Chapter 272: The Osaka Division is coming to North China? "What?! Eight field artillery pieces have been added to the Zhangzhuang stronghold?!" Qin Yangming was shocked when he heard the news from Cunkou Sanlang. He knew about the 88mm field guns produced by Yan Laoxi's Taiyuan Arsenal. That thing is one of the few artillery pieces in Yan Laoxi's hand that can fire up to ten kilometers away. Although the production materials of the Taiyuan Arsenal are not of good quality, the barrel of that kind of artillery is likely to break down after firing dozens of shells. However, dozens of artillery shells were enough to suppress the artillery battalion led by Li Yunlong. The Type 97 mountain cannon at the artillery battalion had the longest range, but even with the best gunner Li Erhu trying his best, it could only fire at a range of seven or eight kilometers, and even Li Erhu could not guarantee accuracy at this distance. If there was a top gunner like Li Erhu in the Zhangzhuang stronghold, the enemy would be able to counterattack the artillery battalion with the field artillery's range far exceeding that of the mountain artillery. Although they were preparing to use chemical bombs, they didn't mean to use them right away.
Murakuchi Saburo listened to Qin Yangming's words and spoke helplessly. "Mr. Qin, you don't know the situation at Zhangzhuang. The eight field artillery pieces were refurbished... When we occupied Taiyuan, the Taiyuan Arsenal had not yet been dismantled, and the artillery engineers who came from the base camp used a special method to reinforce the gun barrels. Therefore, the eight field guns would not have problems with their barrels after firing dozens of rounds continuously like the ones produced by Yan Laoxi at the beginning. After the renovation, each of the eight field guns could fire about a hundred rounds even if it fired continuously. In addition, some bunkers at the Zhangzhuang stronghold were modified and converted into artillery positions. It still looks like a bunker on the surface, but in fact it has become an artillery position. You can regard it as a fortress artillery. In addition, a large amount of supplies and ammunition were stored in the Zhangzhuang stronghold, even if a siege was adopted. The Zhangzhuang stronghold can last for at least more than a month thanks to the food and ammunition stored in the stronghold, not to mention that planes can be used to airdrop supplies to the Zhangzhuang stronghold at any time. Maybe I can just say that Qin Jun doesn’t think it’s that difficult to fight… Let me put it this way, the ammunition stockpiled in the Zhangzhuang stronghold is enough to destroy all the guns in the entire Zhangzhuang stronghold. The heavy machine guns in the bunker were all Maxim heavy machine guns brought from Manchuria. There were wells, canals, and a large number of tunnels in the Zhangzhuang stronghold... Mr. Qin, you are not the only ones who can use tunnels. We can use them too. The bunkers in the Zhangzhuang stronghold can be completely sealed off at a critical moment, and everyone can communicate and transfer through the tunnels dug in advance. It can be said that the entire Zhangzhuang stronghold has been built like a hedgehog. Use the normal attack method, unless you are willing to send out engineers during artillery suppression and risk massive damage to your artillery. At the cost of a large number of engineer deaths, they cleared the mine belts outside the Zhangzhuang stronghold, then destroyed the barbed wire, leveled the trenches, and finally had the engineers use explosives to blow up the bunkers one by one. Otherwise, apart from attracting the troops in Zhangzhuang stronghold, I really can't think of any other way you can take down Zhangzhuang stronghold." Murakuchi Saburo emphasized the difficulty of taking down the Zhangzhuang stronghold and told Qin Yangming that if he wanted his cooperation in taking down the Zhangzhuang stronghold, then Qin Yangming had to listen to him and not think about contacting Heishan Kumamoto. Qin Yangming also felt a headache after listening to the information about Zhangzhuang told by Murakuchi Saburo. At first, no one had expected that the Zhangzhuang stronghold would be turned into a hedgehog by the Japanese.
