Chapter 68: Baka! Baka!

Chapter 68: Baka! Baka!

As soon as the letter was unfolded and given a quick glance by Jiang Deshui, his expression immediately turned into the color of pork liver.

The hand holding the letter trembled even more violently.

Damn it! This New Regiment was truly detestable!

It was bad enough that the beginning of the letter was filled with arrogant self-praising of their strength, contempt for the Imperial Japanese Army, and a formal challenge to battle; but further down, they actually went on to send their regards to Hirata Ichiro's mother.

Hirata Ichiro was known as a fiercely filial son. He frequently corresponded with his mother by letter and often spoke of her to others.

Hirata Ichiro's mother was already sixty years of age, having reached the twilight of her life.

To have her insulted so grossly by the local Eighth Route Army soldiers—implying she was surrounded by a bunch of burly men—this, this, this... If he were to read it aloud, Hirata Ichiro would probably draw his pistol and shoot him on the spot.

Noticing Jiang Deshui's strange expression, Hirata Ichiro nevertheless spoke in a stern voice, "I am not afraid! What are you afraid of? Read it!"

"Your Excellency..." Jiang Deshui dared not read it.

Yet the next moment, the muzzle of Hirata Ichiro's pistol was pressed firmly against Jiang Deshui's forehead.

Jiang Deshui had no choice left. He had managed with great difficulty to save his life from the hands of the Eighth Route Army.

If Heaven now demanded his death, he could only resign himself to fate.

Thus, Jiang Deshui began to read:

"Hirata Ichiro, you sent over three thousand men just to wipe out my New Regiment? Damn it, just how much do you look down on my New Regiment? I'm not afraid of exposing my strength; let me lay my cards on the table for you. The manpower of my New Regiment is already on par with the 358th Regiment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army..."

Listening to Jiang Deshui read out these arrogant words from Li Yunlong, Hirata Ichiro's brow furrowed tightly.

It seemed his prediction had been correct after all. The troop strength of the New Regiment had indeed been concealed.

The way they had bided their time and developed in dormancy all these years was truly terrifying.

He remembered that when the New Regiment was first formed, its strength seemed to be around eight hundred men.

And now? They actually rivaled the 358th Regiment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army.

The 358th Regiment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army was a reinforced regiment with a troop strength of over five thousand men.

By this calculation, the New Regiment must have five thousand men now.

Sending over three thousand men to attack them made it entirely understandable why victory had proved so difficult to secure.

As for Li Yunlong's preposterous claim in the letter that at least tenfold force would be required to encircle and suppress them, Hirata Ichiro sneered coldly.

This commander of the New Regiment, Li Yunlong, was simply too arrogant. Did he really think the Imperial Army lacked sufficient forces for an encirclement and suppression campaign?

In this war, although the number of soldiers on the Chinese side exceeded that of the Imperial Army, the balance of war still tilted toward the Empire.

After all, the Eighth Route Army's New Regiment remained a pack of ignorant peasants. In this battle, the Imperial Army had merely lost a paltry single infantry company.

To win a fluke victory and then foolishly expose one's own bottom line—what was this if not stupidity?

Perhaps one could not entirely rule out the possibility that Li Yunlong was intentionally throwing up a smokescreen and exaggerating the New Regiment's strength.

However, to Hirata Ichiro, it made little difference.

In any case, the New Regiment would next face an encirclement and suppression campaign by an overwhelmingly superior force.

This time, you Eighth Route Army bastards of the New Regiment will never have another chance to act with such arrogance.

"Hirata Ichiro, how is your mother doing these days? I heard your father died young, and it couldn't have been easy for your mother to raise you single-handedly. With you not by her side, your mother must surely... How does that old Chinese saying go? Ah, right—'a widow's doorway is prone to trouble.' Is your mother currently surrounded by a crowd of strapping, burly men?"

"If that really is the case, then that's quite troublesome. I don't know if you little Japanese hold any regard for female virtue or if you get looked down upon for it, but you'd better pay attention. When you finally go home and your mother asks you to pick a father out from a whole group of strapping men, you'll need to keep your wits about you. Old Li here is kindly reminding you, so you'd better mentally prepare yourself beforehand."

