Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

Umezu Mijiro sat quietly in his office when, suddenly, he grabbed the telegram on his desk and angrily tore it to pieces. At the same time, he stood up, drew his command knife from the wall, and slashed it hard at the lamp on the corner, splitting it in two. He muttered, "389th Brigade, Zeng Jiwen, damn it!" Then, with a dejected look on his face, he sank back into his chair.

Three days later, in the morning, at a dock in the French Concession in Shanghai, a newsboy began shouting out today's newspaper.

"Sell newspapers! Sell newspapers!"

"Great victory! Great victory in the defense of Changzhi!" Citizens who were eating breakfast or going to work were suddenly interrupted by the shouts of the newspaper boy. A middle-aged man, upon hearing the boy's shouts, became immediately interested and quickly said, "Kid, give me a newspaper."

"Sir, here is today's morning paper. The Battle of Changzhi was a great victory. An entire division of the Japanese army was annihilated." The newsboy took the money and handed the newspaper to the man and said excitedly.

Hearing the newsboy say this, the man was stunned for a moment, and immediately took the newspaper and started to check it out. The people around him were also full of disbelief when they heard the news, and hurriedly came to the middle-aged man to take a look.

The cover of the newspaper showed the body of the slain commander of the 108th Division, along with a pile of officers and confiscated weapons and equipment neatly placed on the ground. There were also photos of the wreckage of a destroyed Japanese tank squadron, as well as countless Japanese corpses and prisoners on the battlefield taken by military reporters.

The man looked at the scene in the newspaper and his expression suddenly became so excited that tears came to his eyes. He shouted loudly, "The Eighth Route Army did a great job. General Zeng Jiwen is truly an anti-Japanese hero." He danced with excitement.

Seeing the man in such a state, the people around him hurried to buy newspapers to check out what had happened. Suddenly, the entire dock erupted in enthusiastic cheers. For years, since the First Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese army hadn't achieved such a great victory in a foreign war. This time, they could truly be said to be proud of themselves.

This scene also occurred in major cities across the country, and suddenly the entire country was filled with a joyous atmosphere. In contrast, the Japanese army did not react at all.

This news quickly spread to all parts of the world through the concessions, and the Japanese army was once again ridiculed by countries around the world. Even the newspapers controlled by the domestic navy published articles openly mocking them, saying that the army idiots had been in China for so long that they no longer knew what the samurai spirit was.

In the headquarters of the North China Front Army, the entire headquarters was silent at this time.

In recent times, the Japanese intelligence department has gone completely crazy, sending assassins to Shanxi to assassinate Zeng Jiwen. At the same time, they have been frantically collecting relevant information about Zeng Jiwen's 389th Brigade.

Terauchi Hisaichi was completely crazy. An entire division was wiped out, but only a few people ran back, and they ran back from the direction of northern Henan. The newspaper's publication was like a slap in the face to him. Before, the Japanese army was wiped out by a battalion or a regiment, and the headquarters had already complained. This time, there was not a brigade, but a division.

In the past few days, he had no idea how many telegrams he had received from the headquarters. The wording of the telegrams was almost surprisingly consistent, all greetings to Terauchi Hisaichi's family. At the same time, they removed Terauchi Hisaichi from his position as commander of the North China Front Army and Umezu Yoshijiro from his position as commander of the First Army.

At the same time, the two were ordered to return to China immediately to stand trial.

Poor Michijiro Umezu, he was dismissed from his post before he could even get a chance to take revenge on the 389th Brigade, and returned to his country with Hisaichi Terauchi.

The person who took over as commander of the North China Front Army was Sugiyama Hajime, who succeeded the former Tokikuji Temple Hisaichi, and at the same time, the Chief of Staff of the First Army, Okabe Naosaburo, took over as commander of the First Army.

When Okabe Naozaburo received the appointment, he was overjoyed and secretly thanked Zeng Jiwen. If it weren't for Zeng Jiwen's help, Umezu wouldn't have fallen so badly. He would have ordered his subordinates to capture Zeng Jiwen alive. At the same time, Kawabe Masamitsu, the deputy chief of staff of the North China Front Army, was transferred to the First Army as the new chief of staff.