Even though Muto Yoshinobu had a strong ability to deflect blame, he still couldn't help but be reprimanded after he notified Tetsupo's headquarters of Nakamura Kotaro's death.
Two army lieutenant generals were assassinated one after another. Zhe Peng's headquarters clearly told Muto Yixin that if something like this happens again, you Muto Yixin can just pack up and return to the country.
The news of Kotaro Nakamura's death was strictly sealed and not allowed to be leaked at all. The headquarters requested the Kwantung Army to cooperate with Tekko to come up with an emergency plan to calm the external public opinion environment and the panic within the army.
In addition, the headquarters urgently transferred the remaining commander of the 3rd Division, Shimomoto Xiongmi, to Rehe to take over the position of commander of the 8th Division.
The good thing is that Kotaro Nakamura has never made a public appearance, and the appointment of the commander of the 8th Division has never been announced to the public, so there is still room for maneuver in this matter.
So when Chinese and Western newspapers reported the news that the successor commander of the Eighth Division, Kotaro Nakamura, had been assassinated, Zhepeng immediately stood up and firmly denied it, saying that Nakamura Kotaro was not the successor of the Eighth Division at all.
, this news is a slander and conspiracy against the Zhepeng people, and is the product of the terrorists' self-promotion.
Immediately afterwards, the Zhepeng people mobilized the media close to them and published a lot of specious news to confuse the public's attention and distract the public's attention.
The Third Division was stationed in Fengtian, and Xia Yuan Xiongmi took a special plane from Fengtian, which only took half a day.
Xia Yuan Xiong Mi rushed to Chaoyang without stopping, and then held a press conference in Chaoyang City to "clarify."
Zhe Pengren's series of combination punches successfully turned this matter into an unresolved controversy, which can be regarded as a relatively successful crisis public relations.
But despite the success of public relations, the troubles of the Eighth Division are far from resolved.
The commanders of the three brigades of the Eighth Division are Nishi Giichi's confidants, the new staff team is under Kotaro Nakamura, and the commander of the division himself is Shimomoto Kumaya, who was temporarily airborne.
Soldiers don't know their generals, and generals don't know their commanders. It will take a long time to combine the three forces into one place.
Unless the Eighth Division resolves its internal problems, it will be unable to launch any attacks in the short term.
On the other side, Su Yi and four others met with Hua Kezhi outside Tongliao City.
"You evacuated the city?" Su Yi frowned, "What? Are the interrogations strict?"
Walker and others arrived in Tongliao one day earlier than Su Yi. Their original mission was to lurk in the city to gather information, but they did not even complete the first step of lurking.
Based on the ability of Walker, Yixiantian and others to join forces, this shouldn't be the case...
"The little devil is like crazy. Since midnight last night, before dawn, he has blocked the city gate, and then dispatched a lot of manpower and material resources to register all the residents of the city door to door, including the elderly and children. No one was spared.
Yes." Hua Kezhi sighed and said, "And everyone's identity must be verified by neighbors as a guarantee."
"We definitely couldn't be registered by them, but the Japs sent out a lot of manpower and the verification speed was very fast. In a hurry, we couldn't think of any other way to deal with it, so we had to hide first. Later we found that the Japs didn't even have beggars to beg for food.
Forget it, there were many new faces in plain clothes on the street. I felt something was wrong, so I took them all out."
"This morning, I asked Xiao Han to go into the city alone to inquire about the situation. I found that the Japanese guards in the city were suddenly relaxed a lot. Even the patrols and street checkpoints were withdrawn. But as soon as Xiao Han entered the city, he was
He was targeted, and it took some effort for him to get rid of the tracking..."
"Master Geng, I think the Japanese have guessed that we are coming to Tongliao, so they are setting a trap for us. They deliberately made the outside loose and the inside tight, so that we can rush into the city. Once we really enter Tongliao, they will probably give us
Come and close the door and beat the dog."
Hua Kezhi's words made everyone nod in agreement. At this time, the Japanese guards should be strengthened. There is no reason to relax.
The Japanese have really relaxed, which is a very abnormal signal. Of course, this kind of signal cannot be hidden from "old Jianghu" like Hua Kezhi.
"Actually, our goal is very clear, which is to assassinate the Japanese general." Xian Tiandao said, "Once Nakamura died, the Japanese could easily guess that our next target was Sakamoto Masaemon, the commander of the Sixth Division. They set a trap in advance.
