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* * *

A few days after the declaration of war, Mutaguchi Renya felt like his head was going to explode.

I mean, the Manchurian Army was set to lead the charge in conquering China.

If he was worried about being at the forefront, it was about how an elite officer like him would tarnish the honor of the Imperial Army.

But why did he feel like his head was going to burst? Because, unfortunately, he had gotten completely smashed the night before, thanks to Tsujin Masanobu’s suggestion.

However, the Imperial General Headquarters had promptly issued a plan of attack, stating that they needed to at least occupy Beijing before the Emperor’s Imperial Army arrived. Thus, they hurriedly prepared for the attack.

“Governor, shouldn’t we strike before the enemy gathers?”

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

“If we’re to offer the Forbidden City to His Imperial Majesty, we need to hurry.”

“Understood.”

Aide-de-camp Tsujin Masanobu and Chief of Staff Tojo Hideki pressed him.

But Mutaguchi Renya hesitated to attack.

After all, he recalled what Tsarina Anastasia had said.

When war breaks out, at the very least, he should retreat and manage the rear.

As a general of the Empire of Japan, it was natural to disregard the advice of a foreign monarch.

But hadn’t the Russian Empress’s predictions always come true? She had even predicted that there would be earthquakes within the Empire.

Thus, he sensed that if he advanced first, as an elite of the Empire of Japan, he absolutely could not allow a loss of this magnitude; fate, however, could change.

So, what he decided was, according to intelligence, troops were concentrated on defending Beijing, so he would enjoy a leisurely stroll through Hebei Province and, when the Emperor’s Imperial Army arrived, under the excuse of attending to the Emperor, he would not advance—an extravagant plan.

Of course, he figured that if he openly advocated for dragging his feet, he’d be met with suspicion. So he devised a tactical plan, calling it the “Encirclement Operation.”

At first glance, it seemed utterly ridiculous, but Mutaguchi Renya poured his little brain into coming up with a name that was maximally 140% clever.

In original history, it was the Chinese National Government’s operation to eliminate the Chinese Communist Party, but in this history, due to Mao Zedong becoming an anarchist communist, it was erased, and instead, it burst forth from Mutaguchi Renya’s mouth.

Later, if anyone asked what happened when he failed to occupy Beijing, he could conveniently make excuses claiming different circumstances.

Thus, the troops mobilized for Mutaguchi Renya’s leisurely stroll were made up of 200,000 soldiers, including a few pro-Japanese Manchurians and Koreans (spies from the Provisional Government), who made up the main force of the Manchurian Army dispatched from the archipelago.

This Manchurian Army was appointed as the Hebei Front Army in this new Sino-Japanese War and had to at least achieve the feat of surrounding Beijing.

On the other hand, reports indicated that the combined forces formed in China boasted 2 million troops, so Mutaguchi Renya figured that in a direct confrontation, the Imperial Army would undoubtedly win, but the losses would be great.

Anyway, before the Emperor arrived, Mutaguchi Renya had to achieve at least some results, so he decided to quickly and stealthily proceed with the encirclement operation.

“Move as quietly as possible!”

Mutaguchi Renya’s army secretly crossed over from Rehe Province late at night, advancing rapidly to Hebei Province, and so far, it was looking good—perfect, even.

The enemy had failed to station a proper army in that region and were only concerned with guarding the Qing Emperor.

Even Mao Zedong’s Chinese United Army shifted their forces to defend Beijing, fearing a drop in morale if Japan seized the Forbidden City and claimed the Emperor’s legitimacy. Thus, there were hardly any troops around Hebei and Rehe Province.

However.

While Mutaguchi Renya’s Manchurian Army steered stealthily and quickly, the arrival of the Emperor’s Imperial Army in Southern Manchuria was delayed, and they ended up circling around Hebei Province for quite some time.

‘What should I do? Should I strike Beijing now?’

At that time, unlike the united forces formed in Nanjing, Beijing was defended by factions from various warlords, meaning they weren’t well organized. If they targeted Beijing, the 200,000 Manchurian Army could easily crush it, but breaching the fortified defenses of Beijing seemed challenging.

While Mutaguchi Renya pondered what to do near Tianjin, just south of Beijing—

“Governor! The enemy army is heading toward Beijing! Their rear has been exposed to us!”

An utterly ridiculous report came in.

Wait, does that mean we’ve circled around behind them?

“What?”

So, right now, Mutaguchi Renya’s Manchurian Army was circling around Hebei, while the sluggish Chinese United Army was slowly ascending toward Beijing, and they had caught up to them from Tianjin.

