Spy Wars: Return of the Red Luan

Chapter 104 A Small Teasing Incident

公元1930年（民国19年、昭和5年）4月22日。

History has not deviated in any way.

On this day, the five countries of Britain, the United States, Japan, Italy and France signed the London Naval Treaty. The main content of the treaty was that the contracting parties reduced the number of battleships and froze the construction of battleships until 1936.

The main purpose of Britain and the United States was to resolve the pressure from all parties brought about by the Great Depression. It is unknown whether they had other purposes.

However, the Imperial War Ministry, using this treaty as an excuse to bring up the old issue, demanded that the cabinet cut the Navy Ministry's budget and halt the construction of capital ships. This escalated the feud between the Navy and the Army to a new level.

Against this backdrop, one evening in early May, Aoki Takashi, wearing an army uniform and carrying "Senjuin Nagayoshi", attended the opening ceremony and banquet of the Naval Club with Fujiwara Mio.

At the door, Aoki Qiao was stopped by the guards! The guards must have seen Aoki Qiao's uniform and rank. In Shanghai, Colonel was already the highest rank among Japanese expatriates. A second lieutenant guarding the door dared to stop me! Are you even more clueless than me?

"I'm sorry, sir. This is the Imperial Navy Club. Today is a Marine Corps gathering. Army members are not allowed to enter."

Oh my god, are you trying to intimidate me? Go ahead and get mad, it's embarrassing. A colonel and a second lieutenant are showing off their power. The navy will definitely talk about it tomorrow. Or just turn around and leave. You, a colonel, can't even get into the navy club. You are stopped by a second lieutenant. Isn't it embarrassing?

Interesting! The person who set this question was quite talented. He deliberately chose a young lieutenant instead of a private to guard the door.

Chen Jiehua turned around and looked around. Inside and out, everyone was wearing navy uniforms, not a single army uniform. It seemed that the students all knew that this was a navy banquet, and they also knew about the grudge between the army and navy, so they simply didn't come. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time to fight on someone else's territory.

But who gave him this invitation? Chen Jiehua took out the invitation and looked around exaggeratedly at the door. He couldn't find the signature, but it seemed that this was given to him by his cousin Shimazu Yasunosuke.

"Although I'm from the Kagoshima Domain, since I joined the Army, I belong to the Army. Unfortunately, I had the whimsical idea of ​​making money with the Navy and the Shimazu family to resolve the conflict between the Army and the Navy. It seems that the Navy doesn't need my generosity?"

"Sorry! Mio, let's go somewhere else to drink." Chen Jiehua said this in Japanese, handed the invitation to the second lieutenant guarding the door with both hands, stood at attention and saluted with a standard army salute, then turned around and left with Fujiwara Mio.

The commander of the Marine Corps (actually just a captain) Colonel Matsumoto Tadaza was standing on the corridor on the second floor of the hall, secretly looking at the door with relish, wanting to see how Aoki Qiao would respond. He never thought that he would turn around and leave!

When he reacted and rushed downstairs to the door, the back of Chen Jiehua's car was out of sight!

The young lieutenant grabbed the invitation given by Qing Mu Qiao and was inexplicably slapped by the commander. He felt very aggrieved, but still stood at attention and shouted "Hi!"

I'm flexible and adaptable. You asked the lieutenant to stop me. Do you think I would slap him? How could I? I wouldn't slap him. I even saluted the lieutenant guarding the gate! Slapping him is your patent!
You set the question, and I'll play by my own rules! It all depends on how you respond!
The Navy Club is located between Jessfield Road and Hongqiao Road. Going north leads to home, and going south leads to East Asia Common Culture College.

Chen Jiehua headed south to the East Asian Common Culture College to pick up his classmate, Higuchi Keishiro. Then, he took a long detour north along the main road along the Huangpu River to pick up a few other guys at the Consulate General, and then went to the Japanese Club for drinks. "I'll gather the Army guys together, and we'll have a drink at the Japanese Club. "Whoever asked the question, are you coming or not?"
If you come and apologize, you will be a lowly person and bring shame to the Navy. The War Department will definitely be very happy. Anyway, I won’t lose anything;
If you don't come, I will start expelling the navy people from all the chain drug stores tomorrow and replace them with comrades from the organization. The navy has nothing to do with the dividends, and the headquarters' army department will still be very happy, and I won't lose out!
The source of the incident is easy to investigate. It was instigated by the navy themselves. They are looking for trouble. If you want to have fun, I'll accompany you!

Take advantage of this incident to deepen the conflict between the Japanese Army and Navy!

On the other side, Matsumoto Tadaza returned to the club and was surrounded by Chief of Staff Hisanosuke Shimazu and a group of staff who realized that something was wrong.

There was no conflict at the door, so the drama we were hoping for wasn't happening! A staff officer pulled the second lieutenant in and asked, "Fuck, you're a colonel! How shameless! You handed the second lieutenant an invitation with both hands and saluted! Can't you just slap him twice?"
"Gentlemen, think about it, how will Colonel Aoki respond tomorrow?"

"He, a colonel, saluted a second lieutenant and then went home without a word. How else could he respond?"

"Get out! Idiot!" The first staff officer who spoke was kicked.

"Matsumoto-kun, things are a bit troublesome. I have a bad feeling."

Shimazu Hisanosuke, who planned this harassment incident, felt a little regretful. His younger brother Shimazu Yasunosuke was still the manager of his head office. It was a bad move to let his younger brother deliver the invitations!
What he regretted was dragging his brother into this, not regretting planning this incident!

Shimazu Hisanosuke is the second son of the third generation of the Shimazu family, and his rank in the navy is Lieutenant Colonel. As mentioned earlier, although the Shimazu family was the lord of Satsuma Domain and the navy was mostly composed of Satsuma people, the Shimazu family did not have many talented people.

After the end of the shogunate, the retainers of Shimazu gradually rose in the navy and gained the right to speak. For example, the Matsukata family mentioned above, the head of the Matsukata family was also a duke. The Matsukata family had many capable people and also controlled the navy's shipyard.

Matsumoto Tadaza was a descendant of the Matsukata family, so he was naturally willing to give face to the small suggestions made by the master's family, the Shimazu family.

Shimazu Hisanosuke's idea is very simple. Our Shimazu family is the main family after all. You are a relative by marriage, and you are in charge of such a big plan and want us in the Shimazu family to assist you!
I can't lower my proud head. I want to vent my anger. I just want to humiliate you!
Now Aoki Qiao is acting out of the ordinary. Shimazu Hisanosuke regrets involving his brother! But Matsumoto Chuzu regrets not watching the show upstairs. If he had watched it in the hall, I would have been able to catch Aoki Qiao when he turned around and wouldn't have let him run away!
As for going to his house to invite him? To apologize? Matsumoto Chuza and Shimazu Hisanosuke didn't even consider it. An apology was out of the question. The honor of the navy was above all else!
Never mind, it’s time to eat and drink.

On the other side, Qing Mu Qiao and a group of his classmates from the army, as well as Yang Dengying who joined in mid-way due to his well-informed and powerful skills, drank until two in the morning, but no one from the navy came to "apologize".

Okay, then don't blame me for taking action.

In fact, Chen Jiehua really didn’t understand how deep the grudge between the Japanese Army and Navy was. If he knew, he wouldn’t have been thinking about waiting for them to apologize so that he could save face in front of his classmates in the Army.

Face is something you earn yourself; no one else can give it to you.

(End of this chapter)