Rise from eight hundred.

Chapter 1460 Dark under the lamp!

"Keep searching. No matter whose house it is, you can enter and search. Anyone who dares to stop us will be killed!" Hengshan Yong in Jiangxia was like a trapped beast, roaring in the 11th Army's headquarters in Jiangxia.

Only a very few people knew the real purpose of Tanabe Moritake's coming to Jiangxia, and Yokoyama Isamu was one of them.

On the surface, it seemed that Tanabe Shigetake was representing the newly promoted Chief of Staff of the Expeditionary Force, General Itagaki Shiro, who was stationed in Jiangxia to command operations in the two major battlefields of Central China and South China, but in fact, Tanabe Shigetake had a more important mission on this trip.

The Imperial Army Headquarters wanted to assassinate Tang Dao, the leader of the Chinese Four-Line Regiment who had humiliated the Imperial Army countless times on the battlefields of North China and in the Battle of Shipai. Tanabe Moritake was the supreme commander of this assassination operation.

It was under his planning and connection that the Eagle Commandos successfully infiltrated China's Fifth War Zone under the cover of a grain transport team, and even obtained sophisticated equipment from an insider.

Everything had been going smoothly before and they had almost completed the mission, but they didn't expect that a few hours later, the Eagle Commando Team was like a fish entering the sea, and completely lost contact with Jiang Xia.

  The personnel responsible for the response in Yiling did not wait for any well-trained Eagle Special Forces members to show up!

The Chinese spies lurking there only sent a message saying that the Chinese theater command had strictly blocked the news. At the scene, only losses were seen on both sides, but it was impossible to count how many members of the Eagle Commando Team died on the spot.

Tanabe Moritake never gave up and waited in Jiangxia for the return of the first fully-organized special attack team formed by the Japanese Army Headquarters.

But I didn't expect that I would have to wait for a week until I received the threatening letter three days ago.

In the past, no one would have taken such a threatening letter seriously, as there were many Chinese who could only vent their anger with words. However, in this extraordinary period, Yokoyama Isamu, commander of the 11th Army, took it very seriously. Not only did he conduct a full search, he also further strengthened the protection of Deputy Chief of Staff Shigetake Tanabe.

The hotel where Moritake Tanabe lived already had various fortifications and bunkers, and all the service staff were Japanese. After receiving this threat, Isamu Yokoyama dispatched two more infantry squadrons to expand the defense zone of the entire hotel by another 2 meters.

Unless someone could set up a cannon outside the hotel, there would be no chance of posing a threat to Tanabe Moritake in the heavily guarded hotel.

But in Jiangxia City, which was completely controlled by the Imperial Army, who could have a cannon? It was already very good for an ordinary Chinese family to have a kitchen knife.

But even under such strict protection, Tanabe Shigetake still died. He was shot in the head and even his face was unrecognizable. If it weren't for the hideous gunshot scar on his arm left by the battle when he entered Nanjing City in 37, Yokoyama Isamu who rushed to the scene would never have thought that it was Major General Tanabe Shigetake.

There were many capable people in the Japanese army, and they quickly deduced from the direction from which the bullet came that the gunman was located in the north, at least 400 meters away from the hotel's first line of defense.

The first line of defense was 380 meters away from Moritake Tanabe's room, and the two added up to nearly 800 meters, which is obviously a distance that does not exist in reality. Since the invention of the gunpowder gun, the world has experienced countless wars with hot weapons. The First World War that broke out more than 20 years ago swept across most of Europe and Asia, and there has never been a record of accurately shooting an opponent with a rifle from 800 meters away.

But apart from this, is there any more reasonable explanation?

After careful investigation by nearly a thousand Japanese soldiers, they finally found clues in a ruin 470 meters away from the hotel's first line of defense.

It was originally a four-story building owned by the Hillbers on Jianghan Road. Perhaps because it had a storage warehouse, or perhaps because the Hillbers were smart and thought that since they had come here, they might as well use it for a few more years. The building's exterior design is ordinary, but it is extremely sturdy.

During the Battle of Jiangxia, this building was bombed by three 3-pound bombs. Part of the walls were blown down and the interior was in ruins. It was truly miserable, but the entire building still stood stubbornly, showing the cruelty of war to the world.

