As soon as he returned to the headquarters, Sugi Moto locked himself in the office. 【】

At this moment, Sugi Sugi Motomasa was standing in front of the big map with a calm face.

It has become a fact that the Shigetsu detachment was completely annihilated, even if Shanshan Yuan gritted his big teeth, he could no longer change this cruel fact, the only thing he could do now, the only thing he needed to do, was to try his best to remedy it, to redeem the impact of the Shigeto detachment being completely annihilated by the remnants of the provisional 79th Division.

Immediately sent a telegram to the base camp and the royal family, explaining the situation according to the truth, this is needless to say, the royal family and the base camp will not dismiss him because the Shigeto detachment was completely annihilated, but I am afraid that it will be difficult to avoid a reprimand, and this matter will inevitably leave a stain on his resume, but there is no way to do it.

In terms of public opinion, there is no need to think about the blockade anymore, and the remnants of the 79th Division are temporarily electrified, and up to now, I am afraid that the whole world has already known the news that the Shigeto detachment has been completely annihilated, and it is useless to think about blocking public opinion at this time, and it will add laughter to the Western world.

However, within the Central China Front, the news of the total annihilation of the Shigetsu detachment must be tightly sealed, because it is now a critical period for the capture of Nanjing, and Shanshan Yuan does not want the incident of the total annihilation of the Shigeto detachment to affect the battle of Nanjing, in the end, the Japanese army on the Nanjing battlefield is also exhausted, and if one is not careful, the victory will be turned into defeat and the whole line will collapse.

In addition to the above two points, the most important thing to do is to immediately mobilize the army to sweep away the remnants of the provisional 79th Division!

The remnants of the provisional 79th Division must be exterminated, and they must be exterminated in the shortest possible time, otherwise, he Sugimoto is very likely to repeat the mistakes of Matsui Ishine, Sugimoto knows very well that the patience of Emperor Hirohito and the Imperial Family has run out, and he can't even imagine how angry Emperor Hirohito and the Imperial Family will be when they learn this news.

However, less than half an hour later, Sugi Sugimoto knew the extent of Emperor Hirohito's anger.

Less than half an hour after Sugimoto sent a telegram to the headquarters and the Imperial Family, a telegram of admonition signed by Emperor Hirohito himself was delivered to Sugimoto, in which Emperor Hirohito criticized Sugimoto in extremely harsh terms, claiming that Sugimoto had failed his expectations.

Emperor Hirohito was very disappointed with Sugi Gen's debut on the Chinese battlefield.

For a commander who had just taken office, Hirohito's telegram was undoubtedly quite harsh.

Because everything that happened on the Shanghai-Nanjing battlefield before had nothing to do with Shanshan Yuan, it was Matsui Ishine who allowed the remnants of the Provisional 79th Division to break through from Wuxi, and it was also Matsui Ishine who let the Provisional 79th Division kill Prince Fushimi Palace Toshihiko in Baoxing, and even the total annihilation of the Shigeto Detachment had no direct relationship with Shanshan Yuan.

Because Shanshanyuan only gave an order to the Shigetto detachment, but it was Shigedo Chiaki who was responsible for the on-site command, and the Shigetsu detachment was completely annihilated by the remnants of the provisional 79th Division, and the responsibility was all on Shigedo Chiaki, and Shanshanyuan did not have any direct responsibility, because no matter who was replaced as the commander of this front army, the result was still the same.

Therefore, it is very unfair that Emperor Hirohito and the Japanese imperial family put the responsibility for the total annihilation of the Shigeto detachment on Shanshanyuan, and they vented all their grievances on Shanshanyuan.

But Shanshan Yuan knows that there are many things in this world that are unreasonable.

From Emperor Hirohito's telegram, Sugi Sugimoto could know that the imperial family's patience had reached the limit, so he must destroy the remnants of the provisional 79th Division in the shortest possible time, otherwise Emperor Hirohito and the imperial family may really be replaced by another great future to be the commander of the Central China Front.

Shanshanyuan must not let such a thing happen! Never!

At that moment, Shanshanyuan's eyes fell on the big map again, looking for the closest troops to Nantong.

Judging from the map, the closest to Nantong is the Iijima Division, which has just captured Yangzhou and is currently attacking in the direction of Lu'an and Pukou.

In an instant, Shanshan Yuan made a decision.

An infantry brigade was immediately drawn from the Iijima Division, equipped with a brigade of artillery, engineers, and baggage troops, plus a cavalry wing, to form an independent detachment, from which it turned around and headed eastward, killing the Jingjiang and Nantong lines, and was responsible for exterminating the hateful remnants of the provisional 79th Division.

In addition to this, it was necessary to choose a qualified commander for this separate detachment.

After a moment of silence, Sugi Moto rang the bell and called his lieutenant in and told him to find someone.

It didn't take long for a young general with the rank of major general to walk into Shanshanyuan's room, and then straighten his feet.

"Your Excellency, Commander, are you looking for me?" The young general bowed his head and saluted, then raised his head and looked at Shanshan Yuan with burning eyes.

The young Japanese major general who walked into the room was named Yoshio Tachibana, and he was the deputy chief of staff that Sugi Sugi brought from the military headquarters.

