As the war in the Atlantic has just ended, and the Allies are faced with a choice of where to go, Horiyokishi, thousands of miles away in Tokyo, Japan, is also making a painful but firm choice. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"What? Horikichi is going to do a business with me? In the Kwantung Army headquarters in Shinkyo (Changchun), Umezu Mijiro, the army general and commander of the Kwantung Army, touched Guangguang's head and made a puzzled voice, "However, I don't have a deep friendship with him, and we belong to the army and navy, why did he suddenly look for me?" ”

"It's a matter of confidentiality, please let Your Excellency the General know it in person."

"It's such a big shelf, and if you want to talk to me about business, you have to go back to Tokyo."

"This ......," the major general who passed the message in the middle laughed, "After all, Chief Horikichi has won consecutive battles, and his momentum is booming, and he is also a military counselor, and he is still a marshal and admiral, so he can't come here to meet you, right?" How bad is it to get out? ”

"Okay, count me unlucky, I have to give this face." Umezu Mijiro simply arranged for a Ju-52 to return to Tokyo, and since receiving German aid, the Kwantung Army has remodeled one of the Junker aunts and made it a special aircraft for the commander.

"I'm so sorry that Umezu-kun deigned to come here......"

"Where and where ......" Seeing Horikichi greet him in person, Umezu Mijiro's mentality is much better, and his posture is also very humble, on military merits, qualifications, military ranks, and status, Horiyoshi is above him in everything, and he maintains a very decent attitude.

As soon as the guests were seated, Horikichi asked, "What would you like to drink, sake or something?" ”

Umezu Mijiro looked at the furnishings in the room and sighed, "I heard that the Combined Fleet received a lot of Italian, French, and fine wine when it visited Europe, but I wonder if there is any good for it?" ”

"Hahaha, of course." Horikichi asked someone to take out a bottle of red wine from the cellar, "This is a gift from Marshal Pétain, the head of the French state, and it happens to be shared with you." ”

Umezu Mijiro has a long experience in Europe, and has served as a military attache in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and other countries, and is quite familiar with a set of European communication. ”

While chatting about some strange things in Europe, the two exchanged ideas about weapons and equipment, Horikichi did not speak first, and Umezu Mijiro was not in a hurry.

After almost emptying a bottle of wine, Horiyoshi suddenly asked, "I heard that the Kwantung Army and Soviet Russia had frequent trade exchanges, but I don't know how the harvest was?" ”

"This ......" Umezu Mijiro instinctively wanted to deny it, but looking at Horikichi's smiling eyes, he knew that it would not help, so he replied vaguely: "General, that is, ordinary material transactions." ”

Horiyoshi didn't pursue this matter further, but took advantage of the situation and said: "So the harvest is average, if there is a better way, I wonder if the Kwantung Army is willing to try?" ”

"I have heard your Excellency's business first, and I would like to hear its details......"

"Then I'll open the skylight and say something." Horikichi smiled, "The Soviet side in the Far East has taken Vladivostok as a base and received a large amount of American aid, and this route has been mastered by our army. Although the Soviet flag was flying on it, it was actually American, and I wanted to lead the fleet to intercept it......"

"What?" Umezu Mijiro was shocked, "This, this, this...... Su and Japan are neutral. ”

"I know it's neutrality, but it's also a forced neutrality, hasn't the Kwantung Army been looking forward to advancing north? I don't say anything about going north, I just hope that the Kwantung Army can resist the pressure from the Soviet forces in the Far East......"

"No, never......"

"Don't be too busy refusing, I still haven't finished the second half of the sentence." Horiyoshi said with a smile, "After intercepting this fleet, half of the materials on it are half of your family, and in addition, the German side has also offered a reward, if this transportation line can be cut off, the German side will have another good reward." The last time I heard you repeatedly complain about the lack of power of planes, tanks, and artillery, this time you will definitely be satisfied. ”

"This ......" Umezu Mijiro did say this: In the distribution of front-line combat materials, although the Kwantung Army has a high status, it is not a front-line combat readiness force, and the equipment of the relevant army has been greatly reduced after many profits, and the mecha power he values the most has only been divided to 40% in the end, and the Indian dispatch army has taken a lot, which makes him very dissatisfied. So when trading supplies with the Soviet Union, he more than once offered to ask for tanks and artillery, but these themselves were urgently needed by the Red Army, how could they be given to the Kwantung Army? In the end, the Russians took out some of the captured German equipment to offset it, but the amount of German equipment captured by the Red Army was too small after all, and it soon bottomed out. The Chinese troops in the Guannai can also do business with the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the Kwantung Army can only do business with the Red Army, and second-hand obsolete arms Russians are not uncommon, they want tanks, planes, trucks, and artillery in the year of the war -- these Kwantung Army is even more lacking, how can they be traded?

