Zhou Yusheng is right, the current Tanaka Jiuichi is indeed in dire straits, and the destruction of the 103rd Division and the 82nd Brigade has already made him anxious, especially the surrender of Major General Taro Iwasaki, the commander of the 82nd Brigade, and the establishment of the Japanese National Defense Army, which put him on the cusp of the storm.

"Hasn't Your Excellency the Commander come out yet?"

At the headquarters of the 23rd Army in Hangzhou, Chief of Staff Takao Murata asked Takusa Akihara, the captain of the guard, who had been waiting in front of the office.

I saw Akihara Takuto helplessly whispered: "Not yet, it's been two days since the night before yesterday, but His Excellency the Commander didn't eat a bite of food, just drank a little water." ”

"How can this be!" Takashi Murata became anxious for a moment, raised his voice and said: "The health of His Excellency the Commander is related to the safety of our 23rd Army, how can he spoil himself so much, no, I will go in and persuade him!" ”

But he was soon stopped by Takuto Akihara: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, please don't embarrass me, the commander has already told no one to go in and disturb him, otherwise the commander will definitely punish me!" ”

Takao Murata's face turned cold all of a sudden: "What if I have to go in?" ”

Takuto Akihara took a deep breath before saying, "Then please shoot me first!" ”

"Yaga!"

I only heard a crisp sound, and there was a bright red slap print on Akihara Taku's face immediately, I have to say that Murata Takashi's hand strength is still quite big, this slap hit Akihara Taku's eyes with gold stars, and his ears were also buzzing, and the whole person rushed to a burst of dizziness.

However, what Takashi Murata didn't expect was that the captain of the guard of Kuichi Tanaka was so tough, and after a slap, he still stood straight at the door, still without the slightest intention of moving his body.

"Huh...... Good...... Well, it seems that you are still loyal to Your Excellency the Commander! Murata Takashi laughed angrily, and in a fit of rage, he took out the southern pistol on his waist and aimed it at Takushi Akihara's head and said word by word, "I'll say it again, if you don't get out of the way, don't blame me for being strict with military discipline!" ”

At this time, all the voices in the battle hall stopped, and both the staff officers who were busy and the guards in charge of guarding outside the door were stunned.

What's going on, how could Your Excellency the Chief of Staff pull out a gun and point it at the Captain of the Guard, Your Excellency, what happened?

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff, by all means!" Seeing this, several staff officers immediately rushed over from the side to try to stop Takao Murata.

"Get out of here, y'all of you!" Murata Takashi snorted coldly without looking back: "If you don't want to die, get away." ”

After that, he said coldly to Akihara Taku: "I'll count to three, if you don't get out of the way, I'm welcome." ”

"One!"

Taku Akihara didn't move.

"Two!"

Takushi Akihara's expression was extremely cold, his eyes were staring at Takashi Murata, and the staff officers around him were also pale one by one, and secretly said in their hearts, the chief of staff actually wanted to shoot the captain of the guard of His Excellency the commander, and if this news spread, their 23rd Army would probably become a laughing stock in the entire Japanese military circles.

Takashi Murata held the pistol tightly, the palm of the hand holding the handle was already oozing sweat, at this time he was already difficult to ride a tiger, but he was sure that if the brainless guard captain did not get out of the way when he counted three, he would not hesitate to pull the trigger. This is not only for the sake of His Excellency the Commander, but also to defend the dignity and face of his chief of staff.

Everyone's eyes were on him, including the captain of the guard, Takunaka Akihara, who couldn't get out of the way.

"Three!"

As soon as the three words in Murata's mouth came out, a fierce light appeared in his eyes, and the index finger on the trigger was about to be pulled. At this moment, the door of the office, which had been closed for two days, finally opened, and a haggard face appeared in front of everyone.

Seeing the person who appeared, Takashi Murata, who originally had a fierce face, suddenly showed a look of disbelief in his eyes, and shouted out in a lost voice: "Your Excellency, Commander! ”

Hisashi Tanaka, who came out of the office, glanced at the more than ten staff officers in the war room, and then glanced at Takao Murata, but seemed to be blind to the southern-style pistol in his hand that had been insured, and just said lightly: "Akihara-kun, you can go back and rest." Murata-kun, come to my office. ”

"Hay!" Akihara Taku, who originally refused to let go of the way, bowed his head and answered, and saluted with his left and right feet together, and then strode towards the door, and soon disappeared from everyone's sight.

After listening to Tanaka Kuichi's words, Takashi Murata didn't dare to slack off, and quickly closed the insurance and reinserted the holster on his waist, and then strode into the office.

Tanaka's office is not large, unlike some Japanese officers who like to work in a place of hundreds of square meters, his office is only about 20 square meters, and after putting down a set of desks, a small sofa and a bookshelf, he can no longer fit other things.

