You are ordered to support the War of Resistance against Japan; China enters Level 1 combat readines

The Japanese headquarters.

The Prime Minister's Office held an emergency cabinet meeting on military matters.

"Baka yarou!!"

Tojo slammed his hand on the table, the heavy solid wood conference table making a loud thud, and teacups and documents on the table were shaken and scattered everywhere.

The Minister of War's face was flushed red, veins bulged on his forehead, and he gripped the telegram and the photographs from North China tightly in his hand, his knuckles turning white.

"Barbaric! They're utterly uncivilized savages!"

"This blatant massacre of Imperial soldiers violates international law and is the most shameless provocation against the Great Japanese Empire and His Majesty the Emperor!"

The conference room was completely silent. Sitting on either side of the long table were the most powerful figures in Japan's military and political circles.

Prime Minister Yonai, Army Chief of Staff Gen Sugiyama, Navy Minister Shigetaro Shimada, Chief of the Naval General Staff Prince Hiroyasu, Combined Fleet Commander Yamamoto, former Navy Minister Zengo Yoshida, the Empire's top military strategist Kanji Ishihara, and a host of imperial nobles and powerful military commanders.

All eyes were drawn to the photos in the center of the table. At the entrance of Wangjia Village, more than two hundred bamboo poles stood straight, and the remains of Nomura Saburo were a shocking sight.

Even these militarists, who were used to the bloodshed of the battlefield and had personally planned countless massacres, couldn't help but feel their scalp tingle and a chill run from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads when they looked at the images in the photos.

It's too cruel.

They carried out countless massacres on the Chinese battlefield, even using prisoners of war and civilians as test subjects, without ever feeling that there was anything wrong with it.

But when such cruel methods were used against their own soldiers, the deep-seated fear and rage instantly overwhelmed everyone.

"Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!"

Navy Minister Shigetaro Shimada slammed his fist on the table. He was a staunch supporter of Hideki Tojo, and his face was now filled with righteous indignation.

"Saburo Nomura was a brave warrior who died for the Empire! These Chinese dared to torture and kill Imperial soldiers with such cruelty; they must pay the price in blood!"

"They must know that the majesty of the Great Japanese Empire will never be challenged!"

Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu, who had been resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened them at the head of the long table.

This Chief of the General Staff, who was also Emperor Showa's uncle, was the real behind-the-scenes boss of the Japanese military and the one who set the tone for the entire meeting.

His cloudy eyes swept across the room, and with just a glance, the once noisy conference room fell silent. Even Hideki Tojo calmed down and sat back down in his seat.

"Sugiyama, what do you think?"

Prince Bogong's voice was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable royal dignity as he looked at Army Chief of Staff Sugiyama Gen.

Sugiyama Gen bowed in response. This veteran of the army, known for his maturity and composure, had his brows furrowed deeply, his fingers tapping lightly on the table, his tone heavy with seriousness.

"Your Highness, gentlemen, this matter is by no means a trivial matter concerning the life and death of Lieutenant Mukai alone!"

"It concerns the morale of the entire China Expeditionary Army, and the prestige of the Great Japanese Empire on the Chinese battlefield!"

He paused, looked up at the crowd, and his voice deepened:

"The situation in North China was already far from optimistic. The Chinese Eighth Route Army, with its unprecedentedly advanced weapons, successively conquered southeastern and northwestern Shanxi. The Imperial Army suffered repeated defeats, and its morale was already low."

"Now that this has happened, if we cannot give a strong response and seek justice for the fallen imperial warriors, what will the soldiers on the front lines think?"

"They will be afraid, they will be terrified, they will feel that even if they die fighting for the empire, they will still end up in such a miserable state!"

"At that time, who will still be willing to risk their lives for His Majesty the Emperor?"

These words resonated with everyone.

They didn't care about the deaths of more than two hundred soldiers; what they were really worried about was that the fighting spirit of the frontline soldiers would be completely shattered as a result.

"Commander-in-Chief Sugiyama is right!"

Hideki Tojo immediately took over the conversation, stood up again, his eyes filled with the pride of a private first class.

"We must retaliate forcefully! A tit-for-tat response is necessary!"

"No! We must retaliate tenfold!"

"They killed two hundred of our Imperial soldiers, so we'll kill six hundred Chinese! They dared to hang our Imperial soldiers on bamboo poles to dry in the wind, so we'll treat three times that number of Chinese prisoners in the same way!"

"I propose that a telegram be immediately sent to the North China Area Army, ordering the selection of six hundred Chinese prisoners captured during the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, and that they all be executed in the same manner!"

"The photos spread throughout the entire Chinese battlefield, to all Imperial Army units!"

"Firstly, to comfort the spirits of the fallen Imperial warriors; secondly, to deter those Chinese and let them know what the consequences of provoking the Empire are; and thirdly, to boost the morale of the Imperial Army at the front lines and let the soldiers know that the Empire will never abandon any warrior and will definitely seek justice for them!"

As soon as Hideki Tojo finished speaking, a chorus of agreement immediately filled the conference room.

The army generals nodded in agreement, clamoring for double the revenge and to use the most ruthless means to make the Chinese pay the price.

But just then, a discordant voice came from the end of the long table.

"Private First Class, sit down!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Lieutenant General Kanji Ishihara who was speaking.

The man who orchestrated the Manchurian Incident, known as the Empire's foremost strategist and the self-proclaimed father of the puppet state of Manchukuo, was leaning back in his chair, his face devoid of any anger, only displaying a cold indifference.

"Ishihara Kanji! You dare to object?"

Tojo's eyes widened instantly, staring intently at him, his eyes filled with rage.

He and Ishihara Kanji had always been at odds, and at this moment he wished he could lash out on the spot.

Ishihara Kanji scoffed, completely disregarding Tojo's anger. He slowly sat up straight, his gaze sweeping across the room, each word like a sharp knife piercing everyone's heart:

"You all only saw the horrific scene of the Imperial soldiers being tortured and slaughtered, and only thought about revenge, but you haven't considered what caused this incident?"

"It was Nomura Saburo who broke away from the main force first and massacred an entire village, killing 137 unarmed civilians, including the elderly, women, and children."

"He raised the knife first, so others retaliated with even harsher methods. He only has himself to blame and has no one else to blame but himself."

"You're talking nonsense!" Tojo slammed his fist on the table and stood up abruptly.

"Saburo Nomura is serving the Empire faithfully! He is upholding the dignity of the Imperial Army!"

"To display authority?" Ishihara Kanji's sneer deepened.

"To demonstrate power by slaughtering unarmed civilians? That's cowardly! That's stupid!"

"Have you ever considered that our Three Alls Policy, the massacre of villages, and the use of germ warfare were all originally intended to break the Chinese people's will to resist through terror?"

"But what about now? They retaliated with the same horrific methods, and what was the result?"

"As a result, our soldiers were the first to become afraid! They didn't even have the guts to massacre the entire village!"

"You want to retaliate even more, and execute prisoners? This will only make the Chinese people and soldiers more united in their hatred of the enemy, only make the Eighth Route Army hate us more, and only make the battles on the front lines even more difficult!"

"What do you gain from executing hundreds of prisoners, besides enraging them?"