During the bombing, more than 30 Hillbers were killed in this building. The surviving Hillbers insisted that this was evidence for future claims against the Japanese Empire and firmly disagreed with the Chinese government's request to demolish the ruined building until the entire Jiangxia was occupied by the Japanese army.

The Japanese had no interest in rebuilding this city that had been baptized by war. Their country was already in an economic crisis, and the large amount of materials they needed to fight in China had to be plundered from China and then shipped back to Japan for processing, a mode of fighting to support the war.

Therefore, even though the Japanese army had occupied Jiangxia for almost two years, this dilapidated building that had been bombed still stood on the ruined street.

Even the Japanese search team did not consider this dilapidated building as a key search area. They did not risk climbing up this dangerous building until they could not find any traces anywhere else.

Then, the Japanese gunpowder expert who was with the team discovered traces of gunpowder spatter on the third floor of the building. Those were spatter traces that could only be left by large-caliber firearms of 12.7 mm or more.

At this point, it has been basically confirmed that a gunman was lurking here, and used the oversized caliber rifle in his hand to shoot and kill Tananabe Shengwu who was standing by the window from 850 meters away.

This is undoubtedly the longest rifle sniper kill record in the entire history of human warfare so far!

  However, the Japanese who received this honor did not feel happy at all, and of course, they did not feel any shame. They only felt anger and fear!

The first thing that came to Yokoyama's mind was, what if the missing Chinese sharpshooter targeted him next time?

Whether for the sake of the expeditionary force headquarters or for his own life, this search must be carried out with greater force.

That night, the entire Jiangcheng stayed up all night. Yokoyama Isamu even dispatched two infantry regiments and the garrison division stationed in Jiangxia to search the entire city of Jiangxia.

Just as he had ordered before, anyone could be searched anywhere, even high-ranking officials of the Jinling government in Jiangxia were no exception.

You know what, this high-intensity search was not without results. The Japanese army kept sending "good news" to Isamu Yokoyama who was sitting in the command center.

After the Nanjing government found a radio and a code book in the residence of two high-ranking officials in Jiangxia, it was almost certain that they were insiders of the Shancheng Military Control Commission.

In addition, gunfights broke out in the city. People from a business and a restaurant were arrested at gunpoint when the military and police came to search for them. No less than 15 people were killed on the spot. The Japanese army, which also suffered more than a dozen casualties, rushed into the buildings and found a damaged radio station and documents that were basically burned. It can be concluded that these two places were underground intelligence stations of the Shancheng Military Control Commission.

If we only look at the results of seizing the radio station and arresting the insider, Yokoyama Isamu's elaborate search operation tonight cannot be said to be in vain. At the very least, it has dealt a heavy blow to the intelligence system of the Yamashiro Military Control Commission in Jiangxia.

Especially the two high-ranking officials of the Jinling government who were seized, both held important positions in the Jinling government. One of them was the deputy administrative commissioner of Jiangxia, the second-in-command of the Jinling government in Jiangxia. Even a powerful man like Yokoyama Isamu was kind and polite to him, and even invited him to dinner several times. No one would have thought that this person was actually an insider of the Shancheng government lurking inside the Jinling government.

This blow was a huge one for Director Dai!

But the real target that Yokoyama Isamu wanted was not even seen. No matter whether he was captured or killed, none of them looked like a sharpshooter who could kill the target with one shot from more than 800 meters away.

The Japanese gunpowder expert has estimated that there are several most famous rifles in the world that can fire such large-caliber projectiles. They are the PTRD-41 anti-tank rifle of the Russian Bear, which can fire 14.5mm caliber bullets, the 13.9*99mm Bois anti-tank rifle of the British Empire, the L39 anti-tank rifle of Finland, the PZB39 anti-tank rifle of the German Empire, and finally the Type 97 anti-tank rifle copied by the Japanese military industry, which fires 20mm caliber bullets.

Soon, the Japanese experts' estimate became a reality. The Japanese army finally dug out the half-remaining bullet that had shattered Tanabe Moritake's head and penetrated the wall in a room of the hotel.

It was a 20mm warhead. On the Asian battlefield, the only anti-tank gun equipped by the Japanese army was the Type 97 anti-tank gun.