On the left side of the office, near the window, hangs a huge 100,000-to-1 military map of southeastern China.

The two entered the office one after the other, and Tanaka Kuichi pointed to the sofa next to him and said, "Murata-kun, sit down." ”

"Thank you, Your Excellency, Commander." Takao Murata was not polite either, and sat down with a butt.

When he was about to speak, Kuichi Tanaka spoke first, he first bowed to Takashi Murata, and said with a sincere face: "Murata-kun, I know what you want to say, you are really tired of worrying about me these days, I'm really sorry!" ”

"Ah...... Your Excellency, what are you doing here? Murata Takao was taken aback, and hurriedly bowed and returned the salute, "I was too anxious just now, so I pulled out my gun to Captain Akihara Takuwei, please don't take it to heart!" ”

"You didn't do anything wrong, it's me, the commander, who is too incompetent." Tanaka Jiuichi waved his hand, and he sighed before saying: "Murata-kun, I have been thinking about a question for the past two days, that is, what should we do next after losing the 103rd Division and the 82nd Brigade, but after thinking about it for a long time, I came to a conclusion that made me frustrated, that is, Zhejiang could not hold it. ”

"Nani? How is this possible? Takao Murata was dumbfounded, he could not have imagined that his Commander His Excellency would come to such a conclusion after two days of retreat.

"Your Excellency, are you too arbitrary?" Takashi Murata interrupted him and hurriedly said: "The 23rd Army still has nearly 100,000 troops, and there are more than 200,000 elites of the 11th Army as a mobile force next to us, such a force is enough to crush Su Jin and his 202nd Army, how can you say such frustrating words." ”

"Murata-kun, don't deceive yourself, Zhejiang can't hold it!" Tanaka Jiuichi interrupted him, and his haggard face showed a hint of helplessness: "The Eleventh Army has just suffered a big defeat under Changsha City, and Sonobe and Ichiro have left tens of thousands of elites of the Eleventh Army under Changsha City, I can say with certainty that he may not be the commander for long." Do you think the 11th Army can support us in such a situation? ”

Takashi Murata was silent, and Kuichi Tanaka continued: "Let's talk about us, the losses of the 23rd Army in this battle are no less than those of the 11th Army, the 103rd Division and the 82nd Brigade all of the Tamashi Muraoka-kun were killed in battle, and Iwasaki ...... Iwasaki Taro surrendered to the Shina people again and joined the Japanese Protector Army, do you think we can still hold Zhejiang under such circumstances? ”

"Bagaya Deer...... The scum of this empire! "Murata Takao's teeth gritted loudly, Iwasaki Taro's surrender in the Japanese military circles is simply an eight-magnitude earthquake, all the Japanese generals who heard the news were the first to be shocked and speechless, it is said that His Majesty the Emperor was so angry that he couldn't eat for a few days after knowing the news, and scolded all the important ministers attending the meeting at the imperial meeting, even his most respected imperial uncle Prince Zaihito was no exception.

The Japanese mainland was shaken like this, and the 23rd Army was even more difficult to spare.

"It's useless to talk about that now." Tanaka Jiuichi shook his head and said: "Murata-kun, such a scandal has happened, my days in the 23rd Army will not be too long, and the new commander who will succeed me must be coming, so I have to explain some things to you before leaving." ”

Speaking of this, he took a deep breath before saying, "After I leave, you must remember to remind the new commander that the 202nd Army is now in its wings. In the future, when fighting with the 202nd Army, we must not be greedy for merit, let alone be too arrogant, we must lower our posture, no matter how much we overestimate the 202nd Army, we should not overestimate it, do not think about destroying it as soon as possible, as long as we can maintain the pre-existing situation before the base camp greatly increases the number of troops, it will be a victory, do you remember? ”

"Commander!" Murata Takao's eyes turned red, and he said tremblingly: "You just fought a losing battle, are there still fewer imperial generals who have been defeated in the hands of Su Jin in the past two years?" Commander Gangcun, Commander of the Garden, Sixth Division, Third Division, and so on, these famous troops and generals were all defeated by him, why are they okay if they lose the battle, and you must be held accountable if you lose the battle? ”

Tanaka Jiuichi said with a wry smile: "Because Su Jin has not yet formed the Japanese Protector Army." ”

It was just such a sentence that blocked the words of Takashi Murata, yes, this reason alone was enough to nail the commander Tanaka Kuichi to the pillar of shame in Japan, and what Su Jin did was to hang Emperor Hirohito and the Japanese Army on the wall and whip him over and over again, he was sure that even a hundred years later, this incident would become a shame in the hearts of all Japanese.

When Takao Murata was speechless, a voice came from outside, "Your Excellency Commander, someone from the base camp has arrived!" (To be continued.) )