Ch.193Renya Mutaguchi – The Birth of a Great General

# War Declared: Mutaguchi’s Unexpected Victory

Several days after war was declared, Renya Mutaguchi felt like his head was about to explode.

Understandably so. The Manchuria Rail forces had somehow taken the lead position in the invasion of China.

Normally, having a headache over leading the vanguard would be unbecoming of an elite officer like himself, tarnishing the honor of the Imperial Army.

But why did his head feel like it was splitting? Because just the night before, at Tsuji Masanobu’s urging, he had gotten completely drunk.

However, orders from Imperial Headquarters demanded they launch a surprise attack to occupy Beijing before the Emperor’s personal army arrived, forcing them to hastily prepare for the offensive.

“Governor General, shouldn’t we strike before the enemy can consolidate?”

“Y-yes, we should.”

“If we want to present the captured Forbidden City to His Majesty the Emperor, we must hurry.”

“I understand.”

His aide Tsuji Masanobu and Chief of Staff Tojo Hideki, who had been dispatched to the Manchuria Rail forces, urged him on.

But Mutaguchi hesitated to attack.

For good reason. He remembered what Anastasia had told him.

If war broke out, he should at least retreat and take charge of the rear.

As a general of the Empire of Japan armed with the Yamato spirit, he should naturally ignore advice from another country’s monarch.

But hadn’t the Russian Empress’s prophecies consistently proven accurate? Hadn’t she even predicted the earthquake that would strike the Japanese Empire?

So while he would never, as an elite of Great Japan, lose to the likes of China, he sensed that fate could change if he advanced too quickly.

Therefore, his decision was…

According to intelligence, Chinese forces were concentrated on defending Beijing, so his grand plan was to take a stroll through Rehe Province and Hebei Province, then use the excuse of supporting the Emperor to avoid advancing until the Emperor’s personal army arrived.

Of course, he couldn’t openly admit he was stalling for time without raising suspicion. So he created an operation plan for appearances.

He called it “Operation Encirclement.”

The name sounded simplistic, but it was the best Mutaguchi could come up with using 140% of his limited brain power.

In the original timeline, this had been the Chinese Nationalist government’s operation to annihilate the Chinese Communist Party, but in this timeline, that operation was erased when the Federalism Movement and Mao Zedong became anarchist communists. Instead, the name had spontaneously emerged from Mutaguchi’s mouth.

Later, if questioned about failing to capture Beijing, he could make excuses about different circumstances.

Thus, Mutaguchi’s “strolling operation” mobilized 200,000 troops from Southern Manchuria, consisting primarily of Japanese soldiers dispatched from the home islands to the Manchuria Rail forces, along with a tiny minority of pro-Japanese Manchus and Koreans (spies from the Provisional Government).

These Manchuria Rail forces were designated as the Hebei Front Army in this new Sino-Japanese War and were expected to at least achieve the encirclement of Beijing.

Meanwhile, reports indicated that the Chinese coalition forces numbered 2 million. Mutaguchi believed that while the Imperial Army would never lose in a direct confrontation, casualties would be high.

In any case, Mutaguchi needed to achieve at least some results before the Emperor arrived, so he decided to move in and out quickly and stealthily with his encirclement operation.

“Move as stealthily as possible!”

Mutaguchi’s army advanced stealthily at night, swiftly passing through Rehe Province and pushing all the way to Hebei Province. So far, everything seemed perfect.

The Chinese didn’t even have proper military forces stationed in those specific areas, focusing only on protecting the Qing Emperor.

Even Mao Zedong’s United Chinese Army was moving its forces to defend Beijing, fearing that morale would drop if Japan occupied the Forbidden City and claimed the legitimacy of the Son of Heaven. This left the Rehe and Hebei areas virtually undefended.

However…

Mutaguchi’s Manchuria Rail forces, moving stealthily and quickly, ended up wandering around Hebei Province for quite some time as the Emperor’s personal army was delayed in reaching Southern Manchuria.

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

At this point, unlike the United Army formed in Nanjing, Beijing was defended by troops dispatched from various warlords, lacking unity. If he had targeted Beijing, his 200,000 Manchuria Rail troops could have easily crushed it. But now that defenses were in place, capturing Beijing would be difficult.

While Mutaguchi was contemplating what to do near Tianjin, far south of Beijing…

“Governor General! A large Chinese force is heading toward Beijing! Their rear is exposed to us!”

An unbelievable report came in.

Had they somehow circled behind the enemy?

“What?”

In other words, Mutaguchi’s Manchuria Rail forces, after wandering around Hebei Province, had ended up behind the United Chinese Army that was slowly advancing toward Beijing, catching them from behind at Tianjin.