...

When Hirata Ichiro first heard the phrase about being surrounded by burly men, he did not understand what it meant.

Upon hearing the subsequent remark about picking a father out from a group of strapping men, he instantly understood.

The raging fire of fury in Hirata Ichiro's heart instantly surged several fathoms higher.

"Baka! Baka! Baka!"

Hirata Ichiro snatched the letter from Jiang Deshui's hands, ripped it to shreds like snow, and flung them all into Jiang Deshui's face. "Damn that Li Yunlong! To slander my mother in such a manner—I will capture you, and I'll tear that stinking mouth of yours apart with my own hands!"

"Your Excellency, calm your anger, calm your anger..." Jiang Deshui was frightened to the core, yet he still braced himself to offer persuasion.

He had to persuade him; Li Yunlong's mouth was simply too foul.

Even as an uninvolved bystander, Jiang Deshui found it too much to stomach.

Let alone Hirata Ichiro, the person directly targeted.

If he did not help extinguish Hirata Ichiro's rage, and instead let it burn hotter and higher, Jiang Deshui truly feared Hirata Ichiro's muzzle would once again press against his forehead.

Squad Leader Noda also began trying to divert Hirata Ichiro's attention. "Lieutenant Colonel, the New Regiment exaggerated their strength in the letter. They simply do not have that many troops. The ones who fought us numbered only a little over a thousand."

"Are you certain?" Hearing this, Hirata Ichiro's attention was indeed successfully diverted.

"Yes, Your Excellency. The New Regiment only has a little over a thousand men..." Seeing that Hirata Ichiro's attention had shifted, Jiang Deshui immediately chimed in to agree, but the next moment, Jiang Deshui was subjected to a ferocious beating by Hirata Ichiro, blows raining down upon his head and face.

As he struck him, Hirata Ichiro cursed furiously, "You had over three thousand men, yet you couldn't defeat a mere thousand-odd of the local Eighth Route Army, and you still have the nerve to come back!"

Hirata Ichiro had previously reasoned that if the Eighth Route Army's New Regiment truly possessed troop strength comparable to the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army's 358th Regiment, then Jiang Deshui's failure to win would at least be somewhat forgivable.

Yet now, both Noda and Jiang Deshui confessed with their own mouths that the Eighth Route Army had only a thousand-odd men. This served only to infuriate Hirata Ichiro all over again.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch..." Faced with Hirata Ichiro's blows, Jiang Deshui did not even dare to dodge. He could only hug his head, curl his body into a ball, and try his best to protect his vital parts.

The two puppet army officers under Jiang Deshui's command trembled even more violently at the sight.

Yet none of them dared to make a sound, nor did they dare step forward to take the beating in Jiang Deshui's place.

"Captain, this defeat cannot be blamed entirely on Jiang Deshui." Noda worried that Hirata Ichiro might actually beat Jiang Deshui to death on the spot.

This time, the puppet army in Licheng County had suffered heavy losses, including quite a few officers.

If Jiang Deshui were beaten to death, rebuilding the puppet army afterward would make it difficult to find anyone capable of instantly stepping into Jiang Deshui's shoes.

Although Jiang Deshui had not achieved any great accomplishments in this encirclement campaign, his command had nonetheless had its commendable points.

The casualties were admittedly heavy, but at the very least, they had compressed the Eighth Route Army New Regiment's territory and indirectly helped the Imperial Army company locate the core force of the Eighth Route Army.

The loss of this battle, apart from the craftiness of the Eighth Route Army New Regiment, lay primarily in the Imperial Army company's underestimation of the enemy.

Having been careless for a moment, they were given no opportunity to retaliate by the Eighth Route Army, leading straight to a crushing defeat.

This truly could not be laid entirely at Jiang Deshui's door.

Hirata Ichiro finally stopped his hands. A military policeman nearby handed over a cloth rag. Hirata Ichiro took it, wiped the blood from his hands, and looked at Noda. "Noda, recount the entire course of the battle to me from beginning to end."

"Haji," Noda nodded and immediately began his report.

(End of this chapter)