoto grabbed his hair with both hands, shaking his head frantically, muttering to himself:

"Our Fifth Division is an invincible steel army!"

We have never been defeated in Nankou or in Shanxi Province.

How could they have been completely wiped out by Lin Feng?

Could it be... could it be that our holy war is truly doomed to fail?

Looking at Sakamoto Jun's state of collapsed faith and mental instability.

Seishiro Itagaki felt a sudden surge of panic.

Although he was a coward who clung to life, he knew that if even Sakamoto Jun broke down, he would truly become a laughing stock in this POW camp.

He had to force himself to stay alert and maintain his last shred of dignity.

"Baka yarou!"

Seishiro Itagaki lunged at the iron fence, gripping the iron bars with both hands, and roared at Jun Sakamoto:

"Sakamoto Jun, stand up."

Look at yourself now.

Does he still have even a trace of the Yamato soldier's spirit?!

Itagaki Seishiro stared wide-eyed, spittle flying everywhere:

What does it matter if one battle is lost?

The empire still has a million-strong army and a combined fleet.

Although we have become prisoners, we will never allow the Empire to be disgraced, and we will never lower our noble heads before the Chinese.

Seishiro Itagaki took a deep breath and solemnly declared:

"In order to be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor, and to protest against the inhumane treatment we suffer by the Chinese."

I have decided to begin a hunger strike starting today.

Sakamoto-kun, summon your courage and join me in a hunger strike.

We'd rather starve than eat a single bite of food from the Chinese!

Sakamoto Jun was stunned by Itagaki's sudden display of righteousness.

He looked at Itagaki's face, covered in soot yet filled with unwavering determination, and his eyes welled up with tears.

Sure enough, the division commander was the same General Itagaki he knew.

What those Chinese people just said must all be rumors!

He nodded emphatically:

"Hi, Division Commander."

I am willing to follow you, to go on a hunger strike in protest, and to prove my loyalty with my death.

"Ganbatte! Let's fight together!"

Seeing that Sakamoto Jun had rekindled his fighting spirit and seemed to trust him again, Itagaki Seishiro outwardly exuded a Showa-era aura, but inwardly he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Actually, he didn't really want to starve to death.

He simply wanted to use the hunger strike as a pretext to put pressure on the Great Xia military and force them to improve the treatment of their prisoners of war.

Besides, just thinking about the bowl of brown rice porridge with sand mixed in it that he had in the village a few days ago made his stomach churn with acid.

Since I can't eat anything right now, I might as well use it to pretend to be a tough guy.

Just as the two were separated by iron bars, solemnly swearing an oath to go on a hunger strike.

Outside the cell door, the two Xia military policemen brought out a large bowl of steaming hot pickled vegetable and tofu soup, along with a basket of freshly steamed cornbread.

The rich aroma wafted into the cell through the cracks in the iron gate without any obstruction.

"Gurgle..."

Seishiro Itagaki's stomach let out a loud rumbling sound, which was extremely disappointing.

-----

While the two Japanese generals, Seishiro Itagaki and Jun Sakamoto, were staring at each other in prison, Lin Feng convened a strategic meeting with the army's high-ranking officers in Qingcheng Port.

On the sand table, red and blue flags representing the opposing sides were densely packed together.

But at this moment, the situation has undergone a dramatic change.

"Your Excellency, look here."

Zhang Wenzhong, commander of the newly formed 8th Army, held a baton and pointed to locations along the Jinpu Railway line:

"When the news of the complete annihilation of the Fifth Division spread, the Japanese troops in the north were in complete uproar."

The 10th Division, which was originally launching a fierce attack along the Jinpu Railway line, along with the 15th Independent Mixed Brigade and several independent battalions attached to them.

This battle group of nearly 50,000 men abandoned their positions overnight and retreated northwards along the Jinpu Railway.

Zhang Wenzhong raised his head and looked at Lin Feng:

"The Sichuan Army and the brother units of the Northwest Army took advantage of the situation to launch a surprise attack and gained a lot of benefits."

Judging from the way the Japanese are fleeing, they might retreat all the way back to the provincial capital.

Lin Feng, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, remained silent, his gaze shifting to the Jiaodong Peninsula on the east side of the sand table.

"What about the east side?" Lin Feng asked.

"The east side has also retreated."

The chief of staff immediately reported to the commander:

"The Japanese 114th Division, which had previously attempted to march south to rescue Qingcheng Port and the 5th Division, stopped halfway there."

They were terrified when they learned that the Oikawa fleet had been destroyed.

They have now retreated entirely to the Weifang area, east of the provincial capital.

They are relying on the Weihe River defense line, facing off against our 3rd Guerrilla Division across the river, and dare not cross the line.