Not surprising.”
Everyone nodded, approving Yixiantian's judgment.
But only Su Yi frowned deeply, and he was keenly aware of something amiss in this matter.
"Kezhi, you said that before dawn yesterday, the Japs started going door-to-door to verify identities?" Su Yi asked, "Can this time be more precise?"
"We arrived in Tongliao at about 2:40 in the middle of the night the day before yesterday." Walker said, "After arriving, we found a place to stay, rested on the spot for more than an hour, ate, had a meeting, and left at five o'clock sharp
, split up and act separately. It’s still dark at this time.”
"Xiao Han went to the Japs barracks to inquire about the situation. As soon as he got there, he found a large number of Japs out. It should have only been about five minutes at this time, right Xiao Han?"
"That's right, it's only a five-minute journey from departure to the military camp." Yixiantian confirmed Hua Kezhi's statement, "There are many Japanese soldiers dispatched, at least thousands, and their purpose is very clear, which is to verify the identity of the people in the city.
.”
"Nakamura died around nine o'clock in the evening, but we ran all the way from Nanling to the foot of Alimatu Mountain, passing more than a dozen Japanese checkpoints and roads." Su Yi pondered slightly, "Although we
We can all go around, but it's very easy. The Japanese don't even know we exist. Otherwise, we would have to take a longer detour, and we might even have to abandon our horses and walk."
Everyone looked at Su Yi, wondering what he wanted to express.
Su Yi continued: "We did some repairs at the foot of Alima Tu Mountain around 4:30, and we also set off on time at 5 in the morning. Chu Tai, Xiao Luo, you still remember, the first time we met the Japanese was
Where is it?"
"Chaganchao Lutai Gacha." Chen Chutai said, "Not long after we came out of Alima Tu Mountain, we met the patrolling Japanese. It was not yet dawn at that time. Aren't we still wondering?
?Why are the Japanese so angry? They got up so early to patrol..."
"Before five o'clock, at all the checkpoints and roadblocks we passed, the Japs were just sitting in the guard booths." Su Yi said, "After five o'clock, at all the checkpoints and roadblocks we passed, the Japs were posted and guarded.
Patrolling everywhere. So can we make this conclusion - at least in the first half of the night, the Japanese did not find the body of Kotaro Nakamura?"
Everyone looked thoughtful.
Walker's way: "The probability of this possibility is very high. If Nakamura's body is found in the middle of the night, the Japanese will definitely notify the checkpoints along the way as soon as possible and let them pay attention to the interception. But Mr. Geng, you have been traveling unimpeded before.
, which means that the Japanese at the checkpoints along the way have not received the notice to intercept you."
"It makes sense." Sun Fengming also nodded, "These checkpoints and checkpoints are at least equipped with radio stations, and some even have telephones. They can receive messages very quickly. If they receive the message, they will definitely increase the number of messages.
Patrol area, but they didn't."
"So even if the Japanese found Nakamura's body in the middle of the night, is there any problem, Master Geng?" Chen Chutai asked the question that everyone wanted to ask.
"What a big problem!" Su Yi sneered, "Songlin, tell Kezhi and the others about your arrangements before leaving after killing people, as well as the situation of your team."
Yang Songlin was a little nervous and spoke after some words: "After I killed someone, I turned off the lights for them, locked the door, and unplugged the phone cord in the room before I left. After I went out, I
Tell the guard at the door that neither Captain Matsuzaki nor the nobles want anyone to disturb their rest. If there is nothing important, no one is allowed to enter..."
"They have no suspicion?" Walker asked.
"No, because there is a precedent for this matter." Yang Songlin continued, "As for my team... our team specializes in handling sanitation issues and cleaning up garbage. Basically, the soldiers assigned to me are
People who have made serious mistakes or are rejected by others. Although we did not go back to the military camp after dumping the garbage, there is a precedent for this."
"There have been at least two occasions before. In order to improve the relationship with my subordinates, I invited them to drink outside at night and stayed away from the camp all night. Therefore, this matter is not a big deal. Even if the gatekeeper notices, he will not be anxious.
They will report to their superiors. If there are no accidents, they will report to their superiors when their shift changes at 7 o'clock the next morning."
When Yang Songlin said this, Su Yi took over.
