Carefully wiping off the knife polish from the saber with a cotton cloth, Morimoto Otaku No. 2 Nakasa held his family heirloom katana replaced with the Army's 98-style saber standard knife outfit, and carefully examined the blade.

Morimoto's family was a low-ranking samurai, after the Meiji Restoration, the samurai class was abolished, and the government exchanged it for a gold roku bond, completely losing his source of livelihood, his grandfather could only rely on copying documents for merchants to make a living, and the family was once so poor that it was difficult to even eat two meals a day, and the family's ancestral house was mortgaged to the creditor. But even in that predicament, his grandfather still did not pawn this Japanese sword, which was not only a representative of the family's former identity, but also an old samurai who had adhered to the faith, glory and little self-esteem that had been held on for half a lifetime.

When Morimoto graduated from the Army Non-commissioned Officer School and became a promising second lieutenant officer, the old man, who was already in his last years, handed the katana, which he had treasured all his life, into Morimoto's hands. Speaking of which, this is not a family inheritance ceremony, Lao Morimoto took out the knife, in addition to seeing that the descendants finally have the opportunity to get ahead, Lao Huai is relieved, mainly because the family's economic conditions are too poor, and he really can't take out much money.

During that period, the Japanese Army wanted to integrate with European countries everywhere, just like the military academies of European countries, when a military cadet became an officer, he had to purchase his own equipment when he served, which was regarded as the privilege of the officer's status, so as to prove that he and those ordinary soldiers who were recruited for five cents were two classes.

All the belongings of the Japanese army soldiers, even the crotch cloths, were distributed by the state. The soldiers who also used these items became part of the army's property, and they enjoyed the benefits granted by the emperor. Then you have to shed blood and die for the emperor. Japanese officers, on the other hand, are the elite who command those soldiers, and they are the core of maintaining the operation of the entire system of the army, so they must show their distinction from the soldiers everywhere, and maintain the dignity and authority of the officer class at all times.

Before graduating from the military academy, the final test that cadets face is that they must procure the full set of equipment to wear when they are awarded the title after the graduation ceremony. The only thing the Army issued to them was a set of uniforms and caps. Other belts, boots, sabers, pistols, map bags, officers' backpacks, and even binoculars must be purchased at their own expense from the Army's designated suppliers. At that time, there was a huge gap between the rich and the poor in Japan, and some officers with good family conditions only regarded these as trivial matters. However, if you come from a poor family, this can be a heavy burden, and the price of an army officer's knife in a standard outfit ranges from 140 to 190 yen. At that time, skilled craftsmen in a Japanese factory worked hard for a month. The salary is only about 30 yen.

At that time, ordinary civilians and peasant families could not make up the money for a while, and often had to ask private businessmen to borrow money and return it after entering the army and getting their military salary, but there were many families like the Morimoto family, who would choose to take out the family heirloom katana and then change into the Japanese army-standard sword uniform, which could save more than 100 yen in the next knife money. That's enough to buy the rest of the equipment you need.

In fact, this trick was also learned from the army, during the Russo-Japanese War. At that time, the equipment of Japanese officers was also issued by the state, and Japan had almost exhausted its national strength in that war, and in the later period, it was no longer possible to distribute Western-style sabers to new officers, so the official in charge of munitions had the idea to load a batch of traditional katana swords confiscated from the shogunate samurai in the government warehouse, and distribute them to the new officers. It is ironic to think that some of the famous swords that would later appear to be national treasures were regarded by government officials at the time as symbols of the decaying samurai class, and these katanas were directly cut off from the stems of the swords, fitted with the handle of Western-style command swords, which were regarded as a sign of advanced civilization, and charged at the machine gun positions of the Russians by the descendants of the traditional samurai.

It can be said that Morimoto Otaku is a Japanese soldier who grew up in such an era of alternating old and new ideas, and he received a lot of education in advanced Western culture, but still retains the ideas and thinking patterns of a traditional Japanese samurai.

Slowly putting the saber into the scabbard, Morimoto Otaji stood up and began to put on his military uniform slowly and seriously, the forty-five-year-old Japanese Army Nakasa's fingers trembled slightly, and it could be seen that he was a little excited, but his expression on the surface was unusually calm and calm. In his view, the time had come for someone to stand up for the dignity of the Japanese empire and the emperor. Carefully buttoning the buttons of his uniform, Morimoto couldn't help but think back to what had happened on that hot afternoon twenty days ago.

"What the hell does the military department think!"

"What are the considerations for the General Staff Headquarters to give such an order!"

"Is this also the opinion of the army commander?"

