At the beginning of this year, the Japanese army drew up two operational orientations, namely 'southward' and 'northern'.

At first, the Japanese army valued the abundant war resources of the Soviet army, and drew up a strategic plan to invade the Soviet Union and occupy Siberia.

Later, a few months earlier, the Japanese army launched a large-scale exploratory strategic offensive against the Soviet-Mongolian forces in the Normenhan area, 200 kilometers south of Hailar on the Sino-Confucian border.

The two sides mobilized hundreds of thousands of elite troops and advanced military equipment to engage in a fierce confrontation that lasted for more than four months on the overgrown and undulating wasteland with sand dunes, but due to the backwardness of the Japanese army's military thinking and tactical technology, it suffered its first and worst defeat since the Russo-Japanese War.

The 'northward' plan failed miserably, not only inflicting heavy losses on the Japanese army, but also ruining their dreams of attacking and even occupying Siberia.

But by this time, the strategic resources of the Japanese army, especially their oil reserves, were seriously insufficient.

You must know that the Japanese army is an island country, their own national resources are extremely scarce, but their fleet is numerous, and a large amount of oil and strategic resources will be consumed every day, if they cannot plunder enough strategic resources, for example, if there is no oil, then the Japanese war machine will not be able to operate, their ships will anchor, and their fleet will not be able to continue to run rampant in the Pacific Ocean.

This is tantamount to the inability to continue the aggression.

This was an absolutely devastating disaster for the Japanese army.

Therefore, in order to be able to plunder enough resources, they turned around and planned to go south, intending to attack Southeast Asia, in an attempt to seize greater war resources, so as to annex the world in the future and reserve successor resources.

However, at this time, there were still colonies of England, the Netherlands, and the United States in the South Seas, which added difficulties to the Japanese army's plan to move south.

More importantly, because Japan and the United States pursue a completely antagonistic East Asia policy, the Japanese military wants to plunder resources in the East Asian region, and this is bound to form an antagonism with the United States.

And now, the Japanese army is at an extremely dangerous point in time, and they will have to make a choice, and this choice cannot be escaped, but can only be faced directly.

That's ......

Prime Minister, Nobuyuki Abe, looked at the hesitant Emperor Hirohito, sighed in his heart, and said slowly: "Our oil can only last for half a year, and now we are facing an extremely dangerous situation, and we must make a choice!" ”

"Or...... Withdraw troops from the mainland, stop foreign expansion, and move closer to the United States diplomatically; Either...... Immediately form their own banner, go south to seize strategic resources, and continue to strengthen foreign aggression! However, there were colonies of the United States, England, and the Netherlands in the South Seas, and marching into the South Seas was tantamount to declaring war on the United States, Britain and the Netherlands. ”

"Your Majesty, we have to make a choice!"

On the mainland side, the hesitant Central China Front suffered heavy losses and was already unsustainable, and they had no spare strength to support, so it can be said that its decline has become prominent.

At this time, forcible salvation, instead of achieving the desired success, will become a burden to them, restraining all their energy, and then dragging them into the bottomless abyss.

Therefore, for the Japanese army, the mainland is definitely going to give up, and even if it does not give up, it will not continue to expand, and can only maintain the current situation.

Everyone has this answer in their hearts, and they know it, but ...... For the people of the Ministry of Army, doing so is tantamount to cutting off one of their legs!

Once their army withdraws from the mainland, or rather sticks to the mainland, it is tantamount to abandoning it.

Correspondingly, the importance of their army is greatly reduced, and as the navy expands into Southeast Asia, their army will definitely have to travel with the fleet, and the army will ...... They will definitely be pinned down by the navy, so how can they be willing to be inferior?

The battle between land and sea has been going on for a long time, how could they be willing to bow their heads at this time?!

But...... What if you don't bow your head?

Could it be that they will continue to support the empire at the risk of dragging it to death?

For a while, all the generals of the army were pale, and they wanted to refute or even come up with a suggestion, but they couldn't say anything.

They can't say it, and they can't say it!

After hearing Nobuyuki Abe's words, Emperor Hirohito was also silent for a long time.

I don't know how long it was, but then I said, "Is this the only way to go?" ”

"Your Majesty!" Nobuyuki Abe said: "In this world, no matter what you do, you have to make trade-offs, not to mention national affairs, and if you are not careful, there will be unforeseen dangers, not to mention, do we still have a choice now?" I know that His Majesty is reluctant to accumulate hundreds of years, but ...... Without decision, how can you achieve great things? ”

"There is no chance on the mainland, now everyone can see that we are in decline, if we forcibly save it, we can only drag our entire empire into the abyss, and now we have less than a year left in our oil reserves, ask yourself, within this year, we can take China, take a step back, can we stabilize the situation in China?"

"We can't!"

Nobuyuki Abe asked and answered himself, and said categorically.

His words were not loud, but in the ears of the army generals and others present, they were like thunder, making their faces turn extremely pale in an instant.

Hearing this, Emperor Hirohito still hesitated, and it was difficult for him to make a decision on his own, so he could only look at Prince Zaihito and others, and said with difficulty: "Is this really the case?" ”

Facing Hirohito's gaze, Prince Zaihito wanted to say 'no'! But he couldn't tell.

It's not that I don't want to, but I can't!

It can't be done!

He opened his mouth, his lips were squirming, and his heart was in pain, but ...... He still had to say, "Yes, yes......"

As soon as he said a word, he was sweating profusely, and he sat on the ground weakly, as if all his strength had been drained.

Admit it in person, say it in person, they can't, this kind of pain will never be understood by those who have not experienced it!

And after Prince Zaihito said this, Prince Mahiko of Asakanomiya and the others next to him closed their eyes in pain.

They know that the army is finished!

They know that the efforts of their army over the past hundred years have all been destroyed in the face of such a general trend!

Looking at the painful expressions of the army generals, the admirals who had hoped that such a thing would happen were not the slightest bit happy at this time, but ...... There is also a feeling of sadness for a rabbit and a fox to die.

(End of chapter)