In a moment of shock from having to face a large army, Mutaguchi Renya steeled his resolve, unable to retreat.

‘Let’s at least attack; if we fail, it’s the incompetent subordinates’ fault.’

There were staff under Mutaguchi ready to pass the blame, and he had plenty of soldiers.

Well, it was worth taking a gamble.

So, Mutaguchi Renya decided to boost the morale of the Manchurian Army soldiers who would throw their lives away like straw for the Empire of Japan.

“O proud Imperial Army! Children of His Imperial Majesty! Look! Those Chinese fools can’t even realize we’ve caught up to them from behind! This shows how the communists have tainted a country that has lost the Mandate of Heaven!”

Officially, the war began to debate the Emperor’s seat, but internally there was also the justification of eliminating communism in China. So, Mutaguchi Renya mentioned that part.

“Though their troops number ten times ours, they are stretched thin and marching forward, and they are nothing but a ragtag bunch of children compared to us! Pierce through their backs with the spirit of Yamato! Charge! I will be in front of you!”

“““Waaaaah! Long live His Imperial Majesty! Long live the Empire of Japan!”””

Since there was no choice but to carve a path back, his troops also charged against the Chinese United Army with the famous banzai charge.

In the early stages, Mutaguchi Renya even charged directly, showing off a figure similar to the Russian Empress, raising the spirits of his soldiers.

Of course, that was only at the start; just like being pushed back on a treadmill, Mutaguchi Renya naturally retreated and observed the situation.

It was the worst gamble of his life, but if they lost, it would be the fault of his incompetent subordinates, so as an elite officer, he couldn’t be blamed.

But an unexpected outcome occurred.

“What the… Why is the Japanese army here!”

“What were our allies doing? Hurry and stop them!”

“Don’t run away! The enemy is fewer than us!”

“Why should we obey your orders when we’re from Guangxi?”

The Chinese United Army hadn’t expected the Japanese army to circle back around rather than head for Beijing. The thought that the Japanese would take it easy backfired; they themselves had become careless, and since reinforcements had been called in from surrounding areas, they hadn’t sensed the subtle and stealthy movements of the Japanese army and were thoroughly ravaged from behind.

Initially, the United Army tried to counter the surprise attack from the Japanese army, but since they were still a coalition of warlords, their command structure wasn’t unified, resulting in them acting separately, losing their supply lines, and collapsing without adequately responding.

Due to the Chinese army experiencing the absurd frontal assaults of the Bolsheviks during the Hohhot War, the quality of their troops had been diminished as well.

“Our allies have crushed their rear! They seemed surprised they were being attacked from behind and collapsed in the blink of an eye!”

“What…what?”

The results of the operation surprised even Mutaguchi Renya himself.

Honestly, he hadn’t even given the operation a grand name; it was just an attempt to buy time. And yet, things had turned out this way.

The Chinese United Army, united under Mao Zedong, was comprised mostly of elite troops produced by warlords, and they were supposed to be a crucial army to fend off the Japanese invasion.

However, due to Mutaguchi Renya’s worst gamble aimed solely at escape resulting in a jackpot, he annihilated the main force of the 2 million united troops, and now Mao Zedong’s whereabouts were also unknown.

Only a few warlords affiliated with the Chinese United Army barely managed to escape to Nanjing.

“Ugh! How are we supposed to fight among ourselves!”

“If we don’t surrender, we’ll all die!”

“Why should we die for a puppet emperor?”

With the news of the annihilation of reinforcements, the troops in the Forbidden City led Puyi, the Emperor of the Chinese Empire, to surrender to the Japanese army, pushing China to the brink of temporary collapse.

“I’ll give you the Emperor! I’ll give you the country! Just spare my life!”

With the Emperor captured and the main force annihilated, Japan had essentially secured the grounds for claiming dominion over China.

In actual history, battles had erupted during the Pingjin Campaign, and as the Japanese army advanced, Beijing and Tianjin fell, pushing the Chinese army back, but the cause of this defeat was clear.

Japan had routinely condemned the presence of the Communist Party in China, often remarking that the true Emperor was merely the Emperor of Japan. Sensing war was coming, Mao Zedong had hustled to mobilize the united forces early.

At the same time, he smuggled arms from Russia through Xinjiang to bolster military quality.

Initially, the Emperor had thoroughly prepared for his direct involvement, and since Koreans refused to cooperate, if the main army arrived late and only faced the Manchurian Army, there was potential for success. Mao Zedong understood this and foreseen the possibility of defeating the Manchurian Army and forming a defense line, or alternatively considering if the Japanese army appeared weak, they might even charge all the way to Manchuria.