"Has the General Staff Headquarters given an explanation for this?"

"What the hell are we waiting for here, why stop the operation, we should immediately attack those French."

"Do you know how much it cost us to prepare for today's attack? Who is to blame for these losses? ”

"Please be sure to consider the mood of the soldiers, such a backsliding, which makes us how to lead the troops in the future."

By the time Morimoto's brigade returned from the lurking area to the assembly area, a large number of Japanese units had already been gathered, and this time almost all of the 5th Division had been mobilized, and all the troops present at the moment refused to return to the station. Commanding officers at all levels gathered in tents set up as advance headquarters and expressed their doubts and indignation to Major General Wakamatsu, chief of staff of the 22nd Army.

"Gentlemen! Remember that you are soldiers, and soldiers should obey orders! This is an order issued by the Minister of War himself, and all Army officers and assistants must follow it as one. Major General Wakamatsu sat on a folding chair in the tent with the handle of his saber in his hand, and shouted majestically at the noisy Shaosa and Nakasa.

At this time, a large group of heavily armed lieutenant-level officers and military officers were already surrounded outside the tent, and the atmosphere at the scene was extremely depressing, and the Japanese officers and soldiers at the bottom had accumulated too much pressure during this time, and it had reached the point of being on the verge of breaking out. Wakamatsu is also unlucky, in fact, this matter has nothing to do with him at all, at this time, it should be the commander of the Fifth Division, Nakamura Akito, who directly commanded the battle, and then the chief of staff of the Southern Branch Front, Hiroshi Nemoto, or the deputy chief of staff Ken Sato. He was only the chief of staff of the 22nd Army, and this operation was personally commanded by the commander of the Southern Branch Front, Toshikichi Ando, who was not even a setter in this matter, and he did not expect that he would be pushed out of the bag to clean up this obviously thankless mess.

Although only a part of the field units of the Fifth Division were assembled here, there were many veterans who had been killed in a hundred battles, and these people had long had enough of the hard days in the barren mountainous areas of Guangxi, and they looked forward to changing the environment every day, so that they could at least fill their stomachs without any scruples. Now that it's time to go into battle, I even told them to stop acting, and if you think about it, you can know what kind of mood this group of people will have at this moment.

"You are soldiers of the Imperial Kingdom! Always remember His Majesty the Emperor. Wakamatsu stood upright, and all the officers present puffed up.

"Keeping in mind His Majesty the Emperor's edict on soldiers, soldiers should be loyal and dedicated, and as Japanese soldiers, whether they understand it or not, they must unconditionally obey military orders issued by their superiors." Wakamatsu began to move out of the emperor's words, obviously already in a hurry.

"Captain Miki, Captain of the Yama County, your subordinates are persuaded by you." Seeing that most of the officers present were from the Eleventh and Twenty-first Wings, Wakamatsu threw out the black cauldron without hesitation.

What happened in the tent behind him, Morimoto Otaji didn't know too well, because he was called out of the tent by Miki Yoshinosuke at that time. As you can imagine, Miki was actually holding back his grievances at that time, but at his level, he had to think more about his personal future, and he could no longer act as he wanted like a junior officer.

He first gently comforted several captains present, telling them that they must consider the problem from a higher level, and not let the impulse destroy the overall situation of the army, and the military command department must have a good reason for issuing such an order, and it will definitely not be a decision made casually by patting their heads. He then gave a solemn order to his subordinates, ordering them to return to their original positions with their respective troops before midnight, and that those who did not arrive within the time limit would be brought to the division headquarters and sent to court-martials for the crime of disobeying the order.

Finally, he reminded the impulsive Morimoto Otaji, don't forget which Minister of War is at this time, that is the famous Razor Tojo, and what will happen to the officer who disobeys his orders, he can imagine. Morimoto had no choice but to obey the orders of the wing captain, he also knew that what Miki said made sense, the problem of this incident was at the top, a small captain like him, only honest obedience, even if there was any dissatisfaction in his heart, he should not express it publicly, because the incident involved the Ministry of War and the General Staff Headquarters, any complaint would be regarded as dissatisfaction with these giants, if it accidentally reached the ears of a cautious guy, he would definitely exchange himself for a pair of small shoes to wear, which is in the current Japanese Army, It's been a lot of the time.

Eventually, Morimoto and his brigade spent time at the assembly point until dark, and after eating the dinner they had brought with them, they took advantage of the darkness of the night and walked back to their original stationing place. But when the group of Japanese soldiers dragged their tired bodies into their station, everyone was stunned by what they saw.

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Thank you all for your support. (To be continued.) )