Spy Wars: I am the Captain of the Military Police

"Yuto." Hasegawa Kiyoshi's voice was low and steady, breaking the silence, but it carried an invisible pressure.

"This 'gift' from the Military Police Headquarters." He tapped his fingers twice on the document summary, his fingertips making a dull sound against the hard paper. "The timing is perfect. It's simply destiny."

His voice rose slightly, and Hasegawa Kiyoshi spoke with an indescribable deep meaning: "If it weren't for this extremely clear intelligence, Nanjing would have set up one deadly trap after another on the Yangtze River.

From Wuhan, Jiujiang to Anqing, Madang, etc., there were checkpoints, mines, shipwrecks and coastal artillery ambushes.

Those old gunboats and merchant ships of the Yangtze River Fleet are probably now sleeping at the bottom of the river, becoming scrap metal fed to fish and shrimp.

How could it be like today?" Hasegawa Kiyoshi tilted his head slightly, his sight seemed to penetrate the bulkhead, pointing towards the Huangpu River: "Arriving at Hongkou at the critical moment, for our group of children who are fighting hard in desperate situations...

It boosts morale and brings hope!"

His words were filled with a strong sense of fear and a feeling of surviving a disaster.

Yoshida Hayato straightened his back and responded respectfully: "This is a top-secret signal from the 'mole' that General Takuto Takazaki has infiltrated into the highest levels of the Chinese military.

After the general realized the seriousness of the situation, he immediately requested that it be sent directly to the general's ship through the highest level of secret channels."

"The Third Fleet will remember this favor from General Takazaki." Hasegawa Kiyoshi nodded slightly, solemnly affirming the value of this intelligence and the contribution of Takuto Takazaki, the operator behind it.

Then, Hasegawa Kiyoshi's gaze became complicated and refocused on Yoshida Hayato.

That look was no longer one of praise for the intelligence, but rather one of helplessness.

"But, Yuto." Hasegawa Kiyoshi's tone suddenly changed.

He said with an obvious complaint, like an elder lecturing a younger generation: "About that incident a few days ago.

When the artillery fire was at its heaviest, you brought a team of military police and, without explanation, dragged me, the fleet commander, out from under the hail of bullets, stuffed me into a car, and then into a transport boat, forcibly "escorting" me all the way to the Izumo...

As he spoke, Hasegawa Kiyoshi patted his injured right arm with his intact left hand and said, "Look at this!

This is not a medal, it is a mark of embarrassing escape!

At my headquarters! Shells rained down on the courtyard, cracking the walls like sieves!

The Marines' children are fighting the enemy to the death with their flesh and blood in the rooms downstairs and even in the corridors!

and I? "

Hasegawa Kiyoshi's voice unconsciously rose a little, with the stubbornness and pride that only an old soldier can have: "I, the fleet commander!

The supreme commander commanding the empire's naval forces in Shanghai!

I was actually dragged away from my command post by my own juniors in full view of everyone, as if they were protecting a fragile piece of porcelain!

You know that moment, looking at the stunned eyes of my subordinates, listening to the deafening explosions and shouts of killing outside the headquarters...

Where can I put my old face?"

As he spoke, Hasegawa Kiyoshi violently swung his intact left arm, as if still trying to drive away the resentment he felt at the time: "You should have left me there! Yongren!

That's where I belong! It's where I live and die with my troops and my headquarters!

Even if he was killed by a shell or hit by a stray bullet, that was the fate that an Imperial Navy officer deserved!

This... is a thousand times better than sitting here in the safety of my office, listening to the battle reports from the front lines!"

Hasegawa Kiyoshi became more and more excited as he spoke, but beneath the complaints in his tone, there was a very subtle, almost concealed concern.

Rather than simply blaming Yoshida Hayato for making him "lose face", it is more like an old soldier's deep regret for not being able to live and die with his soldiers and a sense of powerlessness towards the cruelty of the battlefield.

Yoshida Hayato sat straight the entire time, his face showing no dissatisfaction or resentment after being reprimanded, but his large white teeth were particularly conspicuous in his grinning mouth. . . .

It was not until Hasegawa Kiyoshi calmed down a little that he put away his smile and spoke in a clear and steady voice: “The general blames you!

Yoshida is here to apologize to the commander!"

A standard, impeccable military salute, with the head bowed deeply and the posture extremely respectful.

"But, General!" Yoshida Hayato raised his head and looked directly into Hasegawa Kiyoshi's eyes that were full of complex emotions.

His tone became extremely sincere: "As a special commissioner of the Military Police Headquarters, it is my duty to protect the lives and safety of the senior generals of the Imperial Army and the continuity of the command system. It is also the mission given by our General Yingqi!

That evening, I received a message from the Hongkou Marine Corps Headquarters that they were about to be completely trapped by the enemy.

We have accurate information that the command center is in imminent danger, and you, sir, have been injured while observing at the front line."

Yoshida Hayato's eyes became firm: "If His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief were to die or be seriously injured and captured in Hongkou, the impact on morale, the handover of fleet command, and even the entire war situation would be...

It would be far greater than the siege of a Marine Corps headquarters! That would be the pain of the empire! That would be my greatest dereliction of duty!

The general personally experienced the situation at that time. Communications were intermittent, the enemy's offensive was continuous like a tide, and the headquarters was attacked several times by the vanguard of the Chinese army!

Your command environment had already deteriorated to the extreme! The risks of staying there were enormous and you would not be able to effectively command the fleet!

Yoshida Yuto paused for a moment, and his tone turned into a slightly sentimental low voice: "As for face... General! The Imperial Navy's Third Fleet cannot lose you!

The safety of Hongkou and the advance and retreat of ships outside the Yangtze River Estuary all require you to sit in good health on the flagship and make all the decisions!

The battle of Hongkou was indeed tragic, but it was only a corner of the battlefield.

It was your safe return to the flagship that made it possible to deploy aid from Qingdao and coordinate troops along the Yangtze River today, turning the word "reinforcement" into tangible results!

Please, General... put the greater good first and understand my motives behind this!"

After listening to this, Hasegawa Kiyoshi remained silent for a long time.

Leaning back in the chair, his eyes seemed to be unfocused on the choppy sea outside the porthole. The fleet's tracks crossed the blue-gray sea, like the extending ambition of an empire.

After a long while, he finally let out a long, heavy breath.

The hardened reproach on his face finally faded, replaced by a deep weariness and a barely concealed... understanding.

He understood that Yoshida Hayato was right.

Although the method was rough and made him feel extremely humiliated at the time.

But this reckless younger generation did make a choice that was most in line with the overall interests of the empire under the extremely chaotic situation at that time.

He forcibly pulled his life out of the "bloody grindstone of the Hongkou Naval Headquarters."

Let him sit here again and see the reinforcements arrive and the war situation ease a little.