Chapter 57: Shinozuka's Worries 3

Afternoon of October 26, 1938
HQ of the Japanese First Army in Taiyuan

The quality of the Shanxi-made Arisaka rifle rounds was actually quite commendable. Yoshio Shinozuka had tested them years ago, finding them superior to certain production batches from the Kokura Arsenal. Had he assumed command of the First Army earlier, he never would have permitted those financial conglomerates to dismantle the Taiyuan Arsenal. It was an absolute joke—tearing down a fully operational munitions plant, only to haul ammunition thousands of miles all the way from Manchuria.

"Your Excellency, will the Ministry of War truly consent to our restarting the Taiyuan Arsenal?" Hideyoshi Kusayama asked in a low voice, mindful that arms production was a lucrative pie, and the Ministry of War would never allow its own people to suffer losses.

"Have the Collaborator Army step forward and establish an ordnance repair depot. With so many Collaborator troops in Shanxi, their ammunition supply naturally needs to be guaranteed. If conditions permit, we will resume production of the Shanxi-version 65 rifle, the Shanxi-version ZB vz. 26 light machine gun, and the Shanxi-version Type 3 heavy machine gun, then gradually build up a reserve. We need to stockpile at least sixty days' worth of weapons, ammunition, and other supplies." Shinozuka smiled. What the Ministry of War objected to was diverting the military budget to Taiyuan; as for what the First Army chose to accomplish using funds and resources extracted locally from Shanxi, that was of lesser consequence.

If his old classmate could maintain hundreds of thousands of troops off the wealth of Shanxi, why couldn't he? Not to mention that he could still obtain weapons, ammunition, and supplies allocated by the Expeditionary Army Headquarters. Besides, couldn't he simply seize them from his old classmate? Though that old classmate of his often appeared driven to his wits' end, the capital in his hands remained formidable.

"I will compile the relevant statistics as soon as possible, but our current troop strength is already stretched rather thin. If the manpower issue cannot be completely resolved, our present predicament will remain unchanged, especially with the Eighth Route Army continuing to grow and expand," Kusayama cautioned. As for weapons and ammunition—well, if one truly wished to make do, the First Army could manage. After all, they had stockpiled vast quantities of captured supplies, grain could always be seized, and Imperial soldiers could fight as long as they had a crust of bread.

The real problem was the sheer insufficiency of their manpower. The Collaborator Army might look numerous on paper, but they were utterly useless when it counted; in moments of crisis, the Imperial Army still had to bear the burden. According to the First Army Headquarters' assessment, for a long time to come, they would only be able to launch pacification sweeps on the scale of a regiment or a brigade, at best mobilizing a few units for coordinated support. This was because their main forces had to remain vigilant against the Nationalist Central Army and the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army across the lines, and one had to remember that the enemy possessed an absolute numerical advantage.

"Has that fellow, Ichiki Yamamoto, arrived yet?" Shinozuka did not believe he held enough clout to request reinforcements from the Military Department for Shanxi. The Empire's military strength was already stretched to the limit, with supply lines growing longer by the day. It was fortunate enough that troops were not being actively drained from Shanxi. To resolve the manpower shortage, more forces had to be freed up, and until frontal operations could achieve that goal, other methods had to be devised. The breakthrough he had chosen was "special operations," which the Military Department regarded as unorthodox. Conducting a few experiments with the resources at his disposal posed no problem.

"He has arrived and spent the entire day studying intelligence reports compiled from various regions. Your Excellency, do you truly intend to employ that fellow heavily?" Kusayama possessed some understanding of special operations and was willing to support the Commander's experiment. However, the specific executor he favored was Shunichi Takehisa, not Ichiki Yamamoto. It was not a question of ability, but of basic human decency. Ichiki Yamamoto simply lacked all social graces; upon learning that the Commander was busy with matters of state, he had simply gone off by himself. Was such a brain-dead action something a subordinate should ever commit?

"You do not hold a high opinion of him?" Shinozuka noticed Kusayama's slightly furrowed brow and inquired. He was well aware of the various rumors surrounding Yamamoto, but he also recognized the man's talent—he was worth the gamble.

"Your Excellency, you must realize that Ichiki Yamamoto has offended quite a few people over the years, many of whom hold genuine authority—particularly those individuals at the Expeditionary Army Headquarters. If he truly incurs their displeasure, I fear it may provoke their wrath against our First Army." Kusayama believed that whatever one undertook, securing one's base was paramount. If the base remained unstable, discussing anything else was pointless. At a time when every front was advancing triumphantly, any turbulence within the First Army would only draw greater scrutiny, and he had no desire to be packed off to the reserves for retirement just yet.

"Everything is merely a matter of interest exchange. If Yamamoto can genuinely produce results, I will personally step forward to mediate between them. If he fails to deliver, no one will care about the commander of a small detachment. After all, he is a colonel; pushing him down too harshly would also reflect poorly on the Ministry of War," Shinozuka said with a chuckle. He had prepared himself with the mindset of not releasing the hawk until he saw the rabbit. A large-scale popularization of special warfare? Let us not be ridiculous; the priority was to extricate the First Army from its current quagmire!

As fellow gamblers, as long as he threw in minimal stakes, he could afford to lose. But Ichiki Yamamoto had only this single chance. If he failed, he would never need to leave Shanxi again; he trusted his old classmate would help him tie up all remaining loose ends.

"Your Excellency is wise. Shall I have him brought here?" Kusayama clearly grasped Shinozuka's intent, and at that, his mind was set at ease.

"No need to rush. Let us temper that fellow's temperament first. I plan to dispatch him to Yangquan County to cooperate with the Special Service Agency in combing the mountains for Wu Ziyu. Does Kusayama-kun deem this feasible?" Shinozuka waved his hand gently. In truth, he had not yet fully decided how many resources to allocate nor how to define the role of the unit Yamamoto was about to form.

"Yangquan? Heiji Yamazaki was just exceptionally promoted to the rank of colonel, and Ichiro Hirata is also a colonel. Add Ichiki Yamamoto to the mix, and tiny Yangquan County will boast three full colonels." Kusayama hesitated. The Special Higher Police had pushed for Yamazaki's promotion precisely to create a mutual check against Ichiro Hirata. To wedge Yamamoto in as well would make tiny Yangquan County exceptionally lively.

In occupied territories, the Japanese forces usually stationed nothing more than a major or a captain in a county seat; in some places, merely a lieutenant sufficed. To station three colonels in a single location completely defied convention. Of course, the troop deployment in Yangquan County had long since exceeded standard county specifications anyway.

"Let them keep each other in check; Yangquan County remains vitally important. Relying solely on Ichiro Hirata might not truly suffice to suppress Heiji Yamazaki. If the Special Higher Police could push through a promotion for Yamazaki, they might very well expand the Yamazaki Detachment further down the line." Shinozuka smiled. Yangquan sat at the intersection of the spheres of influence belonging to the First Army and the Mengjiang Garrison Army, and he truly worried that the Special Service Agency might lose its mind one day and instigate something unpredictable. If that happened, he would lose a tremendous amount of face.