"War has broken out!"

"Declare war! Punish the Zhina! ”

"Great Japanese Empire onboard!"

"His Majesty the Emperor of Great Japan is onboard!"

In Tokyo, in the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters, the current chief of staff Hasegawa Yoshimichi, War Minister Yukihiko Kurose, and Education Director Nobuyuki Asada rushed in. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"According to the news sent back by Fukushima-kun from Kwantung Prefecture, the six armies deployed by the Chinese Army in Manchuria, except for the 12th Army and the 15th Army, which continued to guard Russia in North Manchuria, the other troops have all been assembled. Among them, two divisions of the Third Army had crossed the Dashiqiao on all fronts and arrived at the line of the Gaizhou River; The forward troops of the First Army and the Eighteenth Army arrived at Fengcheng, Kuandian, and Andong on the front line of the Yalu River; There was also the Ninth Army, which had preliminarily completed the encirclement of the imperial garrisons in Tieling, Lianshanguan, Benxi and other places on the South Manchurian railway line. ”

Hasegawa Yoshimichi began to introduce the relevant situation to the generals: "In addition to Manchuria, the armies of other regions of China have also begun to gather to varying degrees. At present, it is known that the Fourth Army is stationed in Rehe, the Seventh Army and the Sixteenth Army are stationed in Beijing and Tianjin, and the Fifth Army and the Eleventh Army are stationed in Shandong. In addition, the 10th Army in Jiangsu, the 2nd Army in Fujian, and the 20th Army in Guangdong also had abnormal movements. ”

"Strange?" After listening to Hasegawa's introduction, the current Minister of War Yukihiko Kusunase frowned, turned his head and said, "Could it be that the Shina people are preparing to start an all-out war with us?" ”

The unexpected movement of the Chinese army made the Japanese generals talk a lot, although they still did not know what the other side was fighting, but in any case, one thing has been confirmed, that is, the shameless Shina Army has launched a sneak attack on the Imperial Japanese Army, and there are at least four more corps preparing to attack.

The Japanese now have only two dissatisfying divisions there, and there is no doubt about the numerical inferiority. Therefore, the increase of troops to Manchuria became a top priority.

"The Fifth Division has just been stationed in Korea, and I think it is necessary for Lieutenant General Otani Kikuzo's Fifth Division to immediately set out to strengthen the Empire's military forces in Kwantung Prefecture. In addition, there were the 8th and 11th Divisions, which had been stationed in Manchuria before, and if there were five divisions, I believe it would be enough to ensure the defeat of the Chinese army, which was far more than twice as large as ours. "Yusaku Uehara, the person directly in charge of the previous forced the downfall of the Saionji cabinet, was ruddy at this time, and he couldn't wait to put forward his own proposal, he seemed to have seen the picture of Manchuria, the flag of the Imperial Army.

"Five divisions against six or seven branches? Is this okay? Education Director Nobuyuki Asada voiced his doubts in a timely manner. You must know that the current Chinese army has defeated the British allies in Burma, and its combat effectiveness is not comparable to that of the original Qing army.

"Asada-kun is too worried, with the army of the Bushido Spirit Empire, it is far from being comparable to the cowardly Shina army. They did defeat the British army in Burma, but it was only a poorly equipped third-rate colonial army. Hasegawa Yoshimichi also thinks that enough, and the only question that remains is when to strike.

Just as Nobuyuki Asada was about to say something, the phone bell on the conference table rang rapidly. After Hasegawa Yoshimichi picked up the phone and heard the voice inside, he suddenly stood up straight, his eyes were first angry and then fanatical, and then he kept nodding, and when he put down the phone, he raised his head and swept the crowd: "The elder of Shan County just called, and the rice field squadron stationed in Haicheng has been fully broken after fighting for two hours. Therefore, my lords, please send a telegram to General Nagaoka Kashishi of the 16th Division and General Yoshiko Akiyama of the 13th Division at once, telling them that if they are attacked, they can immediately return fire. ”

"However, we have not declared war yet." Yukihiko Kusunase said worriedly.

"I know, but at the moment we have a lot of problems with the government, so we don't have to wait." Hasegawa said helplessly. He had already learned on the phone just now that the Prime Minister was obviously not willing to provoke a war, but the majesty of the Imperial Army had been violated, so...

At the same time that the Japanese Army was preparing to go down and jubilantly began to move, Xiao Mubai also held an emergency military and political meeting in the huge conference room of Beijing, China, and Zhongnanhai, which is across the sea. As before, in addition to important military generals, the meeting was attended by several prime ministers of the State Council.

