[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 147: Low-key is the king

On the morning of the third day after the end of the Battle of the Qiulin River, the Asahi Shimbun, the most authoritative media in Japan, published a report on the front page entitled "Ma Zheng, the Demon General of China." The report recounted in detail the rise of Ma Zheng's troops and the brilliant achievements they had achieved in the capacity of an opponent, the most important of which was the record of Ma Zheng's raid on Zhangjiakou and the killing of Liannuma Pan and the complete annihilation of the First Cavalry Brigade of the Mongolian Army at the Qiulin River two days earlier.

In this report, the combat effectiveness of Ma Zheng's division was infinitely exaggerated, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper "quoted" the commander of the imperial army on the front line: "Ma Zheng's division has at least 50,000 elite soldiers, and their weapons and equipment are extremely sophisticated, and it is likely that they are supported by the Soviet Union in the north." And the commander of this unit, Ma Zheng, is a typical demonic soldier, who not only takes cruel means of humane destruction to the captured officers and soldiers of the imperial army, but also treats ordinary expatriates as soldiers, which can be called the first demon and the first demon general in China."

Under the vigorous operation of the Japanese army's spy agency, the newspapers with relevant contents soon spread to China, and were reported by media outlets such as "Declaration", "Ta Kung Pao", and "Central News Agency" of the Nationalist Government.

Overnight, the names of Ma Zheng and the Seventh Division resounded all over the country, regardless of whether they were nationally unified or occupied, and all the slander, abuse, and suspicion of Ma Zheng and the Seventh Division disappeared. What followed was overwhelming praise, and those who did good things made a complete series of reports on Ma Zheng's achievements since the beginning of the war.

According to this report, the predecessor and present of the Duqi Division have been picked up, especially when people add up all the Japanese puppet troops eliminated by Ma Zheng's department, and they are surprised to find that in less than ten months, Ma Zheng's division has eliminated more than 25,000 Japanese puppet troops, although the vast majority of them are puppet troops, but the number of Japanese troops also exceeds 10,000.

What's more, unlike other battles, the two sides were suspicious of each other over losses and results. Ma Zheng's achievements have been "recognized" by the Japanese army, and even Ma Zheng and the unit under his command have also been recognized by the Japanese army.

However, no one knew that although this newspaper was indeed from the Asahi Shimbun, it was basically not distributed in Japan, and in order to confuse the Nationalist Government, the Japanese simply let the newspaper go around the streets and alleys and then send it all to China. Therefore, although the Japanese people are not very unfamiliar with Ma Zheng, they are by no means as familiar as the Chinese media say, and they will not be afraid of him.

These reports are overwhelming, and the details of the reports make people wonder if the whistleblower was at the scene at the time. In addition, to the surprise of the public, the Japanese army, which has always been accustomed to criticizing the Chinese media for overexaggerating the army's achievements, also went against the norm this time, and did not come out to refute it.

Even some high-ranking officers of the Japanese army praised Ma Zheng in public that he was indeed very powerful in battle, that he was the only strong opponent of the Great Japanese Empire, and that he was a very respected opponent of the Great Japanese Empire and the Great Japanese Imperial Army.

Some people are happy and some are worried, when the names of Ma Zheng and the Duqi Division resounded all over the country, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and Ma Zheng himself knew that they were suffering.

Ma Zheng is so smart, when the media rushed to report this matter back to Saibei, Ma Zheng smelled a strong smell of conspiracy, and at the same time keenly saw the shadow of the Japanese.

Because of this, from the beginning of the war to the end of the battle, Ma Zheng did not report to the headquarters of the Second War Zone, let alone ask for instructions from the Wuhan camp, but only reported to the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.

Even after the battle, the Duqi Division achieved brilliant results, and even completely annihilated the 1st Brigade of the Japanese Cavalry, and the commander of the Capture Brigade, Major General Takamori Koichi, Ma Zheng did not ask for credit to the Second War Zone and Wuhan Xingying, but chose to remain silent.

