Under one person: I, Zhang Zhiwei, the arrogant Zhang.

In addition to secretly transporting munitions, General Ma, under the guise of local defense, forcibly extorted more than 20 million Manchurian coins, or more than 2 million silver dollars, from the newly established puppet forces of the Japanese pirates. He used these funds to purchase military supplies and support the anti-Japanese cause.

In those days, two million "Yuan Shikai silver dollars" still had considerable purchasing power. They could buy nearly 100,000 ordinary rifles, more than 2,000 Maxim machine guns, and even the famous Italian cannons, which could buy about forty.

Of course, you can't calculate it like that when you actually buy weapons; you also have to buy bullets when you buy guns.

But overall, the weapons purchased with this money could arm a reinforced brigade.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg of what General Ma has done.

Immediately afterwards, he used his power to forcibly transfer a large number of warhorses, thousands of sets of cotton clothing, and thousands of bushels of grain from the provincial treasury. He transported them out in batches through secret channels, such as the railways controlled by the Russians, and delivered them to the anti-Japanese guerrillas along with the horses.

With these repeated actions, the Japanese pirates naturally became suspicious of him, and not only wanted to investigate him, but also wanted to break up his troops.

General Ma was also a ruthless man. He fully displayed the style of an old marshal. When facing the Japanese pirates, he talked a lot of nonsense and made all sorts of promises. He even told the Japanese pirates that he was willing to give up his military power, not even his guards, and that he would disband his guards and integrate them into the infantry brigade.

Without an army, wouldn't that be like a tiger having its teeth pulled? The Japanese pirates were immediately relieved, but in reality, General Ma was transferring his elite troops.

This kind of exploitative money-making scheme, which involved draining the pond to catch all the fish, and then smuggling the money out, continued for more than a month.

Even after realizing he couldn't continue, General Ma didn't intend to stop; he wanted to make a killing before leaving.

Because in a few days it will be the birthday of Honjo, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese pirates.

Under the guise of celebrating the village's birthday, he got all the traitors in his jurisdiction to raise money to give the Japanese a grand and unforgettable birthday celebration.

In these "filial piety" activities, those lackeys and traitors naturally did their best, fearing that if they didn't contribute enough money, they would be blamed by the Japanese.

General Ma used a combination of threats and inducements, and this time he raised another 400,000 silver dollars.

His actions were quite blatant and could not be kept secret from the Japanese pirates; they even reached the ears of Honjota.

When Honjo heard this, he was first stunned, then burst into laughter, feeling smug and secretly mocking the people of China for being spineless.

He even felt that the previous fierce resistance was just an act, just to show his value so that he could get a good price.

Now that she had accepted him and given him a status and position far exceeding what he had before, he naturally began to repay her wholeheartedly.

Honjo was starting to wonder what kind of gift this stubborn guy would give him after he had completely softened.
Come to think of it, I still prefer his unruly self back then. His current sycophantic attitude is really unfamiliar to me!
However, he has gotten somewhat used to it, because there are so many people like that that he has become accustomed to it.

Because he used the pretext of celebrating Beizhuang's birthday, the Japanese pirates monitored him much less, giving him more room to maneuver.

Flattery never fails. When General Ma saw that the Japanese pirates were getting cocky, he followed the advice of a cunning strategist and went a step further. He ordered a silver-plated, gold-plated statue of the God of Longevity and two silver-plated, gold-flowered plants in advance, and prominently labeled them with the name "Benjo-do" (meaning "Honjo-do"). They were then publicly displayed in the front hall of the provincial government to create the illusion of eager surrender.

At the same time, he invited Suzuki, the commander of the Japanese pirates stationed in Heshi City, to view the birthday gifts and presented Suzuki with two fine foreign horses and a set of silverware, which made Suzuki completely lower his guard.

Immediately afterwards, he feigned needing to report his travel plans and asked Suzuki for leave under the pretext of needing to go out to appease the mutinous troops.

This was arranged in advance by General Ma. Didn't he disperse his guards to various units? It was these guards who were inciting a mutiny.

Suzuki was in a good mood after receiving the gift, and it was also true. After all, they were fighting to the death just two months ago, and now that things had turned out like this, it would be abnormal if they didn't riot.

Therefore, Suzuki did not suspect anything and readily allowed General Ma to lead his men to quell the rebellion, even promising to "welcome him back" upon his return.

So, on April 1st, April Fool's Day, General Ma, under the pretext of suppressing a rebellion, gathered more than 200 cavalry guards, along with 300 mules and horses, 12 trucks, 6 cars, and various weapons and supplies, as well as dozens of boxes of silver dollars, and fled the city.

