Spy Wars: I am the Captain of the Military Police

The flyers were printed on high-quality paper, and the headlines were in bold, eye-catching font.

"A Letter to the Officers and Soldiers of the Central China Expeditionary Army"

The main text was even more shocking: "General Matsui Iwane, commander of the Central China Expeditionary Army, is stubborn and self-willed, has repeatedly disobeyed the Emperor's will, has been ineffective in combat, and has even condoned his subordinates to massacre civilians and plunder property, which has seriously damaged the reputation of the Empire and the overall situation of the Holy War. In fact, he has been abandoned by the Empire and by His Majesty the Emperor!"

However, you are all His Majesty the Emperor's beloved sons and loyal warriors of the Empire. Why should you be so stubborn and unrepentant for your own selfish reasons or the mistakes of a general, and die as martyrs?

This is hereby announced that all officers and soldiers of the Central China Expeditionary Army who can distinguish right from wrong, repent, immediately cease their futile resistance, lay down their weapons, and surrender to other righteous forces of the Imperial Japanese Army will be absolutely guaranteed personal safety by the Command of the China Area Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and will be properly resettled and treated with respect!

The rise and fall of an empire hinges on this one move; the distinction between obedience and rebellion rests on one's own mind.

I urge you all not to make a mistake and to act swiftly!

At the end of the signature, a bright red seal was prominently displayed.

"Headquarters of the China Area Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy!"

The back of the leaflet also includes simple diagrams: how to wave a white flag, or any white object, and how to proceed to one of the designated "safe surrender points".

Its professionalism and level of detail clearly indicate that it was the result of meticulous planning.

This thin piece of paper has a power far exceeding that of a heavy bomb.

It did not come from the enemy, the Chinese army, but from the Imperial Navy, which should theoretically be "comrades-in-arms"!

It directly targeted Matsui Iwane, the supreme commander of the Central China Expeditionary Army, characterizing him as a "traitor" "abandoned by the Empire," and openly called on his subordinates to defect on the battlefield!

This blatant and undisguised act of defection and betrayal was unprecedented in the history of the Japanese Army, and its psychological impact was devastating.

The leaflets spread rapidly among the remnants of the Central China Expeditionary Army like a plague, triggering a variety of violent reactions.

In a half-collapsed post office in the north of the city, in a makeshift command post of the 16th Division, a major staff officer picked up a leaflet that had drifted in. After only a few glances, he trembled with anger and his face turned ashen.

He ripped the flyer to shreds, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it as if he were trampling on an irreconcilable enemy.

"Baka yarou! Those damned idiots in the navy! What are they trying to do?! Are they kicking us when we're down?!"

"How dare they... how dare they slander His Excellency the Commander like this!" he roared, his voice distorted with extreme anger and humiliation.

The surrounding soldiers were silent, but their eyes were also filled with shock and a stinging feeling of being stabbed in the back.

In a street littered with corpses, several soldiers belonging to the 9th Division leaned wearily against a broken wall, panting.

A young private picked up a leaflet and struggled to read it.

He hadn't had a proper meal in two days, and his ammunition was running low. His comrades around him were falling one after another.

The words "ensure safety" and "preferential treatment" on the leaflet, like the devil's whisper, stirred a ripple in his despairing heart.

He secretly crumpled the flyer into a ball and stuffed it into his pocket, his eyes darting around nervously.

An older sergeant nearby noticed his subtle movements, opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately let out a long sigh and lowered his head in dejection.

The continuous fierce fighting, the huge casualties, and the betrayal from "their own people" have caused the morale of this unit, which is known for its tenacity, to plummet.

The atmosphere was even more desperate in a basement-style wounded soldiers' shelter controlled by the 6th Division.

The wounded soldiers lay sprawled on the ground, their groans and cries filling the air.

Lacking medical care and medicine, many wounds had begun to fester and rot, emitting a foul odor. A leaflet was brought in by someone and silently passed among the wounded soldiers.

No one spoke, but a silent, terrifying unease permeated the air. For these people on the brink of death, the word "survival" was more alluring than any "Bushido" spirit.

A sergeant who had lost a leg looked at the leaflet, tears streaming down his dirty face, and murmured, "Have they all abandoned us...? Who are we fighting for...?"

Even among some junior officers, heated debates arose.

Should they fight to the last man to uphold the "honor" of the army? Or should they "go with the flow" and find a way to survive for their soldiers?

The naval leaflets, like a poisonous thorn, precisely pierced the already riddled psychological defenses of the Central China Expeditionary Army, accelerating its total mental and organizational collapse.

The Navy's meticulously planned psychological warfare campaign was intended to do far more than simply turn a few soldiers against their will.

First, this was a public humiliation and a fatal blow to the Army, especially the Central China Expeditionary Army system, by the Navy. For a long time, there had been deep-seated contradictions and mutual infighting between the Japanese Army and Navy.

This time, the Navy seized the golden opportunity presented by the Army's internal strife to openly side with the "rebels," intending to completely discredit Matsui Iwane and his faction politically, thereby securing a favorable position for the Navy in the future allocation of strategic resources and the struggle for discourse power.

Secondly, this is a highly efficient way to weaken forces.

Even if the leaflets do not immediately lead to a large-scale surrender, they are enough to severely undermine the will to resist of the remnants of the Central China Expeditionary Army, deepen their internal distrust, and cause command failure, thereby greatly reducing the offensive pressure on the "rebel" ground forces and accelerating the battle.

Furthermore, this is also a clever manipulation of public opinion both at home and abroad.

The navy can portray itself as a "righteous army" that "upholds military discipline" and "opposes atrocities," thus distancing itself from the "tyrannical and incompetent" Matsui Iwane.

The Navy's "letter of persuasion to surrender" was like an invisible dagger, stabbing the most vulnerable part of the Central China Expeditionary Army.

This clearly demonstrates that the conflict, which began between the Shanghai Expeditionary Army and the military police observers, escalated into house arrest of the military police and internal factional struggles within the army. Its scope and participants expanded dramatically once again, with the navy also becoming deeply involved.

The situation has completely spiraled out of control, evolving into a sordid and all-encompassing internal power struggle that has engulfed all levels of the empire's armed forces.

For the officers and soldiers of the Central China Expeditionary Force trapped in Nanjing, what fell from the sky was not just pieces of paper, but the last straw that broke the camel's back, a bone-chilling despair coming from behind.

The doomsday celebrations in Nanjing, amidst the roar of naval air force engines, entered an even more absurd and brutal chapter.

In late January 1938, Nanjing was no longer a symbol of victory for the main force of the Central China Expeditionary Army trapped there, mainly the remnants of the 6th, 9th, 13th and 16th Divisions. Instead, it was a slowly shrinking steel tomb, an abyss of despair filled with death and hopelessness.