Holding the original shares, they fought all the way to the Korean War!

Chapter 223 The Japanese blockade of Shanghai!

Colonel Terada hesitated for a moment.

"Commander, I'm afraid the headquarters will be furious."

"The anger is justified."

Hata Shunroku's tone remained completely unchanged.

"If the headquarters isn't furious that two generals were sniped at the main gate of the headquarters, then there's something wrong with them."

"Just report the facts. As for how headquarters handles it, that's their business."

"We just need to do our own thing."

"Blockdown, search, arrest."

"Hi!"

Colonel Terada turned to leave.

"etc."

Hata Shunroku called him back again.

Colonel Terada turned around, waiting for him to continue giving instructions.

Hata Shunroku tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table.

His gaze fell on the sunlit window, and he remained silent for a moment before speaking again.

"After the lockdown and martial law are declared, inform the military police and the Special Higher Police."

"If that sniper is an experienced veteran, he won't linger in the city for long after firing the shot."

"He will definitely find a way to get out of the city as soon as possible."

"Therefore, the main roads outside the city are the key points."

"Hi!"

"Go."

Colonel Terada turned and strode out of the office.

The door closed gently behind him, and the sound of his footsteps quickly faded away in the corridor.

The office fell silent again.

Hata Shunroku sat alone behind that large desk.

He sat there for a long time without moving.

He recalled the top-secret report from Taiyuan a few months earlier.

Photos of Kiyoshi Kazuki's body, the bullet hole in his temple, and the two American-made shell casings found at the scene.

Then he remembered what happened this afternoon.

Hata Shunroku clenched his teeth again.

He slowly stood up and walked to the huge operational situation map of East China on the wall.

His gaze began in Shanghai, moved along the railway line, and extended all the way to Wuhan.

"China Central Army"

He whispered those five words, his voice very soft, as if he were talking to himself.

Then he shook his head and suppressed the thought.

There is no evidence, no confirmation, and no direct indication.

He cannot rely on intuition to make judgments.

What he needs are facts, evidence, and confessions after the people are caught.

Hata Shunroku turned around and walked back to his desk to sit down.

He must find the murderer.

at all costs.

……

An hour later.

There was another knock on the door of Hata Shunroku's office.

This time, the knocking was more urgent and forceful than the one Colonel Terada had made before.

It's as if the person knocking on the door is expressing their fear.

"Come in."

Hata Shunroku's voice remained steady.

The door was pushed open.

The man who entered was a short but wiry middle-aged man.

His face was expressionless, but there was a fine layer of sweat on his forehead.

He was the head of the Shanghai Special Higher Police Section, Kenzo Sato, with the rank of colonel.

In the Japanese intelligence agency in Shanghai, he was the second most important direct executor after Hata Shunroku.

He quickly walked to his desk.

Stand at attention, and when your heels come together, they make a crisp sound.

"Commander!"

He spoke, his voice carrying a deliberately suppressed calmness.

But everyone present could hear what was hidden beneath that calm surface.

Hata Shunroku did not ask him to sit down.

He stood there, his hands hanging at his sides, maintaining the most standard standing at attention posture.

The office was silent for a few seconds.

Hata Shunroku slowly put down his pen, raised his head, and looked at Sato Kenzo's face.

His gaze was calm.

But it was precisely that calmness that made Kenzo Sato unconsciously tense up his back even more.

"Sato."

Hata Shunroku spoke, his voice neither loud nor soft, as if he were talking about something completely ordinary.

"Has the murderer been caught?"

Kenzo Sato's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

"Not yet, Your Excellency."

"The cordon has been set up, and we are checking each area one by one."

"But so far, no suspicious persons have been found."

Hata Shunroku did not respond immediately after hearing this.

He lowered his head, his gaze falling on the unfinished combat report on the table, as if he were looking at the words on it.

It was as if he wasn't looking at anything at all.

After several seconds, he raised his head again, his gaze still calm.

But there was something chilling about that calm.

"Sato-kun."

He called the other person's name, but his tone remained low.

"Do you know who Lieutenant General Naito is?"

The fine beads of sweat on Kenzo Sato's forehead became even more noticeable.

"Know."

"Lieutenant General Naito is a member of the inspection team sent by the Army Department. He is a senior officer representing the General Headquarters to inspect the defense of the East China Theater."

Hata Shunroku raised his right hand and tapped it lightly on the table.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet office.

"Do you know what it means that he was killed at the entrance of headquarters?"

Kenzo Sato's lips twitched slightly.

"This means that there are serious loopholes in the security system of our entire East China Expeditionary Army."

"Vulnerability?"

Hata Shunroku repeated the word.

As if hearing it for the first time, I savored the two words over and over again on the tip of my tongue.

Then he gently shook his head.

"It's not a loophole, Sato-kun."

"It's utter incompetence."

"An Imperial Army lieutenant general and a major general were both shot dead in broad daylight in front of the headquarters of the expeditionary force."

"The entire process, from the moment the shooting began to the moment the perpetrator left, took no more than a few minutes."

"The result is that you're standing in front of me now, telling me that we haven't caught any suspects yet."

Hata Shunroku paused for a moment after saying this.

He slowly stood up, walked around the desk, and stood less than two steps away from Kenzo Sato.

The two are half a head taller than each other.

Hata Shunroku lowered his head slightly, his gaze falling on Sato Kenzo's epaulettes, then slowly moving upwards to meet Sato's eyes.

"Sato-kun, do you know how headquarters will view this?"

"They would say that Hata Shunroku was incompetent, that his defense zone couldn't even hold the entrance to the headquarters."

"They would say that the East China Expeditionary Army was rotten to the core, and that even a sniper could come and go freely at the entrance of the headquarters."

His voice was still not loud, but every word seemed to be carved into Kenzo Sato's heart with a knife.

"They would ask me, 'Hata Shunroku, what exactly are you doing as commander?'"

"What exactly is the Special Higher Police (SPD) in Shanghai doing?"

He took a step back, but his gaze remained fixed on the spot.

"Sato-kun, I'm not asking you for a favor right now."

"I am giving you an order."

Hata Shunroku's voice finally showed a slight change.

That was a sign that anger was beginning to rise from beneath the calm surface.

"I'll give you three days. If you can't catch the murderer, you don't need to come see me again."

"You know perfectly well what you should be doing."

Kenzo Sato shuddered violently as if he had been electrocuted.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something.