Tianjin, headquarters of the Japanese North China Front.

Since the beginning of the war against China, this army, called the "Chinese Garrison Army," has been changed to today's "North China Front Army." Since the Lugou Bridge Incident, it was this army that swept across the entire North China. Including the Itagaki Division, which was raging in Shanxi, it was also subordinate to this North China Front.

And the commander-in-chief of the headquarters of this army at this moment is the Japanese army general: Terauchi Shouichi.

Terauchi Shou sat at his desk, his military hat was neatly placed on the side, a huge bald head was exposed unconcernedly, and the words on his lips were neatly groomed.

Terauchi Shou had no expression on his face, and his eyes quickly scanned the documents in front of him. His eyes are resolute, and he can even be described as "hard" as an inappropriate word. Shouichi Terauchi is a strong-willed, even stubborn person.

"Commander, the battle report from the northern part of Shanxi has reached here."

The subordinate officer of the headquarters walked over with his waist straight, and a pair of leather boots clicked on the ground. After performing a standard military salute, the subordinate officer placed the report in his hand on the desk of Terauchi Shouichi.

"Oh, got it."

Terauchi Shouichi just responded lightly, took the report in his hand, took a casual look at it and put it aside, and then looked at the other reports.

"My lord, you don't seem to care much about the battle in Shanxi."

The chief of staff of the North China Front, Naosaburo Okabe, was not as indifferent as Shouichi Terauchi, but stretched out his hand, took the report on the desk in his hand, and said with a smile on the corner of his mouth.

"I don't have any interest in a battle that I'm sure to win."

The corners of Shouichi Terauchi's mouth moved slightly, and he spit out such a sentence, his eyes still resting on the document in his hand.

"But, Commander. According to the report, we didn't win this battle. The 21st Brigade dispatched nearly two wings, but in the end it did not succeed in completely destroying the Eighth Route Army. Let it successfully run out of the encirclement. For our imperial army, this is a very shameless thing. ”

Naosaburo Okabe said with a smile, although it was embarrassing to say this, it could be seen from his expression that he himself did not care about this matter very much.

"Huh, shame? I think that's a good thing. It also happened to make Seishiro Itagaki a little clearer. ”

Shouichi Terauchi put the documents in his hand on the table and put them aside, and looked at Naosaburo Okabe with a solemn face and said.

"Seishiro Itagaki is one of my most important subordinates, and I admit that he did very well in Shanxi, in fact, his performance in Shanxi gave me a big surprise.

But after all, it is impossible for the emperor to be a soldier, and as soldiers, we are fighting to make the empire stronger, able to rule more lands and subjects. Conquering the next piece of land does not mean that we will be able to completely rule there, we will need time to digest it, so that the land of China can become the soil that nourishes the soldiers of the imperial state. ”

After Shouichi Terauchi said this, Naosaburo Okabe nodded thoughtfully. The other party is a general, but he is a rare politician. Shouichi Terauchi has a cool head, and he deeply understands what the purpose of the war is. At the moment, it is true that the pace of the offensive is a little too fast for the imperial army.

"Your Excellency, you have a point. However, we cannot ignore the threat from Shanxi, and take the Eighth Route Army, which is now active in northern Shanxi, for example, the combat effectiveness they have shown cannot be underestimated. ”

Naosaburo Okabe, out of duty, considers the issue from the perspective of the chief of staff. In the report of the battle in Shanxi, Naosaburo Okabe saw something worth thinking about, and the Eighth Route Army's fighting will and skillful mountain combat ability made him vigilant.

"So what?"

Shouichi Terauchi's tone was relaxed, and he casually left the report in his hand aside.

"I admit that the red team that suddenly appeared on the battlefield has a certain combat effectiveness, and if you encounter them on the battlefield, you must take it seriously. But so what?

The Eighth Route Army only had a total of tens of thousands of people, and the unit that disgraced the 21st Brigade was only one regiment. There is not much point in such a small team on this huge battlefield.

The North China Front has hundreds of thousands of troops in China, and in this battle that has just ended in Shanxi, our strength is less than a quarter of that of the Chinese, but what about the actual casualties? The Chinese suffered more than three times as many casualties in such a numerical superiority. On the battlefield alone, we are victorious. ”

Shouichi Terauchi's words seem to convince Naosaburo Okabe.

"What you say makes a lot of sense, it seems that I am narrow-minded. On the macro battlefield, we really haven't lost since we came to China. So, in that case, what are you worried about right now, Commander? ”

Hearing Okabe Naosaburo ask like this, Terauchi Shouichi's eyes became rare serious.

"It is precisely the population, the army of the empire is stronger than China, and we can use more professional soldiers than China. But our population is insignificant compared to China's.

There are hundreds of millions of people in China, and we can't kill all those hundreds of millions, so we have to rule the Chinese. Find a way to rule over their civilians while eliminating their military personnel. ”

Terauchi Shouichi's words made Okabe Naosaburo's eyelids jerk, he is a standard soldier, as a staff officer, he thinks more about things on the battlefield, as for these things, he really thinks very little.

"Chief of Staff, have you read the history of China?"

Terauchi Shouichi's question made Okabe Naosaburo a little strange, and he didn't understand why the other party suddenly asked such a question, but he still answered truthfully.

"I've read a few, but I've not studied it very deeply, Commander."

"That's right...... The Chinese are a very interesting group. ”

Shouichi Terauchi's tone suddenly became mysterious.

"The Chinese, they are very resilient, strong and terrible, this nation has existed for thousands of years without a fault like those countries in Europe. After so many calamities, it has developed into such a large number of people today.

But at the same time, they are very adaptable to changes in their environment. As long as they do not lose their interests extremely, they will become less aggressive and can get used to accepting foreign domination. This is the principle of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Yuan Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty in history.

For those civilians, we can make them understand that by accepting our rule, they will be able to live a better life; If they don't accept our rule, they will die! In this way, they will be able to accept us. Chinese people have a strong clan concept, but the national concept is very indifferent. ”

When Shouichi Terauchi said this, a trace of madness and even madness flashed in his eyes.

Naosaburo Okabe looked at Shouichi Terauchi in shock and admiration, and he finally understood why the other party didn't seem to be worried about the situation in Shanxi at all, because the other party had such a big game of chess in mind!

"Whether it's the Central Army or the Jin Sui Army...... They do the same thing on the battlefield, and that is to defend, and what is there to fear from a group of enemies who only know how to defend? It's just a defense that's ugly and pretty. As long as we defeat them on the battlefield and attract more Chinese to our side, then we will definitely win this war! ”

Shouichi Terauchi's words were like drugs, which made Okabe Naosaburo, an old man over fifty years old, excited.

"Commander, our ambitions will definitely come true!"

With a smile on the corner of his mouth, Shouichi Terauchi picked up the teacup casually, drank the tea in small sips, and looked at the south of China, his eyes became dark and deep.

"yes, it will happen."

……