Although troops from Rehe and Hebei had been reduced, there were still at least defensive soldiers or scouts that could have confirmed the route of the Japanese invasion.

When analyzing why the carefully prepared main forces were beaten, it could be attributed to the fact that just as the White Army united under Anastasia, in original history the warlords had been loyal to Chiang Kai-shek, but the united army under Mao Zedong had more equal footing with him.

After the Hohhot Wars and with the establishment of regional autonomy, each troop was considered a separate army, and naturally, the united forces felt more like a collection of individual warlord armies forcibly tied together.

Having formed a large army, there was still an air of unease.

In this world, unlike in original history where they trained elite units with the help of German advisors, the united forces had nothing but the experience learned from the banzai charge that had led them to victory in the Hohhot Wars, resulting in diminished combat power.

In the meantime, in a bid to group their forces for a direct battle, they foolishly marched forward in a pre-modern style, exposing their rear to the incoming Japanese army.

On the contrary, the Manchurian Army, having operated under Mutaguchi Renya for a long time, had been imbued with the spirit of Yamato and had transformed into fearless warriors, showing no signs of backing down even against a large army.

“See? I knew this would happen!”

However, while Jiang Jieshi, who was managing the supplies in Nanjing, hastily gathered the remnants after hearing the news of Mao Zedong’s defeat and constructed a new defense line, thus initiating the Nanjing National Government, signaling that the Sino-Japanese War had entered a new phase.

“Your Majesty, should we enhance the quarantine research facility and reorganize it into a quarantine supply department in Shenyang?”

“Granted.”

Meanwhile, having gained the upper hand at the start, the comfortable Japanese army received approval from the Emperor to reorganize the quarantine research facility, and the Manchurian Army’s Chief of Staff received similar permission to expand the Shenyang quarantine research facility into the Manchurian Army quarantine supply department.

Initially, the unit meant to study preventive medicine and logistics for advancing into China under Ishii Shiro had devolved into a human experimentation facility.

The infamous Unit 731 wasn’t much different in name but progressed in a manner akin to original history.

“What is this!”

And Anastasia in Moscow couldn’t hide her shock at the news of the Sino-Japanese War.

* * *

Facing the news from the Far East, I had to doubt my own eyes.

There was no choice but to doubt them.

For this newspaper I held in my hand contained astonishing news.

-With a single battle, the legendary Mutaguchi Renya brought the Chinese Empire to the brink of destruction!

-As indicated by the operation name, it was merely an encirclement. He never expected to engage in battle.

-This great victory was due to the soldiers’ loyalty to the Imperial Army and their dedication to the Yamato spirit.

Mutaguchi Renya’s Manchurian Army,

Not aided by the grand army brought by the Emperor, but executing swift maneuvers alone across Rehe and Hebei provinces, ignored Beijing and annihilated the Chinese United Army.

It seemed that they were told to hold out until the Chinese United Army arrived, which allowed the Manchurian Army to make rapid strides.

Whoa, this is truly a gap that has been exploited.

It might have been better to give up Beijing and retreat.

No one expected the Manchurian Army to move like this.

Yeah. But should I really believe this easily?

“What is this? Did Mozhenju really annihilate an army of 2 million?”

While asking myself, I calmed my throbbing head.

Uh, um. How do I even put this?

Was this man truly a genius? The fact that he claimed his victory was, “thanks to soldiers armed with the spirit of Yamato,” shows he’s even elevating his subordinates.

Yeah. Although the claim of 2 million is quite exaggerated, it’s likely they weren’t taken all at once; they must have been lined up in some way.

Even if the quality of the troops had significantly deteriorated under the regional autonomy and with no help from German advisors, could one not dispatch only one-tenth of the troop? Especially not even in Manchuria, but in mainland China?

What on earth could happen now?

He would become a true hero of Japan, not some dark-independence fighter!

Hmm, should I have killed Mutaguchi Renya?

Honestly, this seems somewhat accidental.

“Mutaguchi Renya has dealt a massive blow to the Chinese army.”

“Indeed, as Your Majesty predicted. He will certainly decimate China’s population.”

No, I didn’t push that man as governor for such a purpose.

This is purely unfair.

Whether it’s Mutaguchi Renya or not, Japan would eventually enter the Central Plain and carry out massacres.

Mutaguchi Renya was just a pawn to be used later to consume Japan.

Still, for now, it’s wise to remain quiet.

The issue is that such a stroke of luck could unnecessarily inflate Mutaguchi Renya’s ego.

Should I warn him about that?

With that gentleman’s personality, would he even listen to me?

 

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