Ma Zheng knew very well that he did not understand how embarrassing his position in the minds of the Nationalist Government was, and if it was the Central Army that won the battle this time, then it would not be too much to report. Even if it is a ragtag army that wins the battle, or even the troops of local warlords, that is acceptable. But it's the Eighth Route Army, which will definitely make the one on the Wuhan side unacceptable.

In just over half a year, this unit has developed from the remnants of more than 100 people to an infantry division with a full force and a regular number, and he himself was quickly promoted from an infantry battalion commander who had no rank and was not recognized to lieutenant general.

Ma Zheng knows very well that even if he takes down the head of Terauchi Shouyi now, Lao Jiang will not raise his military rank to general, not to mention that he is rare and rare The rank of general of the National Government, Lao Jiang will not tolerate a hairy boy in his twenties to become a general, and more importantly, this hairy boy is still a hardcore supporter of Yan'an.

What's more, the establishment of a division of the Seventh Division has greatly exceeded the tolerance limit of Lao Chiang, even when the Red Army was reorganized, the Eighth Route Army was only three Division B, and Lao Chiang also made a lot of tricks in the specific number. Because the Eighth Route Army was originally the unit of Li Jishen of the Guangdong Army, on March 21, 1929, the National Revolutionary Army was reorganized as the Eighth Route Army during the third major reorganization.

Later****** in order to break up the Guangdong-Guizhou Alliance, Li Jishen was deceived and imprisoned in Tangshan, Nanjing, and the route army was disbanded in April of the following year. The numbers of the 115th, 120th, and 129th divisions were originally from the Northeast Army. From April to June 1937, when all units of the Northeast Army were reorganized in accordance with the principle of reorganizing two divisions into one division, the 115th, 120th, and 129th divisions suffered defeats due to poor performance, and their numbers were revoked one after another.

Although forced by the situation, he reluctantly agreed to the joint anti-Japanese resistance of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, but he was still very reluctant to reorganize the Red Army into the regular troops of the Kuomintang. After learning of ******'s intentions, Minister of Military Affairs He Yingqin knew that Chiang was sometimes very superstitious, and in order to curry favor with Chiang, he suggested that he could play a trick on the number given to the Red Army, and give the Red Army the number of the Eighth Route Army, which had been reorganized in time and space. Among the revoked numbers of the Northeast Army, the 115th Division, the 120th Division, and the 129th Division were randomly found and given to the three divisions of the Red Army.

At the same time, the treacherous and cunning He Yingqin suggested that the Red Army be assigned to the defense zone as the second theater of operations in the Jincha area north of Taiyuan and east of Datong, because it was the main target of the Japanese offensive at that time, so that the Red Army could "sacrifice his life for the country" under the guise of Japanese guns and bullets, so as to achieve the insidious goal of destroying the communist army that ****** and the Kuomintang regarded as a serious danger.

Lao Jiang is still so "cautious" in the face of such a big right and wrong, it is already very surprising that he can tolerate the existence of the Duqi Division, a class A division, and it is a group army at the top, even if Ma Zheng takes down the head of Terauchi Shouyi in Beiping City, it is impossible for Lao Jiang to upgrade the Duqi Division to a group army. Therefore, the current Duqi Division and his Ma Zheng himself have reached the point where there is no reward, of course, this reward is not that it cannot be rewarded, but that Lao Jiang does not want to reward it.

Because of this, now every time Ma Zheng's department wins a battle, Lao Jiang is entangled in his heart. Of course, it is a good thing that this unit won the battle after all, and the troops in the front were bleeding and sweating, and the dead were one by one, and it was always inappropriate not to reward them. But how should this reward be rewarded, the reward is less, and people say that he Jiang is picking someone, and he is about to catch up with the old one in Shanxi.

This reward is heavy, and Lao Jiang is the first to be unhappy, because this Ma Zheng and the entire Duqi Division are not his descendants, if one day the Kuomintang and the Communist Party return to the state of two years ago, then he Jiang will not become a stupid person who raises tigers.

Lao Jiang's character Ma Zheng is very clear, so he doesn't rush that moldy head at all! Isn't it difficult for you Jiang to deal with someone, that's good, I won't notify you if you win the battle, I just don't ask you for credit. I don't go anywhere to publicize the team's record is always okay, isn't there such a sentence - low-key is king.