Chapter 26: The Struggle for Lin Ran! Kazuo Shinotsuka's Ruthless Move!

"Given away... for free...?"

The Generalissimo struggled to utter these words, then collapsed heavily back into his chair.

His deepest fear had materialized. The assimilation capability of that group... was terrifyingly potent.

A chill raced from his spine to the crown of his head. He rubbed his throbbing temples with force, veins bulging on his forehead. He no longer cared about the Sato Brigade or the shocking casualty ratio; he cared about only one thing: that man named Lin.

"Investigate!" The Generalissimo snapped his head up. "Get to the bottom of that man named Lin! Bring him back... alive! At any cost!"

"Yes! Understood!"

Director Dai felt a jolt, followed by a surge of ecstasy. If that mysterious tycoon was handing out weaponry and supplies worth hundreds of millions, and he could get a piece of the action... perhaps this setback could turn into a windfall. If you got into their inner circle, you could squeeze even a toad until it yielded.

With this thought, his heart burned with anticipation. "Rest assured, Generalissimo! I will oversee this personally and bring that merchant before you!"

The Generalissimo waved a weary hand.

Director Dai bowed immediately and retreated silently from the office, which was heavy with suffocating pressure. As the thick wooden door closed, only the Generalissimo and the grave-faced Minister He remained.

"Jingzhi..." The Generalissimo closed his eyes. "Regarding southern Anhui... is it time for us to make a move?"

***

Meanwhile, a thousand miles away.

Taiyuan City, Headquarters of the First Army of the North China Area Army.

The atmosphere was equally oppressive. Lieutenant General Shinozuka Kazuo sat in the central seat, eyelids lowered, his face cast in shadow, revealing no emotion.

The staff officers surrounding him were pale, their eyes fixed on the thin telegrams in their hands.

After a long silence, Shinozuka spoke in a low voice, "You have all seen the intelligence. What are your thoughts? Speak."

The staff officers of the First Army looked solemn. The contents of that intelligence report were enough to make their hearts stop. The 29th Brigade had been completely annihilated! Over seven thousand of the Empire's finest had perished!

Throughout the North China campaign, they had never suffered such a devastating loss. And the strength displayed by the Eighth Route Army was even more chilling: they had lost only 18 men! It was virtually a battle with zero casualties.

It was not just Commander Tada who was enraged; the Imperial General Headquarters was livid. This was a slap in the face of the Empire! It was rubbing the face of His Majesty in the dirt!

And then there were the submachine guns, general-purpose machine guns, howitzers... some of these weapons were still in development even at the General Headquarters. How had these Chinese acquired them?

The intelligence from the Special Higher Police claimed a mysterious wealthy merchant had shipped these armaments to the Eighth Route Army. It sounded like a fantasy, yet the total destruction of the 29th Brigade was staring them in the face, leaving them no choice but to believe.

"Baka!" Shinozuka slammed his palm onto the hardwood desk, making the teacups jump. "Have you all gone mute?! Speak!"

"Hai!" Chief of Staff Hayato Nakamura stepped forward. "General, please calm your rage! I believe our top priority is to restore the Empire's honor! We must wash away this deep humiliation with the blood of the enemy!"

At the General Headquarters, the Minister of War could barely look the Navy Commander in the eye!

Shinozuka nodded. That went without saying. If he could not restore the Empire's honor, his only option would be ritual suicide.

"Then, how do you suggest we restore the Empire's honor?" Shinozuka’s cold gaze swept over them like a blade.

"Hai!" Nakamura continued, "General, I believe only by annihilating the Eighth Route Army's 386th Brigade, currently entrenched in the Taiyue base area, can we prove to the General Headquarters and to His Majesty that the might of the Imperial Army is not to be trifled with!"

With those words, several young, hot-headed staff officers roared in agreement.

"Yes! Annihilate the 386th Brigade!"
"Avenge the shame! Retribution!"
"Tenno Heika, Banzai!"

"Absurd!" A sharp reprimand cut through the air like cold water. Major General Shiobara Shobu, the Deputy Commander, stepped forward with a grim expression.

"You have all been blinded by rage! Look at the intelligence! Look at those weapons!"

"The 386th Brigade now possesses twenty 105mm howitzers, two thousand submachine guns, nearly a thousand light and heavy machine guns, and hundreds of mortars. Do you think they can be easily wiped out?"

Frankly, such firepower already exceeded that of one of their Type-A divisions. A Japanese Type-A division, with an establishment of 24,000 men, was equipped with 48 artillery pieces of 75mm or larger and 144 heavy machine guns. In the past, that was crushing firepower, but compared to the current 386th Brigade, it was insufficient. To annihilate them, a single division might not be enough. And their First Army only had three divisions and four brigades in total—though now, only three brigades remained.

Hearing the Deputy Commander, Chief of Staff Nakamura took a step back. Shiobara was not only the Deputy Commander but also an aristocrat, a scion of the Shiobara family. While Nakamura retreated, other staff officers refused to back down. The Japanese tradition of insubordination began to manifest.

"Hai! Deputy Commander! I acknowledge that the 386th Brigade is not what it once was, but our Imperial heroes are no pushovers!"

"Correct!" another officer chimed in. "I have just read the report. The destruction of the Sato Brigade was clearly a carefully orchestrated trap! The Chinese used the Yamazaki Battalion as bait to lure General Sato out of the city, then used twenty howitzers to deal a crushing blow. If General Sato had known they possessed such heavy firepower, he would never have been so careless!"

Many of the junior officers shared this view, insisting the Chinese had relied on trickery and that in a fair fight, they would be no match for the heroes of the Empire.

"It was a trap!" another officer shouted. "The Eighth Route Army’s press is already boasting of this. We must avenge General Sato!"

"Yes! Revenge!"
"General, I propose we assemble thirty 150mm howitzers and engage in a duel with their 105mm guns!"
"Exactly! The 150mm howitzers have greater power and longer range!"
"Let those Chinese taste the fire of our artillery!"

In the war room, the young officers grew increasingly agitated. Shiobara rubbed his brow. It was all that son-of-a-bitch Tojo’s fault for setting such a bad example!

Shinozuka Kazuo slowly stood up.

"Yoshi!"

"Then, we shall eliminate the 386th Brigade!"

Shiobara was shocked. "General! Please reconsider..."

He was cut off by a wave of Shinozuka's hand. "Shiobara-kun, I know what you want to say, but the blood of our Imperial heroes cannot be shed in vain! Their spirits are watching us!"

"This time, I intend to request the loan of twenty 150mm howitzers from Commander Tada!" Added to the thirty they already possessed, Shinozuka planned to deploy fifty heavy guns.

"The Chinese have a saying: 'Use their own methods to treat them.' I will not only annihilate the 386th Brigade, but I will do it with minimal losses! Only then can we wash away our disgrace."

"Pass the order: prepare a dispatch to Commander Tada immediately..."