Beiping, the headquarters of the North China Front. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Okabe-kun, winter is about to pass, and all the master regiments of our North China Front Army have returned to the front army system, and it is time to solve the Eighth Route Army, especially the instructor." Shouichi Terauchi sat on the sofa and said slowly to Naosaburo Okabe, who was in a bent bow posture in front of him.

"Hi, Your Excellency, at present, the 6th and 16th Divisions, as well as the 5th Division, which was rebuilt on the basis of the Kunisaki Detachment, have all returned to the North China formation and are ready to launch a powerful attack on the Eighth Route Army in the northwest.

However, in order to open up the Tianjin-Pudong Railway and unite the armies of North China and Central China, the base camp demanded that our Imperial Army give priority to solving the government army in China, and that our North China Front Army should join forces with the Central China Front Army to attack Xuzhou, a strategic point in East China. Naosaburo Okabe replied respectfully.

"Yo Xi, now the government army of China is still resisting stubbornly, and it is understandable to give priority to solving the government army of China, but we can't cheapen the Eighth Route Army, especially the instructor who forced Itagaki Jun to death, it is a big trouble for our imperial army, and it must be let die as soon as possible. Okabe-kun, do you have any good way to eliminate this Chinese army? Shouichi Terauchi said with a gloomy face, obviously he had reached the point of hatred for the Sect Teacher, and he wished that he could annihilate it now.

"Your Excellency Commander, our North China Front Army is going to attack Xuzhou, and it is true that there are no extra troops to sweep away the Eighth Route Army instructor, but the Kwantung Army stationed in Manchuria has a large number of troops, I heard that Your Excellency has a very good personal relationship with His Excellency General Ueda Kenkichi, the commander of the Kwantung Army. Naosaburo Okabe suggested.

"Yo Xi, this opinion is very good, I will go and draft a letter, and ask Ueda-kun to send troops to sweep the base area of the instructor." Shouichi Terauchi said appreciatively.

"Hey, thank you, Commander!" Naosaburo Okabe complimented.

The Japanese Kwantung Army is an important part of the Japanese Army, and it is named after the "Kwantung Prefecture" that invaded Jinxian and Dalian in northeastern China. Founded in 1919, it is an army of the Japanese Army stationed in Northeast China.

At its peak, the Kwantung Army had 31 infantry divisions, 11 infantry and tank brigades, 1 death squad brigade and 2 aviation armies, as well as puppet Manchukuo troops, reaching 1.2 million people.

The Japanese Kwantung Army has always been the pride of the Japanese people, and is known as the "flower of the imperial army" in Japan (the previous article said that the Fifth Division is the "flower of the imperial army" is wrong, and should be called the "flower of the army").

Since the beginning of the Showa period in 1926, Japan has stepped up its mainland policy of invading China and preparing for war against the Soviet Union. In 1928, the Kwantung Army created the Huanggutun Incident and killed Zhang Zuolin, the leader of the Chinese Feng warlords.

In 1931, he planned the "918" incident and invaded the entire territory of Northeast China. In the following year, the puppet regime of the puppet state of Manchukuo was concocted, and the headquarters was moved to Changchun, and the commander concurrently served as the Japanese ambassador to "Manchukuo" and the director of the Kwantung Agency, holding the military and political power of the puppet Manchukuo.

From then on, the Kwantung Army exercised colonial rule over Northeast China, brutally suppressed the Chinese anti-Japanese army and people, and frantically plundered grain and mineral resources, in an attempt to build Northeast China into an important strategic base for further Japanese aggression and expansion.

At the same time, because the Japanese army did not find oil in the northeast, but the Soviet Far East (central and eastern Siberia) had already discovered that there were amazing reserves of oil underground, the greedy Japanese were eyeing the Soviet Far East, so the Kwantung Army not only served as the rear and base camp for the invasion of China, but also had the important task of attacking the Soviet Union in the north.

