At this time, Emperor Hirohito, who was far away in Tokyo, did not know about this matter. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Emperor Hirohito was anxious about the news that the heads of government of Britain, France, Germany, and Italy had held a small meeting in Munich and forcibly ceded the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Germany without the participation of representatives of Czechoslovakia.

After acquiring the Sudetenland, Germany's political, economic, and military strength grew further, and it had a faint tendency to sweep across Europe, and what made Emperor Hirohito even more envious was that Britain and France endured all kinds of German acts in order to lead the German scourge to the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union saw through the sinister intentions of Britain and France, and also made private contacts with Germany, intending to sign a non-aggression pact with Germany. Instead of attracting siege from all sides, Germany's aggressiveness attracted several powerful neighbors to show favor in exchange for it.

In Asia, by contrast, the situation facing Japan is much more dire.

One is that the Sino-Japanese war has lasted for more than two years, and the Chinese government has always refused to surrender, and in the visible time, there is no sign of an end to the Chinese incident, which has led to a sharp deterioration of Japan's financial situation.

Another is that Britain and France's hostility towards Japan is increasing sharply, and even the United States has been affected, suspending most of its trade with Japan, especially the interruption of trade in scrap steel and crude oil, which makes Japan the most uncomfortable, because steel and crude oil are war materials, and Japan cannot produce them domestically, needless to say, the Soviet Union, in addition to sparing no expense to aid the Nationalist Government against the Japanese government, and even directly sent troops to provoke Japan in Zhang Gufeng.

In contrast, the difference between the situation of Japan and Germany is a world of difference.

It is also the new power that challenges the old power, why does Japan hit a wall everywhere, while Germany is smooth?

This is really a comparison of goods to throw, people to die than people, thinking of the boredom, Emperor Hirohito really wanted to climb Mount Fuji and roar at the sky a few times.

At this time, Emperor Hirohito did not know that another piece of bad news was being quickly transmitted back to Japan through the airwaves.

After a few laps at the racecourse, Emperor Hirohito finally felt more comfortable, and after taking a shower and having dinner, Hirohito prepared to summon his prime minister to the Imperial Study to discuss the re-issuance of government bonds.

The treasury is already empty, but the war in full swing cannot be without money, and the more than one million imperial army warriors who are fighting bloody battles on the battlefield in China cannot be allowed to fight hungry and with their bare hands, right? Therefore, it is necessary to issue the national debt again to gather the remaining private wealth and help the empire through this difficult time.

However, Konoe Bunma hadn't arrived yet, and another guy came uninvited.

This guy is the commander of the Tsurumai Fortress, Ishihara Waner, a graduate of the thirtieth class of the Army University.

Ishihara is a legend in the Japanese army, especially during the period when he served as the chief staff officer of the Kwantung Army, he launched the 918 Incident to help the empire open up thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, and was cited as an example by countless backward young officers.

However, Emperor Hirohito didn't like Ishihara, very much, because Ishihara was too smart.

Even in the conversation, you only said the first sentence, Ishihara already knew what you would say next, with Ishihara, Emperor Hirohito always couldn't help but feel inferior, yes, it's ridiculous to say, it's ridiculous, but it's a fact, whenever Ishihara is with him, Hirohito will always feel inferior.

"Your Majesty, I heard that those idiots at the Admiralty are clamoring for something to go south?"

After seeing the ceremony, Ishihara Waner went straight to the point and directly said his intention.

"No, where did you hear about it?" Emperor Hirohito flatly denied it.

In fact, Emperor Hirohito was not lying, because he had just seen the report on the southward policy less than two days ago, and this report was forwarded to him by his other imperial uncle, the chief of the military command department, Fushimi Miyahiro Gong, which was only an internal internal document of the navy, not an official report, let alone a national policy.

The specific content is to wave the army to the south, occupy Southeast Asia, and seize the rubber and crude oil in Southeast Asia.

To be honest, Hirohito agreed with this report in his heart, because rubber and crude oil in Southeast Asia are war materials urgently needed by the Japanese government, and if Southeast Asia is occupied, the Japanese government can save a large amount of foreign exchange for the purchase of rubber, crude oil and other war materials, so that the Japanese government's financial situation can be greatly alleviated.

More importantly, once the southbound policy was implemented, Japan's navy would be of use.

In the Sino-Japanese War, in addition to playing a certain role in the Battle of Songhu, the Japanese Navy could only be a spectator on the side in several large-scale battles later, which is now the Battle of Wuhan, and could only send the river defense fleet to attack and disturb it, which was absolutely a great strategic waste for Japan, which had a strong navy.

Because the total displacement of the Japanese Navy is the second in the world, second only to the British!