Momentarily stunned at having to face such a large force, Mutaguchi steeled himself, unable to retreat.

‘I’ll attack first, and if we fail, I’ll blame my incompetent subordinates.’

He had staff officers and soldiers under him to take the blame.

So it seemed worth gambling.

Thus, Mutaguchi decided to boost the morale of his Manchuria Rail soldiers who would throw away their lives like straw for himself—no, for the Empire of Japan.

“Proud Imperial Army! True sons of His Majesty the Emperor! Look! Those Chinese troops are fools who haven’t even noticed we’re behind them! This is the fate of those tainted by communism in a country that has lost the Mandate of Heaven!”

While officially the war had begun over claims to the throne of the Son of Heaven, internally there was also the justification of eliminating communism in China, which Hebei Front Army Commander Mutaguchi now emphasized.

“Though they outnumber us ten to one, they’re stretched thin by their massive numbers and are advancing in a long line. Compared to us, they’re nothing but disorganized children! Pierce through the enemy’s rear with the Yamato spirit! Charge! I will lead you from the front!”

“””Waaaaaaah! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Empire of Japan!”””

With no choice but to break through to create an escape route, his army launched the famous banzai charge against the rear of the United Chinese Army.

Initially, Mutaguchi himself charged at the front, displaying behavior similar to the Russian Empress, which raised his soldiers’ morale.

Of course, this was only at the beginning. Like someone on a treadmill gradually pushed backward, Mutaguchi naturally retreated to observe the situation from behind.

For Mutaguchi, this was the worst gamble of his life, but if they lost, it would be due to his subordinates’ incompetence, not his own as an elite officer.

But the result was unexpected.

“What? W-why are Japanese forces here?!”

“What were our troops doing?! Stop them quickly!”

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

“We’re from Guangxi Province. Why should we take orders from you?”

The United Chinese Army, never expecting Japanese forces to circle around instead of attacking Beijing, had been caught completely off guard. Contrary to their expectation that the Japanese would be careless, they themselves were careless. Having drawn troops from surrounding areas, they couldn’t detect the Japanese army’s stealthy, sinister movements and were thoroughly devastated by the Japanese attack from behind.

Initially, the United Army tried to fight back against the Japanese surprise attack, but being a loose coalition of warlord armies, their command structure wasn’t unified. They lost their supply lines and collapsed, unable to respond properly.

The quality of the Chinese forces had also deteriorated because they had learned the Bolsheviks’ nonsensical frontal charge tactics during the Constitutional Protection War.

“Our forces have struck the enemy from behind and annihilated them! They didn’t even know we were coming from behind and collapsed instantly in confusion!”

“W-what?”

Even Mutaguchi himself was surprised by the outcome of his operation.

Honestly, he hadn’t even given it a grand name, feeling it would be dishonest when he was just trying to buy time. But things had turned out this way.

The United Chinese Army rallied under Mao Zedong had actually consisted of the relative elites raised by the warlords themselves and should have been important forces to block Japan’s invasion.

But Mutaguchi’s worst gamble, aimed merely at escape, hit the jackpot, resulting in the annihilation of the 2 million-strong United Army’s main force.

Mao Zedong’s whereabouts became unknown.

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

“Aaaah! How are we supposed to fight by ourselves?!”

“We’ll all die if we don’t surrender!”

“Why should we die for a puppet emperor?”

Upon hearing of the supporting army’s annihilation, the forces at the Forbidden City surrendered to the Japanese army, presenting the Chinese Emperor Puyi, bringing China to the brink of temporary extinction.

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

With the Emperor captured and surrendering, and the main forces annihilated, Japan had effectively gained the justification to rule China.

In actual history, China had also been pushed back when the Japanese offensive captured Beijing and Tianjin during the Beijing-Tianjin Operation, but the cause of this defeat was clear.

Mao Zedong had sensed the coming war from Japan’s frequent condemnation of communism in China and claims that only the Japanese Emperor was the true Son of Heaven. He had worked tirelessly to establish a united army.

Meanwhile, he had tried to strengthen his forces by importing Russian weapons through Xinjiang and improving military quality.

Originally, with the Emperor thoroughly preparing for a personal campaign and Koreans in Korea refusing to cooperate, delaying the arrival of the main army, there was a good chance of defeating just the Manchuria Rail forces. Mao had recognized this and planned either to defeat the Manchuria Rail forces and establish defensive lines or to advance to Manchuria if the Japanese forces proved weaker than expected.

Although troops had been withdrawn from Rehe and Hebei provinces, there had still been at least minimal garrison forces and soldiers to monitor Japanese invasion routes.

