Cultural reforms of the Meiji Restoration.

Under the leadership of scholars such as Fukuzawa Yukichi and with the support of foundations, Japan abandoned its long-standing bureaucratic system and formed a new type of social rules centered on values ​​and creativity.

A large number of scientific research and technical talents have emerged and become the main force of society, while the bureaucrats have become parasites that are despised and hated by everyone.

The values ​​​​oriented towards creation and production brought about a comprehensive leap forward for the entire country. It also absorbed advanced Western technology and emerged from the shadow of the Black Ship Incident in just a few decades. With the terrible internal circulation ability of one of the monster countries in East Asia, it became the first industrial, technological and military power in Asia.

Great power will inevitably bring about inflated ambitions.

With the rapid expansion of military power, Japan was no longer willing to guard the resource-poor islands. Since the beginning of the last century, Fukuzawa Yukichi personally formulated a plan to invade Asia.

With the Northeast as its base, an aggressive war began.

Since the "September 18th Incident" was launched in Northeast China in 1931, the three northeastern provinces were invaded and occupied. The July 7th Incident opened the prelude to the nationwide invasion of China.

The war lasted for more than ten years. At its peak, the Japanese regular army reached 9.6 million troops. Relying on its strong ships, powerful artillery and terrifying military skills, it occupied almost two-thirds of Asian countries.

It took a total of 14 years until Emperor Hirohito announced unconditional surrender, and the Japanese army lost more than 2 million people. More than 500,000 Japanese soldiers died in the Chinese battlefield, and about 1.4 million died under the artillery fire of the Allied forces led by the US military.

China was one of the main battlefields, and from the Marco Polo Bridge Incident to the end of the war alone, more than 3.31 million soldiers were killed or wounded.

Such casualty data is obviously completely different from those in the anti-Japanese drama.

The Soviet-Maoist military power has always been strong, but the fact that the Japanese army was able to defeat Russia in the Russo-Japanese War is enough to illustrate the problem.

In the anti-Japanese war battlefield, if one wanted to kill a Japanese soldier, at least three Chinese soldiers would be killed or injured. In some battlefields with strong military forces, the casualty ratio was even more tragic.

But at that time, the Japanese army had an army called the Osaka Division, also known as the Osaka Fourth Division.

This army was established in 1888 and its soldiers were mainly composed of Osaka merchants. It is one of the oldest divisions in the Japanese army.

Although local armed forces are nominally commanded by a military commander, for various reasons the army itself has to bear the cost of high-tech weapons.

Osaka is an old capital, and the merchants here are very wealthy. Many of them are descendants of samurai, and are very strong in fighting and Bushido spirit.

Therefore, the Osaka Division had four regiments under its command, which were equipped with first-class weapons and equipment, and had high individual capabilities and qualities, and could be called the "elite" of the Japanese army.

With luxurious equipment and first-class military qualities, from the moment this army was established, all parties had one hundred and twenty times more confidence in the Osaka Division.

However, not long after its establishment, its reputation as a "coward" spread throughout the entire Japanese army.

In particular, the core unit of the 4th Division, the 8th Regiment, was nicknamed "The 8th Regiment that is not afraid of defeat" because of its repeated defeats in the Russo-Japanese War.

The so-called "not afraid of defeat" actually means pretending not to see the enemy when you see him, and not fighting if you can avoid it.

Despite the embarrassment it made, the 4th Division was quite lucky because the Japanese army invading central China was in a tight spot and urgently needed reinforcements. The military had to give up pursuing the 4th Division and urgently dispatched it southward for reinforcements.

The 4th Division suddenly transformed itself into a member of the elite 11th Army of the Japanese Army.

Hear this.

Nagano Nao asked curiously, "The Russian army has always been strong. It's normal for the 4th Division to lose on the battlefield for the first time, right?"

"Idiot! Do you think we can't win? Have you heard of the Battle of Xuzhou? The military also thought that this group of guys was on the battlefield for the first time, so when they surrounded the Chinese army, they put them in the second encirclement and did not have direct contact with the enemy. But do you know what these guys are doing?"

The exaggerated look of disgust on Sato Kenichi's face aroused Nagano Nao's strong interest, so he asked, "Are there any other strange behaviors?"

"It's not strange at all! During the Battle of Xuzhou, the military surrounded the 400,000-strong army commanded by General Li Zongren, but this man was very powerful and he broke out of the encirclement.

But after Li's army broke through, they were exhausted, lost a lot of equipment, and their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced. If there were an army to stop them, they would surely be wiped out.

It just so happened that the well-equipped 40th Division was on the border of Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui, and they encountered Li's army. "

"Then what?"

"What then? Of course I'm so hungry. Let's cook first!"

"What?"

Nagano Nao was completely confused, and immediately imagined the panic that Li Zongren felt when he encountered a group of well-equipped enemy troops during his breakout.

But on the other side, a group of guys from Bagayalou watched the enemy as if they were air and cooked and ate as if nothing had happened.

This doesn't make sense, and it doesn't make sense at all! "Aren't they afraid of the military's punishment?"

"In the subsequent battle report, their commander said that they had not received an order to attack, but everyone was hungry, so they had to eat first so that they could prepare to receive the order."

The mocking tone was full of disgust and contempt.

Nagano Nao stayed there for a long time. This story sounded even more magical than a novel.

At this time, Ikeda Sakurako took a sip of wine and said unhappily: "It is the duty of the army to obey orders, no problem!"

"Yeah! It's the duty of a soldier to obey orders, there's no problem with that. Besides, even though the 4th Division is weak, it's a Type A Division after all, with many veterans. Therefore, even their farewell speeches have their own unique style!!"

Speaking of this, Sakurako Ikeda showed a rare look of embarrassment on her face.