"Tachibana-san, you're here." Shanshan Yuan looked at the young general in front of him with slightly squinted eyes, and his eyes showed admiration.

I don't know why, every time I see Tachibana Keio, Shanshan Yuan can't help but think back to when he was young, he was as tall as Tachibana Yoshio when he was young, just as heroic, and as young and promising, only in his early forties, he already had the rank of major general, which can be called the flower of the famous generals of the empire.

"Tachibana-san, come, come here." Sugi Motomo beckoned for Tachibana Yoshio to stand beside him.

Tachibana Keio said yes, and walked generously to Sugi Moto's side with a saber, but his sharp gaze fell on the large map posted on the wall.

Shanshan Yuan suddenly sighed and said: "Tachibana-san, the news that the Shigeto detachment suffered a crushing defeat in Nantong and was completely annihilated by the remnants of the provisional 79th Division, right?" ”

"Hai, I already know the lowly position." Yoshio Tachibana bowed his head.

Shanshanyuan's expression sank and asked, "What do you think of the defeat of Nantong?" ”

"Unbelievable." Tachibana Yoshio said in a deep voice, "I can't believe that this thing is true. ”

"yes, it's unbelievable." Shanshan Yuan thought so, "A detachment, under the jurisdiction of two infantry wings, an artillery team, an engineer team, a communications team, a baggage team, a field hospital, a cavalry team plus a tank detachment, there are nearly 10,000 people, but the Chinese * army of less than 500 people has been completely annihilated, this is a total annihilation rather than a defeat, 500 people to defeat tens of thousands of people is unbelievable enough, let alone a total annihilation?" ”

After a pause, Shanshan Yuan sighed again: "I can't imagine how Shigedo Chiaki commanded this battle?" ”

Tachibana Keio said solemnly: "Your Excellency Commander, it doesn't matter how Chiaki Shigeto commanded, what matters is, who is the commander of the provisional 79th Division?" How did he command this battle? This talent is the key to this battle. ”

Shanshan Yuan was silent, he knew that what Tachibana Yoshio said was right, but he was a little difficult to accept it in his heart for a while.

Since the First Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese military circles from top to bottom have been permeated with contempt for China's * army, and now, nearly half a century has passed, this kind of thinking has not faded, but has become more serious, and now, in the eyes of the vast majority of Japanese officers, their opponents are the Soviet Union, the United States, France, Britain and other countries.

As for the Chinese, they have long been out of their eyes.

Shanshanyuan is a supporter of this idea of "emphasizing Europe and ignoring China", and he is also a practitioner of this thought.

But now, Yoshio Tachibana has put forward a point of view that contradicts this idea, which makes Sugi Sugimoto a little difficult to accept.

Tachibana Yoshio did not change his opinion because of Shanshan Yuan's displeasure, and then said: "Your Excellency Commander, we should really study the opponent of the provisional 79th Division, from Wuxi to Baoxing, from Baoxing to Likou, and then from Likou to Nantong, this is the fourth time that the imperial army has suffered a loss under the provisional 79th Division, and the imperial army has also paid a heavy price of a lieutenant general, a major general, three Dazuo and more than 10,000 warriors, such an opponent, is it not worthy of our attention?" ”

Shanshan Yuan was shocked when he heard this, he just felt a little embarrassed about the continuous defeats of the Japanese army before, and he didn't think how terrible the remnants of the provisional 79th Division were, but now, when Tachibana Yoshio listed the damage caused to the Japanese army by the provisional 79th Division, Shanshan Motocai suddenly discovered that the remnants of the provisional 79th Division had caused so much damage to the Japanese army.

You must know that after the entire Battle of Songhu was fought, the Japanese army suffered 50,000 casualties!

But now, just a provisional 79th Division has caused more than 10,000 casualties to the Japanese army, and the vast majority of these more than 10,000 casualties are killed, which means that the loss of more than 10,000 people is permanent, unlike the more than 50,000 casualties in the Battle of Songhu, the vast majority of them can still return to the team after recovering from their injuries and can still set foot on the battlefield again.

Yoshio Tachibana continued: "Your Excellency, Commander, once or twice can it be said to be a fluke, but can it be said that three or four times can it be said to be a fluke? In the history of world wars, is there really so much fluke? Obviously, the provisional 79th Division is an extremely formidable opponent, especially their commander, and even more so an extremely dangerous opponent, and if we cannot fully understand, familiarize ourselves with, and study this opponent, then there will be a fifth or sixth defeat for the Imperial Army in the near future. ”

"Sodesnay." Shanshan Moto nodded again and again when he heard this, he had been completely persuaded by Tachibana Yoshio.

At that moment, Shanshanyuan frowned again and said: "However, for this extremely dangerous opponent, the special high class also knows nothing, the intelligence collected by the special high class only covers the division commander level of the Chinese * army, the national * army officers below the division commander, only a few brigade commanders and regiment commanders from the Whampoa Military Academy have been recorded, and the commanders of the remnants of the 79th Division are obviously not among them. ”

Yoshio Tachibana said, "However, this does not prevent us from making the most basic judgment about this person. ”

Shanshan Yuan said: "Tachibana-san, tell me your judgment. ”