What is even more intolerable to the people of the Admiralty is that once the policy of going north is adopted, the Japanese Navy will henceforth be able to watch from the sidelines, and will miss this magnificent war, which is absolutely unacceptable to those young officers of the Navy who are eager to expand the territory and make meritorious contributions to the country.

To put it bluntly, the dispute between the north and the south is actually the dispute between the army and the navy.

The army faction resolutely advocated going north, attacking the Soviet Union from the east and west with Germany, and controlling the Asian islands from the land, while the navy faction resolutely advocated going south, first sweeping Southeast Asia, securing enough rubber, crude oil, and other strategic materials for the empire, and then turning east to engage in a strategic decisive battle with the United States in the Pacific.

And Ishihara is the representative of the north-going faction.

Of course, the northbound faction did not propose to attack the Soviet Union from east to west.

Ishihara did not believe Emperor Hirohito's words, and argued excitedly: "Your Majesty, you must not listen to the words of those fools in the Admiralty, and you must not easily provoke Britain and France, especially not to provoke the United States, although the total displacement of the United States Navy is not as good as that of the Empire, but Your Majesty, you don't know that the industrial manufacturing capacity of the United States is more than ten times that of the Empire, and the United States also has almost inexhaustible massive resources. Even if you can gain some advantages by relying on a quick decisive battle in the early stage, in the long run, the empire will definitely be defeated! ”

Emperor Hirohito frowned and didn't say anything, he admitted that what Ishihara Waner said made sense, but he hated Ishihara Waner's attitude of speaking, yes, you Ishihara Waner is really good, and you understand a lot, but please can you give people respect and don't treat others as elementary school students, okay?

Ishihara didn't notice that there was a problem with the way he spoke, or even if he did, he wouldn't consider changing it at all, because this guy didn't care what others thought of him, from the Army Non-commissioned Officer School to the Army University, and then to the Kwantung Army, he always went his own way and didn't care about other people's feelings.

Ishihara did not realize Hirohito's unhappiness, and then preached: "Your Majesty, the fundamental way out of the empire is on the mainland, not the sea, for thousands of years, the only land power that the empire needs to face is China, and now China is weak and divided, it is a good time for the empire to gradually encroach on it, so before completely occupying and digesting China, you must not start a war with Britain and France, let alone with the United States!" ”

"Alright, I got it." Hirohito frowned and said, "I'll think about it." ”

Ishihara Waner actually has something to say, and even wants to ask Hirohito for a division commander, now that the Sino-Japanese war is in full swing, why doesn't he want to go to the Chinese battlefield to try his skills? But seeing that Emperor Hirohito looked quite unhappy, he could only stop talking and prepare to get up and retire unhappily.

However, at this time, the Chief of the Army General Staff, Kanin Gong Zaiten, walked in angrily.

He didn't know whether he was in a hurry or confused, and he didn't even notice that Ishihara Wan'er was there, so he stepped forward and said to Emperor Hirohito: "Your Majesty, something is wrong!" ”

Hearing that something big had happened, Ishihara Waner dismissed the idea of leaving and deliberately did not leave.

Emperor Hirohito was also frightened by the appearance of Zaihito in the Idle Palace, and he didn't care about driving away Ishihara Wan'er, and asked urgently: "Uncle Huang, don't worry, what's wrong?" ”

Xianyuan Gong Zairen took a deep breath and said: "The army headquarters has just received an urgent telegram from the Central China Dispatch Army, saying that the commander of the Eleventh Army, Gekamura Ninji, was assassinated a few hours ago and that the jade was shattered on the spot. ”

"Nani?!" Emperor Hirohito was stupid at once.

Ishihara Wan'er, who didn't leave the imperial study, was also stunned.

Ninji Okamura was assassinated, and Shunroku Hata vomited blood and died?!

Doesn't this mean that the 400,000-strong army sent by Central China is already leaderless?

After a while, Emperor Hirohito recovered from the huge shock, immediately grabbed a jade inkstone on the imperial case and slammed it on the ground, the light shattered with a bang, and then roared angrily: "I'll just say it, I'll just say it, I will say that Xu Rui must be solved first, Xu Rui must be solved first, they don't listen, they have to listen, what is the result, what is the result?" It turned out to be an accident, and it turned out to be an accident, right? Ha! ”

Xianyuan Gong Zairen lowered his head and didn't dare to say a word.

Hirohito was like a trapped beast, pacing back and forth in the imperial study, while continuing to roar: "Okay now, Okamura-san was assassinated, Shunroku Hata also vomited blood and died, and the army of more than 400,000 in Central China actually has no commander, how to fight this battle, how to fight next, Huang Shuzu, tell me, how will this battle be fought next?" (To be continued.) )