A detailed analysis of why the meticulously prepared main force was defeated would show:

Unlike the White Army uniting under Anastasia, the United Army under Mao Zedong consisted of warlords who, unlike when they had pledged loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek in the original timeline, considered themselves equal to Mao. After the Constitutional Protection War, under the Federalism Movement, each army was essentially considered a regional force. Consequently, the United Army felt more like warlord armies forcibly bound together than a unified force.

This allowed for the rapid formation of a large army, but insecurity remained.

Unlike in the original timeline where elite troops had been trained with help from German advisors, in this world they hadn’t received German assistance. At best, they had learned the “hurrah charge” that had won the Constitutional Protection War, weakening their combat effectiveness.

In the midst of this, they had bound a large army together for a decisive battle and advanced in a pre-modern warfare style, exposing their rear to the Japanese forces that had circled around, preventing them from responding properly.

In contrast, the Manchuria Rail forces, having been under Mutaguchi Renya for a long time and trained in the Yamato spirit, had become warriors who didn’t fear death(?), showing they could stand against a large army without being pushed back.

“See? I knew this would happen!”

However, Chiang Kai-shek, who had been in charge of rear supplies in Nanjing, urgently gathered the defeated soldiers upon hearing of Mao’s defeat and established new defensive lines, launching the Nanjing National Government. This signaled a new phase in the Sino-Japanese War.

“Your Majesty, what do you think about expanding the Epidemic Prevention Research Laboratory into an Epidemic Prevention Water Supply Department in Shenyang?”

“I approve.”

Meanwhile, Japan, having gained the upper hand early on, expanded the Epidemic Prevention Research Laboratory in Shenyang into the Manchuria Rail Army Epidemic Prevention Water Supply Department, with the Emperor’s approval—just as in the original timeline when it had been expanded under the leadership of Kwantung Army Chief of Staff Itagaki Seishiro.

Initially a unit meant to study preventive medicine and logistics for Japan’s advance from Manchuria into China, it became a human experimentation facility when Ishii Shiro became the unit commander.

Unit 731, though with a slightly different name, followed a path similar to the original timeline.

“What is this?!”

And in Moscow, Anastasia was shocked by the news of the Sino-Japanese War.

* * *

I had to doubt my own eyes at the news coming from the Far East.

I couldn’t help but doubt it.

The newspaper in my hands contained such astonishing information.

-Renya Mutaguchi, Japan’s once-in-a-lifetime military genius. Brings the Chinese Empire to the brink of extinction with just one battle!

-True to its name, it was merely an encirclement. He didn’t even consider it a battle.

-The factors behind this great victory: soldiers armed with loyalty to the Empire and the Yamato spirit.

Mutaguchi Renya’s Manchuria Rail forces…

Not the large army brought by the Emperor, but the Manchuria Rail forces alone had raced through Rehe and Hebei provinces, bypassing Beijing to annihilate the United Chinese Army.

Apparently, since all troops from Hebei and Rehe provinces had been diverted to Beijing to hold out until the United Chinese Army arrived, the Manchuria Rail forces had advanced at lightning speed.

Wow. They really hit a weak spot.

Perhaps it would have been better to abandon Beijing and retreat.

They probably never expected the Manchuria Rail forces to move like this.

Yes. But can I really believe this easily?

“What is this? Mr. Mutaguchi annihilated an army of 2 million?”

I asked myself as I tried to calm my throbbing head.

Um, how should I put this?

Was that man actually a genius? “Thanks to soldiers armed with the Yamato spirit”—now that he’s victorious, he’s even praising his subordinates.

Well, the 2 million figure is probably exaggerated, and even if possible, he didn’t capture all 2 million at once—they were likely spread out.

Even with the implementation of federalism and the absence of German advisors lowering the quality of the army, could he really do this with just one-tenth the forces? And not even in Manchuria, but on Chinese soil?

What does this mean?

He’s not going to become the Dark Independence Fighter but a true Japanese hero?

Hmm, should I have killed Mutaguchi Renya?

Honestly, this seems almost accidental.

“Mutaguchi Renya has greatly defeated the Chinese army.”

“Indeed, just as Your Majesty said. That man will certainly grind down China’s population.”

No, that’s not why I pushed for him to become Governor-General.

This is completely unfair.

Even without Mutaguchi Renya, Japan would eventually enter China and commit all sorts of massacres.

Mutaguchi Renya was just supposed to be used later to consume Japan.

Still, it’s probably best to stay quiet for now.

The problem is that with such a lucky victory, Mutaguchi Renya might become unnecessarily arrogant.

Perhaps I need to warn him.

With his personality, would he even listen to me now?