Snow Leopard: Building the Strongest Elite Group through Robbery

Forget the past.

He was once determined to make great contributions, but in the end, he lost that ambition and could only live like this.

"I don't know what the General Headquarters will choose, but from the perspective of our 4th Division, what benefits would we gain from attacking your mountain city?"

There's no benefit to it.

The people in the mountain town are all good fighters, they're willing to risk their lives, and the area is also very barren.

"We attacked from the plains, but we were blocked by your mountains and could not make an inch. If we attacked from the south, we would be blocked by your Ten Thousand Mountains, Wumeng Mountains, and Dalou Mountains. And the hundreds of thousands of troops you have deployed here are not armed with sticks. Moreover, they have been killing the people in your southwest. What are we doing going in? We finally escaped this quagmire of war. Why do we have to go in and die?"

Hirata Ichiro smiled and said, "As for me, I think so too. You are very difficult to deal with. Perhaps in your eyes, you were defeated in the Battle of Shanghai. But you don't know that after that battle, the General Headquarters immediately set up a research department to study why you are so fearless and why you still fight us even though you know you can't win."

"So what have you figured out?"

Hirata Ichiro shook his head; "How could we possibly figure it out? Let's not talk about anything else, just look at your Sichuan Army, the worst equipped ones, yet with such a small force, they keep sending wave after wave of troops up there, as if they don't care about their own lives at all."

"You'll never figure it out."

"So we stopped researching this matter and started to fully support Nanjing."

While talking.

The vehicle entered the command post.

Zhou Weiguo had come disguised as Hirata Ichiro's adjutant, so he got out of the car first and then opened the door.

Asahi Hideaki, the secretary, calmly carried her handbag and stood next to Zhou Weiguo. After Hirata Ichiro got out of the car, the three of them walked towards the command headquarters office.

Along the way, Zhou Weiguo spotted several men with the rank of major general, and when they saw Hirata Ichiro, their eyes revealed contempt.

After turning a corner, Zhou Weiguo approached Hirata Ichiro and asked, "They seem to look down on you."

“Okamura corrupted a regiment of the Nakamura Brigade in the 5th Division, and the entire division is one that will not act without self-interest, so everyone has long been dissatisfied with us.”

Zhou Weiguo squinted and thought for a moment; "As a friend, I'm happy to help you get rid of them, and I won't charge you anything."

Hirata Ichiro was taken aback, then shook his head; "It's better not to. Their contempt for me is just another form of envy. After all, as the division commander, I can get a lot of tribute from the 4th Division. In this respect, they can't compare."

Zhou Weiguo firmly believed this. He had originally planned to take the opportunity to kill a few people, but now it seemed that there was no hope.

At the command post, Terauchi Hisaichi knew that Hirata Ichiro was coming, so he specially arranged to meet him in his study.

The study is very large, and there is even a dining room inside.

Although Terauchi Hisaichi was the commander here, he had no close confidants, so even the chief of staff was not here.

The three entered the study, where Zhou Weiguo saw Terauchi Hisaichi sitting at his desk smoking, with a steaming hot pot beside him. This was for him, after all.

"General Terauchi, I've long admired your name. I never imagined that we would meet in a place like this." Zhou Weiguo took the lead in extending his hand and greeting him with a smile.

Terauchi Hisaichi glanced at Zhou Weiguo for a while; he was quite familiar with the man.

Come to think of it, he had fought against Zhou Weiguo.

This person is cunning, and his military tactics cannot be predicted by common sense. Even his subordinates can turn danger into safety by surprise.

Two days ago, he had already received news from the northern battlefield that the 14th Division had suffered heavy losses again and retreated to Kaifeng. Togo Heiichiro was relieved of his post, and Tani Hisao was reinstated as the division commander. Currently, troops transferred from Tokyo are being added to the 14th Division. However, due to the heavy losses suffered by the 14th Division, the troops on the left and right flanks had to temporarily suspend their attacks. The two sides were locked in a stalemate in central Henan. Meanwhile, on the Shanxi battlefield, the Jin-Sui Army launched several attacks in succession, even approaching Taiyuan. As a last resort, the 3rd Division of the Kwantung Army, originally intended for the Fifth War Zone, was quickly deployed to Shanxi to assist the 1st Army in stabilizing the situation.

"I didn't expect you to be so young." Terauchi Hisaichi smiled, extended his hand in greeting, and then looked at Asaka Shurei. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "This young lady looks very familiar."

"General, you are too kind. I just have a very common face, which is why you feel that I am familiar to you."

We're naturally familiar with each other now. Come to think of it, you've met me before, but time has passed and so much time has gone by that you don't really remember me. That's understandable, isn't it?

Terauchi Hisaichi didn't dwell on the issue too much, but instead led the three of them to the dining table and sat them down. "Knowing you were coming, I specially prepared some hot pot from your mountain town."

"General, you're too kind. As a soldier, I'll eat whatever's available." After saying this, Zhou Weiguo personally handed over a gold bar and said, "It's just a small gift, nothing more."

Terauchi Hisaichi glanced at the gold bars and then waved his hand, saying, "I won't accept this. I am not Hirata-kun, and Hirata can never become me."

"What do you mean by that?" Hirata Ichiro, who had just sat down, was immediately dissatisfied. It was as if he had no bottom line. Up to now, his cooperation with Zhou Weiguo had not done anything to betray the Empire.

“I’m not saying anything about you, it’s just that you’ve been in the 4th Division for too long. You get used to some things after doing them for a while, don’t you?”

That's not wrong. Hirata Ichiro didn't say anything more, he just opened the bottle of baijiu.

Seeing that he wouldn't accept it, Zhou Weiguo didn't make things difficult for him. Instead, he took the gold bars back and said, "Since you won't accept them, let's talk while we eat."

Asaka Shurei tried to keep her presence to herself, simply cooking and eating on the side.

Terauchi Hisaichi nodded; "I think we will get the answer we both want today, but before that, I wonder what General Zhou thinks of the 14th Division. Does he harbor any hatred towards them?"

"They are a very powerful force. As for hatred, I wouldn't say. They each serve their own masters. It's their skill that they can make us suffer losses." Zhou Weiguo took a bite of food and then looked up, feeling something was off. "Terauchi-kun, what you said seems to have a hidden meaning."