"I finally understand how the Japanese felt when they attacked Baihu Ridge." According to Murakuchi Saburo, the Zhangzhuang stronghold was built to be even more difficult to attack than Baihuling. At this moment, facing the Zhangzhuang stronghold, which is as difficult to attack as Baihuling, or even more difficult to attack than Baihuling, Qin Yangming finally understood the feelings of the Japanese when they attacked Baihuling. But the Zhangzhuang stronghold had to be attacked. If Ping'an County was captured, the Zhangzhuang stronghold would be a thorn in the throat of the Eighth Route Army, and could cut off the connection between Ping'an County and the Taihang Military Region at any time. Qin Yangming shook his head, trying not to think about the Zhangzhuang stronghold, and continued to look at Sanlang at the village entrance. "Murakou-kun, let's talk about the Zhangzhuang stronghold later. Can you tell me first, why are you so opposed to my contact with Kuroyama Kumamoto, why are you so opposed to my bringing Kuroyama Kumamoto in?" Qin Yangming still wanted to know why Murakuchi Saburo was so resistant to him bringing Kurosan Kumamoto over to work together. too weird. After all, Heishan Kumamoto is the commander of a county, and an important county like Ping'an County. Logically speaking, after you get the leverage over this kind of person, you should think about pulling him into your own camp; this is the way to maximize your benefits. Especially a guy as smart as Murakuchi Saburo, how could he not understand this? However, Murakuchi Saburo was extremely opposed to this proposal, and it was obvious that something was wrong. “Muraguchi-kun, do you have a personal grudge against Kuroyama Kumamoto? If that's the case, I can give up contacting Kuroyama Kumamoto." Faced with this situation, Qin Yangming couldn't help but wonder whether Murakuchi Saburo and Kurosan Kumamoto had a personal grudge. If there really is any personal grudge between Murakuchi Saburo and Kuroiyama Kumamoto, then Qin Yangming can only give up contacting Kuroiyama Kumamoto. When the two have a grudge, I still have to contact Kuroiyama Kumamoto. Without knowing what the grudge is and how big the grudge is, I will contact Kuroiyama Kumamoto. If the hatred between Kuroiyama Kumamoto and Murakuchi Saburo is very big. This is bound to arouse the disgust of Murakuchi Saburo. Instead of building a good relationship with an unfamiliar and strange Kurosan Kumamoto, it is better to maintain a good relationship with this guy Murakuchi Saburo. Although Murakuchi Saburo was only a major, Qin Yangming could see that Murakuchi Saburo was very confident and had a strong background. As a lieutenant colonel, Kiyozumi Kiichi always asks Murakuchi Saburo about everything. It is obvious that the relationship between the two is not led by Lieutenant Colonel Kiyozumi Kiichi, but by Major Murakuchi Saburo. In this case, it's not worth it to risk offending Murakuchi Saburo to make friends with Kurosan Kumamoto. In particular, Qin Yangming wanted to wait until the affairs in Ping'an County were settled, and then find an opportunity to buy some information about Taiyuan City from Murakuchi Saburo, and it would be best if he could buy information about Yoshio Shinozuka. So if Heishan Kumamoto really had a grudge against Murakuchi Saburo, then Qin Yangming would not have proposed to contact Heishan Kumamoto again. It's a little troublesome, but compared with the later situation, it's not a big problem to have a little trouble and take a little risk at this time, and it can be afforded. "Ugh." When Murakuchi Saburo saw Qin Yangming, he still asked why he couldn't win over Kuroiyama Kumamoto, and even began to wonder if he had a grudge against Kuroiyama Kumamoto.
Hearing Qin Yangming's proposal that he would be willing to give up contacting Kuroiyama Kumamoto if he had a grudge against him, Murakuchi Saburo felt somewhat satisfied. "Mr. Qin, it's not that I have a grudge against Kuroyama Kumamoto. In fact, Kuroyama Kumamoto and I don't even have basic interactions. At most, we have some interactions in our duties. The reason why I don't want to contact Kuroyama Kumamoto is because I don't want Kuroyama Kumamoto to live. First, for things like this, the fewer people who know about it, the better. Kuroyama Kumamoto is not one of us, nor is he one of us in Osaka, and he doesn’t even have anything to do with us in Osaka. It can be said that Montenegro Kumamoto has no guarantees with us. If something goes wrong, Kumamoto will sell us out and we won’t be able to find anyone to take revenge on. It is for this reason that the Black Mountain Bear is fundamentally excluded by our entire circle. So we will not win over Montenegro Kumamoto. In addition, this guy Kumamoto is extremely greedy. If you want to win him over, you must pay a lot of benefits... Mr. Qin, there is only so much cake, and everyone wants to have one more bite. There is not much cake left now. What if Kumamoto, the Black Mountain Man, is not one of ours, but a greedy guy comes in? It's really not a good thing for us. Whether from the perspective of interests, emotions or rationality, Montenegro Kumamoto is not suitable