"According to Xiao Yang, we don't expect the Japs to find out that Nakamura Kotaro and their captain Matsuzaki Takeme have been killed all night long," he said. "At least it won't be until the next morning at least that the Japs will
You will notice something is wrong."
"But whether it was the checkpoints along the way from Nanling to Tongliao or the Japanese soldiers in Tongliao, there were changes at six o'clock. Their changes made it easy for us to judge that they had learned about Nakamura Kotaro.
Death, in order to deal with us, made such an action!"
"So, the Japanese knew that Kotaro Nakamura was dead at least before six o'clock, and notified Tongliao and the checkpoints along the way to respond, and even directly started to implement the strategy of trapping us."
Su Yi said this in one breath and looked around: "Everyone, why did the Japanese find out that Kotaro Nakamura was dead before six o'clock? Why were they so determined to set up traps in Tongliao and wait for us to come?"
Everyone looked at each other.
"It's not impossible that the Japs found out about Nakamura's death in advance." Walker said, "As for the trap they set in Tongliao, they may have guessed our target, or they may have left traces on their way here, Mr. Geng.
The Japanese have determined your destination."
"That's right, Master Geng, I don't think we need to pay too much attention to this issue, right?" Yixiantian also said, "Instead of thinking about these unimportant things, it's better to think more about what we should do this time."
Everyone agreed.
Only Su Yi still frowned.
"Don't you think that if the Japanese discovered that we were coming to Tongliao early, someone might have leaked our traces?" Su Yi simply stated his suspicions directly.
"Chu Tai sent a report to Haiqing around 5:40. At 6 o'clock, the Japanese knew that Nakamura Kotaro was dead." Su Yi said, "And at 6 o'clock, Tongliao started to lay traps. You know,
Such a big move can only be promoted by a direct order from the Kwantung Army’s top brass. In other words, our whereabouts were known to the Kwantung Army’s top brass before six o’clock!”
Everyone's expressions changed when they heard this.
"Master Geng, do you suspect that someone in the Sanqing League secretly communicated the music and betrayed us?" Luo Yu asked.
"That's right." Su Yi nodded.
"This... is possible, but there are too many variables in the matter itself. We can't be completely sure that someone betrayed us, right?" Walker said, "It is very likely that the Japanese will discover Nakamura's body in advance, and it is also very likely that they will discover Nakamura's body in advance.
Guess we will come to Tongliao."
"It's very possible, but the timing is very delicate." Su Yi said, "I don't believe in too many accidents, and we shouldn't attribute abnormal situations to accidental events. Many seemingly reasonable accidents may be what the enemy wants.
That’s what we thought.”
"If someone from the Sanqingtuan League really betrayed us and knew that our target was the Japanese headquarters in Tongliao, then Tongliao must have been a dragnet." Yixiantian frowned and said, "Our mission this time will not be completed easily.
.”
"It's not that it's difficult to complete, it's impossible to complete it!" Su Yi shook his head and said, "Originally, the enemy was in the light and we were in the dark, so everything was easy to say. But now, we are in the dark and the enemy is also in the dark. As long as we move, we will
Understand it, as long as we understand it, we will be dead!"
There are only six people in the Erjiki team. Once the Zhepeng people's territory is exposed behind enemy lines, the enemy only needs to block the area and then continue to narrow the area. Su Yi and the others will have no way to escape.
Everyone felt a little heavy when they heard this. This was the first time that Su Yi clearly said the word "impossible". Before this, Su Yi usually made the impossible possible.
"Then what should we do now?" Sun Fengming asked.
"Tongliao must give up. There is no need for us to jump in even though we know the trap." Su Yi said, "While the Japanese think we will take action in Tongliao, let's simply change the target and give him another try!"
"One of the two main divisions that the Japs captured Rehe was the Eighth Division, which has been crippled by us, and the rest is the Sixth Division with its headquarters in Tongliao." Walker frowned, "We have to give up now.
As for the Sixth Division, who should we target?"
"Yes, Master Geng," Xianxiantian looked at Su Yi, "Now the Sixth Division is attacking Chifeng. It is said that Lin Dong can no longer hold it. If we don't engage the Sixth Division, Sun Laodian will probably be able to hold on.
Unable to live."
"Once Chifeng is lost, the summer resort city is surrounded by enemies on three sides, and Tang Yulin will definitely run away again." Hua Kezhi continued, "Then wouldn't our previous efforts be in vain?"