The Japanese pirates couldn't contact him and assumed he had an accident while suppressing the rebellion. It wasn't until a week later that he arrived in Heihe, began sending telegrams throughout the country, announcing his defection, reorganizing the General Headquarters for the Resisting Japanese Pirates and Saving the Nation, appointing himself as the Commander-in-Chief, and calling on the people to continue resisting the Japanese pirates.

The whole country was in an uproar once again.

Only then did the Japanese pirates realize they had been deceived, and their leaders were furious.

Itagaki Seiji, who was in charge of negotiating with General Ma, even vomited blood.

Commander-in-Chief Honjo was also furious. After a while, he realized that General Ma had acted inappropriately over the past two months and began to thoroughly investigate what General Ma had done over the past few months.

It was fine if I hadn't investigated, but once I did, I got even angrier.

During those days, the roars from the General Headquarters were deafening and never stopped.

It took the Japanese pirates almost a week to finally figure out the scale of strategic materials that General Ma had transferred during this period.

In the conference room, all the high-ranking Japanese pirates looked serious as they stared at the long list of supplies in front of them, remaining silent. The entire conference room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Pfft!"

The conference room was full of people in military uniforms when a silver-haired old man in a kimono suddenly laughed.

The officers all turned their heads, their eyes filled with hostility. The old man who had laughed was none other than Kazuo Funakoshi, the god of karate.
In recent years, karate has spread rapidly in Japan, and various dojos have spread to various regions, leaving little room for further development.

But in China, there are almost no people practicing karate, so the potential for development is huge.

Furthermore, the roots of karate are basically the "Tang Shou" from China. He wanted karate to flourish and grow here, thus proving that the karate he created was superior to Tang Shou and even more powerful.

This is a very complex emotion.

On the one hand, he looked down on China and even despised it.

On the other hand, he also wanted his karate to be popular, to flourish, and to gain recognition from all sectors of Chinese society.

His arrogant yet contradictory mindset, a mixture of disdain and longing, precisely reflects his deep-seated inferiority complex.

This is why, after the failed god-slaying operation, while the various Japanese pirate masters left the area, Funakoshi Kazuo remained.

His staying was welcomed by the Japanese military, as he was an extremely powerful high-end combat force.

The situation here is not good right now. Many supernatural beings are causing trouble and engaging in guerrilla warfare. It would be good to have a high-level combat force stationed here.

Even though this high-end combat force is somewhat unruly, and even relies on its high reputation and strong skills to not take the Commander-in-Chief seriously.

But Honjou was still very polite to him.

There was no way around it. Unlike ninjas who were treated like tools and could be discarded at will, Funakoshi Kazuo was a samurai who had been a nobleman in the past and was still very prestigious. Many important figures were even his disciples. For example, Vice Admiral Fujita, who was killed by that little celestial master, was his personal disciple. Honjo Taka didn't dare to offend such a person too much.

However, Funakoshi Kazuo disregarded Honjo's goodwill, and sneered:
"Commander Honjo, didn't you say before that you learn from your mistakes and that the biggest lesson you've learned after staying here for so long is to speak like you're farting?"

"It seems you haven't learned from your mistakes, but rather you've been learning from them again."

"Hehe, now I understand what it means to talk like a fart."

Funakoshi Kazuo sneered.

"You..." Honjo was furious. He knew that Funakoshi Kazuo's words were a double entendre, referring to the despicable fellow surnamed Ma, and also implying that his words were like farts. However, he couldn't refute it. He had indeed been negligent in this matter from beginning to end.

Although Ma's actions were covert, they were not without flaws.

If one were to look closely, one could have uncovered the truth, but one was blinded by his flattery and let one's guard down, thus making a grave mistake.

Honjo suppressed his anger and said in a deep voice, "I will report this matter to the military myself, and I will not allow Mr. Funakoshi to interfere here."

After saying that, he stormed off, and the other officers left one by one, leaving only Funakoshi Kazuo in the conference room. He shook the long list in front of him, a mocking sneer on his face.

At the time, he strongly advised against negotiations, but these fools didn't take it seriously. Now look what happened! They've ended up like this. In Chinese parlance, how should we say it? They've lost both their wife and their army!
After leaving the meeting room, Honjo began reporting the situation to the military headquarters.

Although he said at the meeting that he would report the situation truthfully to the military, he was unusually cunning in his actual report, employing strategies of downplaying the losses, shifting responsibility, and exaggerating the threat.

First, they avoided discussing the specific amount, only vaguely mentioning "the loss of some supplies".

Then, they concealed the details of General Ma's use of "birthday celebration" as a pretext to lull the Japanese army into a false sense of security, and lied that his surrender was "out of sincerity," packaging the feigned defeat as "temporary submission followed by incitement to rebel."

