Chapter 101: Jikia Ryosuke

“What?!”

Hearing the soldier’s words, Jikaya Ryosuke was momentarily stunned, disbelief flickering in his eyes as he almost blurted out, “How is that possible!”

At this moment, all the composure and ease he had shown before had vanished. Even his demeanor as a division commander was gone, and he shouted in shock.

“The information is absolutely true! The entire 7th Regiment only had a little over a hundred escape, and among the dozen or so who returned, one was my fellow countryman. These details all came from his own mouth!” the soldier said.

“Baka! That can’t be! It’s impossible!” Jikaya Ryosuke exclaimed.

Until now, Jikaya had not worried at all about Isao Kazuo’s 7th Regiment. He had even assumed that the regiment had completely annihilated the Chinese army at Dingyuan. Yet no one expected that in the blink of an eye, instead of wiping out the enemy, the entire 7th Regiment had been wiped out themselves!

Even Isao Kazuo, the regiment commander, had been killed!

How could Jikaya Ryosuke possibly believe this?

He stood there dumbfounded, barely daring to trust his own ears.

An entire regiment of about four thousand men had been wiped out by the Chinese army in such a short time?

How could that be?

It must be known that the 7th Regiment had only begun marching yesterday afternoon. Even if they reached Dingyuan by noon today, from noon until now had been barely more than four hours!

Four hours! A whole regiment wiped out!

This was simply shocking!

“Where exactly did you say the 7th Regiment was ambushed by the Chinese army?” Jikaya Ryosuke asked.

“Around Shuanglong Valley, about a dozen miles from Dingyuan,” the soldier replied.

“Shuanglong Valley…” Jikaya Ryosuke quickly looked at the map, found the terrain of Shuanglong Valley, and frowned. “Shuanglong Valley is a long, narrow depression with slopes on both sides. It seems they were ambushed by Chinese troops lying in wait when passing through! What a fool!”

Jikaya Ryosuke said angrily, “Shuanglong Valley is such a strategically important location. The Chinese are not idiots; of course they would have deployed strong forces there. Yet they carelessly walked into an ambush—this is sheer stupidity!”

Upon seeing the terrain, Jikaya had already come to a basic understanding.

It seemed Isao Kazuo had been arrogant and reckless, believing that the Chinese army could not stand against his regiment. He entered Shuanglong Valley without any caution, only to be caught by the ambush there, leading to the total destruction of the 7th Regiment.

Jikaya Ryosuke knew all too well Isao Kazuo’s conceited and reckless temperament.

It could be said that the destruction of the 7th Regiment was largely due to Isao Kazuo.

“That idiot! Good for nothing but failure—he doesn’t deserve to be a soldier of the Empire! Now the entire 7th Regiment has been wiped out, bringing disgrace upon our 9th Division. He deserves to die!” Jikaya Ryosuke shouted in anger.

“Please calm down, Division Commander!” Seeing Jikaya’s fury, Chief of Staff Nakagawa Hiroshi quickly interjected. “Commander, Isao Kazuo did remain loyal to his duty. Please do not be angry on his account.”

“Our urgent priority now is to hasten our arrival at Dingyuan. Only upon arrival can we develop a strategic plan against the Chinese forces!” Nakagawa Hiroshi said. “Moreover, this incident is not entirely a disadvantage—it has served as a wake-up call.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Jikaya Ryosuke glanced at Nakagawa with curiosity.

“Consider this: although the 7th Regiment was ambushed in Shuanglong Valley, it was still a force of over four thousand men—our 9th Division’s elite regiment. Yet it was completely annihilated by the Chinese within four hours. What does this indicate?”

Jikaya Ryosuke took over the explanation grimly, “It shows that the Chinese army’s combat effectiveness must not be underestimated!”

“Exactly!” Nakagawa nodded. “Even though it was an ambush, the 7th Regiment is our Empire’s elite force. When caught off-guard and unable to win, they should at least have been able to retreat in an organized manner. But with only about a hundred escaping, what does that tell us?”

“That the Chinese firepower is fierce and their fighting capability formidable. The 7th Regiment simply had no chance to flee!”

Nakagawa continued, “Based on our past experience fighting the Chinese, they were weak and easy to defeat. If we reached Dingyuan and fought them as we had before, we would surely suffer heavy losses.”

“But now... this destruction of the 7th Regiment has served as a warning!”

Hearing Nakagawa’s analysis, Jikaya Ryosuke nodded thoughtfully.

As Nakagawa said, the Chinese force at Dingyuan was certainly strong. If they faced them as before, losses would be inevitable.

But now, forewarned and prepared, their caution in confronting the Dingyuan Chinese would be far greater.

With this thought, much of Jikaya’s anger dissipated.

At that moment, Nakagawa added, “Commander, after questioning the scattered survivors of the 7th Regiment, I learned that the ambushing force was the Chinese Independent Mixed Zhongzheng Brigade.”

“Independent Mixed Zhongzheng Brigade?” Jikaya Ryosuke frowned, unsure why Nakagawa mentioned this. Wasn’t that just an ordinary mixed brigade of the Chinese army?

Seeing Jikaya’s expression, Nakagawa smiled faintly and said softly, “Their brigade commander is Chen Qingzhi.”

“Chen Qingzhi... is it him?!” Upon hearing the name, Jikaya Ryosuke first pondered, then seemed to realize something. A gleam flashed in his eyes as he said solemnly,

“Yes, that is the same Chen Qingzhi who annihilated our Empire’s 115th Regiment at the Nanjing battlefield, causing the honorable death of the 6th Division commander Tanihisa Kazuo!”

Nakagawa said, “Currently, the Central China Army Command has placed Chen Qingzhi under wanted status. If we can eliminate him at Dingyuan, our 9th Division may well gain some advantage from this!”

Hearing this, Jikaya Ryosuke laughed heartily, turning his body toward Dingyuan. His eyes glimmered as if he could see through all obstacles to Chen Qingzhi himself, and he said loudly,

“There is an old Chinese saying: ‘After searching tirelessly, what you seek comes without effort.’ I never imagined we would run into Chen Qingzhi—truly, the gods are blessing us!”

“It seems Chen Qingzhi is destined to perish at my hands! This is a godsend opportunity! Hahaha...”

Having said this, he waved his hand sharply and said coldly, “Order the troops to quicken their pace and reach Dingyuan as soon as possible! I am eager to meet this Chen Qingzhi and see exactly what sort of man he is!”

“Just thinking about meeting him fills me with anticipation!”

(End of chapter)