That was a big thing whose empty gun weighed up to 50 kilograms. When the Japanese army transported the gun themselves, they usually used three pack horses to carry two Type 3 anti-tank gun parts. Not to mention being able to run faster than a rabbit, even if they could climb up that dangerous building with this gun, they were not human.

But bullets don't lie, and it is almost certain that Moritake Tanabe died from the Type 97 anti-tank rifle developed by the Japanese military industry.

That man must be eight feet tall and strong! Including Yokoyama Isamu, who was so troubled by the conclusion, all Japanese people had a picture of the mysterious Chinese gunman in their minds.

  If it’s not Lu Zhishen, it has to be Wu Song!

The Japanese guessed right.

The Tang sword in night clothes was not far away from them, and the 50-kilogram Type 97 20mm anti-tank gun was quietly within his reach.

There may be many people in this world who can run away with this giant gun that weighs more than 50 kilograms, such as Mingxin. But there are no more than three people in the world who can use this gun to shoot a target in the head from 850 meters away, even with the help of a scope.

Tang Dao is the one who fully meets these two conditions. In other words, Tang Dao is the only one in the world who can accomplish this.

But this is not the only reason why Tang Dao risked his life to go to Jiangxia and assassinate Tanabe Moritake.

That night, before killing Akagi Shigeki, Tang Dao told him that anyone involved in killing his brother would die.

How could Moritake Tanabe, who was in charge of this operation, be an exception?

In order to kill Tanabe Moritake, Tang Dao mobilized all its strength this time. It was not just the military force of the Four-Line Regiment and the Guard Regiment far away in North China. Tang Dao needed power from outside.

Gong Shaoxun, who was left out of the army by Tang Dao two years ago, and the huge amount of money invested finally paid off for Tang Dao.

In fact, Tang Dao has been busy with military affairs in the past two years. He did not care too much about how Gong Shaoxun and his underground intelligence system operated. He just invested up to 6 taels of gold and more than 600 million yen in funds, and sent 60 more skilled fighters according to Gong Shaoxun's request.

Unexpectedly, Gong Shaoxun gave Tang Dao a huge surprise this time. After receiving Tang Dao's secret message, Gong Shaoxun's intelligence system worked at full capacity and quickly gave Tang Dao a reply.

The secrets of the hotel and hotel room where Tanabe Moritake lived were even listed. When Tang Dao said that he needed a large-caliber, long-range gun nearby, Gong Shaoxun actually said that he could provide the Type 97 anti-tank rifle equipped by the Japanese army.

This amazing strength really shocked Tang Dao himself.

It was not until the two met and talked in detail much later that Tang Dao found out how Gong Shaoxun got this big thing, which was relatively rare even in the Japanese army.

Apart from the merchant Okuma Konosuke, it is difficult to find Japanese who dare to use this kind of gun as an exchange item.

The deal that Tang Dao promised to Major General Xiaofan has not been interrupted in the past two years, and he has already given full authority to Gong Shaoxun to contact him.

Of course, since it is a transaction, it means that both parties have to provide materials or intelligence that the other party is interested in. What Okuma Konosuke wants is penicillin, which can be shipped back to Japan and sold at a high price. Gong Shaoxun's needs are naturally raised by himself.

Major General Xiaohu was really amazing. It would have been fine if he could sell intelligence about his colleagues' divisions easily. Sometimes the Japanese army in North China did not have any decent military operations, and he was worried that Gong Shaoxun would not be satisfied with the ordinary weapons, so he simply gave Gong Shaoxun two of the very few Type 97 anti-tank rifles in the division.

Originally, Gong Shaoxun was not interested in this huge thing that was extremely inconvenient to transport. It was useless if it was not used on the battlefield. However, he could not resist the enthusiasm of Major General the Hawker and had to accept it.

And one of them happened to be in Jiangxia, Gong Shaoxun's most important intelligence base in central China.

Compared with a sniper rifle of this era, the intelligence system that Gong Shaoxun was in charge of was located in Jiangxia's stronghold, which almost made Tang Dao drop his jaw.

If Tang Dao had not trusted Gong Shaoxun very much, he would have even thought that his former chief of staff had defected to the Japanese.