to be drawn into our cooperation. And handing over Ping'an County to the Eighth Route Army was a huge risk in itself. The fewer people who know that we sold Ping'an County to you, the better. If the matter were to be discovered, Qingquan-kun and I would be forced to commit suicide by disembowelment. Mr. Qin, Mr. Qingquan and I love money, but we also love our lives. We will not give up our lives for money. For us, life is far more important than money. Especially for greedy guys like Kumamoto Kumamoto, the risk of cooperating with such guys is too great and we simply cannot afford it. Mr. Qin, it is normal to have risks in doing business. But if you want to expand your business, you have to consider how to avoid risks. If the benefits far outweigh the risks, then you can still take a risk, but if the benefits are far lower than the risks, or are about the same as the risks, then there is no need to try. In my opinion, the benefits of cooperating with Montenegro Kumamoto are far from enough to offset the risks brought about by cooperating with Montenegro Kumamoto. The above is the reason why I don’t want to contact Kuroyama Kumamoto.” In the end, Murakuchi Saburo did not express his true thoughts, but instead made up a bunch of excuses to try to fool people. Compared to handing over Ping'an County to the Eighth Route Army, what he wanted to do was more risky. Compared with what he had imagined in his mind, selling Ping'an County to the Eighth Route Army was a trivial matter that was not worth mentioning. At this moment, Saburo Murakuchi was still perfecting the crazy plan he had come up with in his mind. Before the plan was completely confirmed, Murakuchi Saburo did not intend to tell Qin Yangming about the plan, or even about making Kiyozumi Muichi a colonel.
He was also worried that Qin Yangming would deduce his own plan based on these things and these clues. If Qin Yangming really figured out his plan at that time, he would be the one in the passive position. Although his plan was a win-win situation for both them and the Eighth Route Army. But if possible, Murakuchi Saburo still wants to take the initiative of the plan into his own hands. Qin Yangming listened to what Cunkou Saburo said and looked at his somewhat unnatural expression. He could tell at a glance that Cunkou Saburo was not honest and was not telling the truth! "Muraguchi-kun, I thought we were already friends, but I didn't expect that you still don't consider me as your friend." Curiosity is human nature, and Qin Yangming is no exception. The more Murakuchi Saburo concealed the truth, the more Qin Yangming wanted to know. "Mr. Qin, why do you say that? I treat you as a friend." "But, Murakuchi-kun, since you consider me a friend, why did you lie to me?" "Cheating? Mr. Qin, have you studied psychology?!" Hearing Qin Yangming's words, Murakuchi Saburo looked at Qin Yangming with wide eyes. “No…but I can tell from your expression that you are lying…Muraguchi-kun, tell me the truth. Make things clear to avoid misunderstandings. Besides, even if you told me about it, could I go to the Taiyuan headquarters and report it? Without mentioning anything else, just tell me what I know. As long as a report is sent to the Taiyuan headquarters, neither you nor Qingquan will have a good ending. The situation is already like this, is there anything else that needs to be done? Murakuchi-kun, there's no need to hide this from me. You want to start from the perspective of where you can get the most benefit. But I also hope to gain more benefits. If we can win over Kumamoto, the casualties of our troops can be further reduced, and it will be easier to capture Ping'an County. I have already stated my reasons for wanting to win over Kumamoto. You should at least tell me why you are so reluctant to win over Montenegro Kumamoto. At least you should let me know what's going on, right? Only when both parties communicate clearly can we know what interests each party wants... Only when we figure out what everyone's interests are, can we cooperate better, right?" "Whoo~" Listening to Qin Yangming's words, Murakuchi Saburo poured himself another glass of wine and drank it. "Mr. Qin, you know a lot about our culture, so you must also know about our Osaka Division." "Yes, I know... Hmm? What you are going to do is related to the Osaka Division? Isn't the Osaka Division in the south? Are you going to transfer it to Shanxi?" When Qin Yangming saw Saburo Murakuchi mention the Osaka Division, he subconsciously wondered whether the Japanese were planning to transfer the Osaka Division to Shanxi to deal with them. Compared with fighting a tough battle with the Kuomintang army in the south, Qin Yangming believed that the Osaka Division would rather come to the north and fight a guerrilla war with the Eighth Route Army in which one side chases the other and the other side loses its gun and money. After all, on the southern battlefield, everyone nearby is closely watched. If you don't work hard, you will easily be attacked. But you are unwilling to work hard.
If we come to the north, we can learn from people like Murakuchi Saburo and others to trade with the Eighth Route Army. (End of this chapter)