War of Resistance: Glory of the Beasts

Chapter 724 Collective Silence
Kremlin.

The man holding the pipe is looking at a map with his shoulders crossed. This is not a map of the Khalkha River, but a map of Shanxi.

"Report."

"Shanxi Battle Report."

"This is the full battle report of the Second Battle of Shanxi. A general named Xu Chaoyang led the 18th Army from Xinzhou's Xinkou and won victory after victory until the 5th Division was annihilated. The entire process was sent to us by the Yan'an Border Region Government."

The man holding the pipe had messy hair, but he turned his head and looked back at the person delivering the documents: "They...didn't say anything else?"

"No……"

"Oh, right. They reminded us to be careful of the Japanese invaders. They said they had poison gas bombs and were using them on a large scale on the battlefield. In the battles in Shanxi and Wuhan, they used this internationally banned weapon many times."

The man holding the pipe seemed to be expecting something and asked again, "Anything else?"

"Gone."

He was inexplicably unwilling to accept the result, and asked directly: "Did they take the initiative to ask for our assistance? For example, asking for some money, weapons, training of experienced soldiers, etc.?"

"What about medical care? They should be in great need of qualified doctors, right?"

After the man in military uniform in front of him shook his head repeatedly, the bearded man holding a pipe finally waved to the door and asked the soldiers to leave.

He knew this Xu Chaoyang, who had become the Nationalist government's signboard for a period of time. When the Nationalist government sought assistance many times, it brought out this man's battle examples to prove that it had the ability to contain the Japanese invaders.

He had even gotten used to the government's begging for mercy...

Although he didn't know why this person wanted to change his allegiance, he was still very surprised by the attitude of the 18th Group Army.

That was a troop that he didn't even bother to look at, how could he...

This loving father certainly had no interest in knowing about Xu Chaoyang. To him, Xu Chaoyang was just one of the millions of ants in the world. He was even less interested in knowing about the 18th Group Army. What kind of army was that?
When the Soviet army was developing mechanized forces, it equipped each corps with 500 tanks. What about them? Did they have ten tanks for the entire corps?
But it was such an army that did not even seek my help, even after they won the battle!
They were not like this when they were in the Soviet area!

On the other side of the large desk, a map of Wuhan was spread out, and next to the map was a battle report. In the report, a man named Xue Lao Hu also won a great victory in Wanjialing, but in the end the Japanese invaders still took Wuhan... When the two maps were placed on the same desk, the light coming in from the window just illuminated the one of Shanxi. In contrast, the one of Wuhan became much dimmer due to the lack of light.

He understood that these were two battles of completely different magnitudes. Wuhan was resisting the entire Japanese army, while Shanxi was only fighting against the remnants of the Fifth Division. However, from a geographical point of view, as long as the 18th Group Army could march into Datong, it could threaten the entire North China!

This is the most favorable situation for our side.

By then, this flea that keeps jumping in front of your eyes might not be so annoying anymore.

"Somebody come!"

"Send a congratulatory message to the 18th Group Army and strengthen ties with them. Um... follow their rules and send the message to Lanzhou."

……

Lanzhou was the transit point for our party to contact the Soviet Union at that time. Our country's diplomat at that time, Wu Xiuquan, had transported personnel to the Soviet Union many times, as well as Soviet aid materials, and trained a large number of outstanding underground workers of our party.

……

Wuhan.

After Okamura Yasuji led his army into Wuhan, he did not carry out a large-scale massacre due to the international public opinion after Nanjing, but this does not mean that they did not kill or commit violence. They allowed their soldiers to carry out large-scale looting in Wuhan, and broke into people's homes without hesitation. They even moved the furnishings and utensils in big hotels such as "Pacific, Yangtze River, Xuanguan" onto the warships, and even took away the pants hanging on the clothesline. They almost robbed everything they saw.

The Japanese invaders also burned down a large number of houses. In Hankou alone, more than 3.46 households and nearly 12.4 people were left homeless. The former commercial street Wangjiaxiang was burned to ashes. In Xujiapeng, Wuchang, the Japanese tied up the houses with steel ropes and used cars and tanks to pull them down. A total of 809 houses were destroyed and all the wood and tiles were taken away.

Normal people can understand that you were venting your anger and robbing, but why did you burn down the thatched houses of the poor people near Simitang?
The common people there are so poor that they wish they only had one pot left at home. Isn't this simply harming people?

Hey!
The Japs actually did that!
When Xu Chaoyang was reading this period of history, he saw an old photo of local people. The almost naked people were standing next to the burning thatched houses, looking at the Japs with extremely helpless eyes, with an expression of "you can burn it, whatever you want" on their faces.

What else can they do?
Since you can’t beat them in a fight, just try to survive.

Perhaps for the National Government, the Wuhan retreat was a victory, at least they did not suffer too much loss, but for the people...

When the country wins, the people suffer; when the country loses, the people suffer; when the country prospers, the people suffer; when the country declines, the people also suffer.

What enables the people to hold on is actually the phrase "just deal with it and survive". This seemingly very negative statement can, in desperate situations, give the people the strength that a "hard attitude" cannot give them in the most gentle way. That strength will ensure that the heart will not be broken into pieces.

"report!"

A Japanese soldier walked into Okamura Neiji's office.

"Report, the Fifth Division is gone."

"what!"

After blinking rapidly, Okamura Neiji still couldn't believe what he heard: "You, you, you, say it again."

"The Fifth Division was completely wiped out at Shanxi Tuanchengkou. Division Commander Itagaki Seishirō has fallen!"

The Japanese like the Three Kingdoms very much, so when they describe the death of a senior general, they will use the word "fall of a star general".

"Any news from the headquarters?"

"His Excellency Terauchi Juichi is communicating with the Army Headquarters. No news has reached us yet. Do we need to continue to pay attention?"

"What did you say?"

Okamura Neiji glared at the soldier fiercely, then turned his head and looked at the sunset outside the Wuhan sky.

The Fifth Division, just disappeared like that?

This is the only division whose commander was killed since 1931...

How is this possible?
……

At the same time, Japanese media reported extensively on the annihilation of the Fifth Division in Shanxi:
"The 'Steel Army' whose combat power is fabricated is actually a shame to our brother country" - Showa Shimbun.

"If we slack off we will surely be ambushed. If we don't work harder, the Fifth Division will become a role model for all Japanese troops" - Tokyo Daily.

Until this point, the ministers in the Army Headquarters had not yet reacted. They simply could not imagine how the 5th Division, which had the strength of a brigade, suddenly disappeared. They could not imagine that Itagaki Seishirō, who was almost transferred to the Army Headquarters to become the Army Minister last year, would die on the Shanxi battlefield.

Those pairs of little eyes looked at each other at the long table, and no one spoke first...there was collective silence.

(End of this chapter)