"Tojo-kun, Ishihara-kun, this is a letter from General Terauchi Shouichi of the North China Front Army to me, requesting that our Kwantung Army send troops to attack Baotou in Suiyuan and exterminate the instructor of the Eighth Route Army. What do you think about this? Should I send troops? General Kenkichi Ueda, commander of the Kwantung Army, asked Hideki Tojo, chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, and Ishihara Takaji, deputy chief of staff.

As soon as Ishihara heard that the object of encirclement and suppression was the instructor who forced his good friend Itagaki Seishiro to death, he ignited on the spot, and he ignored his superiority and humility, and replied in front of Tojo Hideki: "Your Excellency Commander, the instructor of the Shina sect is the executioner who eliminated the Itagaki division, and you must not let him go. ”

Ishihara and Itagaki Seishiro are a pair of close friends, the two were classmates at the Sendai Army Junior College, and after entering the military circles, they launched the "918 Incident" together and became Japan's national heroes, known as "the wisdom of Ishihara and the courage of Itagaki" in the Japanese army.

Faced with the mentor who forced his good friend to death, Ishihara abandoned his long-standing proposition of not expanding the invasion of China, and strongly begged the commander to allow him to lead his troops to encircle and suppress the instructor.

Hideki Tojo and Ishihara Waner are political enemies of each other, and the two of them have always been what you oppose, and I will definitely oppose what you support, so Hideki Tojo quickly retorted: "Don't raise troops out of anger, now is the critical moment for the North China Front and the Central China Front to attack Xuzhou, and our Kwantung Army cannot act rashly, so as not to affect the major strategy of the base camp." ”

Ishihara Wan'er angrily rebuked: "You are a high-class soldier, a coward who works, and the instructor can eliminate the Itagaki Division, proving that they are the henchmen of the Imperial Army, and our Imperial Army should strangle it when it is weak to avoid future troubles." ”

Hideki Tojo naturally retorted to Ishihara Wanji, and the two of them exchanged words, starting a debate in various aspects from Japanese politics to military affairs to economics, but they threw the commander Kenkichi Ueda aside, leaving Kenkichi Ueda helpless, thinking that he would not ask their opinions if he knew it earlier.

Speaking of the contradiction between Hideki Tojo and Ishihara Waner, in the final analysis, it is still for the sake of fighting for power and profit, although Tojo and Ishihara have different opinions, but because the two have never worked together, it is not possible to say that Tojo Hideki has been attacking Ishihara Waner from the beginning, on the contrary, after Ishihara arrived, Tojo Hideki immediately handed over all military matters to Ishihara Waner.

But this is not what Ishihara wants, what Ishihara wants is political control over "Manchukuo", and it is precisely this power that Hideki Tojo refuses to give up.

In Tojo's view, the so-called "Manchukuo" has already become his private world, how can he let Ishihara Waner interfere again. However, Ishihara Wanji first thought that he had "personally created Manchukuo" by him, and secondly, he looked down on Hideki Tojo, because Hideki Tojo's school grades were not as good as Ishihara's, and he did not pay attention to the fact that Tojo was a senior who was four years higher than him at the Army Noncommissioned Officer School, which is very important in Japanese culture.

Once, Nobusuke Kishi asked Hideki Tojo to discuss the establishment of an agricultural cooperative, and Ishihara Wanji also came to participate in the meeting. As soon as Nobusuke Kishi finished his report, Ishihara summed it up with a big grin: "Yes, that's it, that person is the work of the gendarmes (referring to Hideki Tojo sitting on the side), he knows what cooperatives are, just ask me", which made Tojo only smile bitterly.

Later, Zhouming Okawa, who later became a Class-A war criminal, was a fellow countryman of Ishihara Waner, and when he went to Manchuria on a business trip, he first came to visit Ishihara Waner, and after he finished speaking, he asked by the way: "Where is the office of Chief of Staff Tojo?" Gotta go and say hello to him. ”

Ishihara's reply was, "Oh, that Tojo Senior Soldier, it's on the other side."

It can be seen from this that Ishihara Waner, who claimed to be Japan's No. 1 soldier, was so contemptuous of Hideki Tojo that he even called his immediate boss as Tojo's senior soldier.