Spy Wars: I have space, but I choose to work alone

The troops guarding the Changshan position held out for two days without any reinforcements. More than half of their men were killed or wounded, and their ammunition was almost exhausted. In order to avoid annihilation, they had to evacuate the position.

The Japanese army then occupied the Changshan position. After more than ten unsuccessful assaults on the Madang Fortress, the Japanese army released poison gas bombs in front of the position. Almost all the defenders of a squadron were poisoned to death, and the Madang Fortress fell.

The Madang Fortress, which cost countless manpower and resources and was the focus of countless people's expectations, fell in just two days in such a farcical way.

Without the obstruction of the Ma'an Fortress, the Japanese fleet went up the Yangtze River and threatened Ezhou. A major crisis occurred just two days after the Battle of Ezhou officially began.

After the war, the National Army military court decided to remove the commander of the 167th Army from his post, and the commander of the th Division was executed by firing squad on the charge of "fearing the enemy like a tiger and missing the opportunity to fight."

This time, when Ma Liang did not hesitate to "slander" the two as traitors, the Ninth War Zone Command sent a special person to conduct an actual inspection of the defense situation of the Madang Fortress.

The real situation of the Madang Fortress made the Ninth War Zone Command break out in a cold sweat. Among the weapons and equipment of the defenders, only half of the rifles were usable, and most of the machine guns and pursuit guns were scrap metal. The ammunition reserves of the fortress's heavy artillery were more than half less than reported.

The real situation of such an important Ma'an Fortress turned out to be like this. When the war was about to break out, no one dared to cover it up.

After reporting through many levels, the top executive threw a cup and uttered a classic southern curse that echoed throughout the office.

In order to maintain the morale of the army, the commander of the 167th Army and the th Division was executed as a sacrifice for the crime of neglecting combat readiness and dereliction of duty, rather than for the crime of surrendering to the enemy, and the more than one million troops of the National Army participating in the Battle of Ezhou were informed.

Before the battle, he killed an army commander and a division commander. The division commander was a student of Huang Fu's military academy class. The emperor's disciples killed them all.

Such a grand move instantly made the entire Ninth Theater of War troops solemn, and the combat readiness and thinking of the entire army suddenly rose to a considerable level.

At the same time, after learning from its mistakes, the National Government no longer dared to let the miscellaneous troops guard the important Ma'an fortress.

He reluctantly transferred two elite divisions of his own army to strengthen the defense of the Ma'an Fortress, and allocated a large amount of weapons and ammunition.

Even according to the information provided by Ma Liang, the Japanese army might use poison gas to attack the fortress, so they pieced together a thousand sets of gas masks of various models for the Madang Fortress.

Speaking of which, the Kuomintang government was also responsible for the fall of Ma'an Fortress. Instead of sending its own troops to guard such an important strategic location, the Kuomintang sent the 16th Army, which was reorganized from the Hunan warlord, to guard it.

Anyone with a discerning eye in the National Government could see that the Japanese army would go all out to attack this strategic location.

Considering the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army at that time, capturing the Ma'an Fortress was only a matter of time and loss. Even the National Government's expectation for the Ma'an Fortress was only to hold it for a month and consume the strength of the Japanese army.

Under such circumstances, it can be said that the troops guarding the Ma'an Fortress would suffer heavy losses. The National Government was unwilling to use its own true troops to fight such a brutal and deadly battle, and sent the 16th Army of the Central Army which was reorganized from the Hunan Army.

The commander of the 16th Army was born a warlord, and preserving strength is ingrained in him. It would be strange if he was willing to risk all his troops to defend the Ma'an Fortress.

At the 11th Army Headquarters in charge of the Ezhou operation, Commander Ningji Okamura was somewhat dissatisfied and got angry at a colonel from the military intelligence department.

"Why wasn't the intelligence about the specific deployment of the national army in the past two days placed on my desk? Your military intelligence department needs to give me a reasonable explanation."

Ningji Okamura, who had long been accustomed to the unilateral transparency of the National Army, suddenly lost his understanding of the latest developments of the National Army and was a little uncomfortable for a while.

"I'm sorry to have caused trouble for His Excellency the Commander. This is the fault of our military intelligence department."

The colonel in charge of military intelligence immediately stood up and apologized, bowing until his head almost touched his knees, and then continued to explain:

"It's like this. Recently, the Ninth Theater of the National Army has changed the military communication code of the theater suddenly before the time for changing the code. Our military intelligence department is still working on it."

Ningji Okamura frowned. The preparations for the battle were almost complete. The troops, weapons and equipment had all been mobilized and were about to start. At this time, they had lost their intelligence advantage over the enemy.

After thinking about it, Ningji Okamura asked tentatively.

"How long will it take for your military intelligence department to crack the enemy's Ninth War Zone's military communication code? The battle is about to begin, and I need intelligence urgently."

Ningji Okamura also knew that cracking military codes was a very time-consuming and labor-intensive task. He was afraid that the military intelligence department would think he was making things difficult for them, so he deliberately said:

"I can buy you at most one month from the headquarters to crack the enemy's code! If it's longer, I can't do anything. After all, if we delay for one more day, our army of more than 300,000 will consume a huge amount of resources of the empire."

The colonel from the military intelligence department chuckled and replied with emotion:

"Thank you, Commander, for your care for our military intelligence department!"

After saying this, his eyes suddenly changed, and he assured confidently:

"But, Commander, it won't take that long for the Empire's military intelligence department. In ten days at most, our military intelligence department will be able to crack the military communication code of the Ninth Theater."

"Nani?"

Even Ningji Okamura was somewhat surprised by the confidence of the colonel from the military intelligence department.

Seeing Okamura Neiji's surprise, the colonel from the military intelligence department explained mysteriously:

"Commander, this is the magical Celestial Empire, any miracle can happen!"

After repeated assurances from the military intelligence department, Ningji Okamura still believed in the military intelligence department.

Without further wasting money and food waiting, the Japanese army launched an attack on the Madang Fortress, which was a roadblock, as planned, according to the defense intelligence of the Madang Fortress obtained in advance.

In the eighth group attack on the Xiangkou position, the Hata Detachment suffered nearly a thousand casualties. Major General Shigeichi Hata, the detachment commander, was furious as he watched the troops in front of him retreat for the ninth time.

"Didn't the military intelligence department say that the Sixteenth Army, which has inferior weapons and equipment and low combat effectiveness, is defending this place? How come their combat effectiveness is so strong? They have withstood nine group attacks from my detachment in a row!"

"This time, the enemy actually launched a local counterattack at the front line and drove back our soldiers who had entered the position. Is this still the 16th Army with low combat effectiveness as described in the intelligence?"

The chief of staff of the Hata detachment replied:

"Captain, according to the military intelligence department, the Ninth Theater suddenly changed the military communication code. Our army has temporarily lost its intelligence advantage over the enemy!"

"idiot!"

Major General Hata Shigeichi cursed angrily.

The Xiangkou position of the Madang Fortress was carefully designed, with a large number of reinforced concrete fortifications. At critical moments, the defenders could also call on the large-caliber heavy artillery from the Madang Fort in the rear to cover the frontline positions.

The problem was so tough that even Major General Shigeichi Hata was at a loss for a moment.