"I know what you're worried about, this kind of thing, it's the navy that comes forward to do it, it's the navy that actually does it, it's the navy that bears the infamy, what are you afraid of? Was it afraid of the threat of war from the Red Army in the Far East? Don't look at the joke, Stalin lost consecutive battles on the Western Front, and constantly transferred troops from the Far East to Europe...... It's not the time of Zhang Gufeng and Nomenhan for a long time. Horikichi looked at Umezu Mijiro with a smile, and his voice was attractive, "As long as you nod your head, half of the arms will be yours, and as for the German reward, Special Envoy Koll will provide you with a list." Could it be that the Kwantung Army is not uncommon with new tanks and new aircraft? ”

"I ......" Umezu Mijiro felt his throat grabbed, and his tone became unsmooth, the following complaints and complaints about equipment have been made more than once, and some people have sharpened their heads and tried to go to India to send troops, what is the picture? - Equip yourself! Can fight! Get promoted quickly! There is no way to fight, and it is even more difficult for the Kwantung Army, which trains every day, to survive here than to ascend to the sky. Besides, the Kwantung Army has a history of playing the first cut and then playing, and Ishihara himself is the beneficiary of the 918 incident, and the situation he created allows the later people to stop, how easy is it to talk about it?

Of course, Umezu Mijiro is full of words in the Kwantung Army, but if he doesn't seek benefits for his subordinates and earn a future, I'm afraid that this commander will also be unstable.

He hesitated, didn't know how to answer, and after a long silence, he unconsciously said, "How did you get the thing?" ”

"After capturing the fleet, pay attention to secrecy, escort it to Kanto Prefecture as quickly as possible, cook raw rice and cook rice, it is too late for Tokyo to oppose it, and ......" Horiyoshi smiled slightly, "The Kwantung Army is facing the front line of the Soviet Union, and now it is facing the threat of the Red Army, how can it hold the defensive line without increasing its strength?" ”

"Hah...... Ha ha. Umezu Mijiro said that he would go back and think about it and give an answer in a few days.

Horiyoshi personally escorted him to the door of his house and said, "Act quickly, the transport fleet will arrive at the relevant location in 4 days, and it will be too late if you don't do it." ”

Two days later, Umezu Mijiro came with the news: they agreed to cooperate and the conditions remained the same, but the Kwantung Army was "passively" involved.

"You're not afraid, what is Umezu afraid of?" Chiaki Matsuda muttered, "The ship was obviously hijacked by the navy...... According to me, they are completely sitting on their laurels, and it is enough to divide them in a third. ”

Horikichi smiled: "Doing big things is not informal, and materials are just things outside the body, that is, Japan, which is small and poor, cares so much...... One word, short-sighted! ”

"But, sir, I wonder why you decided to do it secretly in private, can't you discuss it?"

"If you discuss it, this thing will never be done." Horiyoshi sighed, "They can't understand the reason, while I'm still the commander of the Combined Fleet, this matter must be dealt with quickly." ”

"What?" Chiaki Matsuda was like hearing a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and her eyes widened, "They want to remove you from your duties?" Are the people above crazy, it's a time of great war, it's natural for you to concentrate on serving as a military senator after the war, and now it should be the battle situation, if you don't come forward, who can be qualified to succeed as commander? ”

"There's going to be someone." Horiyoshi waved his hand nonchalantly, "Send a signal to Kakuji Tsunoda, inform him to do it, and don't inform Tsukahara, he is now troubled by the political donation case, and there are too many people staring at him." ”

"Will there be any doubts on the part of the fleet?"

"If even the fleet doesn't listen to me, what are you tossing, go to Germany as a consultant as soon as possible." Hori Yoshiki said with a smile, "When the time comes, I will go to eat under Ozawa-kun, and he will be proud of the spring breeze now." ”

On December 9, the telegram was sent to Kakuji Tsunoda and Shoji Nishimura as scheduled, and indeed a few staff officers raised different opinions, thinking that this order was somewhat strange and contradicted the policy of laissez-faire relations with the Soviet Union, but Tsunoda directly waved his hand and refused: "What is there to think about, the commander has an order, and the execution is, are you smarter than the commander or what?" ”

Nishimura Shoji also nodded: "The chief is unexpected, he can earn at least 200,000 tons of materials, what is there to be afraid of?" As far as the Russian navy is concerned, there is no need for Yamato Musashi to go out, and the few heavy cruisers in my hands will be sent directly! Now that even the Americans have obediently retreated to Pearl Harbor, who else in the Far East dares to say a word? ”

Nishimura Shoji and Tsunoda were both in the 39th phase of the Navy, but the latter was ranked higher in the hammock number than him and was promoted to lieutenant general earlier, so it was customary to obey the latter. After the Combined Fleet returned to Japan, with a large number of personnel promotions, new generations such as Nishimura Shoji, Tsunoda Satoru, and Shima Kiyohide began to emerge as vice admirals.

In the early morning of December 9, after a period of rest, the Second Air Battle, which had begun a new round of field training, began to deviate from the original route and carry out Horiyoshi's orders. After the Combined Fleet returned to China, the aircraft carrier forces of the mobile fleet were reorganized, and the Shuanghe was organized into a new first air battle, and after the Falcon Eagle and Flying Eagle were also hung up one after another, the second air battle was now organized with two light aircraft carriers as the core. However, both the First and Second Air Battles belonged to the First Air Fleet (also known as the Mobile Fleet).

The shocking "Navy C Incident" finally broke out......