"It's nothing. For example, the 2nd Division said "May you have a long military career" when the situation was good, and "See you at Kudanzaka" when the situation was bad. But when the officers and soldiers of the 4th Division said goodbye, they often said "Gomi-no-Kiri" on their lips. It really deserves to be the Osaka Division!"

With a puff.

Nagano Nao sprayed the red wine in his mouth onto Sato Kenichi's face.

Because the meaning of Gomi-no-Kiri is "take care of your body", "your health is the most important", or simply "saving your life comes first".

Seeing Sato Kenichi wiping the wine stain with a face full of resentment, Nagano Nao said awkwardly: "Well, it's nothing to say take care of yourself when you leave!"

"Do you think it's just about taking care of your body? Do you know what happens every time the Osaka Division's mobilization order is issued? They are obviously well fed and healthy, but suddenly their illness rate increases. Either they have diarrhea due to unfamiliar climate, or they have headaches due to a cold at night. They have bad hearts, bad livers, bad kidneys, glaucoma, and cataracts. They are really crazy, dumb, stupid, lame, evil, blind, mentally ill, and big fools! From hair loss to athlete's foot, it covers everything, and there are even lame excuses like twisted waists."

"Ah! This... It's normal to feel uncomfortable with the local climate! Just like Qianxue came here from Tokyo, she even vomited because she felt uncomfortable with someone!"

"How do we explain the Soviet-Russian War? From Hailar to Nomonhan, the Sendai Division took four days to walk, while the Osaka Division took eight days. After the armistice was announced, these guys seemed to have grown two more legs overnight and quickly caught up with the team.

Those soldiers who were sick and stayed behind recovered immediately after hearing the news, and some even rushed to the frontline battlefield while still sick.

"this"

Nagano Nao didn't know how to defend himself.

Sato Kenichi took a sip of wine with a face full of resentment: "I don't know if you have read that newspaper back then. When the Sendai Division, which was on standby, was dejected and abandoned its weapons, and its comrades were beaten to a pulp, the guys in the Osaka Fourth Division were all dressed neatly, full of energy, and very proud."

While others are fighting with great passion and risking their lives to serve the emperor, these guys always put their lives first.

No wonder Sanwa and Sumitomo have not been getting along over the years.

After all, when it comes to World War II, Mitsui, Mitsubishi, and Sumitomo were all supporters of the military. Mitsubishi's fighter planes, Mitsui's warships, and Sumitomo's minerals combined to support the huge war consumption and armaments.

But these guys in Osaka are desperately holding us back. Everyone would hate them!

"This is indeed a little hard to explain, but seriously speaking, it is understandable. Didn't this happen every day during the daimyo era? Compared to the peasants watching the samurai killing each other and moving out stools to eat watermelons, this is already pretty good!"

"Do you think that's all?"

"Is there anything else happening?!"

"You will never know how shameful the people of Osaka are. When attacking Guangdong, the 4th Division was reorganized into the 108th Regiment and ordered to go to Zengcheng for support. At that time, the military said that if you did not go to reinforce within one day, you would be loyal to the emperor. As a result, two days passed and these guys still did not go to reinforce.

Can you imagine why? "

"You're not going to get sick again, are you?"

"These guys said they robbed the local people's water buffaloes to transport ammunition and supplies, but the weather in Guangdong was still hot in October. As soon as the buffaloes carrying supplies saw the water, they immediately ran into the water to escape the heat. They couldn't stop them. In the end, all the guns and ammunition on the buffaloes' backs were soaked in water."

"Ah! This is understandable. I heard that it is impossible to stop a herd of cattle from going crazy. You can't just use your body to stop them!"

"Idiot! Do you think it was really a buffalo that ran into the water and soaked the guns and ammunition? These bastards are just making up excuses because they sold weapons and equipment to the Chinese army!"

"puff"

Sakurako Ikeda couldn't hold back her laughter and sprayed a mouthful of wine onto Takeru Sato's face.

After being sprayed with alcohol repeatedly, the boy instantly got furious: "Ikeda, you still feel proud, don't you? This kind of thing happened. The people under your samurai's control don't even have the dedication of Bushido. It's simply a shame for the Yamato nation."

"What's so shameful about this? Fighting a war is like doing business. You must learn how to bargain and know when to stop. Bushido is not stupid, right? We signed up to be the first, but we have to be sneaky and cunning."

"Let's not talk about aiding the enemy. How do you explain colluding with the guerrillas to deceive your superiors during the occupation?"

"What?"

Nagano Nao was stunned when he heard this.

Why does this sound a little wrong?

Sato Kenichi was very tough and said, "During the war, the 4th Division's occupied area always had the best security. Do you know why?"

“.”

"Because these bastards are colluding with the Chinese guerrillas both inside and outside, they should inform the Chinese guerrillas before going on patrol. What's even worse is that these bastards have rented out their arsenal to them to produce weapons and are even covering for them!"

"How is this possible?"

"Do you think that's all? After the war ended, these bastards went to work for the Chinese, calling them fellow countrymen. If you didn't know them, you would think they were Chinese!"

Hearing this, Ikeda Sakurako stopped pretending to be embarrassed and said directly and confidently: "What's the problem with this? You guys live your lives, and we'll just cook, eat, drink, and not take anything to heart. Relax, cool down, look in the mirror and it's still me. It's great to be alive, why fight?"

"It seems to make sense! Isn't it good for everyone to make money together?" Nagano Nao responded as a matter of course, "No wonder you two, Ikeda, can get together. You really don't have the spirit of the Yamato nation at all. I really doubt that you two are Korean!"

"Hey, hey, hey, did we Koreans provoke you? You Japanese are all descendants of us Koreans, and we Koreans invented cooking first."

“.”