At the beginning of the meeting, Jiang Fangzhen, chief of the general staff of the People's Army, was the first to speak: "Up to now, the more than 500,000 troops deployed by our army on the front line in the northeast, Beijing, Tianjin, and Shandong have all been assembled. The General Staff Operations Department has also completed all the plans for the war against Japan, and now as long as the Military Commission gives an order, all units on the front line will be able to immediately launch an attack on the Japanese army! ”

"After the outbreak of all-out war, will we be sure of defeating the Japanese army?" Xu Shichang, the vice premier of the Government Council, asked worriedly. Although he already had a thorough understanding of the strength of the People's Army, when it came time to really collide with the Japanese, he still lacked confidence in his heart.

"Please rest assured that after the comparison of the battle in Haicheng, our army is more than one category higher than the Japanese army in terms of the quality of its soldiers and the allocation of firepower."

At this time, Tang Shaoyi said: "If my estimate is correct, it is a miracle that the current Japanese finances can maintain normal operation, and they definitely do not have enough military funds to fight a large-scale war!" ”

Everyone in the audience nodded their heads, saying that with the current financial situation of the Japanese government, it is indeed impossible to start a large-scale war without external financial support. But now that the countries of Europe are busy preparing for their own wars, how can there be external funds to squander for the Japanese! As for the United States, the only one with money to spare, will it take the risk of providing loans to Japan, a potential enemy?

Xiao Mubai, as usual, didn't say much in the early stage of the meeting, just listened carefully to the opinions of all parties. But when he set his eyes on Feng Guozhang, who hadn't said a word during the meeting, he couldn't help but ask, "General Feng, I don't know if you have any opinions on this war?" ”

Feng Guozhang obviously didn't expect Xiao Mubai to name him. You must know that since he took office as deputy chief of the general staff of the People's Army, he has been living in seclusion, and even in order to avoid suspicion, not only have the old Beiyang departments not been in contact with each other again, but Cao Kun, the commander of the 16th Army who came to visit, has also found an excuse to avoid him. Although today was the first time he had participated in such a high-level meeting of the People's Army, he had made up his mind not to express his opinion, knowing that he had not yet been fully integrated into the core system of the People's Army.

Feng Guozhang, who was now named by Xiao Mubai and knew that he couldn't hide, said loudly after a moment of silence: "I have also heard a lot from my colleagues, and Feng thinks so!" Although the Japanese army is strong, our Chinese army is not weak today. Now that we have decided to fight, we should use lightning speed to fight, and I am afraid that there will be changes later! ”

"That's right, there must be no delay in this matter!" Xiao Mubai also nodded after hearing this, he was deeply convinced of Feng Guozhang's words. Don't look at China's reunification now, but this is just a reunification that has been forcibly pinched together by force, and I don't know how turbulent the undercurrent is in private! I don't know how many things will happen if it drags on.

Immediately, Xiao Mubai looked around at everyone present for a week and said: "The conflict with the Japanese army has occurred, and it is best if it can be resolved through negotiation, if not, then it can only be used to regain the dignity of the country and the nation by force!" ”

After saying this, Xiao Mubai had almost set the tone, and the content to be discussed in the next meeting became that all military and political departments must cooperate with each other and be ready to deal with the war at any time.

After the meeting was dispersed, Xiao Mubai left Qu Tongfeng, Shen Feiyang and other generals of the navy and air force alone. The army doesn't have to worry about it at all, but the navy and air force, he still wants to ask.

Navy Commander Qu Tongfeng and Air Force Commander Shen Feiyang naturally understood what it meant to be left alone. I saw Qu Tongfeng say first: "The ship formation of our navy has all gone north and has completely entered a state of combat readiness. The HNA troops, as well as the bomber regiment equipped with new torpedo machines, were also deployed. In addition, the submarines of the 1st Submarine Detachment and the 2nd Submarine Detachment have now begun to cruise in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. ”

In order to prepare for the upcoming Sino-Japanese war, the navy almost poured out, and in addition to surface ships, the long-established naval aviation units and submarine units of the three major naval fleets also went north.

Seeing that the navy had finished reporting, Air Force Commander Shen Feiyang continued: "The Air Force has stationed two divisions in the northeast, including three fighter regiments and three bomber regiments. In addition, in order to supplement the shortage of naval aviation units, our air force has stationed a division in Shandong and Jiangsu, which will be completely capable of carrying heavy bombs to bomb enemy fortifications or warships. ”

After listening to the reports of the two departments, Xiao Mubai pondered for a moment, and then nodded in approval. Now that the preparations have been made, it is time to see the real chapter.

On the night of 11 November, Vice Premier Tang Shaoyi officially met with the Japanese Minister to China, Hikoyoshi Ijiin, on the Haicheng incident, and demanded compensation and an apology from the Japanese side.

On November 12, after consulting China, Ijiin Hikoyoshi announced on behalf of the Japanese Government that he would reject the unreasonable demands made by the Chinese Government.

On the same day, Xiao Mubai signed his name in the battle plan submitted by Jiang Fangzhen!

The war has finally broken out!