His intelligence system's base in Jiangxia was actually located next to the Japanese garrison division headquarters in Jiangxia, and the sign hanging outside read "Toyota".

July 1937, 7 is a day that China will never forget, but it is a day of rebirth for Toyota. With the outbreak of the full-scale war of aggression against China, Toyota and other industrial enterprises were included as manufacturers of military supplies industrial products. The Japanese Army bought up all of Toyota's inventory of vehicles, which solved its urgent needs.

With the support of the Japanese government, Toyota Motor Corporation became the main supplier of Japanese military vehicles. The "Toyota" maintenance department, which was only 300 meters away from the Japanese garrison division headquarters, was responsible for providing maintenance guidance and accessories for various types of Japanese military vehicles in the entire central China region.

It is said that there are as many as a hundred engineers and technical workers alone.

"The person in charge of the maintenance department is Okuma Yukigoro! Most of the workers in the department are recruited from Osaka!" Gong Shaoxun's answer made Tang Dao himself speechless.

For that little bit of money, the peddler major general was almost willing to exchange his wife and children.

Large Japanese companies in China also recruit Chinese employees and translators, otherwise it would be very inconvenient to go out.

Gong Shaoxun's intelligence base belonged to Toyota's transport team stationed in Jiangxia, which was responsible for quickly delivering spare parts and maintenance workers to the maintenance team behind the Japanese army and settling accounts on a monthly basis, which was considered an outsourcing of Toyota.

The area is located at the rear of the 5-mu Toyota Maintenance Department. Because the transport team needs to feed a large number of pack horses, this area is usually filled with the stench of horse feces and urine. In addition, the Japanese rarely come to this place because they all know that these Chinese are relatives of Manager Daxiong.

So, no one knew that a dozen Chinese people who looked honest and could only laugh foolishly actually dug a basement and a 300-meter-long tunnel under the stable in less than a year and a half.

What was most coincidental was that the exit of the 300-meter tunnel was located near the dilapidated building that was on the verge of collapse due to the artillery fire.

The purpose of these veterans who came from the battlefield to dig basements and tunnels was naturally to prevent danger before it happens and to save their lives at critical moments.

The tunnel exit is near the dangerous building because it is a ruin with few people, and it is also very close to the Yangtze River. When encountering extremely dangerous situations, everyone evacuates through the tunnel and jumps into the Yangtze River to escape.

Unexpectedly, the attempt to escape did not help, but it created a legend for Tang Tuanzu.

Of course, this myth that scared those in the mountain city who knew the truth and Yokoyama Isamu almost out of their wits was not accomplished by Tang Dao alone. It was accomplished with the full cooperation of a huge intelligence system with 48 bases and more than 1000 people.

After Tang Dao sneaked out of the war zone under the pretext of injury and entered Jiangxia City, he not only obtained a super sniper rifle, but also a sniper point with an excellent view, although the distance was a little far.

But this was not the case with Tang Tuanzuo, who once held a record of killing a target from 1600 meters away.

Of course, out of caution, Tang Dao was transported by his subordinates to a forest 20 kilometers away from Jiangxia to familiarize himself with the performance of the Type 97 anti-tank rifle and conduct a test firing of 20 rounds of live ammunition.

It extends from the initial 600 meters to the eye-popping 900 meters. That is to say, if it were a few dozen meters longer, Tanabe Moritake would have been dead for sure. The world's current longest sniper kill record has yet to be extended.

Unfortunately, Tanabe Moritake did not give Tang Dao such an opportunity.

After confirming the target, Tang Dao even had enough time to eliminate all traces and body odor of his presence here, and then he carried the heavy Type 97 anti-tank rifle and crawled into the tunnel buried by the ruins.

As for the traces of gunpowder splashing, they were left intentionally by the Tang sword.

The reason was naturally to tell the Japanese that this was the shooting point, so as to prevent the Japanese army from torturing innocent civilians in the Chinese settlements in this direction.

Of course, this would also mislead the Japanese search team. After discovering the clues, the Japanese army would only think that the murderer must have escaped long ago. They would never have thought that the eight-foot-tall man was hiding less than seven meters underground under their feet.

  The most dangerous place is the safest place!

(End of this chapter)