Furthermore, they exaggerated General Ma's strength, claiming that the supplies he transferred "could arm a division" and emphasizing that they "posed a greater threat than an army of 100,000," thereby demanding that the military headquarters send more troops.

Meanwhile, the whole country was in an uproar again, with many people saying they hadn't misjudged him and that General Ma was truly outstanding.

General Ma cigarettes, which were on the verge of bankruptcy due to public boycott, have become a bestseller again. The first batch of 50,000 cartons sold out within three hours, even setting a new record.

The owner of this company is not a cunning businessman who uses General Ma's name to make money.

He actually used 30% of his profits to support General Ma, totaling over several million silver dollars.

During this period, Zhang Zhiwei did not pay much attention to the situation outside the pass.

During General Ma's feigned surrender, the Japanese pirates not only invaded Northeast China but also attempted to seize Shanghai. However, this time they met their match and suffered a fierce counterattack, which directly shattered their arrogant plan to capture Shanghai in four hours.

Subsequently, the Japanese pirates continuously reinforced their troops, reaching a peak of 100,000. Under pressure, Nanjing also reinforced its troops, deploying 70,000 soldiers. The two sides then engaged in a back-and-forth tug-of-war.

During this period, Zhang Zhiwei devoted a considerable amount of his attention, apart from his spiritual practice, to this.

He still did not directly participate in this battle. However, the Demon City was the stronghold of his Tiantong Church, where he had left behind many backup plans, including a large number of immortals, numerous factories, and the influence of Yongxin Company and Caoqing Gang. These could directly support the battlefield.

Providing support in this way is better than him going into battle. After all, there will be many more major battles to come, and elite troops are forged through fighting.

However, to prevent the Japanese pirates from carrying out a decapitation operation, he also left a contingency plan to stabilize his rear.

That was the lightning incarnation he left on his own statue in the Tian Tong Cathedral.

The strength of this lightning incarnation was about the same as the incarnation he sent to the Northeast last time.

However, due to its nurturing on the deity of the cathedral over the years and the worship of believers day and night, nourished by a large amount of incense and faith, its strength is terrifyingly high. When its faith is fully activated, it has even reached 40% of Zhang Zhiwei's power.

With such power, there's naturally no need for the true form to come.

This battle didn't even require him to send out his avatars.

Because the soldiers were very brave, even though there was a difference in equipment and numbers between the two sides, they managed to fight to a standstill.

Now, international mediation has been initiated, and both sides are engaged in ceasefire negotiations. The matter has essentially come to an end.

……

However, Zhang Zhiwei did not pay much attention to the situation in Northeast China.

But the moment General Ma telegraphed his defection, his master Zhang Jingqing came to Tianmen Peak with a newspaper to find him.

In the past, he would go down the mountain to the Shangqing Palace to find his master.

During this period, he visited the Shangqing Palace less and less often, while his master visited Tianmen Peak more and more often.

Neither Zhang Zhiwei nor Zhang Jingqing noticed this.

"You little rascal! No wonder you looked so calm and collected when you saw General Ma negotiating with the Japanese pirates that day. So you had already anticipated this, right? You calculated it?" Zhang Jingqing asked.

Zhang Zhiwei shook his head: "No, if I had calculated it or knew the exact information, would I not tell you, Master?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jingqing felt it made a lot of sense. If her apprentice knew in advance, what difference would it make from the entire Longhu Mountain knowing?
He didn't say, probably because he was unaware, or perhaps he himself couldn't be sure.

"What do you think about this?" Zhang Jingqing asked.

"They say a bad soldier is bad for one person, but a bad general makes a bad army. No wonder you're someone the old marshal trained; this style is passed down from generation to generation," Zhang Zhiwei said with a smile.

“This style of doing things has indeed been passed down through generations,” Zhang Jingqing said. “According to the current information, they seem to be preparing for a major counterattack. Do you think it can succeed?”

"A major counter-offensive is too risky, almost impossible. We can only fight guerrilla warfare!" Zhang Zhiwei said.

Zhang Jingqing nodded and said, "Then you can pay more attention to the situation there. Even if you can't go, you can still provide some supplies or something."

Zhang Zhiwei nodded: "I have already mobilized some immortals back to the Northeast. The immortals are hidden in the forest, making them almost impossible to guard against. Although they cannot defeat the Japanese pirates, they can continue to bleed them dry."

"At the same time, I asked Wang Ai to send someone to the Russians to discuss using their railway to open a supply line for the guerrillas there, so that we could provide them with some weapons, medicine, food, clothing and the like."

"The Japanese have always been very restrained towards the Russians, so this railway should be safe for a long time. What happens next depends on them." (End of Chapter)